Saturday, January 17, 2009

LA!

Hey, this is pretty late, but Janet, Kenneth, Tony, and I went on a trip to LA/Hollywood/Orange/Irvine/Valencia! There is going to be a lot of text/pics so I'll try and break it up.

We left SF around 4AM, went to 7-11 to get some drinks and stuff. Then we left! The drive was not so bad, we took a few breaks (Denny's...) for resting and bathroom stuff. It was super foggy when we left but as time went on the fog went away. We got to our hotel in Castaic around 10-11AM. We checked in and put all our stuff in our room.

Tony and Kenneth.

Kenneth.

Tony.

Me.

Me at Denny's...lol.

Tony at Denny's.

Kenneth at Denny's.

My food at Denny's.

On the road again.

Weather stating to get nicer!

Tony and Kenneth.

Again.

Driving.

Waking up.

Janet at our second stop.

Janet and Kenneth.

Then I called my cousins so we could visit them in Orange. We looked it up on Tony's GPS and found out it would be another hour drive. So we rested for a bit and left for Orange. At first my cousins weren't at their house, they were at an eye appointment so we went to Irvine. We had Tony call his brother for directions to the Irvine spectrum (lol) which is probably the nicest shopping area I've ever seen in my life. So we looked around there and ate at California's Pizza Kitchen (my first time). We all got our own pizzas and shared it around.

Janet in front of cool fountain #1.

Janet in front of the same cool fountain #1.

Tony, Janet, and Kenneth.

Tony and I. Kenneth on the left!

Tony, me, and Kenneth.

Kenneth, Tony, and me.

Tony, me, and Janet.

Cool fountain #2.

Lion fountain/cool fountain #3.

Mufasa!

Simba!

Nala herself!

Cool fountain #4.

At CPK!

CPK!

Beer!

JPAAAAAK.

JPAK looking for some pizza.

Getting chin checked. Like crazy.

4x3?

I love lamp.

Janet and I.

Eating!

Wave your bread.

Ms. Pak.

Ning's flower, lol.

Yayuh.

Fooooooooood.

Eating!

More eating!

Ugly.

Mmm.

Haha uhh.

At night.

After this, we met up with my cousins at their house. We played around with their drum set and electric guitar, looked at his yearbook, played Cranium, and got some dessert! It was my first time playing Cranium and it was pretty fun. Tony and Kenneth won but me and JPak were making a comeback. Hahah and shaved ice is pretty darn good (Thanks Khoa).

Cranium!

Our character, he a G.

Mai Linh!

Janet.

Tony.

Mai Linh and Janet.

Playing!

This is a "you have to be there" moment. Hahah.

Hilarious.

Janet at the dessert place.

The cousins.

Tony and Janet.

Mai Linh and Khoa.

Kristine and Andrew.

Cousins.

After some time at my cousins' house, we went back to the hotel. That's when I found out that I forgot my contact solution. Tony and I went around our hotel to find some but we didn't find any. 7-11 had freaking Fallout 3 for Xbox360 but they didn't have contact solution. And one of those gas stations had porn but no contact solution. The mayor of Castaic has some work to do. Haha so I just slept with my contacts in.

The next day we went to Hollywood! Most of us had never been there so we wanted to check it out. We got there and saw all the stars on the floor so it was pretty cool. I got hustled by some crazy Armanian jean seller. He was following me everywhere and pressured me into buying a pair of Levi's. It's okay though because they are cool jeans. We also got to see all the weirdos in costumes. Batman and Robin were douches, Spiderman was really weird, and there were a buncha hoes dressed up for no reason. Best part was the steal we got on Black Nate's CD (hahaha). It's time to eat!

Funny billboard.

Tall guy.

Where is the water coming from?

No pictures with the trophies.

We were walking on the street, then we see this!?

He was taking pics with little boys, jk.

Spiderman's balls.

Supes. So not buff and so weird.

Captain Jack.

What the hell right?

Harry Potter cast!

Change the world.

There were more handprints but people's feet got in the way. Example: ^^

Marco Belinelli!

Mickey! Has his own star?

Chris Rock!

Lucius Fox.

Superman!

Me with Superman!

The man himself!

Chuck Norris can win a game of Connect 4 in 3 moves.

Janet can beat him though.

Jack Sparrow!

Tom Cruise!

Big Bird?!

I'm surprised people didn't ask for her autograph in Hollywood.

She did take a picture with me though.

We left Hollywood with this. What do you see?

After we left Hollywood, we decided to checkout a place called The Grove. I think it was geared more towards the rich crowd, but it was still cool to check out. They had some pretty cool stores. The traffic was really bad though, and it took us very long to get around.

