I haven't had a muse lately,

I've been in a funk for a few days that i can't seem to shake. It's getting better, but i have no idea what brought it on or what was feeding it.

Had a bit of Pasadena-itis, or mabye it's more like couch-itis, and really pushed to go out lately. Evan and i took trips to Hollywood with the gang, and went to Santa Monica the other night as well. It was REALLY nice to get out of the house and away from our usual diggs for a while.

Hollywood was, well, it's Hollywood, what can i say? Weird people, greasy pizza, pimps, ho's, trannys (not too many though), and slutty dressed girls galore. I won our whore watching game thanks to that pimp in the white suit and the purple car with spinners. Holla!

Santa Monica was very nice also, but Cali beaches always throw me for a loop. We walked around the city part and checked out a few performers. For some reason, we bypassed the breakers and the gospel singing 8 year old to stand and watch this one dude playing an electric travelling violin. Ok, so the cheesy dance-cats beat he had on in the background was a turn off, but the man actually had some talent. I'll have to go back and grab one of his CD's later.

If you venture off 3rd street promenade, there are some surprisingly cool stores around. We found a british tea house and british market (man, i was so tempted to get some marmite, i LOVE that stuff!), a few pubs, a strange import shop, exhale spa and yoga place (i am in love with one of the teachers there), and the lululemon athletica store (note: they just opened one in old town where ghiradelli's used to be!). There's this awesome vegan/vege place i've wanted to try called Real Food Daily, but the line was way too long and we were in more of a coffee and toast mood. Regardless, they have some amazing sounding food there (that i can actually eat!), and it's located on 5th and Santa Monica right next to a great indian/buddhist/yogi store.

We headed to the beach, and it was soothing to feel sand in between my toes again. There was a peace exhibition thing near the boardwalk with crosses and candles representing all those who've died in Iraq during the war. They also had poster boards with pictures and names of the first 1000 us soldiers to die. Looking at those faces, i recognized the straight expression, neat, shaved, pristine nature of the military, so often i've seen with my marine brother. Thank GOD he'll never go to Iraq. Dodging the screaming kids chasing after bubbles, we didn't have much time for the actual pier, but managed to snag a churro on the way back to the car. Then it was to Fred and Warren's for fun times and bed.

I believe our Memorial Day bbq was a success, we definitely had enough food to feed many more people. You all were there so i don't need to go into details, but my first run at a pineapple upside-down cake turned out very well! Thanks for coming everyone, and i'm sure we'll have many more this summer. Or maybe this fall, if it's less hot.

Still looking for freelance, still needing more money and more sleep. But other than that, i hope this funk, like so many before it, wafts off so i can be myself again. Oh, and allergies: yeah, thanks, f*ck you guys.