I could do it all again

I don’t think anyone else in the world could possibly make the following statement that I’m about to make: “In the past 12 hours I have been to: Malibu beach, the Getty Centre for sunset and then to a Lakers vs. Bulls game”.

Spent about 3-4 hours in total driving today, especially during peak hour traffic from the Gettys Centre to the Staples Centre. Dammit, I know here in America they spell it as “center” but I just can’t do that without forcing myself to. On the way back to Malibu from the Staples Centre, a bunch of cop cars closed down a huge section of the Pacific Coast Highway, causing me and all the other confused drivers to take a huuuuge detour around the Malibu hills, down Sunset Blvd in a huuuge circuit. They did it in the most unconventional (aka inefficient, confusing and STUPID) way ever – instead of just parking and blocking the road with their lights on like the police usually do, they decided to turn their lights on and start driving in a zigzag pattern down the PCH, confusing the hell out of us all.

Anyway, I’m too tired to recount my whole day now. I took a roll and a half of black and white film as well, but here are just a handful of digital shots from my epic 12 hours today:

Went to the beach at Malibu – froze our butts off.

California number plate! The car I’ve been driving around.

Obligatory jumping photo. Wish I could fly. It was so windy it sure felt like I almost could.

At the colony in Malibu. CUPCAKES.

Red Velvet was mine, and Chocolate Snowball was Liv’s. Weird iced tea I had with my macchiato.

Fancy schmancy.

If my life’s work ever got analysed, this would be the “epitome” of “me”: monochromatic, shadows, frames, self. All it lacks is reflection.

At Getty Centre.

Sunset. Reflection. Frame. How typically-Amanda of me.

More reflections.

Post-dusk view.

Tram.

STAPLES CENTER!!! There, I spelt it the American way.

Proof!!!

Lamar played amazingly tonight. Top scorer for Lakers. Sorry Kobe.

JACK! I didn’t have my long lens with me so had to wait til he got on screen to get a better shot.

Crowd goes mad.

Final score.

Tales of San Francisco echo through the air

I’ve been having SUCH a good time in California that I’ve hardly found the time and energy to even download my photos onto the computer, let alone post them anywhere. I’ve been in Los Angeles since last weekend, but I’m really missing San Francisco, so here’s a handful of random photos that I took.

I’ll hopefully, eventually get around to blogging all the details, but for now I’m just going to make a list of my San Francisco highlights:

– $2 Tuesdays at The Ambassador – includes shots!
– meeting and hanging out with a bunch of awesome people from all sorts of different places
– SF Museum of Modern Art
– ferry cruise around the bay which entailed going under the Golden Gate Bridge and going around Alcatraz
– CABLE CARS!!! And acting all blase on it, trying to not piss the locals off like all the other tourists, haha
– walking miles and miles instead of using my transport pass so I can see the streets and details
– staying up all night hanging out with the night shift people at the hostel
– nobody thinking I’m anywhere near underage here
– the Exploratorium being next to the Palace of Fine Arts (last photo)
– the intense customer service at Victoria’s Secret
– finding out that the hipster bars are universally the same, apparently
– and that people try to make clubs like on MTV + skanks are the same on this side of the Pacific also
– meeting someone I wish I never met because it got my hopes up about someone breaking my “golden standard”
– TOUCHING A SHARK and stingray (ref to photo)

and so many other things that my tired brain cannot think of right now. But it’s a city that I will definitely revisit as soon as I can. I just loved so many things about it.

Back to current reality though, I moved out of a hostel in Hollywood today and am now crashing at Malibu. Watch this space.

Califoooooorniaaaaa

Everytime I hear the word “California” I think of that Phantom Planet song that used to be on The OC. Point is I am now in California! Currently, I am sitting at a kitchen table in a hostel in Hollywood, and tomorrow I am heading up to San Francisco.

Somehow I was very lucky wth my flight that, not only were my tickets so cheap, but I managed to get 3 seats to myself! Cheapest, BEST seats onbaord, I’m pretty sure, and  I savoured the luxury of being able to spread my legs out to sleep. Liv and her roommate picked me up from the airport and we headed off to a mall, for Pinkberry’s frozen yoghurt and then later dinner at a place called the Grand Lux Cafe.

