This Post Is Supposed To Have A Point, So If You Can Find It, Let Me Know

Anytime you end up sitting in an airport at 9am, eating a Whopper Jr. with fries, you know the last 24 hours have to have been interesting. 

Either that, or you're just a fatty.  Don't eat fries at 9am, fatty!  Just don't.  There are no excuses.  Not even the ones I'm about to give.

It all started with yet another trip out to the greater Los Angeles area, a place with which I have a definite history of a love-hate relationship.  Los Angeles is, according to one resident of the city, a cruel, cruel mistress.  The type of lady-friend who might, in the same breath, call you to her side and then slap you hard across the face.  With a traffic jam.  While wearing Eau De Smog.  Ugh.

Anyway, I am totally over it.  Did you hear that, Los Angeles?  I am so totally over you.  I don't even have the "hate" in my love-hate with you anymore.  It's more like an I-don't-really-care, you're-just-another-city relationship.  Ha!  The biggest affront you can give to someone like Los Angeles: Apathy.

So, I'm back in Los Angeles.  I go there about 12 times a year, not just because of my dysfunction with the city, but because of that pesky store I own and those pesky customers who demand fresh and new inventory.  The nerve!  So it's off to the California Mart for me, like, all the time.  The rental car guys know me by name, and have suggested, more than once, that I just keep a condo or something out there and save myself the hotel fees.  And I feel totally inclined to look into that possibility, especially since Southern California is so well-known for its reasonably priced real estate.

The good thing about these frequent trips (besides the small fact that they are keeping me in business) is that both of my brothers live near LA, and so does my blogging and real-life friend, Texan-turned-Angelean Adam.  Lately, the latter of this trio has been so kind as to accompany me downtown for my shopping forays, although I know full well that he is only doing it for the free tacos and for the chance to hang out with my freakishly cool family members afterwards.  Also because he has not yet ordered the Big Fish from the taco stand, and until that fateful day, he is stuck in a sick sort of holding pattern, where he doesn't realize just what is missing in his life, and continues to search downtown for something to fill the void.  It's the Big Fish, Adam.  The Big Fish.

Last time to LA, Cody went with me and we turned the trip into a sort of three-day vacation, rather than the 36-hour sprint to and from Texas I usually end up with.  The first of those three days was spent entirely inside, at my brother and sister-in-law's house, playing Guitar Hero 2.  Entirely.  As in, me and my husband flew 2000+ miles to sit inside and play a video game.  However, in our defense, that game is REALLY fun.  Have you played it?  I want it.  I hear rumors they are making one for the Wii.  Is it true?  Does anyone know?  More importantly, do any of you have Guitar Hero, live nearby, and want to play?  Because I am TOTALLY down.

Wow, I am rambly.  Back to the subject!  Eating grease, at 9am, Wednesday.  First, we have to rewind to Tuesday (don't we always).  Tuesday was my brother Nathan's birthday.  And because I am lucky in many ways, such as having a job that allows me to spend so much time with my brothers and having brothers that like to spend time with me, we all celebrated together.  We celebrated Christopher(my youngest brother)'s birthday last January, and they have assured me that if I can coincide my monthly trip to LA around my birthday, they will definitely take me out as well.  I nearly got all weepy Tuesday night, as we embarked on hour three of the birthday dinner, about how great it was that we all loved each other so much, and how not all siblings were so lucky, and how weren't we so lucky, loving each other so much and getting along so well?  They rewarded this rare burst of emotion with eye-rolls and "yeah yeahs" and maybe a nod or two of reciprocation.  Ahh, the joys of only having brothers.

The restaurant at which we chose to celebrate is a little Italian joint just up the road from where Nathan and Mary (my lovely SIL) live.  We've been there before, and honestly, it is just like those little restaurants you see in movies like Notting Hill, where a motley band of characters often go to eat and share their sorrows and joys.  Do you know what I mean?  Maybe everyone really DOES have one of those places, a local cafe where everyone, for lack of a worse cliche, knows your name, but I have never had one myself.  I've only ever watched from afar (my couch) while others (characters in TV shows) have these places to congregate and celebrate and just hang out and all have a good time.  But this restaurant is like that!  It's fun!  The owners are two brothers from England!  As the night goes on, the music gets louder and less Italian-esque and people start dancing!  There are free flowing bottles of wine and champagne!  There are double-cheeked kisses!  There are schizophrenic ladies talking to their dogs!  Dogs who sit in chairs!

Dinner lasted nearly four hours and our waiter got a really, really big tip.  And we got two (maybe three?) bottles of wine and I don't know how many bottles of birthday champagne, and I also don't know how many of those we actually paid for, but the ratio was definitely in our favor.

