Up about 9:45, showered, went to the library to use internet for an hour, then to bank machine, then to Greyhound and bought a bus ticket to San Diego for Friday, Jan. 2, 2004, returning Friday, Jan. 9. $25 return. Then to the drug store to buy some shampoo (somebody stole my shampoo and soap!), then to the hostel, hung out for a while, read newspaper, then at 2:30, went on a walking tour up Runyon Canyon for a sunset view of Los Angeles. Cold as the sun went down, only 10 degrees on the hill. Apparently sometimes famous people (like Cameron Diaz and Robbie Williams) walk their dogs in the park, but we didn't see anyone famous. On the way back down, I stopped at a cafe for supper, the other three headed back to the hostel.
I got back to the hostl about 6:30, showered, wrote in journal.
Went upstairs to teh bar in the hostel for the evening, and rung in the new year up there. One of the comedians that did the hostel comedy show the other night is from Moose Jaw! She came to the hostel New Years Eve party, as she used to work at the hostel, before moving to Los Angeles. Her name is Pam Ludwar, she said everyone knows her brother, Randy Ludwar. Anyone from Moose Jaw know the Ludwars???? Amazing. She went to Peacock. I went to bed after 2:00 sometime.
Wednesday, December 31, 2003
Tuesday, December 30, 2003
More Comedy
Slept awesome, woke up about 10:25, by one of the workers bursting into our room telling us to put our bags on the beds, so they could vacuum. Got up, put my bags on my bed, had a shower, the kitchen was being cleaned (closed), so headed for the library shortly after 11:00 to use the internet. Had to wait until noon to get a computer, so read PCMagazine for 45 minutes, then used internet for an hour, then headed to a big multiplex theatre to see when Master and Commander was playing, they had a show starting in one minute, so got a ticket. Long movie, over two hours, and very good.
Back to the hostel, had lunch, read paper, then went to see if I could find a cheaper internet than the hostel, found one that was same price as the hostel, so used it for 50 minutes. My e-mail wasn't working earlier today, plus I wanted to look up information on tours ferom LA. None of the tour operators really do many tours in the winter time, except one to Mexica, but it's too long and I can't fit it in.
Walked around Hollywood Blvd for a bit, back to hostel, wrote in journal, hung out with John and Pim outside, then someone in John's came along and asked us if we wanted to go to a comedy night at The Laugh Factory, he had 4 free passes. We said ya, John and I went to the hostel bar for a couple of drinks, then about 9:30, four of us got a cab to the comedy club. It was very good, quite a bit funnier than the comedy at the hostel the other night. It ended about 12:30, and we walked home to bed.
Back to the hostel, had lunch, read paper, then went to see if I could find a cheaper internet than the hostel, found one that was same price as the hostel, so used it for 50 minutes. My e-mail wasn't working earlier today, plus I wanted to look up information on tours ferom LA. None of the tour operators really do many tours in the winter time, except one to Mexica, but it's too long and I can't fit it in.
Walked around Hollywood Blvd for a bit, back to hostel, wrote in journal, hung out with John and Pim outside, then someone in John's came along and asked us if we wanted to go to a comedy night at The Laugh Factory, he had 4 free passes. We said ya, John and I went to the hostel bar for a couple of drinks, then about 9:30, four of us got a cab to the comedy club. It was very good, quite a bit funnier than the comedy at the hostel the other night. It ended about 12:30, and we walked home to bed.
Monday, December 29, 2003
Universal Studios!
Up at 9:00. I'm over my jet lag, slept awesome.
Me and four other guys headed for Universal Studios shortly after 10:00, took the subway, only one stop away. $49 to get in, but they had a special offer, buy a one day pass and get a year free, so I have a pass that's good for a year, in case I ever go back next year sometime, I'll get in for free.
We went on these rides/shows (in this order!):
Shrek 4D - a 3D show (you wear the special glasses), but they added a fourth dimension. The chairs moved and shook at appropriate spots, you got sprayed with water when one of the characters sneezed, for example, cold shots of air at your neck when appropriate, and things "grabbing your feet" at appropriate moments in the show. It was excellent!
Terminator 2:3D - WOW!!! The show seats 700 people. Excellent. Once again, a 3D show (with the glasses), they also had live actors interacting with the stage (and the screen, going into and out of the screen!), the seats moved, pyrotechnics galore, appropriate smells (i.e. gunpowder during gun shooting scenes), and the explosion at the end, when Arnie and the kid blew up Skynet was spectacular. The explosion was on screen, but a huge cloud of "smoke" overcame the audience as well. WOW!!!!! There was a little kid next to me, he was terrified, he had to grab on to his mom half way through the show.
