Stan’s Obligatory Blog

Lucinda and I have become fans of “L.A. Ink”, so when they said that they were going to put on a tattoo and music show, we put it on our calendar. As it turned out, Lucinda decided that she didn’t want to go in the end. She was intimidated by the prospect of crowds and noise. But, since tattoo shows are one of my most favorite things, I went by myself.

I went on Friday afternoon. Getting down to the O.C. in Friday traffic was a bit of an epic journey, but I got there all right. And parking was free, which was a nice treat. That sort of made up for the steep $28 ticket price.

When I got inside, I saw that it was going to be a good show. There were notices on all the doors warning us that “each person in attendance irrevocably consents to being filmed or videotaped and releases the producers and users of such film or videotape from any liability…throughout the world in perpetuity.” Well, that about covers it, don’t you think? It was only 3:30, and there was a good crowd there already. And the camera crews gave it a circus-like quality that most tattoo shows don’t have. I wandered around and found some of my friends and talked for a bit. Then someone said that Kat Von D was at the High Voltage booth and greeting fans. I figured I had to get a picture with her to bring home for Lucinda, so I went and stood in the very long line for my turn. I don’t normally get star-struck, but Kat seemed very nice, and she was hot. But then again, I have a known weakness for pretty girls with lots of tattoos.

Wandering around some more, I went into the music room to see one of the tattoo contests. The stage was good, but the lighting wasn’t. So it was hard to actually see the tattoos. then I wandered over the the vendors’ building. I walked in and saw that Burning Angel had a booth, and Joanna Angel herself was there. (Remember what I said about pretty girls with tattoos.) So I had to stop in and talk to her a bit. She was also very nice, and I got a good souvenir photo with her.

Back in the tattoo building, Hannah’s new tattoo was finished. But before she got up off the table, the camera crew had to come down and film the crowd around her and also go in to the booth and film her. Then she got up and went to get some food.

My final encounter with the stars of the show was when I got to meet Corey. He was standing in the aisle with a tray of french fries. So I got a picture with him to show Lucinda.

The rest of my time there was spent just wandering around and schmoozing. It was a very fun afternoon and evening.

Photos are in my tattoo conventions photo gallery.

Lucinda had so much fun playing in the snow last Monday that we had to do it again today. We went back to the same place, and she brought another friend along. They played hard for a long time, until it was starting to get dark and we had to go home.

Pictures are in her photo album.

Today was an unusual Sunday for me. I wanted to go to the Center for Inquiry in Hollywood to hear Carol Tavris talk about her new book, Mistakes Were Made (but not by me). I’d bought the book on Thursday, and I’ve read about half of it so far. It’s quite good.

So I cut my usual bike ride short in order to get home by 10:00 so I could make it over to Hollywood by 11:00. The talk was very good. Entertaining and informative. I got to talk with the speaker beforehand, and I told her about how after reading just the first few chapters of the book, I could see how we all do this. And in particular, how this normal human tendency can lead to the most bitter arguments.

After the talk, she signed books. Then we all walked down the street for lunch at a local Thai restaurant.

It was a fun time.

Since Gene’s accident last November, I’ve been thinking about possibly doing some more weight-bearing exercise. I hate running, and I don’t like lifting weights. But I like hiking. So I looked up a local hiking group on meetup.com to find a group for hiking in the local mountains.

So today they had a hike up Echo Mountain and then on to Inspiration Point. This is an extended version of the hike I took Lucinda on last year. And the trailhead is right at the top of Lake Ave in Pasadena, so it was very convenient.

The group met at the trailhead, and it turned out to be a pretty big group. Something like 35 people in all. And it was perfect day. The sun was warm, and the air was cool.

The group quickly split up into smaller groups, each traveling at its own pace. I didn’t try to stay with the fastest group, since I like to sightsee a bit on the trail. We stopped briefly at the top of Echo Mountain to look at the ruins of White City. Then we continued on up the Castle Canyon Trail. I’d never been on this trail before, and it was quite nice. It got steep near the end, but the scenery was very nice.

