Shanti’s Dispatches

So I had way too much fun last weekend, even though there werenít any crazy trips to Hollywood or anything. On Saturday for brunch, Amber and I had bloody maryís and an egg white, goat cheese, spinach & tomato omelet at Breakwater in Redondo Beach. My cousin Sayward works there so she hooked us up. Then we went up to the bar where Dave (Saywardís friend who is way too crazy) was workingÖand of course he hooked us up as well. Ahh, rough life, eh? We met some nice 60+ year olds at the bar and talked about the legalization of marijuana and other semi-intellectual topics. It seems like you never meet anyone who actually, really thinks smoking pot should be a criminal offense. At least I never do. Maybe it shouldnít be legalized so that any old 15 year-old can buy it at the gas station, but at least people shouldnít be locked away for 30 years for growing & smoking a naturally occurring herb. Thatís my $.02, and seems to be the consensus of just about everyone I meet. Itíll never happen, of course (legalization, that is).

In California, theyíve passed several laws that make growing & prescribing marijuana legal for medicinal purposes. The problem is that Federal law still stipulates that this is illegal. There was a pretty widely publicized case a while back where a medical grower/supplier up in the Bay Area got convicted because the Feds came in and arrested him. At the trial, the defense wasnít allowed to tell the jury that under state law, what they were doing was perfectly legal. Ashcroft really has got to go.

So then we were supposed to go home and ride back up from Manhattan Beach all the way up to Culver City. If you know the area, thatís a pretty long trek (12+ miles), and we would go the round-about way (along the beach) so as to avoid driving on the streets all the way up there. But of course we just went home and crashed for a while. When I woke up later that day it felt like Sunday…. ahh, but no, it’s just 7:30pm on Saturday night.. still plenty of time to party the night away. My roommate and I went out to Trioís in Manhattan Beach. It was definitely rockiní, and the scenery was quality. Met a (shockingly) nice girlÖof course whenever I meet someone like this I assume they’re not from around here. Los Angeles chicks are pretty mean, or at least not “nice”, usually. But this girl was actually from LA so that was surprising.

The next night we went to Club Sushi right off the Pier in Hermosa Beach. This place rocks. Iíve been there probably more than any other restaurant out here now. I highly recommend the rainbow rolls, as well as the seared tuna. Yummy. Oh yeah and you canít forget the sake.

There is a fine art to sending over / buying drinks for girls. If you do it incorrectly, you totally waste your money / get taken advantage of and are made a total fool. If you do it correctly, you could just get a phone number, have a really awesome conversation, or maybe even get something more. There was a smokiní chick at the sushi bar eating by herself that night. It takes cahones for a woman to eat out at a restaurant by herself. Granted, the sushi bar is a little different, but still. So I sent her over an order of sake. A little while later she tries to get our attention and says thank youÖ I wait another little while until my cousin starts talking on her cell phone before I go over and introduce myself. Turns out she works at a major consulting firm, and is out here consulting for the same company as my roommate, and is from the same city as my roommate (Boston). Turns out she may want to move out to Los Angeles. Iím inÖ this is perfect. Weíve been playing phone tag the last few days but this could be a good one.

Do you ever keep hearing a word and wonder WTF it means? I kept hearing / reading the word “metrosexual” online, so of course I had to Google it.

The Word Spy - metrosexual

I received an email from someone with an .mil address that read:

funny how all you hippies change your tune once a little cash is flashed

very true… very true… the only thing is I was a “hippie” (really just an ultra-liberal) and haven’t been for a while. But that was when I was 17. Then I realized I would have to get a job and support myself. and it’s pretty tough on $4.75 an hour, especially if you like nice things.

It rained again in Los Angeles. People freak out here when it rains. Including me. Because it never happens. This is the second or third time it has happened since I’ve been out here (4 months). From the news just now: “one of the firefighters called this rain ‘unprecedented’”. Jeez. Why is a firefighter commenting on the rain anyway, don’t they have other people to comment on the rain & determine whether or not it is “unprecedented”? Oh wait, I know why. Because drivers here are either 1) Stupid, or 2) Insane. Neither of which can drive in the rain. Then the firefighters have to come save them.

Note to LA drivers: yeah, news flash, that strange liquid falling from the sky is “water”, you know, two parts Hydrogen, one part Oxygen. It makes things “slippery”, i.e., remember Bon Jovi’s album, Slippery When Wet?

Back to LA drivers. I’ve now become one of them. Traffic is so bad that you need any edge you can get. If you get stuck behind the wrong person, you could be waiting at a light for an extra 5 minutes. That adds up here and there when your commute is 30+ minutes. So.. always gun it on yellows if you are the last car before the light. Chances are you’ll have three people follow you, two of them completely running the red light. Welcome to LA.

Now for a few thoughts on everyone’s favorite social software of the moment, Friendster. I had signed up a while ago but thought it was only an uber-geek thing. Then I met someone out here who was cool who actually admitted to using Friendster. The whole “dating” spin gives it a bad rap. No one wants to admit to using any kind of dating service. So I just tell people when I invite them to join, “Ignore the stupid dating crap, no one uses it for that anyway.” Which is true. It is much better for keeping track of random old friends, and “acquaintances” — you know, people who you’d probably never call but it’s still okay to email them once in a while. The perfect example is all those buddies in college you met that were friends of friends. You were never exactly their “friend” — you were just their friends’ friend. But still, on Friendster it’s probably okay to add them to your list & drop them a line every once in a while to see what they’re up to.

But anyway, here are two random thoughts on Friendster:
1. What if you’re dating someone, and you’re both on Friendster (and we’ll assume you’re connected to each other). Who is going to be the first one to put their status to “In a Relationship”. What if one person puts their status to that and the other doesn’t update it for months, even when they login every single day and update their profile for other things? Busted.

