This past weekend obviously was focused on Larry’s memorial, and to be able to make it through that without losing my mind, Michancy came down and stayed with me for the weekend. She finally got to stay in the guest room too!
The visit was wonderful – she flew in on Thursday evening to Burbank Airport (yay!), and on Friday I took the day off so we could hang out. We swung by a dispensary to stock up, and for the first time in a long while, I smoked some weed. And if you just manage to pace yourself, it’s amazing. We just hung out and watched TV (I was inspired to watch MacGruber because of the “Unspooled” podcast – very dumb movie, but still hilarious; we also watched the first episode of Picard and it was very very good. Again, I’m so pissed Larry wasn’t able to see it), and then that night, we sat out on the patio and drank, smoked weed, and had a dance party. Every Friday night should be so chill.
Snacks for Michancy
View outside on Friday night
Drinking w/ Michancy
I’m a well of emotion
Pretty red sky
Yay Portrait Mode
All time shot – so great
On Saturday, the chilling continued. We watched Looper that morning, and having not seen it since 2012, I had forgotten how fucking gREAT it is. Rian Johnson is a helluva storyteller. Also watched Across the Universe that evening as I was in the mood for some Julie Taymor Beatles fun, although even though it’s a spectacle, the story really is just kinda dumb. The performances of the songs really are what make the movie.
Sunday was obviously the memorial, and then afterward when we got back, we just relaxed some more and watched some ST:TNG episodes, and watched one that was relevant to Picard, “The Measure of a Man”. TNG is a good series, but I just couldn’t watch it as much as Larry could. I have started listening to the podcast Larry loved, “Star Trek: The Next Conversation”, as they talked about the first episode of Picard. I ended up writing them a message letting them know about Larry’s death as he had been an occasional mention on the show and each time that happened, Larry just got so happy.
Anyway, I’m so glad to have spent this weekend with Michancy. Never a dull moment, and she indulged my wine drinking, so yay me.
While Larry was still recuperating from his hepatic pump surgery back in Ft Lee, I had come back home. During that time (Larry didn’t return to Los Angeles until Oct 19, which was very stressful for him and upon arrival he cried, understandably as we didn’t know if what he went through was going to have been worth it – it turns out, no it wasn’t, writing from March 2020), I had some time to spend with friends, and on that Saturday night, I reached out fairly last-minute to Paras and Carey and ended up inviting myself along to a restaurant they were going to that night called L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele. Nicki came too and oh man, what a night. First, the restaurant was spectacular Italian food and wine. The ambience of this place was so bougie, but so good. The waiters were all hot. The vibe was completely awesomeness. I was texting Larry about all that and couldn’t wait for us to go there when he got back. We didn’t end up making it there which sucks, but just not in the cards at that point when he got back.
At the restaurant, we managed to put away like 3 or 4 bottles of montepulciano, so the night started off swell! We didn’t end the night after dinner, and took an Uber to a bar called the Electric Owl further west on Sunset. It was a very chill bar, where we got to pet some really big dogs and also get helped by some attractive and fun waiters there too. We were all drunk, or at least seriously buzzed, and it was great. I probably should have left at that point, because the hangover the next day was gonna suck regardless, but we continued and went to a place called The Den on Sunset. That was just an entire scene and oof, I was done. I ended up spending the night on Nicki’s couch as I didn’t want to go all the way home. That was a rough Sunday.
Inside L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele – this is the waiting area
I was no fan of 2018, that is for sure. As 2018 ends though, there are good things on deck and I’ll hope that 2019 is a bit gentler and happier. I felt like getting out the rest of the pictures I have from 2018 before NYE tonight, so here goes:
Last Holidays at AMLI:
Honestly, as we get ready to move into our new house, there will be some sadness at leaving our apartment here at the AMLI development. We’ve been here for almost 4 years! That’s one of the longest times I’ve lived anywhere. The location was fantastic for being able to walk to dining, shopping, and movies, and it was a small apartment but not in a bad way. Except for having people over – the small size definitely kept us from entertaining. So yeah, the new house we’re getting will be much more amenable to having people over!
Cool Shot of the Grand Wilshire one night:
That’s the current tallest building in LA, technically, which is next to the PwC building in DTLA. Pretty neat.
Paras & Carey Engagement / Holiday Party Fun – 15 Dec 2018
Our good friends Paras & Carey got engaged earlier this month! It’s fantastic news and they’re such a fun couple and some of our favorite people. They had friends over for a Holiday-then-Engagement party and man oh man did I get drunk. What did me in was after a whole night of drinking red wine, we switched to champagne to toast the couple. OOF. Not a good idea, at least for me. Definite hangover the next day. Anyway – pics!
