The New Place

So I finally got it together and have a whole album of photos of my new place on Facebook. You can see it by clicking this link. This is a public link, so even if you are not a member of Facebook you can still see the pictures. Hope you enjoy.

Just to put this in perspective - this apartment is nearly three times as big as my apartment in NYC. It has two bathrooms, two bedrooms, a dining area, living room, kitchen (with a dishwaser!!), includes water and two parking spaces, all for $1350/month. Split two ways I'm paying significantly less than I did in NYC. I do love and miss Phyllis and the fam in Jamaica, but I am really digging the new situation. :-D

Fun Times in Los Angeles

Greetings loyal readers. Thank you for your patience while I've settled into my new place in Los Angeles. After a week of unpacking, three trips to Ikea, countless trips to Target, a pilgrimage to Wal Mart, and lots of assembling, I finally feel I am totally settled into my place and am now able to focus on the rest of my life.

Where to begin. I arrived on June 30 without a hitch. I was astonished by the beauty of our apartment. Brand new dark hardwood floors, tons of light, perpetual breeze, brand new light fixtures, dishwasher, central air... I could go on and on. The movers came very late that night (9pm), and after taking all of my money and demanding more, all my stuff made it in. My roommate arrived the next day and was equally impressed by our new digs. We spent a good part of the following five days together getting the apartment whipped into shape. I will put up a separate post devoted to the new place.

Now that I've had some time to bop around, Los Angeles seems pretty awesome. My neighborhood reminds me a lot of Queens, just more spread out and much louder. The house next to us has four yapping dogs and a screaming dysfunctional family... fantastic. Worth the fantastic view and killer breeze, though. The demographic here is largely Mexican - lots of fun shops and restaurants.

I've noticed some interesting things about LA thus far. First, the weather is gorgeous. I don't know if this is normal, but it has remained sunny in the low 80s with no humidity and a glorious ocean breeze. Second, apparently there are no regulations as far as where one can purchase alcohol. Our local CVS has an entire aisle of hard liquor at really decent prices. Who knew? Having become so used to the immense congestion of NYC, everything seems pretty tame around here (unless of course you're at Ikea on a holiday weekend). There's a lot more room for cars and a lot less pedestrian traffic. Even the infamous weekday gridlock hasn't been a big deal, though to be fair I haven't really been commuting. I've been very lucky to have a good friend (who is also a foodie) who has been showing me the neighborhoods and all the good spots for great and affordable food. Already I've discovered tremendous Vietnamese noodles just down the street from my house and phenomenal Sushi in Little Tokyo. Yum. I have also collected a ton of random little anomalies. For example, you can't get Poland Springs water here. Also, there are very few if any mailboxes; you have to either give your mail to the carrier or drive to a post office.

The more I travel around, the more I am in love with where I live. Below is a map showing me in relation to school, Hollywood, and downtown. Blue marker is my house, the apple is USC, movie reel is Hollywood, and the purple is downtown. Up next, all about the apartment and its location.

View Life in LA in a larger map

Day 14: San Francisco (4)

The trip has to end with a laugh, and oh boy does it ever. Today was kind of a wild card for Mary and I since we had already done nearly all the big name things to do in the city. Granted, there are ENDLESS activities, but by today we had pretty much had our fill of running around. We started our day by getting breakfast at Dottie's True Blue Cafe, which even at 1030 on a Monday morning had a line out the door - you know it has to be good. After waiting for 40 minutes we had a life-changing breakfast involving freshly baked coffee cake, lamb sausage, and an egg scramble with Avacado and a hint of Jalapeno. To die for.

Since she got here, Mary had the idea to rent bikes and ride them around Golden Gate Park. In words it sounded like a simple and relaxing way to spend an afternoon and check off yet another item on our list... oh no. Our 40 minute bus ride to an obscure neighborhood housing the bike shop made it very clear very quickly that this was not what we had bargained for; and it didn't stop there. When we actually got the bikes I realized that the last time I was seriously on a bike, my parents were living in Pembroke and I was still in boy scouts. As I heaved myself onto the seat like some drunken college student trying to escape the cops, we noticed that not only were our surroundings that of burnt grass and dying trees, we were only supposed to be riding on designated paved roads- where they were, we had no idea. We finally veered onto some main traffic road through the park and zoomed past man-made concrete-lined lakes and more dead foliage. It didn't take us long to decide this was a very bad idea. After a pathetic span of pedaling intermingled with walking our bikes up small hills and general failing, we found ourselves again at the entrance to the park only this time instead of being at 6th street, we were at 46th. Somehow we had traveled forty blocks in a matter of 10 minutes - downhill, of course. We decided we were done and now had to ride the forty blocks back...uphill. Before we embarked, I got off to remove a pebble from my shoe only to discover it was not a pebble, but an enormous piece of broken glass that had lodged itself into the bottom of my sneaker and was now poking up through the sole. After a group effort of removing the glass with a key, we left, deciding to follow the main road just outside of the park so as not to get completely disoriented and have to ride the bikes for any longer than we absolutely had to.

