Master Greg and I went on our “first date” last night at the Honda Center. We arrived a little early, grabbed a few drinks and headed for our seats. The seats weren’t bad at all for something you’ve won from a contest. And our neighbors were all very cool.
It’s the first time I’ve ever realized how powerful some of his lyrics are. I mean, seriously. I haven’t really paid attention. Suddenly, George has become my songwriting hero. And inspiration.
He sounds exactly like his records. His voice is amazing. Sometime during “Roxanne”, I turned to Greg.
“I want to put him in a gilded cage so he can sing for me everyday.”
“I want to put him in my bed and make him sing a totally different tune,” he replied.
Oh yes. Gay or straight, the man is still pretty hot. He still sounds like he does back in the days. Still shakes his booty the same good way we all remember too.
Oh, how we both loved the concert.
I took a few videos but they were all grainy. So I’m going to borrow some clips from another concert goer just to share the joy.
So the Lesser Weevils had our little fundraiser dinner tonight at Thai Issan in Cerritos. Samone and Tom, the owner, graciously donated 10% of our tab to AIDS Walk.
And they are promising 15% donation from now until June 27, one week after the walk (which I can still turn my money in, I think) at their other restaurant, the Delightful Crepes Cafe in Long Beach. The Yelp review for the place is a little iffy. Even I who had been there once think the place still needs a little work. But they ARE working on improving the menu. Give it a shot if you want to try something new.
Delightful Crepes Cafe
1190 Studebaker Rd
Long Beach, CA 90815
At least give a new place a try WHILE SUPPORT THE WEEVILS! Just tell your waiter that you’re supporting Oakley’s Team at AIDS Walk Long Beach, and they’ll make a note of it.
We went to see Kung Fu Panda with Erik on Saturday. (I only have one word for you, “Skadoosh!” I’d see it again a million times! Do sit through the credit for a little cute snippet at the end.) Then I left to surprise my friend Amber at her little sister’s graduation party at her mom’s house.Amber’s mom is a genius. First she got me, who fetched Nora. Then she got Michael, Amber’s best gay and my prom date. Nora and I arrived late when both Mike and Amber were already buzzed. The look on Amber’s face when Nora and I came through the door was priceless.
After most guests have gone, we even got to have a beer with the conquering graduate with a few swear words thrown in for good measures. We finally welcome no-so-little-anymore Alicia to the adult table. Haha.
Alicia graduated from that other university across town. I promised not to stir any rivalry pot when I showed up and someone would start picking on me a bit. And I would mention the truce and we all had a good laugh at the expense of the lone Trojan in a bruin’s den.
I later showed Alicia what I stowed into the fridge as her graduation present. It’s a little puke blue and pale yellow tote with pockets. I’m sure the real intention was for a new college student to carry their stuff to the shared dorm showers. It just happens to perfectly hold a 6-pack of beer in paper carrier.
I happily fit a 6-pack of Red Trolley in it.
“Now, that’s grown-up beer I bought for you,” I told her. “You graduated from college and therefore graduating from college beer. Enough with the Miller and Coors and Corona crap.”
Alicia laughed. “I still can’t believe you actually bought a UCLA tote.”
“The cost of my Trojan pride had better be the best damn present you’ve gotten today, little one,” I looked up at Alicia.
Yes. Up. This “little girl” who used to hang around with us back in high school is damn near 6 foot tall now. The next thing we’ll know is Amber’s little girl Brittany, who is 9 and bigger than me, will be graduating college in a few blinks of an eye.
I had a fantastic time with Amber, Michael and Nora. I played some piano and we sang a bit. We joked around and walked down memory lanes, laughing our butts off. I am once again reminded of the value of true friendship. Across states and continents, and across time, when you have it, you have it.
On the contrary, today is what Thai people call a “Just Grandpa-Grandma” weekend. It was just me and my B.
