happy birthday to me...

ok, it's not my birthday. it's not even my 1/2 birthday. it's two months since my birthday. but since i wasn't posting much around that time, i figured i'd post something now. and really, it's my blog, my rules. :)

as mentioned before, i have issues with my birthday. so, how did i spend this year? sick, sick, sick in bed. i vaguely recall calling in sick, and then not much until five o'clock. all i managed to do on my birthday was drag my ass out of bed and pick up a birthday meal at white spot. plus cake of course.

so, instead, i offer up tales from last year's birthday celebration.

i spent the week in los angeles. i arrived the day before new years eve.


the first night i was there, i went to a re-gifting party. i had never heard of this before, but i will steal this idea one day. everyone brings a gift they got that they do not want. i, of course, did not have any gifts with me. so me and my friend 'k' who i was staying with, went to target and hit the clearance racks. we ended up with a couple of chocolate/food type gift baskets for super cheap.

i think there must have been over 40 people there. i say people, and yes, they were people but i was the only female there. and the only straight person there as well. it was the beginning of my big gay trip to l.a. some of the guys were not thrilled to have me there, but most of them were fine.

the gifts ranged from stuff that was really cool, to truly awful. there was a lot of gay porn. a lot. i don't think i've ever seen so much, not even in the stores! the picture shows a bagel keeper being held by the son of a singer from an 80's hair band. i received a elephant wine bottle holder. i would post a picture, but i am not sure where it is right now.

the next day was new year's eve. my friend had a "date" in the afternoon. he was rather concerned about me but i'm like.. umm, i'm a grown up. i can amuse myself for an afternoon. but what are you going to do? i said, drop me off in an area with shopping and movie theatres and i'll be fine. so off it was to burbank for a little shopping and a movie or two. i shopped a little, and then i was ready for the movies. i figure, hey, i'm in l.a., no problem. big problem. the only movies playing were bad remakes and sequels to movies i'd never seen (king kong, cheaper by the dozen 2, yours, mine and ours). or brokeback mountain. my friend "l" and i had made a vow to go see it together. i knew if i went to see it, she would tear a strip off me. on the other hand, i knew if i didn't see it, when i got back, she would be like, i couldn't wait for you. i choose not to go. finally, i ended up going to see 'the ringer'. i only went to see it because i kinda have a thing for johnny knoxville. i sat in the theatre, alone, cursing my friend. turns out the movie wasn't that bad. for some reason, i thought they made fun of the special olympics. turns out the special olympics made fun of johnny knoxville. however, he was so not crush worthy in that movie.

i got a big kick out of these huge holiday balls.

check out the sky in this picture and above. yes, this is sunny l.a.!

for new years, i joined my friend and his roommate in their traditional celebrations. watching the original 'poseidon adventure' and eating chinese food. i had so much fun. i did it this year as well. i added my own twist as well. but that's for another post. i didn't see the remake but the original is hilarious. especially while watching with a group of witty gay men. we loved the hot pants!

next day, i checked into a hotel. i had decided that i didn't want to wake up on my birthday on a pull out sofa. been there, done that. so i decided to splurge a little and spend a night in a hotel. i ended up staying at the roosevelt hotel on hollywood boulevard. i can highly recommend it. it wasn't outrageously expensive, yet you felt fancy. it's got a ton of history, marilyn monroe lived there, the oscars were held there etc. and it's pretty much right across from grauman's chinese theater. i felt very classy staying there.

the hotel. my room was a corner suite. the bedroom window was on this side.


when booking a fancy hotel, always give them a reason to upgrade you. since it was my birthday, they gave me a free upgrade to a suite! the suite was bigger than a west end apartment. this is just the front room.

my fancy bed. more on this later.




the view from my bedroom window. those dots? rain.

the pool. see how it looks like it's bubbling? that's caused by the wind and the rain.

i decided to splurge and have a drink in my hotel bar. the bar had this godiva chocolate liqueur that i wanted to try but it was locked up and nobody seemed to have the key. someone nearby wanted to have some wine and even that was locked up. i eventually got some lesser chocolate martini for $14 and retired to my room to enjoy the luxury.

i was excited to find out i had a cd player in my bedroom. i put some tunes on and was bopping around the room. see that fancy bed above? pretty fancy huh? well, the mattress is actually bigger than the frame. while i was dancing to this, i banged into the bed. i remember thinking right before the moment of impact, nice big soft mattress, this won't hurt. ha! underneath the bed is a solid wood frame. which my shin proceeded to meet at a high velocity. the pain, the pain! now, some people who do not know me very well, say to me.. oh, you must have been drunk. those that know me, know i must have been sober. i have excellent balance when i've been drinking. i am a clutz when i am sober.

i woke up the next morning. happy birthday to me. in pain. my shin was killing me. and it was turning some lovely colours. plus there was this really loud noise. i couldn't figure it out. it was so loud, i finally got out of bed and tried to figure out where it was coming from. it sounded like outside. it was raining so hard and so loud it woke me up. and i'm from vancouver! luckily, it didn't last very long.

i did manage to go swimming in the pool. it was raining and i think people thought i was nuts. here is the pool, the mural is done by david hockney.

i spent the day walking around hollywood. i also visited the erotic museum.

eeek! scientologists! i found this both scary and confusing.

my friend 'k' got off work, picked me up and went headed out to disneyland and the house of blues to see social distortion. i had an awesome time. except it took me all night to figure out how to get down to the floor. and by then, it was too late.