#YayLife: @SaintPepsi in Los Angeles
<editorsnote> Nerds, meet Jordan. He's been writing for us for a while now ... actually come to think of it, he was one of the first writers on this site - so he's been here a superly duperly long time. He lives in Kansas, and recently came out to LA to hang out. Hit it Jordan!! </editorsnote>
#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @SaintPepsi
So, when you are completely submerged in social media it goes without saying that you will no doubt know people in other states. You may even know more than a few and for me it's quite a lot. I know people all over this world and I interact with them daily through the beauty of social media. Leaving our digital mark on people from coast to coast. So, when it comes to facebook and twitter you will see events posted that are usually a little outside of your driving distance. Let's just say I tend to get invited to things in California a lot. While I appreciate the fact that I have been invited by my friends in these other cities, generally it's slightly depressing to turn down all these exciting events. So when my dear friend Crystal invited me to her birthday in LA. I was done saying no. I hopped on Expedia and checked ticket prices. Oddly enough only three weeks before her birthday I found a round trip flight for 250 bucks (found out later that was because of Carmageddon). How could I say no to that? I asked for the time off from work and booked my flight. She was obviously stunned and super excited I was coming and I was just as excited to take a vacation. Also, it was 110 degrees in Kansas and only like 80 in LA. So I couldn't wait to get out of this Hell-like sauna. My flight left on a Thursday and to supplement my loss of hours and therefore income, I had picked up a few art commissions. I got them finished the night before I left at around 4. I had to pack on the fly in the morning to head out to LA. I forgot some pictures I wanted to give to some of my friends that I had drawn, but over all a pretty decent packing job.
I took off from Manhattan around 10 in the morning. I had a date with a beautiful girl named Alex in Lawrence. What better way to kick off a vacation than in the company of a beautiful artist? Swung into Lawrence and picked her up; we went to Free State Steak house on Mass. Street and had an amazing lunch and some fantastic beers. 
Check out Free State if you have a chance. One of my best friends from high school is actually a brew-master there. He recommended a Cyclone Black Lager and my god; these are heaven for beer drinkers. We went back to her place and she showed me her paintings and no that is not a crude double entandre. She's a really amazing artist. Took off from there and headed to the airport stopping of for a bit to chill with my sister in law. The plane was on time which is good because the flight right next to ours had some complications. Those complications were that the pilot and the stewardesses were still at the hotel. SHADY!!!! lol. Flew out for Salt Lake City and from there to LA. I forgot how much I hate flying. I am way too tall for flying. I really really do not fit into planes. Landed in LA and Crystal was already at the airport ready to go. We drove back to her place and the news was all a twitter about the impending Carmageddon. Pretty relaxing night that first day though; I just read Crystal a part of a book from one of my favorite authors Fritz Lieber. Check this man out his works are super awesome as far as reading goes especially if you like buddy fantasy works.
Day 1 in LA. The adventure begins. Saw Crystal off to work and prepped for my day in Beverly Hills, where she lives. Threw on my Chucks and walked down to Beverly Hills shopping district. Last time I was in LA I discovered this place called Nonna's Empanada's, some seriously good food if you have a chance and it's very reasonably priced. Then I headed over to The Beverly Hills Bloomingdales shopping center to find a nice shirt. We were going to be going to a really nice place to eat that night and I had only packed one nice shirt. I'm a T-shirt and jeans kind of guy. So I meandered all over this mall and found nothing in the way of nice shirts except Plaid. Read my rant here. When I did finally find a really awesome shirt I thought it was 42 bucks; which I still thought was pricey... nope 420 bucks. Hell NO!!. No one should ever spend that much on a shirt. Like EVER! Walking back to Crystal's in defeat I hopped on my computer and wrote up my frustrations. After I was done with that I took a smoke break. I have recently quit smoking but I took it back up for a road trip. I know I'm dumb but dropping it again this week. 
Still had I not stepped outside for a smoke I would have never noticed Jason Bateman on the other side of the street doing an interview for CBS. HOLY CRAP!!!! I love Jason Bateman. So I casually sauntered over, after I was sure the interview was over and said, “Hey!” He was super nice. I told him I had just flown in from Kansas and he commented, “Wow! Just in and you have already had your Hollywood moment with a big actor.” I said I loved his work and called him fantastically amazing. He turned to the apparently still rolling camera and asked if they got that. I laughed and he asked me if I had seen Horrible Bosses yet. I hadn't but I promised him I would. I caught a photo with him and keeping my composure walked away without geeking out in a big way. I uploaded it to facebook and holy balls my feed and phone blew up like fireworks. I guess I have the luck of the devil. I attribute my lucky read excited robot shirt to it. I will say I kept my promise and saw Horrible Bosses. That movie is a laugh a second you should all go see it. Great cast and fantastic one liners. Also the old spice guy has a cameo. I LOVE THAT GUY!!!
(I ALSO MADE THE CBS NATIONAL NEWS!!! Click here to watch)
That night Crystal's boyfriend Eugene, his friend Morpheus, and I went out to Yamashiro's which I can safely say is the best Sushi Restaurant I have been to in the states. We had some amazing food and the waitress was a friend of Crystal's and kept hooking us up with drinks because of Crystal's Birthday. The view at this place was incomparable. Stepping out I looked across the shimmering surface of LA. There are no words to describe the beauty of LA at night. I had told Jen I would meet up with her at Barny's Beanery at 9 but our dinner ran a little late. So I got there around 10. 
