Jason's Daily Notes

My Aussies for the week - Andy and Pat - arrived yesterday. Picked 'em up after work in downtown LA, at a noodle bar they sort of stumbled upon (but also a noodle bar frequented by the likes of Adrien Grenier). They were absolutely knackered from the time difference, napped for a little bit in a park next to city hall. Then we were off to the Bucket. Traffic was incredibly bad. Like, it took maybe 12 minutes just to transition from the 101 onto the 110 north. (It would take less than 10 minutes to walk that.) Bad move, I'll stick to the side streets next time.
So yeah, Bucket. Good times, I'm glad I made an exception for myself to eat meat there. Patty didn't get carded. Drove back.
Work is meh today. I'm not really doing anything.
Music: Pendulum; the Kooks
Work is actually worse than meh. It's frankly uninspiring. Even my motivation to apply to other jobs is gone!
Lunch: 2 frozen burritos. Banana.
Going to Hollywood today after work to meet up with my Aussies.

Late night walk/jog last night. Contemplated things.
Private runway in Nevada. It's a bit like a puzzle.
Kevin's second day at his job. He also designs his own board games (and programmed a Sudoku solving program out of spite!).
Andy and his brother arrive today. I was checking their flight status to see if I'd pick them up.
Jogged around the VA hospital this morning. It's still cloudy and chilly.
Gotta mail rent.
Google myself - most of the results are actually me :)
... I need to track how many websites I'm actually on.
Hosting travelers has made me realize how much people underestimate the vastness of Los Angeles, which is precisely what I enjoy most.
News: Judge Walker to rule on gay marriage today. "Static Kill" seems to have been working on the oil spill. Pakistan floods, bad. Obama's birthday today!
Music: B.O.B. - Nothin' on You
I BOUGHT AN IPOD. It's shipping today.
Faxed in the insurance info for my car.

It's good to be busy...

Watched An Education last night.
Went to Spaceland last night. I couldn't get Tiger beer. Clotilde and Guillaume left before the first band even started! We only stayed for the first 2 bands, who were not bad: The Franks and Kenan Bell.
Construction on the 405 detoured my drive back home. Gurr.
I never got to see Clotilde and Guillaume afterwards, they had left early in the morning.
... because I was sleeping well. Didn't get to work til 9:15. No sugar or raisins in the apt - so I had to eat oatmeal with banana for breakfast.
I'm focusing on work this morning, no distractions for a few hours. It feels good, getting things organized.
Lunch: A few soy nuggets. And a banana.
My first for the day: Bidding on an item on EBay. I'm trying to buy an ipod. People keep sniping my bids at the last second. Gurrr.
Almost (?) got free tickets to an improv show with Charlie Murphy. The craigslist ad got flagged, I suspect it wasn't legit.

Finally used our investigative tools to search for something in my own life. And I learned something important. I'm not totally surprised by it, but still somewhat stunned. More numb than anything.

There's a lot going on!
Kevin's moved in - with his pimped out bike.
Ate organic shabu-shabu last night.
Clotilde and Guillerme are touring WB studios today.
Spaceland tonight?
Music: Kansas - Carry on My Wayward Son; Timbaland and Justin Timberlake - Carry Out; Elton John - Levon
Lots of job opportunities, especially with websites, etc.
Lots of new music to listen to.
Still deciding on an ipod. Stopped by the Apple store. A guy was hogging the ipod touch.
Lunch: 2 bananas and an apple.
This is shaping up to be a busy/exciting week. We'll see...
...playing sudoku.

Spaceland tonight!

Friday night: Brendan and his mom were there. I drove to Glassell and went on a Northeast LA pub crawl! The Black "Bore", 4100 (which lost its magic), [a peek inside Akbar!] Tiki Ti, and Good Luck Bar. Then Del Taco.

It's so hard to be vegetarian when you're at Del Taco at 2am. So hard. So I ate chicken.

Drove back to West LA. Whoo.


Saturday: Brendan and his mom packed up and moved out of the apartment.
Finished watching Shutter Island. Good psychological thriller, even though it took a while for me to get into it.
Chilled at the apt most of the day. Made pancakes with cheese and Tapatio sauce. My not-so-secret recipe.
Went to RA Sushi Torrance to meet up with Jonathan during happy hour. Brian took a while to get there, happy hour was almost over. Lots of good sushi though. We spent some time thinking of good names for my car - Claire, Lisa, Joanna - none really seemed right.
Afterwards it was just Brian and I. The Del Amo mall is depressingly out of date and out of touch, especially around 8pm on a Saturday.
Stopped by Alpine Village. There was a wedding or quinceañera going on. But the restaurant/beer hall was filled with old people. So our response was to RUN! (just like that one pub in London, haha)


Ended up back in West LA. Checked out the Daily Pint in Santa Monica. Now what a nice bar this was. Dark, somewhat damp, a place you wouldn't be surprised to find some shady business going on in the basement. Yet a great selection of beer and scotch whisky! Definitely my kind of place! Brian and I walked through once to check out the bar, and a girl named Sue eyes us over and approaches us - "I have this extra shot of Jack, and it's way too much for me. Do you guys want it?"

