My life: The (very immediate) past

My life seems to be at a bit of a nexus right now. Just finished a whirlwind of a trip to LA; now I'm back in Sydney; and then... well, I don't know what happens then. So I'm gonna use the next posts to tackle these three topics. First: the (very immediate) past. As in, last week.

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Last I updated this thing -- prior to an impromptu rant on Kevin Smith -- I had just come off of a few good days in LA: quality time with the parents, real Mexican food with Benny and Hannah, and Dodgers-Angels with Dave.

To expound on the Dodgers game, a few highlights:

• All around the stadium are large pictures of Dodger greats. Including... Nomar Garciaparra??!?
  


• The Dodger Dog, of course. I'd include a picture here, but I was too busy wolfing it down to capture the moment.


• We all know that Juan Pierre is extremely upset that he's coming off the bench this year. But did he really have to express his disappointment in this photo, the one that they show on the Jumbotron every time he comes to the plate?? Saddest man ever.
  


• As always, the seventh inning stretch.
  

Friday morning featured breakfast with the parents at Huckleberry. For those in the LA area, for those who want to support Windward alum Zoe Nathan, for those who simply appreciate frickin' amazing pastries... GO! You'll enjoy. (And for a lovely dinner, I hear that Rustic Canyon, the sister establishment right down the street, is mighty good as well.)

And then: the weekend, the main event, la raison d'etre for this whole trip... it commenced.

Jack, Dave and I met up at Jack's house. Eager to leave but forced to wait for Jack's clothes to dry, Dave suggested we simply put Jack's underwear over his car's antenna and let them air dry on the way up. Problem solved!

We headed north. And we sang some songs of merriment:

We stopped for some Coffee Bean. Fan-frickin-tastic.

And within a few hours, we were in the lovely and supremely random town of Solvang. Why supremely random? Well, imagine a town from Denmark that's been dropped right into the middle of wine country in California. That's Solvang. Granted, its inhabitants aren't actually Danish, but still. Everything about the town, from the architecture to the food to the spirit, is Danish.

We promptly checked into our hotel, the Kronborg Inn, which we chose pretty much solely because of its name. I mean, it's called the Kronborg Inn! Come on!!!

As we got settled in the hotel, Jack thought it would be a great idea to pitch his new tent, which he had brought for the next night, in the hotel room. Dave and I were bewildered, of course, and we did everything in our power to make Jack's task as difficult as possible.

Eventually, Jack figured it out.

Before the night's main event, the three of us met up with Mike and Erika, who were conveniently staying in the hotel right next door, to get an early dinner at the Hitching Post, a steak house that you may remember from Sideways. I ordered the filet mignon. Now, I'm normally not one for hyperbole; in fact, I consciously avoid it as much as possible. But that very well may have been the best steak I've ever had. Perfectly cooked, unbelievably tender, mouth-watering seasoning. I was in heaven. Unfortunately, pretty much everything else in my meal -- clam chowder, French fries (the waitress swore they were mind-blowing), salad -- left something to be desired. But the steak... my LORD.

And then, the reason we came up north a day early: CHUMASH!!!! Set on an Indian reservation, Chumash Casino has become a bit of an institution with my friends. First lured by the 18-year-old minimum age, we've been going ever since we finished high school and have returned whenever possible. Opportunities to do so, however, have significantly decreased in the last few years, as the original core group has scattered at various times to New York, Washington, Toronto, Kyoto and Sydney. But this weekend presented us with the perfect storm, and we resolved to go for it.

We were excited. Pumped. Amped. Thrilled. Ecstatic. We let out a jubilant cry as we approached the lights of Chumash. We hit the casino floor and took over a blackjack table. And then, well... and then... let's just say that on this night, the casino had its way with us, as casinos sometimes do. And by 11pm, we all found ourselves back at the Kronborg. Beaten down, but comforted by the fact that we were staying at a place called the Kronborg Inn, we slept.

We awoke the next morning refreshed and reenergized. First stop: Paula's Pancake House, which was seemingly the only restaurant in town with customers. And those Danish pancakes absolutely did not disappoint, with Jack proclaiming them as possibly the best pancakes he's ever had. I can't make such a proclamation, with the banana and walnut pancakes from Clinton Street Baking Company in New York and my dad's matzah meal pancakes firmly entrenched in some order in my personal top two. But still, they were damned good.

Next stop was Los Olivos, as we killed some time before the wedding. Enjoying some wine and beer at Los Olivos Café, we just chilled. In retrospect, apart from the actual wedding, this may have been my favorite part of the whole trip. Three old friends, having some leisurely drinks, soaking in the beautiful weather, just chatting.

