Ma! I'm coming home for the holidays...

This happens every year.  I know the holiday break is around the corner and yet I still never get my ticket until 2-4 weeks before I fly out.  I was determined to not let that happen this year.  I was determined to at least buy tickets 6 weeks in advance.  That I did!  The only thing is I'm flying home Christmas Day at 6AM.  Jesus Christ!  That's early...The thing with buying tickets so late is that I always end up paying an arm and a leg to fly home.  I send out disclaimers to my family that their gift me their oldest son coming home to visit them.  That's right, I'm the muthaeffing present. 

I love Christmas, I'm not religious and I don't really care for holidays in general, but I really love Christmas (probably because I was never stabbed on that day).  There's just something about snow and Mariah Carey.  There's something about seeing people's faces when they get unwrap presents (I don't really care for presents either).  It's just a wonderful time of the year.  I mean, even wash up actors and actresses, or starlettes who want to become actresses get to be in made-for-tv holiday movies  on the Hallmark Channel or Lifetime.  Where else are you going to find movies with Freddie Prinze Jr or Brian Austin Green?  Ashanti and Christina Milian has been known to make appearance in these also. 

Ticket prices were no exception this year.  I'm flying the morning of Christmas day and coming back on January 6th.  I spent my first NYE in LA last year and was not too amused, so decided that it would just make sense to extend my trip home.  Then there's that game you play with your PTO.  Flying back on the 1st is expensive because everyone needs to get back on the 2nd and then the 2nd is Thursday, so most people will probably extend holiday by taking the 2nd and the 3rd off and fly back Saturday or Sunday which is still expensive, so that left me with Monday.  I thought that taking 3 PTO days were worth the $300 savings as well as more time in NY.  In the end of the day, it's not really value wise in terms of the sticker price of a PTO day, but you can't put a price tag on family time. 

The one sad thing about flying in Christmas Day this year is I don't get to spend a Christmas Day tradition watching a movie and then heading to the Tick Tock Diner under the New Yorker Hotel after with my friend Angie.  We both don't really care for Christmas, so we along with every other non-Christian go to the movies and the diners together.  Last year we saw Les Mes.  Now that's a feel good movie everyone should go see!

I think the more important point here is that I'm spending two weeks at home.  I really need to figure out how I can make this work out.  That's a long long time...

Public Transit Ediquette

By not driving in today, I am certain to spend less than $20 on parking at work this month.  I really wanted to, but the drive to Vegas and back this weekend and then to the Rose Bowl last night for the Legends of Summer Tour pretty much scared me out of going into a car again.

The think about the LA Metro is that not many Angelenos know about it.  I mean, it's with good reason, as I have mentioned in the past, the people who take the Metro don't even look like they have cars and that for them, the Metro is a last resort.  I do it to be environmentally conscious and so I can play Candy Crush on my phone.  Okay, let's be real, I really only do it so I don't have to pay for gas...well and Candy Crush.  However, there is a lot that I need to deal with when it comes to behaving right on the Metro.  Proper metro etiquette is only something that I think New Yorkers get, which is surprising since they are also the rudest people on earth.   

1. Let people out before you go in!: You don't even know how much this bothers me, whenever I'm waiting for the car doors to open, you already see a bunch of people standing at the door and then shoving their way in.  WTF is up with that?  In what world does it make sense to try to get in a car door when people are trying to get out.  I get even more angry when I'm the one who wants to get off on my stop.  Wait for the train to pull up, move to the side and let people out.  There is more than enough time for you to get in there!

2. The escalator is not a ride at Disneyland or whatever gross theme park you enjoy: Here's the thing, I don't care if you want to be lazy and let the escalator carry you up, but please, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, move over to the right so people can walk up on the left side.  There is no reason why anyone should be standing in the middle of an escalator.

3. Sitting on the stairs: You can take a kid out of the hood, but you can't take the hood out of the kid.  This also applies to lazy obese people.  The stairs that lead you to the subway platform is not a stoop.  Please don't sit there. There are often people rushing to catch a train and your dumbass is interfering with their work commute.  Let's be real, if you're sitting on the bottom stair of a subway platform, you probably don't have a job.  I bet there's a statistical significance to that correlation.  The worse is when people are exiting a train and trying to walk up the stairs to exit and the stoopid sitter makes a face like we're making their life difficult by wanting to exit.