The Mummy Returns - A "haunted house" walkthrough with live actors scaring the bejeezes out of you.
Jurassic Park - Very cool water ride, with lots of animated dinosaurs and a cool drop at the end. Got a little bit wet.
Backdraft - Experience a chemical warehouse fire, Hollywood-style. Based on the movie. This was excellent.
Waterworld - Perhaps the most spectacular, it had a HUGE set with live actors flying around on jetskis, incredible stunts, incredible animatronics, lots of water flying into the audience (we were stuck in the "wet zone" seats...at least we weren't in the "soak zone" seats), one of the best shows at Universal Studios. The best part was when this biplane came crashing through the building and slammed into the water, soaking half the audience. INCREDIBLE!
Back to the Future - First person "thrill ride", the "car" you're sitting in jolts and jumps around as you chase Biff through time. Most excellent!
They left to go back to the hostel at this point, I stayed and did:
Animal Planet Live - Trained animals come on stage and perform various feats. The had dogs, cats, rats, monkeys, birds, and an orangutan. Very fun!
Spiderman Rocks - 20-minute rock opera based on the movie. Spiderman flying around on srage on his sticky string. Good stuff.
The park was very busy, most rides had a 30-45 minute wait in the queue.
I got back to the hostel about 8:45.
Made a couple of sandwiches, read for a while, listened to music, paid for three more nights, then went to bed.
Me and four other guys headed for Universal Studios shortly after 10:00, took the subway, only one stop away. $49 to get in, but they had a special offer, buy a one day pass and get a year free, so I have a pass that's good for a year, in case I ever go back next year sometime, I'll get in for free.
We went on these rides/shows (in this order!):
Shrek 4D - a 3D show (you wear the special glasses), but they added a fourth dimension. The chairs moved and shook at appropriate spots, you got sprayed with water when one of the characters sneezed, for example, cold shots of air at your neck when appropriate, and things "grabbing your feet" at appropriate moments in the show. It was excellent!
Terminator 2:3D - WOW!!! The show seats 700 people. Excellent. Once again, a 3D show (with the glasses), they also had live actors interacting with the stage (and the screen, going into and out of the screen!), the seats moved, pyrotechnics galore, appropriate smells (i.e. gunpowder during gun shooting scenes), and the explosion at the end, when Arnie and the kid blew up Skynet was spectacular. The explosion was on screen, but a huge cloud of "smoke" overcame the audience as well. WOW!!!!! There was a little kid next to me, he was terrified, he had to grab on to his mom half way through the show.
The Mummy Returns - A "haunted house" walkthrough with live actors scaring the bejeezes out of you.
Jurassic Park - Very cool water ride, with lots of animated dinosaurs and a cool drop at the end. Got a little bit wet.
Backdraft - Experience a chemical warehouse fire, Hollywood-style. Based on the movie. This was excellent.
Waterworld - Perhaps the most spectacular, it had a HUGE set with live actors flying around on jetskis, incredible stunts, incredible animatronics, lots of water flying into the audience (we were stuck in the "wet zone" seats...at least we weren't in the "soak zone" seats), one of the best shows at Universal Studios. The best part was when this biplane came crashing through the building and slammed into the water, soaking half the audience. INCREDIBLE!
Back to the Future - First person "thrill ride", the "car" you're sitting in jolts and jumps around as you chase Biff through time. Most excellent!
They left to go back to the hostel at this point, I stayed and did:
Animal Planet Live - Trained animals come on stage and perform various feats. The had dogs, cats, rats, monkeys, birds, and an orangutan. Very fun!
Spiderman Rocks - 20-minute rock opera based on the movie. Spiderman flying around on srage on his sticky string. Good stuff.
The park was very busy, most rides had a 30-45 minute wait in the queue.
I got back to the hostel about 8:45.
Made a couple of sandwiches, read for a while, listened to music, paid for three more nights, then went to bed.
Sunday, December 28, 2003
Le Brea Tar Pits
Up at 7:45, showered, had breakfast and waited in the lobby for the Magic Mountain hostel bus. Out of the seven that signed up, only three showed up to go, and they needed at least five, so we didn't go.
I decided to go to La Brea Tar Pits, tar pits where various animals got trapped, died, and preserved, thousands of years ago. The bones range in age from about 9000-40,000 years old (no dinosaurs here). They have thousands and thousands of bones from extinct animals, like mastadons, mammoths, dire wolves, lions, lots of various birds, etc. It was very interesting. Stayed there for a few hours.
