Face it!

A group of my friends and I went to the LA Gun Club to celebrate Kyle’s birthday.  Overall, it was a good experience.  I didn’t think much about it when I found out we were going to a shooting range.  I thought, oh this should be fun.  We get to shoot stuff, for REAL!  That all changed when I got there.  We signed papers, gave our fingerprints, and within seconds, they handed us guns and bullets.  All of a sudden, my nerves were getting to me.  I was nervous!  I got a weird feeling when I was holding a gun.  What if the slightest finger/hand movement would set off the gun?  What if it accidentally shoots?  It was a crazy rush.

It was my first time ever shooting a gun.  I think it was a first time for everyone who went!  Within a couple minutes, the gun guys gave us a crash course of how to load and shoot a gun.  After that, they sent us out into the shooting field.  That was it?  They weren’t going to watch us try and shoot for real?  They trust us to just walk around with guns in our hand in a completely different room?  I guess that’s how it works.

As soon as I walked into the shooting room, I was on edge.  The sound of gun shots are loud and SCARY!  I felt so intimidated in there that I was close to tears.  Yeah yeah, call me a pansy.  It was my FIRST time!  Give me a break!   Shells were all over the floor, shots were made left and right, the room was cold, and you can see sparks from the guns.  Crazy experience.  They boys definitely had fun trying out different guns.  I stuck to one gun, and shot one time.  That’s good enough for me.   At least now I can say, I’ve shot a gun.

But now the my nerve has calmed down and I think I am ready to go again.  A lot of the girls said they liked the revolver, so I think I will want to try that one too.

Next time!

And again, happy birthday Kyle!  I’m glad we surprised you….with GUNS!

The view of downtown Los Angeles from The Standard Hotel

This past week has proven to be one of the busiest weeks that I’ve had in a very long time, and about 70% of it consisted of birthday celebrations.  There was something going on everyday this week, and I’m relieved that it’s over and glad I survived.  Now I can recover and rest. 

This week was all about spending time with friends and celebrating birthdays.  It’s nice when a big group of friends come together for another friend’s birthday, and that is all we did this week: go out and have drinks to honor days of births.  Byong’s birthday was last Monday, Sheila’s was last Tuesday, and Jamie’s was last Wednesday.  Jamie had her birthday at Nodaji in Rowland Heights on Wednesday night.  Sheila had hers at Angels & Kings in Hollywood on Thursday.  Both of them had hangovers the day after.   Byong isn’t a fan of celebrating his birthday so he was MIA.

Have you ever been to the Century City mall?  Isn’t their parking system AWESOME?  As much as I hate looking for parking at a very busy mall, this parking lot blows out all the rest out there.  I think it’s the coolest thing ever!  Michael, Erin, Warren, and I came here to watch Toy Story 3 and we loved it.  By the time we finished the movie, it was a little after midnight and too late to go anywhere, so we headed back to my place for bagel bites and Rockband!  It was a great spontaneous Friday night.

On Saturday, we had a joint birthday celebration for all 3 of our friends at Swimming with Sharks at The Standard Hotel.  (Johnboy calls it “Swimming with THE Sharks” heheh FOB.)  It was a beautiful summer day to have a roof top pool party.  We had a couple rounds of beers, a couple bottles of champagne, and a very drunk friend named Kyle.  The funny thing about birthdays is that sometimes it becomes another person’s birthday, so in this case it was Kyle’s.    He kept running around saying, “Dude, I’m so smashed man!”  Yeah, he was!  A lot of us have tons of pictures and video of him celebrating his “birthday”.   Eventually he was passed out and we had to leave the hotel.  The cool thing about having great friends is that no matter what, they are always there to help you out…..or at least, that’s what they’re supposed to do, right?  So as you could imagine, it nice seeing that we all came together to take care of one drunk Kyle, but at the same time it was HILARIOUS.

Recently, I learned that Michael has never been to the fashion district in downtown Los Angeles, so Erin and I decided we should take him there to see it on Sunday.  I haven’t been to the fashion district in 10 years!  I think it’s always fun checking out that place, especially Santee Alley.  You can’t beat 2 pairs of sunglasses for $5, 2 straw hats for $5, chucks for $20, and hilarious graphic tees.  I found the cutest little shirt for my nephew, and I HAD to get it.  I wanted to post a picture of it, but it’s a gift for this 1st birthday in a couple weeks.    I’ll post it later.

Michael was finally able to find his “rice picker” hat and was able to get 2 different kinds for $5, total! He was really happy about that because he’s been looking everywhere for it.  What a steal, right? You can’t really go wrong with the fashion district.  That place is fun to go to every once in a while.  I definitely need to remember to buy my chucks there from now on. 

To top off the my evening, I napped, I ran, and ate dinner while finishing up season 2 of Californication with Michael.

Siiiiigh.  I love my friends.  I love LA.  This place is great, and my friends are awesome.  Life can be great when you allow it to be.

Again, happy birthday to Byong, Sheila, and Jamie!

I love how happiness overflows in this picture.

This summarizes my weekend in a nutshell.

Thank you, LA, for another memorable week.