New Year's in LA: a summary

Like I wrote before, going to LA was about spending quality time with good friends, and not about viewing the tourist sites that LA has to offer. That was my goal, and I accomplished it. The day I left for Korea I told Matt I wished I had another week of vacation. One week was clearly not enough time.

Matt met me in the airport the day I arrived in LA. We drove in a rental car to the apartment where would be staying for most of the week. The notable highlight of this day, other than seeing Matt as I walked out of the LAX terminal, was meeting Matt's sister's family. The picture below with the baby is Caren, Andy, and their daughter Olivia (Olive). I have known Matt for at least 6-7 years, and within that time I have met his father, mother, and various uncles, aunts, and cousins, but never his sister and family. I have seen dozens of pictures, heard many stories, and even talked to Caren over the telephone for a few minutes. Being able to have a personal experience with them was truly a joy. I could write more of a reflection about the experience, but that is for a later post. I had lunch with Matt, his sister, Andy, and Olivia.

On Monday, Matt and I learned that Brian was having difficulty catching a flight to LA. Later that day, we learned that Brian would not be able to make it at all due to fully booked flights. Matt and I puttered around in shopping areas, and eventually found ourselves cruising up the Californian coast while listening to U2's latest album + B-sides. After which, we grabbed a bite of Tex-Mex, and later in the evening we watched the Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (or was this Sunday?). Matt enjoyed the movie; I didn't.

Tuesday was shopping day for me day. Matt was very nice using this day to buy me stuff. As the day progressed, so did my guilt about it. I did not want to be completely selfish with our time. Around lunchtime, I noticed Matt was shutting down; he needed fuel. By shutting down, I mean his chin progressively drooped more to his chest as he walked, and his lips began to protrude as if he was pouting. I sensed Matt needed food. I bought him ice cream as a way of showing my appreciation. That evening we watched Lemony Snicket's a Series of Unfortunate Events. We both enjoyed the movie.

Wednesday, Tim arrived from San Diego. He caught up with Matt and I in a village near UCLA. Earlier Matt and I tried to go to the Getty Center, but the line to it was far too long. It was nice to finally see Tim. He told me about his upcoming plans to go back to China to continue studying Chinese while working there. We left the little village in the late afternoon, and drove to Hollywood Blvd. to visit the Museum of DEATH! Unfortunately, it was gone, and and in its place was a Thai restaurant. We spent sometime walking the Hollywood strip at night... quite a different feel than when walking during the day. We bought tickets to two wax museums... they were decent.

Thursday was museum day. The three of us parked the car in Downtown LA, and went to the MOCA (The Museum of Contemporary Art), a kind of Farmer's Market, the Japanese-American Museum, and the MOCA Annex. The picture below of the three of us behind a silverly building is us behind the Walt Disney Orchestra house... I forgot the name. The picture below of us with beer and with Tim with chopstickes is us at a Korean restaurant having lunch. We ordered Korean beer...

I'll post more later.