As I clamored my way down the main street, I got off my bike to walk a bit as I was getting winded. As I got back on in my less than elegant fashion, I realized I was now on a main road being watched by countless passerbys. Surely one of them would see me in my pathetic struggle to mount a bicycle, whip out their camera phone, record it, bring it home and share it with their families. The laughter would bring the family closer together and in no time the video would be on youtube, labeled "Big Gay Man Gets On Bike", with 2.3 million hits and a guest spot on the Today show.

After I got over myself, we worked our way back to the bike shop, reminiscing our doomed choice and laughing at ourselves. We returned to the bike shop less than an hour after we left - one can only imagine what the shop keeper was thinking. We then proceeded to burst into hysterical laughter that would last well into the evening and treated ourselves to a cheap dinner at In-n-Out burger with dessert at Ghirardelli. Yum yum yum.

At this point I have one word: done. I am in love with San Francisco. I love being with Mary. I loved being with Michaela. I loved my trip. But I have been a nomad now for 14 days, always with the move in the back of my head. I am now ready to complete my journey and get settled into life in Los Angeles.

Tomorrow morning I leave at 6am for LA. It is possible I will not have internet access for a few days, but rest assured I will continue postings once I do. Thanks for your continued reading! And be sure to keep your eyes open when on youtube...

Day 13: San Francisco (3)

Today I received my education in pride. I never considered myself one for pride; a supporter of equality, yes, a fearless advocate of being true to oneself, yes... but pride? My perception of it was that of partying, spectacle - an excuse to go wild. I never viewed the whole pride enterprise to be of great value to the cause until I actually went to a celebration. I discovered that pride is in fact what forms the community and holds it together; it is the foundation for rights advocation. Whatever kind of gay you are, you can and should have pride in whatever form that works for you. There certainly were those who were there to party - Mary and I saw a total of 8 fully naked people just walking around amidst the festivities. Hey, whatever floats your boat (so to speak). There were also abundant drag queens, people in various forms of rainbow wear, gays with disabilities, immense clouds of marijuana smoke, etc. What really had an impact on me was seeing a strong family contingent. There were many young kids and their parents (both gay and straight) enjoying the festivities and learning that one can and should be as one is. Personally I will never be one for the spectacle, and in fact there were many many people just observing like me. But one thing is for sure: amongst all the craziness and fun, I never once felt out of place. I was most assuredly where I belonged.

Mary and I watched the parade for a bit, walked through all the booths in the civic center, went to the Castro and had some interestingly-shaped pastries, did some shopping, and overall just had a really fantastic day. This afternoon I had a minor personal scare as the moving company called me and informed me they are delivering my stuff tomorrow, the day BEFORE I'm supposed to be in Los Angeles. Of course being Sunday I couldn't call the moving representative until the morning, so I was sort of at a loss. Fortunately it has been resolved. I will not have to leave San Fran a day early, I will not have to wire money, and I will not have to chew anyone out. Great.

Quote of the Day

Me (in the middle of the parade): Excuse me, do you know where I can find pride?

Some More from Today

So I forgot to mention a fun story that happened last night. After dropping Michaela off at the airport, Mary and I drove to Haight to have dinner at a brewery called Magnolia. Parking in San Fran is like parking in any other major urban area - vicious. I tend to be a parking hawk, and to our luck, we found someone leaving a spot on our first loop around. Unfortunately I had driven too far down the hill to back up and get it. Mary, being the astute and feisty Boston dweller, offered to get out and stand in the spot so I could drive around the block - so she did. By the time I got back to her, there was an irritated hippy in a pickup truck trying to argue her out of the spot. Let me just tell you - she held her ground. He said he wasn't leaving - she said neither was she. During all of this I was in my car, unaware to what was going on, waving my hands, hoping she would just let the guy have the spot. She would do no such thing. We got our spot. Hells yeah.

Quote of the Day:

You know, if you Alcatraz the Alcatraz, that could lead to a serious Alcatraz, so make sure you keep the Alcatraz in the Alcatraz at all times - Alcatraz this, I'm Alcatrazing.

Day 12: San Francisco (2)

San Fran is completely amazing. I'm sunburned. I don't care. We did so much today it's hard to even comprehend. One thing is for sure, when you are in a city for the first time, money seems to fly out the window, though so far everything has been worth it, just a tad overpriced.

The days started off with a wonderful breakfast at a diner around the corner from our hotel. Our first move may seem like a very silly thing - we took a double decker bus tour. Now I'm not generally a fan of screaming "tourist!" from atop of a ridiculously huge red bus, but it does a loop of all the places you want to see, which was perfect for us especially since Michaela had to cram it all into one day. First stop was the Painted Ladies.

