Blog: A series of events that follows another series of events

Californication is a great show. You should watch it. You should buy Showtime for it. I should work for Showtime. Insert sellout.

The week after the fam left I was supposed to be studying for my California State Fire/Casualty Broker Licensing exam. Instead I procrastinated, just like college all over again. On that Monday night, the 13th, I drove up to Santa Barbara. I stayed at a Motel6 and watched E! tv for 4 hours. It's crazy what people will do to avoid studying. Tuesday morning I had to work at a client in Santa Barbara and then drive back home in the evening. I couldn't tell you what I did the rest of the week, but it probably had to do with avoiding studying.

Friday after work I drove down to Huntington Beach. I strolled down Main Street, bought a pair of board shorts, and enjoyed the tourist watching. Friday night Dave, Bobby, and I drove to Phoenix. It was great to be back on the road again. In Phoenix we were staying at Dave's cousin Zach's place. Saturday we were to float down the Salt River (http://www.saltrivertubing.com/), and Sunday hang out before driving back. Keep in mind that I have a huge exam Monday. So out of character for me, but sometimes you just have to live in the moment. Here are some details on the Phoenix trip. sorry for the lack of pictures, but we didn't bring cameras out on the river.

The River: We arrived in Phoenix pretty late on Friday night/Saturday morning and headed to Zach's apartment to crash. Saturday morning we drove to Scottsdale to pick up Zach's friend Doye and go out to breakfast. We went to a diner called Coney Island where all the waitresses knew Zach and Doye. Zach was telling us that he can't leave this place without giving the waitress a hug. On the way out the cougar waitress made us all give her hugs. Bobby was able to escape, but not for long. We were halfway to the car in the parking lot when the waitress came running out the door yelling "hey green shorts, don't think you can get away from me!" She got him.

We took the drive through the desert to get to the tubing place. We filled up our faderades and rented some tubes. Next we loaded our tubes onto the bus and took the crazy busride up to the drop point. We tied our 5 tubes in a circle around our cooler and waded into the river. The next 5 hours were the greatest mix of insanity and relaxation I've ever experienced. We don't have any photographic evidence, but that would have been nice. Did I mention it was Mardi Gras theme weekend out on the river? Halfway through we hit some rapids and lost our cooler. Bobby the lifeguard was able to swim ahead and salvage some refreshments, but all was pretty much lost. Thankfully Zach loaded lunch into a backpack instead of the cooler. Soon after we stopped to eat. We climbed a 20 foot hill that overlooked the river, it was pretty sweet. It was also 110+ degrees out.

We jumped back into the lazy river and floated towards the finish. Just before the end there is a cliff that is perfect for cliff diving. The problem is you have to do a little bit of rock climbing to get to the cliff. Bobby and I headed up barefoot just for the extra challenge. We were followed by Zach and Doye while Dave sacrificed himself to watch the tubes. Doye, Zach, and Bobby all jumped. I was up next, can't wuss out now, time to live in the moment. The river was the highlight of my summer.

After the river we drove back into Phoenix, exhausted. We ate at a place called Philly's where Zach's roommate Annie works. The greasy food was a great pick-me-up. We drove back to the apartment to relax before having some of Zach's friends over. I slept very well that night. Sunday morning we woke up and drove to Chipotle for brunch. After Chipotle we relaxed by the pool where I started studying. Next we hit up 7-11 for slurpees before getting on the road. I studied for as long as I could in the car. We got back into Huntington around 10 and I had to drive back to LA. Of course there is traffic on the 405 at 10:30 at night, so I didn't get in and settled until after 11:30. Study or sleep? The age old question that every college student faces before every exam. At this point the sun had zapped my energy, I had been in a car 7+ hours, and I could barely keep my eyes open. Sleep won.

I woke up late the next morning, around 8:30. The exam was at 1, better start studying. I crammed for a few hours and drove to downtown LA. I took the test and was very nervous because the exam results come in very quick. If I fail this exam I don't know what will happen at work. I went to the waiting room, the lady came out moments later and called my name. She gave me my results, I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and I passed! Gotta love living in the moment.