Very irrelevant, but I really feel the need to show off the rainbow cake and cupcakes that I made for my friend Liz’s birthday party on Friday night:

Moscow Mule:

Deadly walking stick:

Heading to the City of Angels

1 year down, 2 to go – I can’t believe I’m 1/3 of the way through my degree already. This year has been the longest yet fastest year of my life, I swear. I also cannot believe that…

…I am going to California! Namely, Los Angeles and San Francisco. I’ve always been an impulsive person, but this is probably the biggest impulse-buy that I have ever made – I managed to get $999/return flights from Auckland to LAX and I leave on the 7th November. So far I’ve got it planned so that I spend my first day (I arrive in the afternoon that Sunday) with my sister as she has no weekend classes or activities, and I’m staying at a highly rated hostel in Hollywood. Based on my phone calls to them, they do indeed have superb service so I’m not anxious about it and I’m super excited! The other great thing about the USA Hostels chain is that (amongst other places and services offered), they have a $45 shuttle from their Hollywood hostel up to the one in San Francisco. I had been considering flying out to New York and crashing at a family friend’s place, but the flights are just far, far too expensive – a flight from LA to NY would cost almost half of what I’m paying to fly from NZ to LA, which does sort of make sense, but at the same time, urgh. I’m just going to have to go to New York next time, on a more extensive trip. Although my heart aches at the prospect of missing out this time… But the good news is, it means I’m saving all my weekends with my sister, and also any half-days of school she has. I’ll also be staying with her in her dorms at Pepperdine University – which is a promise of spectacular views and apparently a very amazing machine in the cafeteria that offers all beverages imaginable!

The other major, major thing is I have a ticket to see the Lakers vs. Bulls! It took me about three bloody hours to get a ticket last night, because Ticketmaster USA is a dickhead. For some unknown and unexplained reason, their website kept failing to sell the ticket to me. Then I rang (luckily for free, thanks to Gmail) them up and spent a couple of hours wrangling up a fake US accent and shouting down the line to their automated system. I can understand why it took several attempts to recognise me saying things like “Chicago Bulls” or “November 23rd”, but when it failed to recognise me saying “yes” or “no” – that was just too far. I ended up trying to emulate the recording’s voice in an attempt to sound, uh, more understandable? I hope when I’m thirsty in a restaurant I don’t have to try and say “water” in a US accent, because that would absolutely kill me and my dignity. I know Liv had to do it once, because us NZ kids say “war-ta” instead of “waaah-terrr”. On the other hand, I’m a little curious to see as to where people will guess I’m from, based on the fact that I look asian but certainly don’t act nor speak particularly asian-like. In fact, I can’t even put on an asian accent when speaking in English – I know white people that can do it and I can’t!

Ramblings aside – does anyone have any recommendations for food/music/sights/shopping/galleries/museums/etc in LA/San Fran or any general tips on visiting the states? Mum and friends have been trying to teach me how to tip but I don’t think I’ll ever understand completely until I have to do it in person. I’ll probably look like a moron sitting there trying to work out the smallest amount I can get away with leaving though… haha. Oh yeah, I’m also tossing up whether or not to go and see Best Coast’s gig, but the problem is, I’m apparently going to Disneyland on the day of the gig that isn’t sold out, and I think people stay at Disneyland until nighttime?

Below: miscellaneous pics from Friday, after my last assessment of the year. You won’t believe how goooood it felt. Although now I’m anxious about marks, passing, etc…
Charlotte and I had a feast at Wagamama with a voucher I had. It came to under $20 each, and we both had a big serving of noodles, edamame and lemon iced tea.

The hoodie I bought for Liv upon her request… she wanted some kind of “NZ apparel” because apparently wearing things from your hometown is big thing to do in American universities:

The Twist (I want to spell it as Twissst)

I’ve now got a backlog of photos from the three birthdays I’ve been bombarded with over the past couple of days, but I now doubt that any of them will ever see the light of day unless I get very, very bored whilst on holiday. There are so many things clogging my mind that I don’t know where to start – but in exactly 7 days’ time all my jazz assessments will be OVER, signaling the end of my first year of university. I have mixed feelings about this, because I’ve just been so mentally drained and distracted this year that I’m not doing anywhere near as well as I would have liked – which is why I’m really looking forward to summer when I can recuperate and catch up.

Completely irrelevantly, something that’s crossed my mind several times in female bathrooms: everyone except for me and members of my family use the hand dryer. I’ve never used it because my mum brought me up telling me “so you’ve just washed your hands with soap, now why would you want to blow a bunch of germs back onto your hands?!” and taught me to find the least-touched parts of toilet door handles, etc. I’m not too sure about the whole “you’re attaining germs by using the hand dryer” idea, but it’s just been such a habit. Plus, those things are damn loud and I don’t like the idea of having hot air blown onto me anyway – but people always look at me funny when I just shake my hands dry or something. It’s just one of those things that I think is definitely nurture over nature; such as my thing for beer and whiskeys, and disliking sweeter alcoholic drinks.

Photo is from Lottie’s birthday dinner last week. The giant burger and that beer made me very, very full. Bloated, even. Urghh.

As for the thing about the twist. Maybe I’ll write a song about it. I’ve got all this stuff bottled up I need to write into proper songs, rather than just little snippets of ideas. Those are awfully frustrating and get locked in notebooks and see the occasional scrawl and smeared black ink. Romance lives on too bleakly when only expressed on paper.

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