Tag Archives: Los Angeles

Friends Are Living All Over (or Another Thing Because Of The Pandemic)

Posted on May 19, 2021 | Comments Off on Friends Are Living All Over (or Another Thing Because Of The Pandemic)

Over the past year, so many people have moved. Some moved home to be with family so they didn’t have to be alone. Some moved in with roommates or someone they were dating for the same reason. And some people moved away because of work or other opportunities.

I was very lucky that I wasn’t in a spot where I had to worry about moving. While paying my rent wasn’t easy when I was out of work, I had the money I could use even if I wanted to save it for another reason. To me, staying in my place was important because I love where I live. I toyed with the idea of seeing if I wanted to go stay with family or see if someone wanted to be temporary roommates. But that didn’t happen. I just didn’t find a way to make it work and be a good idea when things were a bit more normal again.

But throughout the past year, several of my friends have moved away from LA. Some of them had these moves planned out before the pandemic started. The timing just happened to be after things shut down. But it was unfortunate because they couldn’t really say goodbye to people. Since they couldn’t have a goodbye party, some people moved and shared that they moved after the fact. And as much as I would have liked to have said goodbye, I knew there was no way I could have done that so I understand why they decided to move that way.

For most of the past year, having friends moving away didn’t really hit me. I wouldn’t have seen them even if they lived down the street while things were shut down. But as things are starting to reopen, I’m missing those friends who moved away more and more. I’m not making plans to see them at workouts or go out to do the things that are finally open again.

And while everyone says making friends as an adult is tough, making friends as an adult while we are coming out of a pandemic is even harder. I’ve had to find new friends before as an adult, and the friends I gained were people I met at different social events or parties. I have no idea how to make new friends who live in LA now (I have made some amazing friends who aren’t local through my Movie Club group on Teleparty).

I know I will find ways to make new friends eventually, and I really am excited for my friends who moved away because they all have moved somewhere that has made them happy or allowed them amazing opportunities that they couldn’t have in LA. But it’s hard not to be sad as this is another part of my old life that is over because of the pandemic. I do try to focus on the excitement of my friends with their new lives in their new cities. And seeing them happy makes me happy. I hope that I can visit some of them when I feel like travel is a bit safer, and I love knowing I have friends all over the country that I could see and explore new cities with.

I know that things always change throughout life. And having friends move away is just a part of that. But I think having it happen with so many friends and combined with the isolation and other issues of the pandemic, it just hit me harder this time. But one thing that this pandemic has taught me is how to stay in touch with people when I can’t be face to face with them. I did that for people who lived down the street when we were all isolated and I can continue to do that for people who are no longer local. I have built the skills to stay virtually connected and I will just have to keep using these skills to stay in touch with my friends.

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Default ThumbnailReflection (or I’m Totally Living My Dream) Default ThumbnailBeing Social Feels A Bit Cold (or Another Realization About The Pandemic) Default ThumbnailIt Sucks To Say Goodbye (I Don’t Like It When My Friends Move Away) Default ThumbnailA Year Into The Pandemic (or This Is Still Such A Weird Time) Default ThumbnailMaking Friends As An Adult (or Am I Weird?) Default ThumbnailThoughts Almost A Year Into The Pandemic (or Things Still Seem So Weird)

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A Return To Wood & Vine (or Feeling Even More Like Things Are Normal)

Posted on May 6, 2021 | Comments Off on A Return To Wood & Vine (or Feeling Even More Like Things Are Normal)

There are so many things that I haven’t been able to do for the past year. Sometimes it’s because I didn’t feel safe doing them and sometimes it’s because the place was closed or there was no way to get there. But recently, things are starting to slowly open up and I am feeling a bit safer about going out and not being just in my own little bubble at home. And one of the things that I haven’t really been able to do in the past year was to go out to dinner at a restaurant.

I’ve gotten takeout and delivery from restaurants, but I haven’t been going to restaurants to eat there. I know so many places have outdoor seating and have even been able to expand their seating to fit more people, it’s just something I haven’t done. But when I got an email from the manager at Wood & Vine that they were going to reopen, I knew I had to make a reservation to eat there!

Wood & Vine had been closed since things shut down. Even though they have a great patio space, they decided to stay closed until they knew that they could make it safe for both the guests and the staff. I really did respect that choice. If they had opened before I felt safe to go back, I would have supported them by buying a gift certificate or getting take out if they had offered it. But the timing worked out perfectly for me being fully vaccinated and their new opening date. So of course, I was going to go!

