Quick Update

I hope your Saturday is off to a good start, if it has started at all. I am bored and awake with allergies and am sweating for no reason I can surmise. My cat woke me up yesterday by poking me in the eye and then sneezing in my face twice so it's been a wonderful 24 hours for hygiene.

Things are going okay in Los Angeles lately. I hung out with a friend I made at my book club two days in a row, which was nice. The first night, we walked around the Third Street Promenade and got some dinner and wine. The night after, we went to see one of the editors of The Onion read from The Onion Book of Known Knowledge at the Barnes and Nobles along with an actress friend of hers. There was this super creepy guy sitting next to us and at some point during the Q&A segment, he started his statement with, "You can use this joke if you want." I didn't hear the joke but I'm certain it wasn't funny and just really awkward. He also didn't actually ask proper questions. One was, "It's weird that some people think your stories are real. I never thought your stories were real. I can tell by reading them." Aside from all the weirdness that the poor editor was dodging, I did get a chance to ask where all the pictures of their columnists like Jean Teasdale and Smoove B come from. They are all taken from a Wisconsin community college yearbook from the late 80's. That was probably the best answer I could have ever hoped for.

I've also been hanging out with a few of my neighbors occasionally and I made tentative coffee plans with someone I've never actually met. That's probably super weird but she's the significant other of one of Mat's coworkers so I'm fairly sure she doesn't plan on selling my teeth. I never thought I'd ever be asking people I don't know to hang out but that is where I find myself. When I was 15, I promised myself that I would never reach the level of loneliness that I had the summer between 9th and 10th grade and I've kept that promise, no matter how painstakingly awkward making friends as an adult can feel. Besides, I'm pretty sure everyone in LA is just as desperate for human contact as I am. I'd be shocked if someone DIDN'T want a new friend.

My fall allergies have been giving me headaches and stomach cramps so I haven't felt like doing much. If things are better by tomorrow, I might go hang out with some cats and dogs at an animal shelter. Sunday is my first improv class! I am already thinking of really awful names for a future improv group. I'm channeling Michael Scott as best I can.

Here is a picture of a lovely little pup that a super cool family is fostering. She is available for adoption out here in Los Angeles and if I was able to have a dog in my apartment, I would have snatched her up days ago. If anyone is interested, I will point you in the right direction.

Have a great weekend.

PIC OVERLOAD!!!

It has been a long time since I've been on here. I am really bad about keeping up with things. I'm one of those people who abandons their New Years resolutions by 3PM on January 1st. I will have to make a concerted effort to be better about it. In the meantime, I will let you know what has been going on over the past week or so because that's what I took pictures of.

Last Saturday was the League of Legends Season 2 World Championships, which was really cool. I don't really know that much about the game yet but it was still a lot of fun. I really wanted to catch a t-shirt from the t-shirt cannon but since I was sitting in the Rioter section, they didn't shoot them at us. Maybe next time. A big congrats to TPA, who probably don't read this.

Last Sunday, October 14, was my birthday. At first, I was really down about how I'd probably be spending it alone as all my friends are back on the East Coast. However, my super amazing friends, Dana and Dennis, came to visit from Brooklyn ON MY BIRTHDAY. It was ridiculously awesome. They spent the day with Mathew and me. We went to the La Brea Tar Pits, which was everyone's first time there aside from Mat. I definitely recommend going at least once (but not into the actual museum because it's like $12 a person and I am super cheap). The Pits smell like oil and have statues of prehistoric elephants drowning to their death, which is total non-horrifying fun for the entire family. Here is an example:

We also went to the Beverly Center, which is the big mall in Beverly Hills. It is also where all of the stereotypes about women in Beverly Hills truly come to life. I went to Sephora and there was literally a line of women in short skirts, high heels, and little dogs. I have no idea how any human being can possibly shop like that but I'm sure they were looking at me (if they even noticed me) thinking, "Why is this 12-year-old boy in Sephora without his mom?" We had dinner at a "gastro pub" (God, that term is awful) up the block from my house and it was delicious. All-in-all, it was a lot of fun. Thank you to Dana and Dennis for making my birthday awesome!

