RECAP: Greater Los Angeles Area 26-28 Sept. 06
I had originally hoped to get an entry in from LA before I headed overseas, but alas, my time there was brief and I had only written dregs of a blog, so I'll have to give you a shortened account of my stay and focus on the highlights, mostly in order:
On subway to JFK airport: After a few weeks of trying to decide my mp3 player scenario (my iPod is crap and no worth taking, and my smaller/older iRiver is just fine but only holds about 55 songs), I go to put the player on while sitting bored on the train, only to find that somehow, all of a sudden, the thing doesn't work at all-- though I had used it just that week without problems! I convinced myself it was the battery, but after awhile of troubleshooting, I saw that must not be it. I threw it out in L.A.
Burbank Airport: While waiting for my lovely brother (Everson!) to pick me up, apparently I saw some 4-year-old professional tennis phenom who was in town to play some on some televised event. I overheard some guy talking about him to a couple next to me, saying, "that kid is gonna be famous!"
H+M on Colorado Avenue, Pasadena: First H+M to open in the L.A. area, and apparently the hype was so huge that hundreds of people waited hours to get in. Fortunately, we did not have to wait at all and my brother wanted to go in to check it out. Unfortunately, much to our dismay, there was no men's section and we quickly turned and went next door to...
The Apple Store on Colorado Avenue, Pasadena: where I encouraged Ev to buy a new iPod with his gift certificate and give me his old iPod Photo. He agreed under the condition that I get him a nice case for his new purchase. Deal.
Bar Celona, Colorado Avenue, Pasadena: Kate (my freshman year roommate) picked me up from my brother's campus in Azusa and headed to Pasadena in search of grub. We decided on a cute tapas restaurant/bar and indulged in marinated olives, crab+potato cakes (pretty much the only form of crab I like), tortilla española, and sauteed mushrooms. Enjoyed some tasty sangria and shared a dessert of chocolate and banana empanada w/ice cream. Yum. It was fun to see Kate again-- we'd talked much on the phone over the years, but we were pretty sure we hadn't seen each other since the end of college. Good times all around!
Azusa Pacific University: That's where my brother goes to school and is an R.A., following in his gold big sister's footsteps. That is also where I stayed the night for two nights, and spent the majority of my time while in California-- but I didn't mind, I've been to L.A. before and it's not really my cup of tea, and it was good to just kick back and visit my brother and have him show me around his campus, meet people, and watch episodes of "The Office" with him and his roommates. Some other Azusa highlights: the Jolly Trolly (free candy and donut holes if you get up early!), the Dancing Bridge (I'm pretty sure Ev made up the rule that you have to dance as you walk across it), Donut Man (not a specifically Azusa institution, but a delicious, small, local donut shop down the road open 24-hours that everyone hits up). Not to mention the school is nestled in a valley beneath some brown, but otherwise lovely mountains.
B.J.'s: This is a Azusa student restaurant favorite dishing up Chicago-style deep-dish pizza, went went there with some friends of my brother's. Here are my notes from that: "Taking in mind the deperate lack of vegetarian options, I briefly considered the halibut fish tacos w/all sorts of obscene sounding creamy dairy toppings (chipotle mayo, santa fe dressing, avocado cream sauce). After second thought, I reconsidered and opted for the more 'sensible' pasta dish option. But the main reason Ev brought me to this place was for the 'Pizookie.' On its own, a dream come true, perhaps: a warm, slightly underbaked, gooey, chocolate chip cookie, baked in a mini 6" 'deep dish' pan, topped with quickly melting vanilla bean ice cream. The cookie was tasty and delightful, though way too sweet for my taste-- the ice cream was actually less sweet than the cookie which was a bit of a shock. And though my stomach was already inflating from my angel hair pasta dish w/tomatoes, pinenuts, basil, and feta, I had a few more bites of the pizookie, not too bad.
Longboarding: Quite a popular way to get around campus, and I never manged to have a patient teacher while at UF. So, my brother taught me to longboard a bit on some cross-campus journeys. I was doing pretty well at first, until on the way back I, feeling a bit more confident, sped up and proceeded to fall...several times. My hip still hurts. Suffice it to say, I still need a bit more practise.
