2012 Jul 01 | poker, LABV, Labyrinth at Hollywood Forever Cemetary, Speed Zone



That's a fair amount of money.



Scary cards.



Someone had the 10 of clubs, but not the 7.



Gotta learn to let go of pocket aces.



A huge hand; we were down to four players and someone was all in.



The chips stacks are pretty big now.



My big hand of the night. He had the other king, but I flopped a full house.



Biggest pot of the night. The two chip leaders were all in against each other with very close stacks and it was AA with a K kicker vs AA with a 10 kicker. This one actually hurt a bit because I had 2-3, but they bet enough before the flop to push me out; otherwise I would have won with a straight and tripled up. Good playing by them.



No idea what this is. "No more green" is my best guess.



Pretty sunset.



I love this one. Hard attack.



What matters in California: Burning Man and earthquakes.



The TV antennas on these vans are so tall.



Jerk sitting in the middle of the lane blocking cross traffic.



I hear compounding pharmacies are disappearing.



Open bar party at the Ocean Bar & Lounge in Hermosa Beach.



Neat fire.



A nice outdoor patio on the roof.



Super crowded downstairs as well.



First, I can never find these washcloths in Walmart. Second, I hate the colored ones because they leave colored strings all over, and they don't have any of the all-white packs here.



Haven't seen a big group of red ants in quite a while. I'm wearing sandals, so this was terrifying.



That could be a really creepy picture if the kids weren't smiling.



Yeah, I got the high score! Then again, I've practiced a lot in bars, I use the cross-your-eyes technique, and I'm playing against little kids.



The women at the office saw a cricket run back here and sent me after him. I found a spider, too.



Sorry, guy, gotta go outside.



Nice. The Linksys wireless routers go for around $50 new; here it's $8.



That's so funny I want to buy it, but I really have no place it would fit in.



Hydrogen at the gas station? I didn't even know hydrogen fuel cell vehicles were currently in production.



Aw, Astrid Tasks is so cute. It's a reminder program that has a little octopus who always says nice things.



GPS being super dumb. The first option it comes up with is to take the 10 to the 405, both super-packed during rush hour. I have it search for alternative routes, and it finds one that's almost twice as fast.



Then, if I tell it to avoid highways...



... it cuts that faster time by a third. From 54 to 19 minutes, wow. Honestly, I wish it has a "find shortest route by time" rather than whatever pathing it uses. It seems to be addicted to highways.



A truck at the library. It's probably just bringing new books in, but it'd be nice if they'd make deliveries for people who can't get out of their homes.



I was about 30 minutes early for kayaking and I saw a yard sale sign, so I decided to check it out. There were actually four of them on this block, although nothing too interesting for sale.



Except this one, which had a bunch of surf boards. I've been looking for a long board, over seven feet, since they float better and are much better for beginners than short boards. However, even old, cracked ones are over $100 on eBay. This guy had some really good quality ones for $75, and that even included the leash, which are usually around $25. EBay is good, but rummage sales can be even better.



An interesting island. I wonder what they have there?



We had a pretty big group for kayaking.



Most people doubled up, but a few people were single, like these two, who were both really good kayakers.



Since I was going to be out all day, I brought a hat.



There were dragon boats out practicing.



And even swimmers.



Oops, they almost hit him.



Having fun.



These two got stuck on the bank trying to go under the bridge, but they managed to get away from it.



One person was water skiing here.



Our group.



We went into this little area because sometimes there are birds.



No birds, just really shallow water.



These guys even got stuck.



Back out. There are sometimes jellyfish around, but we didn't see any this time.



The organizer for this event is the guy in the back of the back kayak.



Uh oh, someone lost their beach ball.



A nice little boat.



You had to avoid the paddle surfers, too.



A guy out with his dogs. Some of the group kept going into another area, but I had to leave early...



... to get to volleyball with the Los Angeles Beach Volleyball group.



Marie Grace got some pictures of me.































Troy, one of the organizers, with a nice jump serve.











Marie Grace and Dmitri.







We stopped the action for a group photo.



























There were five planes that did this in sync. I wonder how much that cost. I also wonder if the smoke release was computerized or how it was done; that's pretty good to be manual.











Donny always goes for the ball.



Aw, this sucks. Everyone who parked here got a ticket.



And there are signs at each end saying "no parking," but they're on top of red curbs. The curb here is white. I'm going to fight it; probably won't win, but at least worth a little effort.



After volleyball I ran to the Hollywood Cemetary for their outdoor showing of Labyrinth. There was a bit of a line at the Subway nearby for the bathroom. It'd be faster if they allowed more than one person at a time.



The line stretched all the way down this block...



... around the corner along this block...



... and snaked back and forth at the entrance.



Some of us got there at 4pm to get a spot fairly close. That's a pretty long wait as the movie doesn't start until 9pm, but as long as you have some people to talk to, it's not such a bad wait.



Everybody running to claim their little space.



A nice little pond with a swan.



Neat rocks.



This woman had a stuffed animal of the little worm from the movie.



A ton of people.



Some sort of photo booth.



A guy throwing out glow sticks.



Form the other side.



At the photo booth, they blew some smoke and then pulled a bubble in front of you to make a neat picture.



Dancing.



Just don't step on the food!



Almost time.



Here we go.



It was pretty fun. Right at the end someone dressed up as the David Bowie character ran up and acted like he was dying right in front of the screen.



Almost a full moon.



These people looked a bit weird, then I remembered there's an anime convention this weekend.



I wonder if gator is a nickname or if s/he is from Florida?



The sound the engine makes, maybe?



The shells come off amazingly in this batch of hard-boiled eggs. Hopefully I can repeat it, but I don't know what I did differently from other times.



Sunday we went to Speed Zone.



I like the door handles.



They have an arcade inside with air hockey...



... and racing games...



... and mini bowling.



I don't think slamming the button is good for the game health.



Oh yeah, Sea Wolf.



More redemption games.



A little cafe area.



For this track you actually needed a driver's license.



It kept track of your times.



But only two people could go at a time.



This track was definitely slick...



... as you could tell by the tons of people spinning out all the time.



You couldn't use flip flops and had to tie up long hair.



They were serious about the shoes, too. If you had sandals, you had to buy a pair of these.



our group.



Making the turn.



Some kiddie karts.



Ready to go on the next track. This one had a much longer wait, but you also got to drive for a longer time.



It wasn't nearly as slippery as the other one, but I think that made it less fun.



I loved the water misters.



Dragster racing.



They looked pretty real.



Basically, hit the gas, then hit the button to switch gears.



This looks a bit scary.



Ready to go.



The view down the track.



Nice, second. A little kid on the right beat us all. This was by far my favorite track; you went really fast.



Love me some Guitar Hero.



And air hockey.



I never used to be good at this game back in high school and I'm still not.



I should just grab that stack and run.



Sunset.



Max ready to go.



Oops, he took the turn a little too fast.



Doing better here.



Everyone's a winner.



And finally time for some goofy golf.



The holes were pretty simple, and a lot of the times all of our balls ended up in the same area.



The game was pretty close.



On a couple of these it was actually better to hit the ball into the first section. Not this one, though, and I actually got my ball across the little bridge.



Nice, I won!