Overheard: Awkward Date

Here's an excellent example of what not to do when on a first date. The two people in question didn't seem to know each other prior to the date, so I'm guessing they met online. The following conversation happened towards the end of the date.

Guy: So, I don't have a lot of time to waste on dating. I've got a really hard, important job and sometimes it takes me two hours to drive home. So I don't have a lot of time. I'm sure you don't either.
Girl: Uh...
Guy: Sometimes people can tell right away if they're interested. So I'm wondering if you're interested. I mean, you know, a lot of times you can tell right away when you meet someone whether or not there's chemistry between you. And if there's not, that's OK. That happens, you know? When you're dating sometimes you just aren't interested. But you can usually tell pretty fast. So I'm wondering if you can tell if you're interested in me? Because I'm sure neither of us want to waste time.
Girl: Well, it's kind of hard to make an absolute decision right away.
Guy: OK. Well then forget about chemistry. Do you want to see me again?
Girl: Sure.
Guy: Oh! Oh, that's great. Then we both had a good time on this date. That's amazing. I mean, I'm really picky. And I'm sure you're really picky too. So that's really something. Are you nervous?
Girl: What?
Guy: Were you nervous, coming on this date?
Girl: Not really. I was still pretty tired, actually.
Guy: Oh. Oh, OK. So after you had your coffee were you nervous?
Girl: Um... not really.
Guy: Wow, this is great. I've had a really great time with you.

The Los Angeles County Fair

On Saturday night, I had the opportunity to pay a visit to the Los Angeles County Fair with Celeste and several other Emerson alumni. Yeah, that's right... L.A. has a county fair. I was surprised too.

All in all, it reminded me a lot of the Puyallup Fair in Washington... lots of unhealthy fair food, barns full of prize-winning livestock, the Budweiser Clydesdales, game booths with ridiculous prizes and shouting carnies, etc. But, lest we forget that we were in L.A., there was a plethora of uber-tan girls tottering through the hay in stiletto heels and miniskirts. Fools.

We were all mightily dismayed to discover just how much it cost to enjoy the rides and games (six tickets for the Merry-Go-Round? Seriously?) and, according to those who've been in the area longer than two weeks, the costs had gone up significantly since last year. But we sucked it up so that we could partake in carnival classics like the fun house, a gigantic slide, and various games we didn't win. Except for Jared, who was the proud recipient of a stuffed turtle.

The highlight of the evening, though, came when we approached the booth that boasted it was "totally fried." And, boy, was it ever. Deep fried avocado, spam, White Castle cheeseburgers, Pop Tarts, Twinkies, and Oreos hung out alongside the more traditional fare. Everyone ordered something different so that we could sample as many heart-attack-inducing delicacies as possible, though I skipped out on the meaty bits for obvious reasons. Apparently this was for the best anyway, since the general consensus was that the fried White Castle burger was the nastiest thing ever to come out of a deep fryer. And that was including the deep fried Krispy Kreme chicken/jelly donut that was apparently on the menu last year. Yes, you read that correctly. Chicken inside a jelly-filled donut. Deep fried. Huh, wonder why that didn't make the cut this year? Sounds amazing... :-P At any rate, the Oreos won the taste test hands down. Yummy.

The night ended with a round of wine tasting for the womenfolk and beer tasting for the men. This ended our evening on a definitively high note, as our "bartender" was pretty easy on the eyes and more than happy to oblige us with the occasional free glass of something-or-other. We had an unusually large array of dessert wines, which was driving my taste buds kind of crazy by the end. Too. Much. Sugar. Tons of fun, though.

Oh, and on a completely unrelated note... last week I was taken along to the ArcLight Cinema, which is pretty much the coolest movie theatre ever. It's got a cafe/bar, really nice theatres, and assigned seating. Crazy! But awesome.

My brain is broken.

Last night I dreamt that my roommates and I had two dogs instead of cats. They were both Boxers; one was fully grown and the other was a little puppy. Then the big Boxer ate the little Boxer. We tried to stop him, but there was nothing we could do. Afterward, everyone was vaguely bummed about it... but no one seemed as horrified as the situation really deserved.

Then I had another dream in which a hedgehog was giving birth to multiple baby hedgehogs. One of the baby hedgehogs tried to crawl back inside the mother, and she consequently bled to death.

...what is going on with my subconscious?????

Daring-Do at the DMV

Today I figured I'd make my move to Los Angeles even more official and took a little trip to the Department of Motor Vehicles to get myself a California driver's license and plates. I made myself an appointment through their website (something that was highly recommended by numerous sources) and, even so, it took me almost three hours to complete the entire process.

First I had to get my car "verified." I have no idea what that means... apparently they need to make sure that it is, in fact, a car? I just don't know. All I could tell was that it consisted of approximately half an hour sitting in the "verification" lane outside while no one came to do anything. Finally someone showed up, looked my car over, wrote down my VIN and other assorted info, and sent me back inside. Woohoo.

