Gish (Road): San Jose, CA

Why yes, I would love to listen to some Smashing Pumpkins right now, thanks for the suggestion!

How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The City: Santa Monica, CA

Just another night outside of a Ralph’s.

…so a couple of weeks ago, I took a half day off of work and drove back out to the stadium to do it all over again. I wore the same seven year-old hat, listened to Charley Steiner do the pre-game show on the radio, and sat down and watched a playoff game. My friend and I sat next to a couple of long time fans and debated Don Mattingly’s terrible game management decisions, like stubbornly sticking with an obviously injured Hanley Ramirez at shortstop, when he had a perfectly serviceable replacement on the bench in Nick Punto, and the head scratching decision to pull Adrian Gonzalez for a pinch runner in Game 2. I’d brought a sandwich from outside into the stadium, because I wasn’t about to spend $6 on a Super Dodger Dog (because regular Dodger Dogs are overrated), and besides, the Tacozone truck in Echo Park had since become a post-game ritual for me on nights which I drove to the stadium instead of taking the Dodger Stadium Express to Union Station, where I’d catch a train home, the Red Line to the Expo and OH MY GOD DID I JUST RECITE ALL OF THAT LIKE I’M SOME SORT OF LOCAL??!?

True Hollywood Story: Los Angeles, CA

Drugs, sex, greed, lust – This story has ALL of it (it has none of it).

Ever since I moved to Los Angeles in September 2006, I’ve tried to maintain a fierce sense of identity regarding “home”. For as long as I’ve lived here, home has always been somewhere else other than L.A. – Santa Cruz, Berkeley, “NorCal”. Anywhere but here. I’ve fought it for years; I didn’t register to vote in L.A. County until 2008, I didn’t update my driver’s license until 2011, and I still refuse to call myself an Angeleno, even though I’ve lived here for literally my entire adult life. I’ve stubbornly refused to accept this city which has been my home for seven years.

Walk Away: Boulder Creek, CA

Looks like my stop.

This was it. Time to go home. Just walk away.

Last Friday Night: Santa Monica, CA

Glitter all over the room, pink flamingos in the pool.

Last weekend, I made my now-routine drive up the 101 to the Bay Area. It was all so familiar to me, the scenery, the traffic, the road itself. The only thing that made this drive stand out was the fact that this was the final drive I would be taking in my Blue Camry.

Blurry Outlook: Los Angeles, CA

I finally put the plates on my new car this weekend! My favorite part is how they came from the DMV pre-blurred.

NO: Huntington Beach, CA

NO! NO! NO!

NO. STOP IT, HUNTINGTON BEACH.

NO, NO, NO.

[Blank] City USA: Huntington Beach, CA

A city by any other name…

You may recall some weeks ago that the entire Western United States experienced one serious heat wave. As any card-carrying Angeleno knows (it’s sadly official now: my new driver’s license has my LA address), when it’s 140 degrees outside, you go to the beach. As any sane card-carrying Angeleno knows, when it’s 140 degrees outside, you LEAVE L.A. and go to the beach. I took the Blue Camry down PCH and encountered… this.

What’s In A Name?: Los Angeles, CA

Such pretty lights…

It seems the entire world is currently captivated by a certain 8-pound newborn. The building anticipation finally came to a head yesterday with the birth of the future King Of The World, but with one question being settled (boy or girl?), one more has come forth: What’s his name? This is unquestionably a heavy decision for any parent, especially when the name that the parents give to said child will literally alter the course of history. Surely, the Cambridges have a slightly heavier crown on their collective heads than the average parent (see what I did there?).

So, This Just Happened: Los Angeles, CA

Yep, sure did.

So, I did something nice for myself the other day…