My friend Dani came with me since she and I were usually there together before a show at the Pantages. The theater isn’t open yet (right now, it’s looking like they will be back in October), but I was excited to have a nice dinner out at a restaurant I love and making that the main event of the evening.

While Wood & Vine was closed, they did some renovations on the restaurant. We were seated on the patio and they did a beautiful job making it look amazing! And even though it meant they had to reduce the number of seats available, they really made sure that the tables were at least 6 feet apart to keep everyone safe.

We made our reservation for right after they opened since neither of us mind eating on the earlier side. Plus, we knew we were in for a great meal and didn’t want to feel rushed.

The menu has changed a bit since they closed. There were still a lot of favorites that we recognized, but there were some delicious-sounding new things too. And they currently have a welcome back special that includes a drink, fish tacos, short ribs, and dessert. While the special sounded great, Dani and I decided to pick a few things out from the menu.

We ended up getting more food than we ordered because the manager sent some things over to us! We had ordered the fried ricotta, spinach and artichoke dip, short ribs, and scallops. And we were also sent over the fish tacos and 3 different desserts! We were so spoiled!

Everything was delicious. Even just writing about it now is making me crave the food again! I wish I was a better writer so I could describe the food better. But it was perfectly cooked and with the perfect spices to make each bite so full of flavor. And all the desserts were so luxurious. The butterscotch is something we’ve had many times before and it was just as good as I remembered it. And the mousse and poundcake were so chocolately. I was so full after dinner, but it was beyond worth it.

And it wasn’t just the food that was amazing. You could tell how happy all the staff is to be back. I know that people were ready to get back to work, but you can tell that they are happy that things are safer now than if they had opened up sooner. And knowing how happy they are made me feel much better about going to dinner. If I go out to dinner any time soon, I think I might try to make it at Wood & Vine even though it’s not super close to me. I love being able to support a restaurant that really does care about its customers and staff.

And of course, throughout dinner we got to chat with the manager, Wally. Getting to catch up with him was amazing and he was telling us all about the renovations to the space and the changes to the menu. You could tell how proud he was that the restaurant was open again. And while we were there, we could see that all the customers were just as excited to be there for dinner as we were.

Wood & Vine has been a regular part of my routine for so long, and it was wonderful to be able to have that back in my life too.

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19 Years In LA (or The LA Anniversary Between Two Big Milestone Anniversaries)

Posted on August 21, 2020 | Comments Off on 19 Years In LA (or The LA Anniversary Between Two Big Milestone Anniversaries)

Last year, I celebrated being in LA for 18 years. Being in LA for 18 years also meant that I have spent over half my life in LA. In some ways, it still doesn’t feel like that and that I lived in the Bay Area longer. In other ways, I feel like I’ve been here more than that and my time in the Bay Area was forever ago. I remember thinking when I moved to LA that I would have to live here for 18 years to be there as long as I was in the Bay Area and that seemed so far away. While I never considered living anywhere else, it still seemed like it was something so far in the future that I would never get there.

But I did get there last year. And I’m so glad I have stayed in LA because it always feels like this is where I was meant to live. When I was growing up, I always thought I should live in LA. Since I moved here, I’ve only had a few fleeting moments wondering if I should think about living somewhere else. But those moments are usually when I’m having a really bad day (like when I’m feeling so isolated from everyone in my life).

Next year, I will be celebrating 20 years in LA. That feels like a milestone just like being here for half my life. It’s a nice round number and while it’s not necessarily super significant to me, it still feels like a big deal.

This week, I’m marking being in LA for 19 years. That’s still an anniversary, but it feels like a weird nothing anniversary between 2 big ones. And because of everything going on in the world, it feels even less important or significant.

I feel like this year is the year that is slipping away. Time feels like it doesn’t really matter. Important dates like birthdays and anniversaries don’t feel the same as they normally do. I have joked that nobody should have to get older this year since it’s not a real year. But that is how it feels at times. So even if this year was a big milestone year, I don’t know if I would feel that way. I’m sure that if we weren’t in a pandemic that I would still feel a bit weird about it, and the pandemic just exasperates that feeling.

