I'm In L.A. Bitch

If you don't know what I'm referring to in the title, you're lucky. If you do, then you've heard the worst song on the planet. If you're curious, or you're a glutton for punishment, youtube the title, but beware that you'll be pissed you heard it. Thanks for introducing me to this song Ashley. 

Before I talk about our first two days in LA and how much I love this place, I have a few things that I forgot to mention in the last blog. First, did anyone else know that Phoenix doesn't have daylight savings time? We thought we were on Mountain Time, but apparently Phoenix is on Pacific Time until the fall. The result of our ignorance was arriving at the Diamondbacks game 45 minutes before the first pitch (which I kind of liked, obviously). Also, I woke up the next morning to my alarm, brushed my teeth and washed my face and all that jazz, only to find out I was up an hour early and we weren't planning on leaving for another hour and a half. Fantastic! Now, I forgot what the second thing was I wanted to talk about, so when it comes back to me I'll throw it in.

The drive from Phoenix to LA was about six hours long, a relatively short trip considering some of our recent journeys. We stopped at Joshua Tree National Park along the way for a quick drive through and some pictures. It was pretty scenic and interesting, but mostly it was just the middle of the effing desert. All I could think of during our short visit there was U2 and the Entourage guys doing shrooms.

Moving on, we went to Sam's brother's (Chris) place in the valley when we finally made it to LA. We chilled and watched entirely too much Man vs. Wild (although I'm pretty fascinated with it since I had never seen it before). Chris and his roommate came to the Dodgers game with us. Dodger Stadium entered into my Top 5 favorite stadiums list. It's older, but has a great baseball feeling and the fans create a great atmosphere. They LOVE Manny, which is OK with me for the most part because I'm one of the few Tribe fans that still likes, or at least has an appreciation for, Manny. Here's a hilarious list of celebrities who were at the game and that they showed on the Jumbotron: Larry King, A.C. Slater (Mario Lopez - who am I kidding? If you don't know who Slater is then we aren't friends), James Vanderbeek, and some dude from the original 90210. Also, some moron proposed to his girlfriend on the Jumbotron during the Kiss Cam segment. I'm not an expert on the female psyche by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm fairly confident in saying that 9 out of 10 ladies DOES NOT want their hand in marriage requested at a baseball game in front of 30,000+ people. That's about as romantic as proposing on the Universal Studios Tour when Jaws pops out of the water (which is my plan by the way). Two more notable memories from the game: Chris' roommate bought Sam and me Dodger dogs because he grew up in LA and insisted it is the best hot dog on the planet. It's damn close to being true. Second, he brought a handheld AM/FM radio to the game to listen to the radio broadcast while we watched. Despite the fact that it's such an old man thing to do, it was awesome.

After the game we drove to our friends Ashley and Mckenzie's apartment in Venice. We hit one of the local watering holes expecting a somewhat tame night. As usual, I was wrong. It turned out to be a ton of fun though and we headed back to the apt and crashed. I feel asleep on the couch and woke up on an air mattress. That's mostly attributed to the warm well shots of tequila - which were $7!!! None of this is important, so moving on. Yesterday was a full day of Southern California fun. Ashley, Sam, Sam's bro and friend, and I went to Venice Beach (which is a 90 second walk from the girls' apartment) and walked the boardwalk. I'm convinced that this is the best place in the country to people watch. Those who have been here understand, and it would be impossible to describe it to those who haven't. Just a preview: Tree Man walks on stilts in a full tree suit and creepily stalks beach-goers. Also, on Sundays at sundown Venice Beach hosts the world's largest drum circle. Anyways, after strolling the boardwalk for a while, we laid on the beach for a few hours and relaxed. I swam for a little while, but the Pacific is pretty damn cold. The waves were amazing though - easily the best I've ever seen. After the beach, we went to a German beergarden right on the boardwalk and enjoyed mid-day pitchers. 

After a brief stop at Ashley's apartment again for a dip in the swimming pool and hot tub, Sam and I headed to West Hollywood where we stayed last night with my friend Kristen from HS. Kristen, Kim (sister), Sam, and I went to Runyon Canyon park and hiked up to a great lookout spot with a view of the entire city from downtown to the beach. We followed that up with a trip to a place called Crazy Rockin' Sushi. I have been craving sushi for over a month, and it was everything I expected it would be. It really hit the spot. Last night at Kristen's apartment, we watched some Planet Earth DVDs and chatted to catch up on everything. It was a great relaxing night and the perfect end to what I'll call one of my favorite days on the trip so far. As if it isn't obvious, I love it here.

A few schedule changes for anyone who cares:

Aug. 2 - Giants game in SF

Aug. 5 - A's game in Oakland

Aug. 19 - Tigers game in Detroit.

I hope to talk to you all soon. Peace.

Matt