leftovers

We slept in and had lunch with Luther and Andrew and I started making cookies since Connor was coming over. I realized that I pretty much hate New Years Eve and every year end up having at best, just a decent night, or at worst, full on trauma! So, to curb any misbegotten notion of trying to go out on what we call "amateur night," I told Dylan to let Jennie know that we'd be willing to babysit Connor for the night. As luck would have it, Jennie hadn't made any plans for a sitter yet, but New Year's Eve is also her birthday and she was very thrilled with our offer! Jennie and Sean came over to drop Connor off in the afternoon while Luther and Andrew were still packing their stuff up so for awhile we had a full house. Soon, though, all the adults left and it was just us with Connor. We had seen Connor several times lately so he wasn't shy at all and immediately started playing with his toys and telling us stories. Once the toys had been played out, we decide...

It was the last work day of the year and it was actually pretty stressful! I was the only one in the office for most of the day, and we had our computer technician coming in to try and fix some of the issues we've been having lately relating to our phone and DSL lines, and he wanted me to get some information from AT&T before he got there, which ended up requiring me to spend over an hour on the phone with various representatives who were mostly all less than helpful. In addition, I was stressing out over the fact that my holiday bonus still had not been deposited into my account and neither had my regular payroll, which normally goes in on the 30th or so I thought. So, my bank account was overdrawn and I didn't know what to do about it. Luckily, Dylan was out and about with my car since he went back up to Valencia to pick up the new TV, and I found that there was a Union Bank up near where he was, so he agreed to go deposit some money into my account so that I wouldn...

I started using Facebook Ads to promote the page for Devin Tait & the Traitors, and today it seems to have paid off in the form of one new "fan" that none of us know (you can check by clicking on the person to see if you have any mutual friends). I know it's a small thing - but it's really cool to me. Sometimes I get frustrated that I don't have very many fans on my page, but considering I don't have any albums released yet, and I am really just starting out, I guess it's normal. Sometimes it just doesn't gel with my delusions of grandeur I guess! After work I went to the airport to pick Marc up, he was coming back from spending the holidays with his family up in Grass Valley. I got there before his plane landed so I just decided to park in the lot which I always think is nice for people to do when they pick me up from the airport. It seems so rushed when someone just pulls up and expects you to throw yourself and your luggage into the car. W...

It was back to work, but it's a short week and most people are still out for the holidays, so it really wasn't like being completely back to work. Very relaxing and a chance to get caught up on some stuff. After work, I walked over to Ryan's house. Dylan was already there and so was Von, and David. Von is in town for the holidays and wanted to get together with Ryan so we had all planned to meet and hang out. Ryan suggested we go to Te'Kila which sounded fine to all of us - I especially wanted to go since it's in the Entertainment District and I haven't been there yet. I like to try and go to all the bars and restaurants, actually all the businesses, in our BID so I know what they are like. We walked down since it's just a few blocks from Ryan and David's apartment. It was really fun and they were having happy hour which meant the drinks and the appetizers were all on sale for really decent prices - $2 tacos and $5 margaritas! It was ...

I had the day off, but Dylan had to work so he got up and it seemed so cold at the time, but then shortly after he left it was very bright and it started to get hot and I couldn’t sleep so I got up and did some housework. After I did some laundry, dishes, and cleaning up the apartment, I took a bath and then proceeded to watch about 4 hours of Arrested Development. Over the holidays, I’ve completely re-watched Season 3 and now I’m half-way through Season 2 - Geez, I love that show!!!

When I was a kid, I used to look forward so much to going shopping in Hays the day after Christmas. It was my chance to buy the presents I really wanted, with whatever money I had either been given as a gift or saved after all the presents I would by for other people. But shopping on the 26th has, of course, turned into a nightmare and so now you won’t find me anywhere near a store. Dylan and I woke up at noon in Brandon and Angie’s apartment, and Dylan told me that Brandon had texted to see if we were picking them up at the airport. I know Brandon had sent me their itinerary but somehow I had completely screwed it up in my head and I thought they were coming back tomorrow night. I had promised Amy that we would go visit them down in Fullerton and I had been looking forward to it, but I wasn’t sure how to make it all work. I finally just decided that if we got around quickly we could do everything, so I told Dylan we needed to hurry up. We ended up getting to Amy ...