I don’t want to dismiss that I should be happy that I’ve been in LA for 19 years now. It’s not the easiest city to be in because of the cost. And I will say that I haven’t always fully supported myself while living here. But I still have worked to be more and more independent as I’ve been here. And I’ve made this city more and more my own. I do feel a bit disconnected from LA right now because I’m not going out and doing the things I love, but that doesn’t mean I don’t love the city. I’m sure it would be nice to be somewhere where there are fewer people and I could get out more, but that would only be nice for now. Once I can go out and do all the fun things I usually do, I will feel more like this is the place that has always felt like home.

Just like with so many other things, I’m excited to be having an important date and milestone, but it just doesn’t feel like it normally does. I don’t know if anything will feel that normal for a while. But like I’ve said before, anything to celebrate these days should be celebrated. We don’t have a lot to be excited about. So I will celebrate being here for 19 years because that is awesome! And here’s to hoping that when I celebrate 20 years in LA that I will be able to celebrate this city doing all the things I love and feel are so special about LA.

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Posted in Celebrations, Fun Stuff

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Earthquake Morning (or I Did Ask For Something To Be Different)

Posted on July 31, 2020 | Comments Off on Earthquake Morning (or I Did Ask For Something To Be Different)

I’ve written a lot of posts lately about being bored. My life doesn’t have a lot going on and there isn’t a lot of variety in my days. I will repeat that I am very lucky that I am safe and healthy, but being lucky doesn’t always make me feel better when I feel isolated on my own little planet staying inside my house when it seems like so many people are out living their lives (but I also know that the people out there aren’t always doing the safest thing).

I was talking to a friend the other day about how I just needed something different to happen. I wanted something to be able to focus on that wasn’t what I have been paying attention to for months. And I guess I did get that yesterday morning.

It’s not weird for me to wake up in the middle of the night. Sometimes it’s due to pain and sometimes it’s just general insomnia. I usually take a look at what time it is to see if it’s worth going back to bed or not (if it’s within 30 minutes of when I wake up, I don’t go back to sleep). This doesn’t happen every night, but it’s often enough that I don’t think twice about when it happens. So on Thursday morning, when I woke up around 4:30 am I wasn’t too worried. I took a look at the time, realized there was more than enough time for me to get more sleep, and tried to go back to sleep. And then, we had an earthquake.

Whenever there is an earthquake, I immediately freeze and try to take cover or protect myself somehow. Since I was in bed, I curled into a ball and put my pillows over my head. There isn’t anything next to my bed that could tip and hit me, but if it was a strong enough earthquake, I’m sure something could be thrown around and hit me. And while it’s ideal to be under a piece of furniture, for me to do that I would have to run through my house, which is a very stupid thing to do in an earthquake. So protecting my head with pillows is the best option if an earthquake happens when I’m in bed.

Fortunately, this earthquake wasn’t too bad for me. It was a long rumble and things were shaking a lot (and my windows were shaking so loud), but it didn’t jolt my floor around too much. There was an earthquake while I was sleeping years ago that made my mattress slide off of my box spring. This one wasn’t like that, but it still was an earthquake.

After the shaking stopped, I was wide awake and of course, I wanted to see what funny things people were posting on Twitter (earthquake Twitter is a real thing). And a few minutes after that first earthquake, another one happened, but this was a bit lighter than the first. It turned out the earthquake was a pretty decent size, but it had an epicenter in the valley so it wasn’t that close to me. But a lot of my friends felt it a lot stronger than I did and I’m glad that everyone was ok. And there were some silly jokes on Twitter about how this really fits the theme of this year or how we don’t need a natural disaster and a pandemic at the same time.

I wanted to get back to sleep because I knew I needed more sleep, but I was just too awake at that point. I didn’t get up to start my day because I was hoping at some point I would fall asleep, so I just stayed in my bed and tried to relax. I wasn’t jumpy or scared there would be another or a bigger earthquake, but it did make me think a bit about my earthquake kit. I do have a backpack with all the big supplies I would need in a natural disaster. And I’m almost more prepared than normal because I have extra food in my house. When the pandemic started, I made sure to buy shelf-stable foods in case there was a time I couldn’t get groceries for one reason or another. So I have that food plus the emergency food in my earthquake kit now.

After laying in bed awake for a few hours, it was almost time to get up for my day. And then another earthquake hit. This was a little lighter than the first one but a bit stronger than the second. I know these quakes could be foreshocks for a bigger one, but I’m hoping they were a small main quake and the two after it were the aftershocks. I follow Dr. Lucy Jones, a famous seismologist, on Twitter and she said these quakes are normal and just mean we live somewhere that there are earthquakes. That’s a bit reassuring. I haven’t felt another earthquake since those 3 in the morning, so they might be done. Or at least they might be so small now that I can’t feel them anymore.

