hostelling indefinitely and other stuff with lots of pics

March felt like quite a busy month for me despite being unemployed for most of the month. I spent a lot of time not looking for a job and just relaxing, being social, ya know. Mojito organized a lovely pre-spring outing to Echo Park to do some paddle boating, eating, and stuffs. It was really nice and even though I've lived in LA my whole life I have never paddle boated on the lake so I was super jazzed to do it. Thankfully, the weather was perfect.





Our house, AgLago threw one of our infamous parties to welcome spring. It was a pretty good party complete with a discoball, 3 djs, homebrew beer, and live silk screening of an image of our late duck Gary. It was a great success and really fun.

I believe if you click the picture it will take you to the rest.

I finally decided to seriously look for a job since money was running low. Nothing looked promising but I found a posting for a temp position thru May working at a youth hostel. I jumped on that early in the week and by mid week I had interviewed and by the end of the week I was hired. So now I work for Hostelling International in San Pedro. San Pedro is located in the southbay part of Los Angeles. Completely different from areas closer to the city. I'm right by the ocean, different lifestyle, smaller town vibe and a bit San Francisco-ish. I live here on site and I'll probably be here through the summer while we're in full hostel operating mode. Right now it's the off season and we're only host educational programs and large groups. All that ends in May and then the second week of June the hostel opens up for all sorts of lovely travellers. Pay isn't that great but I don't have to pay rent and I have a nice view. It's good so far. I'm definitely less stressed and the only time I commute is to go back to the house on my off days. I gave up my room at Aglago since it seems ridiculous to pay for a spot that I'll only be at two or three times a week. I'll just bum it with Jimi in the tiny room again. Ahh like last year all over again hahaha.



See that row of little buildings behind the bell? Yeah that's the hostel.

My birthday was nothing super exciting. Plans to go to Disneyland sadly fell through. I had just started my job so I drove back the night before. I hung out with Junue, Lara, Liz and we had a sort of impromptu mini bday party. Junue's Ebt card + Pavillions + club card holders + a group of hot messes = fun. The evening was a bit hazy and so was my head so I ended up passing out earlier than I wanted to and woke up still "hazy" the next day. Note I said hazy, not hungover. Ha! The morning was full of more debacherous behavior until I stopped so I could be composed for the usual family b-day meal. We went to lunch since I was in the neighborhood. It was delicious. When I came home I went to happy hour with Clay and Lauren at El Conquistador for margaritas. It was pretty awesome and I'll have to go back there again. We returned home to a house meeting and cupcakes courtesy of Patsy. Overall I spent my bday with various friends which was super nice. My birthday gifts are appointments to the dentist and eye doctor. Sigh. 27 years old. Oye. I feel like it could be a good year. 7 is one of my lucky numbers and I'm getting a good vibe from 27 so far.

I'm excited for the coming months. I'm excited to explore San Pedro and learn more about this part of Los Angeles that I know nothing about- not to mention it's like a whole other world down here (separate entry will eventually come). I'm excited to learn how to fly a kite haha. Yay.

news of the week

What a week so far for news...

First, this earthquake in Italy. What a fucking nightmare. I'm a seasoned vet when it comes to living through earthquakes but then again, I live in LA where retrofitting is standard and buildings up to code are all over the place. However, central Italy, or any part of Italy really for that matter, is not prepared for earthquakes or any other disasters. Trust me I saw "firemen" beating out a fire by hand the size of the Griffith Park fire. They lack resources to be safe from natural disasters and it's sad because there is so much history involved (let's not forget I was a history major).I cried when I saw pics of this church. A 14th century structure gone in minutes. It's just tragic to see a town destroyed like that because a lot of Italy is constructed the same way many of these structures in L'Aquila are made. This could happen all over. Plus I have family in Italy (Sicily) and it kinda puts me through it to think that this could happen there. Old buildings, not safe for earthquakes. Sigh. History, dead. Double sigh.

While I'm on the topic of tragic news, the story about Nick Adenhart, an up and coming pitcher for the Angel's baseball team was horrifically killed last night in a car crash in Fullerton. I'm not a baseball fan but the story just kills me because hours before he had played an amazing game and was starting to get attention and was well on his way to being a baseball great. 22 years old, dead from a drunk driver. NEVER DRIVE DRUNK. Not only is he dead, but two others are as well all because a 22 year old douche bag made a bad choice. Not just one bad choice, no, this was his second and obviously last DUI because his ass is going to jail for life at this point.

In lighter news Officials: Pirates, terrorists not linked directly! I love this headline. Now that the U.S. has been raped and pillaged by the pirates, it must have something to do with terrorism. Cuz before I never heard terrorism linked with pirates. The Somali pirates are at it again! I've been fascinated with these Somali pirates for months. Ruthless bastards! I never thought I'd hear about real piracy on the high seas in this day and age.

And lastly, in completely ridiculous news, here's a reason not to have kids in this technologically driven society. THIS BITCH a 13 yr old, racked up a phone bill to the price tag of $4,756.25 due to excessive texting with out a text messaging plan. Even if they did have a plan, that shit still would have been at least 2k. How do you manage to send out 300 texts a day? How stupid are you to not ask your parents if you have unlimited texting. I'd ground that bitch until she graduated high school and make her get a job the minute she turns 15 to pay me back, interest included. The best part is that her dad took a hammer to the phone. I can picture myself getting all cray at my kid and making a scene and dramatically smashing the phone to bits. Epic.

And that my friends is my commentary on news stories this week. Maybe soon I will have an update of my personal news aka my life. HA