Day Numero Uno, Continued: Trying New Things! *spazzes*

Friday, July 17th

So we departed from the airport. I saw no celebrities while I was at the airport, which leads me to believe that I have some kind of curse placed on my head. When I was in California in October, I saw no one (if you don't count the actors from Wicked; the guy that played Steve on Married With Children was in it). I was there for 9 days. WTF?! They are all hiding. They must know I'm crazy. They've probably actually got Danny locked up in a bomb shelter somewhere in Europe until they know I'll be millions of miles away from Cali. *sadface*

While we were on the road, talking ensued. Lots of talking. I normally am not that talkative, unless I'm with my mom or something. I just like to annoy her. But as I said before, it was like I'd known May for ages. Speaking of good ol' mom, I had to call her to tell her that I hadn't been abducted by rapist werewolves or something.

We passed two notable things that I can remember: The Staples Center, which is where MJ's memorial service was held. It was crazy because not even 2 weeks before that I was watching that from my tiny laptop screen in the cluttered abyss that is my bedroom. And then we passed this HUGE Harry Potter ad on a building. Snape was on it. He was bringing the sexy like a mofo. I love that he looks like an older version of Trent Reznor. Alan Rickman is another man in my exclusive "Age 50+ Men That I'd Have 'Relations' With Every Day and Twice on Sunday!" I kind of sacrificed my Harry Potter viewing to go to Cali (which was worth it!). I hope to see it soon. Sometimes it sucks to only have friends that live 3753277 hours away. Oh well, whatever, nevermind.

I got to see May's office and meet her dad. Her parents are very awesome and adorable. Her dad makes some seriously amazing jewelry, which I need to tell my aunt about soon. She's been working in the JC Penney jewelry department for...a very long time. I assume she'd be interested.
After taking a quick pee break (unnecessary detail?), we set off to explore! I should have been tired at this point, but I was full of piss and vinegar (well, technically just vinegar, since the piss had just been expelled) and ready to PAR-TAYYY!
I'd never seen more jewelry stores in my life. Also, for the first time in my life, I ate at El Pollo Loco. Which, of course, translates to "The Crazy Chicken." That's my kind of place right there! The chicken burrito I ordered was ginormous and delicious. I'm rather sad that we don't have that here. One more reason for me to GTFO and go live there.

You know what else I did? Rode the freaking subway! Yeah, yeah, big deal. But it was to me! I'd only seen them in the movies! I live such a sheltered life, and that was made about as obvious as a giant wart on someone's face, but my sheltered, easily amused self enjoyed it immensely. I saved my tickets.

Wandering around Hollywood Blvd was quite an adventure. I spent much time looking at the ground, but not for the same reasons I usually do. I was looking at the stars, trying to find names of people I adore or people I could directly relate to Danny in some way. Yes, I am a nerd. I saw Pee-Wee Herman's star. The picture is regrettably still on my phone. Same with Ozzy Osbourne's. Ozzy's been an idol of mine since I was a young metalhead fresh out of seventh grade. *nostalgia*

I took this picture especially for my mom. She's the biggest Fleetwood Mac fan that I know, even going as far as to name her only child after Stevie Nicks. I figured said only child should do that. Mom was pleased.

Apparently some guys were checking me out at one point. That never happens, so I'm reluctant to believe that it's any different in another part of the country. I told May I was going to look up the phrase that was used, but I don't remember what it was. Goldfish memory, of course. I also don't remember what they looked like. I'm surprised I even remember enough to write these blogs! I'm the world's youngest Alzheimer's sufferer, I swear.

May took me to this awesome bar called the Velvet Margarita. And when I say awesome, it's an understatement. The decor was GORGEOUS. I was looking up reviews last night and someone said it was like being in a Tim Burton movie. My kind of place indeed, heh heh heh. I met a couple of her friends who worked there. May, if you're reading this, you seriously do have cute friends.