That about sums up my time in California-- much love to my brother, and his friends, who made my stay fun, affordable, and most of all...possible!
On subway to JFK airport: After a few weeks of trying to decide my mp3 player scenario (my iPod is crap and no worth taking, and my smaller/older iRiver is just fine but only holds about 55 songs), I go to put the player on while sitting bored on the train, only to find that somehow, all of a sudden, the thing doesn't work at all-- though I had used it just that week without problems! I convinced myself it was the battery, but after awhile of troubleshooting, I saw that must not be it. I threw it out in L.A.
Burbank Airport: While waiting for my lovely brother (Everson!) to pick me up, apparently I saw some 4-year-old professional tennis phenom who was in town to play some on some televised event. I overheard some guy talking about him to a couple next to me, saying, "that kid is gonna be famous!"
H+M on Colorado Avenue, Pasadena: First H+M to open in the L.A. area, and apparently the hype was so huge that hundreds of people waited hours to get in. Fortunately, we did not have to wait at all and my brother wanted to go in to check it out. Unfortunately, much to our dismay, there was no men's section and we quickly turned and went next door to...
The Apple Store on Colorado Avenue, Pasadena: where I encouraged Ev to buy a new iPod with his gift certificate and give me his old iPod Photo. He agreed under the condition that I get him a nice case for his new purchase. Deal.
Bar Celona, Colorado Avenue, Pasadena: Kate (my freshman year roommate) picked me up from my brother's campus in Azusa and headed to Pasadena in search of grub. We decided on a cute tapas restaurant/bar and indulged in marinated olives, crab+potato cakes (pretty much the only form of crab I like), tortilla española, and sauteed mushrooms. Enjoyed some tasty sangria and shared a dessert of chocolate and banana empanada w/ice cream. Yum. It was fun to see Kate again-- we'd talked much on the phone over the years, but we were pretty sure we hadn't seen each other since the end of college. Good times all around!
Azusa Pacific University: That's where my brother goes to school and is an R.A., following in his gold big sister's footsteps. That is also where I stayed the night for two nights, and spent the majority of my time while in California-- but I didn't mind, I've been to L.A. before and it's not really my cup of tea, and it was good to just kick back and visit my brother and have him show me around his campus, meet people, and watch episodes of "The Office" with him and his roommates. Some other Azusa highlights: the Jolly Trolly (free candy and donut holes if you get up early!), the Dancing Bridge (I'm pretty sure Ev made up the rule that you have to dance as you walk across it), Donut Man (not a specifically Azusa institution, but a delicious, small, local donut shop down the road open 24-hours that everyone hits up). Not to mention the school is nestled in a valley beneath some brown, but otherwise lovely mountains.
B.J.'s: This is a Azusa student restaurant favorite dishing up Chicago-style deep-dish pizza, went went there with some friends of my brother's. Here are my notes from that: "Taking in mind the deperate lack of vegetarian options, I briefly considered the halibut fish tacos w/all sorts of obscene sounding creamy dairy toppings (chipotle mayo, santa fe dressing, avocado cream sauce). After second thought, I reconsidered and opted for the more 'sensible' pasta dish option. But the main reason Ev brought me to this place was for the 'Pizookie.' On its own, a dream come true, perhaps: a warm, slightly underbaked, gooey, chocolate chip cookie, baked in a mini 6" 'deep dish' pan, topped with quickly melting vanilla bean ice cream. The cookie was tasty and delightful, though way too sweet for my taste-- the ice cream was actually less sweet than the cookie which was a bit of a shock. And though my stomach was already inflating from my angel hair pasta dish w/tomatoes, pinenuts, basil, and feta, I had a few more bites of the pizookie, not too bad.
Longboarding: Quite a popular way to get around campus, and I never manged to have a patient teacher while at UF. So, my brother taught me to longboard a bit on some cross-campus journeys. I was doing pretty well at first, until on the way back I, feeling a bit more confident, sped up and proceeded to fall...several times. My hip still hurts. Suffice it to say, I still need a bit more practise.
That about sums up my time in California-- much love to my brother, and his friends, who made my stay fun, affordable, and most of all...possible!
posted by aja! at 15:47
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