I'm big in Japan

I'm quoted in a new Japanese book, Try reading blogs in English by 26 ordinary Americans, which teaches conversational English by translating excerpts from U.S. blogs.  

So being one of the "ordinary American" contributors, chapter 12 is dedicated to my When Tara Met Blog entry on my trip to Vegas (why that one? I have no idea, maybe because I use a lot of slang?). My full name is up on the right hand corner of each page in that chapter, which is quite cool like I'm an author, but then again, I guess I am the author of that particular content, so I'll take it. 

I was contacted last year by the editor of the book and he asked if he could use my blog entry and of course I said yes. I later had to sign a contract that I didn't really read, and now I got a copy of the book sent via Japan. Thus, my global infamy begins, victory is mine! 

It's official

I'm now a California resident. You'd think buying a condo here would have made it official for me already, and come September I'll have lived here for a year (wow), but now it's really sunk in because I finally got my Cali driver's license. Crazy!

I haven't had a new license since first getting mine at age 17. Well, I did have to get a new one when I was 21, but it was still the same looking card just a different picture. I also thought I looked sleepy in my last picture, so I was determined to look upbeat this time. Since getting it I've proudly been showing my new license to everyone (although they don't care), even to you (what do you think):

The reason for my procrastination was due to the fact that I didn't want to take a written driver's test again. I have two girlfriends out here who failed it their first time even though they've been driving for years. So I made sure I studied the handbook for 45 mins and good thing because it's a 36 question test and I still got 5 questions wrong. If I botched one more I would have failed, which is insane since I studied but a lot of the questions had two right answers it was just picking the righter one. Plus, there are different rules out here than in New England. I had no idea a white curb means for mail delivery or that you can only turn into a bike lane 200 ft before making a turn, etc. Anyway, luckily I passed, several people in front of me didn't and I was getting more nervous as it came time for my test to be corrected, more so than taking the damn GRE's.

One cool thing about California State DMV's is that you can make an appointment online, but although things were more efficient I was still there for over an hour and at the end I was informed laughingly that they would be mailing me my license. I was so disappointed, I just assumed all they had to do was print it out.  

You may also notice that I'm an organ donor. I blogged back in 2005 that I wanted to be one because of this story, but I never got around to it, well now I've finally have.

Elevate

A new club--Elevate Lounge, and restaurant--Takami Sushi & Robata Restaurant officially opened this weekend.  In downtown L.A. 21 floors up, with panorama-heavy wraparound balconies, this lounge is offering competition for the nearby Standard. 

I went this Friday night with my guy and four of his friends, so I was the only girl there with five guys, not bad, and from here on out let's call them my "male entourage" ;)

The place had a cool dance floor, great views and chic atmosphere that reminded me of The Gansevoort in NYC. There's glass along the initial part of the balconies and at first I thought it continued all the way up, but was delighted to see that it didn't and instead an open-air lounge. The martinis were lethal but not the best tasting, they had a flirtini on the menu at least, but not a key lime one, ah well no place is perfect. There was a line to get in later on, but when we got there at 9:30 there wasn't a problem at least not as a girl though. 

Here are some of the photos of the place and my male entourage ;)

News: Downtown Entertainment Scene Hits New Heights With $5 Million Takami

Magic Numbers

I won two tickets to hear Magic Numbers in concert on Tuesday night. How? I entered my name in a raffle at the Citysearch event that I blogged about two posts down. For a second I thought I won tickets to Justin Timberlake's concert which was also in the raffle, but instead I won tix to Magic Numbers. My response was "Magic what?" I had no idea who they were and I was pretty tired that day since I was up at five a.m. that morning flying to San Fran on a seven o'clock flight just to return at three later that day--all for a business meeting. The concert wasn't until eight and my eyes were already drifting asleep on the plane's flight to L.A., but who turns down free tickets, right?

The show was held at the El Rey Theatre near LACMA and La Brea Tar Pitts. The outside marquee was very retro and I learned by the sign that the event was being presented by KCRW (the local LA NPR channel). I groaned after seeing that since I figured I was now in store for some classical music that would surely put me to sleep. I had never been to the El Rey and expected it to be a sit down assigned seating theater but there was a good size line outside and inside was more like a club with a fancy bar, a cafe upstairs and a dance floor and stage in the center. It was really pretty actually with red carpet floors, fun nightclub lights and fancy crystal chandeliers.

The crowd was pretty young and very hipster: guys in artistic shirts with Scottish paper boy caps on, girls with handkerchiefs tying back their hair and quirky framed glasses. A bunch were wearing shirts with the band's South Park-like logo. It was weird seeing fans of the music group, yet we were there not knowing anything about them. 

We ordered some wine and later champagne ($8) in plastic cups and snagged chairs along the left wall. There were two opening acts and intermissions in between. First up were two girls, Ingrid Michaelson with indie-pop songs similar to Lilly Allen's style. I thought I recognized their last song "Keep Breathing," but I figured it just reminded me of something else. Turns out, via some research on their site, the song was featured on the recent season finale of Grey's Anatomy. Bingo! Next came The Little Ones which were very energetic and were like a cross between the Beatles and Modest Mouse. The Magic Numbers meanwhile, are from England (I gathered from their accents) and are comprised of two girls and two guys.  Their music reminded me of The White Stripes and the 60s melody blend of The Mammas and the Pappas. In the end, I was actually really pleased with all the acts and the songs were all stuff that I'd like to listen to again. So, considering we had no idea what we were in for, it was a lot of fun as was the not knowing. 

Remember where you came from

was the theme to Amber birthday party this weekend. Pretty original, no? I wore a leather jacket with an I Heart New York shirt with rhinestones underneath, jean skirt and black heeled shoes. I also put on a gold bling necklace to also represent being an Italian New Yorker. Raphael wore a shirt with a rodeo picture on it and a cowboy hat since he's from Texas. Others wore Chinese robes, Vietnamese hats, Ohio farmer looking overalls and so on.

Dressing up was not just encouraged but guests were threatened that they definitely had to wear some sort of costume and those who didn't were warned that they would be given one. Their given costumes came in the form of large signs that said things like "I'm too cool to wear a costume," "I'm from Lamesville, U.S.A." "0% Creative," etc. They were so funny that I kept looking forward to the next costume-less sap that walked through the door. Check out this group shot of the name tags, I mean "lame tags."  

The place was also decorated with corn stalks and leaves in tribute to the state of Indiana where Amber is from.

Oh and lastly here's a picture of Amber's yummy strawberry cupcake cake (I need to get that pan).