Sunday, September 12, 2004

WOW!

Mini Post:
This weekend I was outside at an improv workshop. The workshop was a lot of fun and I even got a few laughs. Afterwars, when it was done, a group of about 10 people came running up to us and started all talking at once. All I gathered was they were from Concordia doing a scavenger hunt and then needed a picture of someone getting kissed or something. I don't know what got into me but I said I would do it. I thought they meant a kiss on the cheek but the next thing I know it some girls mouth is in mine and I got tongue flying everywhere! I though it was a funny moment that would make up a funny story until all of my friends started to bug me about it all night, hehe. Once person called it a rape kiss or kiss raped, can't remember which.
Well just goes to show what kind of adventures I have.

Labour Day weekend of Labour

During Labour Day weekend, a week after being in LA my dad and I drove down to Toronto to meet up with my mom and help her help my brother and his wife settle into their new apartment. Their new place is beautiful and HUGE! The drive down was fun because I got to do all the driving for the first time. I also got to choose the music because my dad slept most of the time. One we hit Toronto I was set because I got to listen to Toronto's The Edge 102.1, the equivalent of my favortie radio station, 99.9 The Buzz. Once I got to my brother's place, the inside was turned upside down. Everything that happened that weekend came from a typical comedy about moving into a new place. Apperently my brother installed all of these shelves with a oat rack attached to them in all the closets but when he put clothes on them, they just ripped off the walls. The I had to help him reinstall them better. once we were done this we installed a cabinet he made up himself with some more shelving. While holding the side, a shelf fell and landed on my head. I rushed to the kitchen and put an ice pack on my head. My brother didn't even ask if I was okay, he just yelled at me instead so I was pretty mad. My mood changed later on, though, when I found out my brother hid his money and his passport in the dishwasher (don't ask) so no one would steal it and a long comes my mom to try and test to see if the dishwasher works. Let's just say his money was wet. That made my weekend, hehe. The weekend was okay otherwise but it was a lot of work. At least I helped my brother out. Monday came and we ended back in Montreal.

California 3

I titled this post California 3 because I spent almost 3 hours last time writting California 2 but never finished it and I just discoevered its gone! So since I don't want to redo that here is the rest of my trip abbridged:
In LA I met up with my Aunt and Uncle and we were all in the same hotel - The McIntyre Building! Actually it was called Hollywood Brentwood Bel Air but it shared a resemblance to the medical building at McGill. The second day in LA my parents, my aunt and uncle and myself took a tour around the city. We went to Venice Beach where we saw the famous Muscle Beach gym and the famous basketball courts where White Men Can't Jump was filmed. We then toured by celebrity homes where I saw Leonardo Dicaprio!!!!!......s driveway. Then we saw some famous clubs like the Viper Room, owned by Johnny Depp, where River Phoenix OD'd. We drove on the highway where Speed was filmed and then reached the Hollywood Walk of Fame. I also got to see the Chinese Theatre, with all of the cement prints in front of it, as well as the famous Kodak Theatre where the Academy Awards are held. The last spot on the touir was a lookout spot to see the Hollywood sign. Apperently it was really just an advertisement for a real estate compagny called Hollywoodland but sometime in the 60's, a land slide happened and the LAND letters got destroyed. Now the sign is owned by the city and people donate money to keep the letters in top shape. Hugh Hefner pays money every year to make sure the H is ok.
The next day my parent, aunt and uncle and I did our own touring of Santa Monica Beach. We went along the famous pier and I got to see the beach. Afterwards we went to a really nice street called Third Promenade. It was a cobblestone street with all sorts of performers. I got to see an amazing breakdancing show, there was a belly dancer and even a guy trying to escape from a straight jacket.
Our final day in LA we had a family wedding, the reason we came to LA. It was a very nice affair.
If anyone is interested, all the pictures I took of my trip are found here:
San Fransicso Pics
Drive to San Luis Obispo Pics
Los Angeles Pics
I enjoyed the trip very much (except the plane ride, my head almost exploded on the way home!) but its good to be back home!

Wednesday, September 08, 2004

Budman in California

OK! Apollogies for taking so long to update my blog! I've been away and now I'm back... for a little while, hehe.

