turkey weekend

My weekend was filled with the abundance of eating, shopping, and sleeping that comes with Thanksgiving as an American.

I was crazy enough to suggest going to the Moonlight Madness event at Citadel Outlets on Thanksgiving evening, hoping to get an early start on the insanity that is normally reserved for Black Friday. I left my house at 9:20pm to make it to the event which was starting at 10:00pm. While it didn't take that long to reach the freeway exit, it took an entire hour just to get out! By the time I found parking (which was relatively painless), it was 11:00pm. Then we had to line up just to get into the stores. Tired and defeated after two hours of not accomplishing anything, we hopped back in my car and made for home. It only took me 14 minutes to get back.

"Never again!" I had sworn to myself. Except...

...I slept for 3 hours and went on another mission, hellbent on satisfying my Black Friday shoplust. But finding good deals just wasn't in the cards this year. Everything I purchased was at regular price, with the exception of one ugly-with-potential sweater from H&M that only managed to reel me in because it was so cozy when I tried it on (I am powerless to soft things). Will try to post some pictures of my haul soon.

Saturday night featured a Thanksgiving potluck with friends, a dinner that's become an annual tradition spent at Greg's house where everyone has a jolly time getting fat and wasted. The highlights of the evening were two gloriously juicy, tender deep-fried turkeys:

The skin was the best part! Salty and greasy!

The lowlight of the evening was having to take care of Greg after he had waaay too much to drink, holding him upright after he began vomiting so that he wouldn't choke on it while out cold, only to end up getting it all over my arm. Thanks, friend!

the northern capital

I wish I had been more diligent about documenting my visit with J. But there's not much to photograph when you're just gaming or shopping. As for the food...well, I fully intended to take pictures but by the time I remembered I had a camera, everything was either already half-eaten or in my/someone else's tummy.

Mountain of shaved ice covered in red bean, condensed milk, and fruit

An Orgasm during Happy Hour...*cough* one of many *cough*

Not an Apple advertisement. I just happened to like the pink glow cast by the adjacent screen.

Hot French onion soup topped with bread and melted cheese

A really juicy salmon fillet with a butter lemon sauce garnished with tomato wedges dipped in pesto

My Chocolate Devotion and J's Founder's Favorite in chocolate-dipped waffle cones

View of the city through a dirty window, from 80 stories up

J and I went to a cozy British(?) establishment for afternoon tea, but I don't have clear pictures of our sandwiches, scones, and pastries, so...have some pictures of the surrounding area instead.

All the lights were beginning to turn on by the time we finished.

It got dark fast and we promptly boarded the subway to escape the chilly evening air.

Maybe I'm crazy to say this as someone who revels in the weightless blanket of indoor heating once it drops below 60 outside, but I kind of miss the brisk 40s we had abroad (legitimately cold, I'd say). Or maybe...I just miss the warmth of being held in the midst of it.

summer nights

After an uneventful start to the month of August, life finally picked up its pace again this past week, beginning with a girls' night out with Elise, Leigh, and Irene. (These days, the BFF is nowhere to be found and sometimes I'm not sure how that makes me feel.)

Dinner at California Pizza Kitchen in Glendale followed by some browsing at the Glendale Galleria and Americana made for a pretty low-key evening, which seemed appropriate for a Wednesday night. That didn't prevent Leigh and me from sharing a strawberry mojito though, and I'm glad we ordered it because it was really delicious!

Doesn't it look pretty?
Photo courtesy of Leigh

Another highlight of dinner was dessert (of course). It's probably a good thing that we split the tiramisu four ways--I totally could've put down the whole thing by myself, but my waistline would've been none too happy about that.

Cool and creamy, with rum-soaked ladyfingers. Yum!
Photo courtesy of Leigh

Fast forward to Friday night and we kicked off the weekend with a birthday celebration for one of Leigh's friends. The plan was to check out Supper Club in Hollywood, which is apparently a pricey restaurant in the early hours of evening that transforms into a club come 10:30pm.

For one reason or another, we weren't able to secure a table and bottle service there like the birthday girl had wanted. So we migrated to another club down the street but I was too preoccupied with trying to refrain from pissing myself for the thirty minutes we were in line to check what the place was called (the unfortunate side effect of having only 10 minutes to pregame with mixed drinks). By the time we were finally granted admittance, I made a beeline for the restroom and only narrowly avoided giving myself a UTI for holding it in so long. Leigh promptly ordered us some AMFs, and wow. They make'em really strong here, but considering they charged $15 for each one, that is expected.

