h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I've come to vipe and vash yer vindoes.

*pokes the Spartus with a squeegee.*

So? Anything new and exciting?

So you remember that episode of GI Joe, too, huh?

So, uh, let's see...plans are seriously afoot to go about taking a vacation type thing out there to the left coast in about a month, and that's about the only interesting thing going on. As far as interesting things go, that's fairly far up on the list. The target dates are looking like August 1st to 5th, and we'll likely be up LA way on Saturday, maybe Sunday too, if we can find a flight out later than 3:30 PM, since we'll likely be flying into San Diego.

Plans are being detailed in painstakingly boring (at least I think so) detail on my site, which I can't tell you the URL of, ha-ha. I think it's listed on my profile on the Floor forums though, so find it there. If you're free on Saturday the 4th of August (I know, I know, better start clearing the calendar now), then perhaps we can all bum around someplace. All I'm really sure of is that were almost 100% certainly not staying overnight, since I don't want to wake up, hung over, drive down to OC, pack, drive to SD, then fly halfway across the frickin country all in one go. I dunno, you tell me.

Oooh! The Justin and Amanda persons are coming out to see LA!

Goodie goodie gumdrops!

I shall be free that day, as I'm always free. You're lucky, because the weekend after that, I'm probably going to Vegas with my sister for her 21st birthday. (She psychic. I swear she is. I'm taking her to Vegas, allowing her to pick the slot machines I should play and winning like cray-zeh. Or letting her pick the Keno numbers...)

Definately need to have a meet up. Coffee somewhere would be keen. My buddy Jaime works at a little place in Agoura Hills, but I have a feeling you won't want to drive that far... Just a hunch, really.

*gets all antsy and stuff, waiting for the 5th of August*

Of course, in that last line I meant the 4th.

I can read. It's the comprehention and retention that I have problems with.

Agoura? Er...other than to see the always-entertaining "Cheesebro Road", there's never been anything out there for me. One of my friends lives in Encino, about a mile up from the 405, and we'll likely end up there after Santa Monica and Hollywood and stuff. Isn't it the Coffee Bean, on Laurel and Ventura? Or...hmmm...I dunno what our timing's going to be like at all--I worked out a pretty rough schedule, but LA's very very big, and we're probably not going to make it everywhere we think we are going, and almost definitely not at the times I've sort of thrown together.

So tell me--near the 101/405 interchange, within about 15-20 minutes drive, where's the best place to just sit around and peoplewatch or something? Personally, although it's a dive, I still like Barney's Beanery for just bummin' around. Hmmm....Citywalk, while totally artificial and actually pretty lame, is another good spot. For peoplewatching, I mean. Uhhhhhh...it's been a while. Throw me some recommendations. Anywhere but deep in the heart of the Valley, really, because the Valley largely, uh, sucks.

Hey, man, I live the valley life. I AM a creature of the valley.

Um, ok. 101/405....

There's a Starbucks on Havenhurst and Ventura. There's a Starbucks on Ventura and Encino. There's a Starbucks on Ventura and Coldwater Canyon. There's a Starbucks....

I'm kidding.

Do you like curry? There's a cute little place Chuk and I go to on Ventura and White Oak. It's a little hole in the wall, but there's a nifty patio attached overlooking the Boulevard.... And the chicken vindaloo is superb.

There's also the option of coming a little further into the Valley, and hitting the TGI Fridays on Canoga and Oxnard...

*giggles for a bit and says Oxnard over and over.*

The problem is that Chuk and I are homebodies by nature, and we don't get out much. But Citywalk is a good choice too... I'm not a big fan of large crowds, and Chuk...

Sometimes I think he's an agoraphobe. When he's in crowds, he gets all surly and snarly and stuff. But if you wanna go, I'm jazzed.

*jumps up and down and says, "I can't wait for you guys to get here!"*

There's a Starbucks at Coldwater and Ventura? Did they knock down the supermarket or the gas stations? We used to shop there, back when it was a Hughes, for two reasons: it became known as the "famous Hughes" after spotting Mac from Night Court one night, Michael Richards another, and Newman apparently shopped there quite often. I never saw any famous-types, but my friend who lives up there did all the time.

I suppose working at the studio, as he did at the time, had something to do with it.

As far as the crowd-shyness goes, I personally don't care a bit, but Amanda may get jittery too, so...we'll go from there. What I was thinking about for dinner was Versailles--the Cuban place. I've never actually eaten there, but everyone that has swears it's some of the best stuff, like, ever in the world. I'm not entirely certain where it is--further up Ventura someplace, from what I remember...come to think of it, not far from Agoura anyway.

