CA Vacay – Day 5!

It struck me, while I was talking to TBF on the phone (he’d called to check in on my tattoo… which you’ll hear about on Monday) that the days of my vacation are falling in line with the days I’m posting about them now. It was wholly unintentional, but it works none the less! That said, I suppose I should quit teasing, and get on with it already – since Mama and Jamie think I tease intentionally. (I do. But yes. Moving on.) (though, I admit to considering doing an uber cute aside post about the pup – but I’ll wait. November has just begun, after all.)

So, we slept in on Sunday, though I was the first one up around 10 am or so. I played with the dogs, said hello to the cats, then told Gimli that NO, I did not want to play with his basketball. For the 100th time. No, really Gimli, I still don’t want to play. Really. Anyway, we finally got up and got ourselves together, and piled the wife into the small back seat of the tiny truck, and headed off. We discovered what that helicopter was doing that bugged Erica so much – it was dumping stuff on the fire. The fire that was closer to the road then perhaps was comfortable, though we were plenty safe, and knew that it was not anywhere near Frazier Park. The hill was saved – so far – by the resulting pre-burned areas of last years Day Fire. But still – it made for a pretty drive…

IF you think those are cool – you should have seen the hills when we drove HOME in the dark!

Anyway, we got to LA with no problems, and headed toward LACMA, which housed the Dali Exhibit, driving down streets that I’d just been down a few days before. I spent the vacation traveling in circles, see? That’s the way all good Vacations go! We finally located LACMA, and then the parking area, which we’d passed. So we turned around, and while we were waiting to pull out on the main street again – there was a man, talking on his cell phone, watching us. I turned, and smiled at him – I mean, he was watching and all! – and he waved at me as we pulled away. Which caused TBF to bust out laughing again “I SWEAR! Black men LOVE you…”

What can I say? (grin)

So we parked, and headed over to the museum. What was there? The Dali Painting and Film exhibit. I don’t have the words (stop laughing!) to describe how fantastic it was to see a real exhibit THAT huge and involved. There were so many little facts that I didn’t know, so many pieces that I hadn’t seen before, so MUCH to take in, that I could only wander around, and do my best to absorb it all. They had many of his paintings, they were playing his movies, and I discovered he had been a fan of Walt Disney, and there is even a short film that I *know* the Pup would love, that I’d never heard of, but watched twice. It’s a beautiful animation of many of Dali’s works that is beautiful. If anyone knows if it’s possible, and where I can get a copy of Destino for her for Christmas? I’d be eternally grateful. It was STUNNING. Fortunately, she is easy to please, and the Dali Bauble and the Ant Candy (the OTHER red meat) made her perfectly happy. *g*

It took us about two hours to get through the exhibit and then we went over to the tarpits, and the dinosaurs. Unfortunately, the exhibit was closed, we only got to smell the deliciousness of methane of the pits. We called and checked in at home, and then called S. to see how dinner was coming along, cuz she was gonna feed us! Yay!

With directions in hand, we wandered back to the parked car, two blocks or so away, and made our way to her house. Sorta. First we had a lovely detour around a burning building, which caused us to get good and lost, and to call and ask for directions again. Which were backwards and turned around, and the lights became father and farther apart, and there were shady looking people about and we discovered we were going into a NOT SO NICE ™ part of LA… another phone call, TBF and his wife going over various landmarks, and a LIGHT BULB MOMENT ™ and we finally were headed in the correct direction and made it once again to S’s house. It looked very familiar! (We were there Friday night, ya see…) And better then looking famliar – the smell of dinner was FANTASTIC…

I finally got to meet the INFAMOUS B – S’s fiance and a very, very handsome man. He has these eyes… and he’s sweet, and his smile is to die for, and yes – I determined that I agreed with TBF: S is a very lucky girl! Of course, he’s also a VERY lucky guy, as I already adore S and have for years. Add to that adoration that she’s learned to be one hell of a cook! Bacon-wrapped pork loin, with mashed potatoes and green beans on the side. Heaven on a plate, I tell ya!

There was giggling, and taunting, and teasing, and grousing by the significant others who didn’t REALLY want to go clubbing, but were forced to go along anyway. Ha! S and TBF had promised, see, that they’d FINALLY take me to a real Sunday Night Dark Wave Industrial Dance Club like they used to tease me with stories of while they were in College. I had been told to bring my best black, and I did, and after a quick change we were ready to go.

