La-La Land
First off, a big, big thank you to Brian’s brother Joe and wife Alison for hosting us for much of the trip. We got fed, we got drunk, we got our clothes washed, and it was damn generous of them and I certainly won’t forget all they did for us.
I met Joe and Alison and they met me with a drink. We got the grand tour. I got another drink. Joe showed me the pool he built, many weekends in a row in the blazing sun, Alison showed me another drink. We walked up their observation tower, from the top overlooking the entire valley, a tower they built in a few weekends. We came inside and sat down to chat, but first, another drink, we finished the chat and set out to the hot tub, but first, another drink. The water was warm and therapeutic, the jets massaged my back, sore from a day in the car and early in the morning, after yet another drink, I fell asleep. This was how I was welcomed to LA, in the hills in an amazing home, with smiles, laughs and booze.
The house was so relaxing that for our first day in LA we just lounged around it. Once we played a little basketball, I’ve learned a lot on this trip and one more thing was learned that day, it’s that we sure suck at basketball. Joe came home from work and took us for some amazing sushi, It was damn good. Scratch that, it was delicious. Watching Brian and his brother interact was very interesting, seeing their similarities and differences. After dinner we headed over to Morgan’s house near Santa Monica. Morgan lives with Jamie Miguel and two other SCADdies. It was weird seeing the whole bunch together and after the initial so-what-the-hell-is-up, oh-this-and-that-you-know, yep-yadda-yadda-and-so-forth, good-to-see-you’s we went out to grab some drinks. At the bar I was surrounded by gorgeous women. It was magnificent. Not only that, but because, I assume, they operate on the assumption that you could know someone important or could be someone important, everyone of them was open to chat it up. Wonderful. Booze was expensive and Morgan had to work early so we headed home and fell asleep at their house. The next day I forget what we did but I do know that we got absolutely blitzed at some bar, somewhere, and had big group hugs and drunken smiles for a whole night. Terrific.
We visited Morgs at work and I must say this, Morgan loves what he does, he enjoys all of it, and I would love to have that experience, but me personally, well I could never—never—sit and stare at a computer screen for over 60 hours a week. We showed up and the lights were off, a dim glow emanating on every persons face. It hurt my eyes just thinking of their eyes. For a bit we looked at the projects he was working on, cool stuff from the Morgster, and eventually left.
The rest of the trip the weather sucked. Absolutely terrible. This is a city that according to most, never gets rain and sure enough it rained all the time. So we lounged inside, a lot, and the days became a blur.
One night we met up with our college friend Molly at her house with plans to go out to a concert. Instead we chatted, laughed and got drunk. At one point we ran out for more beer, on the way we saw a shopping cart and before I knew it I was flying down the street inside it, Brian propelling the cart behind me. We hit a pot hole and the whole mess went crashing to the ground, me flying forward and Brian right into the cart. Despite a massive head blow for Brian we all laughed at the whole episode for a long time. It was great catching up with Molly and the next morning we exchanged hungover goodbyes and headed off.
That night we met my Dad for dinner, which was fun but lacking the man-to-man bonding I wanted, after which we met yet another SCAD-grad at her bar. It was wonderful to see her, I’ve always thought she was a truly great person and it was nice to see that LA hasn’t changed my perception of her one bit. She’s one those genuine people who smiles at you and means it, who is nice because she’s genuinely nice. She’s a Midwestern girl too and Mom (a Midwesterner herself) always extols the virtues of those Midwest women. Brian and I played pool and when Emily had a time she stopped and we caught up. Eventually we left and it was kind of a downer, Emily’s the type of girl I would like to say ‘hey lets walk along the beach and talk and see if we make each other smile’ but instead she was inside and I was walking out the door wondering what a walk with her would be like, if it would mean everything or nothing at all. It’s not like a regret or a disappointment, it’s just that I see these people come through my life and let them go without ever taking a chance that something important could be waiting right there for me to find. Or else those sort of things just find you. L.A. (and California in general) was full of gorgeous woman and I really felt down because in my heart I wanted to meet all of them and find someone who could make me feel that spark, that mad desire to spend every minute, every moment in their company. That person who made me feel wanted and someone I could let know how much I wanted and I need in my life. That feeling has been so gone for so long now and I miss it. It’s funny my friends are out here making career moves, an endless, aimless, pursuit of money and they’re passionate about it, they know what they’re working for and how to get there and I’m not that way at all. The thing I desire most, finding someone to be passionate about is something I can’t control, something there is no path for. It’s something I’ll have to wait for, and it’s hard to wait and wonder when that passion will arrive, or if it will ever arrive at all. Alas, que sera sera. It was our last night in LA and leaving it felt kind of sad. I don’t despise the city like so many people do, people dream here and if there’s anything in this world I can relate to—it’s dreaming.
Oh, I almost forgot, we sat in traffic for what felt like one fifth of our visit. I would talk more about it but the transcript of those moments involves lots of cursing and anger and wouldn’t be very interesting, as sitting in stand still traffic rarely is, although, I have had some interesting sitting-in-traffic moments. Once, a car with two girls on their way back to college pulled up next to me while I was at work in the VDOT truck, We exchanged smiling glances for a few minutes and before I knew it I was treated to show of breasts, followed by my redneck co-workers yelling over the CB-radio static, ‘hssss…di’juh see tham titties?…hssss…ew’eeeeee, they got me’all hot!’ It was all those guys talked about for weeks straight, coming over the CB during work to say something like ‘hssss…Eric, j’ew ‘member tham titties?…hssss…they still got me’all hot!’