If I may digress for a second: THERE ARE QUITE A FEW CUTE GUYS IN LA!!! ARGH!! This is extremely frustrating when you live in a shithole filled with redneck, conservative types whom you'd never get along with in a million years. The most attractive person is the one with all their hair and teeth who DOESN'T listen to country music and watch NASCAR. I'm not even sure if such a person exists, unless you count the emos and wannabe gangstas that are around my age. Which I don't, because I tend to gravitate toward older men. Much older...*cough* Yes, Freud would have a field day with me, I know. Anyway, enough ranting.

While checking out other various, cool-as-hell buildings, we noticed a big group of people standing around something. *GASP* I couldn't believe it. It was Michael Jackson's star. I wasn't sure if I'd get to see it or not. Seeing it up close with the many tributes to him laid around it was very emotional. I wanted to leave him something too, but I had nothing. More on that later.

Eventually we (and by that I mean us and her parents) went back to May's house. I don't mean to be mean with this, but she had a sick turtle that looked straight out of Star Wars. It was cool, but sad.
While we waited for dinner and for Cathy to show up, we watched some special features on the Edward Scissorhands DVD which showed Danny looking like the cutest nerd of all time and *gag* his ex-girlfriend. One day, when I get a time machine...oh, don't get me started on that speech again. That digression might take about 10 different blog posts.
We watched a Jeff Goldblum movie that I'd been dying to see, and I was not disappointed. Another one of May's friends came over. She, naturally, was cool. We talked a bit and watched Ah-nold make an ass of himself in Rio. Funniest shit I'd ever seen, and I actually like Ah-nold. Maybe I wouldn't if I lived in Cali, but..."It's not a toomah!" That's all I'm saying.

Cathy showed up and it was good times. Dinner was authentic Spanish food, which I'd never had in my life. LOVED IT. I miss it, actually. Again, I'm back to my lack of food diet, which is doing my head in as far as brain power is concerned. My writing is going to suffer. I think it is already. Damn.

More talking ensued until late that night. It was kind of funny because my jetlagged self was slowly falling asleep as the conversation went on...until the subject switched to Danny. Suddenly I was awake, alert, and contributing animatedly to the convo. That tends to happen quite a bit, seeing as he is my favorite subject. I'm majoring in Elfmanology. I'm trying for my Master's degree in it! Huzzah!

Seriously, though. Look at him. He should be everyone's favorite subject. Period. Exclamation point. Whatever.

We discussed many things, from the fact that Danny has been Elton John-ing recently and...Geisha-ing?! You had to be there. A week later and that still cracks me up. And training he may or may not have had. Oh, and his hair. Yeah, all kinds of good stuff. I love him.

Fastforward to bedtime. I was crashing at Cathy's mom's place and got a delightful surprise. A beautiful picture of Danny in a frame in ze guest room. The fun didn't stop there. Cathy showed me a couple posters she'd brought. One specific picture almost gave me a heart attack. Yeah, that one. I mean, really, does the man even REALIZE what he does to poor young women such as myself? I used to make fun of people in suspenders a couple years ago. Now I look at them and go, "SHAZAAAAAAAAAAM! HOLY MOTHER OF BOB SAGET! HOTHOTHOT!!! I'm on FIYAH!!! YOWZA! WOOOOOOOO!" You get the idea. You know how awkward that is? Hittin' up a Chinese buffet and seeing some overweight, elderly man sporting those things and suddenly having a craving for something that is NOT Chinese food?!?! What the hell have you done to me, Danny? I'm a monster. A fiend. A twelve-year-old girl.

Let's hope he never reads this. The last thing he needs is to know that a certain creepy redheaded girl is madly in love with him. Ignorance is bliss indeed.

So, I digress again.
We went to sleep, because the next day was going to be EPIC. The end.

Hopefully the next part is coming tomorrow. I've noticed that the 'A' is fading from my keyboard and that disturbs me.

Of Dr. Seussian Statements and Ignorant Opinions

Don't you love it when people make judgements/assumptions with basically no coherent argument to back it up?
"Oh, he was a junkie, nothing more."
"OMG, he molested kids! He's gonna burn in hell!"
"He's a Muslim because his name sounds like Osama!"
"OJ did it, man!!"