From August 22nd to August 29th I was on vacation with my parents. My mom's cousin's daughter, Tamar, was getting married. My parents and I have never met her but my mom's cousin and his wife came to my brother's wedding last year (if you're lost, don't worry so am I), so to return the favour we decided to go to this wedding. To make a vaction out of it, we flew to San Francisco first and stayed there for 3 days.

The first day we didnt do much but check into our hotel. The hotel itself was nice but the area we were in really stank, literally. There were homeless people all over the place, talking to themselves and asking for money for booze. The streets were dirty and cluttered with garbage. It looked like a zombie flick. At night we met up with my cousin Joshua (Tamar's brother) who happened to live in Berkeley where he goes to school.

The next day my parents and I decided to walk from our hotel to Fisherman's Wharf. On the way, we passed by Union Square (the equivalent to Times Square),went through China Town, where we found a jewish restaurant (huh?!?!) and saw some really interesting buildings. These included a building chaped like a pyramid, a tower of some kind, and the church where Marylin Monroe married Joe DiMagio!! WOH!!!! Okay it's not really THAT exciting...now THIS is exciting!!! Once at the Wharf (couldn't resist), we walked along Pier 39. At the pier there was this kool aquarium, where see lots of kool fish. It was really kool because we got to walk underneath the water on a moving sidewalk and see the fish from above and to the sides. Also on the pier was a Hard Rock Cafe and a restaurant called Bubba Gump (like from Forest Gump). Also on the pier was an area infested with sea lions. Boy they were smelly! After leaving the pier, along the wharf was a wax museum where in the front were two statues of Madonna and Britney Spears. It looks JUST LIKE THEM (Shaking head from left to right). And what kind of trip is it withought some Hooters? Once we were down seeing the wharf, we decided to go back to the hotel by cable car. They are the only city that still uses them in the world (I think). They work by having cables that run undergroung, like a ski lift and the car has a clamp that grips the cable to be pulled up the hill (that's also Alcatraz in the photo) or releases it to stop moving. That night we went back and ate at a restaurant called The Stinking Rose - A Garlic Restaurant. The food was great and EVERYTHING had garlic in it.

The next day, we met up with my cousin Joshua again and droe down to Sanoma Valley - The Wine Country. We stopped at a couple of wineries and had a few drinks. One of the wineries was HUGE!!!! After the wineries, we drove accross the Golden Gate Bridge and headed over to Stanford University. We drove in through Palm Drive. The campus is HUGE! You can fit McGill AND Concordia inside it. They even had a display of statues by the famous sculpter Rodin. It was there that I stumbled into... THE GATES OF HELL!!! Upon returning from hell, I came accross a giant church located in the middle of campus. It was a donation to Mr Stanford from Mrs. Stanford. It had this incredible painting on the front of it. Upon further inspection, it wasn't even a painting, but a mosaic! We finished the long day off with some cheesecake and then I somehow fell back in time.

The following morning we left San Fransisco and headed towards LA. We drove along the coast. It was beautiful. We stopped in Carmelle for lunch, which is the town that Clint Eastwood used to be mayor of. Finally we made it to our stopover destination St Luis Obispo where we stayed at a motel called The Sands. It was very nice there and they gave you 2 free movies to watch in your room. I picked X2 knowing my parents would LOVE IT!!! (once again, shaking head left and right...)

We got up bright and early, drove 4 more hours and ended up in LOS ANGELES!!! Where we stayed at the McItyre Building!!! Er... I mean the Holiday INN Brentwood Belair.. they look the same to me. Maybe because they're both round...

In LA we met up with my aunt and uncle who stayed at the same hotel as us. That night we all went to the dinner party for the couple to be. I twas nice to see family I never met or haven't seen in a long time.

Day two in LA, we took a bus tour around the city. We went all over:
The first stop on the tour was Venice Beach. There was this awesome Jim Morrison mural. Of course there is the beach itself, but on the beach is the famous Muscle Beach Gym.

Okay it's late and I'm tired! To satisfy those who wanted an update, I'm going to post this now and continue the rest. So tune in next time! Same Blog Time, Same Blog Place!