Los Angeles Day Two (Tuesday)

While wandering around with Brad on Tuesday, I couldn't help but get distracted by the weather. Every year in Ohio I experience a certain phenomenon. Around February, I get so accustomed to the bleak, gray winters that I actually forget that the seasons will change. Part of me remembers the cycle of seasons, and in conversation I will make reference to such seasons as "Spring" or "Summer" but in my heart I know that they don't exist. I resign myself to the cold, cloudy winter for the rest of my life. In Ohio, the seasons slowly change, allowing you to slowly adjust to the warmer weather. Then my mid-April, Spring actually hits before turning into a hot, humid Summer two weeks later.

This is why I have been caught so off-guard in Los Angeles. Every day it has been mid- to high-60s, mostly sunny and wonderful. There are pleasant-smelling flowers, yards full of grass, sunglasses and chirping birds. I jumped from Winter straight into Spring without lettiny my body know ahead of time. For shame! On Tuesday, I was actually preoccupied with the distractions of this weather and still in disbelief that I was in such an environment. Surely, my mind must be playing tricks on me.

But the weather was and is beautiful. And great for exploring. Brad and I walked to Silverlake, which is one of the hip, gentrified areas of Los Angeles. Last time I was here with Chris, he took us down here and we explored. Although the shopping areas of Silverlake are mostly concentrated within a few blocks, there exist what seems like at least a dozen coffee shops—all in business and all with frequent patronage. Apparently, there are a lot of people who need to be sitting out in public, sipping a latte and pretending to write a novel. Brad and I overheard a conversation in one coffee shop of this nature, and the writer described the novel she was working on as "genius" and unable to be pigeonholed into a genre. I'm sure it is, dear.


Below is a wall located in Silverlake. It is a graffiti wall memorium for Elloitt Smith, a musician who is pretty famous in the Indie music community who committed suicide some years ago. The wall was covered with messages to him and quotations from his songs.




















This is of the side of the coffee shop Brad and I sat in—the Casbah Cafe.




















After venturing around Silverlake, I got in touch with Jon Brown, my good friend from high school who moved out to Los Angeles for college. He's in his fifth year at University of Southern California and I have never seen him out here because last time I was LA he was traveling with the USC crew team. He and his girlfriend Chun picked me up from Brad's place and we went to a Greek grocery/deli/restaurant for lunch. I enjoyed a tasty gyro. Then we drove to USC and I got a 15-minute tour of campus. Again I was disoriented by the nice weather and couldn't imagine anyone actually studying or doing homework with this wonderful weather. Once April comes around at the University of Dayton, you either have to twist your arm to get work done or lock yourself in the nearest building (my preferred method).

Here's a picture of the new building for the film school. Fancy!




















Lots of people ride bikes at USC. Lots.




















I returned from hanging out with Jon and Chun in time for dinner at a Korean BBQ restaurant with Brad, Sarah and Christine. Christine is Korean and knew exactly what she was doing, so she talked to the staff and ordered everything for us. The format is this: Lots of bowls full of stuff. A grille in the middle of your table. And a lot of meat to cook on it.

The rest are photos from dinner. Apologies for the lack of an actually in-focus photograph. It was a low-light situation and my digital point-and-shoot was not up to the task.



















Thin rice wraps, sesame oil with salt and pepper, some other sauces and fresh jalapeño.




















Steak, pork belly, something else.



















Pork belly, squid and something else.



















Beef and small intestine.



















After four rounds of all-you-can-eat meat, our stomachs were about to pop. We decided to not continue on to Round Five. After the courses of meat, we got served bowls of chilled noodles with vegetables.
























We went home stuffed to the point of extreme discomfort. My stomach had not been filled with that much meat in quite some time, if ever. I went to bed happy and yet extremely uncomfortable, my body trying to hard to digest all the food. I woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of my stomach still trying to manage all of the food I put into it.

I'm sorry stomach. I promise to treat you better in the future.