Day 4: I Gotta Say It Was A Good Day

Today was the day where I actually planned something in advance. The second thing I did after buying my plane tickets was buy tickets to a Dodger game. I've always felt some sort of attachment to the Dodgers, mostly because of their Brooklyn roots. I've always had a major appreciation of their past players, such as Koufax and Drysdale, and Kirk Gibson's magical home run is one of my favorite childhood baseball memories. Sure, the fact that they moved from my hometown to here stings, but lately, I'm feeling that moving from Brooklyn to LA wouldn't be that bad.



After finding parking, dropping the extra tickets off at Will Call, and picking up some Dodger Dogs, we mad way to our most excellent seats on field level. Not bad for $23. My mood soured slightly though, as I noticed in the distance, that the Yankees had blew yet another lead.



It was a pretty boring game. Not much really exciting happened, and it was against the Rockies. I spent some time around the 4th Inning exploring the stadium, and looking for something for my dad in the gift shop. I found nothing exciting, not even the Gagne number shirt I was planning to pick up for myself. The stadium has this really great look to it though, very much of the era it was built. Being the fourth oldest stadium in baseball, it has a great sense of history.



The game got really exciting around the top of the ninth, as it looked like a fight was going to break out. Sadly, the game ended before it got really crazy, and the Dodgers won by a slim margin.

After the game, Kieran had some school work to get done, so he dropped me off at my friend Tanya's, since she lived close to the stadium. I told him to call me when he's done, and then we'd head out for the night.

If you really know me, I'm sure I've told you about Tanya. Anyway, she's one of the only people I know from film school to actually uproot and move west. She was also the only one actually in town this week. She's currently working with the guy who directed "Dogtown and Z-Boys", doing research for his new project of California gangs. She gave me the brief tour of her small place in East LA, and we searched for a sushi place on the net. She finally just decided that we should go to the mediocre one nearby, and we headed over there. Of course, not only was she reading about LA gangs, but she also decided that she should immerse herself in the culture, and listen to the music as well. Here I was in East LA, with Ice Cube's "The Predator" blasting from the stereo of a tiny Subaru with New Hampshire plates. I feared the looks we would get at stoplights. When I had to explain to her what "The Chronic" (the album, not the narcotic) was, I knew she needed to do more research.

We had mediocre sushi, discussed movies and life, and made a stop at Baskin Robbins for some ice cream. We headed back to her place where we watched some "King of the Hill" before Kieran called. I said my goodbyes and told her to give me a call if she wanted to meet up again before I leave.

As Kieran and I rolled out, he informed me that no school work had actually gotten done, since no one else showed up. The plan was to go to a bar tonight, so he could meet up with his friend's to discuss the work, but first we would have to pick up his friend Nick, where we would have time to watch "The Simpsons".



Kieran informed me that Nick lived in 90210. I was excited that not only was I watching "The Simpsons", but I was watching it in 90210. On the way out, Nick informed us that Kieran was wrong, and that 90210 was actually a few blocks away.

Stupid Kieran.



We ended up at Shatzi's that, a German restaurant/bar that is owned by Governor Schwarzenegger. There, we met this crazy guy who had somehow ended up sitting with Kieran's friends. I later found out he warned Kieran to "watch out for it," with "it" meaning either peyote or past lives. Before he left, he handed us all his card. If I ever need a henna tatoo on Venice beach, I know where to go.



Afterwards, we dropped off Kieran's friend Marina, and Nick decided we should make a stop off at Taco Bell. Kieran had a brilliant idea, and decided we should swing by the legendary Pink's hot dog stand instead.

And what a hell of a great idea that was. I had a Pastrami Reuben Dog, Kieran had fries, and Nick had both a Chili bacon dog, and a Chicago style brat. We groaned our way back to Nick's place, and then Kieran and I headed back home, where we both collapsed.

-Steve!