Compared to all the other women walking around, I felt really modest in my outfit. They say classy > slutty, but I think being slutty gets you better results in environments like Hollywood, where everything's more about raw sex appeal than sophisticated allure. Still, I wasn't in the mood to readjust my outfit all night for fear of spillage, so I went the conservative route.

Forever 21 dress, belt, and earrings (not shown), Target tights, Charlotte Russe heels

Oddly enough, my theory that guys tend not to hit on bespectacled girls did not hold true that night. Not one, but TWO guys attempted to win me over by, ironically, commenting on how hot my glasses were. Sloppy execution, but A for effort I suppose. Must do some more field testing before I can prove/disprove my theory. Will report back.

Last night I ventured out to Blitz Ultra Lounge in Alhambra to get drinks with a friend I hadn't seen in months. We had a couple Buttery Nipple shots (which were sinfully good, by the way) and I sipped on a cranberry vodka afterward. Totally didn't mean to drink that much since I had to drive myself home early, but it helped to make dancing on the deserted dance floor a lot less awkward.

The transitions were kind of sloppy and the music was much too loud, making it impossible to have a conversation even whilst shouting directly into each others' ears, but the crowd seemed friendly enough. I can't comment too much more since I left right when the place started to fill up, so I'll have to try this place again some other time to get a better feel for it.

I didn't have time to take an outfit picture, but since it was a repeat of what I've worn before, here's a crappy picture of it taken back in January. Tights are shown, but it was warm enough outside for me to ditch them last night.

Express shirt bought from China, Forever 21 belt, H&M geometric skirt, gifted Urban Outfitters watch necklace

vacation photo diary

...okay, more like a food diary.

World of Color at Disney's California Adventure


Rainbow Roll and Roppongi Roll (basically a shrimp tempura roll topped with spicy tuna and eel) at Roppongi in La Jolla. We were celebrating our 40th monthaversary :)


Chicken Satay with sweet peanut sauce at Roppongi in La Jolla


Lychee Martini at Roppongi in La Jolla. This alone got me buzzed. It had been a while since I last got drunk.


Hazelnut Truffles at Roppongi in La Jolla. They might not look like much, but I cannot stress enough how absolutely fucking amazing these tasted. I have never had a truffle explode into warm, gooey, chocolatey goodness in my mouth...and hazelnut-flavored to boot! Mouth-gasm, if ever there was one. Oh, they were also complimentary! :D


Stuffed French Toast at The Cottage in La Jolla


Eggs Benedict at The Cottage in La Jolla


La Jolla Shores, where J got horribly sunburned because he wasn't thorough enough with the sunblock. I'll never let him live it down :P


The name escapes me, but it's like a tortilla and meant to be dipped in that bowl of curry. Served at Penang in West Covina.


Black sticky rice with coconut milk. It looks unimpressive and possibly even unappetizing, but it's actually quite good and has a hint of red bean (always a plus in my book!). Served at Penang in West Covina.


Turkey Club served with plantain chips at Porto's Bakery & Cafe in Glendale. J also got a potato ball and shared it with me, but it was so good that I forgot to take a picture before we gobbled it up. Oops. (This actually happened a lot during our two weeks together.)


Egg noodles with peanut sauce at Ding's Garden in Rowland Heights. We ordered it medium spicy. Yummy.


Egg noodles with beef and brown sauce at Ding's Garden in Rowland Heights. My favorite!


Sunset on the 10-W towards LA

I swear we also did other things besides eat a lot, but I think I'll save that for another post.

around LA

Just wanted to do a quick post about my Saturday.

Afternoon: Griffith Observatory

The Hollywood sign in the distance

Downtown LA in the distance

I like how the terrain looked here.

• Cold and shitty weather
• Quality time with Mom
• Organic dark roast coffee & dark chocolate brownie
• Must come back: 1) at night, 2) when the weather's nicer & warmer, and/or 3) with J

Night: V Lounge

Looked better than they tasted.

• Even colder and shittier weather
• Good company, including a wasted birthday boy
• LA Waters that tasted like grape medicine (Was that intentional? I guess the quality of its taste lives up to that of its namesake...)
• Not sure I'd recommend this venue. People didn't start showing up until 11pm or so, which meant it was literally empty for an hour after we got there.

comic con

My long-time friend, Sweet Talker, invited me out to Comic Con in Anaheim this weekend and I decided to accept since I had never been. I was pretty excited, even though I figured it wouldn't be anywhere near the scale of San Diego's Comic Con. Oh well, you gotta start somewhere.