Then came the actual application and, after that, a written test. At least they didn't make me take an actual driving test; that would have just driven me crazy. Even the written test was a little annoying. It's been a while since I took driver's ed, after all.

Fortunately I knew most of the answers, except for a couple on which I totally guessed blindly (is smoking in a car that contains a passenger under the age of 18 illegal in California? Anyone?). Of course, it took approximately an eternity to learn that I'd passed, because the guy running the testing room wasn't the most efficient guy in the world. He spent a good 10 minutes trying to set up a cassette tape for a guy who needed to take an audio version of the test--A cassette tape?? Seriously? What decade is this?--while the player kept making noises that sounded very much like it was slowly consuming the tape. Once he'd figured it out, he then turned to the guy who'd approached the table after me and checked his test. The guy had failed. But he and his very vocal friend did their best to convince the DMV guy otherwise.

DMV GUY

I'm sorry. You didn't pass.

FRIEND

No. He passed. Check it again.

(PRISSY TEENAGE GIRL wanders in and completely bypasses the long and obvious line of people waiting at the counter.)

PRISSY TEENAGE GIRL

Excuse me. I need a test. Do I have to wait in line?

DMV GUY

(to GIRL)

Yes.

(to the MAN and his FRIEND)

He missed 14.

FRIEND

He passed.

DMV GUY

That's too many. This is the third time he's failed.

MAN

Second.

DMV GUY

According to our records, it's the third. See?

FRIEND

Those records are wrong.

It went on like this for a ridiculously long time until a different DMV guy came to check my written test, punch a hole through my Washington license and give me a temporary California license to hang on to until my real license shows up in a couple of weeks. So now my little purple hatchback has California plates and soon enough I'll have a California license. I have to say that I won't particularly miss that ridiculous vertical license that I had from Washington. It always really irked me that I was in that first batch of people for whom our first licenses expired when we turned twenty, so I was stuck with the "under 21" license until age 25. Bartenders always found it rather amusing.

Road Trip: San Francisco & LA

In the interest of not boring all of you to death with a ridiculously long post, I'm going to compress each day into a brief recap for your enjoyment. Sit back, relax and enjoy the blog!

Day #2
I arrived in San Francisco a little bit before 4:00 p.m. and met up with Erin at her apartment in the Mission. After some necessary coffee and bonding time, we headed to Bernal Heights to meet up with Mel, Michaela and Zoe (who was also visiting SF this weekend). Drinks and delicious food were had, and there was a lot of gleeful squealing when we reunited. A random woman in the bar even approached us to comment on how happy we all seemed. It was pretty sweet.

Day #3
Erin, Mel, Zoe and I had breakfast bagels at a little place in Bernal Heights. Then Zoe left to meet up with some other local friends while Erin, Mel and I headed to Tiburon and Angel Island for the day. The town was adorable with lots of little restaurants and boutique shops, and the island was really interesting. Apparently Angel Island is known as the "Ellis Island of the west." Immigrants had to pass through Angel Island before they were permitted access to the mainland. Sadly, the main immigration building was temporarily closed for renovations so we didn't get to see it... but we did have the opportunity to see a lot of the other nearby ruins.

Day #4
This was pretty much the ultimate day of kickassness on my sojourn to San Francisco. Today, the five Emerson girls (Erin, Melanie, Michaela, Zoe and myself) journeyed to Sonoma to visit vineyards and taste a lot of wine. We visited the Sebastiani and Buena Vista wineries, the latter of which is the oldest winery in the region. We had a picnic at Buena Vista, and had a blast tasting all their different wines. I bought a bottle of Adagio Port from Sebastiani. Mmmm...

Day #5
Labor Day, and my last day in San Francisco. Erin and I stayed in town today and found our way to Fisherman's Wharf, Coit Tower and the North Beach neighborhood. That evening we met up with Mel, Michaela and Erin's boyfriend Ryan for dinner at a Mexican restaurant with freakin' amazing fish burritos.

Day #6
This morning I said my goodbyes to Erin and got back on the road to finish the drive down to LALA Land. Miraculously, my mp3 player worked exactly as it should for the entire day; an extremely pleasant change from the previous two driving days. I spent the drive down rocking out to road trip songs and the cast recordings of Legally Blonde: The Musical and Aida. I got to Sherman Oaks a little after 3:00 p.m. and my new roommates (Monica and Vicki) helped me unload my car, showed me around the area and brought me grocery shopping. I unloaded a decent amount of my stuff in my room, but at the moment I am still bedless because the bed isn't scheduled to be delivered until tomorrow afternoon. That means I get to sleep on the couch tonight. Woohoo! But at least tomorrow night I ought to finally have a bed, and my room will start looking more like an actual bedroom. Monica and Vicki's cats, Robbie and Nermal, are quite intrigued by all the new stuff coming into the apartment. I suspect they'll be even more intrigued when Osiris and Isis come down to join me. Hahaha.

So that's pretty much the story of my move to SoCal. I'll keep you updated as more crazy fun things occur.