Also, thank you to my friends who sent me gifts here in Los Angeles. It was really nice to feel like people remembered me. You guys are so great and I love you!

It hasn't been easy to come out on my own with no friends or family here. It can get rather lonely but I've been meeting a lot of people. I joined a book club and made a friend there, I am starting improv classes next week (thanks to a generous birthday donation from my lovely parents), and I have joined a Facebook group of the significant others of people Mat works with. We spent the day yesterday on a tour of LA with them that his company put together. It was really awesome. We went to the Walt Disney Concert Hall, ate at Hard Rock Cafe, and checked out the Getty Museum. It was really incredible of them to do that for us. Here are some photos of the trip:

This is the Lillian Disney fountain at the concert hall. It is made out of expensive dutch porcelain. Sadly, Lillian Disney died before she could see it and hopefully before she could see the hideous airport bathroom carpet used throughout the whole building.

Here is a view of Downtown Los Angeles from a balcony at the Concert Hall. It was pretty overcast, which was really weird and unnerving because after only 2 months here, I already forgot what rain is.

This is a view of the freeway from the Getty Museum tram. In order to get from the parking lot to the museum, you have to take a tram that goes up through hills and the view is incredible. I have no idea if this view is of the east or the west. Your guess is as good as mine.

Here is another amazing view from the cactus garden at the Getty Museum. Obviously, you cannot go down and see all of the cacti up close because you can possibly die if you fall on one but I thought this was a good second option.

The sky just looks really cool in this pic.

A cute bridge.

 The centerpiece of the Getty Museum garden. I think it might be a crop circle but I also think I'm probably wrong about what it is.

A pretty unimpressive picture of the Hollywood sign but whatever. If you've seen movies, you know what it looks like.

Here is a picture of Mat and me at the cute bridge. I am only posting it because I rarely take a photo I don't think I look fat in and here's one.

The trip was really awesome and I made new friends who I am making plans to hang out with. Also, one of Mat's coworkers just moved directly across the street and she invited me over for sangria and crafts so major score.

I still miss Brooklyn and I'm not entirely at home in LA yet but I am feeling a bit more optimistic about it. I am applying for jobs and as soon as I get one, I will start saving up for a trip back to NYC. Hopefully I can celebrate someone's birthday with them there, too.

I hope you're all having a great weekend and I'll try to take more pictures and update on a more frequent basis. Bye!

I Still Exist

Sorry to anyone who reads this regularly for the absence. I've been pretty sick with a really bad cold (and quite possibly a sinus infection). I haven't been sick in a while and this had been a rough one. I have never had such bad sinus pressure and pain. I can't sleep at night and I have to take like 4 hot showers a day to clear my sinuses out. It's 2AM and I took some Sudafed so I'm as high as a kite and figured I'd update my blog. I apologize for any lack of humor here but I am literally barely lucid.

We finally got a new laptop so I can actually use the space bar.  It's not a MacBook because I am sadly not hip enough (or rich enough) to purchase one. Besides, it doesn't run League of Legends correctly so it wasn't an option for Mat. We went to Fry's Electronics to get our computer, printer, and etc. It was an experience. Mat was really excited to bring me there because he grew up buying all of his computer gear there. We rented a Zipcar for a few hours on Saturday to go since it's 2 hours each way if we go by bus. It was enormous and had every sort of electronic product. It was like Best Buy but more customer service friendly. We found a laptop and printer within 15 minutes and we were ready to go. We ended up going to Best Buy and buying Bridesmaids and Despicable Me on DVD, which is awesome, and we bought table coasters at Homegoods. They have chickens on them.

Afterwards, we went for authentic Mexican food, which was my first experience with LA Mexican food. I must admit that it was delicious and way better than anything I'd ever had in New York. There were a lot of people there but it was totally worth the wait. I don't remember the name of the restaurant. If anyone is interested, I will let you know.

Some great news: A good friend of mine is pregnant and I am really excited. I know that I often talk about how I hate babies and think that children are terrible but I think it's because I don't really know many babies or children personally. This is the first time someone that I am close to is having a baby and I am really stoked to have a reason to crochet/knit baby things. I completely geeked out when she called me to tell me and I am nothing but ecstatic for her and her husband. However, I have absolutely no plans to have children of my own for a long time and the thought of it makes me violently ill so don't get any ideas. Besides, no wedding band equals no babies. The Jewish guilt that my dad would throw on me might actually kill me. Telling him that I was moving in with my boyfriend alone almost gave me an ulcer.

