Photo Dump

I finally realized that Costco has the best deal on 1 hour photo. $4 per roll. That's twice as cheap as CVS or the Dark Room. As soon as I discovered this on Wednesday, I rushed over with my 9 rolls of film but only got 8 back. I'm not sure if Costco lost one, or it's hiding somewhere in my car, but I'll figure out this mystery later. Most of my weekend has been dedicated to organizing all the photos I got developed and doing gardening projects with my mom amongst other things.

Here's the best of the bunch, and all I had patience to upload. More to come later. 

This dates back to Valentine's Day, when Kami, Jesse, Dylan and I took the metro to Brett's house for the first time.

Neat trick with the image splitting filter. Only downside is that I have no idea what the map looks like. 

And just like that my roll ended. Fortunately I had more film on hand because I ran into my friend Althea from South Africa, who was about to take the train from Union Station to Chicago. Small world!

Kami, Jesse and Althea probably trying to avoid eye contact with the subway performer mentioned in one of my previous posts. 

Western/Hollywood station. Neat tilling shot with green color filter. 

Brett's house, where we usually unleash mayhem in the form of Prince records, lots of booze, and really entertaining, but better if kept undisclosed, conversations. 

Nice plant Brett!

I can just hear Prince or The Cure in the background.

VDay dinner. These two are my favorite shots. 

I only have a few photos from the weekend we spent at the Durkin residence. The ones I do have are pretty telling. 

Jesse Durkin, and his "wtf is going on face". My finger in the top left edge of the photo indicates my ability to focus on what's in frame and what isn't. Inebriation leads to a lot of bad, bad photos. 

I'm usually really fuzzy and out of focus after I have a few beers.

 

And so are some of my photos. But damn this a lot of trophies, and the triple image does not even represent half of them. 

These are all the photos I could upload right now. Soon there will be a review of the Magnetic Fields show I went to with Jordan, Brett and Jesse. Meanwhile, don't worry, I'm holding down the fort over here in Northridge, but barely. What is going on with this crazy wind? It seems like a very early spring version of the Santa Anas, but about ten times more frigid. As soon as this bout of bad weather is over, the sunshine will bring more adventures and less clothing layers, both things which are crucial to my happiness. 

I'll leave you with some snapshots of the Valley and all of it's stucco glory. 

Intersection of Magnolia and Lankershim. Cool 70s colors with palm tree lined streets. What could be more Valley than that?

Also very Valley: Security guard trying to look tough down by the metro center on Lankershim. Who is this guy kidding? 

Driving in the rain. Almost as lethal as driving drunk for me. 

That's it for now! I can't wait for sunshine and all the fun things I have planned out for this month. 

Claudia 

how fucking romantic

This Valentine's Day, I decided not to firebomb the Hallmark Store (just kidding guys, I'm a firm believer in non-violence), and go out on a date with 3 of my besties. Here's what me and these hotties were up to. All photos courtesy of Dylan McDermott. My photos will come later, courtesy of CVS One Hour Photo* on Reseda/Chase. 

*Long side note about why my photos are always late: Over the past couple of weeks I have been using CVS' One Hour Photo services regularly. Every single time I've been in the store,I've gotten into some minor, or most recently - major argument with them about their poor customer service,  their One Hour Photo machine being broken, and always waiting in line 30 minutes before I can drop off or pick up my film. But yesterday, after I gave one of the managers a 30 minutes lecture about how they've tested my patience over and over, and caused me to lose day light on many ocassions, they gave me a phone number with a special extension (its not on their call menu!) to call and see how long my photos will take and when they are ready. So basically, because I'm kinda crazy and love to tell it to CVS like it is, they've given me a secret menu with a special extension, where Dylan thinks they'll have a hostage negotiator present on the line at all times in case I blow my fuse again over the poor customer service hoopla they put me through. 

I have to add, in my defense, I thank profusely every employee that goes out of their way to be nice to me, and I am appreciative of their good customer service when it happens. I'm not a total pill for no reason, so...that's that. Anyway, pictures from me tomorrow or tonight, depends when CVS will grace me with my copies of 24 4" by 5"s  mattes of the past couple of weeks.

But back to V-day. 

Kami, Jesse, Dylan and I doing what most Los Angelians have never done in their entire lives: taking the Metro somewhere. It was such fun, and we even got a little V-day performance by Mr. Starving Musician. I obviously donated - that guy and I share the same lack of steady income.

Notice in the photos my hair is going through various stages of teenage-boyness and cleanliness. 

We got off at Hollywood/Western where we headed to our dear friend Brett Salinas' apartment. 

The Kami-Jesus

Oh what better and more fun Jesus she would be!

can't wait to see the photos...

Hollywood/Western Station. Stop driving your car and just take the metro!!!

I think we were all supposed to take a nice hike in the hills to a special destination (I'm not going to say what it is until I have photos of it), but something happened...Oh yeah, we all got too drunk. Because Brett had dinner plans, my dates and I trekked over to the neighborhood Thai Restaurant, where we romanced each other with the flowers in the center pieces.

I almost fell out of my chair laughing, Kami broke a glass of water, we procedeed to put the flowers in our hair, and then we ordered more sake! This was the best V-Day I've ever had by far, including those I've spent with bfs. All that lovey-dovey shit is for dildos anyway. When Saint Valentine/other Christians were getting bludgeoned and murdered in the streets on past February 14th's they probs had no idea that this day would bring me polyamorous love (at least hypothetically), intoxication and a mean fucking hang over the next day. Joke's on them!

Speaking of Christianity, I need to become more ascetic in my choices of entertainment and distractions. Meaning, I need to lay off the sauce again. So next time you see me, please remind me to toast to asceticism and to CVS One Hour Photo!

My new project/challenge/crazy endeavor for the next few days is to take the bus as much as I can, and hopefully live to tell about it. I've been looking at this particular blog a lot. 

http://www.thebusbench.com/

It gives me the strength I need to take public transportation in Los Angeles, because let's face it, it's a fucking joke in this city. A sad, cruel, and annoying joke. But maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised.

Anyway, dwell on this for a while until my next post. There's a lot more stories to tell about last week and I have a very busy month next month (lots of shows, movies, fun to be had), so call me if you wanna go to a museum, or anything like that before the end of the month. Just make sure I can meet you there via public transportation/my own two feet cuz I'll be damned if I get in my car this week! This is what convinced me. 

Absolutely embarrassing Los Angeles. 

So now I'm going to take the DASH to the local public library to check out V. by Pynchon. Later fools!

Claudia