Unlike in the days of youth, I slept in pretty late, knowing that the gift of sleep was the one I wanted the most. Once I got up, I found that Robbie was already awake in the living room and she had made a little plate of cookies for Santa (actually, brownies that Shannon had given me) and that she had seemingly attacked one of my fruitcakes. Anyway, I made coffee and then I went and got Dylan up out of bed. The first presents we opened were from Robbie and they were these ultra-soft robes that felt very luxurious. We put them on right away but I ended up getting hot soon after so I had to take it off and just wear a t-shirt and pajama pants. Then we opened all the gifts that mom and dad had sent and I gave Dylan his gifts. Unfortunately, he had planned to do his shopping on the 23rd which was the day he ended up feeling like he had an ear infection and at my urging to go to the doctor, ended up in the ER after failing to find any other doctor’s office that was open...

As many of you may know, I had been struggling for a few years to decide what I should refer to December 25th, and the madness surrounding it, as. Since I'm no longer a Christian, I didn't want to refer to it as "Christmas," even though I had used that word for most of my life, because not only does it imply some sort of allegiance to Christ (not that I have anything against him - mainly just against Christianity itself) but it also misrepresents the entire holiday. As a society, we have progressed and become more aware of each others differing viewpoints, beliefs, and cultures - yet in the US many people still refer to the holidays as "Christmas," despite the fact that many groups of people - such as Jewish people, atheists, etc., do not actually celebrate Christmas or recognize that as the reason for their winter celebrations. Having done quite a bit of research, I discovered that Yuletide had been celebrated by pagans throughout history long before Jes...

Brandon and Angie's flight was at 6:55, so they had to get to LAX a little before 6am, which meant we had to get up around 4:30am - which obviously, was not fun! But I was proud of myself for waking up when my alarm went off and not waiting for Brandon to come wake me. I was so tired but I shook it off and drove them to the airport and saw them off. I was so sad that I wasn't going with them, though, but I know it's high time that Dylan and I spent the holidays with his family in Los Angeles for a change. I went back home and fell back asleep for awhile before getting up and heading into the office, where I was the 'last man standing' - everyone else was already out for the holidays. Needless to say, it was a very quiet day!

At work I put the HED newsletter online and left a little early since it was really quiet in the office; only Joe and I were still around. Then I went shopping around Sunset & Vine to try and finish getting my gifts; while I was walking down Vine Street I saw that everyone was coming out of the stores with their camera phones so I looked and there was a double rainbow in the sky to the east! It was beautiful so I had to take a photo myself, but after I got over looking at the rainbow, I just smiled seeing all the people coming out to take photos on their cameras! 5 years ago that isn't something you would have seen. Now, everyone has a camera on their phone. It was such an odd reminder of the exact time that we live in. I went into Game Stop to get a Wii game for dad and the guy working was beyond helpful - he actually showed me exactly what to get based on what I told him that my dad liked, and it was a used game so it wasn't very expensive but he said it was the be...

I sent out the December HED Newsletter, which was a big relief. We've decided that starting next year, we're going to do a print edition, on newsprint, so it will be a newspaper which is really exciting to me. I haven't worked on a newspaper since I was editor of the Leader my last semester in college. It was Dylan and I's turn to host Dinner Club this month, which I was really happy about because I hadn't planned any other type of holiday party at our house, and it would be a shame to have all those decorations go unseen! So, in addition to the regular crew of Robin, Michele, Aaron, and Mark, I also invited Brandon, Angela, Elene, and Jim. I made a sausage chili with fresh jalapenos which ended up being very spicy but just this side of being too spicy - it was perfect! Aaron had brought homemade tamales, his grandma's recipe, and they went perfectly with the chili. We all ended up having a great time and it was fairly late when everyone left but I was stil...

