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.