March: Some Stuff From It.

Yeah, so there was this stretch of six weeks where I was working all day every day...and by all day, I really mean all day (8am to midnight) and by every day, I mean absolutely every day (that I wasn't in California). That light burned bright and brief, it was a six week sprint, and then suddenly one Friday, the case was done and my time was my own.

So I ran to the nearest theater and saw Episode VII one last time in the theater while I could. That would make five times I saw it in the theater. By seeing it in the theater five times, I find myself in no rush to get the Blu Ray.

The next morning I met up with Karrie and Laura from my Bachelor watching group to eat and the walk around taking pictures. It was a great way to celebrate my first Saturday off of the year.

We ate at the tremendously popular the Smith. I'd never been there before, except to use the bathroom...it's easy to sneak into the bathroom at busy places.

Oh I just realized this picture of an empty dining room might seem like me being sarcastic about the Smith being tremendously popular. This is a dining room in the basement. The upstairs was poppin. Maybe the basement was being reserved for a wedding or something.

Apres lunch, over to Union Square. First things first: let's figure out camera settings.

Chubby Union Square squirrels know no fear. And my camera has no zoom. I was getting up close and fursonal with those guys.

There was a lady selling knit pigeons, so much like the real thing.

Knit rat pile.

Then we headed down to Washington Square Park to see what was going on down there.

A Wheaton was freaking out over a fur ball.

Two yoga people were doing some serious balancing.

And a fellow on roller blades was helping a man push his grand piano home. Typical!

At this point our group disengaged and I wandered down through the Village to Soho.

Passed a cake disaster.

Some West 4th Street Basketball (located outside the West 4th Street subway station on 3rd Street).

That bad feeling I get when I know I'll be trying something out (The new 7-11 $2 Chicken Sandwich, that is...not a melt. Who cares about a melt.)

Soho Apple Store because bathroom.

A wide variety of classic scripts available for purchase, such as Thor.

Went up to this store that's an apartment but everything in the apartment is for sale. Maybe including the apartment? Once they sell everything else?

I was walking along thinking: Wait, isn't there a Kanye West pop-up shop this weekend? And right around then is when the Kanye West pop-up shoppers started popping up. I followed the reverse trail of Pablo apparel to the location.

It was, say, one-ish when I passed by and I overheard people coming out saying that they had gotten in line at 7am that morning.

Don't worry, guys. You'll be posting your purchases on ebay soon!

This is a picture from night time on another day.

In celebration of a job well done, I bought myself a new tie that I thought looked cool. But then when I wore it to church I was like "Wait...is this just an old United airlines pilot tie?" Thank you to everyone that listened to me make that observation over and over that day.

KFC has got a new kind of spork that's shaped like a shovel. I got this with their new Nashville Hot Chicken. My take on the KFC Hot Chicken: Of course this is crazy that they're making Hot Chicken, but also a little cool that Big Chicken is trying to bring such a niche chicken to the masses, one that is so geographically particular and community dependent...I mean the audacity is remarkable. Anyway. It's not hot. Or super good. But the flavor is surprisingly accurate--the secret might be the pickles? (as long as they remember to include your pickles). Also: all they do is squirt a Hot hot sauce on their normal chicken. It's not real Hot Chicken. Duh.

The day before Easter I went out to Bushwick to try out the well-regarded burger at Fritzl's Lunch Box with Laura. I didn't get a picture of the burger, but I did get a picture of a nearby taco mural.

Then I rode westward a bit to go on a good old fashioned Williamsburg walk.

The day after the day before Easter? It's Easter! This is my co-Home Teacher Mike and there's me in my traditional Easter tie, 11 years running.

After church I was fortunate to attend Kristin's annual Easter Dinner at Brent's apartment, of which I took next to no photographs

BUT CHECK OUT THIS LAMB CAKE. I mean, COME ON! I think it's amazing, don't ewe?

One night I had a great feast at Mission Cantina with Leanna where I discovered that, thanks to their Green Chili Cheeseburger, you don't have to drive all the way to Shady Glen (<--that's a good link, you should click it) if you want a crispy cheese overflow sticking out from your burger anymore.

Living up in Harlem now I can just walk to tutoring on Tuesday nights

Stakes were high at the Hotdogs and Homework egg hunt this year

I'm also seeing more of my buddy Steve, too

Being at home and having free time has also let me get back to cooking. Plus one of my goals with the new apartment was to get an oil cloth tablecloth and some Chinatown plates and bowls. Goals accomplished!

Made my old Cannelloni Bean and Kale soup

Tried several iterations of Chongqing Chicken Tacos to get the salsa situation (hidden under the chicken) right

I've "perfected" my Bacon and Rice Cakes through the introducition of chili flake and water

And I bought some quesillo cheese from a nearby Mexican grocer so I can make quesadillas out of everything. In this case, leftover spicy Sichuan sausage.

