WEEK 2 AT LOS ANGELES

Starting off with the Memorial Day Weekend, Week 2 in Los Angeles was one with even more activities packed in so few days of time.  The Gamex 2005 convention at the Westin Hotel along Century Blvd (near LAX) kicked off to a slow start with Friday (the 27th) being a day no one signs up for my games.  To think I had been at the hotel at 3:00p.m. for my 6:00p.m. game only to spend it waiting and hanging around.  Saturday was kinder with two of my games having people in them.  Sunday was the highlight, with one game that started at 3:00p.m. stretching all the way til 2:00a.m.   The funnier thing about it:  I had two players that time (Dana, who is pictured below, and Eddie, who sadly I didn't get to photograph) who asked me to have a break by seven so they could leave and sign up for a  Murder LARP which was to start at 8:00p.m.  But the game was so engaging that NONE of us remembered to check the time.  And its thanks to THAT game that now I have a small following of people who are hoping to see me next year to play in one of my games.  Argh... here's hoping I can make it.

On the very day the Convention ended (the 30th) I then had a night-out with Moose Maravilla who drove all the way from San Francisco to hang out.  On his prompting, I gave him directions to drive to West Hollywood and we both found out how... boring the Los Angeles nightlife can be (a fact only discernable if you ever spent at least a night having a gimmick with friends at Malate).   We decided to take a walk and amused ourselves with our cameras, a tree stump (see below), and had a close encounter with a dog.

The next evening (the 31st) was a trip to Northridge Mall to watch a movie at the Pacific Theaters.  Not wanting to endure another long period of wooden acting from Episode 3, we decided to see the Adam Sandler comedy "The Longest Yard" and found ourselves enjoying it despite the negative reviews that peppered the papers.  Grabbed a bite to eat at IN AND OUT BURGER and discovered that Los Angeles does still serve milkshakes really nicely thick.  Someone at Mc Donalds in the Philippines better try to bring them back!