I walked there, and on the way, stopped at a nice outdoor pedestrian mall/market. On the walk back to the hostel (1.5 hour walk), stopped there again, and looked around some more.
Got back to the hostel about 5:30, I think, watched "Cat in the Hat" (crap illegal copy), then "The Mummy" in the hostel bar.
Then did nothing much until about 8:40, and went back up the bar, because they had a comedy night with a bunch of professional comedians. Most of the comedians were pretty good, one of the was great, another chick comedian totally bombed, and left the stage early, quite upset/angry. We can't help it if she's NOT FUNNY!!!! They had 8 or 9 comedians altogether.
The comedy ended about 12:15, then I went to bed.
I decided to go to La Brea Tar Pits, tar pits where various animals got trapped, died, and preserved, thousands of years ago. The bones range in age from about 9000-40,000 years old (no dinosaurs here). They have thousands and thousands of bones from extinct animals, like mastadons, mammoths, dire wolves, lions, lots of various birds, etc. It was very interesting. Stayed there for a few hours.
I walked there, and on the way, stopped at a nice outdoor pedestrian mall/market. On the walk back to the hostel (1.5 hour walk), stopped there again, and looked around some more.
Got back to the hostel about 5:30, I think, watched "Cat in the Hat" (crap illegal copy), then "The Mummy" in the hostel bar.
Then did nothing much until about 8:40, and went back up the bar, because they had a comedy night with a bunch of professional comedians. Most of the comedians were pretty good, one of the was great, another chick comedian totally bombed, and left the stage early, quite upset/angry. We can't help it if she's NOT FUNNY!!!! They had 8 or 9 comedians altogether.
The comedy ended about 12:15, then I went to bed.
Saturday, December 27, 2003
Beaches
Up at 9:00, went to have breakfast, and somebody stole my milk! I hate it when that happens! I had a cup of tea.
Went to change rooms, but the person checking out of the room I'm moving in to hasn't yet, so I had to wait. The line for the checkouts grew to be really long, so about 10:00, I got in line and finally made it to the desk about 10:50, got my new room key, paid for room, moved my bags into the new room, then ran outside to get the 11:00 shuttle to the beaches (Venice and Santa Monica Beaches).
Got dropped off at Venice Beach, quite nice, sand was not as nice as Thailand/Aussie sand, kind of coarse, the water was freezing this time of year. No one was swimming. Lots of shops and hawkers and street performers. We (myself, Michelle (Melbourne), Megan (Melbourne) and Nicola (Chile)) walked along, then the two girls stayed behind to shop, Nic and I walked up to Santa Monica Beach, quite a distance, then started walking back to Venice Beach, ran into Megan, then we went with her to the 3rd Street Promenade, in Santa Monica, a pedestrian-only 4 block stretch of shops, restaurants, street performers and bums. Very nice. Ran into Michelle, made arrangements to meet up with her at 5:30 for supper.
The sun was shining, and standing in the sun felt nice, but the wind was cool, and in the shade of buildings or trees, it was cool.
At 5:30, met Michelle, we went to a Mexican fast food place, which was voted the best taco by Rick Dees, the top 40 radio personality, then we caught a bus back to the hostel, got back about 8:00.
Signed up to go to Six Flags Magic Mountain, a roller coaster and thrill ride amusement park tomorrow. Had a shower, then hung out at the hostel in the bar.
To bed about 10:00.
Went to change rooms, but the person checking out of the room I'm moving in to hasn't yet, so I had to wait. The line for the checkouts grew to be really long, so about 10:00, I got in line and finally made it to the desk about 10:50, got my new room key, paid for room, moved my bags into the new room, then ran outside to get the 11:00 shuttle to the beaches (Venice and Santa Monica Beaches).
Got dropped off at Venice Beach, quite nice, sand was not as nice as Thailand/Aussie sand, kind of coarse, the water was freezing this time of year. No one was swimming. Lots of shops and hawkers and street performers. We (myself, Michelle (Melbourne), Megan (Melbourne) and Nicola (Chile)) walked along, then the two girls stayed behind to shop, Nic and I walked up to Santa Monica Beach, quite a distance, then started walking back to Venice Beach, ran into Megan, then we went with her to the 3rd Street Promenade, in Santa Monica, a pedestrian-only 4 block stretch of shops, restaurants, street performers and bums. Very nice. Ran into Michelle, made arrangements to meet up with her at 5:30 for supper.
