All Things Go

So, I started apartment hunting on Thursday and I'm already feeling totally exhausted. I also know Astoria like the back of my hand now. I was literally about to put a deposit in a realtor's hand today until the landlord decided she really only wanted a single person in the apt...unless I moved in for July 15th - because that really makes sense?

You'd think I'd be a little tired of The Beatles due to work, but I'm not! I'm actually watching Across the Universe at the moment (damn do I love me some Oh! Darling), and bought tickets for Sir Paul next Tuesday at Citifield. Let's just hope these tickets aren't fakes and me and my mom will be good to go. And speaking of the gents, I never posted photos from this year's E3.

My flight was coming into LA that Monday morning from Chicago (more on that later), so I had to book it to the Microsoft press conference. When I landed at LAX I realized that due to our idiot travel agency, my rental car was cancelled. I had to sort that all out, actually figure out how to operate the car, and then figure out the directions (got lost right near the place despite having a GPS.) I ended up at the back of the line when the conference was kicking off and I knew our game was up first, resulting me doing something similar to a wee wee dance but couldn't plead with security because of the confidentiality of what was gong down inside. I missed the beginning (Harmonix speaking and playing the game, screening of the game's intro cinematic - if you haven't seen it you really should watch this beautiful piece of work, and our 10 song gameplay trailer.) I got in just in time to see Dhani Harrison come out followed by Olivia Harrison and Yoko Ono though, phew!

...followed by Sir Paul and Ringo. Seeing the audience reaction was almost as awesome as actually seeing them.

Tony Hawk photo for good measure...

I left to go to the convention center before Steven Spielberg came out, oh well.

Anyway, our booth was bangin'!

The outside was designed to look like Abbey Road Studios...

As was the inside...We won G4's award for best booth!

Harmonix demo team working their thang for the crowd inside "Abbey Road Studio 2"...Stephanie and Cheryl, aka one half of the "Booth Babes" (yes, myself included)Lego Rock Band action...In case you didn't know, there are a LOT of songs available on Rock Band!This year's E3 was a lot different from last year's. 2008 was great and all, but I barely ate and that was no fun. This time I had a handful of awesome meals and fun activities in the evening. This includes stepping on light-up floors with my co-workers...After that I stayed with Melanie and Eric in Pacific Palisades. They were having some drama with a funky smell emanating from somewhere. After multiple theories, the last thing concluded (when I was there) was that the stink was coming from the spiritual center's lake behind their apt.Things that look pretty don't necessarily smell pretty...As a result of the stink, Melanie and Eric were told that they could camp out in the empty apartment across the hall, so we basically squatted there for 2 nights. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice Melrose Place-style building, and a beautiful renovated apartment, but we were still squatting - like we literally dragged mattresses over, the computer for entertainment, and we would run across the hall to shower and get our things. It was bizarre!

Fosters (acting like they usually do)

For the dumbass moment of the weekend (I know you're thinking there could have been many of these considering it was me and Melanie together) - we rented Pineapple Express, and in case you don't know anything about it, the whole movie revolves around potheads. We were about to put it into the computer, Melanie opens the case and realizes it's not in there. We called Blockbuster and she explained this to the guy, and just as she's doing so, Eric walks in and asks what the problem is so I tell him - and he points out that the disc was on the floor right next to us...whoops! Melanie simply told Blockbuster "Nevermind we're dumb" and hung up. Of all movies for us to have done that with, it really could not have been more suiting.

High class squatting...Pre-LA I went to Chicago for Zoe's wedding. Debbie (my new friend of a friend who is now my friend, yay) split a room and were buds for the weekend. We stayed out with some peeps after the rehearsal dinner which landed us with two big hangovers. Not only that, but we got ourselves stuck with some dude who wanted to sightsee with us the next day. At least we had someone to take our photos :/

Me and Dee on a bridge...Cool fountain where the dude spits...The Bean...Our reflection...Holding it up...Ready to make out...

Winding walkway... Is this the fountain from Married with Children?Waiting for the wedding to start (of course I'm once again the outsider American in black)

Mr. & Mrs. Kappelman Cocktail hour, I was pretty much knocking people over to get to the sushi
Zoe with the bridesmaidsZoe had sneakers on!!Rachael and MarcYum cake...

Off to Kat's to try out her new Pimms recipe, ciao!

New in Town

Ana visited New York (and me) these past two weeks for the first time. She mostly did sightseeing during the day while I was at work, and we did a bunch of random things at night and on the weekends. Like...

Checking out High Line Park - the new park on the old elevated train tracks on the west side which spans about 10 blocks. They still have train tracks laid throughout the park and tons of places to sit while you can look down over the various side streets (12th to 20th I believe.)

View above 10th Avenue... View of the spot where Ana was just standing... More views from the Chelsea end...We walked around the seaport...Ana playing tourist...We went to the BBQ-fest in Madison Square Park. Free Snapple and Pop Chips! Some random dude (on the left) took this photo. Too funny not to post... Even better... Ana's ankles were swollen from the flight. We didn't have a proper icepack so Meghan filled up a cleaning glove instead...Had to teach her beer pong...Went for Indian food at one of the tacky restaurants on 1st ave...Squished ourselves into the Love sign in Midtown...I got stuck in the E...At Better Than Ezra...Too pooped to write about the show, will save that for another post.Heather rented out a karaoke room at iBop for her 30th birthday... Graham with the ladies... Travis with the ladies...We went to Citi Field. It rained (of course.)During the rain time out...The Mets lost (of course.)Went to Banshee with Rachel and Robyn and had the worst pub quiz MC ever!! I knew the answer to "Who was the Prime Minister before Tony Blair?" Shows that I did learn something from living in London for a year and a half.We went to Crocodile Lounge for the free pizza (of course.)Then we took photos with monsters on the Lower East Side...I finally saw one of our postings for the game, yay!Yummmm crepes...We checked out wedding invitations and flowers, then went to the diner with my mom. Ana loves the diner, who could have doubted that she wouldn't?We got her obsessed with Pinkberry (and Red Mango, and Berrywild...)The stupidest thing I have ever seen - a massive line around the block for an American Apparel sample sale. Ummm are you kidding me? Maybe I'm even dumber for taking a picture of this. @$^$%# hipsters.I walked over the Brooklyn Bridge for the first time...Random stoop posing in Brooklyn Heights...Sculpture thing... More sculpture thing...And finally, more jumping photos (I was unsuccessful in getting any mid-air shots.)Time to leave Brooklyn, hooray!