I saw cute things!

The only person I really wanted to see was Tricia Helfer, but when she finally appeared it turned out that she was only doing autographs...at $30 each. They were doing a photo op later that day and probably charging an equally obscene amount. And I probably would've been willing to pay, but then again...losing monies to juxtapose myself with her? My ego said no thanks.

I did, however, manage to snap a stealthy photo when nobody was looking. Creepy, no?

After having satisfied my fangirl imperative, I obliged ST's need for food and together we trekked over to Mimi's Cafe to grab a bite to eat. This place garnered good reviews on Yelp, so it seemed like a good time to try it out. I absolutely looove spinach and artichoke dip and once I saw that it was a menu item, I already knew what I was going to order.

I love when it's served with bread instead of chips!

The dip was rich and full of flavor, which went quite well with the crispy, garlic-y goodness of the bread. We also split a bottle of white wine and being the lightweight that I am, two (or was it three?) glasses were more than enough to put me in a good place for the rest of the afternoon.

We went back to the convention and walked around a while longer but left shortly thereafter in search of ice cream. It was such a nice day outside that it would've been a crime NOT to get some frozen treats. A quick search on Yelp turned up a place nearby called Joe's Italian Ice. Apparently their specialty is --you guessed it--Italian ice. Behold...!

ST's strawberry Joe Latti and my mocha almond fudge ice cream

The Joe Latti is Italian ice layered with soft-serve ice cream and is freakin' delicious. If you're in the area, I definitely recommend giving it a try!

So passed a pleasant day of eating and talking, but now I've found myself in a bit of a bind. You see, I've been friends with ST for quite a number of years and while I do enjoy his company, I'm afraid he enjoys mine in a different way. A part of me wonders whether he's just biding his time until I happen upon singlehood again and hoping that he can be the one to swoop in and pick up the pieces...

Perhaps I should just tell him I'm a lesbian and be done with it. You think he'd buy that?

ménage à trois

Apologies for the misleading title, but actually I did not end up in one. There was a club called Ménage and there were three of us, but alas...no sexy time. Sigh, it's been six months...

A proper girls' night out was long overdue, so I headed out to Pasadena with Leigh and Elise yesterday. Now, being the cheapskates that we were, we drove three blocks past our first destination to park in a lot where we wouldn't have to pay. And being the cheapskates that we were, this meant we had to walk those three blocks back to our first stop. Making that trek in 4-inch heels wouldn't have been bad if it hadn't been for the group of super creepy high school boys leering at us and literally following us up the street. Not even trying to be subtle. Really, what is the point of that? It's not gonna get you laid, that's for damn sure. We made our loud and hasty escape by running a red light, laughing hysterically and ducking into the safety of LIV Lounge while leaving the creepers behind on the other side of the street.

We arrived at 10:30pm, barely in time to catch their 2-for-1 drink special. The friendly bartender told us that we'd be the last ones to get the deal for the night, so Leigh and I each happily ordered our go-to girly drink--Sex on the Beach. I must say, it was really delicious there. I definitely recommend giving it a taste. We met up with an old acquaintance who was DJing that night, and he promptly ordered a round of Kamikazes for all of us, which were also quite easy on the taste buds. Never has alcohol at a bar been so easy to come by. Fuck yeah.

After some dancing, we decided it was time to move elsewhere. We hopped on over to Club Ménage where the promoters practically begged us to go in (as they did with everyone else who was passing by), so naturally we felt a bit skeptical about the quality of this place but we went in anyway. The crowd was a bit eclectic and generally a bit older...late 20s, early 30s. The upstairs dance floor came complete with its own bar, DJ and stripper poles. (Let me just say, never have I seen a MAN dance on a pole so enthusiastically!) Most of our time was spent here and it ended up being pretty fun.

Bar Celona, a Spanish tapas bar, was our final stop for the night. It turned out to be more like a lounge than anything else, with plenty of sitting space and music videos projected onto a central screen for those with a wandering eye. By the time we got there we were more or less ready to go home, so we didn't take advantage of the dining options it offered. Ah well, something to do next time.

All in all, a pretty good night. Too bad I offered to be DD!

om nom nom

In an uncharacteristic fit of spontaneity, I attended the LA Food Truck Festival today with Greg and Elise to satisfy our gastronomic appetites.