I did end up spending most of Thursday tired since I didn’t get a lot of sleep, but at least I didn’t have much I had to do. I had my hour of work and then everything else wasn’t that important. So I took it easy and didn’t do anything too stressful or strenuous. I’m glad I didn’t have a lot I needed to do. Then again, I never seem to have a lot to do these days. But at least having some earthquakes in the morning did give me the variety I’ve been saying I wanted. I should have just been more specific that I wanted some variety that was fun and not a natural disaster. But I guess beggars can’t be choosers.

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Being A Marathon Supporter (or Cheering On My Cheering Buddy)

Posted on March 11, 2020 | Comments Off on Being A Marathon Supporter (or Cheering On My Cheering Buddy)

It’s been a tradition of mine for a few years to go out and cheer on the marathon runners. A lot of the time, I don’t know anyone running or I’m not able to see the people I know who are running. I just go out to cheer on the runners and enjoy the positive environment. It’s really a great way to boost my mood and I know that the runners appreciate having people out there to encourage them.

I haven’t always made signs for my cheering, but I have gotten into making fun and clever signs. I usually do some searching online for signs other people have made and sometimes I’ll use the same idea and sometimes I will get inspired to make something different because of something I saw. I’m not the most creative person when it comes to making the signs, but I do have fun with them and they aren’t too difficult to make.

Most of the time, I’m not alone when I’m going out to cheer on the runners. My friend Liz joins me and we each will usually have a sign (I don’t mind making signs for us both). But this year, Liz couldn’t join me because she was going to run the marathon! I was sad she wouldn’t be out there with me, but I was so excited for her to do her first marathon and of course, I was going to cheer her on! I tried to find a friend to come with me so I would have a buddy out there, but I wasn’t able to so I went by myself. But at least I had a sign I really thought was clever this time to hold up.

I had also made the “tap here to power up” sign in case a friend could come with me, but since I was alone I thought this one was a bit funnier.

Liz had sent me a link to follow her progress live online, so I knew when she was getting close to the cheering spot. I didn’t head out until I knew she was getting close, and I made it about 15 minutes before she would get there. So I held up my sign and cheered on everyone who was going by.

This sign might not have gotten as much attention as the power up sign gets, but the reactions I got were much bigger! So many people were laughing when they went by and read it. Several of them joked that I’d be their hero if I did that for them. I even got smiles and thumbs up from the police officers on bikes going up and down the street. It made me so happy to see how much joy people got out of the sign. That’s exactly why I made it and I’m glad it accomplished what I wanted it to do.

While I was holding it up, I was watching the tracking for Liz to make sure I knew when she would be close. Fortunately, since she’s normally cheering with me, she knew exactly where to look for me and I didn’t have to worry that she would go by and I’d miss her. And soon enough, I saw her running toward me with a huge smile!

I was screaming and cheering so loudly for her! I was so proud of her and she looked so strong! I cheer around mile 19, so she was well past halfway through and she looked like she had only been running for a mile or so. And she was able to stop for a moment for me to give her a hug and for us to take a quick selfie.

And then she was off again! She had another 7 miles to go and I knew that she was going to do amazing and finish it with a great time. Of course, I would have loved to have her hang out a bit longer with me since it’s always so fun when we are hanging out and doing the cheering together, but she had to keep going so she could get to the finish line.

I stayed out there for about 20 more minutes cheering on the runners. I knew I wouldn’t know anyone else running past me, but every time I thought about maybe heading back to my car someone else had a really awesome reaction to my sign and I decided to stay out there. But I couldn’t stay all day for a few different reasons so I did have to get back home.

This was exactly the boost of positivity I needed. I know there is a lot of scary news out there and some people even said I was crazy for going out there to be around a big crowd. But I don’t want to feel isolated and I knew the runners would be out there no matter what. So I wanted to be there too and do the small part I can do in supporting everyone running the marathon.

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A House Anniversary (or A Decade In One Place)

Posted on February 18, 2020 | Comments Off on A House Anniversary (or A Decade In One Place)

In my life, I have had times that I haven’t moved homes a lot and other times where I was moving constantly. Growing up, my parents bought their house before I was born and that is the house that they still have. So my first time moving was when I went to college. I lived in dorms for my first 2 years and I sublet a room in an apartment for the summer between my freshman and sophomore years.

