leftovers

Mom by our front door on Christmas Day. I may have mentioned this before, but technically the Twelve Days of Christmas begins on December 25th. In this day in age, most people are so relieved once Christmas is over, it's unfathomable that you would want to then celebrate the holiday for 11 more days! That's why I decided to end mine, rather than starting it, on Christmas Day. We woke up in the morning and immediately I had to start getting everything ready. Dylan had set his alarm to wake me at 7am so I could put the breakfast casserole on in the crockpot, and luckily I got to go back to sleep for a couple more hours. Once I woke up, I had stockings to stuff and cookies to bake! Mom, Dad, Adrienne, Brandon and Angie came over shortly thereafter and joined Dylan, Robbie and I. We all finished up our last minute stocking stuffing and gift wrapping and had brunch together. Then we all started our Secret Santa opening. Borrowing from the method we used at my work's Secr...

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...

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...

Dylan had hoped to go shopping with his mom since it was Black Friday and she had told him she wanted to buy us a flat screen TV for a combined birthday/yuletide present, but unfortunately we had a bunch of errands to run and then we had made plans to go have dinner and see a play with Myles. We met him near the theatre and then went down to Biergarten, which is an interesting place because it's a Korean version of a German restaurant. It was really yummy and we loved the beers they had. It was right down the street from our old neighborhood; from the parking lot you could see The Dover, our old apartment building. Then we went to the theatre to see the play which was called "Summer in Hell," about a couple of cousins who are having sort of an incestuous affair, and then another couple gets dragged into it. It was fun, and the actors were all really good and they all knew Myles so we hung out and had some wine with them afterward.

Today was the annual dinner for the HED Board, so after our board meeting, we all walked over to Cleo, a restaurant inside the new Redbury Hotel just up Vine Street from our office. I had been wanting to check it out since it opened, but this was the perfect way to do it. We had cocktails in the bar first and then once everyone was ready, we were seated at our table and treated to many different hors d'oeuvres and entrees. The food was really good and it was a great atmosphere. I definitely want to go back soon with friends. We finished dinner and took a group photo outside and then walked further up the street to AMDA, the American Music and Dramatic Academy. One of our board members is the president of the school so she had arranged for a special presentation where the students sang for us, from the 100 years of American Music AMDA Songbook. It was a great and powerful experience, and it's so amazing to see such talent just up the street from us.

This morning I had my marketing committee, which was great because I had a lot of stuff to report, and we had a lot more people than we did last time. We had a couple guest speakers which was good, and I got to report on my meeting with Cirque yesterday. After work, Sarah and I went to an event at the Kress which was the HBT annual shindig, and this year was honoring Captain Girmala with LAPD. The comedian Paula Poundstone was supposed to be the MC, but she was running late in traffic, along with several other people involved in the event, so she didn't get there until the end of it, but I thought she was really funny. Thad, our board president, also spoke and he was really funny too. He is such a great supporter of the community. There were quite a few people from the Media District there too, including Susan and Jim, so it was nice to visit with them. Sarah and I decided to go to Musso and Frank's afterward and I ordered the Jellied Consomme because it was featured in LA...

I slept in so late I couldn’t believe it! I meant to get up early, go shopping for fabric for my alien costume for tomorrow’s video shoot, and make brunch, all before Dylan woke up... but seeing as Dylan woke me up at 1pm, obviously none of that happened. I went out and my first stop was the Goodwill on Beverly, since I’ve always had pretty good luck there. I had a few different ideas when I spotted this dark green body suit, maybe it’s for snowboarding or something - it’s not really particularly heavy, though. It’s got lots of cool pockets and zippers and I thought I could make it into some sort of alien-looking costume. I tried it on and it was really tight - I couldn’t zip it up all the way - bought I thought it could work. Then I went to the 99 cents store on Wilshire and got a metallic windshield sun visor thing, and a few other items. My last stop was the shopping center on 3rd and Fairfax. I went into the K-Mart hoping they would have the alien antenna ball ...

No one was at work when I got there. Turned out Joe and Kerry were at a meeting with the Sherriff downtown. Sarah and I took the subway to meet them at Phillippe’s for lunch. Worked on the websites and an ad for the HBT fundraiser dinner. Stayed until after 7 and then went home, Dylan had a new book so he was reading that while I read “Blown for Good,” the 2nd Scientology expose I’ve been reading this year. I made baked Salmon and roasted veggies for dinner and then we watched SNL with Jane Lynch and Mad Men. Worked on importing video from the show on Saturday and editing “Digital Representation” for Vimeo.

