Day 1: Skyview Terrace

Skyview Terrace truly is a beautiful place. I've already grown quite accustomed to the decor and ambiance of the humble apartment despite only having resided there for about a week. I think I left one of my socks in the bathroom. Sorry, brother!

I awoke at around eight in the morning. Valentine's Day, and grandma's birthday. Happy belated for a second time, I love you. The morning passed slowly; the sizzling of over-easy eggs began to fade and the sound of car doors slamming shut seemed muffled. To some, it was a day to love. To me, it was a day to leave it all behind. I washed up, ate my eggs, and got in the car.

The sun was shining down in full force, which I think contributed to my airy mood that morning. After a week of rollercoasters, the last thing I wanted to do was stay in this God-forsaken town. Speeding down the 5, my earphones blaring, I let the beats lull me to sleep.

We arrived around 3, and my brother and sister-in-law took my mom and I to a local Mexican grocery store to pick up some vegetables. I swear, you'll find the cleanest, nicest, most considerate & overall chill Mexicans ever in Burbank. Not to be stereotypical, but I was thoroughly impressed. Stopped by the local Hows (that's like the So.Cal equivalent of Lunardi's, for your noggin!) to grab some fresas, and headed on home.

My sister & her boyfriend arrived at the apartment around 7. HOLY COW is he tall. Gotta love the dude though. Piled into the car once again and rolled over to Japantown, LA. I WISH I BROUGHT THE CAMERA I WISH I BROUGHT THE CAMERA I WISH I BROUGHT THE CAMERA. It really is a beautiful place. I wish you could have been there. Yeah, you. You would have liked it. We stepped into a small Japanese mall and settled into a real cozy yet authentic joint; Honda-ya, or something. I forgot what it was called. Tempura is the best thing ever devised and Japanese rice is so much better tasting (and more nutritious!) than Vietnamese rice. We ordered some Yakitori as well, and I had some grilled beef tongue. Guess I did get some action on Valentine's Day after all, huh?

So after about 5 minutes of phone-browsing for local desserteries (I envy you guys and your touch-screen phones) we found a small mom&pop type store nearby that sold mochi. If you've never had it, you really need to. They ran out of strawberry, and green tea, but the almond and cafe latte flavors were more than satisfying. You would have loved that, too. After eating, we saw a small general-purpose store; kind of like Daiso, but way fresher. I made my way over to the collection of manga and anime DVDs in the corner as the rest of the family looked at ridiculous kitchen items. After a good half an hour we went across the way to a small frozen yogurt store and fed our cravings even more.

Sister & her boyfriend headed back to LB while the rest of us headed home. At 11:30 P.M., brother asks if anyone wants to go to Wal-mart. Are you serious? We take a 30-minute to Santa Clarita to a SUPER Wal-mart. I've never been in one before, but they're open 24 hours a day. One of these days, I'm going to take you to one, as stupid as that sounds. The place was enormous, easily bigger than a football field. You couldn't even see to the opposite wall from one side of the building. Because we came in "after-hours", most of the workers were busy restocking their inventory and taking down all the Valentine's Day displays. I swear, there were more workers in that one Super Wal-mart than there are in all of Eastridge. Dad wandered off by himself as usual and mom spent most of her time chasing him down, so I, being half-asleep and ready to collapse on the floor, walk around dully throughout the food section. $6.97 for a bag of frozen chicken wings? You gotta be kidding me. I passed by my brother at least a dozen times but both of us were way too tired to say anything to each other. After at least 10 laps around the damn place (that's more than 2 miles of walking, and pardon my language) we finally head home. We saw a couple walking in. "Are they insane?!" Hah, I love my mom.

You won't believe how fast I fell asleep that night, for as soon as the apartment door swung open, I was already on that couch and ready to catch some Zs. And I really, really missed you. A lot.

Day two coming up. My brother saw Nicole Richie. Too bad I missed it!