Jason's Daily Notes

This weekend was crazy, in the best possible way! Busy and adventure-packed, which is exactly how I love it! Let me lay down an overview of what happened, with pictures!!!

Friday Night: Picked up Cassy and Leslie from LAX, tried to get Kogi (fail); got ready at my apt, met up with Alex, headed out to the Crocker Club in downtown. Hung out for a while, got our own "reserved" room/table (thanks to a helpful server), then the party arrived.

Mingling and drinking continued; then Juan and Jenn arrived as well. "Berkeley! Stand up!," beckoned Summer. Around midnight we were off to Hollywood, hitting up Happy Ending on Sunset. Drinks by the pail! Beer pong table (with a weird guy asking what I was taking a picture of - ughcha)! However, it was only "team Berkeley" who went here; the other part of our group--"team Michelle's bday"--diverted to Kevin's friends' apt "party" because the celebrating girl had begun to chuck up. No worries though; other than creating a couple awkward bathroom situations, she's all good.

Saturday: A jam-packed day. But we slept in (rightfully so) until around 11:30, then Jenn and Cassy and Leslie and Alex came over to make some delicious (and really filling) brunch!

Juan graciously granted us the use of his car for the day, which might have been the best idea, because, at our next destination (the Kogi truck in West LA), there was a car accident directly behind our car.

It was all okay though, simply a matter of a car pulling out too fast colliding with a car going too fast down the street. It's just like the movie Crash. We were super-stuffed, which I had planned for as we headed to the next activity: Renting bicycles and biking down the beach from Santa Monica to Venice. It was great; the weather was a bit chilly but mostly sunny, and through and through totally SoCal. (One of us didn't know how to ride a tw0-wheeler!) We then headed to the Venice canals, but before we could get there, we had to fix Cassy's bike, whose chain had conveniently dislodged itself from its sprockets right in front of the Island's on Washington. Passers-by were forthcoming with offering advice and help, but it was simply a matter of pushing it through. Alex's and my fingers were stained with bike chain grease for the rest of the day, despite persistent washing. The canals were lovely - makes me wonder what it'd be like if they expanded the canals to encompass most of the rest of Venice.

A quick bike ride back (I bought sunglassess); bikes returned; and a late afternoon stroll along the famous Santa Monica Pier.

Tired, we drove back to Jenn's apartment and mine, for everyone to get ready for dinner. The dinner destination was Manna BBQ (the new location in Culver City), where a confused LT and CH wondered why the dinner wasn't as "messy" as I had promised. Their questions were answered at the end, however, when the waiters came out and... well, do what they do for birthdays at Manna. It was hilarious and everyone had a great time. Ray had joined up with us and after getting ready back at the apartments, we headed out to one of Juan's favorite WeHo hangouts: Micky's. Finding parking was a bitch, we all ended up parking in a nearby $10 lot. Petri and Leena were there waiting for us, straight off the bus from Las Vegas; they had a blast (and probably have had one of the best visits to LA ever! Not that I'm taking credit for it all, but a big chunk of it is all because of me). As for the bar/club? It was definitely very WeHo. I'll leave it at that. Santa Monica Blvd. was closed at Wilshire, because of the Golden Globes. So we had to be re-routed down Wilshire, where a couple of dudes were racing their beemers. A little further down, two fire trucks and and an ambulance screamed down the block to an accident scene, where a car had wrapped itself around a light pole (or tree?).

Sunday: Petri and Leena spent the day back on Venice Beach, which is a shame because it was showery/rainy the whole day (contrasting with the weather forecast calling for rain starting around 10pm!). Jenn, Leslie, Ray and I instead spent the day embarking on one of our classic food adventures!!! It started with lunch at Zankou Chicken.
We then drove to Beverly Hills (again detoured because of some awards show) to grab a couple Sprinkles cupcakes. Then chugged ourselves over to Glendale to experience the ever-crowded Porto's and buy a couple of boxes full of baked goodies for ourselves and for our family. It was super packed, so we headed to my house, where everyone got to meet my family. We burned off a good amount of calories (over 350 to be more precise), playing Wii Sports and utilizing our elliptical. Drove back to West LA, waited at my apt, while watching some of the Golden Globes, for Petri and Leena; then we headed back out to dinner, trying to see what was open, then settling on Le Saigon (which was just about to close) for some Phở. The food didn't stop there, though, because for some (heavenly) reason, we decided to stop for frozen yogurt at Froplay.

Walking back to the apartment from Froplay is when it all happened. It was right in front of the Bank of America, and it all happened so fast, as these things always do. You never expect it to happen, and even if you're prepared, you still don't know how to react when it does actually happen to you. You're paralyzed, in shock, really.

Well, so what happened? We were walking back, a group of six people, with some light drizzle falling. There's a tall man at the ATM. We pass him, but couldn't help noting his distinctive black suit and familiar red lapel pin. A few steps past, we pause and confirm with each other what the notions we had in our heads: It's Josh Duhamel. The guy from Las Vegas and Transformers and other shows/movies that we were too stupefied to think of at the moment. He's also married to Fergie. A couple seconds later, he walks right by us, and says, "What's up guys? Hanging out here without an umbrella?!" We had no real response except a few stifled chuckles. We see him get into the Escalade across the street. We also start walking down the block to my apartment. But, before long, the Escalade had its windows rolled down, hip-hop blasting, and as it drove by us, it slowed down. Josh yelled out to us "Rock on!" and next to him was none other than Fergie herself, hands in the air and head bopping. They were partying while rolling down my street! OMFG. That's pretty amazingly awesome. And yes, they were wearing the same clothes and looked exactly like they did at the Golden Globes just a couple hours earlier:

We were dumbfounded and simply starstruck for the next hour or so. Myself included. I feel almost as if Fergie and Josh "christened" my apartment, but in that most LA of ways. And what a wonderful way to send off my visitors: Leslie, Petri and Leena got sent off with one of the best Los Angeles-y encounters you could hope for. And I feel so good that they all had a great time. I feel like a proud dad :)

Monday: Leslie and Cassy flew back to SFO, and Petri and Leena are at their second host. So I'm at the apartment alone. It's good to recharge, especially after such a jam-packed weekend. I was gonna jog, but there were showers around, which turned to a full-fledged downpour by the early afternoon. I instead cleaned up a little and began prepping some fried rice (I make some amazing fried rice, btw). Steve arrived soon, fresh from Providence, and just stopping back in LA to bring his USA visit full-circle before he returns to NZ. A couple minutes later, Matthew returned. My fried rice was soon cooked, and we just chilled as the rain began to clear out. Grabbed a couple beers at the SF Saloon, which has a nice local-pub feel to it, as the Lakers defeated the Magic. We were both tired, and so called it a night relatively early.