Pretty sunset through palm trees.
Hills in the background.
And through overpasses.
Longo Lexus, but I don't understand the F7.
Hmm, that could mean a lot of different things.
Outside of a check cashing place. Is pi inside a house a commmon symbol for that?
There were a few places in Hollywood having Fat Tuesday parties for Mardi Gras, but they all looked really packed and not very fun, so I didn't bother going in any.
Maestro.
The intern at the office was leaving, but she made everyone pens with their intial on them. How nice.
The women at the office screamed, jumped, and ran away when they saw this cricket. As usual, it was my job to give it a ride outside.
A hard part of my job: making the mix of stickers I give to kids good. I want a good number, not too many or too few, a balance between gold and silver, and a good selection of animals.
I was looking at paint removers at Home Depot. A guy saw me and asked what I was taking off. "Spray Paint." "From what?" "Concrete." "Ah, that stuff isn't strong enough. You have to use this. But be careful; it'll burn your arms if you don't have good gloves." He showed me his arms, which were kind of messed up. So I got the better, more expensive rubber gloves. Probably better to spend a few extra dollars to not risk thousands of dollars of surgery on my arms.
A group of us went to Dave & Busters in Orange County on Valentine's Day. The four-player air hockey was a lot of fun, but hectic.
Same with the four-player Pac-Man.
Car racing.
Everyone loves Skee ball, but we didn't really need the tickets, so we gave them to the kids there.
Didn't win anything on the giant claw game.
Six-player game where you shot airplanes out of the sky.
Our group.
I won first place.
Time for some Dance Dance Revolution.
Although it was a little too easy; not a lot of dancing, more just waiting for the arrows.
Until someone picked a really hard song.
That's more like it.
We had a wide range of skill levels in our group.
There was an art and DJ event at Echoes Under Sunset, close to my apartment.
Some interesting artwork.
This one was quite attention-grabbing.
A few more neat ones.
A mural under a bridge nearby.
A table from one of those big power company spindles. I remember rolling around on these as a kid.
Mirror Luck?
Friday night I went down to Long Beach. This bridge is pretty at night when it lights up.
There's a mall-type area with lots of big chain restaurants and entertainment venues. There's also a hotel, nice if you drink too much and don't want to drive home, although a Hyatt would be a bit expensive.
Even a ferris wheel.
A group of us went to Sgt Pepper's Dueling Piano Bar. We bought some of the fishbowl drinks to share.
It was Melissa's birthday, so she got to go up and sit on the piano while they sang about her. I think most of the people there were there for birthdays.
They put a sticker on her shirt.
These two were supposed to change spots, sitting and standing, every time the singers said a word that started with "B," but were a little too drunk to understand and just kept sitting on each other.
Joy to the World is a classic at dueling piano bars. One of the male pianists stands behind a birthday girl, has her grab his butt, and then he acts out the song with his hands.
Then they change places and she does the same. She's supposed to grab his crotch when the song gets to "boys," but this woman was a little timid.
Dancing.
I'm impressed they know the lyrics to all the songs people request. Although it looks like the have an iPad, so maybe they can look them up, too.
The little parking lot by volleyball tends to fill up. I saw a truck backing out, but there was a little car in front of me, so I figured I wouldn't get the spot. However, I was in luck. The concrete was lifted up by the tree, so the little car didn't want to park there, so I got the spot.
Love with a back set.
Funny-looking jump.
Going up for a bit hit.
Reach!
I like the faces people make.
I think this is a cool shot.
Interesting jump serve.
Tito not only plays well, he's really nice. He offered to take pictures of me, but since the battery on the camera was dying, I declined. Not many people offer that, though, so I really appreciate it, and good to know I can ask him in the future.
I like the angles on this one.
Going up for a spike.
Dig.
It's legal to kick the ball.
Eyes on the ball.
This woman and her teammate were very good players.
Serving from the other side.
Kat's sister was in town, so they brought her to play.
Kat bumping it.
Kendra doing the same.
A picture of the three of them. This one the background is in focus...
... and this one they are.
Angry Birds has a Star Wars version. A few levels reference the movies, like this one where when you make the pig fall onto the wood below...
... it crushes the pigs down there.
I missed my turn, so the GPS decided to send me through three highway ramps instead of pulling a U-turn.
Saturday night was a bacon social in east downtown LA. The entrace was a little sketchy.
There was some art for sale. Steampunk snowboard and guitar.
Um, just kind of weird.
Aw, that's nice, you can take the photos at the end of the night.
I really liked the darker cityscapes on the left.
Portraits and drawings.
There were also video games in this room. Area 51 is great, as is Gauntlet Legends.
A multicade, with lots of classic games, Mortal Kombat II, and one of my favorite games of all time, Tekken Tag Tournament. Some games were on free play, like TTT, and some you had to put quarters in, like MKII. Also, the controls weren't great, so I wouldn't want to play a tournament on these systems, but they were good enough to still be fun.
Simpsons, another awesome one, and a Quake-like game.
On the other side there was this area with couches and a TV playing Charlotte's Web.
Bacon carmel popcorn and a bacon burger.
There were live bands there as well.
The event was all ages, and while most people were adults in their 20s-30s, a few people brought their kids. This can't be good for their ears, though.