Alright, forget the OJ thing. There is solid evidence to prove that he did do it, so why defend him in this little rant? Plus, what has OJ really done for society? Really. He's always getting busted for stuff. My reason for this is because I read something that really upset me last night. I always read things that upset me, because I am a defensive old bat who can't stand it when people bash things I love for no good reason. If you're going to bash something and want to debate with me about it, have a reasonable argument ready. I'll admit that sometimes my own arguments have several holes, but I will not act as though my opinion is fact if I know this.
As usual these days, the subject was Michael Jackson and his alleged pedophilia. The person in question called him a couple unsavory, disrespectful names, that really shot all credibility in the ass from the start. The whole fiasco began because of a header banner at a forum I frequent. Both Michael and the subject of the forum (Layne Staley, who is also deceased) were in it together, and that offended this person because, "OMG he's a pedophile! That's disrespecting Layne!" That's basically the gist of what was said, not verbatim. Verbatim would just make this person look worse, to be honest.
I love Layne to death, first of all. He was my first real love, and even if I don't feel quite the same anymore, that will always mean something to me. But let's face some facts here. The man was a junkie. Sure, he was also a brilliant musician, wonderful artist, and one hell of a guy, but he was still a junkie. Everyone in the fandom knows that. But because we respect the man and his art, we don't go around defining him by his habit and get angry when others do, when they obviously know nothing about his character otherwise.
Same goes with Michael. Most people calling him a pedophile are merely parroting what the media had said about him before he passed away. There is solid evidence that he did not molest those kids. And you know what? This is coming from someone who was not always a defender of his innocence. I did research and came to my own personal conclusions. Independent thinking is something more people should look into. I don't quite understand the sheep mentality. Michael was a very loving, exploited man who was misunderstood mostly by self-righteous puppets.
So you'll see where the hypocrisy comes in. Getting angry about Layne being called a junkie, which was a proven fact that he didn't even try to hide, yet spouting off accusations about Michael with NO FACTS...God, obviously you have no common sense. I compared Michael to Jesus in part of my argument. Not saying he WAS Jesus, but the parallels are there. A kind, pure-hearted man comes into the world and wants everyone to love each other. In turn, those around him shun him and it eventually leads to his death. The response was that as an atheist, she knew nothing about Biblical stuff. You know, I would understand if we were talking about a slightly more obscure Biblical figure like...Job. Not everyone knows about him. But Jesus is common knowledge, especially if you are from uber-Christianized America. I was an atheist for a decade and never really paid attention in Sunday school as a child, and I still had enough Biblical knowledge to successfully debate Christians about their faith. I know a lot of atheists who do, so they don't look like the morons some of the more conservative types paint them to be. Declaring ignorance about that doesn't reward points in your favor. Also saying that Michael contributed nothing to music shows that you have ignorance in that field too. Why don't you just admit that you fail? Take your proverbial ball and go home.
Anyway, to me junkies and pedophiles are both not good. The point is that we know one was one thing, and the other MIGHT have been, but probably wasn't. Who gives a shit anyway? They were brilliant, amazing souls who need to be left alone and remembered for what they did contribute to the world. RESPECT.

I think I now understand why my mother has always said I should be a lawyer.

Also...when the hell did it become uncool to spell "judgement" with an "e?" The spelling is acceptable, according to the dictionary, yet every flipping time I type it, I get that stupid red line of death. "Judgment" looks weird to me. I refuse to embrace that spelling. Ever. Ine Facte, I'me goinge to starte puttinge ane "e" ine almoste everythinge. How do you like them apples, spellcheck?

I Shall Temporarily Withhold Sexually Deviant Comments. Especially Ones Directed At the Pope and Frank Zappa.

