....MMmmmm Dragon Roll Sushi....

Okay- so I'm cheating on my diet. But only once! With sushi- a healthy substitute! And it was only because I was going out with friends I havent seen in ages!

You understand.

It's okay though... I've been on the Southbeach Diet for only a week and I've already lost 5 pounds. That's apparently what happens when you take bad sugars (and, temporarily, carbs) out of your diet. It's supposed to be cleansing. I admit it's been a little hard to say no to my daily dose of fat and chocolate, but the food the book makes me eat is DELICIOUS and I'm constantly eating it, so there's hardly any time to miss anything!!! :)

So... Urban and his girlfriend Val came up from San Diego to stay at my house during the weekend in anticipation of the arrival of our good ol' friend from Miami: Chris Meesey. He's in town for a few days to check out a new art show and he gave me a call to set things up so we could see him. Pretty cool. We spent some time in Little Tokyo (my first time!) while waiting for him, and Urban and Val showed me the sights.

Afterwards we had a sit down dinner at a posh little Sushi Restaurant and I, though tempted beyond imagination, stuck to my diet and had the healthiest looking thing on the menu. AND OH WAS IT GOOD.

Urban with the Soy Sauce... isn't that the GREATEST SOY SAUCE JAR YOU'VE EVER SEEN?


Wait- how am I taking this picture if they're looking at my camera? WEIRD.


The place was cute- it had a pile of salt at the door to safeguard from any bad spirits coming in!

It was cool catching up with Urban. We AIM each other during work but it's usually ABOUT work, and nothing else. He's an apprentice background artist for EverQuest Games and he usually brags about his job while I complain about mine. He gets free dinner! AND he gets to play EverQuest ALL DAY!



Afterwards, while disgussing the strangeness of scientology and the brilliance of the show Southpark, we trotted off to Oldtown. It's a cool hippy-chic grotto in the center of Pasadena where the rich mingle with the artistic. Clubs, shops, and Hooka bars line the streets.

We parked, FREEZING, and went through a little cobblestone alleyway lined with Christmas lights and over-dressed club bouncers where coffee shop patrons sat shivering at wrought-iron tables outside in the dim candlelight taking turns on hits of multi-flavored hooka. We end up in at an dingy brick building spilling with indy/jazzy music and loud chatter.

Wow. Hippie/chic at it's finest.


It's called The Equator and it's a sweet place. Lined with couches, coffee tables, cheap art mixed with expensive art, and- best of all- a brilliantly discombobulated mix of Hollywood's coolest and the it's most artistic.

Needless to say I was totally syked.

And there- in the middle of a big hippy/chic crowd, sat Chris!


Hi Chris!

It turns out the crowd he was hanging out with was comprised of the animators and illustrators that make the show Southpark! OMG! (A total "We-were-just-talking-about-that!" moment) Me, Urban, and Val were stagestuck. :) We met an illustrator (also named Val) who was an old friend of Chris' and had worked for Southpark for a year and a half and loved it. She got picked out of her bunch straight from college to work on one of the most successful animated shows in US history.

OMG!



Straight away we started talking about how awesome her job was, but after we got over how flabbergasted we were we chilled and started talking about normal things. Urban gave Chris a toy godzilla and Val gave everyone an illustrated tutorial on the aspects of riding the X at Six Flags. (if you haven't yet then you will never understand...).

We ended the night calm and relaxed... and very happy. It was nice hanging out with some of the old crowd. It makes me want to see the others. :) We walked Chris and Val over to Val's car and Chris gave me and Urb a new issue of his comic book. Sweet! It's good... I read it last night. It's an idea I don't think I've seen before in comic books, so you guys should check it out: www.meesimo.com. Chris has always been uber talented. Oh- and it also features a 2-D version of his house, which made me giggle.



Ahhh... and now it's Sunday morning, I'm warm in my robe, and I think today I will sit, read some scripts, and relax. :)