And then, to the wedding! But before we made it up the mountain to the farmhouse, we encountered some cows. They had been enjoying a nice, warm day under a tree. That all changed upon our arrival:

After we bored of harassing the cows, we made our way to the top of the mountain. And, my lord, what a location Hannah and Benny picked out. Here's the setting for their marriage:

And here's the farmhouse:

The whole day and night was amazing. The wedding itself was gorgeous, without a cloud in the sky. The dinner, with fried chicken and mac and cheese and mashed potatoes, was scrumptious. The reception got a little wild. Jack managed to climb up onto a beam 15 feet above the farmhouse. I was pantsed during an impromptu game of Twister. People were devouring challah dipped in Hannah's homemade fudge. And sometime in there, I called it quits.

The next morning, I was awoken to a lovely hangover and the crows of the ostriches that are kept on the farmhouse. Ever since my trip to Mission Beach, I've been terrified of large, flightless birds. So sleeping no more than 100 feet away from those beasts did not make for the most pleasant of experiences.

Before heading back off to LA, we said our goodbyes to Hannah, Benny et al.

Had half a dozen friends over to my parents' place on Sunday night; another non-wedding highlight of the trip. So good to spend some quality time with everyone in a relatively intimate setting. And along with some of my mom's amazing mushroom and barley soup and Moroccan chickpea soup, we enjoyed more breads and pastries from Huckleberry. Good stuff.

On Monday, before the beast of a flight back to Sydney, I made an obligatory stop at In N Out. Sooooooo good.

And there's the trip! From start to wedding to finish, it was perfect; I couldn't be more pleased.

Now it's back to reality. And I'll tackle that issue next.

I am a jet lag slayer!

Been in LA for just over 48 hours now. It's been constant action, doing one thing or another.

Had a nice flight. Left Sydney at 9pm Tuesday, watched three movies (Quantum of Solace, W and The Rocker) and some TV shows, played some blackjack and poker to brush up on my big excursion tomorrow, and landed in LA at 5pm Tuesday. Love that you arrive before you leave! Went home. Had a nice dinner with the parents. Crashed at 10pm.

Woke up Wednesday morning at 9am feeling great. Screw you, jet lag!!! Filed my taxes, took care of a few other things, then had lunch with Benihana at a Mexican restaurant. REAL MEXICAN FOOD!!! Love it. Oh, and yeah, it was great to see Benihana on my own, especially before they descend into madness with the wedding this weekend. Then I did a couple more things around the city, went back home and had another nice dinner with the 'rents.

Woke up Thursday morning, felt great again. I own you, jet lag!! Took care of a few things around the house. Got lunch with Vern in Venice. Met up with Dave and got a coffee at Huckleberry. Hit up Angels-Dodgers at Dodger Stadium! First time at Dodger Stadium in a long time. So long, in fact, that I'm not even sure when I was last there. So it was good. The Dodger Dog was good. And the Dodgers won. Who cares if it's only Spring Training?

Saturday is the wedding. I'm excited. But first, tomorrow is Kronmash! Or Chuborg, if you prefer. I know this means nothing to all but two people in the world -- for now, let's just say that there's a very close relation to me brushing up on my blackjack and poker on the flight -- but it's late and I need to go to sleep. Just because I've slayed jet lag doesn't mean that I don't have to sleep at all! So full explanation and recap to come next week.

Bleh

Yeah, that's about how I feel: bleh.

I had these visions of grandeur for the blog while I was in the US, that I'd write many updates of a paragraph or two every day or so. Almost like a running diary. And then, well, stuff happened. A lot of stuff. Not that that's a bad thing, so I'm not exactly overwhelmed with regret. Yet my last entry on this thing was on my first day in the US. And now I'm back in Sydney, over three weeks later. Bit of a gap there.

It's strange, as the trip came to an end, I found myself really not looking forward to coming back. I mean, it was the end of my vacation! And unless you're in Vegas, Amsterdam or Trona, CA, you can never have too much of a vacation. But then I thought, I'm going back to freaking Sydney! How is that a bad thing? But as someone astutely pointed out, Sydney for me is not the Sydney for most Americans; for me, it no longer holds the mystique of some sort of exotic locale. Now it's just home, and that's never very exciting.

Anyway. Back to the trip. It was great. Or pick your own favorite synonym. That's what it was. Some highlights, with potentially more detail to follow in later posts:

LA, Part I - Spent an impossibly long day on August 1 (41 hours with the time change) helping Vern shop for a dress. Then her pseudo 30th birthday on Saturday. Gian Paolo said my name about 18 times.