Happy Hour with PwC
Before the PwC holiday break, the group I work with at PwC had a nice happy hour after work, when we all had come in to meet for a prep session. It was fun, and I do love working with these guys. All very smart and all a lot of fun.
Christmas at Mom’s
I’ve had the week off because PwC shuts down during the week between Christmas and New Year’s. We didn’t expect to do much in terms of activities this week as we knew we were gearing up to close on the house and buy a ton of appliances, so let’s just chill. Unfortunately though, Larry ended up getting hit pretty hard with something that laid him out Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I ended up going to Mom’s by myself to meet up with Mom, Stacie, and Trent. It was a fun time, but certainly my mind wasn’t all there thinking about Larry.
When I got back home from Mom’s, Larry was ready to go to the ER as he had a fever and it was just the culmination of him feeling really shitty. As we prepared to do that, his fever kind of broke and we ended up not going. Larry had chemo the next day (Wednesday) and both of us thought there’s no way he’ll be able to get it, but when we went in, the doctor ran blood tests and everything was better. Some of the pain that Larry had been feeling in his chest area the doctor predicted was likely an ulcer in his esophagus area, likely from stress. He got a prescription and that medicine seems to have helped – and whatever bug or illness was messing with him looks to have also gone away.
The last chemo session (Number 12!) was started on Wednesday and on Friday, he was able to say goodbye to the pump, hopefully for the last time. It’s exciting to know that he’s past that first, super-intensive phase and that we know it did it’s job. Now we just have to get ready for what comes next. Hopeful that 2019 yields some good news there.
The Glen LA update:
First, we have wired our down payment to the escrow company, so things are feeling really fucking real as of today. A closing date of today was actually in the cards, but because of the gas company (again) not being done with the installation until last week, the city sign-off won’t happen until next week (hopefully).
We did have two walkthroughs with the builder’s service rep over the past two weeks and folks, we not only have power, we DO have gas as well! There are a good number of small little things, mostly touch-up type stuff, for the builder to resolve, but basically, this house is almost ready to go!
You’ll also notice that the backsplash is in, which was one of the last things that we noticed as needing to be installed, and man, when we finally got to see it, it was such a joy. The kitchen looks goooood. The whole house looks great!
Walkthrough 1:
LOVE the backsplash
LOVE seeing our flooring in the full powered lighting
Our stairs have carpet, too
Follow-Up Visit to see if Gas worked!
So great!
Larry’s energy has been better this past weekend, so on Sunday, we went to Best Buy and bought the remaining appliances we didn’t have yet, a refrigerator and a washer & dryer. We’re pretty damn happy with the choices we made:
Next thing we’ve got our eye on is buying a king-size mattress set, and we went to Macy’s yesterday and I think we know what we want but we didn’t pull the trigger yesterday. Might have to do that tomorrow though.
Other Stuff:
We’ve been watching a lot of movies lately. The weekend before Christmas, when Larry was feeling okay, we actually saw two movies:
Bumblebee: Holy shitballs, this was the Transformers movie I’ve always wanted. It’s fantastic, it’s got the old-school 1980s style of Transformers, it’s funny, there’s actual emotional performances to be found, it’s got heart, and it’s a blast. Highly recommended.
Aquaman: Look at DC, finally figuring out how to make their superhero movies. Wonder Woman was finally something good from them, and of all things, they made Aquaman a thrilling and fun movie. It doesn’t hurt at all that Jason Momoa is practically perfect in the role, even if there’s no way you would have believed they’d go with his look for Aquaman based off of his traditional comic-book appearance. The movie is a touch too long, and there’s a lot of video-game style plotting going on (go here to get that, then go there to get this, but first get this other thing) but it’s still really entertaining. I think DC really needs to consider jettisoning all the Snyder nonsense and figure out how to tell the best Superman movie they can. Good luck though, as Richard Donner already did that.
At home, we’ve watched a couple of movies via renting them from ITunes:
Hunt for the Wilderpeople: Oh my god, this movie is amazing. If you watch the trailer, you’ll know immediately if you like it or not, as the movie is basically this but fleshed out into the full story:
The director, Taika Waititi, is the same guy who made Thor: Ragnarok and What We Do In The Shadows, which I’d previously raved about. He’s got a wonderful sense of humor and tells a story with such a great wit. I don’t want to go too much further in describing the plot, but the kid in the movie, Ricky Baker (played by Julian Dennison), is hilarious, and Sam Neill as Uncle Hector is wonderful. Just, go, rent this movie. It’s SOOO good.