And one last thing about food...remember that feeling I had about the 7-11 chicken sandwich coming my way?

LA: Wrapping up this Wrap Up

Tuesday. I had a flight back to New York at 5, so actually that means I had a lot of LA time. Not enough, of course. But some.

Started off by meeting up with Chateau, Jane and Carol for breakfast at Sqirl, another hot Los Angeles restaurant I have no place calling hot. It's a breakfast place that also serves lunch. Lots of things that seem healthy, lots of grain words and fruit words on that menu.

This is the coin toss where I made my (legal) u turn to get from the freeway to the restaurant.

Line on the outside

When did it start to win me over? When I got a load of the Eagle Scout list-style plaque of employees.

Line on the inside

A glimpse of the menu over there. And people trust people that they'll be done eating by the time they've ordered and there will be seats available for them, Cafe Rio style.

That woman right there is Jessica Koslow, the chef mastermind behind Sqirl.

And here's what you probably clicked over to see: Jane and Chateau, living that LA life. So great to see them, man and wife style.

This is what I had. The "Kokuho Rose Brown Rice Bowl" of rice and pesto with feta and a poached egg (and some other stuff, like hot sauce that I just had to trust was in there).

Kokuho Rose Brown Rice Bowl

Sorrel Pesto (nut free), Preserved Meyer Lemon, Lacto Fermented Hot Sauce, Black Radish, French Sheep Feta, Poached Egg

Popular Order: Toast with ricotta and jam

Good art there like the good art at Night + Market. But where do you get frames like this? I want frames like this.

I was back to Grandma's in time for lunch. We sat with Becky and Greg, talking about where to get that lunch and they sold me on a place called Lupita's that sounded good. When we got there I was like "Ohhh...Lupita's, I've been here." It's a good place! And for now on I won't forget what its name is.

Grandma's Inside Scoop: The taquitos are no good, but the flautas are good.

Then Becky drove off in the Jeep to ace a job interview and Greg drove me down to the airport with Grandma.

Thanks for having me, Grandma! Hope to be back soon!

At the airport I did that thing where you're really early for your flight but then you almost miss your flight because they change your gate while you're just patiently waiting for you flight and you don't know, because you got there before they changed the gate.

But no biggie, I got on that plane and flew on back to New York. On the flight I was able to take care of business I hadn't been able to attend to during my California time.

LA: the Disney Day

Ok...let's see if I can get this post written before Squarespace crashes this time.

So here's the deal: Collin, Carol, Greg, Becky and I spent the night in Newport Beach because we were going to Disneyland the next day! All week the forecast had been saying it would be rainy all Monday and when we woke up that morning it was indeed savagely stormy at the beach. The rain pounded and the wind howled like the Cloverfield monster. In anticipation of this weather I had bought a bunch of ponchos, but by 8 the weather had let up and by 8:15 we were on our way to the Happiest Place on Earth and by 9:00 we had entered California Adventure. While Collin got our Radiator Springs Fastpasses the rest of us headed for Midway Mania as this is a line-beating strategy that has proven to work well.

The beach once things calmed down. A little earlier it had looked a lot spookier.

Something learned: you're not allowed to photograph the ticket takers, no matter how slow they are at their job.

Five people, three cars. Sometimes that's how it has to be. You wonder for a minute if meeting up at the park will be tricky, but no. Turns out it's not.

One of Becky's trademark one-legged poses.

You know, even if Midway Mania is just a video game, it sure is awful fun. It's just got that Disney magic going on big time!

Then we dashed past Grizzly Rapids (which I'm not sad to say I've never been on) to Soarin' Over California where we ran into an unexpectedly long line. I don't know what it was, a lot of people trying to avoid a big line for Soarin' by hitting it early and then there we all were, stuck in line together.

Dazzled by all the California aviation history

Lengthy line time was also good Team Building time.

Soarin' over California and beyond the infinite

After Soarin' we still had a little bit of time before our Radiator Springs fast passes kicked in so we dashed over to the Tower of Terror where the line was so short that Greg, Becky and I practically walked on. That's how lines were all day: either surprisingly long or just about non-existent. Nearly nothing in the middle.

The view from just before the drop

Look at the fun we're having!

And then it was time for our Radiator Springs ride. I cannot conceive of waiting in line for this ride for two hours, but that's how a lot of people choose to spend their day at Disneyland. 

Look at this good picture of us, Mom! Also, Dear Readers, if you're wondering about that plastic hat: Grandma had given it to me to wear in the rain with the condition I not bring it back. But I liked it so much I brought it back to her house to wear again on my next trip.

Me, clutching my pearls. And see that kid in the back? No idea who he is, he just appeared in our car like one of the Haunted Mansion hitchhiking ghosts.

After Radiator Springs Racers we took a backroad out of Cars Land and I took advantage of our path to finally ride the sea otter on King Triton's Carousel. 

