I'm pretty sure when I was a kid you had to update your computer clock manually for Daylight Saving Time. Now it not only does it automatically, it warns you in advance.
This was the costume I was going to make for Halloween last year before I decided to make the LMFAO robot. I still had the plans and most of the supplies I had bought all ready to go.
It took much longer than I had planned. I thought a couple of hours, tops, but it actually took around 8 hours. Boring, too, just cutting and gluing. Thankfully the spray-on adhesive was much easier than using a glue gun or rubber cement, but it got all over my fingers, so I had to be careful not to touch any part that was done or I'd rip it.
Going to the beach, it looks beautiful out.
Until you get about a mile away; then the fog hits. I really need to remember to check out the beach cams before I leave.
Dunno.
Wheels that stuck out from the cars was a huge thing with Mexicans in Houston. Thankfully I almost never see it here.
Trees changing color for fall.
I wonder if that kid's head is too big.
The clouds make the mountain look like it's flying.
Clouds cutting the sun in half.
Lots of license plates I don't get this week.
Nice crepuscular rays.
This reminds me of my neighbor in Berkeley, who's state-issued plate was 5LUT###, basically slut.
My final costume. I gave people the blow-up bat to him me and then threw candy at them. I found some pants with tons of big pockets at a thrift so, so that worked great.
The West Hollywood Halloween Carnival always has great costumes.
Even though some are a little over the line.
The tower from Lord of the Rings.
South Park.
Jellyfish.
Great idea, although he's a little tanner than the picture.
Telephone box from Dr. Who.
That's fun. Also easy to throw candy onto it.
Some manly men.
Obama with secret service agents.
A military fort.
One of the many stages.
It was super-crowded in places, so much that you could barely move forward.
Awesome unicorn outfits.
Usually see one of these a year; the person in the cage is the actual person and the monster around it is fake.
This one was fun.
Some really good makeup.
Just, uh, weird.
The guy from Up.
Tina Turner.
Disney princesses on a board?
Awesome, the space shuttle!
This was really cool. You could see his phone through the hole in his shirt and it had a video of a beating heart.
A giant dragon.
Some fire dancers on the stage.
I wanted to get a picture of some of the many cops hitting me, and this one had the most fun with my costume.
Pretty impressive.
That's gotta be hard to ride.
A big one.
These were really fun, too. They're guys on jet packs.
There were a couple of people dressed up as Fifty Shades of Grey.
Hey, my costume from last year!
As I was walking away from the carnival I saw another person as a pinata walking to it.
Her costume was much better than mine: it was more colorful and had wider strips. Actually, that would have been nice because it would have been faster to glue fewer strips on. She didn't have a bat, though, but I had extras, so I gave her one.
Next I went to Hollywood Boulevard to do a club crawl. I parked on Schrader Blvd, but when I got to Hollywood, the street was shut down. Apparently three people were shot at the corner of Hollywood and Schrader about 30 minutes before I got there, right at this corner. Good thing I wasn't a little earlier.
People who were already inside of bars or clubs could stay there, but nobody could go in.
The cops had shut down about a mile of Hollywood Boulevard. It was open again at Vine St.
There were cops on horses and even SWAT teams going around on APCs.
I still did my hit-me-and-throw-candy thing with all of the random people on the sidewalks.
There were some parties going on here, but I figured they would be too expensive and not my style.
Walking along Sunset.
Wow, those guys are huge.
Two women got into a fight outside of the Jack In The Box. Yeah, that's brilliant, right after a shooting so there are tons of cops around. I never realized how ghetto Hollywood was, but whereas West Hollywood seemed fun and lighthearted, a ton of people here were pretty sketchy.
Most of the streamers came off my pants, especially around the pockets.
The shirt did a little better, but still lots of strips missing.
Unfortunately the face paint stayed on much better. I kept scrubbing along the edges of my eyelids to get it off.
A road downtown closed for something.
Friday night we went to Yankee Doodles in Santa Monica for David's birthday.
First up were some games of pool.
Dmitry better not miss this one.
Going behind the back.
And really going behind the back.
Group pic.
Darts afterwards.
We actually used real darts.
Ooh, I made a bullseye!
The score was hard to keep track of because the markers didn't work very well. Half the time I'd shoot for a number and only realize I had already closed it out after going and looking a the scoreboard closer.
I like how the parking garages say how many spots are open. Although if they say like 10, good luck finding one of those.
"Do not follow." Well, that would mean nobody could ever take this lane ever again.
This was just weird. The guy was leaning over talking to the woman like a douchebag. Then she moved over to the driver's side and drove when he got in the passenger side. I'm guessing they switched drivers, but why was he standing out here like that?
Too bad there's not a cop around; blocking the lane like that is a ticketable offense.
I like contrast of the Wyoming license plate and the surf boards on the top.
I was far enough ahead and over that this guy who wanted to turn could probably make it. Especially because he has a truck, so if he goes up on the curb a little, no big deal. But no, he just stayed there like a sissy.
Saturday morning we hiked to Parker Mesa Overlook.
It was about a 7-mile hike round trip.
This is why people do this hike: you can see most of LA, from downtown to Santa Monica beach to Malibu. Unfortunately it's often pretty foggy / smoggy, so you can't geat a great view.
A panoramic.
The group resting.
Me with the city behind me.
I thought we were done, but nope, not even halfway to the top.
Malibu to the west.
These people were the front runners of the group.
Although even they strained a bit at this part, which was pretty steep.
Hey, no smiling here!
That's more like it; a nice grimace that says, "Aren't we done yet?"
Nope, and this part was even steeper.
Almost had to go on your hands and knees here. And since I kept running from the front of the group to the back and vice versa to get pictures of everyone, I was pouring sweat and pretty exhausted.
Another nice lookout spot.
Around a corner.
And we're getting close.
The little parts that went down were very welcome.
We made it!
OK, I think the view is about the same from here as from the lower spot.
Me taking pictures.
Some nice houses to the east.
A bunch more.
A hawk flying above the path.
On the way down I ran into Andrea.
The people sure look small against the hills.
Watch out for this tree.
Some more gorgeous houses. Apparently some belong to movie stars.
Almost to the parking lot.
Part of the group. We stayed together pretty well going up but broke apart coming down.
Lots of green.
It almost looks like a waterfall could be here if it's rainy.
A pretty part of the path.
A path blocked by a boulder.
Some trees just hanging out on their own.
Mansions from the bottom.
Going around a bend.
More green.
And a hawk in a tree at the end.
Right after that I headed to the beach. I often play with Los Angeles Beach Volleyball, but some of my friends were playing with Playa Doubles Beach Volleyball, a group that plays right beside LABV. They were having a costume tournament.
Marie Grace setting.
ABG going for a spike.
One of the teams.
Dmitry also going for a spike.
He even has a boot to drink out of.
There were lots of fun rules, like having to spin around on a bat five times before serving if you broke a rule.
The spiderwebs on the nets was a nice touch.
Pretty.
Saturday night I went and played poker with a new group.
It was very organized.
And the hosts even provided food.
And drinks.
There were multiple tables of players.
A couple in this room...
... and one here.
They had a great app that kept track of the time and blinds.
I made 4 aces; that was fun.
If you have AK, hitting AKJ on the flop is pretty much a dream, except when your opponent has JJ.
The hand that knocked me out. I had KK, she had AA, and then she caught another A. It was a really fun group to play with, though, and not too expensive.