The sun was shining, and standing in the sun felt nice, but the wind was cool, and in the shade of buildings or trees, it was cool.
At 5:30, met Michelle, we went to a Mexican fast food place, which was voted the best taco by Rick Dees, the top 40 radio personality, then we caught a bus back to the hostel, got back about 8:00.
Signed up to go to Six Flags Magic Mountain, a roller coaster and thrill ride amusement park tomorrow. Had a shower, then hung out at the hostel in the bar.
To bed about 10:00.
Friday, December 26, 2003
Just \
Up about 10:30. Sun was shining today! YAY! Got dressed, missed the free pancake breakfast again. Walked to the grocery store and bought a few groceries, then back to the room. The kitchen was closed for cleaning, so left my groceries in my room, and John and I went to the public library, a few blocks away, as we could get 1 hour of free internet with identification. So stayed there until 1:00, then back to the hostel, had a couple of sandwiches, then I walked around Hollywood Blvd, took pictures of "famous" things, then walked down Sundet Blvd for a long way, and back to the hostel about 4:00, watched Robin William Live on DVD. Very funny. He even did a good impersonation of Jean Chretien.
On my 10 minute walk to the grocery store this morning, I had 3 homeless ask me for money. The first was a younger woman asking me if I had any change or spare bus tokens so she could get on a bus. The second guy, parked outside the grocery store, was just asking if I had any spare change he could have, the third guy, asking me if I could give him some money so he could catch a Greyhoud bus somewhere. They are all very polite when they beg, though. Excuse me, sir...Thanks anyway...Merry Christmas.
I headed to BK for supper...I'm back in North America, land of the crappy french fries (except McDonalds). Fast food is cheap here, even at the ultra touristy Hollywood Blvd. fast food joints.
Back to the hostel, paid for another three nights, but I have to change rooms tomorrow morning.
This is apparently one of the highest rated hostels in California. It's crap. Well, it's not that bad, but compared to hostels in NZ and Australia, there's no comparison. And others have told me it's nothing compared to other hostels in California and Nevada.
Read for most of the night, to bed shortly after 10:00.
On my 10 minute walk to the grocery store this morning, I had 3 homeless ask me for money. The first was a younger woman asking me if I had any change or spare bus tokens so she could get on a bus. The second guy, parked outside the grocery store, was just asking if I had any spare change he could have, the third guy, asking me if I could give him some money so he could catch a Greyhoud bus somewhere. They are all very polite when they beg, though. Excuse me, sir...Thanks anyway...Merry Christmas.
I headed to BK for supper...I'm back in North America, land of the crappy french fries (except McDonalds). Fast food is cheap here, even at the ultra touristy Hollywood Blvd. fast food joints.
Back to the hostel, paid for another three nights, but I have to change rooms tomorrow morning.
This is apparently one of the highest rated hostels in California. It's crap. Well, it's not that bad, but compared to hostels in NZ and Australia, there's no comparison. And others have told me it's nothing compared to other hostels in California and Nevada.
Read for most of the night, to bed shortly after 10:00.
Thursday, December 25, 2003
Merry Christmas!!!
Holy Jetlag, Batman. I was wide awake all night because my body thinks it's middle of the afternoon. Finally fell asleep about 5:00AM, and then couldn't wake up. Finally managed to drag myself out of bed after 10:00. Showered, no hot water (crap!), then walked to the bank to take out lots of money, went to McDonalds for lunch, hardly anything open. Rained all day. Back to hostel, used internet, watched TV, wrote in journal, phoned home (first time in a year I've actually called home!), did laundry, listened to music, John (Ireland), Vinny (Kiwi working in Ireland) and me went to the drug store to buy booze for the Christmas party, then waited for supper.
About 5:30, supper was served, buffet style. They had turkey, ham, chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, apple sauce, fried rice, macaroni, apple pie, and a bunch of other stuff I can't recall. It was only $7. And it was delicious. Most everyone went up the TV lounge, where they had a keg of beer and a bunch of wine, and ate. I broke out my camera, and took pictures of my Christmas in a hostel. Then others grabbed their camera's and did the same. I headed to bed about midnight.
About 5:30, supper was served, buffet style. They had turkey, ham, chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, apple sauce, fried rice, macaroni, apple pie, and a bunch of other stuff I can't recall. It was only $7. And it was delicious. Most everyone went up the TV lounge, where they had a keg of beer and a bunch of wine, and ate. I broke out my camera, and took pictures of my Christmas in a hostel. Then others grabbed their camera's and did the same. I headed to bed about midnight.
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