However, I had to steel my heart against what I saw there--and I'm not even talking about the plethora of food trucks! No, what I was unprepared to see was how many couples were there enjoying their delectable delights together. I've always been a huge sap, but for once in my life the sight of it stirred up a bitter brew of jealousy that was surprisingly difficult to stomach. What once was one of my greatest sources of joy has suddenly become a double-edged sword. I know, so emo.

And as for the food...well, it all looked good. The lines were quite long since we got there kind of late, so Elise and I only managed to get a small sampling of treats at The Sweets Truck (chocolate cake bite and s'mores cake "sandwich" sufficiently satisfied our sweet tooth!) while Greg stood in line for his lobster roll (lobster was quite fresh, btw). We spent a lot of time walking around to check out what kind of trucks were there, but many of the more popular ones had sold out early. By the time we decided that we wanted fries, that truck had closed up shop for the day. Booooo.

Lesson learned: must get there earlier next time!

rain rain go away

I've been holed up at home for the past two weeks, which is not really conducive to having fun at all, so despite the forecast promising rain for the whole weekend, I was determined to have a good time (read: be social).

When Friday night rolled around, I was ready to have a delicious dinner with a friend who might have a crush on me, until he told me that was not going to happen until 10pm. Fuuuck that. But man, I sure was looking forward to good food after a shitty day at work...you would need a pick-me-up too if your Boss insinuated more than once that you will excel in the domestic domain, as if it will be your defining role in life, and carried on like you should be proud of hearing this crap.

Doesn't matter, Saturday had me covered. Elise and Leigh scooped me up for a late lunch at Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles in Pasadena, which ended up really hitting the spot. Fried chicken & gravy, mac & cheese, candied yams, and (what I'm guessing were crack-laced) waffles with syrup and salted butter on top. How did I never try this until yesterday?

We walked around Pasadena afterward, stopping to ogle chocolate-covered confections and ice cream ads but too full to actually do anything more than stare, drool, and move on. As the food coma slowly set in, we went back to Elise's house and got comfortable. Before I had time to think twice, the camaraderie that came of our girl-bonding seduced me into revealing my streaking story from senior week. We all had a good laugh at that one, though they wondered why I didn't tell them sooner. Well, I couldn't help but feel like they would've judged me (and maybe they did) as it's not something I would normally do...oh well, I REGRET NOTHING!

Saturday night came around and Leigh and I met up with some high school friends for a birthday celebration at Verdugo Bar. Got drunk for the first time in a while but not on anything I asked for...this bar's kind of weird as they don't make drinks that are normally offered at bars. AMFs and Irish Car Bombs were not on the menu, so I settled for a Tequila Sunrise that tasted like medicine and a Lemon Drop which apparently didn't taste the way it was supposed to. But they did the trick and good times were had, so I'm not complaining too much. I do have to bitch about the stupid cloud coverage that prevented me from seeing the supermoon though...it started raining again by the time the bar closed.

I awoke to the sound of thunder this morning and even now it's still raining bullets outside. Kind of depressing, especially since tomorrow is the beginning of another week of hell...

twenty eleven

The holidays flew by this year--an unfortunate side effect of no longer having actual vacation time to celebrate and laze about. My new year's eve, though low-key, was still enjoyable. The company was good and my sobriety had decidedly dissipated by 9:30pm, but the only action I got this year came from the BFF as we spontaneously decided to reprise our kiss from three years ago. It didn't even happen at midnight, but that tiny detail was smoothed over by more alcohol. Fortunately for me, this one wasn't as well-documented as the last.

Now time for a confession! Naturally, I briefly questioned my sexual orientation because of that alcohol-induced episode three years ago, and I thought I had laid my doubts to rest once and for all after a bit of soul-searching, but some conversations with M lately have made them resurface. Thanks a lot, M. What am I supposed to do with this?!

I'm not sure I'm quite ready to deal with the implications of being bisexual. Even if I am, I'd rather keep dealing with guys exclusively. Can you imagine how much more dramatic life would get if I brought more estrogen into the mix?