But housing was only guaranteed for freshmen and sophomores, so I had to enter a housing lottery in my college to get housing after that. And my group got such a bad number that we knew there was no chance for us to get campus housing. I don’t remember exactly why we didn’t find an apartment off-campus together, but for my junior year of college, I got my first apartment. I lived there alone and I hated how isolated I felt. There were probably a few different reasons why I felt so lonely, and it didn’t help that the apartment never really felt like home to me.

So after that lease was up, I got an apartment with a friend. I only had 1 semester of college left, but I knew I was going to stay in LA so I didn’t think twice about signing a lease for a year. Since I had been moving every year, I probably thought at the time that I would be there for a year and then move on to another apartment. But my roommate and I renewed our lease and we gained another roommate. Then the original roommate moved out and I was back down to 1 roommate again. Then that roommate left and I had a few different roommates over the next few years. I was in that apartment for about 5 1/2 years and had more roommates than I can remember. And when my last set of roommates said they would be moving out, I knew I had to find a new place because I couldn’t keep searching for roommates all the time. And that’s when I found the house that I currently live in.

I lucked out when I found my house because it’s in a great location and the price was really low. I was suspicious about it when I found it, but I think the small size was stopping others from wanting to rent it. But it was perfect for me to be on my own and the price was less than what I was paying for a portion of my old apartment. So there was no question that it was the right house for me.

I was hesitant about living alone again because I really didn’t like it when I lived alone in my first apartment. And there was an adjustment period for me to be used to not having roommates around. But as time went by, I discovered how much I love living alone. I think part of why I hated it before was that so many of my friends were still living on campus and there was so much community around them. I didn’t have that. But when I moved into my house, I was several years out of college. I wasn’t feeling left out or missing something that my friends were getting. And the more comfortable I got living alone, the more I wanted my house to feel like home to me and not just a place I was renting.

And I feel like I have accomplished just that. I have made several changes to things in my house over the years to make it feel more adult or more like me. And there is no question that it feels like my home to me. And that’s good because I literally cannot afford to move. The rents in my neighborhood are significantly higher than what I pay. It can be double or triple what I pay to get a 1 bedroom apartment. And yes, those apartments may be bigger or have more features than my place has, but I can’t afford anything that expensive. I love my little house and I love how it is affordable for me to be here.

And it’s a good thing that I love where I live because this past weekend marked 10 years since I moved into my house! That’s a lot longer than so many people live in a rental. That’s the longest I’ve lived anywhere except in the house I grew up in. And for some reason, I have always thought about how often I’ve moved because of how much I moved in my first years in LA. But I’ve been in my house for 10 years and my apartment before that for over 5 years. So the majority of my time in LA has been in 2 places. The other 4 places I lived were just condensed into a very short amount of time.

I don’t expect to be living in my house for another 10 years, but I also don’t see myself moving out any time soon. I’m here until I can afford to buy a place or until I move in with a significant other. Even if I got a huge raise and had a lot more money, I wouldn’t leave my place until I buy something because I don’t see the need to spend more on rent than I currently pay. Yes, there are things that I would love to have where I live (a dishwasher and in-home washer/dryer top that list), but I have lived for 10 years without those things and I can keep living without them. And the things I would love to have are going on my list of what I want in a place when I buy it. But because I haven’t had as many amenities as I have in the past, that list is much shorter now and I have realized what I really need to improve my quality of life and what would just be fun and nice.

So here’s to 10 years in my current house and now I’m just curious how long I will end up living here until I move to the next place I hopefully can stay for at least a decade.

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Funko and Frozen (or The Last Pantages Show For A While)

Posted on December 11, 2019 | Comments Off on Funko and Frozen (or The Last Pantages Show For A While)

I’ve been going to the Pantages shows for a while now and it really feels like a normal part of my routine. I know that I would feel like something was missing if I didn’t have my shows in my schedule and I’m so glad that I have several more shows this season to look forward to. But technically the show I had this past weekend was my last Pantages show of the season since the shows are moving to the Dolby to finish out the season. The Dolby and Pantages aren’t too far from each other so some of our routine will be the same, but I also know that things will be a bit different. Plus, our seats will be in a different spot than we have had for the last few years. But I’m excited about the change and I’m sure it will be fun.