At last!

Making pals with this lovable scamp

Ok, ok. There's more than one sea otter on the carousel.

There's also seals and stuff on the carousel and a lot of people are perfectly happy riding them

Next Up: the Ferris Wheel, with exercises while we wait

If you haven't been on the California Adventure Ferris wheel you wouldn't understand the California Adventure Ferris wheel

And then: Right on over to one of my favorite California Adventure attractions...

Were both of these for me? Can't remember. Let's just say they were.

And then we wrapped up our California Adventure Adventure with the revisionist history of the Little Mermaid ride and a bumping into with the Army Guys

And then, Disneyland proper!

First Stop: Star Tours. Last time I went on this, even though it was the new version, there was just about no line. This year, however, great big line! Everyone's got Star Wars fever now, thanks, Force Awakens!

But Collin loves a good line because it means he can do his sketching

In the giant gift shop after the ride you can buy one of these gross guys

Or build your own pair of R2 units for $22.

We got Space Mountain Fast Passes before Star Tours, but those wouldn't mature for another, uh, FOUR HOURS so we tried to tackle most of the rest of the park before then.

The Jungle Cruise was down for planned maintenance. And then Indiana Jones was down for unexpected maintenance. And Pirates of the Caribbean was closed for unexpected issues, as well. BUT the Haunted Mansion was open, so on it we went.

I've photographed this cat grave before, but didn't notice the little bird tributes around it before.

As the Haunted Mansion is right next door to Splash Mountain that's what we rode next. Surprise! No line! Which is outrageous but I'm not complaining.

Before.

During. (Hold onto your hats!)

After! (Poor Becky...we had done a good job of putting all our group's weight in the back but we weren't expecting an anchor of a stranger to join us at the front of the log. The dousings were significant...good thing we had those ponchos!)

Spying on some Disney magic as we leave Critter Country

Carol didn't ride Splash Mountain with us, but she DID buy this BB8 Rice Krispie treat

Then we played catch up by riding the then open Pirates of the Caribbean and Indiana Jones...this guy in his 4th Amendment Assault Riffle t-shirt was kinda spookin everyone out

Then we crossed Frontier Land for a ride on the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad 

A duprass?

Golden Horseshoe golden hour?

Ask me what my favorite ride at Disneyland is and I won't be able to not give you a list, but Thunder Mountain will definitely be on that list. It's so fun and you get to chant "Goat! Goat! Goat!" (or at least I do that).

In which of these two pictures do Collin and I look more like pals?

Group photo, best effort.

Big Thunder fauna

GOAT among goats

The ladies took a churro break

And then it was back to Tomorrowland to use those Space Mountain fastpasses.

Because we've all got Star Wars fever, Space Mountain has been turned into Hyperspace Mountain and there's projections of X-Wings and Tie Fighters flying around in there. Which is cool. But this Star Wars fever that has seized all of the park has got me in the mood to downplay my own Star Wars fever, Matthew 6:6 style.

The ride was Star Wars themed, but the original traditional Space Mountain infrastructure remained. You just have to accept that this is some form of Corellian corvette now.

Becky loved it. I spent the days after Disneyland showing off ride photos of me, but Becky was the secret ride photo MVP

While we rode Space Mountain Carol got us a good spot in line for the Little Nemo Submarine Voyage, what a zen follow up to so much hectic adventure.

Goodbye, Tomorrowland

Hello, Matterhorn

With so many great rides to love at Disneyland you might forget for a moment that you love this mountain without a country. But the Matterhorn is amazing! Riding at night is so fun, as your sled zips in and out of the mountain, catching sparkling glimpses of the rest of Disneyland, roaring past the new wilder Abominable Snowmen...it's grand. Don't forget it.

We dipped into a little bit of Fantasyland, commandeering our own Storybook Land canal boat and getting our pilot to go off script and then checking out Mr. Toad's Wild Ride to confirm that, yes, the ride ends with you going to hell.

Blurry boat friends! Oh what a day we had! Were that it just was that day again today!

There's a new little bit of an annex to Fantasyland where I guess you meet princesses during the day but there's a really cool animatronic Figaro napping on a windowsill there you should check out

At this point that creeping realization came upon me that our Disney day was winding down. We were getting tired. We were getting hungry. All our big check boxes were checked off. We were milling around Mainstreet and that is NOT a good sign that you've got much Disneyland left. While everyone was, I don't know, buying stuff or eating ice cream I watched the end of the current parade.

Then I was kind of lost but remembered everyone was with Collin so it would be easy to find them

Then it was a dark time. Carol and Collin decided it was time to go, but you know me, I'll stay at Disneyland forever. So it was adios to my amigos

Followed up Astro Blasters and another Star Tours adventure with Greg and Becky and then we were all like "Okay, that was enough Disneyland" and we headed our own ways home, five hearts aglow with the Spirit of Disneyland.