4 posts tagged “los angeles”

The last few days have been hard ones. Nicky wasn't acting normal over the weekend and a trip to the vet had devestating results. It would seem he is having kidney failure and is just not himself. A very sick kitty and only at 25% of his kidney function. I am worried sick. If something happens and he doesn't pull through this will be my first major loss since April and that didn't go well for me. Nicky walks around crying which isn't like him and I just wonder if he is in pain or not. He won't eat... I even tried to give him pizza which has always been a favorite of his but nothing. It's made me see that we have to get rid of Deami. I just keep wishing it was him which isn't right. He should be with a family that can give him what he needs and love him the right way. I thought that was me but all I am doing is keeping him because I can't imagine anyone wanting a moody cat that refuses to use the litter box. We'll take him to the outdoor shelter. It's no kill and like $500-700 release fee. They will find a nice place for him. And Nicky... I don't know. I almost think I will have to cancel going home for him. I don't want to be too far incase he needs me. And neither Nicky or me is used to him needing a girl. He's a boy's kitty. Girls are just good for occassional attention. But I've been on the floor most of this morning when he cries. It's breaking my heart.

Meanwhile Nielle is still visiting and today we went to La Brea Tar Pits. I have been fascinated by them since I was in middle school and when I found out I was coming to LA it was one of the first places I wanted to go. Of course now that I live 7 or 8 blocks from them I never go there but I still hold fanciful ideas about it. Today we walked down and did the Lake Tar and museum route. I think it was the most thorough walk through I have ever done of the museum. I got some smooshed pennies and a magnet about the saber tooth cats. It was enjoyable. We also walked to Pit 91 to see the current investigation. It's pretty gross but oddly compelling. I had the staggering thought that all the scientists there passed chem and physics and suddenly my amazement for them grew in leaps and bounds. As we were leavine Nielle wanted to put her finger in the asphalt to see what it would be like. We found her some seepage in the lawn and she stepped in it which I promptly informed her that she wouldn't be allowed in my apartment with that sandal anymore. Then she found a stick and a more liquid puddle and she played for a minute. Black sticky stuff doesn't do it for me. I'm a party pooper.

I have a problem getting up in the morning. More so than a normal person. I just can't function in the morning, nothing wakes me up and really thing for the hell I feel is more sleep. Knowing this I drugged myself at 8pm so that I could get up at 8am on Sunday morning. And it worked. I got up and we picked up Belle and went up to Universal Citywalk. Unfortunately, there was a fire in the backlot and the entire place was shut down and we didn't have a clue as to where we were going. Belle found her friends and we did an excursion through Citywalk looking for where we might go to line up for entry to the bleachers. I had my book and I didn't care about the details. I was a bit anxious about things and it was nice to sit and ignore the world with my book. The day wore on and more people showed up, banners in hand, and we all lined up in front of the ampitheater entrance. Hours went by. The sun moved across the sky. Finally someone came over and was asking us about who we were and what we were doing and we told them and they were like 'what?'. Apparently the Twilight Lexicon never spoke to anyone before getting their information and told people to go out, when MTV uses a casted audience. They are now blaming it on the fire. It wasn't a big deal though, well not for me, I just went home and watched the awards on the TV.

I scoured the internet last night and this morning and found tons of pictures of Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart. KStew looked really pretty, and it hurts me to say that because I really do think I lean hard on the not liking her. They showed the sneak-peek clip of a finished scene of Twilight. It was just what I thought it would be. I think I've seen it before in the MTV Behind the Scenes. So, maybe, I was a little disappointed. I'm not as disappointed as some of the blog writers who, I've read today, saying it's the worst action  sequence they've seen and that it's TV-styled stunts. I'm not having a quarrel with the content, just the fact that I would rather something other. I don't know if I'm sold on Cam Gigandet either. I guess we will see how it all comes together.

The awards were interesting in a really boring way. I think I was only excited for the Johnny Depp parts. The man is just beautiful. It makes me wish Jump Street were on DVD. I would have hours of him to watch then. I asked David to grow his hair out like Johnny's. I really wish I could have been there to see him. I think next year we will just buy the tickets and go to the actual event. Not that that will help me see Johnny Depp but it will definitely make things easier all the way around.

They didn't show anything really that was terribly funny, with the exception being the Jack Black, Ben Stiller and Robert Downey Jr. Skit for their new movie. I hated all the Adam Sandler stuff, Tom Cruise is a whore. The Will Smith, Charlize Theron and Jason Bateman nominee announcement was just tedious and same went for the Get Smart one. Maybe I shouldn't go next year if this is how I feel.

So the day was a bit of a bust, but I wasn't as disappointed as I really could have been. I would like to have seen Ben Barnes, he looked really good on the carpet pictures and his interview with Christian from Project Runway.  Yummy. I haven't been able to find many to snag though.