4. What you're selling, I ain't buying:  I'm from NY, so if you want money from me during my morning and evening commute, you actually have to do something like a song and dance.  You can't just be hollering on a train telling me you're broke and asking to give money.  What do I get in return?  And please don't say "feeling like a good person."  Do a jumping jack for me!  Why should I give you a dime if all you're doing is walking up and down a car telling people of some misfortune that may or may not be true.  I see some of the same people every day.  However, the biggest culprit of all, the kids who sell candy for a basketball team.  Here's the thing, I went to a New York City public school and played sports, we did not have to sell candy on the subway...and if I don't want candy, don't try to check me and force me to buy it.  I'm pretty sure your basketball coach did not tell you to terrorize people so you can get uniforms.  And a bag of M&Ms for $3, bitch please, if I can get it at Walgreens for cheaper, that's where I'm going for my candy.  

5. This next thing that drives me insane is just a list of characters that I often have to deal with as well:
a. homeless people
b. something that smells, it's not always a homeless person
c. wanna-be thugs
d. loud teenagers
e. people and their weird pets...there was a guy with a parrot that just kept shitting on his shirt
d. the drunks coming back from a Kings game

Yup, I do all this to save gas...I can't really figure out if it's really worth it yet.     

Reunited!

Alcove Burger

It's a sad and a truth at the same time, the older you get, the less you get to see your friends.  However, this month, I was able to hang out with not one, but two friends I haven't seen in literally months!  Yes, I'm totally going to give myself extra credit when I do end of monthly goal calculations.

On Thursday, the 11th, I hung out with my friend Trent.  He wanted to go hiking and I offered up Eaton Canyon.  I chose Eaton because it was an easy hike and Trent hasn't gone hiking in a while.  I'll let you define "a while."  We coached together at the high school and the club level.  "Coached" being the operative word.  I personally don't do it anymore.  I noticed that with my coaching friends, unless we're in season, it's really hard to see one another.  He was a good sounding board to my coaching woes though.  Now that I look back at my woes, I'm not even really sure what they were.  Other than dealing with parents and emotional teenagers, I guess it really wasn't all that bad.  You learn quickly how to "yes" people to death and then not really deliver...

Trent's first hike in a while was a nice starter hike, although I wasn't sure if he was going to make it at some points, but he pulled through!  In the end, we were able to see somewhat of a waterfall.  The day ended with an awesome lunch at my favorite Alhambra eatery: Baccali Cafe.

This past Monday, I was able to hang out with Jocelyn.  She too is another former coaching colleague at the high school and club level as well as my European travel buddy.  I dragged her all over London in a walking tour that went from Kensington Gardens to the Tower Bridge.  She learned first hand what a New Yorker I am.  I don't think I saw her since I went with her to watch the "Catch Me If You Can" musical.  That was either April or May.  It was awful if anyone cares.  We didn't go for a hike though.  I took her slutty bathing suit shopping with me at the Andrew Christian Factory Store in Glendale.  The prices are cheaper and you always get 20% off.  I wonder if the website is suitable for work...

We caught up over lunch at Alcove Cafe & Bar in Los Feliz.  I never hang out there, but I thought why not join all the other unemployed hipsters who can sit at trendy cafes in the mid afternoon of a Monday.  Their Alcove burger is delicious and you should really try it...I also think it was probably very good because I just finished a round of food poisoning and this was my first real attempt at solid food other than my first attempt, which was Ramen.

Food poisoning, for those of you who haven't had it, it's rough.  I think the only silver lining is that it's a great diet program because you don't eat and you when you do try, your body just lets it all go in any way possible.  I mean, how else can you lose weight from sitting around and doing nothing all day!  P.S. I don't wish that on anyone though, unless they actually want it.  

Looking for a new home and living in a tempoary home!

My home owning process has begun!  I was recently pre-approved for a mortgage of $400K.  I was so excited at first until I remembered that I live in Los Angeles and that if I want to live anywhere remotely safe, I can't really afford anything.  Boy, if only I lived in Atlanta, I would have a nicer house than any of those broke Housewives.

So, what I found out is that with 400K, if I wanted to live in a desirable neighborhood, I would be able to own a studio or a 1 bedroom.  Forget about a 2BR or a house in the suburbs where there's a good school district so I don't have to send my future children to private school.

The other challenge I found is the HOA fees for some of the condos.  In DTLA, there are some condos that have HOA fees of $956 a month!  That's kind of like a double mortgage.  What exactly is the building doing for you that would warrant that kind of charge?

This just ended up being more depressing than I originally thought.

However, on the bright side, I did clean out my luggage from when I came back from New York on June 30th.  I left all my dirty laundry in there until the other day when I had to pack and move into the Omni for work for the week.  I actually love living in hotels, if there was a way to do so, I would love to live in a hotel for an apartment.  What is better than hotel bed and towels?  Especially from a place like the Omni.  The Omni ain't no Holiday Inn.