It continues to rain in LA. Joe (aka Vicky Boofont) and his boyfriend, Sunny, were having their holiday party tonight. It's an annual thing but this is the first time we've been able to go at their new place which is just right up the street (Laurel) from us. They just moved in together there a couple years ago but last year we were already in Hawaii when they had it. I was frazzled at work trying to get everything ready - on my lunch break I went to Trader Joe's to get the things I needed for my dish, as it's a potluck party. I always have a lot of fun cooking for Joe's party as he's a vegetarian and I love the challenge of making vegetarian food that everyone will love. This year I came up with what I thought was a brilliant idea - Tofurkey Sliders. Sliders (mini-hamburgers) are all the rage right now, so I got the little Hawaiian rolls, a tofurkey (tofu turkey), stuffing, and cranberry sauce. After work, I realized we needed gift for the gift exchange, ...

Rain, rain and more rain! The torrential rains we're having in LA at least make it seem like the holiday season - it might not be snow, but it's something different and to be honest, it's so much easier to get in the holiday spirit when the weather is just dreadful (not that I think the rain is dreadful personally). Dylan and I went to brunch at Fabiolus Cafe over in Hollywood which was all-you-can-eat for $9.99, a great deal. Fabio, the owner, had invited us but he wasn't there unfortunately. It was nice to have brunch somewhere outside of West Hollywood for a change. The Boofont Sister's annual holiday show was taking place all weekend, this year titled "Jesus Christ! It's Christmas!" and Dylan and I had gotten our tickets for tonight and met Marc, James and Robert there. The show was so much fun - it was definitely their best one yet. In addition to Vicky (Joe) and Ruby (Cindy), the guest stars were Kelly Mantle, Barbie Q, Tammy Brown, and Wee ...

It was a really fun day! It was raining, but Dylan and I love the rain - and we are both always so thankful that neither one of us is the type to complain about rain or gloomy weather - so we went to the Grove to do some holiday shopping, thinking that the rain would keep the crowds away, which it did for the most part. We ate at the Farmer's Market there, at the Gumbo Pot, which is one of my favorite places to eat in all of LA! I had gumbo and fried oysters, with cornbread and collard greens - delish! We did quite a bit of shopping, got presents for nephew Connor and then went to Cost Plus World Market where I got some presents for Brandon and Angie. It was so much fun being at the Grove in the rain! Then after we got home, Marc and Dan came and met us so we could ride together to El Capitan Theatre for Tron: Legacy. I've been pretty excited to see the movie, since I first heard about it quite some time ago. I've always love the idea of Tron, and I know I had one o...

We had our staff holiday lunch today at Larchmont Grill which was really nice. It's an old house that they have converted to a restaurant, right on Melrose near Larchmont, which I've walked by tons of times but never been in before. We sat right in the front room by the fireplace. We brought our gifts to exchange, which was fun; I had Sarah in the 'secret santa' and got her this cool book, The Illustrated World of Mad Men, that Dylan told me about. Sarah is a huge fan of "Mad Men" so I thought it was perfect, and she seemed tickled by it. Kerry had me and she got me a very 'zen' rock water fall fountain for my office (we were supposed to by things for each other's offices). I set mine up as soon as we got back. Kerry gave me my year-end review and I was very thrilled to get a holiday bonus! Since it was my first year here I didn't know if they gave bonuses, and she said they don't always, so I should be thankful that I got one, which...