We were worried for a while that with the location change that we wouldn’t be able to go to our normal dinner places, but I think we’ve figured out a way to do it so this time we decided for a casual dinner at Shake Shack before the show. But before we had dinner, we remembered that the Funko store had just opened up on that block and Dani wanted to check it out. I don’t collect Funko and don’t know too much about them, but I heard this store was huge and I was curious about what was inside.

And the store was amazing and overwhelming! There were so many Funko displays and so much to look at. They also had other fun things for sale and I loved seeing all the Disney stuff they had. But one of the coolest things they had inside the store were awesome photo spots. And as soon as Dani spotted this one, we knew we had to take a photo with it.

It reminded me of the photo setup that Marie and Chris had at their Halloween party several years ago. I didn’t take many other photos inside of the store because I was busy checking out everything they had. Even if you don’t collect Funko, it’s still a fun store to wander around and see what they have.

After going through the store and having our dinner, it was time to head over to the Pantages for our show.

I’ve seen the original “Frozen” movie (I haven’t seen the sequel just yet) and while I enjoyed it I don’t know if I would say it’s my favorite Disney movie. I think by the time I saw it I had heard so much hype about it so that made my expectations really high. I don’t think it’s a bad movie or anything, but it’s just not one of the top ones. But I had heard that the musical wasn’t exactly like the movie (the musical at California Adventure is much more of a copy of the movie). I knew there were some songs in the show that weren’t in the movie and that a few plot points were either removed or added. So I was intrigued to see what I would think about the musical.

It was a bit annoying that there were a ton of kids that were probably too young to be at a show seated by us (one kid said “I’m tired” or “Is it over?” to their parent every few minutes). And I was worried that it would turn into a singalong with kids singing all the songs. But I don’t think I heard anyone singing in the audience for the entire show. But those were the only negatives or big concerns going into the show.

I have to say that it was one of the better musicals I’ve seen in a while! I loved the changes they made in the show and they were worked seamlessly into the original material. And the sets and costumes were spectacular. At intermission, I turned to Dani and said how that was one of the best ends of the first act I’ve seen in a long time. It was just perfect how they did it and it looked really luxurious, which is something that you don’t always get with a touring show. I know there were some changes made between the Broadway show and the tour, but since I haven’t seen the show on Broadway I didn’t know what was missing or added. But whatever they did, I felt like they did a great job.

I wasn’t exactly hesitant about seeing this show, but it wasn’t one that made me want to buy this season. But I’m so glad it was a part of the season because it was a great one to see and I’ve been recommending it to so many of my friends. And I think it was the perfect show to end the shows at the Pantages. I’ll be back there for “Hamilton” in the spring, but I don’t know when our season will be back there. They haven’t announced anything with the next season or where the shows would be. By the time they announce it, I think we will have seen at least a few shows at the Dolby so we can decide if we want to do a season there and where we want to sit if the next season is there as well.

I’m so glad that we had an awesome show to close out this part of our season. And now I’ve got a new venue to look forward to!

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Taking Time For A Show (or Seeing Summer)

Posted on November 14, 2019 | Comments Off on Taking Time For A Show (or Seeing Summer)

I feel like a broken record because I am always saying how much I love going to the shows at the Pantages and how much they have benefitted my life. Not only are they awesome entertainment, but they also give a sense of routine or normalcy with my life. When I’m going through a crazy time and I have a show coming up, I know I will take that time to go and that I’m going to have a great time. Or if I’m feeling down for one reason or another, I know the show is going to get me out and social and I’ll be in a better mood. I still can’t believe how much I get out of having my season tickets, but it always makes me so happy when I see a show coming up.

I’m going to write about this a bit out of order by talking about the show first. This time, the show we saw was “Summer” which is the jukebox musical about Donna Summer.

For most jukebox musicals, I know going into it that I will probably know a bunch of the songs even if I don’t know that I know them. Since I’m not a big music person, I expect that I won’t know songs by the name or artist. But they are familiar when I hear them and that’s exactly what happened this time. The show was good and I enjoyed the music, but I wish they had shared more about her life. I thought there was a lot of interesting stuff that was starting to be talked about but then didn’t go into them much further. But since the show was done without an intermission, there’s only so much you can put into a show without making it too long.

