Tales from La La Land

The other day Laef was sitting at his computer and says, “You crack me up.”

Me: “Why?”

Laef: “Just cuz. Most people want to marry the girly girl and you are the girl with the blog that has a title: Holy Shit!”

Me: “Three years later you are just now realizing how un-princesslike I am?”

Today in LA there’s a nice Oregon feeling.

It’s actually a nice site. And smell. I have forgotten what the smell of fresh rain is like. It makes you want to curl up on the couch with a nice fuzzy blanket. And, it has a calming affect. Which is nice when the drive home looks like this:

You will notice that there are cars everywhere. When it’s hot it becomes more frustrating. But, yesterday the rain and the clouds and the cool air made it not so bad.

That’s the thing about LA. You have to take the good with the bad.

The Good:

The Bad:

The Good:

The Bad

From the LA Times: “California drivers just cruised past a dubious milestone, paying a statewide average of just over $4 a gallon for self-serve regular gasoline today, according to a daily survey of pump prices posted by AAA.”

No, I’m not trying to drop hints that my 34th birthday is right around the corner.

OK, yes I am. I am giving you all ample time to send cards and well wishes.

Honestly, no birthday after 21 seems all that cool and fun. Don’t get me wrong, I think there was a trip to a certain Silver Dollar Club for my 26th or something. And, celebrating the 30-year mark is kind of cool.

But, 34? I just can’t believe that I’m four years into my 30s. I seem so immature and un-adultlike that it doesn’t seem right. Most 34 year olds I know own a home, have kids, are married and don’t watch The Real World.

Then again, we all know that 34 is the new 24, right? Which is why I’m dating a 26-year old.

That is a great concept except when it comes to the following:

1. Running
I used to run a lot when I lived in Eugene. And, it felt great. I had gotten myself to a point where I pretty much ran everyday. Some days I do long runs with lots of hills, other days I’d run five 800s as fast as I could and sometimes I do short three-milers. Nowadays, three miles is a killer. Recently, I’ve gotten back into it. I am running three miles everyday. After five days of pushing through three miles, I decided to run this 10K in Manhattan Beach.

<a href=”http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/united-states/ca/manhattan-beach/278789923″ mce_href=”http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/united-states/ca/manhattan-beach/278789923″>Manhattan/Hermosa</a><br/><a href=”http://www.mapmyrun.com/find-run/united-states/ca/manhattan-beach” mce_href=”http://www.mapmyrun.com/find-run/united-states/ca/manhattan-beach”>Find more Runs in Manhattan Beach, California</a>

I thought it’d be fun to burn a few extra calories and prove to myself I could do it.

WRONG. My entire body (especially my knees, back and feet) have been in extreme pain for a week. Luckily Laef works with UCLA track and is used to treating said areas. And, believe me he loves hearing “Rub my back I am so sore and dying” as he walks in the door from a long weekend of dealing with whiny track athletes.

But here’s my motto: I REFUSE TO SWITCH TO THE ELIPTICAL. That is for people who are old and have sensitive knees. Besides, Laef needs extra practice.

2. Eating a burrito supreme with extra sour cream
Let’s just say that at 24 I could eat as much sour cream, cheese, fried eggs, wine, mashed potatoes and chocolate as I wanted and still have trouble breaking 100 pounds. 10 years later I have no problem breaking 130 pounds and I do not resemble any of the 24 year olds that roam the beaches in So Cal. No, I’m saying I’m fat or being a total chick, but I am saying that toned is not a word that would best describe my stomach region.

3. Driving without glasses
This happened quickly, but I am no longer rolling with 20/20 vision. I am unable to function without glasses or contacts.

4. Spontaneous Weekends
This phenomenon has come on quickly. It used to be that someone would call and say, “Hey, I’m coming to town June 6. Let’s hang out.” Done. Now, I have to have a fucking day planner to keep all the weddings, showers, conventions, visits, trips home, etc. straight. Laef and I literally have stuff going on all the time and I have no idea how this happened. I never fancied myself a day-planner kind of gal, but if I lost this thing, we would be lost. And to think we don’t even have kids yet. Are we even going to have one spare hour when that time rolls around?

5. Sleeping In
At 24 I could barely make myself roll into work before 10 a.m. On the weekends, I’d sleep until noon if I could and would love every minute of it. Now, I’m up for work and on the road by 7:15 a.m.

Last Saturday, I started to toss and turn and wake up. It was already sunny outside and I felt like I had been sleeping forever. I thought, “Wow! I actually slept in today. Yay!” I looked at the clock and it was 6:24 a.m. I was so pissed. I made myself lay there and fall back asleep. What seemed like hours passed. I was again excited. I decided to get up. It was 8:17 a.m.

And I considered that sleeping in.

I guess I really am 34.

Laef and I decided to delve deep into our allowances yesterday and see Iron Man.