I contemplated for half a second the possibility that I could be drugged and brutally taken advantage of. Then the more rational side of my brain kicked in: FREE ALCOHOL! And Brian and I imbibed. We felt oddly wobbly the rest of the night. Never mind that - this was clearly a sign from the gods of whiskey/whisky: MY CAR IS NOW NAMED SUE.

And he looked and saw that it was good.


Sunday: New month. Yay.
Clotilde and Guillaume went to the beach for the day. They had contemplated going to San Diego, but it was too much and they haven't really had a beach day yet. Although the weather's been so chilly this summer at the beach, it's really disappointing.
Took recycling to Culver City. Cut my finger on a shard of glass. Got $3.30 for my beer bottles, and used it to help pay for groceries.
My new flatmate has arrived! He is Kevin. He is from New York (just graduated). He works in video games. He starts his new job tomorrow (Monday). He is vegan. And he has an electric bicycle worth $1800. He arrived in the afternoon with his (gluten-allergic and also vegan) girlfriend Crystal from Irvine.
Went to dinner. Organic shabu shabu with mom and uncle. Then milkshakes for dessert.

Music: Black Eyed Peas; "Faith"; "MMMBop"
Talked with Brendan's mom last night, for a while - about cultures, religion, Japan, earthquakes, the pope, and taxes.
Watched When in Rome. Cheesy.

I'm sleep deprived this week. No full nights rest for me.
Cass was in DC. Jenn won a BH&Gardens recipe contest!
Considering LSE. It seems really hard to get in though.
I might not even need a GRE score to apply. D'oh.
Called Kevin, who responded to my craigslist ad. Looks like he'll be moving in to the apt!
Lunch: Small salad.
Shopping for a replacement ipod. It costs $140 to repair my broken one.
Yes, I'm using craigslist to shop for an ipod too.
Livemocha.com: FREE basic language lesson! I'm learning French now :)
Airbnb guests arriving tonight: Clotilde and her husband.
Music to get: Toto - Africa

Last night! Drove back to the apt, picked up Brendan, and we were off on our adventure to "Buy More." Drove to Woodland Hills - and there it was, the former Mervyn's used in the TV show! Whaaaaa!
Then off to Burbank, saw the other Buy More location and had dinner at Hooters, where we played WINGO but neither of us won :/
On the way back, I had to pull a U-ie to get a good look at the huge billboards on the side of WB studios. THEN stopped in Hollywood to get a pic of Chuck's house. Seriously, stalking overload!
I got a call from CHRIS. Finally. Great to catch up, but always over the phone?! Life is changing so fast. It really is crazy.
Brendan was impressed by how young the US's buildings and culture are.
"That's it"!
Back at the apartment, Eva and Lena were there (they had met with their friend from Germany). I exchanged TV shows with Brendan.

Today: My energy/aura feels negative. I feel slightly guilty (but of what? I really don't know). Woke up at 6:45 but Brendan was already gone so I couldn't say bye. I tried to fall back asleep. It just made me more tired. Drove to work - 9:05. Traffic bad.
Music: Rivers Cuomo and B.o.B - Magic
I learned what Münchausen syndrome actually is.
The rent check for July was deposited, so my bank account has correspondingly plummeted. Sigh.
... still looking for someone to live in the apt for August!
I'm spending a lot of time on FB.

Hung out with Brendan, Eva & Lena last night. Went to TJs and cooked fajitas (sort of) and had 2 bottles of wine. Whoooah!
It was cold. Brendan's mom has arrived. She's nice.

Jogged this morning (around the high school). Drove to work. Traffic.
The plan for this afternoon is to go to "Buy More" from the TV show Chuck. It's in Woodland Hills. Brendan is apparently a huge fan and this would make his trip. And I'll gladly take any excuse to drive my new car around :)

I just went to the Apple store. Rachel has been officially pronounced dead. :(
Now I'm shopping for a new ipod. There goes another couple hundred dollars. It's crazy how I'm more broke now than before I started working. Keeping up a 21st century life is expensive!

Westlaw lunch/presentation. I stood the whole time. And I've heard it all before.
Lunch: Clementine sandwich and cobb salad.
Considering fellowships to volunteer abroad. Kiva fellows?

Music: Drake - Find Your Love
News: Plane crash in Pakistan; AZ immigration law to begin