But before the show, Dani and I went to dinner at Wood & Vine. Going there is one of our favorite pre-show dinner locations and we were worried about what we were going to do when our shows move to the Dolby soon. When we sat down for dinner, we ordered and then looked at what restaurant options would be over there. There are a lot of chain restaurants so we wanted to find anything interesting and unique. We weren’t having much luck, but we decided that we would have some time to do the research. We wanted to focus on our awesome dinner at Wood & Vine instead of looking up other places.

We got some of our familiar favorites and some new things as well. The Cesar salad was so good! It was really garlicky which I love. We were debating getting another salad but decided to wait until after we had everything else. We also got the vegan risotto with mushrooms which was incredible. It had great seasoning and was very flavorful. The mac and cheese and pork are favorites of ours and I figured we’d get them because we always love them. And for dessert, we were torn on what to get and we shared a few of our favorites and said they could surprise us. We got the banana caramel and butterscotch, which were perfect ways to end the meal.

While we were eating, the manager Wally came over to talk to us. We love chatting with him before the show because he always shares fun things with us about what happened when he saw it or things we should look out for. He was the one who told us that there wasn’t an intermission and I was so grateful he told us before we were sitting in our seats. And we talked about what we were going to do when the shows move to the other theater.

Wally mentioned how there is the subway and I had completely forgotten about that until he mentioned it. There’s a stop right next to both theaters so it would be easy for us to do that. We also could take a rideshare from one place to the other. And there may be some sort of shuttle service that we could use too. Knowing all this made me feel so much better about our dinner options for the other shows because it wouldn’t be too hard to eat where we like to go and still make it to the other theater. We may have to do things a little earlier to make sure we have enough time, but that’s a minor change we would need to make. I would be much happier going to our favorite restaurants a little earlier than having to try new restaurants and maybe not enjoying them as much. Wally gave us a lot to think about and I’m so glad we discussed this so Dani and I can figure out exactly what we want to do.

We still have 1 more show at the Pantages before they switch. And then it will be a very different experience seeing a musical at the Dolby because we will be sitting in a different area than we are used to and it’s a much bigger theater. But I think that even in the new theater, the shows are going to make me just as happy as I am seeing them at the Pantages.

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Kicking Off A Musical Season (or Seeing A Cartoon Brought To Life)

Posted on October 18, 2019 | Comments Off on Kicking Off A Musical Season (or Seeing A Cartoon Brought To Life)

Even after having a crazy weekend at the convention, I wasn’t going home to rest after we were done on Sunday. I finished up with everything in the early afternoon, had a little break to get some lunch, and then it was off to my next adventure for the day.

It was the first musical of the new Pantages season! This season, I’m going with my friend Dani again for the shows. And it will be an interesting season because only the first few shows are at the Pantages. After that, they move to the Dolby and I’m still curious how the shows will work there since it’s a much bigger theater. I’ll have to wait until our shows move there, but for the first few shows, we have the usual seats that we’ve had for the last few seasons.

Dani and I went for dinner before the show and we checked out a ramen place that we’ve walked past almost every time we’ve gone to a show. For some reason, we’ve never gone there and we wanted to check it out. It was really good and ramen was the perfect thing to have before the show. I wanted something warm but not too heavy because I was worried I would fall asleep during the show. I was already tired (both physically and emotionally) but the ramen seemed to perk me up.

I was excited to see “Anastasia”. I love the cartoon and have seen it multiple times. I always thought it would be a good musical since the songs in the movie were really memorable. I’m glad that it was made into a musical so we could see it!

The musical was very similar to the movie. They did change up some of the characters and the magical elements were removed, but it was, for the most part, the same story as the movie. And the songs that were in the movie were used along with lots of new songs, but some of the songs from the movie were in different places. I actually liked where they moved songs to and it almost made it make more sense they way the musical had it done.

The set was interesting with being just a few walls with pillars and having screens where the windows would be as well as long the back. It made it easy for the show to change locations and made it really fun to watch when things were supposed to be moving in the background. For example, when they were on a train the screen in the background showed the tracks and the landscape moving. There were a few moments I didn’t love the screens, but overall I think that was a smart design idea and it helped make the stage seem full without a lot of set pieces or props.

And I think one of the best things in this show were the costumes. They were incredible! We are lucky that our seats aren’t too far from the stage so we do get to see some of the details on the costumes, but I wish I could have looked at them closer. I saw some photos online and they have so much detail work on them and the work was impeccable. Even if we sat in the first row, I don’t know if we could have appreciated all the work that was done. But you can still tell even when seeing them from a distance that they were done with a lot of care.

