Welcome home to Los Angeles, me.

Before I start let the record state: I have just made the largest, strongest mixed drinks possibly on earth (to be shared with my sister, of course). It's been a while since I've had any poisonous beverages, so although I have not yet fallen victim to these liquids, I can not promise that by the time I finish this loving blog, things will NOT seem the same in Belly World.

Weather: The rain has been pouring down for I think a solid week now, so much that I am considering building myself an arc and loading up my lenses and cameras two by two, just in case this doesn't end. Santa Barbara, for those of you who do not know, I believe was built to become one with the ocean every time one rain drop decides to show itself. Seriously, it MISTS here (very rarely) and the people loose their minds, run for the hills (because that's where their multi-million dollar homes are), and the roads have a contest on who can flood the fastest. I've seen people floating down some of them on their surf boards. Unreal.

Alas, I put on my mucker boots, and headed south to (not such warmer but a lot more rainy weather in ) LA. The apartment hunting. Oh sweet sweet apartment hunting.
So far, I have been finding listings online to check out that look somewhat like this:

and upon arrival of said apartments, find them to more of the likes of this little guy:

Other than the SLIGHT dramatic additions, I kid you not, people are complete liars . It is amazingly exhausting. I ended up finishing all of my appointments, disappointed and soaked, way earlier than planned, and so ducked into a local coffee shop (thank God for coffee, right?) to warm my belly and try out their internet connection. Thank God for free Internet too, because I needed the freak-out session with Jay and thank GOD (again) he's more of an insomniac than I am, because although it's 8 hours later for him, he was still wide awake and waiting for web-cam-talky-time. I settled into my not-so-comfy chair in the café, and before having a second to really get myself together, was realizing that the man sitting beside me was... well.. "getting myself together" in his mind. *sigh*. So, there I am... Sitting on the side of Santa Monica BLV in my car, stealing Internet from the local café that I was illegally parked outside of, asking J if this day could possibly go any worse. And before I could finish that exact question, BAM! What's that?! Ahhh yes, a local homeless man smashes his cart into the back of my car, and keeps going, scraping all sorts of cans and other beautifully hard sharp things along it's side, before heading off into the beautiful, down-pouring LA. Not of course, without first banging on my window and demanding money. Perhaps he was saving up to fix my car?

If you are still reading, I am sorry for being so blunt about the bitterness of what was this day, but it DOES get better, I promise.

I ventured over to Santa Monica, and met up with a beautiful couple to rap about their wedding photography. It amazes me that I am able to meet and photograph these amazing people and their stories, and actually get paid for it (yup, add that to the list of things to thank God for).
Meeting went so well, and so of course, I rewarded myself with a little visit to the apple store. Is that where God lives, btw? I think it might be.

I headed BACK to Silverlake after the meeting, and got to see and spend (too little) time with Brion, who's FINALLY back from Thailand (welcome back B!). So good to see that guy again, I can't wait to be neighbors with all of these FANTASTIC friends I have.

By the end of the night, my body soaked to the bone, my eyes weary, my heart a little disappointed and my brain racing, I decided to try out ONE last apartment before heading back up to Santa Barbara. OHHHH yes. Let this be the biggest thanks to God yet! Loved the space. Gated loft apartment on top of a Gothic craftsman house on the hills in Silverlake. Amazing views, two private decks, a garden. . . I don't want to venture TOO much into it yet, because I have only just sent in my application and haven't heard back from them yet. However, I sold better than a damn prostitute to those people, and rightfully so. It is rare that I actually gloat, but you know what? I consider myself a pretty damn good tenant.

It's freezing (I'm spoiled already, yes I realize it's about 5 degrees back home, but I FEEL like it's freezing here too). My back continues to hate me more and more each night I sleep on this damn futon. All of my stuff is still in boxes and I don't have a place (100% booked) yet to live in LA. However, despite all of that, it still feels damn good to finally be back in CA.

Carolyn and I are currently both sitting on the floor of our apartment, each on our own computers, staring back and fourth at each other awkwardly, IMing each other instead of vocalizing anything (we are about 5 feet apart).
I think the drinky drinks are starting to kick in. Good times, GREAT days. LOVE!

