Where'd All the Good People Go?

I have been all over the place when it comes to blogging and keeping up with a journal. The biggest problem I have with blogging is that it's public, i.e. anyone with an internet connection can read it. This is a problem when I have things that I want to say but really should keep it to myself. This is why I try to keep a separate journal, but having to write twice kind of sucks and I wind up not writing at all.

Fortunately, I find inspiration every now and then to write on the ol' blog and keep the world up to date on my life. Paul, one of my good friends in Los Angeles, is moving back to Boston after living here for over 4 years. He and I are a lot alike when it comes to blogging: we write hardcore for a few weeks and then it tapers off. He recently started his up again because of this huge event in his life (the move) and I thought I should update mine since I did the exact same thing three weeks ago.

Much like Paul, I moved to Los Angeles a couple of years ago without really knowing what I was getting in to. My girlfriend (now wife), Megan, was accepted to Pepperdine for graduate school and was going to start school in August 2006. She wanted me to go with her to California, but I will be the first to admit that I was hesitant about leaving my comfortable life in Oklahoma City. After some convincing, I begrudgingly packed up my stuff and moved to Northridge with Megan.

I wish I could say that I was excited about moving to Los Angeles, but my fear of everything I had heard about the city made it nearly impossible to enjoy this major life change leading up to the actual move. Once we got to Los Angeles, though, I saw that it wasn't that much different from Oklahoma City. Cost of living was higher and the traffic was infinitely worse, but other than that, you found your group of friends, joined a few activities, and life was gravy after that. I slowly found my friends and activities in Los Angeles and they are what made the experience positive for me. When I was tired of my job and things just weren't going the way I thought they should, my friends are what pulled me through and made living in LA a great experience.

Here are some of the highlights:

Kickball October 2006 - Present

I had just started my new job at the Temple and was just starting to get my bearings when I overheard one of my co-workers talking about how she had a kickball game the night before. I hadn't played kickball since grade school, so I was intrigued with the concept of playing kickball, in a league, as an adult. She invited me to the season opening pickup game for the division, which Megan and I attended, and the rest is history. Megan and I spent our inaugural season with the Pregnant Cheerleaders, a team with a lot of spirit but with thinly spread talent. We didn't win very often, but everyone on the team had a good attitude about it and recognized that they were just there to have fun. We met so many great people on this team, including Jeremy who would later be one of my groomsmen in the wedding.

We left the Cheerleaders after just one season for Michael and Scott's Awesome Helicopter Ninjas. We won the division championship during our first season with the team, but couldn't pull it off again during the Fall 2007 season. During this time, Michael started his own team in Junction, a new division in Koreatown, the Hobolympians and the Cagey Bees. Both teams were pretty much Studio All-Star teams and we worked over the divisions during both seasons. We didn't win a championship with either team, but the Bees were undefeated in kickball with their only loss of the season coming in the final game when the field lights turned off and we had to play rock-paper-scissors to decide the game.

We finished our Studio careers with the Guy Faux Conservatory. Jeremy and Kelly split off from the Cheerleaders the season after Megan and I left and started their own team. They had a great first season but lacked that extra "umph" to get them to the finals. They picked up Megan and I, along with Reginald and Dan, and along with the rest of the team, we took the GFC (on a long and drawn out road) to the finals against the Valley Girls. We lost by one, but it was a great game and was a shining example of how the game should be played.

Kickball was a huge part of our lives for the last two years. All of my friends are from this group of people and I honestly wouldn't want to have a different group of friends in Los Angeles. Even though we took it too seriously on the field, we had a good time off of the field. Playing kickball is the best way to network because you can count on the people that play to be fun, weird, and outgoing. We have already started scouting the Kansas City division for a new team, even though we know it won't be as crazy as Studio is.

Red Line Pub Crawl - April 21, 2007

To celebrate my birthday, Scott, Michael, and Ashley organized a pub crawl that utilized the Metro's Red Line. We rode the train to Central Station and then worked our way back while drinking heavily at bars along the way. I couldn't even begin to tell you which bars we went to, but they were all awesome, especially the one that gave me birthday cake. My 25th birthday celebration was even better than my 24th (car throw-up night) and it was because of my friends. Despite Scott almost killing Jeremy and I on the escalator, this was the best birthday I have ever had.