It was a Friday night so Dylan and I decided to go out in Hollywood. We really wanted to try having dinner at Kitchen 24, which is in my BID, so we went there but they charged to valet so we parked at the ArcLight and walked instead. Dinner was good, but we decided we really wanted to come back for happy hour sometime. After dinner, we went next door to Citizen Smith. They were supposed to be having this big fundraising event for the AIDS LifeCycle or something to benefit the gay and lesbian center, but it didn't seem like it was really that well organized. We did run into a friend (more of a friend-of-a-friend) there so we hung out and had a couple drinks. I also ran into quite a few people I know from work, including the owners of the building. We hung out back in the alley bar area for awhile and talked to the bartender who was really friendly. Ongina, from RuPaul's Drag Race, was supposed to be the host of the event but she wasn't there and we got tired of waiting...

Marc and I met out on Romaine St. so he could hand over Princessa, Viktor’s chihuahua, who I would be dog sitting the next few days while they are all up in San Francisco at Folsom Street Fair. It ended up being a really hot day in Los Angeles, so I decided not to do the steam cleaning today. I thought maybe I’d just do it tomorrow. I ended up working on my song, “Dancing on my Obsession,” which is the mash-up of “Dancing on my Own” by Robyn and “Obsession” by Animotion (commonly mistaken for a Human League song) which I had started to work up for Blender. I finished it and sent it to Cindy for tonight. I met Brad at Hamburger Mary’s around 9:30 so that we could get a good table and have dinner first. I hadn’t even told Brad I was performing, but Cindy got there later and came and told me what order we’d be performing in so that’s when Brad found out. Later, our friend Brent came and joined us. The show started shortly after 10pm and the Boofont Sisters did severa...

I had been contacted by a group of German geography students awhile back who were visiting the US and wanted to tour the BID, so today was the day they arrived in Hollywood. I met them outside my office around noon and first showed them the W Hotel, right next to our office, which is kind of the new eastern hub of the entertainment district. I very proudly pointed out how they worked the subway entrance into the front of the hotel (hoping they wouldn't notice the drug dealers and homeless teenage runaways), and then we walked all the way down to Hollywood & Highland. I pointed out things like the Hollywood Broadway, the multiple Scientology buildings, the Hollywood sign, and the historic buildings along the way. Unfortunately, it seemed like some of them were less than impressed with Hollywood. One of the leaders of the group told me "it doesn't look like what you think of when you think of Hollywood." I agreed with him, but told him it definitely looks bett...

We woke up and then went out to brunch with Johnny and Bea to the French Market Place, which is sort of our de facto place to take visitors out to eat. It's a fun atmosphere, we like the food, and it's just a block from our apartment. After that, we walked home and then got in the car to go to Amoeba. Dylan didn't want to go to Amoeba, so he just went to the Andrew Christian store with us, bought some shorts, and then he walked home while we went on to Hollywood. Johnny and Bea both had a good time shopping for records and CD's, and I found a Marlene Dietrich record that I pointed out to Johnny and said Dylan would like it, so he bought it for him. After we got back, it was time for our guests to head back to Bakersfield so we bid them adieu and wished them a safe trip home. I worked a little on recording, trying to make progress on my album but ended up working on my cover of Re-Flex's "Hurt" which is what I had been working on back when my computer cra...

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...

On my way to work I noticed the Del Taco at Santa Monica and Highland was completely demolished. It had been fenced in for awhile now so I knew it was on it's way out, but it was surreal to see it gone. They are replacing it with a Walgreen's drug store, and it was an issue I followed closely during my time at the Media District because it was a big development. As much as the Del Taco was a magnet for loitering, crime, drugs and prostitution, I love their food (as far as fast food taco joints go - much better than Taco Bell), and it was also sort of a landmark. I remember going there, or at least driving by it, with Dudley when we first started shopping around Hollywood and he told me it's where all the tranny prostitutes and drug dealers hung out. So, it's actually probably a good thing for the Media District that it's gone, since it probably would never shed that stigma (or the realities of it). But, I hate Walgreens because they are owned by Jesus freaks ...