Let's keep this thing going...That Monday I went to a softball team tryout in West Hollywood. There were literally transvestites in the outfield. The worst part was that 30 guys showed up to try out for 2 roster spots. What a waste of time. Thankfully later that week 2 other teams called and asked me to join there teams. That Friday I went to play for one team and had a decent night going 3-5 at the plate with an RBI and 2 runs scored. In the field I had a few put outs with one error (I lost the ball in the lights).

The next week of work was pretty crazy. I won't go into details, but I do have some good stories if you're interested. Give me a call. This past Friday night I went to scrimmage number 2 for the Friday night team. I ended up 1-1 with 3 walks, an RBI, and 3 runs scored. In the field I did much better because I wore my glasses. Wow, I never wear my glasses, it's crazy, everything is in HD! I felt like a superhero with the power of 20-20 vision. I made all my catches in left field and even had an outfield assist, gunning a guy out at third. We ended up losing, but hey, it's just practice. First games of softball start this week. I play Thursdays and Friday nights.

Well, this takes us all the way to August 31st, so I will continue with September in my next post. Signing off- Dmatti.

Vacation

Mattioli Family Vacation: The California Chapter.

Whew this is going to be a long one. Here's the play by play:

Sunday: The fam: Mom, Dad, Shawn, and his girlfriend Katie arrived on Sunday morning. Bryan would have come, but he was too busy throwing a raging pool party kegger back in the 'Boro. They rolled into B-Wood in a Grand Marquis. I gave the fam a neighborhood tour, we ate at In N' Out, did some grocery shopping, cruised to Beverly Hills, and then went to check in at the hotel in Hollywood. They stayed at the Renaissance Hotel right at the Hollywood and Highland Center. I had to work Monday so after checking in we returned to Brentwood for dinner and the family went back to Hollywood.

Monday: While I worked the family took a scenic drive to Zuma Beach in Malibu. I was pretty jealous. Later on that day, Bobby and I drove down to Hollywood to meet them at Bella Cucina Italiana for dinner. Adam Goldberg (Entourage, Saving Private Ryan, Friends, Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco) was eating a few booths down from us. We also saw restaurateur T.J. Torregiani (Paula Abdul's new boyfriend). After dinner we toured around the Hollywood area to see the Chinese Theatre, Walk of Fame, and the freaks. The Hollywood and Highland Center is awesome. It is built right off the Kodak Theatre and it is like an outdoor mall. It is really nice looking and hopefully a sign of what's to come for the otherwise very trashy Hollywood. Later we hit the hotel pool. It was freezing, but i had to dive in because I miss having a pool. The time came for Bobby and I to cruise back down the Sunset Strip to Brentwood.

Tuesday: Again I had to work so the rents and kids took some tours and drove around Los Angeles. Actually they just sat in traffic. They picked me up from Beckman in Fullerton and we cruised to Angels stadium for the Sox game. The Sox got CRUSHED and the Angels fans were obnoxious. I guess Angel Stadium (or Fenway West, home of Redsox Nation West) has a huge rat problem. It was documented in the local newspapers as well as in the Washington Post the week we were there. The stadium had 118 violatons over 2 years in comparison to 2 at Petco Park and 7 at Dodger Stadium. I completely understood when we arrived as I saw rats with my own eyes, about 35,000 of them, all dressed in Angels gear. I crashed at the hotel Tuesday night because we had early plans for Wednesday.

Wednesday: Rise and Shine for breakfast at Johnny Rocket's. Surprisingly great breakfast at this place. We took the 101 to Universal Studios. What a great place, I should get a job there. A job making movies there. We did some of the special effects shows and then went on the studio tour. I loved every second of it. We watched some more shows and rode The Mummy ride and such. It is kind of a small place. I feel like this one is more of a studio and less of a theme park while the Florida version is the opposite. Late in the afternoon we headed back to Hollywood. Mom and I drove to Brentwood and then Santa Monica for the sunset while Dad napped and Shawn and Katie went to a movie.

Thursday: We woke up early yet again and headed down to Huntington Beach. We ate on Main Street at the Sugar Shack. I had never ate there before, but I heard nothing but good things from my hungover friends who frequented the place. After breakfast we walked down Main Street and the pier before hitting the beach. The waves in Huntington this day were the biggest of the summer. They were definitely the biggest I had seen in HB. Shawn and Katie rented boogie boards and we hit the water. I was having a blast catching waves and definitely impressed Shawn and Katie. At one point I was easily 10 feet in the air on a wave. Exhausted from the beach we drove to Southcoast Plaza in Costa Mesa. Not our kind of mall (I have no need for Armani, Jimmy Choo, nor Burberry) so we skipped shopping and went to dinner in Newport. Post dinner we tried to explore Laguna, but every tourist in OC had the same idea. After struggling to find a parking spot we called it quits and headed back North to The LA.

Friday: Friday was supposed to be the return to Universal Studios but I lazied out. While the fam headed back to the park I slept in. When they got back to the hotel we drove to the Beverly Center Mall. We ate at Chipotle and did some shopping. From there we went to Venice Beach. Friday night we went to see the new Harry Potter at Mann's Chinese Theatre before calling it a night. I thought the new Harry was decent, but the books put the movies to shame. It was at this point that my camera died. No more pics from me.

Saturday: The fam had a flight out of LAX in the afternoon, so in the morning we slept in a bit then drove back to Brentwood. We hung out at the LA Chalet for a bit and had a jam session with Bobby. In the afternoon when the fam left I got ready for valet. Credit to Shawn for the pics. Overall it was a fun week. It was good to see Mom, Dad, and Shawn (and Katie). It as also nice to have a break from work. It's always nice to have the excuse to be a tourist in LA because there are so many things to do and so much to see.

Here are some photos, I tried to format the photos in, but because this is THE WORST BLOG SITE on the internet I spent 3+ hours on it and it wouldn't work correctly. California Album is the link to my Snapfish where all my pics are hosted.

Might As Well Valet

August, it's the last real month of Summer. We wanted to start August off strong, so we planned a baseball night and a hike for the first weekend of the month. Friday August 3rd, Sox vs. Mariners at Sonny's (www.SonnyMcLeans.com), my new favorite place in Southern California.

Bobby and I headed down to Sonny's in Santa Monica to watch the game and see the band The Standells play 'Dirty Water' live. We got there late, but still enjoyed some brew and the game. Dave met us there later on and we all agreed that walking into Sonny's is like warping back to Boston. Saturday morning we were planning on getting up super early and going for a hike in the Santa Monica Mountains. Unfortunately our valet boss called and told us we had to be at a wedding in Costa Mesa at 2:45. There was no way we could fit in a hike and make the wedding so we cruised to the beach for an hour instead. It's ok, the wedding was worth it.

Wedding's aren't usually the best for valet, but at this wedding there were only three of us. We pulled over 60 cars, got great exercise, and made some serious cash. As a kicker, Bobby and I drove a drunk couple to their house in Huntington Beach and they gave us $80. Easy money. The following day my family arrived, but I'm going to put that in a different post, so instead I'll talk about my next valet gigs.

The Saturday my family left I worked a Hillary Clinton fundraiser. I thought it would be cool and I would make good money, but I was wrong. The event was a Pakistani-American fundraiser in support of Hill. Nothing against Pakistani's, but the tips were awful at this event. If I didn't get stiffed I got $1 per car. I guess the guy hosting the fundraiser lied and there were two times the number of cars than expected, totally screwing over my boss.