Our first full, active day in Santa Barbara

"It is Often Merely for an excuse that we say things are impossible". - Francois de La Rochefoucauld



Carolyn left us wayyyyy to early for her big first day at the Bacara (http://www.bacararesort.com).

We woke up in pain. 1/2 from a broken heart that Gui-Gui-Sup-Boop-Boop wasn't here to spend the day with us, and 1/2 from this extremely uncomfortable futon sofa. I froze my ass off all night, and Joel spent the night sweating hot and ended up sleeping on the floor under the coffee table. Good times? Not yet.

First thing's first: Off to the neighbors (The Daily Grind Café) for some coffee. Once we were good and loaded with our fix, we ventured out to get some borrrrring errands taken care of (Fix phone, change oil, etc.) I forgot that everyone in Santa Barbara thinks this is an Island, and runs on Island Time... Love it, but absolutely NOT used to it yet.

Next: Thrift store hunting. What the hell happened to this city since I've left? So many of my favorite ma' and pa' places (coffee houses, thrift stores, etc.) have been overrun but corporate spots. Such BS! Old Navy?! There is actually a new Starbucks (ANOTHER ONE... I mean God knows I love my S-Bux... but come on people... three a block is enoughhhh). There's one actually now right (no joke) across the street from a new Coffee Bean. Wow. Way overboard. I think I'll go get coffee at the Tea Leaf and pop on into Starbucks to use their restrooms tomorrow. . . See what kind of trouble I can rough up in these mellow Santa Barbara streets.

There were thousands of Navy Seals all over the place today. A Sea of white caps everywhere you turn. Why? Because the USS Ronald Reagan has docked right off of the Santa Barbara Harbor for a bit to say hello. SO cool to see that thing right there in person. HUGE!
Here's the first news clip I found on it (I'm feeling lazy so take what you can) http://www.keyt.com/news/local/13511927.html

Drew the plumber came over to fix the sink. . . Should have taken him 5 minutes, but he was here for about 2.5 hours because we all refused to stop sharing random stories / opinions / etc. on just about every topic possible. And we're happy he was, what a great character. Good to meet ya' Drew buddy! And thanks for giving us back the bathroom sink.


Carolyn is back, and after a full day in the kitchen, apparently not feeling so up for cooking in tonight. We're heading out to find some comfort food (comfort food in the King family = sushi, yummy!).

I miss the hell out of my friends and family, and WHISKEY baby back home, and hope every one's doing well. Keep me updated, everyone! I might have left the east coast, but I'm only a hop-skip-and phone call away.

X!

Road Trip: Day 2 (last day)

Apparently this road trip blog is short-lived with a mere two days, because Mr. P and MK pushed through, reaching their destination after 2 days and 4 hours of straight driving (other than waiting out the Tornado for 7 hours).

Quick Recap of the last day:
A cop pulled me over in Texas for "speeding". I wasn't. I think he was bored and I seemed like the perfect excuse to pull an absurd dramatic U-Turn from one side of the freeway, into the ditch/median, and onto our side. He was. . . nice. . . I guess. Gave me a "warning" and wouldn't tell me how fast "he clocked me for". BS... But I gladly accepted the warning over a ticket. . . Not to mention (OK, I'm mentioning it), he basically said he found it silly I was moving to the west coast where everything is "twice as expensive", and he'd only give me a warning because I was about to "get raped by California anyway". WOW. Thank you, officer.

Our TomTom GPS's name is Mandy. . . She turned out to be a real whore. When we stopped in Flagstaff, AZ for (more) coffee and fuel, we are almost certain she teamed up with Bonnie (one of the other voices available on GPS) and got drunk. Basically we spent 10 minutes (10 minutes too long) wandering around dark late-night back roads trying to find out freeway entrance because Mandy decided she only wanted to say "GO RIGHT" for the rest of the evening. . . We gave her a good fist shakin' scream, and she snapped back into action, sobered up, and soon we were back on our way.

I think they poisoned our "coffee" at one of the last stops, or maybe it was the Scarlet Fever that I apparently somehow got, because we both blacked out around 300 miles from CA and then somehow ended up here, safe and sound (and warm) in good ol' Santa Bizzle. God I've missed this place... So happy to be home in CA, although my better 1/2 (whiskey) is greatly missed.