Dylan was already at work when I got up and he messaged me on IM so we talked about the fight last night and he apologized so we started working everything out, as much as you can on IM at least. It was really stupid anyway so I think things will be fine. Brandon had sent me a mix of "Strange Season" that he did which sounded pretty good but there was a weird echo on the snare drum or something that I asked him to remove. When I got home, Dylan ordered a pizza and we watched an episode of "Saturday Night Live" from a few weeks ago that we hadn't watched yet, and then he did laundry and I worked on the computer. I was editing video from the Cafe Muse show, but kept getting sidetracked playing "Super Mario Bros. 2" online. It's so amazing that you can just play those old NES games on the internet now. I used to sit there in junior high waiting for the day to end so I could go home and play Super Mario Bros and listen to tapes. I'm sure I lis...

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. I'm being a little dramatic about today's happenings, but it was definitely a day with a high and a low. The Chamber of Commerce had it's annual holiday toy drive and holiday mixer at the Music Box, where earlier in the day, old ladies had been lined up (apparently since the night before) to see Adam Lambert. I was lucky enough to have tickets to the show but was getting a little worried about being able to get anywhere near the stage since there was already a line of crazed fans. So after the mixer, I was blessed that I am friends with people in high places so my friends and I were let in the side door so we didn't have to wait in the line. The concert was great, Adam was in top form and very entertaining. I'm proud to say I've never watched a full episode of American Idol so the only time I've ever seen Adam sing before is in his music videos and his appearance at the AMA's or whatever it was whe...

We had a Sunset Vine BID Board meeting today and at the end it got a little heated regarding the situation with the Farmers Market and the Film School. I won't go into much details here in this blog but everyone who knows me knows that I've been really disappointed to witness the media spin and the lemming mentality that this situations has displayed. Obviously (it would seem obvious) no one has it out for the Farmers Market, no one is "against" farmers, or against people having access to healthy foods. But the fact is, unlike most Farmers Markets, the one in Hollywood takes places on public streets, blocking access for many businesses and creating issues for property owners in the immediate vicinity. Rather than working with these businesses and property owners, the Farmers Market just cries "victim" and tries to smear the Film School for daring to want to use their own property. Through my job, I have found myself on the unpopular side of arguments se...

Brandon came and met me when he was finished with work so I could give him a ride home, where he met Angie and then together they went to a burlesque show featuring Dita von Tease, I think at the Roxy. So Dylan and I just went and got our usual salads at the French Market and then we came home and watched Mad Men. After that, I worked on editing the videos from the first two Traitor shows on the computer before going to bed.

I have to give a 'happy birthday' shout-out to my mom today! I miss her so much and wish I could tell her so in person today, but a phone call will have to do. (I'm not really very good at figuring out the whole video chat thing.) The Film Group at the TV Academy was screening "Black Swan" today so we had a group of us who went to see it, including Marc, Robert, Brandon, Angie, Ben, Dylan and I. I didn't know much about the movie before we saw it, which is the way I like to go into movies, because I was simply blown away! The movie had a really big effect on me, it was mesmerizing from the beginning to end and stayed in my mind afterward. I think for me it may have been the 'movie of the year.' Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis were both amazing in it, as was Barbara Hershey and Winona Ryder. I just can't say how much I loved this film! Afterward, we were supposed to have an Invisible Material show in Bellflower at a sports bar called Spikes, b...

It was quite the big day for me, again, in a year filled with big days! To start off, I did some holiday shopping to take my mind of things and to get ready for the holidays, something I hadn't been doing much of yet. I went to 99 cents store and got some little things and drove around to a few other places, finally getting to Guitar Center so I could pick up some percussion instruments for the show and guitar picks for Brandon. I ended up getting these little black maracas and a cool small jingly tambourine thing, that looks like a ninja star and can also be mounted on a high-hat cymbal, which will be cool for Invisible Material I think. Dylan and I then got ready and were the first of our crew to arrive at Cafe Muse, closely followed by Rick and Melodie, then Brandon and Angie, Elene, Marc, Kalil and his crew, and Rafael. I'm trying to not leave anyone out but I'm sure I did; needless to say, I was so happy with everyone that came out. The Ukulady and the Evil Sandwic...