The Donnas

Jeremy, Ashley, and I made the trek to Hollywood to see the Donnas perform the first show of their tour to promote their new album. I had been out of the music scene for a long time, so this was the first show that I had been to in probably years. The Donnas were never on my radar before they had a song on Guitar Hero, but even then, they were never really in my rotation. Seeing them play live, however, put them in a permanent spot in my top bands list. Jeremy was so excited about the show that he shoved his way in to the middle of the crowd when the Donnas came on stage. The venue was just a shitty dive bar, but seeing a great band made the location a non-point.

The LA Bachelor Party - December 2007

In preparation for my upcoming marriage, my friends organized a small bachelor party in my honor. They took me out to restaurant in Woodland Hills called uWink. It's a gimmick restaurant that allows you to order your food from a touch screen monitor at your table. Michael thought it was a cool because I'm a geek and well, he was right. After dinner we went to an English pub called Scotland Yard. It was a total dive but it was one of the best nights out I have ever had in LA.

Roll Down @ Mammoth - '07 & '08

The tradition of the IT department going skiing every year was started long before I showed up. Somewhere along the line, someone fell down the mountain and the annual trip was renamed "Roll Down the Mountain." Everyone drives up to Mammoth Lakes, CA on Thursday or Friday, and spends Friday and/or Saturday skiing or snowboarding (some just stayed in the lodge and drank all day). Mammoth itself is a terrible ski resort, what with frigid winds and long lines, but getting out on a mountain again was a lot of fun. Spending time with co-workers outside of work can be fun if it's with the right people. Fortunately, I worked with the right people so we spent the weekend drinking and bitching about work knowing that what was said would never be repeated again.

DefCON 15 - August 2007

I went to the annual hacker convention in Las Vegas with some co-workers last year. We went to the convention every day... somehow. Our nights were spent drinking and gambling until 3... 4... sometimes 5 a.m. I was told by a co-worker that I would learn to play craps because that's his favorite gambling game. I learned how to play craps, maybe not very well, but I loved it and now it's my favorite gambling game. Best part of the weekend: walking down the street at 5 a.m. after spending 6 hours in a casino because we were unable to legally drive a car.

Hockey

I have played inline hockey since I was 12. I was one of the "founding members" of the Norman inline hockey league, despite having no prior interest in the game of hockey. It took me a while to find a league in the valley, but one eventually popped up at the West Valley YMCA. I started going to pickup games on Sundays and after the second week, I was offered a spot on the Schoolyard Bullies. We had an up and down season, a lot of our troubles were induced by the league itself, but we managed to make it to the finals. We lost, but it was nice to lace up again for a full season instead of just playing pickup.

At the end of the season, I started playing ball hockey on Sunday mornings with a group of guys that has played together for 15 years. Ball hockey is the same as inline hockey, except that you play with a ball and you run rather than skate. It's a great workout and I was very fit when I was playing regularly. After the break for summer, we moved to the East Valley YMCA because the West Valley Y decided to stop its hockey programs. I discovered a Sunday morning inline pickup game that played before ball hockey, so I grabbed my inline stuff and played in both games. I met a lot of great guys in both games and wound up playing for Stu's team in the Wednesday night silver league (intermediate league).

Hockey has been a release for me for a long time and I was really depressed that I couldn't find a league. I had always heard that southern California was the mecca of inline hockey, but apparently that died out in the 90s. Getting to play regularly for a year while living here provided me relief from the insanity of day to day living in Los Angeles. Even though I probably wouldn't hang out with any of those guys outside of hockey (except for the one time I ran in to Chris at Ireland32), just having 4 hours of guy time on Sundays was enough.

Garth Brooks - 2007

Garth Brooks put on a charity concert for the victims of the 2007 southern California wildfires. He was originally only going to play one show, but the concert sold out in 5 seconds, so he decided he was going to play 6 shows at the Staples Center in one weekend. Megan, Jeremy, Kay, Kelly, and I went to the last show because Kelly had somehow obtained tickets. I had never seen Garth play live, so i was very excited about the show because he is my favorite country singer. Growing up in Oklahoma, you always hear about how awesome his shows are because not only is he a great musician, but he's also a fantastic entertainer. Even though he didn't go flying across the stage like he used to, he put on a great show. He really knows how to entertain and I hope that he starts touring again when his kids are a little more grown up.