*takes deep breath* Michael Jackson's memorial service. Wow, talk about intense. I wish I could have been there instead of just watching it on my tiny laptop screen. Although if I'd been there, I would not be sitting here writing about how I wish I could have been there. There's the real tragedy, let me tell ya. I'd probably be seriously crying like a little girl. I'm surprised I'm not, actually. These past couple weeks have been highly emotional for a multitude of people throughout the universe. You know the aliens are just as sad about this as we are! Or not, considering one of the Men In Black movies outed him as an extraterrestrial (unless I was dreaming that part, like that time I swore ET actually turned out to be a chain-smoking bag lady named Marge). They're probably thrilled to have him come home. Selfish creatures. They need to bring him back. Now.
But wherever Michael is, I hope he's happy and being shown all the love he gave while he was here and then some. He deserves it. <3

Now I've got my window open and am blasting the holy hell out of "Thriller," hoping the people outside will hear it and start doing the dance in the middle of the street in honor of MJ and for my own personal entertainment. It's not working yet. The consequences of living in the middle of nowhere. Bah.

So where do we go from here?
I'm thinking McDonald's. I'm starving. Oh, that's right. McDonald's is not a charitable organization. They don't give free Big Macs to the poor, such as myself. Bummer.
To the Batmobile!..If only I could drive. And actually HAD the Batmobile. Triple bummer.
Alrighty then. We go nowhere...for now.

The King Is Dead. A Moment of Silence, Please.

It comes in threes, and unfortunately Michael Jackson has completed that awful trinity. Michael Jackson. One of the few people out there I'd thought of as being immortal. Despite a series of health issues, he always seemed to hang in there.
I'd been asleep, as I'm known to do most of the time, and received a text with the news. In a sleepy haze, I shook my head and wrote it off as some kind of hoax. In my mind, a loving God wouldn't take him before, say, Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, or [insert typical Hollywood bimbo]. His personal life was questionable, no doubt. Everyone knows about the child molestation charges, hanging Blanket off the balcony, going out in public looking as though he was afraid SARS was going to make a comeback before he did, the overly excessive plastic surgery that transformed him from a handsome African-American man to...something not even human, etc. But he was human. A fragile human, at that.
I'll be one of the first to admit that I made many jokes about him concerning this behavior, as most of us did. I found the South Park episode about him to be both hilarious and frightening. I never did it for malicious purposes. I, like South Park, make fun of everything.
I actually respected the guy, and pitied him. The respect has been there since I was a child. I was sitting here earlier, listening to his music and fully realizing how it had an impact on me then. I remember being four or five, trying so hard to Moonwalk. Once I thought I had it right, I'd try to show people and just trip over myself and fall over. Michael was the coolest for that. He was probably my second favorite Michael overall (gimme a break, it was the 90's and I had the Jordan fever. Basketball was life for a certain redheaded tomboy!)
I loved the sound of his voice. It was so unique and still is. Next to aspiring NBA (yes, you read that right) player, I wanted to be a singer. Now singing is my number one aspiration. After several failed attempts at dancing (that have carried over to adulthood), I spent a long time trying to imitate him and those weird inflections that sounded like a cross between a sob and a hiccup. I didn't know what the hell he was doing, but I liked it. I ended up sounding like a dying cat, so I tried to sound like Whitney Houston instead. Let's face it, I shouldn't really be white. The Whitney Houston thing also failed, but I digress.
The first tears that threatened to spill over tonight came from "Will You Be There." It was basically the theme from Free Willy. Yeah, that whale movie. Being a lover of animals and such, it was one of those movies that really affected me emotionally. The song did too. Just thinking about that damn song and movie make me tear up.
Losing Michael is the end of an era. Many people will probably feel like others did when we lost Elvis, Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, Kurt Cobain, Tupac, etc. Mr. Jackson was a very talented and kind-hearted individual, despite the allegations against him. He will be missed dearly.
He obviously had a lot of issues in his short life, and maybe I'm not being as harsh on him as others would be. The man was really like a child in a grown man's body, and I find it sad that he had to be like that in the first place. Hopefully now he is at peace. <3 For now we should focus on the musical legacy he left behind.