Anyway, here are pictures of a chicken coaster and 5 organic avocados that people were selling on their lawn for $1 each. I'm hoping that they ripen by the end of the week so I can make guacamole for the neighbors.

So...Much...TV

Our TV got here this week. It is incredible. It's 47" and it has both Netflix and Amazon Instant built in, which is good because I can't find the power source for the XBOX. I have literally been watching Pawn Stars for like 3 days straight. I just can't turn it off. I'm actually relieved that I'm almost done watching all of the episodes on Netflix. When they start adding newer seasons, I won't be leaving my apartment for like 2 weeks.

I took Rocky to the vet on Monday and got him microchipped. I always worry that if he got out, he would follow someone home and they would try to keep him. It was only $30 so it's not so bad. The vet wants me to start giving him Claritin for his allergies, which is hilarious. My cat will be on more expensive allergy medicine than I am. Good thing I clipped those Claritin coupons from the Sunday paper. Wow. That was probably the most elderly woman-like thing I've ever written.

I don't have much else to say. Here's a pic of Rocky and our new TV.

Shut Up & Drive

Our friend left his car in our parking spot while he is out of town so we have a car for the week. Yesterday marked the first time I drove in California. I kept freaking out and at first I didn't know why (since I've been driving for 10 years) but I realized that the windows and side mirrors were really dirty and my vision was really limited.

Mat and I decided to drive to IKEA today but first we stopped at a car wash. The car next to our was this immaculately clean black Mercedes, of course. Love Los Angeles! Even the store at the car wash was trendy. The ones in NY just sell car fresheners and expired Twix bars. This one had Papyrus greeting cards and soy candles. It's like they put a Paper Source in the middle of a 7-11.

I never really realized how big LA was until I drove on the freeways. I had to keep driving from one freeway to another to get to the IKEA in the Valley. It was just such a vast landscape with so many highways. It felt good driving here, though. After doing so, it is obvious that we need a car ASAP. I'll be really sad when we have to give this car up. By the way, driving here is not as scary as people make it sound. If you can drive in New Jersey, you can drive in LA.

We picked up some $7 Lack tables and a TV stand. Mat's mom was wonderful enough to buy us a TV, which will be here next week. I am really excited to set everything up. We are almost done with furniture. I still want to get a small dining set and some chairs for the patio but they can wait.

Yesterday I bought some of those Sally Hanson "wax" strips. I tried to wax my legs myself. It was just a hot mess. Hardly any hair came out and it left behind a sticky residue that made me look really dirty. Even after scrubbing, there's still some of it on me. Don't buy this product. Buy a bottle of wine instead. After a couple of glasses, you won't care how hairy your legs are.

That's it for now. I'm going to go lie down. Here is a pic of my cats (Rocky on the left, Sophie on the right) in their brand new collars, looking out the screen door. They're not as miserable in them as I thought they'd be. Sophie isn't happy with me but she never is. She'll get used to it.

The Dangers of LA

I'm sure you all heard about the two earthquakes that occurred this week. I did not feel either of them but quite a few people did. They weren't very big quakes but Mathew did tell me that when he was a kid, they had an insanely intense earthquake. It ended up killing his friend's parakeet or something. Okay, I guess I'm not doing a good job at making it sound that bad. It's a little scary to know that we are in such an unpredictable area. We can't have pictures over the bed or shelves without doors because everything can fall during a quake and break and/or injure us. Fun!

There are also coyotes in my neighborhood. One of them ate 2 house cats last week. I feel very badly for the elderly woman to whom the cats belonged. HOWEVER, I am very against letting your pets go outside unsupervised in an urban or even suburban area. They can easily get lost, stolen, hit by a car, or apparently eaten by a coyote. I have never seen a coyote (other than a baby coyote on Conan O'Brien's show) so I have no idea how big they are. We keep our cats indoors but if God forbid they ever got out and a coyote came after them, I would literally strangle it to death with my bare hands. I don't even give a fuck. I am that hardcore and that much of a cat lady.