Hearts Beat Loud. This is a cute independent movie about a Brooklyn record store owner who makes a great song with his college-bound daughter, and the resulting path of whether they continue to do this at the expense of his daughter no longer going to college. It’s a small story with a lot of great actors and good performances, and the music is very good. I don’t know if I loved the movie? It was cute for what it is, and the trailer below helps give you a sense of what to expect. Nick Offerman can get it though – he’s a good looking guy in this hipster-y makeover.
The Spy Who Dumped Me. I really wanted to like this more than I did. Coming from someone who still actively adores the movie Spy, this looked to be exactly in that same sweet spot and it has two actresses, Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon, that I love as well. But man, this was not it. It had moments that were fun, and a ridiculously hot guy in the form of Sam Heughan, but just something didn’t feel pulled together about it. Glad it was a rental!
Before I end this post, I had to post some posters I saved from the upcoming Godzilla: King of the Monsters movie. Have you SEEN these trailers???? I need this movie in my bloodstream it looks so goddamn good:
O
M
G
Just make it Spring 2019 already. Godzilla and King Ghidorah battling it out?????? Rodan fucking shit up??? Mothra all peaceful then throwing down???? GHIDORAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! Just…too much. It’s by far the movie I’m looking forward to the most this summer. So exciting. Anyway, I love these posters they made:
Just damn.
Anyway, that’s a long enough post for the end of the year. As I mentioned at the beginning, 2018 was a shit year for all the reasons that you can think of. I NEED 2019 to be better.
Last night’s celebration with Rekha back on the West Side was a blast, but man, it was tough to get up and at ’em this morning. A touch hungover. Took a lot of water to start feeling normal again. It all happened because I mixed wine with hard stuff, and yeah, rookie move. So not only was today spent trying to recover from a hangover, I also was working from home. Fun day.
Golden Globes were fun – La La Land kicked ass and took home a lot of the awards, Meryl Streep was bad ass as usual in her speech, and then we watched the Bright Lights documentary of Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds and now I’m just done. It was a wonderful look into their lives, but just so goddamn sad in retrospect.
Anyway, I’ll try to download my pictures from last night and get them up this week, as there are some good ones. It was a good time out and about in the world. It was also nice to wander around Santa Monica a bit.
With last week being my return to a regular work schedule (and with no company holidays in sight until Memorial Day), it ended up feeling like a very long week. This weekend ended up being a lot of fun, although I think I drank more beer than I should have? This morning was certainly rougher than expected.
As for yesterday, we drove down into the Downtown LA Arts District, which is certainly a very “hip” neighborhood, with it having a ton of hipster bars and restaurants while also nestled up against one of the worst parts of town, Skid Row. So edgy! 🙂 Anyway, we drove in over the Fourth St bridge and luckily found a parking spot in the lot, and proceeded to enjoy the Brewery offerings. Of course I drank the beer while Larry just had to deal with me. It was awesome to get to see the old crew all together again (sans Nicki & Brian though) and it just reminded both Larry & me that we have some fantastic friends – it’s just that we don’t get to see them daily. 🙁 Welcome to the 30s, Tawny!!!
Jan 9, 2016 – Tawny’s Birthday at Arts District Brewery
Driving across one of the awesome LA River bridges
This is the Fourth Street Bridge
There’s DTLA!
Not sure what that all is
The very long Arts District apartments
Inside the Brewery
Our selfie
Carey & Paras
Larry & Me
Skeeball cast its allure to Larry
The exterior of the Brewery
This get-together had been an afternoon affair, so Larry & I ended up getting dinner back close to home at Jax. The jazz was still fun to listen to, although it had vocals so I think Michancy would have hated it. There was an amusing woman in front of us at the host desk who was absolutely PISSED that her wishes to be near the music were not conveyed in the reservation. She demanded to know when she’d get a table and when the host finally guessed an hour after getting badgered by her for that answer, she immediately demanded to know why it would be an hour. Bitch, STFU. Anyway, Larry & I didn’t care about being next to the music and got her table. Food wasn’t all that much to write home about, but it was good enough.
Finally, this morning, we did another Griffith Park run! I explored a little and ran west initially and discovered the bike path doesn’t go that much further west just yet. I do know that there are plans to make the path go the entire length of the river, but we’re not there yet. Thanks again to Fitbit guilt for getting me out on that run. Here’s hoping to continuing that trend and getting my health in check.