Dodgers Game - April 25, 2008

Scott, Julie, and I went to the Dodgers game because Scott got a great deal on some lower level, first baseline seats. I like baseball and hadn't to a game since last season when we went to an Angels game.

The game itself was rather mediocre. The Dodgers beat the Rockies 8-7, but it took 13 innings (4 hours and 38 minutes) to finally finish them off. Unfortunately, the Dodgers really aren't that great, so I'm not all that surprised the game was rather bland. There were some good plays here and there, like getting thrown out while trying to steal second. On of the bigger plays was when the Dodgers' third baseman was injured and was replaced by the catcher. The new (backup) catcher totally missed the ball on his very first pitch and allowed the Rockies to score off of a loose ball.

The "fans" on the other hand... well, wow. Dodgers fans are the worst kind of people in the world. No one really understands until they experience the nonsense that is a Dodgers game for themselves. Here's a breakdown of the shenanigans that I witnessed in my 4 and a half hours of the game:

1. Dodgers fans aren't so much about supporting the Dodgers as much as they are about trying to demoralize the other team. The "Rockies suck" chant was much more prominent than "Let's go Dodgers."

2. Dodgers fans will boo and jeer the Dodgers. There was a play in which a Dodgers outfielder didn't dive for a fly ball and just let it bounce off of the ground. He was booed, by Dodgers fans, after his less than stellar performance.

3. Dodgers fans will get in to fist fights with people who are wearing the other team's paraphanalia. No joke. There was a huge brawl in the left field stands.

4. Dodgers fans will get in to food fights with anyone around them, especially in the "All you can eat Dodger dog" section.

5. Dodgers fans still believe that they are in college because they like to yell "Chug! Chug!" at people who are carrying full cups of $10 beer back to their seats. I swear to God, like 20 people in the next section over chugged their beers at the prompting of the people around them.

6. Dodgers fans are mostly Hispanic gang bangers. Not much more to add here.

7. Dodgers fans are more interested in hitting around beach balls than actually watching the game.

Basically, everything that is wrong with Los Angeles is personified by a typical Dodgers fan. Scott and I think that raising the prices of tickets to $1000 just for nose bleed seats would stop the idiots from coming, but the reality is that retarded people will go in to debt just to buy season tickets.

Regardless, getting to see baseball was fun and I learned a lot about Los Angeles (the city) that night.

Galaxy vs Red Bulls - May 10, 2008

This was another Scott-organized event. Scott, Jeremy, Megan, and I went down to the Home Depot Center to watch David Beckham and the Galaxy play the New York Red Bulls. As an open critic of Landon Donovan, this game did nothing to put him in my good graces. He missed an open net 3 times because he messed around with the ball instead of just shooting it when he had the chance. Seeing Beckham play was neat since he was the Next Big Thing last season. It was also British Night during that particular game, so everyone was wearing EPL shirts and waving the Union Jack/St. George flag. I wasn't impressed with the so-called Riot Squad fan club; most of them didn't seem to know the rules and got very upset when they thought a call should have gone their way. They also had lots of fake European team chants, which was very entertaining.

Red Line Pub Crawl II - May 2008

To say goodbye to Megan and I and to also celebrate Ashley's birthday, another Red Line pub crawl was organized. Michael and I sported wrist watch walkie-talkies all night; they didn't work very well, but it was fun coming up with call signs for everyone in the group. Once again, we rode the Red Line to down town and drank our way back. This is quite possibly the best way to see some of the shadier/weirder parts of Los Angeles: hanging out in the subway in the middle of the night is a surefire way to catch some crazies in action.

BBQs At Richard's

Our good friend Richard got in to BBQing this year and had several BBQs for anyone that wanted to come. There's nothing better than having good meat and beer with all of your friends around. There wasn't ever a special occasion for having a BBQ (except for when his new roommate moved in), but just having people over for fellowship made them special.

Top Random Celebrity Sightings:

1. Michael Chiklis, The Shield, dropping off something for his kid at the Temple. He was cool enough to stop and talk to me about the show.
2. David Beckham, Los Angeles Galaxy, playing soccer. This doesn't really count, but I thought it was cool.
3. Victoria Beckham, Former Spice Girl, asking me to watch her car at the Temple.
4. Sylvester Stallone, Rocky I-V/Rambo, watching his kid play basketball at the Temple.