An interesting way to start 2011 indeed. Happy New Year!

hallows & horcruxes

I gave Responsibility the finger last Thursday and went to catch the midnight show of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 at Universal CityWalk. It was EPIC. Almost every scene was done just the way I envisioned it when I read through the book. I've been so excited about it ever since the trailer was released and those 2.5 hours gave me everything I had hoped for. The settings were right out of the book, the cinematography was excellent and the acting was very well done. It's kind of strange to say this because I never saw him in this light before, but Daniel Radcliffe was looking pretty attractive in this movie. Must've been the ever-present 5 o'clock shadow. I gueeess the accent helped too. Can't wait to see the final installment!

Since I had long known it would be released on a weeknight, it occurred to me that choosing to watch this movie meant I'd be very tired at work the next day. And it crossed my mind to say no, but the reckless part of me felt it would be too awesome to pass up--I absolutely had to make an exception for Harry Potter. It did get me thinking though...now that my job is such a large part of my day, the responsible thing to do would be to give up the things that might negatively impact my work performance. But that's pretty much asking me to give up my fun. Moderation, you say? What's that?

What would be most ideal is not having to sleep so much. I'd get so much more out of my days if I didn't have to spend a third of them unconscious.

owned

Seriously, I need to work on becoming better at navigating social situations. Not only did I get myself stuck driving down to SD when I didn't really want to, but I also got myself into doing lunch with J's parents. Without J there. Why do I do this to myself?

Well, I know why I did it--the last part, at least. I would've felt really guilty if they somehow found out I had been in town and didn't drop by to say hello. And I really want to say, "At least I got a good meal out of it," but considering I had to work pretty hard during those two hours not to piss my pants while they prodded me for details about my job and future plans, I still think I got the short end of the stick.

They ended up taking me to a restaurant called The Cottage in La Jolla, which was a cozy-looking place that also offered outdoor seating--perfect for enjoying the bout of unusually nice weather that graced San Diego this weekend. Since breakfast was still available, I ordered stuffed French toast, which was French toast filled with fresh strawberries, mascarpone cheese and orange zest topped with powdered sugar and maple syrup. Sooo rich and delicious! J's parents ordered a crab melt and eggs benedict; I didn't try the latter, but the former was quite good as well, although it was a bit on the greasy side.

I hung out with the BFF afterward and had some long-overdue girl talk. She told me that she missed me, which actually came as a surprise to me...but it was touching and I let her know that I missed her too. I wish we could've spent more time together but this weekend just wasn't very well-planned. It's nice to know she still cares. Even though I can confide in J about anything, sometimes I just need a female to listen.

I also called up a couple of J's friends to see if they wanted to do something fun while I was in town. Unfortunately, Drinking Buddy wasn't available but Party Friend was down to play board games (Was that paradoxical? Party = board games?). He had a good laugh about how I got suckered into driving to SD and having lunch with the (I say this facetiously) future in-laws, while I poked fun at him for having to climb through the window into the driver's seat of his BMW because the lock had broken earlier that day. We played Settlers of Catan with two other friends, and I'm usually pretty awesome at that game but I got my ass handed to me by noobs. 'Twas a humbling experience but still a pleasant night.

My outlook on this weekend was pretty grim in terms of how much fun I expected to have, especially because I hadn't planned on going down. But I'm glad that I was still able to enjoy what SD had to offer even if J's no longer there as my anchor to the city.

satan

Tonight was pretty darn successful. A friend and I went out to the Pasadena and San Marino areas with my little cousin to go candy-grubbing. Aside from getting stared at awkwardly while half-expectantly waiting for candy that wasn't going to come, my first time trick-or-treating was quite fun :) Not only did we end up with more spoils than I anticipated, but there were also other "big kids" out there shamelessly knocking on doors and asking for chocolate. I don't know what possessed me to dwell on this thought all night...but I kept wondering whether anyone thought my friend and I were a lesbian couple who was taking our adopted child out for some festivities.

Just when we were finishing up for the night and heading back to the car with little cousin sandwiched safely between us, BAM! Weird man offers us candy on a dark, deserted street.

He was wearing red horns and walking in our direction, dropping a low, creepy "hello" as he passed. We said nothing and kept on our way, but the paranoia in me flared to life and I turned my head to make sure he wouldn't follow us. My heart began to race when I saw him stop, turn around and head back in our direction. He seemed to pick up his pace but thankfully walked ahead of us before proceeding to ask us some questions, the last of which was something along the lines of, "I have some candy to get rid of. Do you guys want it?" My friend said, "Suuuuure..." but backtracked after I gave her a panic-stricken look. We told him we already had enough candy and quickly made our escape.