2. What happens to your Friendster profile when you die? I mean, I know nothing will happen to it, unless someone informs the “Friendster authorities”, but even still. I think if I die I’d want someone to log into my Friendster account for me and keep updating it, accept any Friend Requests, etc. Old long-lost friends could be looking for me on Friendster and not even realize I’m dead! Scary.

Speaking of Friendster, I have a new testimonial! Yay! If you want to add me, I’m 1) the only “Shanti Braford”, or 2) the email address: shantibraford (at) yahoo (dot) com will work too. Feel free to send a Friend request unless you fall into one of the following two categories: 1) you are psychopathic serial killer who stalks people met on Friendster, or 2) I have absolutely no idea who you are and I’ve never spoken/chatted/emailed you before in my life.

So, fellas, do you have the problem of going out to dinner with chicks (that make a lot less than you) and paying for most of their dinner? Sure, that’s not a problem if it’s a “date”, and you hook up later, kiss, or just really, really enjoy their company. But somehow I end up going out to dinner/lunch/whatever where it’s just a friend (but there’s always the possibility of being something more) and I feel bad because I know she’s just a teacher, administrative assistant, waitress, or something like that and here I am with a Computer Science degree and probably making a lot more then her (just a random fact of life, not like I’m bragging or anything). O’well. Ladies, if you’re in the same situation, throw a fella a bone here & there if he buys you dinner. It’ll keep the dinners flowing.

Oh yeah, and buying you drinks is no problem. Because you’ll probably end up drinking way too much and losing all your inhibitions, and a few of your items of clothing. That’s always a good thing. (disclaimer: I do not encourage such behavior but I will condone it when necessary)

What’s up with East Coast people? Why do they think they’re all that? Get over it. Really. Just about the only people who have room to talk are people born and/or raised in Manhattan. I’m not talking about you Brooklynites or Queensites. Don’t kid yourself. Being from Brooklyn or Queens isn’t anything to brag about or make you special. You gotta live in Manhattan-proper if you wanna come correct with that attitude of yours, papi.

Apparently Los Angeles does not have a “Los Angeles proper”. We’ve decided that the only people who say “Los Angeles proper” are people who are not from here and probably have no idea about the layout of the city. There really isn’t such a thing as “LA proper”, but rather just a sprawling, sprawling, sprawling (did I say sprawling yet?) mass of urban and suburban metropolis. I’ve heard it described as “one giant strip mall.” There are parts that resemble that description, and those parts make me want to vomit pepperoni pizza and ben & jerry’s chunky monkey ice cream both at the same time. (yeah, pretty bad, huh?) But there are other parts (where I actually frequent) in LA that are totally chill, laid back, and don’t resemble some ugly suburban strip mall. You might find a few pics of these decent hangouts on my moblog. Plus you can’t beat the quality of the “scenery” here, if you know what I mean. Especially that chick in front of me in Spinning class at LA Fitness in Marina del Rey today, wearing the blue tank top. If you happen to be reading this right now, drop me a line.

Ludo…Rock ‘n Roll

“We need your help¶In St. Louis, 105.7 The Point and 101.1 The River have both been playing songs from the new Ludo album. Be sure to stay on these stations and request Hum Along or your favorite Ludo song EVERYDAY!
The River - 314.969.0101 or www.wvrv.com (go to e-quest)
The Point - 314.WOW.DUDE or email requests@1057thepoint.com
Both stations local shows are Sunday nights from 9-10. So tune in and call then too!”

Andrew needs your help. He has some serious ass loans & is trying to be a rock star. I want him to come to Las Vegas and pimp it with us…so please, all 5 of you who read this, can you help me out? thanks guys. you f’n rule.

Ludo…Rock ‘n Roll

“Wednesday, 10/29/03 Fitzgerald’s (Houston, TX)

Impressive. A lot of people came out to see Ludo on a Wednesday night. An excellent venue and a great time. Special thanks to Domino-inguez for being Merchmaster - I’ve never seen a kid sling CD’s so adroitly. And then the band after us sprayed blood from the stage into some girl’s eye. That was simultaneously awesome and horrible. “

Wallop — Microsoft’s Friendster & Blog Clone

(via Wired)

The Buttafly Guide to Interpreting Friendster Photos

Ahh.. so true. I use an old shot of Justin Timberlake when he was about 13. They didn’t get into analyzing people who post pictures of cheesy celebrities though…

…by the time they were 23:

At age 23:

John Singleton directed his first film, “Boyz ‘N the Hood.”

T. S. Eliot wrote “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.”

John Keats wrote “Ode on a Grecian Urn,” which ends with the lines, “‘Beauty is truth, truth beauty,’ - that is all / Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know. “

English poet Jane Taylor wrote “Twinkle, twinkle, little star.”

Margaret Mead traveled to the South Seas as part of a “giant rescue operation” to study primative cultures before they perished.

Russian-American pianist Vladimir Horowitz made a spectacular concert debut when, impatient with the conductor’s slow pace, he ran away from the conductor’s tempo and finished Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 several bars ahead of time.

Novelist, playwright, and short-story writer Carson McCullers wrote her acclaimed first book, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter.

Truman Capote published his first novel, Other Voices, Other Rooms.

Jack Nicklaus became the youngest golfer to win the Masters.

Francois-Louis Cailler manufactured the world’s first eating chocolate to be commercially produced

Yeah - but who cares about all that artistic crap? I’m just pissed I wasn’t one of those 18 year old Internet geeks who made some crappy web page in Notepad in 15 minutes and sold it for $85 million back in the hey-day of the Internet boom.

Things Other People Accomplished When They Were Your Age

Church Sign Generator