I made breakfast. He ran the laundry. I put it away. He let me hawk the couch. I let him play his game. We started on Lego Indiana Jones game, and went to see The Incredible Hulk. (Very entertaining, by the way. Not as much fun as Iron Man, but I did like it. Oh, and you don’t have to sit through the credit for this.)
Low key. Low stress.
…which doesn’t explain why my head hurts and my skin is sensitive.
I think I’m coming in hot with a fever. And I didn’t even do anything that would warrant it this weekend!
The four girls reunited for another girls dinner. This time, we feasted at Beachwood Barbecue. Three of us did the appetizer-for-dinner with a skillet of the best Mac and Cheese on the planet, steamed clams, stuffed artichokes and a pot of cheese + beer fondue with lovely hush puppies, smoked meatballs, spicy sausages and some other fixings. Aurora, who can’t even have a taste of dairy until she stops breastfeeding, nibbled on a few non-dairy items and enjoyed her plate of venison.
We had a fantastic time up until the very last bites when the Lakers took a turn for the worst, and until this dude interrupted us.
The past three hours, I remember nothing of my past and impending sleepless nights, of work, of life.
The past three hours, I made new memories with 3 girl friends over a bottle of wine, two buckets of garlic fries, a bowl of mussels, and a few plates of crepes.
Lupe, Aurora, Lee and I went out for the “not girls night out” dinner at Le Creperie in Belmont Shore.
It’s a totally Sex and the City moment, substituting sex talk with baby talk, work gossip and crazy observation of people. LOL.
At some point, we almost forgot we were here. The decor and the atmosphere didn’t quite transport us to France but it took us somewhere else entirely. It was noisy in a good way–filled with conversations, laughter and piano music.
Once in a while, all you need is your girls to rediscover joy.
P.S. I was just talking to Brandon that I need to find a good piano lounge around here to go hang out at. Me and a glass of wine, listening to the real master makes a baby grand sings. Le Creperie is just the ticket.
Sad: Dropped Brandon off at the airport this morning. Poor thing.
Glad: Had lunch with Nora in Irvine since I was already in the area. It’s good to return the favor.
Splurge: While waiting to go have lunch with Nora in Irvine, I ended up at the Container Store. Those of you who have been there know that when you go in for one thing, you come out with much more. I went in for two bottles of Mrs. Myers dish soaps. I came out with kitchen wrapper organizer (badly needed), closet organizers to replace my giant plastic tub that threatens to kill me every time I pull off the top shelf, sturdy clear plastic baskets for the hard to reach part of my top pantry shelves, and a travel clothing organizer to keep Brandon’s shirts from wrinkling for his next trip…which is at the end of the month.
Saving: Bought a pair of low heel brown shoes for $25 down from $60 and therefore save buying one new suit.
Fate: Someone tapped Brandon 0n the shoulder to get into her seat on the plane Cincinnati to Harrisburg. He looked up to see his mom.
Planned: Half of the things I want to get done today is done. The other half starts to look every unappealing.
Productive: Got to organizing the pantry less Brandon’s top shelf full of tools. I seriously cannot see what I’m reaching for out there. There was a moment I was going to stack my stepping stool on a chair, but since there’s no one here to call 911 if I fall, I didn’t. Also put together the first set of closet organizer and put the plastic wraps and parchment papers etc. in place.
Procrastinate: Took a break and channel surfed. Still haven’t put the closet organizer in the closet yet. I guess blogging is considered a part of this category. Now that I’ve been watching the cooking shows, I think I need to eat dinner and get started on the cookies.
Anticipation: That’s $150 for AIDS Walk Long Beach right there, baby!
Active: My roller skates totally rocked. I rolled out down the street with Brandon yesterday to the pharmacy and looped around the apartment parking lot for a bit. At least I seemed to remember how to do this. My body is loving a little exercise too.
Inactive: As predicted, ankle swells up just a wee little bit. Not painful to walk on but I wasn’t going to skate today even though the procrastination totally is cheering me on. Besides, the lot is kind of busy today with the neighbors downstairs moving and the other tenant getting all of his crap out of the garage.