I would've felt better about accepting if he hadn't sounded so damn creepy.

cakes

Kind of a busy weekend, with a little more spontaneity than I'm comfortable with...but to hell with comfort when spontaneity promises some fun, which my life has been lacking lately. A friend was turning 25 so we celebrated by taking him out to all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ at a place called Tahoe Galbi. Prices were decent ($18 without tax and tip) and the 4.5 shots of soju that it took to get me to my happy place went down smoothly. I love being a lightweight.

The birthday boy's girlfriend bought a cake from JJ Bakery that was quite delicious. Chocolate cake with a light whipped cream frosting, I think. People say Asian cakes are much better than American cakes because the frosting isn't as sweet, but I've never minded the extra sugar. I guess I'm just a sucrose fiend :)

A friend got married so I brought Elise with me to the reception. It was my first time attending anything wedding-related, and now it's got me looking forward to my own wedding. But just the wedding, not the marriage. And only because I'd get to wade through elegant dresses and go cake-tasting! Otherwise, I don't want to get married by 28 anymore. It feels too soon all of a sudden...

buzzing

I thought I should do at least one post while inebriated, so without further ado I bring you this edition of aesthetic seduction right after a night of getting drunk off my ass! We were celebrating Elise's boyfriend's birthday, so we had dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory before heading over to another friend's house to drink. I feel obligated to review this place, so I will say that for $15 you can get a pretty decent meal here. Most, if not all, their dishes come with either a soup or salad and ice cream for dessert. Spumoni is pretty awesome but only because it gave me a much-needed chocolate fix :)

Anyway, half the people took shots with the birthday boy at the house and being a lightweight, I was buzzing after three drinks and feeling pretty good. But then everyone decided that King's Cup would be a good idea so I joined in for the hell of it. That didn't work out too well. Somehow I knew I would end up drinking the King's Cup, which is why I pleaded with people beforehand to share it with me in the case that I did end up having to put it down. Except when I drew the last king, everyone goaded me into drinking it by myself and being easily peer-pressured, I chugged the mixture of beer, coconut rum, tropical punch, grenadine, and orange juice. And that brings me to my current state.

It wasn't the grossest concoction that could've come out of that situation, but I've decided that I can't get a good buzz unless I commit to one kind of alcohol. From experience, I've found that vodka or wine works best and I'm going to try my very hardest to stick to my tried-and-true ways.

ETA: I'm almost certain that I was still a little drunk when I woke up this morning, even though I didn't have all that much last night. I was most definitely a little hungover, but the headache passed as the day wore on.

loko

I still felt a little drunk from last night when I woke up this morning, but I couldn't really tell whether I was or just exhausted and slightly hungover. All I know is, Four Loko gives a bad buzz. It's an alcoholic energy drink that comes in an aluminum can like the ones used for Arizona, which is the equivalent of probably three standard drinks. Leigh thought it would be a good idea to get really fucked up on it so we each put one down before we left to the Broadway Bar to celebrate a friend's birthday and we were giggling uncontrollably like silly little girls by the time we got there.

Ours was 12% alcohol and 88% nasty.

We had the fruit punch flavored one, which everyone thought was better than the lemon flavored but...it was all gross to me. Of course, I chugged it anyway. It must've been the caffeine because that buzz lasted six or seven hours. And that's more than I'm comfortable with for something that's only supposed to last three or four. Everyone else at the party was trashed too so it didn't matter until I got home and had to clumsily tiptoe around the house at 4am to make myself some Mi Goreng. Never again! Caffeine and I can't be friends, at least not when alcohol is involved.

As for the bar itself, it was pretty nice and from what I can remember there wasn't a cover. We got there around 10pm so it wasn't packed but it was definitely full by the time we left around 1am. I can't remember much more than that...I'll add more if anything else comes back to me.

tipsy wednesday (nsfw)

Irene, Leigh, and I went to Islands for dinner last night to have another catch-up/gossip session. Of course, Irene was the only one who went intending to have dinner. Leigh and I had our hearts set on getting drunk. Nevertheless, once our menus were placed before us, I suddenly had a hankering for spinach artichoke dip. Irene ordered onion rings for "dinner" and she couldn't even finish it with our help.

In our defense, most of our stomach space went to the drinks that we all guzzled after realizing that we were making more of a dent in our food than our beverages. Irene and I each had a Lava Flow while Leigh tried the Rusty Anchor. I should've gotten that one for the Kahlua alone, but I was still happy with mine. Islands' drinks are fruitylicious! And for lightweights like us, they really did the trick.