New York - Started off with a miserable day of travel. (Yeah, definitely a separate post on this.) Much, much good food. Many good nights. A ridiculous Thursday that included a Mets game, pitch and putt, and the Astoria beer garden, with far too many beers at each stop. Paid for this consumption on Friday morning. Great night on Saturday. (Yeah, there will also be another post on this.) And a great night of wine tasting and feasting with the one, the only, Bubbles.

Martha's Vineyard - A week that should have been full of relaxing turned into many nights of alcohol. (Again, not that I'm overwhelmed with regret.) Highlighted by Friday night, when the 20 somethings got into a raucous game of flip cup... with my 70 year old uncle. Sailing the sunfish. Eating lobster and clams. Getting some relaxing in on the beach. And the biggest birthday cake you've ever seen.

LA, Part II - A quintessentially American dinner of hot dogs, coleslaw and baked beans. And a final day with Bay Cities and Father's Office. Oh ma gourd.

A 14-hour flight later, and I'm back in Sydney. At least physically. Mentally, my brain is nowhere to be found, for the jet lag is killing me. Killing me. Hence the "bleh". Just finished my second day of work and I'm not sure I could be more useless.

But despite all the "bleh", it still is good to be back. For I'm back to some normalcy and am in my new apartment, and I'm loving it.

For all those who I saw back in the States, it was great to see you. Wish I could have spent more time seeing and talking to everyone, but I guess that's the way it is. So whenever I'm back again, whether that's in April (maybe) or next August (at the latest), we'll just have to do it again.

The Kleingaroo has landed

It was a beast of a flight, my back was killing me the whole way and I hardly got any sleep, but I've made it to LA!

I've only been here for 9 hours so far, but I have to say it's already been absolutely fantastic. Great weather, and great to spend the day with Hannah and Vern, even if they essentially dragged me around to shop for a dress for Vern's 30th birthday party tomorrow night. I guess that's just the price of admission for the party, which oddly has a Ja-Mexican theme. Yeah, that's right -- part Jamaican, part Mexican. I don't know.

I'm currently on what's probably my eighth wind of the day, and that's sure to fade in an hour or so. Gonna be fantastic to get some quality sleep.

Pumped for this weekend, pumped for next week in New York, pumped for the following week on Martha's Vineyard. Yeah, it's fair to say I'm pumped.

It's a beast outside

When I describe the weather in LA to other people, the term "dry heat" is generally discussed. Because as far as the various types of heat go, you can't trump the dry heat.

And yet, I'm finding this heat not so dry. It is beastly outside right now.

Anyway. On Saturday, despite a smorgasbord of connections across a variety of modes of transportation -- a boat, three buses and two planes -- I made it from Martha's Vineyard to LA in an expeditious 16 hours, without any problems. And now I'm here, dealing with this heat.

Beast.

Last day on Martha's

Wait, sorry. That was pathetic. This is for Sarah Ralph: LAST DAY ON MARTHA'S!

No, sorry. Still piss poor. One more time:

LAST DAY ON MARTHA'S!!!

Okay, much better. Let's proceed.

As I continue my detox from New York, I've spent most of the last three weeks at the Klein Family Compound on Martha's Vineyard. Which, needless to say, has been nice. Very nice. My days have basically been a hodgepodge of sleeping in, eating, seeing the family, dissecting the newspaper, eating, going to the beach, watching the sunsets and more eating. So much good food! Lobster, clams, scallops, swordfish... you could say that I'm on a bit of a seafood diet these days. When I see food, I eat it!!! Har har har. (Hmmm, works better when I'm telling it, not writing it. And even then, not so funny.)

But as time moves on, so must I. And today is my last day on the island. Fortunately, the three weeks here have done me well, as I'm leaving much more relaxed than when I arrived, with a crazy farmer's tan to boot. (For those I saw in Austin earlier in the month, the farmer's tan is actually even better now. Or worse, depending on your point of view. You may be wondering how that's possible, but believe me, it's real good. I can't wait to see how Australia accepts my White Trashiness.) Honestly, it's hard not to get relaxed here. Just take a look at this video below, which I filmed earlier today. This is what I've been looking at every day for the last three weeks. The horror.

So I leave on the 7:00 am boat tomorrow morning (fantastic) and slowly begin my trek west. And as you can see from this signpost that's outside of a store in town, I have a long way to go to get to Sydney. Ten thousand and ninety seven miles, to be exact.

On the way to Sydney, I stop in LA for about a week and a half. Should be good and should provide a little more relaxation and time to get my life in order. It should also be quite entertaining as the nerves start to build. I guess this is what happens when you move halfway around the world without any definitive plan. Gooooood times.