It was honestly one of my favorite birthday celebrations I can remember, and it wasn't even my birthday.  After dinner was over, we went back to Nathan and Mary's house to play (guess!) Guitar Hero.  Nathan doesn't own the game, and it turns out that the one Cody and I played for 18 hours had been returned.  The friend apparently wanted the game back after Nathan had kept it for about three weeks, so Nathan promptly returned the game, only like a week after the guy asked for it back.  Then, foolishly, the guy came back over to hang out, brought Guitar Hero, and forgot to take it back home.  That led to another two week stint for the GH at Nathan and Mary's.  So needless to say, asking to borrow it again would probably not have gone over well.  Luckily Adam solved the problem by hauling his game system, two guitars, and the game all the way out to Valencia just for Nathan's birthday.  He also brought another disk containing all of Nathan and Mary's wedding pictures (he was their photographer).  Nathan had somehow either lost or irreparably damaged the old disk containing ALL THEIR WEDDING PICTURES, so all I have to say is that it's a good thing your wedding photographer is a nice guy and your friend.  And that it was your birthday.

Mary and I got into a hilarious rendition of Surely-We-Can-Do-Better-Than-That-Let's-Play-Again Guitar Hero-ing, and all the guys sat outside on the deck, laughing and enjoying the night's reprive from the 105 degree weather SoCal has been blessed with recently.  We all ate ice-cream cake, compared stories about dealing with crazy people (always a hot topic) and generally celebrated the night away.  Adam left to make the drive back to Orange County, Nathan and Mary retired to their room, I fell asleep on the couch around 2:30am, and Christopher decided just to stay under the stars, dragged a mattress outside, and promptly fell asleep.  I woke up at 6am, hastily gathered my stuff, and walked out the door to fight the traffic on the 405, leaving behind a snoring brother on the deck, sleeping soundly although a cat had crawled on his chest sometime during the night and was absentmindedly batting at his face.

So that brings us to 8:45am, me waiting in line at the airport Burger King to try and assuage my champagne-fueled nausea with grease, and catch my flight back to reality.

Happy birthday, Nathan, and I'm only a little disappointed in you for not managing to steal Adam's copy of Guitar Hero.  There's always next time.

Comments

[-R-]

I own both Guitar Hero and Guitar Hero II and can attest to its awesome-ness, but unfortunately, I do not live near you. I have not heard about a Guitar Hero for the Wii, but did you know that there is now a GH III? It is all 80s songs!

[Lindsey]

First of all, how cool is it that you own a store? Have you blogged about this? Remember, I AM a new reader :-) I want details!

I love that you had such a great time at Nathan's birthday celebration. Clearly, your family has a lot of love for each other.

[Nathan]

I remember it differently:

My family converged on me, on my birthday, intervention style, and tried to convince me that I was mentally insane.

I still enjoyed it though because, hey, it's family.

Thanks again for dinner, it was truly a night to relish.

[Hoover]

Guitar Hero III is coming out for Wii. Guitar Hero III is not all 80's songs - you are thinking of "80's Hero", which is basically Guitar Hero IIb.

Also, this Adam person sounds like he is both wise and beautiful.

[markira]

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock is coming out for Wii in October (the 21st, I believe). You can pre-order it now.

I believe I am going to look into getting GH for my son for Christmas. :D

[Dory]

That sounds like the best birthday party EVAH! You are blessed and if you get all verklempt about it, I wouldn't blame you. Especially if there's alcohol mixed into the equation... "I love you man, but you can't have my Bud Light".

[Helen]

so, how stalerish is it for me to tell you I will be in LA for 3 weeks in December and will you be there on one of your trips? Will ya? Huh? What d'ya think?

[Helen]

trust me not to even stalk properly, I have to go and stale, typical. am rubbish.

[Chiada]

Yay, sounds like a great, fun trip! But I do sympathize with you on the L.A. madness, especially the 405 Freeway. Nasty stuff there! And LAX! Hate it.

[-R-]

Ok, sorry about the Guitar Hero misinformation. But still, there is an all 80s Guitar Hero!

[Lena]

Well at least L.A. wasn't a total loss! Sounds fun!
About the bag, if I actually get a (stole) Coach bag, I'll def. blog it. If I get two, I'll send you one haha.

[wordgirl]

Champagne-induced nausea would make it really difficult for me to write. Or...eat at Burger King. You must have a cast iron stomach.

[Julie]

"And I feel totally inclined to look into that possibility, especially since Southern California is so well-known for its reasonably priced real estate."

Ok, I love you, because that made me snort while laughing.

[Lena]

Me again, I hate to solicit my blog, but I've run into a dilemma and I need help coming up with a new name...can you help?

[Teacher A]

Guitar Hero III isn't being made by the same people and the new developers have added a bunch of stupid things, like boss battles. Rock Band will be awesome, and is being made by the people who made Guitar Hero and Guitar Hero II (I swear, this is all we talk about at my house these days).

[Katy]

I was in L.A. at the EXACT SAME TIME AS YOU. Apparently, everyone goes to the L.A. I kind of love it there, even though there was traffic at 2 a.m. on the 405 as I was going back to my friggen' hotel. Those bitches.