Afterward, we walked around being obnoxiously loud and taking pictures before deciding to leave. Somebody whistled at us in the parking lot and I was nearly overcome by an urge to shout, "Let me show you my penis!"

Now I want to get one of these just so I can oblige when someone takes me up on that offer.

We spent part of the ride home catcalling guys on the street. Not too successful as there weren't many of them walking around on a Wednesday night, but we'll probably be back again soon to do it properly. Bwahahahaha.

ten hours

Today was a long day that began at 6 in the morning and I only had four hours of sleep from the night before to carry me through, but it was well worth it. Oddly enough, the weather's starting to warm up again. I guess we should be preparing for another heat wave. Oh, joy...

I met up with J and we breakfasted at the Broken Yolk Cafe in Pacific Beach. The place wasn't very busy so our food came fairly quickly. I had Betty's Southern Biscuits and Gravy which was much more than I could handle since I had a snack on the way down but it was still delicious. He finished his Huevos Rancheros and proceeded to pick at my plate afterward. He also kept joking about how much of a lesbian I was because I kept saying how cute our waitress was.

We headed to the nearest AMC to catch Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. AMC is the only theater I know of that gives an early bird special, where tickets for shows before noon are only $6. So our tickets together cost about as much as one regular ticket. I love great deals! The movie itself was very quirky and painfully awkward at first, but once it got going the whole thing was very amusing. And according to J, the fight scenes were pretty well done. I recommend this if you want two hours of fun and mindless entertainment.

The day wouldn't have been complete if it didn't include some time on the silky sand of a San Diego beach. J knocked out but I stayed awake to tell him to flip over periodically so that he wouldn't burn. Then I couldn't help myself and fell asleep at the sacrifice of my left pinky, which came out of the trip mildly burned. Not sure why it was only that finger.

Beautiful blue sky and fluffy white clouds

Gorgeous sunset at day's end

awkward doesn't even come close to describing this

I spent last night getting hotboxed by BFF and The Asshole, getting hit on by a really-nice-but-not-my-type guy, and drinking much too lightly.

How did The Asshole become part of last night's plans in the first place? Well, I had already guessed BFF would want to hit him up so was prepared to see him. She asked how I felt about it and only called after I said it was fine. He was surprised to see me. We didn't talk much to each other the entire time but I enjoyed calling him fat once or twice. I feel kind of bad for his nickname now because he was pretty nice to me, but meh. I might change it in the future if this behavior is consistent.

BFF also invited a friend X that we didn't know who brought his friend Y along. Y and I were the only ones not smoking while the others puffed away at their cigs so we ended up talking to each other for most of the night. I suspected where the conversation was headed when he asked if I wanted to go inside and leave the smokers in the patio, but I couldn't be sure until he said more. Over the next twenty minutes, he gave me ample opportunity to tell him I had a boyfriend as he kept pressing me for details about how I spent my free time. I should've dropped the boyfriend bomb then but instead told him about job apps, reading, and gaming. He seemed to take a liking to that last detail because his face lit up and I mentally facepalmed after I said it.

My dumbass didn't choose those moments to tell him about J. No, I let the chance pass by and conversation moved on to other things. What happened next is almost too excruciating for me to even type out. When topics were exhausted, I tactlessly blurted out, "I should tell you that I have a boyfriend." But it was even worse than that, much choppier and bungled than I want to recall. And I kid you not, his eyes actually bulged and he looked stunned for a few seconds. I wanted to shoot myself. He recovered after a couple minutes and graciously continued talking to me, even asking about how things with J were going. We had lots of things in common, but I just wasn't feeling it. Not that I'm even looking anyway.

It was a good time overall, but I'm convinced I wouldn't have committed such a blunder had I only put down some more "social lubricant." I've made a mental note of it for next time.

beach bum

I had an amazing time with the girls yesterday. We went to the beach to soak up some sunshine and took a look at the nearby shops before heading back to Elise's place. We ended up ordering pizza for dinner and watching Rent. Even though I've seen it twice already, I had to try really hard not to cry. I think that's just the effect that musicals have on me...even though I've only seen one other one. Unless Disney movies count, which they should.

Mission Beach in San Diego, May 2010

Huntington Beach, July 2008

A guy walked in on me while I was peeing in the public restroom. Luckily I was already pulling my pants up when it happened. He said he was sorry, but he didn't sound very genuine about it.