The trail came out on the top of the ridge at Inspiration Point. We sat down there and took in the view for a bit before heading back down. According to the trail signs, we did about 9 1/2 miles round trip. I think I’m going to be sore from this, but it was a fun time.

Lucinda had the day off from school today, so I made plans with Shannon to take the kids to play in the snow at Mt. Baldy.

We drove out to Claremont and then headed up the hill. We stopped at the visitors’ center to get parking passes for the day, and then we went up to the snow.

Lucinda, Isabel, and Mars all played in the snow, riding saucers down the hill and generally getting wet and cold and having a good time doing it.

I just stood on the sidelines taking pictures. I grew up playing in snow, and while it was fun, I don’t particularly miss it. But this was a first for Lucinda, and she enjoyed it a lot.

Today’s ride was the classic Toluca Lake ride.

We rode through San Marino and South Pasadena, and then across Highland Park. That was where we were chased for a couple of blocks by a tiny little chihuahua. Then up the L.A. River bike path to Griffith Park. Along the way, we saw the island in the river where we saw the elaborate homeless camp a couple of years ago. We also saw that the burned hillsides from last year’s fire were turning green again. When we got to the end of the bike path, we rode west past Forest Lawn and Warner Bros to get to Priscilla’s in Toluca Lake. We had bagels and such there today. Sadly, they ran out of orange juice. Their orange juice is fresh-squeezed and quite good.

From there, we took Riverside back into Burbank. That was where we passed the General Motors Training Center. As we were going by, I noticed a couple of fuel-cell cars parked behind the building, so I stopped to have a look and get a picture. Then we rode across Glendale with a short detour just to see the new bakery that we’re going to try next week.

Finally, we headed up Hospital Hill and then home through La Cañada. It was a very nice day, and a very nice ride.

45 miles.
cycling

This afternoon, I got out a bit. I went to the Museum of Contemporary Art in Little Tokyo to see the Murakami exhibit. It was fun.

When I got home, I got down to nesting some more. It’s Saturday, so Cathy is going out dancing, and I’ve got my date with Lucinda. I made another pizza. This time with pepperoni, portobello mushrooms, sliced roma tomatoes, and goat cheese. And I cooked it on my new pizza stone. It was good.

After dinner, we made chocolate soufflés. I used the recipe I got in the soufflé class I did last Tuesday, and I used the new ramekins I bought on Friday. The recipe said it made two, so I doubled it. It ended up making six, and they were pretty full. I cooked two of them for me and Lucinda, and I put the other four in the refrigerator for later. They were pretty good. I liked how they puffed up, but we thought that the depth of the chocolate flavor wasn’t as good as the recipe from The Joy of Cooking. Still, it was fun, and we sat down to eat them while we were watching this week’s “L.A. Ink” that I’d taped on Tuesday.

I’m actually enjoying my time with Lucinda, and we’re both well-fed.

Today’s ride was the “Mid-valley trainer“. This is another of those rambling rides that just goes all around to get to nowhere in particular. But that was just fine for today. I needed to get home a little early anyway.

A small group of us started off faster than the rest, and we just did the whole route without stopping. And when we got back to the park in Arcadia, it was still pretty early. I didn’t need to be home until noon, so Doug and I rode around some more just for fun. And it was a perfect day for riding. So overall, it was a pretty good experience.

48 miles.
cycling

This evening, I took Lucinda to the Carpenter Performing Arts Center at Cal State Long Beach to see Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo. My cousin Irene bought us tickets so that Lucinda and I could have a night out together. We saw them two years ago at Caltech, and it was a fun time.

The show was a lot of fun. As always, the ‘dying swan’ was hilarious. I still think we’d enjoy it even more if we knew more about ‘serious ballet’, but it’s still fun.