as i pack for my second summer trip--to las vegas (with my bff kim texting me every hour or so asking if i've packed yet... she's been packing for a week now)-- i realized that i didn't blog about my last trip to los angeles. after a tumultuous beginning of summer-- with my teaching/student dilemma, dumb boys, and moving into a new place (complete with my ex-friend-current-roommate-"awkward"'s shrinking my laundry, insulting my family, and telling me to "move the fuck out"... good times!), i really needed a break. i haven't felt this bitter about and spiteful towards people and life in a really long time, so i booked a flight to a city that makes everyone feel like they belong: los angeles. (can you sense the viscosity of sarcasm here?) my friend from junior high, mark, graciously offered to let me visit him and his new residence.
instead of giving you a detailed account of everything that we crammed into 3.5 days, here are some of the highlights:
- i toted kurt vonnegut's breakfast of champions with me to read on the plane, along with 5 fashion magazines. i read vonnegut the entire way there, immersed in the american life of kilgore trout and dwayne hoover. i pondered over words like "legume" and decided i want to start every piece of writing with "listen:" hovering over my prose.
- there are birds in LAX. no joke. chirping birds.
- upon arriving, mark informed me that his place was broken into the night before. the primary suspect is a 10-year-old boy who lives next door. however, little convict-in-training stole mark's keys, including ones to his home and car. that meant:
- going to in-n-out burger was a must before our ride departed. i would marry in-n-out.
- i got my butt kicked at trivial pursuit: dvd edition. it didn't ask me the important stuff: angelina jolie, britney spears, or "america's next top model."
- los angeles zoo! we spent 5.5 hours walking around, eating cold treats, wondering why the wax figurine makers were out of commissions, marking off all the viewed exhibits on the map (i left that up to mark), watching the "world of birds" show, and taking funny pictures like this:
(i love the camel's mouth. it's a black cavernous hole.)
- visiting mark's old seminary school, mostly because he treated me to a wonderful sushi dinner and warm sake in old pasadena:
- experiencing the getty museum: garden tour, bernini exhibit, and soaking in all the wonders of art. at the peru exhibit, a botanist drew a picture of a morning glory and assigned a latin phrase to it (here translating in english): "on the same day brings forth and ends it." beautiful.
- "nothing but beethoven" by the los angeles philharmonic symphony at the hollywood bowl. this was perhaps one of the coolest musical experiences i've ever had. if you look closely, you can see the hollywood sign above the bowl in the hills above it:
- hearing (which i did at venice beach) and seeing (from the getty) the ocean (at the same time) in santa monica:
- realizing that no matter where i go, i still feel so small. the world is such a big place; i'll leave this earth only having come to know a miniscule percentage of all it has to offer:
