Don't Stop Believing

While I was typing the last blog I was watching the series finale of The Sopranos. This is the only episode of the Sopranos that I've ever seen. I thought the episode was absolutely brilliant. I won't post any spoilers, but if you want my opinion send me an e-mail. I have a lot of Sopranos to catch up on now.

Once the visitors came and went I started concentrating on finding a place to live in LA. The commute to and from Woodland Hills was just too far. Bobby was also looking to move to the city in support of his acting career. It took a few day trips to LA before we got any leads. After a few weeks we picked a one bedroom apartment in Brentwood that is a converted garage.

The place is really nice with a carpeted 12 by 12 bedroom and a very large living room/kitchen with a hardwood floor. We switched things up and turned the bedroom into an entertainment room and the living space into the bedroom. We moved up on Memorial Day weekend. We got a leather sectional couch that wraps around the room, a 40 inch LCD tv, and a surround sound system. It is definitely a bachelor pad. Things are pretty quiet in the new place. I've been working long hours and hitting the gym after work while Bobby has been working nights. It's definitely been a change from living in The Chalet in HB where there were 4 of us and something was always going on. I miss Huntington Beach a lot, it's where all my friends are.

Anyway here are some pictures of the new place (thanks to Dave I. for some of the pics)

Bobby and the couch:

The New TV:

The converted garage:

Assorted Room Pics:

More to come soon including: June, my 23rd birthday, and the visit of the iconic Dave Isaacs. Lyons flies in tomorrow night and I finally have an excuse to be a tourist in LA. There will be plenty of picures from the upcoming weekend. Well, 5 posts later and I'm signing off, so leave me comments!

In tribute to Bob Barker and since I just learned how easy it is to do this...Yes this is my roommate

Boston for 24 Hours

At the end of May my uncles, Doug and Paul, hosted a surprise 50th birthday party for my Mom. The biggest surprise was that I flew across the country to be there. I traveled 12 hours to be in Boston for 24 hours. So, I've been in California for 2.5 months now, less 36 hours. The exhausting travel was definitely worth it. Here are some pictures from that great night. Shout out to Doug for most of these photos (and thanks to Paul, Doug, and Dad for making the party happen and getting me out there).

Happy 50th Mom!

Mom arriving for the party followed by the big surprise:

Mom, Dad, Peggy, & Artie

Paul and Mom

Mom and her nurses

Some fam pics

Mom and Suzanne

AVP Tour

While playing volleyball down on Huntington Beach we scored free tickets to the AVP Huntington Beach Open finals. It was really cool to see pros playing in person. Here is a video I took of the final match and some photos from the event. Stein Metzger and Mike Lambert, aka Steiner and Lambo, won the tournament.

Random May

May went by way too quick. It was my second month in California and I think I spent most of the month playing volleyball on the beach. I will add some more commentary if I can think of anything, but for the meantime here are some May photos.

Sunset volleyball sessions happened pretty much 3 days a week for the month of May. Bobby, Josh, and I became a solid team. We had a serious rivalry with Dave, Ian, and Ben. Great times, I really miss this.

Random picture from Cinqo de Mayo I think. It's Ian, Carmen, and me at Jackie and Tony's place. Dave is sleeping on the footrest.

Car fire from the 405. This happens a lot, but this one was intense. "We are watching the ozone layer deplete as we speak."

myspacebar isbroken

Ohh hey there, do you still read this thing? If anyone stumbles across my recent update, please leave a comment and let me know you're out there. My spacebar broke and it's really annoying, so from this point on I'm just going to type and if the spacing messes up so be it. Truth is I have OCD and I'll probably fix them all after anyway.

So let's see...it's been over a month since my last update. It's not that I was lazy, it's that I have been super busy. I'm going to start where I left off, late April early May. The first few weeks of April were really hectic as I focused on getting settled in Huntington Beach. Around the end of the month things really started to come together. From then until the first week of May it was like the best of times the worst of times. Kev and Keith were here and it the best of times, that lady backed into my car it was the worst of times. Obey and Ian's friends Susan and Shannon were here and it was the best of times, I blew a tire out while driving it was the worst of times. Here are some pictures from the end of April start of May just to get y'all caught up. Next post I'll fill you in on May and the first half of June.

Best of times:

Worst of times:

Best of times:


Best of the rest:

Bad Karma

I was going to do a massive blog entry tonight...I have lot to talk about, AVP championship, visits from Kev and Keith, Shannon, Susan, and Justin, photoshopping, etc.... Then on my way home I blew a tire out. Then when I pulled over I lost power in my car. Then I couldn't get the lug nuts off because the snow and rain this winter had rusted them out. Then I couldn't lock my car up because the windows were stuck down and I had to empty my car out. Then I needed to eat lots of ice cream, either that or do shots of tequila. You get the picture.

Needless to say I have to wake up super early and get to the tire store and dry-cleaners (greasy work clothes) before work. I promise this week there will be a big update with tons of pictures and maybe even a video. Until then here is a photoshop pic of the Huntington Beach Entourage that Dave and I spent 3 hours working on. I'm turtle.

Clipped

Clipped: A double meaning title.

Last Wednesday Sutton scored some Clippers tickets and after work he, Bobby, Sean, and I headed to Staples Center in LA for their season finale. They lost, clipped from the playoffs, but it was a good time. The seats are known at his work as the "shitty" seats because their other set is just rows behind the Clippers bench. These seats were of course terrible, 12 really far rows from the court.

This past Sunday a woman in a white Mercedes decided she wanted to play bumper cars with me in the grocery store parking lot. I was attempting to leave the parkinglot and she backed her car into me, clipping my rear passenger quarter panel. Of course being a desperate housewife of Orange County she tried to blame me for the accident. There was a witness at the scene, so I shouldn't have a problem recouping money for the damage. Welcome to the OC.

Kev and Keith were here for the weekend. I will post some pictures of that later. (If this terrible blog site allows it.)

DMatti

Double Post, Lucky You

As I wait to go out to bars in Huntington Beach tonight, I am going to give you the pleasure of a double post. Eventually I will do a "best of the rest" photo post. This will include a lot of Doug's photos as well. For now here are some of Doug's shots.

Laguna Beach, CA:

Destination: Surfside Chalet

Strange trucks from the roadtrip: