leftovers

It was a very busy day today. First, we had a renewal/expansion meeting for Sunset/Vine at the YMCA. We had catering from Chipotle so I had a burrito, which really wasn't on my diet. During the meeting, Brian called with a question for me so I went out to the courtyard and I saw Jonny McGovern (aka the Gay Pimp)! He's on the Big Gay Sketch Show but I've been a fan of his for a long time since his video for "Soccer Practice" and his podcast which Dylan and I used to listen to all the time. Later in the afternoon we had a Sunset/Vine board meeting at AMPAS and that went pretty well too. Our board president just had a baby so he was out, but we got him this cute bomber jacket for his new son that we all signed the card for. After work, Luther and Andrew came over to return the clothes they had borrowed for the glam birthday party they went to on Sunday so we hung out with them for awhile, it was fun.

As soon as I got to work I had to rush over to the Pantages Theater as I was doing a little photo shoot there of one of our past board members. I am charged with the task of completing our "wall of fame" here in the office, where were are going to have framed 8 x 10 photos hung of all our past presidents of the HED Board. I like doing projects like that. So I went and took the picture and I think it turned out well. I've still been doing good on my diet, although Kerry brought in these chocolate treats that she had made and they looked delicious. I had successfully avoided them all day, but then I found myself alone in the office as I was working late, and they were simply too hard to resist.

We got up and around, which took much longer than usual since Andrew and Luther take longer to get around than anyone I've ever met. Dylan was very impatient and got into a pretty lousy mood, which always bugs the heck out of me when it's a Sunday and we have nothing to do anyway, so why get upset? Anyway we went to Silver Spoon for brunch out on the patio and finally Dylan ended up getting in a better mood. We had talked about going to a movie with Andrew and Luther later in the day, but after they left we were just lazy and didn't do much of anything. Eventually evening came and Dylan and I decided we wanted to go out for dinner, but as usual we were undecided as to where we should go, so as we have done so many times in the past, we just started walking west on Santa Monica Blvd. This turned into a comedy of errors, as it seemed just as we decided (or settled) and approached a restaurant, they would be flipping the sign to say "closed" or stacking chairs up o...

First off, I absolutely cannot believe it's already September! I feel kind of lucky because I made it through a whole LA Summer without it ever getting too hot. I never even got a sunburn. My boss is gone on vacation, taking her daughter back to the east coast for college, so the office is kind of quiet although we all have our projects that we're working on. Speaking of projects, I decided to finally commit to getting in better shape by starting the South Beach diet in earnest. Today was my first day and I was very good. I just had a salad for lunch and almonds to snack on. I was EXTREMELY excited about some news that came out online today: the titles of the songs on the new Human League record were announced! As you may know, Human League are my all-time favorite band since I was a kid and I have followed them for decades (scary!). I've seen them live many times, including seeing them play at Sheffield City Hall, their hometown, in 2003. Their last album was in 200...

I did some work from home this morning converting the newsletter to a print version and uploading it to Staples. Even though you'd think everyone uses e-mail now, there are still a lot of our property owners that we don't have e-mail addresses for, plus a lot of people just delete e-mails, so I still like to make a printed newsletter in addition to the web/e-mail version. For lunch, I tried this new place called The Veggie Grill which is up on Sunset and Crescent Heights. I had been wanting to try it for awhile but now was perfect since I've gone pescetarian. They had a fake chicken sandwich which was delicious and would probably even fool some people. I also got a side of kale that had a miso dressing; that was delicious and healthy. Anyway, it's in the center where Virgin Megastore used to be so I did get a little sad missing that store. When I first visited LA in 1998 or '99, I had seen it as we were driving down Sunset Blvd. and couldn't believe how bi...

No, it's not some holiday called Spencer Day, that's the name of a singer we went to see tonight at Upright Cabaret, which is located in the bar of Vermont Restaurant, on Vermont in Hollywood/Silverlake. I have been to Upright once before, when Tiffany performed her cabaret show there which I think I blogged about at the time. That was a wonderful experience, and tonight was just as magical even though I'd just recently found out about Spencer. He's a jazz singer/songwriter that Dylan discovered and his voice is like butter (or "buttah" as they say). He's got an amazing charisma on stage and he's just so adorable. Some of his songs had some really funny lines in them, too, which is good to balance out the seriousness. Apparently, he is playing at the Hollywood Bowl in August so his career is on a good trajectory right now and it was good to see him now because I think he'll be getting way bigger soon. I realized that I still had that song, ...

I didn't feel too well again when I woke up, so I missed boot camp. There was nothing special going on at work today. I went to Cafe Muse for a healthy lunch and talked to Jen for a minute. After work, I stopped at Pavilions to get the stuff I needed to make dinner; I hadn't been prepared enough when we went shopping last night. Brandon, Angie, Luther and Bradley were coming over for a little dinner party/movie night. Like me, Brandon and Angie are doing the South Beach diet so I wanted to make a really delicious meal that fit the requirements of phase I, using the recipes from the South Beach book. I got cauliflower, fat-free half n' half, and spray "I can't believe it's not Butter" to make South Beach Surprise Mashed Potatoes (surprise, it's actually cauliflower!); and I also made stuffed mushrooms and a shrimp cocktail with mustard horseradish sauce instead of cocktail sauce. The main dish was Salmon Kebabs, which also had green and red bell pe...

TGIF! I made it through the week. The strangest thing happened. I was dreaming that we were back in Maui, but we were getting ready to leave. Our friends, the Nondorfs, where there just like they were in reality when we were there for Yuletide (my parents often travel together with them). In the dream, I said we were leaving and Shelly said she wasn't leaving until June, to which I said something about how jealous I was! Meanwhile, my phone was signaling that I had a new text, and in my half awaken state I remember Dylan asking me if he should check my text; I said it was probably from the bank as I get automatic text updates now anytime a large deposit or withdrawal goes through. When I finally got up and checked my phone, it was a text from Shelly saying "I want to go back to Maui!" The work day was OK, I had a few projects to do and did a lot of filing and organizing. My desk looks pretty nice now. On my lunch break, I walked all the way up to Robek's on Su...

Today was the first full day of my New Year's Juice Fast, and although it started OK (I had apple juice for breakfast and had enough work to keep me busy and not thinking about food until after noon), it quickly went downhill. I went to Robek's for lunch to get a shot of wheatgrass and a Green-V (carrot, celery and spinach) which was nice and refreshing. Then I had to drive to Valley Glen to work at Susan's for awhile, and by the time I got back I was starting to get a headache. That always happens when I start a juice fast or diet. So after awhile I went and got a Naked Protein Zone Mango. However it didn't really help my headache. By the time I got home, all I could do was lay in bed. I really think I must have some small idea of what people feel like when they are going through withdrawals of cigarettes or even harder drugs. I'm not saying this was on the same level, but it was to the point where I couldn't do much more than lay down all evening. I to...