We did have some annoying audience members seated behind us that felt like singing along and talking during the show was appropriate (and they wouldn’t quiet down). It’s unfortunate when there are people in the audience who don’t respect the performers and the theater in general. We have been lucky that we rarely have bad audience members near us for all the shows we go to. But when it happens, it’s extra annoying.

But despite the bad audience members, I really did enjoy the show. I really wanted to see a show that was easy to watch and also a bit of an escape. And that’s exactly what this was. I didn’t want to watch anything dramatic or serious because I had dealt with so much the few days prior. And this show was perfect to help me feel better and that’s one of the things I love about having these musical seasons. Before I started doing this again, I forgot how much going to shows was self-care for me. And now I get another year of shows to look forward to.

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Part 1 Of A Family Visit (or Letting My Parents Relax A Bit)

Posted on September 17, 2019 | Comments Off on Part 1 Of A Family Visit (or Letting My Parents Relax A Bit)

My parents were visiting me for two days last week. Their stop in LA was the end of their vacation, but it was timed that way for a show that we had tickets for (that I’ll be writing about tomorrow). They had visited my brother and sister-in-law for the beginning of their trip and then they were in Catalina for several days. Their trip to Catalina was a bit more adventurous than the trip I did earlier this year. They did a lot of hiking, kayaking, and exploring while they were there. So I wanted to make their LA stop as relaxing as possible.

They got to LA on Thursday afternoon while I was still working. Even though they could have come over to my house while I was working, they took a bit of time to themselves to check in to their hotel and do a walk around Culver City. They came over when I was done, which was probably for the best since work has been picking up a lot lately.

Before my parents came, I had asked them what they wanted to do the night they arrived. We didn’t plan anything for that night and I knew that just sitting around and doing nothing wouldn’t be the best option. They asked me what I usually like to do in the evenings, but I knew my typically after work stuff wouldn’t be right. We weren’t going to go to Disneyland for a few hours, I wasn’t going to bring them to a union event, and I already knew being lazy wasn’t the right thing. So I started looking around for shows that we could potentially go to.

My parents don’t go to plays or musicals that often, but they do enjoy them. Unfortunately, it seemed like last week was between the seasons for so many places. But I did remember that a friend of mine sent me information regarding free preview tickets for the Mark Taper, so I took a look at that and my parents agreed it would be something interesting and different to do.

We also made dinner reservations downtown so we could just drive there and stay there. Of course, we were driving during rush hour traffic and it took us a long time to get there, but we gave ourselves plenty of time to drive so it was fine. We parked at the theater and made it to the restaurant right at the time of our reservation.

Sorry for not having any dinner pictures, but I was more focused on spending time with my parents. Even though I talk to them all the time, it’s different when you get to spend time in person. They were asking me things about the election and the upcoming convention. This is my 3rd convention, but it’s still a weird concept to even union members who aren’t a part of it. And I know even more now than I did before so I could explain what happens more. And my parents had seen some of the news about the election and I could update them on some of the craziness.

After dinner, we went up to the theater. My mom hadn’t been to the Mark Taper since she lived in LA (so at least 50 years ago) and my dad had never been there. It was cool to get to introduce and re-introduce my parents somewhere. And we were at the theater early enough to get to spend time on the patio in front talking more and enjoying the view of downtown LA.

The show that we went to was “A Play Is A Poem”. It is not a full play but actually 5 different 1 act shows that aren’t directly connected. The only thing they have in common is that all the 1 act shows take place in America.

We didn’t know much about the show and sometimes that is a good thing. I figured I would just be enjoying the different plays and hopefully my parents would enjoy them too.

This was the second night of previews for the show, so I don’t know if anything will be changing before it officially premieres. I did enjoy the show overall, but I didn’t love all the 1 acts. There were 2 that I thought were really great and would actually like to see as a full-length show, 2 that were good but not my favorite, and 1 that I didn’t enjoy. My parents felt the same and from listening to people leaving the theater, many people had the same opinion. I’m still glad we went because I love going to the theater, I just wish that it was a show that we all loved and were super enthusiastic about.

After the show, my parents drove me back (which was significantly faster than our drive there) and then they headed back to their hotel which was only a few minutes from my house. They had a busy travel day and I knew they were probably tired because I was exhausted. And my dad and I had an early morning the next morning for our workout.

Plus, we were all excited and wanting to get some sleep for our exciting outing the next day. But I’ll be writing about that tomorrow.

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