Then the bus took us across the Golden Gate bridge. Now for those unfamiliar with San Fran's climate, here is a good way to look at it. All over the news last night was the huge heat wave coming into the area in and around San Fran. Temperatures were expected to reach triple digits throughout the weekend. San Francisco just barely got above 70 degrees, which in itself was unseasonably warm. The weather in the city is consistently around 60 year round. So, driving across the bridge on the top of a double decker bus was frightfully windy and down right freezing. What's crazy is that the minute we reached the other side you could feel the temperature instantly get warmer. The experience was actually really fun and I got to take a kick ass picture of the bridge.

I was glad for this gorgeous day because the infamous fog was so thick when Michaela and I arrived, we could barely see the bridge at all. We have been so friggin lucky this entire trip. The tour then brought us to the Presidio, then to Ghirardelli Square where, yes, we bought chocolate. Mary and I had some clam chowder in a bread bowl at Boulin, the original makers of sourdough bread. Fantastic.

We finished the day with going to Alcatraz. Now, I have to take responsibility for the odyssey we had to undertake in getting tickets. I foolishly assumed that going to Alcatraz would be like going to the statue of liberty - you just show up and get on a boat. Not at all the case. The day before we arrived in San Fran I looked in my guidebook to discover that not only do you need to buy tickets, you need to buy them in advance as they often sell out. Well guess what - they did. Luckily we were able to acquire three tickets second hand from a vendor for way too much money, but such is life. The three of us were able to see it - I found it totally fascinating.

I have many more pictures. The top is the main row of cells the prisoners referred to as Broadway. The lower is a solitary confinement cell - they would shut the big green door and turn the lights out. Yikes! One thing I found particularly striking is how Alcatraz provides the best views of San Francisco. It wasn't just the walls and the bars and the maximum security - everyday the inmates were reminded of the lives they were not permitted to live. Freedom, life, substance were all in view, but just out of their reach.

After such a huge day, we had to say farewell to Michaela. As much as she wanted to stay with us and see more of the city, she was glad to return home and stop living her life out of a car/suitcase. I am so so grateful for the company and support she provided me on this trip. We traveled 4449 miles and spent 96 hours in my car (80 of those were driving). I surely could not have done it without her. Thanks, Mich - look forward to our next adventure! :-)

Tomorrow Mary and I will be spending the entire day in the Castro - it's the pride parade and everything that goes with it!

Quote Clarification

Apparently my anecdote of the day that involved Michaela's concern for her flight implied that she is afraid of flying - this is not the case. Michaela was not worried about flying, but rather about being bored and cooped up on a plane for the 6 hour flight home. She tells me she gets impatient on the one hour flight she takes from Virginia to MA. I hope that with all we did on Fri & Sat in San Fran combined with the previous 10 days of travel she was able to sleep through her flight. Let us know, Mich!!

Day 11: San Francisco!! (1)

This is it kids, the last stop before LA. Michaela and I made it, the car made it, and we're all in decently good shape. I blog to you from the king size bed in my four star hotel room in downtown San Francisco. The room was acquired at a steal price from priceline.com. Val the car is safely away in the hotel's valet parking garage, grateful for four days of rest before the last 380 mile leg of our journey. And, much to my delight, my friend since childhood Mary has come to join me in the city until I leave.

On our way down from Eureka, we drove through more of the Redwood forest. They really are magnificent trees. Michaela got wind of a tree so big you can actually drive your car through it. Yes, it's true. For $5, you drive into the woods where they have a car-sized tunnel through the base of one of the Redwoods. It was a fun little trick, though we weren't quite sure about the people who showed up in SUVs...

Arriving in San Fran today was a huge thrill for us. For Michaela, it means she no longer has to be in the car for an average of 6 hours a day. I too am glad that the bulk of our driving has come to an end. Our trip has been a blast, but the charm of being crammed in a car with a bunch of crap living on the road has... fizzled. I can now enjoy four carefree days here in the city.

Already my first semi-day here with Mary and Michaela has been frickin awesome. We rode the trolley from the hotel dangling off the side to fisherman's wharf,

saw the sea lions resting on pier 39,

had a burger at In-n-Out, had our tarot cards read, ate at one of the most acclaimed restaurants in the city, House of Nanking (chinatown), and returned to the hotel where I played the lobby's grand piano. We our now relaxing in our room as we're all exhausted from our respective traveling. We prepare for a very full day of running around seeing as much as possible before saying goodbye to Michaela. Alcatraz? The Castro? Stay tuned to find out!

Anectode of the Day

Today on our way to the trolley, Mary was the victim of an unexpected dive bomb attack from a pigeon, which actually hit her in the eye. She is convinced she now has herpes of the eye. Just goes to show we should always be ready for the unexpected attack of the pigeon.