We were going to have dinner and rehearsal at Elene's house for the Traitor's tonight and I wanted to get some percussion instruments and Brandon needed guitar picks, so I rushed to get to West LA Music, on Ventura Blvd., before they closed on my way to Elene's. But when I got there, they didn't have anything I needed at all! They didn't have something as simple as guitar picks! Apparently everything non-keyboard related is now at their other location, in Santa Monica. Oh poo! I was going to run to Guitar Center but I was already running late. Elene made a fabulous dinner, all Asian-themed, and it was delicious. There were potstickers and the main dish was these pancake type things that you filled with meat and vegetable, with hoisin sauce. After dinner we ran through the acoustic set and it sounded really good, much better than rehearsal at Cascade had gone. I even decided to add a new song, "Fruitcake," by The Superions to the set and we ran throu...

At work I finished the SV BID newsletter, which is always a great feeling. This was the best one yet, I think! Dylan had to work late so I had the house to myself. I did a lot of cleaning up, and then I started a big CD organizing project while watching Blondie “Behind the Music" on DVD. About 9 years ago when I lived with Denny, I was inspired to ditch my CD cases and put all my CDs in books, like Denny had done. I thought it was more organized, took up less room, and would make them more portable. Well, one day my car was parked in a NICE part of town, and someone smashed my car window and stole my CD book with all the CD's from the letter L to the letter S, which included all my Spice Girls CD's (all the import singles, etc), Kylie Minogue, Siouxsie and the Banshees... lots of my favorite artists. I would have been so upset, but it happened to be the day when I got to go meet the girls from Voice of the Beehive down in Laguna Beach (I had met them once before when...

There was an event today for Michael’s Village, a new permanent supportive housing facility in Hollywood which is going to be for chronically homeless, mentally ill people. It’s a great project and the celebration was really nice. My boss was one of the speakers and she did a great job, and we even got to hear from Michael, for who the place is named after, and his mother who flew in from New Mexico for the event. It’s definitely a step in the right direction for ending homelessness in Hollywood. After we got back from the event, I went out and took photos and did my “What do you Think” survey for the Sunset/Vine newsletter, which is turning into one of my favorite things that I get to do at work. I went to Golden Bridge Yoga, K & L Wine Merchants, and The Waffle to interview people for it. Then I went back to the office and finished the Sunset newsletter. Then I went home and very quickly arranged synth-string parts for Elene to play on “Winnipeg Beach” and “...

I worked more on the newsletters and some other projects at work, and ended up just staying until around 7 when I left to go to Invisible Material rehearsal at Cascade studios in Hollywood. We were in room H, which has this drum set that I really dislike. There is so much stuffing in the bass drum that it barely makes noise, and the toms are all tiny compared to my drum set. And the high-hat sucks. The band was really loud tonight so it was even harder to hear what I was playing. After rehearsal I went home and Dylan had brought me food home from a meeting so that was nice, it was from Healthyca which I love. We watched Glee since we are an episode behind and then watched “Raising Hope” which is turning out to be my new favorite sitcom.

I got up earlier than usual because I had my alarm set for Dylan and I got up when he was getting ready. I had a lot of work to do since I was gone last Friday and had left early on Thursday, and I felt refreshed from our mini-vacation, even though I didn’t get home until late last night. I did a lot of work on the newsletters, both of which I need to finish this week. After work, I did some work on a present for a certain someone, which was really frustrating because it was computer work and I was having a difficult time, but it’s turning out really great. I also tried to work on an arrangement of “Silent Night” for the Traitors but I couldn’t get it. It’s a version from a musical we did at church when I was a kid, arranged by Tom Fettke, but I don’t have the music and I only slightly remember how the accompaniment went, so I think I just have to let it go.