One thing I have learned from valet is the importance of tipping. For the first time I am on the other side of a tipping situation. Getting tips feels great because I work really hard sprinting to and from cars. When I get stiffed I get pretty angry. If you ever get your car valeted, tip $3 minimum. $3 is a good tip, $5 is a great tip. Anything beyond that (I got a $20 at the wedding mentioned above) is a great bonus.

The following Sunday I worked an art show in Long Beach. It was 90 degrees out and the parking lot was a half mile from the event. By the end I was drenched in sweat, but the guests noticed this and started giving me extra money. For example, people who had $5 in hand reached in their wallets and gave me $1-3 extra for hustling. I ended up making a lot more money than the other valets.

I apologize for the filler post, but I'm on lunch break at work. Coming up soon is the Family Vacation post with tons of pictures and the Phoenix Weekend Trip post. Stay tuned. I'll wrap this post up with a screenshot of this weeks weather in LA. Sure, it's not a big deal now, but come January when ya'll are freezing your asses off you're going to be really jealous.

Living

Monthly update? That's not cool at all, I should definitely be updating more often. I think the last post was July 19th so let's wrap up July quickly. Oh and here are a few sunset and palm tree pics, it's my new calling card:

The second half of July started off really strong. The 3rd weekend was action packed and lots of fun. It started by having Jenny P over and heading to a bar in WeHo called Lola's. Lola's was decent at best. We met up with a few of my co-workers and moved on to Jones. Ok so if I'm out on a Friday or Saturday there's a 99% chance I'm at Jones. You can't really beat it, it's easy to get into and it has a great atmosphere. It was nice having a group of friends in Los Angeles. Saturday morning I ran out to get my hands on Harry book 7. I returned to the LA Chalet and Bobby and I went to pick up Jenny P in Palisades for an afternoon beach sesh at Zuma. I read a little of Harry on the beach, but was too distracted by good conversation and people watching. By Saturday night we were pretty shot and stayed in. Relaxing didn't last long because we woke up early, biked to the gym, then went to see Transformers. I can't believe I remember all this stuff so vividly. Time out.

Movie Review Interruption:

Transformers: Waaaay cool. Loved this movie. Maybe I'm just a sucker for the underdog/ love storyline. Megan Fox was impressively hot in this movie and I have a new found respect for Shia (aka Bobby's Hollywood competition). Interesting Megan Fox fact: She is engaged to Brian Austin Green of 90210 fame, yea, she's 21 and he is 34. Not uncommon in H-Wood. I'm going to have to give the film 4 stars even though I think it went on a little too long which caused me to nod off for about 10 minutes.

Superbad: Just see this movie. Probably the funniest, raunchiest comedy I've ever seen. There's a reason this movie is #1 in theatres right now. It's the next Napoleon Dynamite, hell it's the next Borat. People are going to be quoting this one like crazy.

Californication: Ok not a movie, but this new dramedy on Showtime is worth ordering Showtime for. This is David Duchovny's comeback project about a washed up writer/womanizer in LA and it is solid. By the way, there's new X-Files movie coming out in 2009.

Back to my life, it's much more important. The last week in July was brutal. I had to go to Fire/Property Insurance Licensing class for 9.5 hours a day including Saturday. Then I had to pass an exam to get my Broker License, more on that later. Sunday Bobby and I drove down the HB for the U.S. Open of Surfing. It's funny that the surfing is the most boring part of the event. There is also motocross, BMX, skateboarding, live music, tons of free energy drinks, and girls in barely there bikinis. I miss HB. Here are some shots from the U.S. Open:

Big air from Tim Curran. I should be an action sports photographer:

Another great action shot, this one is Nike sponsored Sergie Ventura in the bowl:

These motocross guys are incredible, backflips over 80 ft gaps!

Some trophy from a completely irrelevant sport. There was a buzz in LA the week the Ducks won the Stanley Cup....because it was the same week Paris was thrown in jail.

This basically wraps up July. Show me some comment love on this post!! Just because I post 5 in a row doesn't excuse you from giving me comments on each blog.