Dylan and I got up and had brunch; Kevin was already out and about. We wanted to go swimming, so we called Jennn who had just gotten home from work and was tired, but said we could come use the pool in her building, so we did. Kevin is not the "swimming type of guy" (according to him) so he was out shopping while we swam. Later, we met back up with him and we walked down to WeHo to have dinner at Bite. He treated us, which was very nice of him. I felt bad having ordered two glasses of wine with dinner in light of that. So then we walked down to St. Felix and I bought a round of drinks for everyone, we love the drink they have their called "Stockholm Syndrome." I love any drink that involves fresh rosemary. Hello 2010, goodbye junk! NEW YEARS RESOLUTION LOG ENTRY 225 Well, this is a sad day for my new year's resolution. After some technical difficulties (my iPad ate a whole list of things I had gotten rid of, I misplaced c...

It was a slow day at work. I walked to Chipotle for lunch but the line was way too long, so I went to Baja Fresh instead. One of the big windows looking out to Sunset Blvd. was broken out, which was weird, and also meant that there were less table to sit at and I thought I was going to have a panic attack when I was about to get my food and there was no table to sit at. Would I have to go sit with some random person? Or just eat standing up, holding my tray? Luckily, I saw some girls getting ready to leave so I swooped in and got their table right as they were leaving. I went to Bed Bath & Beyond to get a cabinet organizer for the kitchen. Stayed late at work so I could meet Dylan after at the Station Bar at the W Hotel next door to my office. I wasn't sure where the Station Bar was, but it turned out just to be the outside area where mom and dad went with me and Brandon when they were visiting and I showed them around. Dylan was there working as they had a Governors mee...

I walked to Ono Hawaiian BBQ for lunch, which is one of my favorite places to eat, but walking there turned out to be a bad idea. I wasn't even sure of where I was going when I started to walk, but ended up there. Unfortunately, when I looked at my phone after eating I realized it had taken my whole lunch break just to walk there and eat so I had to book it to get back to the office. My newsletter for the Sunset & Vine BID came in today and it was cool to see my first all-color, printed newsletter! The HED newsletter is just online, and the Media District's newsletter was black and white, printed on bright green paper. The Sunset Vine one looks really sharp! After work, I rode the subway up to North Hollywood and took the Orange Line up to Ben's to hang out with him and Brandon. Robin is out of town doing the Iron Man Triathlon for Multiple Sclerosis. So we decided to get together and just talk to see if we were all on the same page about the future of the band. ...

Kerry came and pick Joe, Sarah and I up and we all went to Floridita, this Cuban restaurant on Fountain, for lunch. Brian is on vacation this week. After work, I didn't feel so well. I laid down, then watched an old 30 Rock episode and I was feeling OK but not great. Ben and James came over to watch the new episode of RuPaul's Drag U on Logo. We had invited Ben because his favorite singer, Taylor Dayne, was the guest judge this week. They came over a little early, so we watched Hot in Cleveland first. After they left, I practiced my set once before bedtime. Hello 2010, goodbye junk! NEW YEARS RESOLUTION LOG ENTRY 205 "You Are a Miserable Excuse for a Superhero" paperback choose-your-own-adventure book. I bought this when Virgin Megastore at Hollywood and Highland was going out of business on clearance sale, but it wasn't really that exciting. I was just on a shopping spree.

I got up early for Hollywood Walk of Fame 50th Anniversary Festival. I'd been attending the committee meetings for this event at the Chamber and had been looking forward to it. I signed up to volunteer since I thought it would be a good thing to do for my job, so I had to be at Hollywood & Highland (the big shopping center) at 10am. I met some other volunteers and Chamber people there and we got the table and tent all set up. As soon as we got set up, of course people kept coming up to us and asking questions, many of which were stupid. But, it was fun, and I enjoyed being a part of it. You may not know it, but the Walk of Fame is considered the most successful marketing idea ever conceived by a chamber of commerce. The Walk of Fame is one of the biggest tourist draws in Los Angeles and almost everyone knows what it is. I remember going there when we first visited LA back in the 90's. Anyway, I finished my volunteer shift and walked down to meet Dylan at Capitol Re...

We got up and then Brandon, Angie and Tiger came over for brunch, like we had planned last night. Angie was making pumpkin pancakes, and I made eggs with parsley, cilantro, tomato, cheese and almonds. We had mimosas also (of course). After brunch, we watched this movie "Off the Charts: The Song Poem Story" that Brandon had gotten from Netflix. Several months ago, while exploring on Wikipedia, I had come across this phenomenon of 'song poems,' which is where people would respond to an ad in the back of a magazine that would say the company was looking for 'songwriters.' The person would send in their lyrics, and then for a fee, a company would set the words to music and make it a song. Usually the ad would make some claims that they would also distribute the song and try to make it a 'hit,' but in reality they were just churning out these songs non-stop and making money from the poor saps who thought they were going to be the next big songwriter. ...