Right back where I started from

We've been on the run
Driving in the sun
On the stereo
Listen as we go
Nothing's gonna stop us now
California, here we come
Right back where we started from

So I wrote about Chicago and I wrote about Virginia… I didn’t write about Washington D.C. but since all I did there was visit the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum and watch an IMAX movie called Space Station 3D (excitement plus, people) and take touristy pictures outside the Capitol and Jefferson’s Memorial, I didn’t think it needed an entire post of its own. Still, it was fun taking the train into the city and hanging out with my Dad and sister and V but trust dads to find the Air and Space Museum exciting… my sister and I were so bummed that we didn’t have time to visit any of the more interesting museums!

So anyway, time to write about California and Los Angeles and my dear friend J… I got there on a Tuesday night, pretty late, R dropped me off… R was so good at helping me out with the mobile phone and all the lifts to and fro the airport… well, as one of my boyfriend’s best friends he was kinda obligated but it was still extremely nice of him! There was some conversation that night but I was pretty beat from my previous drunken night in Chicago so passed out quite soon! The next morning we woke up bright and early to begin our California adventure… NOT… we woke up casually and lazed around for a bit… the others were heading to San Francisco for a few days (some of the others I hadn’t seen in years… it was fun to meet them again) and they left me with an awesome goodbye present… good ol’ fashioned ganja baby (after three weeks I might add)… it totally set the tone for the rest of the day… so J and I drove to Universal Studios, Hollywood and had a very amusing day hanging out with Shrek and Donkey and the Mummy and various other madcaps.

Travel warning: Do not try the Van Helsing experience stoned! It preys on paranoia…

That evening we just sat around and caught up for hours and felt so lazy to go out and get dinner. It was just like another one of them lazy weekend evenings where you’re getting ready at your friend’s place to go out in the night but you just sit around for hours talking instead of getting ready and suddenly it’s a mad rush for the toilet when you realise what the time is and you wonder what you could’ve possibly done to let the time run that way… so that night by the time we moved our asses, the place we wanted to go to was closed and we had to wait to get a table at another place. So we ate and bought some coke (coca-cola, not cocaine) and went back home and had a couple of drinks (well, I drank… J took shots… she claims that’s the only way she can drink) and passed out. The plan was to drive to San Diego the next morning so we needed to wake up bright and early!

The next morning we woke up bright and early, raring to set off for picturesque San Diego… NOT… as usual it was a struggle to wake up. Luckily she is as bad as me… well, maybe slightly better! Anyway, it got way too late to drive to San Diego so we thought we’d have lunch in Orange County instead… so, last year I was slightly obsessed with this show called The OC which is set in Newport Beach, Orange County… it’s a rather lame show about these rich high-school kids getting up to no good and a lot of reviews compare it to Beverly Hills 90210… I am slightly old for it (my 15 year old cousins idolise it) but I just enjoy it anyway and I know other people my age who enjoy it too. So we had lunch at the Newport Beach boardwalk and walked down the pier and dipped our toes in the freezing Pacific Ocean… it was all rather blasé… you know, lazy and sophisticated all at the same time! Sometimes I talk such shit… We drove back to LA and visited a mall which looked nothing like a mall (called the Grove) and finally went back home.

So this was my last night in LA (and in the US) and we wanted to make sure we had a blast and we had decided to go to a karaoke bar because J and I both love to sing (we and some others also made singing history at some stupid cultural event in Madras way back when in high school) so we proceeded to get very drunk at home and caught a cab to this karaoke bar and everything after that is just one big blur… J managed to lose her flat mate’s camera in the cab, strange men tried to pick us up, we drank killer shots and smoked cigarette after cigarette (oh my god, LA does not allow you to smoke in pubs, NZ doesn’t either, its only a matter of time before Oz joins the non-smoking pubs gang) and we sang, oh boy, did we sing. We sang I Will Survive and Like a Prayer (J’s choice, not mine) and we also sang Help! (although I have absolutely no memory of singing this) and the next morning, the only reminders we had of our wild night on the town were our aching throats… it was awesome… I had such a blast. That day took me back again to the times of staying over in a friend’s house or having a friend stay over at my house after a Saturday night out… so you’d wake up really late and then lie around for a couple of hours talking about all the madness from the night before… and then you’d shower slowly and set out to meet other friends for a lazy evening chat about the madness from the night before. So this time there was no meeting of other friends though… this time was packing my bags and saying goodbye again!

So that was that… meeting J after 2.5 years and 2.5 days is all we had. 2.5 days of driving, singing, drinking, eating and sleeping. It was so great – thanks J! I’m not finished with California though… there are some places you visit and think you just wouldn’t care if you never went there again and there are other places you visit and they continue to call you back… that’s not the end for me and C…

Ain’t it a shame
That all the world can’t enjoy your mad traditions
Life is the longest death in California