Los Angeles Recap

December 29th, 2005.

The unofficial part of my journey began on December 29th. I left New Orleans and the family to stay a week with my brother in Los Angeles. This proved to be quite useful as I will explain later. Arriving Thursday night around 6:30 PM, Josh was fairly punctual in picking me up. We hit up a Target and Home Depot on the way to going to Zanksou(sp?). I enjoyed some of the most yummy rotissere chicken and schwarma than I've had in a long time.

December 30th, 2005.

Friday I checked out the grove and saw the movie Syriana. Note to self: watching someone having their finger nails removed is quite gruesome. Otherwise, the movie was entertaining. Friday night we went to a recommended Italian restauarant. A lot of money was spent and I probably wouldn't recommend it. Paula and Josh made for good company though. Dinner was followed up with hot chocolate, alcohol, and canoli. The drink was more alcohol than hot chocolate so I didn't drink it. The canoli was quite tasty though. Paula had the same problem as I did with her drink.

December 31st, 2005.

Saturday was the first day of Josh's three day weekend. It was cold and rainy. Saturday night, New Year's Eve, we went to a house party. Most of the attendees were University of Texas graduates and I am pretty sure I was the youngest one there. The hostess was a friend of Paula's, so Josh only knew a whopping five people. Out of the 40 or so people there, we did meet many of them. A couple of girls hit on me, but they weren't my type.

Janaury 1st, 2006.

Sunday, New Years day, was cold and rainy. Josh and I met up with Mike Pitre and his girlfriend Molly. We had lunch at the only other place in America I know of that serves fried egg on a hamburger (the other place being Times Grill in Mandeville). I love fried egg on a hamburger. It was a scrumptious lunch. We went to see Narnia, walked 15 minutes in pouring down rain with no umbrella, only to get there and have the show be sold out, even though it's been in theatres for six weeks. The rain was starting to suck now. The four of us met up with Jason Neville and Todd Franklin for dinner at Mr. Pizza. It's a new york style pizzeria (yum yum).

January 2nd, 2006.

Monday, Josh's last day off work, was also cold and rainy. We decided to ignore the rain and check out the rose bowl parade. Waking up at 6:00 AM, this decision turned out to be one neither of us will ever forget. When we got to the route via car to subway, we walked a mile in the rain looking for a bagel place. Then the rain turned into a monsoon and all around you heard parade goers saying, "This is getting ridiculous!" Crowds started to thin. Josh and I took cover in a Chinese restaurant that just happened to be serving bagels and coffee. It was nice to have a roof over our heads. When the parade started to go by, we found shelter in a covered driveway of a hotel. We watched the first half of the parade there, then my hands started turning purple from the sub-40 temperatures. It was time to go. The parade was beautiful. I felt sorry for the dance/flag girls wearing sleeveless outfits. Their makeup was running and they were shivering as they marched by. This was the first time it had rained on the Rosebowl parade in 50 years. The rain would not be the last of our troubles today. After walking a mile back to the subway in the monsoon, every part of my body was soaked. Waterproof jackets and waterproof boots are no match for Pasadena's rain. We get on the subway and the loudspeaker blares, "There is an electrical problem on the subway. This train will only take you one stop." We go one stop. Upon disembarking the train, this next station is not covered. We stand ten minutes in the pouring down rain trying to leave the subway station to catch a shuttle that brings you to the next working station. The line is so long for the busses, people can't leave the station. When we finally do get out of the station, we hail cab that takes us to a subway station further along the route. Set us back $40. We take the subway, to the station where Josh is parked. As we get to the car with smiles on our faces because we are on the last leg home, there is a $35 parking ticket on the windshield. Between a federal holiday and pouring down rain, we still managed to get a ticket. For $75 we got to see the first half of the Rosebowl parade while soaked to the bone. I still had fun though. :)
We went to the grocery this evening, so the rest of the nights in LA we cooked. Rotissere chicken was tonight.

January 3rd, 2006.

Finally, a beautiful day. But Josh had to work. I had subway for lunch and took care of errands in the day. Dinner was pasta and sausage. Phillipe, Josh's roommate ate with us. I told him we ate at Mr. Pizza last night. He responded by asking, if we ate at some pizza place that started with a D. (I don't remember the name.) I told him no, it was Mr. Pizza. He described the place he was referring to and I told him that sounds exactly like the place we went. What a coincidence! Then Josh enters the room. I asked him, where did we eat last night? It turns out, Mr. Pizza is the same place as Phillipe was referring to. Mr. Pizza is just the nickname. It was funny at the time.

January 4th, 2006.

Another gorgeous day. It's ashame we couldn't have this sunshine during the weekend holiday. Did some more errands. Lunch was various groceries. I made Mac N' Cheese for dinner. Josh heated up chicken verde. I watched the Rose Bowl while Josh played music with a friend. The game was quite entertaining. Hook 'em!