Jen, Kristi, and I proceeded to get our drink on. It was interesting to see Jen interact with the men that seemed to champion awkward around her. This one fellow got into a conversation with her and I leaned over and asked Kristi if she thought Jen had tuned off yet. Having read a lot of Jen's articles I knew it was something she did if she lost interest in the conversation. What I had forgotten was Jen's uncanny super power for hearing anything in a 50 foot radius. She answered the question. If she hadn't tuned out yet she certainly did when this guy said he didn't think twitter was a big deal and that social media in general was just a fad. The understanding that passed between Jen and I in a single expression spoke volumes. So as the night went on Kristi, her BF (whom happened to be from Kansas too, weird right?) and I met some guy who had directed something Kristi was in and we all got to talking. The bars closed and I said my goodbye to Jen knowing I probably wouldn't see her again as she's a busy little bee in LA. We took off down the street with our new friends. All of us very over the legal limit and glad I wasn't driving. Hung out at the director’s house and had a beer. Except to my surprise the thing I thought was a beer was in fact a THC beer. It was called Orange Hydrotonic and it laid me on my ass. I was now drunk and high. Really high. Kristi let me crash out at her place that night thank god, because walking back to North Hollywood would have been near impossible in that state. (side note- Kristi is a pretty well known voice actress in anime and let’s just say I was a bit of an otaku for quite a while. Still geeking out about hanging out with her too.) So the night ended there under a license plate on the wall from K-state of a wildcat... my home town lol.
Saturday I woke up and bid Kristi and her man goodbye and started what turned out to be quite a long walk back to Crystal's boyfriend’s house. I did get to walk through Hollywood again though. Probably took me an hour and a half but I made it with a little more color on my skin. I promptly got made fun of for walking, apparently no one in LA walks. When I got there everyone was packing up to head out and prep for the party. So I hopped in with Eugene and Morpheus and we took off to run errands. This was kind of a big deal as this was the start of Carmageddon. Carmageddon really should have been called Carmaheaven. No one was on the freeway or roads for that matter. We got all the stuff we needed from Costco and headed to China town to pick up the cake for Crystal's birthday from Phoenix Bakery. 
This place is a legend for having some of the best pastries in the country. I got some pastries while I was there. Seriously, heaven in your mouth. Back to Eugene's to clean up and get ready for the crazy night ahead of us. The party was scheduled to start at 8. But in classic Hollywood fashion everyone showed up 1 to 2 hrs after the start time (actually, this is the fashion for all parties everywhere until you get married and only invite other married people over). It was a lot of friends I had made when I was here for Halloween last year and some new faces as well. I felt way more at home this time and had a blast. Gotta say Stan Kent was one of the jewels of the party. This man is in all ways amazing, so check him out. Also got to hang with one of Crystal's Ex’s Kino, who is a super cool artist. I gotta love artists whenever I meet them, especially when they have succeeded in the industry. So I may have gotten a little drunk that night and by a little I mean pretty smashed and that lead to smoking someone's hash pipe. Having never had hash this left me somewhat debilitated. In fact, after eating a decent amount of Crystal's cake I ended up out for the count and woke up the next morning. Luckily, the party was in the wind down state and I was all the way down. A good night for sure. No drama and everyone seemed to have had a great time.
Sunday was a total rehab day. Pretty much just cleaned up the house, went and had lunch at this place called Magnolia in Hollywood. The best ravioli you will ever have in your life. I was going to go to the new Harry Potter film with Kino later that night but ended up just relaxing and hanging out with Morpheus all day. Nothing to horribly exciting about Sunday. 
Monday we were back at Crystal's and she went to work. I took off to the Beverly Hills area to get some of that amazing fruit they sell at those tiny fruit vendor stands. Had a long conversation with some homeless Asian lady who wanted me to buy her a sandwich. Headed back to the shopping center after to wait for Satine to pick me up and just drew random people walking around. Satine had intended to take me to a restaurant in the area. She had been following me on Twitter and knew I hadn't left the Beverly Hills, Hollywood area so we took a ride in her smart car to Santa Monica. It was a beautiful day and after a lying car garage told us it had spaces and didn't, we found a place to park and took off down third street to Monsieur Marcel's French Restaurant. We had fried Brie, Calamari, and Sheep Cheese. Neither of us had ever had sheep cheese. It was awesome. Just chilled there talking about all sorts of things and headed back to Beverly Hills around four. Satine was one of the highest points of my trip. She's so laid back and insanely gorgeous. This girl is the reason guys spend their lives looking for THE ONE. She's not only an artist but she's a super nerd and loves it. The two of us met through Jen and we have had the pleasure of collaborating on some art, too. For this company called Rao Entertainment. Still, Satine is super great at writing so check her stuff out. She dropped me off on Sunset where I met up with another friend of mine Shaiquann. He's putting together a website that I am doing art for as well. I talked with him for a while and walked back to Crystal’s where we were just going to chill for a bit before I hopped on the plane back to Kansas. Eugene stopped by and surprised us with a dinner at some Italian place off Santa Monica. Then it was off to the plane. Saying goodbye to Crystal was hard because of how rarely I get to see her. I was lucky I was able to sleep on the plane because for some reason we flew all the way to Georgia. Keep in mind I live in Kansas. That's half a continent out of the way. Getting home I had to get right to work and then after that had a pretty Epic Pub crawl with my Co-workers. I literally didn't get any sleep for about 6 days straight but it was worth it.
So that's my adventure to LA and back. Hope some of you were entertained by the craziness I get myself into.