I'd much rather eat someplace LA-specific than settle for stupid old TGI Friday's--maybe Jerry's Deli, if Cuban doesn't sound good. You know Andy Kaufman used to work at the one in Encino while he was on Taxi? He felt he had to earn a living or something...maybe that's in the movie that I forgot to go see.

And Citywalk is pretty artificial and crappy, but...nah, there's better things to see. At least 3rd Street in Santa Monica is *real*.

We're just waiting to make sure Amanda gets Saturday and Sunday off work, which we should know tomorrow, to buy the tickets.

I can't wait either. Summer is starting to kick in here...while August in the Valley is far from pleasant, it's probably better than here....

Oooh... Versailles.... I haven't been there in forever.... and for the life of me I cannot remember where it is right now.... Grrrr.... And I don't have a phone book handy. Ah well.

Jerry's Deli in Encino is ok. The one in Woodland Hills stinks and the one in Studio City got a C from the health dept. I'm less than thrilled with the service at the one in Encino, tho, and it's so danged expensive. (A platter of fries? $4.95. And that's if you skip the ketchup...)

Oh, if you want a good deli option, there's Brent's Deli on Parthenia and Corbin, but that's way the hell north from the 101/405 interchange... But GOOOOOOOD food.

Golly, I'm racking my poor abused brain to come up with fun hangouts, and all I'm coming up with is Starbucks....

(By the way, I meant LAUREL Canyon, not Coldwater. I goofed. I always get those two confused....)

Oh! Duh! We should go to the little sushi place on Ventura and Van Nuys. There's all kinds of nifty stuff to do there. There's a Tower Records and an Aaaahs and some clothing stores (*cough*TheGap*cough*) and a Togos and a Starbucks and even a Jamba Juice. Has Amanda ever had a Jamba? Oooooo....

Anyway. Hi! Chris has started working at the H2G2 today. Wow. Lucky bloke.

If you're gonna talk sushi, there's this place I went a couple years back, that...well, I'll just tell the story.

Some friends and I went out, bumming around Hollywood bars and just doin' nothin'. Okay, we were drinking. But you already knew that. We started to get hungry, and the slightly drunken cry was "sushi!" Nikki, one of our friends, knew of a place called "Sushi on Tap", which, since she's a dancer, she insisted that they dance. Ha ha, yeah right, we all say. They probably have a brewery there or something--you know, we unnecessarily explained to her, there's "sushi" and beer is "on tap". Ha ha.

So, after a few other failed ventures into other sushi places (at one place, the doorman told us that they were rented out for a private party, so we asked him where another sushi place was. He kind of started, then looked at us incredulously, and said, "There's about one per block on Ventura. Try there." Oh yeah, we giggled to ourselves), Nikki's insistence on going to this...tap...place intensified. Then we drove past it, so we really had no excuse not to go.

It's a little place in a strip mall on Ventura, about halfway between Laurel and Lankershim, from what I remember. We walked in, and it was stock strip-mall sushi bar. We ordered beers, lots of sake, and Rob and I amused ourselves by dipping our food into as much wasabi as we could stand and not crying. We also dropped our sake into the beer (very good, VERY ruinous to sobriety) for "sake bombs". We ate. And we ate and ate and ate. Then, all the sushi chefs glided out from behind the bar, switched on a tape recorder that we hadn't noticed sitting in the corner, and proceeded to tapdance to "Take Five". Maybe it was the cumulative Guinness, Asahi, sake, food, heroic amounts of wasabi--I don't know. But it was AWESOME. After we ate, I decided it was a good idea to stand on the roof of Rob's car. We talked about it later, and he admitted that, at the time, he could not find fault with my reasoning in standing on it.

So I like that place, even if it is kind of a hole. Miyagi's over on Sunset is pretty cool too--rock and roll sushi bar, and the prices, last time I was there, weren't incredibly Sunset-boulevard high.

Also, I have a couple of other people up in the Valley that I need to hook up with that night sometime, and since we're driving back down that night (albeit probably at 4:00 AM), scheduling might be tight.

But I dunno. I'll talk to them and see if they have anything in mind, and if you guys want, I doubt they'd mind you two coming along too. Once the ticket purchase is final (likely today), I'll know more about all the particulars and stuff.

Oh my Bob.... That is too funny.

Mmmm. Saki bombs....

And I totally understand about the tight scheduling. Hell, it's your vacation, you should do what ever you want and to hell with me.

Seriously, though, I really do want to meet up with you and Amanda. If I invite myself (and Charlie, of course) along, you won't mind? Cool.

So, get your plans straight first, and when all is arranged, we shall meet up, drink heartily and carouse with the best of them.