J.C. and Joshua are in town for the week. I stole a few hours of their time to hang out with mom and kid. I also provided my photography service by helping J.C. take some pictures of the little speedster and capture some videos for his dad.
Erick is a medical student with the military. Instead of going through different departments in the same hospital for rotation, he is currently on rotation in different military medical centers all over the country. He hasn’t seen Josh in a while, so I thought it would be nice to get him a few movie clips.
I also learned Josh language and taught him a few new things. Josh was showing me his books and one of them have animals pictures with texture of their skins to go with it. We made animal noises as we went along. A cow print texture. Moo! A fluffy cat. Mow-my! (That’s his meow.) A fuzzy ducky. Ack! (That’s a quack.)
“Now, Joshua. What sounds does a …” Then I flipped to the next page.
Oh. Crap.
“…gorilla make?”
I looked up at J.C. She looked at me. I looked at Josh who was looking to me for an answer.
“Um. We’ll come back to that page. Let’s see what’s next.”
Stumped by a children’s book. I wonder how many parents faced such dilemma.
I did come back to the book later on and teach Josh to beat on his chest and go “Rawrrr” as the sound of the gorilla. Close enough.
Josh also showed me where his and Mommy’s and my toes are. Our fingers. Our belly buttons. Our cheeks. Our ears. As we thought we were done, Josh walked over to J.C. and put his little hand on her chest. We thought he needed to steady himself.
But then, he turned right over to me and put his hand on my boob too.
Ladies man in the making. Seriously.
Later that afternoon, I went with Brandon and our Erik to Sports Chalet. Erik needed to get his bike fixed and I needed a pair of roller skates. Yes, kids. I picked up the classic 4-wheel white boots roller skates. With pink wheels. My parking lot is big enough, and I can roll with Brandon on the bike sometimes.
Then we had dinner and saw Indiana Jones. (You’ll have my full review soon.) We discussed the movie and the franchise on the way home, mainly about the “magical items” of each of the movies.
“Except for Temple of Doom, they were all biblical, weren’t they, the artifacts?” said Erik. “The Ark of the Covenant. The Goblet of Truth.”
A moment of silent in the car.
“If by the Goblet of Truth, you meant the Holy Grail, then yes.” Brandon uttered.
Somebody is confusing his Christian mythology with Harry Potter’s 4th installment.
Continuing of me spending my weekend with the boys, Brandon and I vegged and watched the last DVD of Robin Hood, BBC series, Season 1. I am also along for the ride as Brandon plays Dark Sector. You’d be a amaze how a fresh pair of eyes could get you out of a maze/mission you couldn’t beat the first time around.
I hope everyone is having as much of a great weekend as I am!
I drove in to work this morning. Conveniently, an impromptu happy hour formed around Erin.
You see, Erin helped Dave with this big ol’ project. So he wanted to pay her back in alcohol for her good work. We jumped on that bandwagon and ended up at the Spring Street Smoke House. There we met up with Erin’s roommate and his friend…who are probably going to be reading this later on. So, hi guys!
We were bitching about work. We were talking about cats. We were talking about crazy friends. And the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch. We were talking about grease on your hands. Taking naps. Telling embarrassing stories about each other. And many other inappropriatenesses. Over a face full of pulled pork sandwich and with a pint of Angel City Abbey ale, I realized, “Oh my god. I haven’t had this much fun in a long time.”
Seriously. I laughed my ass off. I had really good food. I enjoyed my company thoroughly. The only downside is that I AM the driver. Haha.
Afterward, I went to drop off Erin at her place and got to meet her and her roommate’s cats Munkin and Werm. And a yard that Athena would’ve been happy in if they didn’t have issues with neighborhood dog.
Dammit. I miss that cat.
Overall, it’s been a great evening…made me forget today at the office. Even if it was a blur of a day, it was still a hell of a day.
Live to fight another day tomorrow. To all, a good night.