First stop was AM/PM to buy two bags of chewy nerds

Gummy Bears

And OF COURSE

We then get to the theater, buy our tickets along with a large drink and a medium popcorn, which I promptly doused in the white cheddar salt they have.

We settle in and before the previews are over, I’ve had half a bag of popcorn and the Sprite is half gone. Once I get my salt fix, I dive in to my bag of chewy nerds. Have you tried these? They are DEE LISH.

At this point the movie has started and I already love it. Since the days of Less Than Zero, I have always liked Robert Downey Jr. I find him to be quite unique and able to pull of a myriad of roles (Chaplin, Natural Born Killers). He was also quite enamoring in Ally McBeal in the early 2000s.

Anyway, Iron Man was everything you could hope for when you gear up to see a movie on a Saturday afternoon. It was pure fantasy, didn’t take itself too seriously and was two hours of total fun. I was not sure that a movie in which someone builds a suit of armor would be my thing, but Downey’s comedic presence and the fact that I liked him from the first few seconds really kept me in it. I have never been a big Jeff Bridges fan, but he was really good as the bald bad guy. Of course when he first came on the screen, Laef yelled, “It’s the Dude!”

By the end of the movie, we had refilled our large Sprite and eaten all of the candy. We both crashed hard after our sugar high and took a nap when we got home. My tummy (and my thighs) are still in pain.

Happy Monday!

We’re not much for going out on school nights.

But, last night on my way home from the gym, I got a call from a friend who invited Laef and I over to bbq and play Wii. Of course, my first instinct was to decline because it was already 8 p.m., we didn’t have anything grill-ready and frankly all I was thinking about was watching Jason Castro get voted off and then settling in for Top Chef.

Then I realized that it would probably do us some good. Laef agreed and we both said we’d just stay a couple of hours and be home in bed by midnight.

That plan only works if you are not playing Wii.

We ended up drinking many mixed drinks, playing tennis, and boxing into the Wii hours of the night. It was so much fun. However, my right shoulder feels as though I just won Wimbledon in a six-hour slug fest versus Serena Williams.

Seems I’m not the only one.

Anyhoo…here’s to wishing today was Friday and to beating Laef in tennis. Although, he scored 18 points in boxing to my three. Is there anything more hilarious than watching people Wii box?

Disclaimer: The present mentioned below was ordered on 4/30/08 BEFORE allowances went into place. And, it only cost $9.97 plus shipping so who cares anyway. Point being, I haven’t spent anything on random items in the last two days. And I wanted Pinkberry wayyyy bad last night. I refrained. Yay! That’s $5.00 I still have!

Anyway, I digress.

My dark-haired Diva, Missy K., sent me a link to a shirt that I had to have. Good lookin’ out sister.

Within minutes, I had ordered said shirt and it arrived yesterday. Loves it.

Because I work in the mechanical and aerospace engineering department at UCLA, a LOT of things that I see in emails goes right over my head. I am supposed to read through all of my bosses emails each day and make sure his calendar is updated and that he has responded to all important questions.

I was already feel punchy last Friday afternoon (see my comments on Rob’s blog) when the following email came in:

Dear Professors,

Dr. Justin C. Burton from University will be visiting us next Friday, May 9, to give a talk in the Thermo/Fluids Research Seminar series.

His seminar entitled “Fluid Pinch-off in Bubbles, Droplets, and Quasi-2D Films” will be presented from 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM in room 38-138 EIV. See below for more information.

If you would like to meet with him individually and/or join for lunch, please let me know (gchan@ea.ucla.edu).

Best,
Grace

I am sorry, but “pinch-off, bubbles and droplets” all in one sentence? I found it to be HILARIOUS. Just thought I’d share.

As for my spending…We did not leave the house yesterday. We watched three movies — Reno 911 – Miami, No Country For Old Men and Gone Baby Gone.

Needless to say, Reno 911 was pretty mindless, but provided a few laughs. The other two were not so upbeat, but were VERY good. I’m way behind the times on both, but we enjoyed them. The guy in No Country was honestly one of the creepiest peeps I’ve seen.

Anyhoo…Happy Monday!

This was a rare weekend. We actually went out both nights.

I recently found out that one of my student workers in the SID office from way back lives in Playa Vista (which is all of five miles from Manhattan Beach). She and her husband invited us out for a pre-Cinco de Mayo evening of fun.

The allowance took a big hit. Margaritas add up quickly. But, I think we both agreed that it was well worth it. We met some really cool peeps — Darren and Alicia Cline. Apparently Darren played football at UCLA in the late 90s. While Alicia and I discussed important topics such as “The Hills”, The crazy roommate on the Real World and who our favorite top chef is, Darren provided Laef with the testosterone fix he needed. I think at one point they just walked away and I heard Darren say, “Dude. You can come over anytime.”

My only hope is that they are not swingers. Please let them be normal.