Speaking of which, since we are no longer in an apartment building where the cats would have to get through an apartment door, down stairs, and through a building door to get out, I ordered them breakaway reflector collars with their names and my phone number on them. I got embroidered ones so we don't have to worry about their tags getting stuck on anything. Plus, they've never worn collars other than the calming collars on the plane so I'm sure the tags would make the collars even more obnoxious than they're already going to be.

I had a lot to get done yesterday but I did absolutely none of it because I was feeling very under the weather. I think I had a fever and was just really sweaty and worn out. I could barely get out of bed. I broke out in a fever sweat just trying to get dressed, and not just because I'm lazy and out of shape. I'm hoping today is better because I need to pick up an enormously heavy palate of prescription cat food from the vet (Try not to be too impressed with my exciting itinerary).

If you are my Facebook friend, you might have heard the news that I am going to be taking an Intro to Improv class at a very well-renowned improv studio. I am super excited and if I like the class, I will be signing up for the 7-week course as a birthday gift to myself. We shall see.

I also started running again but that's not too exciting. I'm out of practice and I have bad asthma and my boobs are probably too big to run with so I look like a hot mess whenever I do it. I literally cringe whenever another runner passes me. I miss running in Fort Greene park. That was the best place to run ever. My gym membership through Mat's job should be coming through soon so I'll also get to do yoga again which is nice.

It's 2:30AM and I still feel like shit so I'm going to try to lie down. Here is a pic of the coyote warning sign I saw on Wilshire this evening.

Hello Again

Happy day after Labor Day! It's been a little while since I've written so get ready for a long and stupid entry. Nothing exciting has been going on. I've been crocheting and writing a lot of handwritten letters like some sort of Amish person. If you email me or even leave a voicemail, it's a miracle if I remember to respond but I will write the shit out of some letter responses.

Part of the reason I didn't update is that I wanted to address the fact that Mathew was on a business trip Thursday morning through Monday afternoon and I don't like to advertise the fact that I'm a small girl alone in an apartment for 4 days. Call me crazy but it's just a thing I have.

He was in Seattle and I had to fend for myself. Being that I have almost no friends yet, it was not easy. What's even harder is that I don't really sleep anymore. I don't know what it is but I just don't feel tired anymore. The only thing that makes me sleepy is spending the day at a beach but I don't have the patience to do that every single day.

The good thing about being alone was that I didn't want to go out to eat on my own so I cooked and by "cooked", I mean I made salads because I'm afraid of the oven. I ate healthily but had no one to brag about it to so it had its ups and downs. Come on, middle-class white girls. Don't even act like you eat salads for any reason other than to brag to your friends that you eat salads.

It's weird spending so many nights alone. In Brooklyn, when Mat was gone for that month and a half, I had a large circle of friends that I got to hang out with whenever we wanted on top of working 2 jobs during the day. I was busy all the time and the nights that I stayed in we're actually a relief because I needed rest. Now if there's even a chance of me going out, I practically break out a bottle of champagne.

Mat and I went to a hip sausage restaurant tonight (don't worry, they make vegan sausages, too) with Sara and her boyfriend, Sam. It was nice to be in a conversation with other humans. I'm hoping that I can find a job soon because that means I can take improv classes and that means I might meet people and that means I won't feel like Quasimodo in the church tower every day.

I have also started looking into purchasing a car, which is a task in itself because I know nothing about cars. I had to call my dad and ask how to buy a used car so that's a pretty bad sign. I've been asking advice from people who know about cars and plenty of people who don't know about cars respond instead. My friend Sarah's boyfriend was the most helpful, being that he is one of the few people who does actually know about buying cars. I should also mention that I asked my dad how many miles is too many on a car so, you know, I'm working with some top notch knowledge of my own.

It's almost 1AM so I'll end this here and go crochet while watching reruns of trashy reality TV. I am enclosing a picture of my new neon fanny pack that I use to run with. I guess this means I'll be exercising again. I refused to run through my neighborhood without some clothing item that could give someone a migraine so now I can finally start again. Are you excited for me? Don't be; I'm bad at it. I might be funny to watch though.

Goodnight.