I started at the Santa Monica branch of the LA Law Library, in the Santa Monica County Building:

(If you’re sitting there saying to yourself, “But that’s not the County Building, that’s City Hall!”, you’d be right. Due to a lack of Creative Commons licensed photos of the County Building on Flickr (something I’ll try to remedy next time I’m down there), I settled for Omar Omar’s very lovely portrait of City Hall. The County Building’s across the street, way over frame right.)

When the Library closed, I walked over to Joe’s Pizza, for a slice of white and a garlic knot. (Okay, three garlic knots, but I swear I only asked for one!) I had to smile along the way, when I passed a construction worker singing opera to himself. “Sometimes,” I thought, “I love the city.”

I was listening to one of Joe’s employees teasing a teenager who’d come in for some pepperoni when a Tweet arrived from NovySan:

“You’re going to the Cat & Fiddle without me?” I whined. “Fine, I’ll go to the King’s Head without you.” And I did.

I treated myself to a pint of Guinness at the bar (sandwiched between a British regular and an American hipster who seemed afraid to sit too close), followed by a 99 Flake at the gift shop:

(The ice cream, by the way, was lovely, but the chocolate is nasty, waxy stuff. Not to say I didn’t eat it, of course – it was stuck in my ice cream, after all.)

On the way back to my car, a blond skateboarder crash-landed on the astroturf between me and the curb and laid there grinning at me. “I assume you’re okay,” I said, and he laughed. “I’m fine.” “Not what we would have hoped,” his friends said, and he picked himself and his board up and prepared to tackle the next strip of green plastic.

And all of that adds up to one of my favorite days in LA.

Tags: Cat & Fiddle, Guinness, Ice Cream, Joe's Pizza, King's Head, Law Library, Santa Monica

Last night, I just flat forgot to post. So I’m backdating another entry. (Is it cheating if I admit I’m doing it?)

How’d I forget? Um… Well, after my lesson with Amara, I picked NovySan up from work, we took the rental car back, then we picked up a friend of Ben’s who’s vacationing in Santa Monica and took him to dinner at Lula. (Which isn’t as good as Finn’s, but I did like my chile relleno. And the sexy matador pinups in the bar are a definite plus.) So, by the time we got home, I was fried, and just flat forgot. (And after thinking to myself, “I’ll have to post when I get home,” too.)

Tags: Friends, Love, Lula, Oops, Santa Monica, Sexy Matador Pinups

Drove down toward LAX to pick up a rental car, took my father down to a conference in Anaheim (where we had lunch with a recently-discovered, several-times-removed cousin descended (as are we) from Frisian pirates), drove to Riverside for Alli and Astro’s wedding, drove back to Venice, decided I was so enjoying the rented Malibu that I couldn’t be finished driving it yet, and drove to Santa Monica to have a drink at Finn McCool’s (where we’ve often had a drink with dinner, but never before had a drink on its own; sadly, the musicians quit just as we walked in), then walked down the beach in the fog.

I love the fog.

I love the Chevy Malibu.

I love my father.

I love my friends.

And I love NovySan.

It’s been a great day.

Tags: Dad, Driving and Not Hating It for Once, Finn's, Love, Music, Santa Monica