HOUSE, SHATTO LANES, LIL JOY

HOUSE
i woke up with the most ridiculous hangover yesterday. it lasted all day. which means i stayed home all day. didn't see daylight or put on clothes. just me, my couch, a&e channel and some popcorn. even though the day was completely non-productive, i finally got a chance to just chill. totally chill. got a call from my friend dan on the road. he tells me a story about mr. k getting a nosebleed on stage at austin city limits festival. sounded fairly disgusting and totally rock-n-roll. guess they still played on as blood squirted from his nose for three songs. someone threw him a tampon. he plugged the bleeding. totally killer. kristi was so late getting off work. we were supposed to be at nate's bday bowling party at 7:30. she didn't get home until almost 9. rush.

SHATTO LANES
kristi and i hurridly head to ktown to hang with good buddy nate on his bday. shatto lanes is by far the coolest bowling alley in la. you walk in and are totally time shifted to 1987. everything just looks like the late 80s there. the decor, the booze prices, the employees' attire and it smells like it has a good 20 years of grease wallpaper from the minimal-menued hamburger/hotdog cafe. totally lovely. i'm starved. all that i ate the whole day was 12 almonds, 4 glasses of water and a bag of popcorn. so of course i order a burger and french fries. mmmm... shitty food tastes amazing in trashy-looking places. always. also, the one-drink maximum bar at the alley has johnnie walker on tap, seriously! i didn't see any bottles and this little asian man wearing a hawaiian shirt and oversized hat holds up this tap with 20 buttons. i say 'right-on' and he pours me a nice thimble full of scotch. it's $3.50 so can't complain. yes, we went bowling --but, i didn't bowl. too exhausted from the previous night plus the thought of bowling shoes... oh man, can't do it. jessica (nate's girlfriend) bought two cakes. one enormous store bought chocolatey concoction and these super vegan cupcakes from m cafe (nate's new fav restaurant, totally macrobiotic, totally vegan). i honestly wish i would have lived in la as opposed to kansas during my five years of veganism. these cupcakes were insanity. so yummy. vegans in la have got options. chris is at the party. it's so good to see him. he's been a great friend for almost two years now. i actually met nate thru chris and nate is probably one of my closest friends, so thanks mr. pastras. beyond being a pro-skater, chris also has his own clothing/skateboard company called stereo. smart and funny guy. i haven't had a chance to hang out with him much lately. our schedules are opposites. so i am taking advantage of the hangtime. nate and chris decide to have a bowling battle competition. chris wins the points challenge but i gotta say nate wins for style.

LIL JOY
we all head over to lil joy for nightcaps. lil joy in echo park is my stand by, my rock. it was really the first bar i frequented when i moved to la 4 years back. the bar reminded me of so many sweet spots back home in kansas. the staff was always super cool and joe the manager actually lived in kansas at one point. cheap drinks, great patrons, and for a while you could even smoke inside. my kind of place. myself, nate, chris, kristi, brittney and peter walk in to the crowded bar. instantly run into jack and rachel, my new favorite 'it' couple. they are the cutest things in the world. always smiling, always hugging. love them. while chatting away i see a familiar face. it's neil, former bass player from trail of dead. he's just moved to la. he's got a new band and new hometown. looking forward to running into him again. nice guy. also run into anthony, yenni, chris, joe, and more. we close out the bar and convince everyone that we should not have an after party at our house. too tired.

good times.