Pictures to come once I collect myself, take a nap, and get a proper internet connection, vs. this stolen one.

The Two Teeny Treckers Treck Across the Total Country.

At 849 sharp, fighting school busses and angry soccer moms for the right of way, Mr. P and MK set out on what we anticipate being the best journey of our lives.

Things start smoothly, jamming tunes that remind us of good times (everything from Wilco, to The Cobbs, to ECC and beyond. . . . FAR far beyond, as far beyond even as VNV Nation). The proud duo starts the morning off giving this trip a tittle of "The-Joel-Is-Quitting-Smoking-California-Tour". And guess what, all you non-believers, he DID quit. For three rest stops, he fought that damn urge like it was his job. On the fourth, though, we gave in to reality that a road trip where we are trying to push through as much as we little ones possibly can, might not be the BEST time to quit an addiction. Better luck next time Joel buddy.

So on we trudge, nicotine and caffeine fixes galore, straight into Jesus land. Where is Jesus land, you ask? Apparently it's the entire middle of the country. I've learned that people think Jesus lives in every big red barn around, or at least they sure do like to write his name in huge letters every empty surface possible. Not to mention the overwhelming and somewhat frightening over-sized crosses looming over the open farm land. And what's with all of these "catchy" phrases for forcing... SCARING jesus into people? My favorite I think is the one that's on every other billboard: "Got Jesus?" What happened to just plain old milk?

Let's talk about the completely unnesisarily loud (and very bad) country music they HAVE to play in every public bathroom around these parts. Very fitting though for the people that hang around the rest stops. Poor Joel was accompanied to the mens room by 4 very large, very intense cowboy/trucker/giants. He didn't really want to comment on the experience, so I can only imagine how traumatizing that must have been.

Our perfect weather suddenly takes a turn for "the Perfect Storm", as sun rays turn into sheets of rain dumping down on us and lightning throws it's angry fists all over the sky. I've never been more terrified in my life. Nor have I ever seen so much constant lightning like this. It is actually just spirals of lightning bolts going in complete horizontal circles around the entire sky. Most of the time you can't clearly even make out what the lightning is doing, because the rain is so dense. And pulling over for safety isn't really an option, because we can't see where the side of the road is. Probably safest to just keep driving, we agree. There are "TORNADO WARNING" signs everywhere and the Highway Patrol is urging people not to travel. By the way, are we at letter "J" yet for naming tornado's? Because it would be really convenient for this one to be named "Tornado Jesus".

After somehow managing to drive through the center of the storm, and traveling for a solid 16.5 hours, we are basically forced off of the streets, a bit reluctantly, by the lack of visibility, tornados surrounding us, and a nervous mother pleading with us to get off the roads. Tucked into our beds, the sleepy Mr. P and MK snuggle into our crunchy motel blankets and are lulled to bed by a constant blueish green lightning flicker and crashing thunder and rain outside. God... oops.. I mean, JESUS, save us.

my last night (for a minute) on the east coast.

Wow. Where do I start? It's been a minute since I've written anything on here, or anywhere for that matter. Life's been throwing me tons of time-eaters, which has been amazing but extremely tiring. In a few hours I have to be fully packed and ready to go for the big drive back out to CA... After 16 months (I can't believe it's been that long), I am returning to the place where my heart feels full.

So I ended up spending the entire day yesterday (with the moral support of Amandoo and Carlatta) trying not to fall asleep (on top of my car) while packing my car like a jigsaw puzzle. So much moving boxes around, smooshing things into the tiniest of spaces available, realizing I probably don't need an entire box full of stuff I haven't touched or thought about since 2002, and letting go of my very loved brushed steel/glass desk. It was either the desk or the 12-string acoustic, so there really was no fight in that one (ohhh how many hours and hours you've served me well, sweet desk, I'm so sorry you are gettin' the boot this time).

