.riding on the metro.

I took the car in today to get serviced and to have a "funny" noise checked out, which I figured would be pretty quick.  Apparently I was part of some big psychic wave of people who decided that today would also be an ideal time to take their car to get serviced.  They said it would take all day and that I could pick it up by five.  But I had to be home by two because the pest control guy was coming to spray for ants (Every flipping summer we get ants.  I guess it is because they need water.  Asshole ants ).  Even if I didn't have to be back by two, if you have ever tried to drive from the west side of LA to the east side of LA on a holiday weekend during rush hour, you know I am only half joking when I say that I would rather gnaw off my own arm. And not even my left one but my right arm, the one I use to stuff baked cheese poofs in my mouth.

Oh yeah, and I also need to study.  There is that too.  I am on a schedule, dammit. 

I was fourteen miles away from my house, which might as well be 14 light years thanks to the way this city is laid out.  So I call Leif and ask him if he can come please pick me up during lunch.  He can't take a lunch break and he thinks because of the holiday weekend that traffic is going to be crap, which means it would take him an hour and a half round trip.  He is right of course, but I pout anyway.  So my options are to take the bus or wait until our car is ready and brave rush hour traffic traveling east on the 10 freeway.

It takes me two and a half hours to get home by bus. 

I try to use this time to be productive and read my review book but I can't because I am either a) getting car sick or b) listening to the gentleman sitting next to me talk about all the summer movies he wants to see.  Talking to this dude about all of his most anticipated summer blockbusters is the best part of the ride home.  He is a likable sort of person.  I think his name is Manuel.  He really, really likes the trailer for some movie about spy cats and dogs and is really, really excited to see a movie called The Expendables.

Of course, while I am walking the three blocks to my house from the last bus stop I realize that I do not have my keys.  Because they are with the car...14 miles in the opposite direction.  But, I think, it should not be a problem since my landlord must be home for the pest control dude too.  I get home, knock on her door.  No answer.

So, I call Leif at work.  

He shows up about twenty minutes later and as soon as he opens the gate our landlord pops her head out.  She was home the whole time. 

The pest control guy comes and says to me that he can't spray inside because I needed to clear out all my cupboards in the kitchen.  Oh.  That.  I didn't do that.  Oh well, he will be back next month and he sprayed outside so it shouldn't be a problem.

At least I don't have to walk the mile to the nearest coffee shop because I can't be in the house for three hours after he sprays inside.  That is a plus.

The next great drummer and his friends are home.  That is a negative.

At 3:00 the mechanic calls.  The car is ready early.  They couldn't get the car to make the funny noise when the engine turns on but they did take a look.  They suggest trying to record the funny noise next time. Oh yeah, and they did change the oil.  That will be 123 dollars please.

If there were rocks over here, I would totally be kicking them right now.

.the final countdown.

I have this sort of pseudo list in my mind of things I want to do before we leave Los Angeles later this year.  They're things that I've always wanted to do or meant to do at some point in time while I've lived here but for whatever reason I've not done yet.  One of the most important items on that list got accomplished Saturday night. I got to go to the Magic Castle.

You need an invitation from one of the members of the Magic Castle to even get into the place so it makes it somewhat exclusive.  When I say exclusive I don't mean in the pretentious chi-chi obnoxious way that many places in LA are known for being.  You don't have be a supermodel or an actor to get in.  You simply have to know someone who knows someone who happens to be a magician.  But you do have to dress formally to be allowed in, which means nice dresses for the ladies and suit and tie for the fellas.

We ended up hanging around there, flitting from magic show to magic show for over six hours.  We saw some pretty mind boggling things.  I haven't had that much fun in a long time.

There is no photography allowed in the Magic Castle so unfortunately we only snagged these two.

 

  

And now for the best part of the entire post.  A magician named Gob.

Houston, we have a problem.

Generally speaking Leif and I enjoy our weekends to the maximum of our capability, which usually means doing as little as possible. Sure we do the normal housekeeping things like laundry and grocery shopping and I will very reluctantly study or do some homework. But aside from those things we really like to take things easy. This past weekend was an exception to our normally very quiet routine.

On Saturday we decided to start getting the "nursery" ready for the baby. Now, I use the term "nursery" very loosely because frankly, that room is the size of a large hamster's cage. So as you can imagine we are scrambling for ways to maximize our storage.

Now when Leif and I moved into this place we made a conscious decision to avoid buying any furniture at Ikea. We felt that our money would be better spent buying a sturdy piece of furniture at a thrift store and then fixing it up, which is something that we enjoy doing anyway. For the most part we've been pretty good but with the baby coming we decided to venture to Ikea to pick up some cheap pieces we could use for storage.

This cabinet and this chest of drawers are what we ended up getting. Already I have the top drawer of the dresser filled with gender-neutral baby clothing from my sister's two kids (both girls).

After our trip to Ikea we headed over to St. Vincent's De Paul, a huge thrift store the size of a wharehouse filled with some pretty cool old furniture. While on the way over there we heard a sound that at first we thought was a police helicopter until we realized that the sound slowed down when our car did. A flat tire. Not a big deal except this thrift store is in a pretty sketchy part of Los Angeles and we both were anxious to get the tire changed as quickly as possible. Of course, Leif was a champ and did the whole thing pretty quickly.

But it ended up being worth all the hassle of the flat tire as we lucked out at the thrift store. We found an old armoire that was ideal for holding all my school material and hiding it away from sight while being interesting to look at. It needs work; new knobs and some new lining on the inside but over all it works well for our purposes.

I'll be putting up some pictures of how things are coming along later this week.