LA traffic FTL.

The Grove.

Biggest Barnes and Noble I've ever seen.

Nike.

Santa!

Santa up close!

Christmas tree!

More cool fountains!

JPak and I in front of the cool fountain.

LOST!

Most ghetto Best Buy I've ever seen.

After The Grove, we were on our way to Staples Center to see the Clippers play the Sixers. Our seats weren't the greatest (almost the worst), but I guess it was okay. We got to see BD5 again! BD5>BD1. We tried to get on the jumbotron a bunch of times, but we never got on. We also got to text messages to be posted on the jumbotron. We all tried to post "Baron, come back to the Warriors. BD5>BD1". I wonder if that ever got posted, that would be pretty funny. We got a bunch of free stuff thrown at us. We got like 7 wristbands and I got a keychain, haha. We almost got a t-shirt but those girls couldn't throw. The game was pretty good throughout. The Sixers were getting dunks everywhere and Al Thornton had a total of like 2 passes! It was cool going to other arenas though and seeing other fans.

Staples!

Across the street.

Front of Staples!

Janet in front of Staples.

Tony in front of Staples.

De La Hoya in front of Staples.

Magic.

It got dark fast. Cool tree thing.

Baron's jersey at ESPN Zone.

Clipper's court.

Jumbotron.

Janet and I at Staples.

Janet at our seats.

Baron warming up.

Intros.

Baron is always the last one on the court.

BD5!

Iggy!

Crazy hoop guy at halftime.

Clipper Nation.

Staples Center at night.

After the game, we were looking for some place to eat. A lot of places were closed because it was New Years Eve, and some Pho places were not even real. The GPS kept telling us where to go but we never got there. Haha it was pretty weird. So we ended up just eating at a Denny's which was a lot better than the one we ate at the first time. We then decided that we wanted to celebrate the New Year so we got some apple cider to drink when we got back. We didn't have a bottle opener so Tony used the sink to open it. The cider got everywhere (including Kenneth's sweater, haha) but we drank what was left of it. A good way to spend New Year's with friends. We also played cards then went to sleep.

The apple cider we drank.

Playing cards.

The next day we went to Six Flags: Magic Mountain. We met with my cousins at our hotel and we all went to Magic Mountain together. We thought it would be crowded since it was New Years but it was the exact opposite. There were barely any lines and we got to ride most of the rides. First we went on X2, and I must say, it is the best roller coaster I've been on up to date. It's soooo crazy. It was cool just getting into a line and only waiting for about 5 minutes to get on. We also got some pictures of us on the rides. Overall it was really fun.

Mai Linh at Magic Mountain!

Janet at Magic Mountain!

In the tram to get to the park.

Group pic.

Waiting in line for X2.

Tony and Janet in line for X2.

Mai Linh and Khoa.

Mai Linh.

Seeing what to go on next.

Cousins.

Vans! Except Mai Linh's Converses.

Me.

Janet and Tony in line.

Khoa.

Watching crazy white boys hurt themselves.

Tired.

Wonderful roller coasters.

GOTHAM CITY!

Riddler's Revenge!

Next Batman villian?

Mai Line in front of Riddler's Revenge.

Going up.

About to get on.

Yooo.

Batman!

Building A Better Tomorrow.

Another cool fountain in the Batman line.

Call for Batman.

No line.

Gotham City cop car.

Trash in Gotham.

The ride.

Another angle.

GRAFFITI Batman style.

What is that?

It's a bird, it's a plane...

It's Superman!

CK!

0-12. SMHx100.

I don't really know what this is.

But we decided to take pics with it.

Yeeeah.

Throw it up.

Haha!?

Second best ride!

Birthday cousins!

11/29!

Family.

Cuzzos.

And again. My shirt is too small, haha.

Mai Linh.

Eyes closed.

Smiling kinda.

What is up with my sleeve, haha.

Kristine Tran!

Group picture! MARVIN'S NIPS!

X2 again, but at night and cold. :)

Last ride of the day.

Livestrong.

Teal.

Janet and Tony in line for X2.

YEAH!

I dunno, haha.

Taking pictures of the screen!

W for Warriors!

Warriors!

Nice hair Tony!

Nice hair Khoa!

W!

So many goodies, haha.

Reflection.

After Magic Mountain, I said my goodbyes to my cousins. We went out to eat Bun Bo Hue somewhere and it was decent. After we got back we just talked and hung out a bit and packed to get ready to leave the next day. The next day we just woke up, ate sushi, and left. We got back pretty fast. It was a great trip right before going back to school. It was really fun and we're about to go somewhere different next time. But I hoped you enjoyed this super long post. Until next time!