A short drive, where all the turns sent TBF cuddling with B, and we arrived at the Malediction Society. We showed our ID, and I was looked at in shock – “Alaska?! That’s a hell of a commute!” Yeah, cuz I came to LA JUST to attend the club! S was THRILLED that she still had ‘pull’ as she new the guy at the gate, and got in for free. Made her night!

The venue is FANTASTIC. The music makes one want to move, but the best part – the best part was the people watching. TBF and S danced a bit, but I loved every minute of simply watching the people on the dance floor. We had:

Morpheus – a BBM who was WORKING it on the floor.
The ‘pick one step and work it’ schoolgirl – she was on the floor when we arrived, and was still there when we left, and the whole time she did a ‘step together, step together’ sidestep to the beat. Nothing fancy for her!
The ‘just bought these platform boots and can’t do a THING with them’ girl – she spent her time doing a lurchy box step that you could practically SEE her counting out in her head. Step,2,3, together, step 2,3, together… without any real ‘box’ to the step, just sort of lurchy lunges.
Yoga Boy! – he was on the floor when we got there, and stayed for some time. He was doing exactly what his name implies – yoga poses, slow and easy, including headstands, and downward facing dog, and half a dozen more. We were fascinated!
The bend over backwards and bounce girl – she lost her shirt half way through and danced in her bra. She had a belly that made ALL of us wanna just… lick. Rawr!
The Heavy Metal Thrash Dancer – sucking on a lollipop. So butch.
The anorexic girl wearing little more then her underwear
The girl dancing with her drink who annoyed S to no end
Fan Boy – dancing on the speakers with paper fans, of course.
Scottish Man – Complete with Kilt, who – despite having the breeziest outfit on of the men there, STILL got too hot and had to remove his shirt, and thus we had a beer bellied Scottish Man in a wifebeater and kilt. Sexay. (…not)
A veritable plethora of other characters we giggled at that I’m sure that I’m forgetting and, perhaps most memorable of all –
Miami Vice Guy. Picture this, if you will. A short white boy, dressed all in white – white shoes, white cargo pants, a white tank top under a white button down shirt – with the collar properly popped. Now picture him doing every dance known to man – or his interpretation of it. From salsa and latin style work in a straight line, to slow and steady movements obviously taught by yoga boy, to Tai Chi moves, and then you can perhaps BEGIN to envision the delight that Miami Vice Guy was to watch! And he only got better with every margarita! That I was drinking, of course. Hahah!

It looks like they took pictures around the club after we left – and I saw this guy (look to the left there) outside talking on the phone as we left. I’m vaguely disappointed we didn’t get to see HIM on the dance floor, but I doubt he could live up to what I imagined him to be like….

Because oh. mah. gawd.

We did leave around midnight or so, as S had to work in the morning, and TBF and I had an appointment in Bakersfield around noonish. It was enough to get pleasantly buzzed and to have the experience that I wanted. Next time, I think I may stake out a good spot in front of the giant fan (it was SO COOL – literally! which made the heat in there bearable!) and watch for hours. I could have sat there till closing for sure – there were SO MANY interesting characters – er, people – to watch! But it was late, and so we made our way back down to the care, and I was glad I wasn’t SO wasted that I rolled down the flights of stairs instead of walked – just pleasantly buzzed.

We got into the car, and for SOME reason, though we sat in the same places in the care, SOMEHOW the ride home in reverse of our trip there, STILL resulted in all the turns allowing TBF to cuddle with Ben instead of me! I am pretty sure I got the raw end of the deal there! It was a conspiracy, I tell ya! Harumph!

So, after a potty break at S and B’s, we said our goodbyes and take pictures (Hello massive sunburn! Holy cow look how fat n redfaced I was! Oy! Theres a UBER cute picture of TBF and S – but well, that’s for ME to have and YOU to whine about. Ha!) and say our thank yous for the fantastic meal, and the good time at the dance club, and we piled into the car, this time with TBF tucked in the back and the wife driving, and we headed home.

We saw the fires burning on the hillside, but I didn’t get my camera out in time. We skidded into the driveway about 1:30am or so, and stumbled in to convince the animals that we Really Do Love Them, and showered them with affection.

We then went to sleep, and declared the day a success all the way around.

Tomorrow’s episode will include a Big White Guy named Zombie, Needles, and a maroon Dongle.

How’s THAT for a tease?