I met Joe and Alison and they met me with a drink. We got the grand tour. I got another drink. Joe showed me the pool he built, many weekends in a row in the blazing sun, Alison showed me another drink. We walked up their observation tower, from the top overlooking the entire valley, a tower they built in a few weekends. We came inside and sat down to chat, but first, another drink, we finished the chat and set out to the hot tub, but first, another drink. The water was warm and therapeutic, the jets massaged my back, sore from a day in the car and early in the morning, after yet another drink, I fell asleep. This was how I was welcomed to LA, in the hills in an amazing home, with smiles, laughs and booze.
The house was so relaxing that for our first day in LA we just lounged around it. Once we played a little basketball, I’ve learned a lot on this trip and one more thing was learned that day, it’s that we sure suck at basketball. Joe came home from work and took us for some amazing sushi, It was damn good. Scratch that, it was delicious. Watching Brian and his brother interact was very interesting, seeing their similarities and differences. After dinner we headed over to Morgan’s house near Santa Monica. Morgan lives with Jamie Miguel and two other SCADdies. It was weird seeing the whole bunch together and after the initial so-what-the-hell-is-up, oh-this-and-that-you-know, yep-yadda-yadda-and-so-forth, good-to-see-you’s we went out to grab some drinks. At the bar I was surrounded by gorgeous women. It was magnificent. Not only that, but because, I assume, they operate on the assumption that you could know someone important or could be someone important, everyone of them was open to chat it up. Wonderful. Booze was expensive and Morgan had to work early so we headed home and fell asleep at their house. The next day I forget what we did but I do know that we got absolutely blitzed at some bar, somewhere, and had big group hugs and drunken smiles for a whole night. Terrific.
We visited Morgs at work and I must say this, Morgan loves what he does, he enjoys all of it, and I would love to have that experience, but me personally, well I could never—never—sit and stare at a computer screen for over 60 hours a week. We showed up and the lights were off, a dim glow emanating on every persons face. It hurt my eyes just thinking of their eyes. For a bit we looked at the projects he was working on, cool stuff from the Morgster, and eventually left.
The rest of the trip the weather sucked. Absolutely terrible. This is a city that according to most, never gets rain and sure enough it rained all the time. So we lounged inside, a lot, and the days became a blur.
One night we met up with our college friend Molly at her house with plans to go out to a concert. Instead we chatted, laughed and got drunk. At one point we ran out for more beer, on the way we saw a shopping cart and before I knew it I was flying down the street inside it, Brian propelling the cart behind me. We hit a pot hole and the whole mess went crashing to the ground, me flying forward and Brian right into the cart. Despite a massive head blow for Brian we all laughed at the whole episode for a long time. It was great catching up with Molly and the next morning we exchanged hungover goodbyes and headed off.
That night we met my Dad for dinner, which was fun but lacking the man-to-man bonding I wanted, after which we met yet another SCAD-grad at her bar. It was wonderful to see her, I’ve always thought she was a truly great person and it was nice to see that LA hasn’t changed my perception of her one bit. She’s one those genuine people who smiles at you and means it, who is nice because she’s genuinely nice. She’s a Midwestern girl too and Mom (a Midwesterner herself) always extols the virtues of those Midwest women. Brian and I played pool and when Emily had a time she stopped and we caught up. Eventually we left and it was kind of a downer, Emily’s the type of girl I would like to say ‘hey lets walk along the beach and talk and see if we make each other smile’ but instead she was inside and I was walking out the door wondering what a walk with her would be like, if it would mean everything or nothing at all. It’s not like a regret or a disappointment, it’s just that I see these people come through my life and let them go without ever taking a chance that something important could be waiting right there for me to find. Or else those sort of things just find you. L.A. (and California in general) was full of gorgeous woman and I really felt down because in my heart I wanted to meet all of them and find someone who could make me feel that spark, that mad desire to spend every minute, every moment in their company. That person who made me feel wanted and someone I could let know how much I wanted and I need in my life. That feeling has been so gone for so long now and I miss it. It’s funny my friends are out here making career moves, an endless, aimless, pursuit of money and they’re passionate about it, they know what they’re working for and how to get there and I’m not that way at all. The thing I desire most, finding someone to be passionate about is something I can’t control, something there is no path for. It’s something I’ll have to wait for, and it’s hard to wait and wonder when that passion will arrive, or if it will ever arrive at all. Alas, que sera sera. It was our last night in LA and leaving it felt kind of sad. I don’t despise the city like so many people do, people dream here and if there’s anything in this world I can relate to—it’s dreaming.
Oh, I almost forgot, we sat in traffic for what felt like one fifth of our visit. I would talk more about it but the transcript of those moments involves lots of cursing and anger and wouldn’t be very interesting, as sitting in stand still traffic rarely is, although, I have had some interesting sitting-in-traffic moments. Once, a car with two girls on their way back to college pulled up next to me while I was at work in the VDOT truck, We exchanged smiling glances for a few minutes and before I knew it I was treated to show of breasts, followed by my redneck co-workers yelling over the CB-radio static, ‘hssss…di’juh see tham titties?…hssss…ew’eeeeee, they got me’all hot!’ It was all those guys talked about for weeks straight, coming over the CB during work to say something like ‘hssss…Eric, j’ew ‘member tham titties?…hssss…they still got me’all hot!’
Joey and Alison's house in the hills
How many SCAD grads does it take to look gay on a couch?
At my urging Brian and Morgan had a street fight. Friends to the end.
And this was the last she saw of her pointer finger.
Morgs, Brian and Tina whose birthday or something or other we were celebrating. Like we needed an excuse!
I call this image 'Brian Escapes'
So this girls hair got caught on this guys coat button. Boy did that look sexual!
This my friends is what you call a 'drunken vacant stare'
Uh, Brian, my eyes aren't working so well anymore.
posted by Eric at
3:17 AM