Now onto the book. Oh my god it nearly destroyed me this morning. I loved it, but the ending left my romantic heart aching. I am talking about Ink Exchange . Great book, I wish Melissa Marr didn't make me feel like such a jerk for not liking the main character. She's a really strong female character and she is so rare in most of the books that I read. I didn't like her from the previous book and then I started liking her in this one and she goes through this terrible trial and she makes these choices, which in all rights are the right ones. Just I wanted her to do the impossible and it doesn't happen. It's probably one of the most realistic, healthy fantasy books. YA books. Books full-stop. My favorite character is Niall and I thought his path was pretty predictable, which should have told me how the book was going to end but I'm so stubborn. He's really fleshed out in this book, introduced in Wicked Lovely though, and he is clearly this tragic character. Someone really damned by his nature and his honor where Leslie is concerned. Easily the most seductive character of the Faerie-verse. His outcome, like Donia's is really the only course for him. But DAMMIT I wanted more for him. And then there was Irial who just about gave me an ulcer, but in the end I didn't hate him so much as I felt very compassionate towards him. I went kicking and screaming though. I have plans to reread my favorite parts before I go tonight.

Tonight is the book signing for Melissa Marr and I am hoping she talks a little about upcoming books. I would love for her to be coming out with another book in the nearish future. Although that won't be true, but I can lie to myself and think those thoughts. I am hoping, greedy-like, that not a lot of people will show, so that I can talk to her. We will have to wait and see how these things go.

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I think that the next book I read will be The Blue Girl by Charles de Lint. I have wanted to read this book for about two years, it found it through BookMooch, although it was never available. It's a little punk rock and it might be nice to leave the land of the squeaky clean Twilight Saga for something more my style. Well I guess I have been doing that with the Melissa Marr books, which have me thinking of repiercing my lip. Now I want to read Wicked Lovely again and immerse myself into some Seth. Back to the thought I was having though... The story is about a girl who wants to change herself and I can get behind that. And it will be fun to read a story about a girl, written from a man's perspective. I know the author is good when they can sell me on the other sex. Let's face it, most women do not portray men realistically. They really make fantastic beings and that isn't really the best character portrayal. I hope this book doesn't disappoint. I hope that I can get out of The Host and Wicked Lovely enough to read another book.

Mental note:  Look for Tantalize tonight at Vroman's.

I was musing last night before bed about wanting to do something different today. I wanted to go somewhere where I could take pictures. We came up with the zoo and then I just had to invite Belle. All plans were made at about midnight and solidified around 2:30. I love when a plan comes together.

We picked up Belle at noon and went for our inaugural visit to the Los Angeles Zoo. The line to get in was a bit insane but moved relatively quickly. The zoo isn't as big as the SD Zoo so we had plenty of time to see things, the zoo doesn't close until 5PM.

The first couple pens we looked in we didn't see anything. Then we came across the sea lions and we watched their feeding time. I like sea lions. We walked around and looked at things and came to the flamingos. I'm not a big flamingo fan, but there were just so many of them.

I know I'm a bit of a bah humbug but I really think that what is wrong with places like the zoo is the children. Well the parents too. I think places like that would be much better if it was more selective in who it let in. I can't stand the parents fighting with children, the children screaming and the general problem that strollers cause. Couldn't they make days when grown-ups could go and enjoy places without children being there?

We spent the day there and didn't get to see everything. I missed the snow leopard. I did get to see the lions and tiger though. From the amount of pictures that I took of them you could say that they were my favorite. I know Belle was excited about the koalas. She's pretty cute when she is excited about something and she really really wants to hold a koala.

As the day wore on and we tried our hand at eating the food there, which I recommend to no one, ever, we noticed that the pens were more and more packed. I think everyone rushes to see things before they have to leave. We just know for next time that we need to arrive earlier and leave more time for the entire circuit. It was still plenty of fun.

When we left we went to the 101 Coffee Shop for coffee and I got the best veggie chili that I have had in a long time. We sat around talking movies and how Speed Racer is going to tank but have a cult backing because it is made by the creators of the Matrix. And we discussed the movie budget numbers for Twilight which went from 38 million originally to 60 million because of the fan reaction it was getting. I really hope that it can live up to that hype.

My day still wasn't over. My Pens made it through their series today and tonight was the Sharks and Dallas came. It started at 6PM and it's in it's 4th overtime. It's nerve wracking. I hope for D's sake that this ends well, but I know better to pray for it after last Thursday. Now the Pens are going to play the Flyers in the next round. It's like the rumble in Pennsylvania.

So that has been my Sunday. It was long and I am actually tired.

During the game:

YAY!!! And my Ducks are still 1st in the League in points.

So after the game D and I went down to Long Beach and hung out with Mario. Mario is good people 110%. We took some time before we met with him to get me new balls for my nose ring. We then stopped by and took some pictures of the sunset over the marina and the Christmas lights.

We went out for pizza with Mario and then we were going to see a movie but we missed the shows and went to Mario's for a while to play pool.

Yesterday was quite quite awesome, indeed.