We started a new holiday tradition three years ago when we had Connor, Dylan's nephew, come over with his mom, Jennie, and we spent the day making a gingerbread house and just generally being goofy. Of course there was some champagne involved for the three of us that were of legal drinking age. It was so much fun we decided to do it every year, but this year we decided to go to their place instead of them coming to ours. They live up in Tujunga, near where Dylan used to live when he was younger - he's lived all over the valley and LA. So on the way up he stopped and showed me where he used to live with his dad in Shadow Hills, and then we found a house in Tujunga where he and his mom used to live, which was coincidentally right next door to the house where Zaac used to live (he was the bass player in Shitting Glitter for a short time and I would go visit him there). We got to Connor and Jennie's apartment and hung out for awhile before a little boy, JR, who lives downsta...

We woke up in the beautiful Star Light room and were immediately sad that we would have to be leaving. We got up early enough that we didn't really need a late check-out. We just took our time packing up and enjoying the last few hours there. The maid had left the door to the next room open, which was the room Tiger, Brandon and Angela had stayed in a few months back, so we had to go in and sneak a peak. Then we took a little video of our room so I could post it on YouTube. After we got all packed up, we checked out and then had brunch at a nearby Denny's before hitting the road back to LA. I drove since Dylan had driven on the way up. It actually went by pretty fast, and since it had been nighttime when we arrived, we actually got to enjoy some amazing scenery on the way home. Back in West Hollywood, I had to immediately get to work on arranging songs for the Devin Tait & the Traitor's acoustic holiday show which is coming up soon. "Paper Sea" is a son...

I woke up to hear Dylan calling the front desk to ask for a late check out because he said “it’s really hard to wake my man up.” I told Dylan later I had to wake up at that point because I couldn’t roll my eyes while they were closed! Really though I just knew it was time to get up so we could actually go enjoy the hot tub, and since he had gotten us an extra hour I didn’t want to waste any of it. It was only around 10am at this point anyway. The hot tub was refreshing - we had the whole pool area all to ourselves, and it’s at the very top of the property overlooking the whole valley. The pool and hot tub are beautiful, and there is a cool waterfall built into the side of the hill. We then got all our stuff packed up and went to have brunch in the Copper Cafe, where we had Turkey Salad Sandwiches and I had a glass of Madonna Inn wine. Then we went shopping in San Luis Obispo although I didn’t find many gifts (I did get a couple). After that we decided to drive up ...

Weehaw!!! Dylan and I started our little mini vacation today - more on that in a second. This morning I went to the Egyptian Theatre for a joint meeting of the Planning Department and the CRA. Both entities are working on plans for Hollywood - CRA's "Urban Design Guidelines" and the Planning Department's "Hollywood Community Plan." Both documents aim to specify the type of development that can happen in Hollywood moving forward, attempting to set standards that will make sense as the community continues to grow and redevelop. It was interesting hearing the plans, but it seemed like a lot of the community members were not happy about certain aspects of the plans. I guess that's inevitable. I got to leave work a little early so I could ride the subway up to North Hollywood to meet Dylan. We had decided to take a little trip up to San Luis Obispo, to stay at the Madonna Inn and see Margaret Cho, who is one of Dylan's idols. I love her too, but mu...

I'm in complete shock that we have finally reached the last month of 2010! What a year it has been. So many great memories, I'm so glad I decided to blog all of it. This is one of the first year's I've already had my decorations all put up before the month even started, so hopefully I can stay one step ahead of the curve and do the holidays right. This morning I had a street closure committee meeting, and then I attended the BID Consortium meeting downtown at the Fashion District. After work, Dylan and I went to eat at Anarkali, and Indian place on Melrose that we've eaten at a couple times before. Dylan had a groupon to go there so we got $40 worth of food for $20, which was a great deal. I love the food there, especially all the sauces they have that you can put on your food or dip your naan bread in. When we got home, I finished putting the tracks for my album together and burned a copy to listen to. I went to the living room and put the CD in the player and...