Sunday, July 01, 2007

LA: I MISS YOU!

I know it's somewhat cool to hate LA, but man I just love it there. I moved to San Diego last year so I could raise my kids in a place that was more family friendly. And I love it down here too; it's great and all. I mean, I got more house than I could ever afford in Los Angeles; my kids have great schools to go to; we are closer to grand parents; kids actually have a backyard with a pool (tiny as it is); and on and on and on. For bringing up a family, you just can't beat it. And sure as shit, the weather actually seems BETTER here in San Diego, if that's possible! Maybe's it's just the lack of smog.

...but even with all that, everytime I head back to LA for work, I get to missing it very badly. Every time I watch Entourage or hear Seager singing Hollywood Nights, I miss the place so much. Especially the Westside of Los Angeles. It really is an amazing town. Amazing because so much of the cluture and business on the westside is driven by the movie, music, and to an extent these days, new media (including games) businesses. So as you walk around, go to lunch, go shopping, you are always bumping into folks who work in entertainment...and there's an energy about them that is tangible, an energy I love because it's alive and powerful and creative and just so much fun to be around. I guess it speaks to my soul. So you know, it's nice to be around that.

I can't imagine I'll be back there for a long time as a perm. resident; maybe once my kids go to college or something. So for now, it's a two hour drive north 1-3 times/month to get my fix. And hell, I don't mind too much as if I was there much longer, I'd start to remember all the things I did hate about the place (bad earthquakes; the worst traffic you can imagine; paying to park at malls and movie theaters;etc).

I was just back there for work a few days ago...hope to share with you guys/gals the specifics of why I was there pretty soon, but not just yet....but yeah, I was up there and it was so sweet....so damn sweet to be back....home? Yeah, fuck it. Even living down in San Diego, LA is- to my soul- still home. I lived there for almost 18 years; I really grew up and discovered myself there; met my wife and had my kids there; found my career there. It's home. The west side of Los Angeles (Santa Monica, Bev. Hills, Century City, Malibu); it's a fantastic place.

Ok, well don't get all mushy on me; so long princess.


Oh, and here's pics from my trip:


Puzzle Zoo on the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica- right by the beach! Overpriced as hell but man, they have just about every toy or game you can imagine. It's the best toy store I've ever been in and I love browsing this place; you can get lost for hours in there, looking at the old Star Wars figures, the obscure toys that you would never see anywhere else or can't buy anymore (I saw old mego action figures for sale, from the 70's this visit!)


Here's the giant Batman made of LEGO they have in the store window. They change the store display every few months and put the coolest geek stuff in there.

At the back of the store they have display cases of sci-fi/comic/fantasy models that they've commisioned artists to put together. Here's a sweet ass GHOST RIDER model and a Spiderman 3D cover from Amazing Fantasy #15...


Best Indian food I've ever eaten. I sometimes drive to LA JUST to pick this up and then turn around and head right back to San Diego so me and my wife can have Dom Alloo and Cheese Nan. It's across from King's Head Pub on 2nd street in Santa Monica. If you like Indian and are in town, you owe it to yourself to check it out. In the interest of full disclosure tho, I went there with some of the Incognito guys once and they all got the shits. But that's never happened to me, so maybe the Utah boys just can't handle real Indian :)


As amazing as GATE OF INDIA is, they have the most fucked up, random drinking glasses I've ever seen. Nothing matches and each one has images that a) have NOTHING to do with the rest of the Indian theme that decks out the place and b) they are just fucked up odd. I mean, here's a glass I got my Diet Coke in that has a picture of the fucking Yeti on it. I mean, the fucking YETI?!?! My wife's glass had an image of a cartoon cat looking in a fish bowl as the terrified fish looked on, anticipating its death. I mean, WTF?!?!


How else do you expect us to celebrate signing a big, important, life changing contract?!?


Ok, gotta go...been puting off doing my checking and reconcilliation for like 2 months....need to get on that now...yuch! ...ok, Chat with ya'll later!

David

13 comments:

Kofman said...

I'm barely 20 right now Dave, and I think I'm convinced LA is where I wanna be.

SoulScreme said...

Come on Dave, stop teasing us!

Rob Zepeda said...

Dave, I'm feelin' ya on the whole LA-feels-like-home thing.

But theres no place like San Diego. I think the creative energy that I get from SD is so much more natural than what LA could give me.

its weird...lately i've just been so much more relaxed with life in general and I think its in some way directly related to the weather being so nice lately.

summertime in san diego is just so amazing that it really does make people more laid-back. perfect timing to, because we just announced Bourne Conspiracy and will be busy as heck very soon.

its probably a good thing that video game devs locate themselves in such nice areas of the country. with the stress that can come from deadlines and budgets, its nice to be able to walk outside and just take in all the beauty.

Anonymous said...

Man, this is just scary.
I was at LA for 2 days last week for an event and your picture is exactly the picture I wanted to show to my girlfriend.

I went to Puzzle Zoo to buy some Pixel Blocks and we went to Gate of India with a publisher. However the food didn't amaze me (like the himalayan blue beer).

Oh and on tuesday we saw some dolphin near the peer.

Anonymous said...

That is a colossal bag of weed.

Max A said...

Thanks for the Tip on the Indian Food. Is that Diesel or Bubble Gum in that Sack you got there? hehehehhe nice

Known Aim said...

What CD's are on the table next to the bag of kush?

R.Bunk said...

Is that Dank on the table there? Nice bowl, I am more of a bong guy myself.

Joel said...

of course you smoked all of it in one sitting...

right?


LOL.

Anonymous said...

Been to both, my mom spent part of her retirment in el cajon, and we visited my uncle in LA. I'n not much of a city dude, it's a nice place to vist...you know the rest

KoolAidMan said...

You can't forget Bay Cities Deli on Lincoln. I'm always down on the food in Santa Monica (Venice, Fairfax/Crescent Heights, Los Feliz imo have it beat hands down) but goddamn, those are the best sandwiches in town.

To clarify, Santa Monica does have good food but the number of tourists there lowers the per capita of good restaurants vs places that shovel out crap. Swap out tourists with college students and you have the culinary wasteland of Westwood. Ugh.

But yeah, go Bay Cities!

Anonymous said...

Wait till the gaming blogs see your weed. Sony will kick you in the nuts.

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