Speaking of gettin' the boot, how do I explain to Whiskey (my bulldog) that I'm not abandoning her FOREVER, and it's really the better thing for her to stay here with the family for a while when I first move. When my ex wasn't around anymore, she absolutely noticed that he'd gone MIA, and it took (believe it or not) a full month for her to stop waiting up ALL night for him to get home. Now I'm leaving her too?! I feel like the biggest jerk in the world. Although it's not permanent, and it really is for her, and it would be selfish to bring her out right away, because she will be put into a small apartment with no yard/family/dogs to roam free with, not to mention thrown into a kennel on a weekly basis since I'll be traveling out of town more often than not. OK. Enough dog speak, I realize I have fully crossed the line in some peoples books of "normal" behavior/attachment to an animal, but oh well (btw as I type this she is curled up on my lap, snoring a soothing lullaby to me).

SO. Let's back-track a bit. I finally got a handle on wrapping up wedding season out here. What an amazing year it's been in the wedding world! I was blessed with meeting and working with so many amazing, inspiring couples, and I can't wait to get the new site/work up and running (yikes, that is a whole dif. world away it seems right now). After I got a grip on that, and was able to sort my life out a bit, I had a few free days to do some shoots that I've been wanting to do to balance out the wedding photography part of me. I was able to work with two amazing bands in the past couple of weeks: http://www.myspace.com/meowskers from Brooklyn - check them out, and if you are able to, go see a live show, there's more energy/character in those three guys than I've seen in a longggg while. It was such an easy shoot, despite waking up at 5am and driving to NY (the city I hate with a passion).
The second shoot was with the AMAZING band Illinois: http://www.myspace.com/illinois . Talk about pure genius. Those guys are not only just absolutely fantastic people, they are all individually creative and talented musicians. When you get that much talent meshed up together like that, whew it's quite the show. For all of you fans of the show Weeds out there, you'll really appreciate their tune nosebleed that was played for the 'brick dance' on one of the eppy's. Despite the completely unnecessary cold, and all of my equipment freezing up, the shoot went well and the shots are looking other-worldly. It's pure dedication when everyone is willing to shoot outside on location when the temp is averaging just above freezing. THANK YOU to the entire team + Amandoo for braving it out with me, it was SO worth it. The shots will be up soon-ish, and everyone (especially me) is super excited about how it all turned out.

So remember the car packed like a puzzle? The one that took me all day to pack? I was driving down the pike last night, FINALLY going (already running late) to see my friends who all got together to sob about how sad we all are that I'm leaving (haha), and as I'm pulling onto Alden Rd, some jerk-off (ok, the roads were icy and I'm sure it could have happened to anyone) swerved and flew into the other lane. To avoid a complete nightmare, I slammed on my breaks, missing their car by about a foot (thank you God). However, in doing so, one of my boxes that apparently wasn't SO jammed tight in the mix, came FLYING from the back of my car and would have decapitated me, but I ducked just in time for it to pass right on by and slam into my gear shifter. Mind you, this is an automatic car, which was in DRIVE, moving. It got slammed up to PARK, and there you have it, the biggest mess I could have asked for. Realizing that something was wrong (stuck in some gear I didn't even want to imagine), and not really doing much other than coasting down the road, I parked in front of Joel's house (convenient, he's the one driving across the country with me). Calling Joel for moral support, he came running over only to hear me freak out about how unfair it was that this was happening, in the FREEZING rain, non the less. THANK you Joel, btw. I ended up leaving my car there, thanking God (again) that at least I'm in Bryn Athyn, where no one locks up and everyone leaves their keys in the ignition. I basically had my entire life in that car, and I just parked it and locked up and left it there, in dire need of a drink. "I'll handle it tomorrow".
Oh but I didn't HAVE to handle it tomorrow, because not an hour later, I ran home (in a borrowed car) to grab a bottle of Old Crow to cool my nerves, and found my dear Dad pulling up the driveway in my car. . . Gears in the right places and all. What a guy.

After playing drinking games that I've never played before (I never play any drinking games, to be fair) having laughs with the crew, and stopping in to see about a friend I needed to see about, I said farewell and headed home to snuggle with the pup. Overall, this was a perfect ending night to a very mixed up, interesting year.

I'm looking forward to 2008 bringing courage where courage is needed, love where love is deserved, and success where success has been earned. CALIFORNIAAAAAAAA, I'm coming home.