So, despite the fact that I now have $40 of my allowance left and it’s May 4, it was nice to get out of the house and meet people.

By the way, Heather mentioned on an earlier post that for everytime Laef prevents me from spending my allowance, I should owe him a cut. For example, if he keeps me from spending $5 on just one more drink, I owe him $1. Laef loves this idea and says at this point I owe him about five grand.

I started the day with $100 allowance.

Laef and I met up with some peeps for happy hour.

Only it’s not so happy in Manhattan Beach. We ventured away from the Pizzeria (which has $5 pitchers) to go to Shellback, which is essentially Taylors with a view of the ocean.

Anyway, we got there at 7:15 p.m. so we missed happy hour by 15 minutes.

One of Laef’s friends left to go have dinner with her boyfriend. At 9:15 p.m. the other one went to move her car out of a lot that was to close at 9:30. She called from her car and said that she couldn’t find a spot and was just going to go home. SUCH an Aross move.

Needless to say, Laef and I were stuck with a giant pitcher of beer and the tab. To be fair, one of the girls left a $20. But the bill was $50 with tip. We had four pitchers.

That does not come out of our allowances. We have a few going out nights budgeted for the month.

However, on the walk home I tried to get Laef to go into at least two other bars. I said I wanted one more drink and that I’d pay with my allowance.

He just kept walking.

Total allowance left on May 3: $100.

Ugh.

My addictions to Target, Sushi, Friday night glasses of wine (glasses that cost more than the bottles I buy at the store, btw)and weekly trips to Ralphs for groceries are about to be phased out.

It’s hard to say which part will be the hardest, but if I had to guess it’d be my trips to Fusion Sushi when Laef is out of town. I usually settle in with my magazine, order a bunch of different things and cap it off with a large hot sake. It brings me so much joy! However, it’s usually at least $40 (even when I’m by myself.) So, three or four trips to Sushi during the month is almost $200. Granted, I’m not having as much fun as some other sushi patrons…

Now. On to my Friday night pleasures. The weeks are long and stressful. I get harped on for various reasons ranging from why copies aren’t dark enough to why I didn’t read all 100 emails to my boss over the phone.

Anyway, it’s nothing that drives me to drink in the way that my last job did, but the thought of Friday night rolling around and not having to deal with traffic or the hum of the fluorescent lights in my office for two days makes me SO GIDDY!

Again, Laef has been on travel most weekends over the past few months, so I usually pick a place that looks nice to have a Friday night glass of wine. One night I went to Coco Noche because their specialties are wine and chocolate.

No matter, I think my tab was still around $40. (I really hope Laef is not reading this). I liked it and it was good, but I’m not kidding when I say the items on the tapas menu must have weighed in at .000245 oz each. They were tiny.

A couple of Friday’s ago, I went to Salt Creek Grill because I love their grilled artichoke. I was enjoying a glass of wine and an artichoke by myself when a 65 year old man came over to my table and sat down.

Drunk man: “Can I join you for conversation?”

Me: (In my head — What the fuck am I supposed to say to that?) Out Loud – “Uh. Sure.”

So, as you might imagine, it is very awkward. He says his name is Robert. He has had four rum and cokes. He is married. But his wife does not like to come out with him (I wonder why). He usually just goes home and plays games on the computer.

This is when I panic. Am I looking at a 65 year old WoW player? Is this what my future holds? So, I bravely ask him about his computer game and he says he plays Civ. For those of you that don’t know, that’s Civilization. Another computer game that will eat up your entire life before you know it. He says that WoW is “too fast” and that he can’t keep up so much.

OK, the point is, here’s me, on a Friday night having a WoW/Civ conversation with a drunk old man. It kept me in and out of trouble the rest of the weekend. I was not feeling venturing out for glasses of wine or yummy appetizers by myself.

And, even though I didn’t finish my artichoke or wine because I had to escape, that was another $30 or something.

So on top of my random restaurant runs, I tend to make trips to Ralphs at least three times a week. The intent is to pick up a few items for lunches — fruit, yogurt, lunch meet. Except that I can’t ever get out of there without getting an US Weekly or a bottle of wine or some kind of delicious cheese or other random goodies that we really don’t need.

I have been pretty good about avoiding Target as I know better.

Laef — who could honestly go an entire month spending no more than $2 on anything — has actually not gone of the deep end with my spending just yet. But, he did take the liberty of adding up all said such pleasure and pointing out exactly how much I can spend in one month with nothing to show for it.

We have decided to meet in the middle and May will be the first month where I have an allowance. And, I’m committed to this plan because I would prefer to own a house and do other grown up things by the time I’m 40.

So, I will keep you all posted on my progress. I will only be listing things that I bought that I could have survived without. Things like gas and groceries (minus smut magazines) don’t count.

May 1
1. I bought a candy bar for 65 cents. Technically, I am not sure I could have survived without it, but that’s up for debate.