Olympic Torch Protests

What an awesome photo! Am I alone in thinking that maybe this guy is missing the point? "We want peace now, or I'm going to kick your ass!" I love how this woman is just like, "Yeah, ok white boy." I bet the Chinese media is just having a field day with this one.
One of my friends said they thought it was me at first... Ha! I guess all us white guys look alike.

Hanging with the Brooklyn Crew

Met up with Dan Levin and Leah Gershon (I went to Kindergarden at Montessori w Leah!) at a Wine (sorta) Bar in Venice, "The Other Room". They have three of them in NYC, so it was almost a slice of home, almost. Hanging out with my Brooklyn Crew was great fun. The Oatmeal Stout wasn't bad either.

LA car culture

So this $500,000 Mercedes McLaren SLR was in Liz's Garage. Then later on a hike with Justin in the hills we came across this car with the creative silver duct tape patch job on the bumper.

Swing Dancing at The Derby

The World Famous Derby, of Swingers fame. Everybody gets all gussied up in their best swingers gear and MOVES! Seeing as my fifth grade Ballroom dancing classes really weren't going to cut it, and I was rocking a baseball hat, flannel shirt, and flip flops, I kept to the side with my guiness. I'll tell you though, watching everybody out there on the floor, they sure looked great spinning around. Who knew two inches above the knee could be so spectacular when a dress spins up a little bit? Who needs Brazilian bikinis in Miami? Well, maybe on second thought, it is good to see a little bit of variety in this country.

Grafitti wall in Venice Beach

Went down to Venice Beach to do the walk and check in on all the craziness. Not much has changed down there. This is the Grafitti wall where the paint never has a chance to dry...

Food display

I was really taken by this great food display in the window of some supermarket. Nobody could understand why I thought it looked so cool, but all those great colors and the whole 50's aspect really caught me.

Nicco and Nick-o at the wine bar

So, of course, in every new town, I drag the locals around to all the wine bars. These guys were pretty good troopers. We had a Chinon (Cab Franc) and a Sinsky Merlot. I liked the Cab Franc, but the Sinsky was group favorite. Nick was just happy in general.

Izakaya in LA

Kumi found this place which was once again, AMAZING. We had 11 courses of Omakuse (Sp?) or chef's choice. Here are some shots of the food, Nicco partaking, and Eric and Kumi. (Which one of the two is Japanese? Eric or Kumi?)

Tea Ceremony

It's taken me a little while to actually put together this post because I've been trying to figure out how to properly convey it. I suppose, really, I can't. Tea ceremonies weren't developed to be condensed into a travel blog. But at the same time I don't want to be too holy about it, because, like my man, Master Dogen Zenji wrote,

"There are those who say there is nothing holy in the secular world; I say, there is nothing secular in this holy world."

Perhaps Master Dogen would agree with me, that even beer pong is a form of a tea ceremony seen in the right light, especially when one bashes through the sheet rock during an especially heated volley.

The beauty of this particular tea ceremony, is that Yuka-San is studying not only Cha-do, but Sa-do. (Beyond the way of tea, but really the way of ceremony, or, if you'd care to phrase it, the way of the way) The water was heated, the tea was whisked, we were properly presented, and taught how to receive and return the tea cups (Each with three turns)
I was reminded of the days of Oryoki up at ZMM.

"When there is true intimacy, there is no giver, nor receiver."

Free sushi from my friends at the game

So, the aforementioned lovely couple who sat next to me at the game (Full disclosure here, I had one of those five dollar park passes that don't really get you a seat, but snuck down with my buddies between at bats and actually sat in this fair lady's seat until she came back and her husband joked about it) Anyhow, they were lots of fun and offered me some sushi so here are some shots of me trying to cram an entirely too large piece into my mouth in one shot. Jackie Bliss would've been so proud to see my version of the Blissfull challenge from her Boston Red Sox days at Fenway..

San Diego Do's

Sometimes you just have to grab a young lady on the street and tell her, "Madamoiselle, those leggings are beyond fetching, they're downright fucking fierce." And if the young lady should see fit to lay a big ole kiss right on your lips, well, then hey, you were right.

I don't know who these girls are...

And I don't know why we have a picture with them. I think it had something to do with my shirt. I told them, in NYC, Sorbet is the new black. I guess they bought it....
I sorta wish Eric had told me mango shirts and suede Blazers aren't the usual garb for Padres Games, but then again, maybe it worked.

Brad and Eric at the Game

Just look at these guys... They're thinking, how did Jared manage to get around the two beer maximum? Cause Jared is a fan of the Brooklyn Dodgers, kids. That's how. Besides, Hooper drives the Boat, chief.

Beautiful seats at the Padres/Dodgers Game

The rivalry between the LA Dodgers and the Padres is an old one they say. The thing is though, they don't even really know... My Mom was at the Game when the BROOKLYN DODGERS won the Pennant and went on to take the World Series in 1955. As a kid, my dad sat me down and told me, "The Dodgers have left Brooklyn, you're not allowed to root for the fucking Yankees, those bastards are from the Bronx, and the Mets suck." Dad didn't forsee the Mets winning it in 1986, boy, was my 6th grade math teacher from Boston, Ms. Cummings, upset. I can't believe how many so-called Dodgers fans didn't even know that they're called the Dodgers 'cause they were the "Trolley Dodgers" from when they were in Brooklyn...
Anyway, we had great seats, here's the view, the lovely couple I sat next to, and the asshole LA Dodgers fan whose rudeness would've made "Dem Bums" proud and I just had to kind of love him for it.

Wandering and putting off surfing

The sky was overcast, the wind was up, and the waves were, OK (Better than The Atlantic 6 out of 7 days) Eric our phenomenal guide took us down to the sea at low tide to inspect the reef and see little creatures. It was so wonderful. Parents, pull your kids out of school for a day and take them wandering... wow! We saw mussels, sea anenomes, sea slugs, rock lobsters, turns, barnacles, unknown fish.... It really begins to let someone ignorant like me even to start to understand ecosystems and what it is to be alive here. What a strange and lovely and beyond comprehension planet we have here!
You may not be able to see it in the picture, but there's a little day glow, entirely flourescent, creature swimming around in the second picture. It's a baby sea slug, and they get super ugly and brown when older, but how irreverent when young?!?