The post of how we met

All of our friends like hearing this story, or is it that I like telling it?  Tomatoe Tomato, but a year ago today I met my boyfriend on the New York City subway platform, the E train to be precise.

I had just gotten off of a bad date with a guy who had me go all the way up to the upper east side for our first date because it was where he lived but was far for me. The food at dinner was good but it was hard finding conversation to go with it. I'm not the best with silences so I was a bit more giggly than I'd have liked especially when he would do this weird intense stare into my eyes without saying anything. He also didn't really have a plan for that night and he kept asking me what I wanted to do, even which restaurant, etc., which I hate. Guys, see my post about planning a date. Anyway, after dinner he says he'll walk me to the subway, when 10 dollars would have gotten me home in a nice warm cab, but he didn't offer and I didn't have cash on me. It was also freezing in New York and since I was on a date I was dressed nice, which means in flimsy attire. To boot it was a weeknight and I now had to take two subways to get back to the West Village and then walk to my apartment. I remember him leaning in for a kiss and me wanting to flee in a cab. 

So there I was transferring to the second train, annoyed that I wouldn't be getting home till midnight and knowing I'd be tired tomorrow at work.  Five minutes goes by, and then 10 and still no train. I saw someone out of the corner of my eye, on my right hand side, dressed in a black coat. I turned and rolled my eyes and gave a look of exasperation because of the delayed train, the man then nodded his head in agreement and mimicked my disgruntled look.

At that moment the train came and I see this stranger walking in through the door closet to me and not the one closest to him. I could feel that he was going to start talking to me and he did. I don't remember what we chatted about but it came easily, I remember stating that he must not be from around here and him smiling and saying he's lived here for two years but was originally from Texas and I commented that I could tell by his southern smile. 

His stop came first and he asked for my number, I hesitated and almost gave him a fake number but I couldn't think of a reason not to at least give him my real one, so I did. And he called, twice. The second time we chatted for an hour and considering I'm not much of a phone person it says a lot. Our first date was the day before Valentine's Day and he picked out a restaurant by me and had everything planned even a bar with a foosball table to go to afterward. Now, we're living in L.A. together.

My friend likes to point out that if the first guy actually had manners I never would have met my boyfriend. Funny. 

Disney Land and Dim Sum

Over the weekend my friend and I also went to Disney Land and Disney's California Adventure for the first time. I had been to Disney World probably four times now, but this was my first time visiting the original on the West Coast. Maybe it was because the weather was a bit chilly and it started to drizzle as we left, but I was generally disappointed. I mean I had fun, but not like I used to. I guess I'm older and used to some more impressive rides. 

The main castle was much smaller as was the park itself in comparison to the Magic Kingdom in Florida. The smallness factor made the park cute though, but not as grand or magical. Part of the castle was also under reconstruction so that took away from the overall appearance as well. Plus there weren't many characters walking around, which disappointed me. I wanted my photo with Chip and Dale or Donald Duck, instead we only spotted Woody from Toy Story and Goofy but that was it. I think for me the magic has gone from Disney, because I couldn't help but think it was like Great Adventure, Universal or any theme park in some respects. Since we couldn't pose with characters we tried on hats and turned into our own.

I did enjoy Soarin' Over California, Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters (I made it to Level 3) and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, which were all new rides for me plus the usuals like Pirates of the Caribbean, etc.  Oh and Space Mountain until April will be Rockin' Space Mountain and blasting Red Hot Chili Peppers music and light show during the ride, which was a new riding experience than the original space theme.  

Oh and this just seemed inappropriate in the land where dreams come true, lol.

 

The next morning we traveled out to Monterey Park area for some Dim Sum on Sunday at NBC Seafood. I hadn't had Dim Sum since September when I was in New York at Jing Fong and my friend had never been at all. I had written a blog post before about what the authentic experience is like here. If you haven't been, you have to go, it's a lot of fun.

The King of Queens

On Friday evening, my friend Becca--visiting from NH and I went to a taping of The King of Queens over at Sony Studios in Culver City. I had requested the free tickets via Audiences Unlimited several weeks ago and was lucky to receive two tickets. I've been a fan of the show for sometime, although I don't watch it habitually I like catching the reruns. It's also the only live taping I'd really want to see, now that most of the great sitcoms are history. (How I wish I could have seen a taping of Friends, I would have flown out here for that).

Lucky for us the taping we went to ended up being extra special since it was the show's 200th episode, it's also the show's 9th and possibly last season.

The taping lasted a little under the expected four hours and we were given cookies, candy and a copy of that evening's script. The episode is called "Home Cheapo," and will probably air in 4-6 weeks from now. The best part of the taping was seeing Kevin James and Leah Remini tease one another when they messed up their lines and seeing them interact like they were a married couple almost off camera. He even yelled at her for not crossing to her mark at one point and for running over on his lines, it was funny and she couldn't stop laughing as he pulled her over to where she was supposed to be. Leah Remini (who besides being in Saved by the Bell and Who's the Boss was also in the short lived NBC show Fired Up, which I liked with Sharon Lawrence who I also met out here a few months ago--read here.)

It was also great seeing Jerry Stiller perform as well. He was a pro with his loud comic delievry and didn't flub any of his lines. Pretty impressive. And although I had fun, I didn't enjoy it as much as the two Hope and Faith tapings that I went to in New York. They gave out pizza to the audience members and the warm-up guy was much funnier. I also got a Hope and Faith t-shirt that I wear to bed still sometimes.  Other tapings that I've gone to in the past include the failed Shelly Long show Kelly Kelly, The Late Show with David Letterman, The Tony Danza Show, Caroline Rhea's talk show and Christine Baranski's Welcome to New York, which faired only slightly better than Long's.

Turtle racing

Yup, turtle racing, that's what I wrote. There is a bar out in Marina Del Rey, Brennan's Pub on Lincoln Blvd, which has been the home of turtle racing since 1972. Turtle racing takes place every Thursday night at 10 p.m. and a cover band plays inside near the bar. 

It's simple. The turtles are placed in the center of a large circle and the first turtle to make it to the outside white line is the winning turtle.

You can rent a turtle to race or bring your own, but generally they have women place the turtle into the center ring but they can't bend their knees as they do it, thus making their asses stick out rather blatantly or flattering depending on the case. If your legs bend or if you're pretty they'll drop a flag and make you do it over and over again, lol. Once and awhile a guy goes out to place a turtle too and he is booed. 

As the security guard outside will yell out to the crowd seated in a circle of bleachers, chairs and and a wall of unluckys who weren't able to snag a seat, there is only one rule in turtle racing, do not point at the turtles. He'll repeat it over and over again, yet of course someone still points and they will drop a flag on the "race course" and make the offending pointer put $5 in the pot. It's not like the pointing really bothers the turtles, it's just a rule that makes everyone laugh when someone has to shell out (no pun intended) money--as long as it's not you of course. Here's a quick video that I uploaded to YouTube.

When I got home though I accidently hit my head on this stupid bike rack thing that pertrudes from the wall in our garage. I literally saw stars and had to put a package of frozen vegetables on the already forming bump on my head. My friend visiting from New Hampshire snapped a photo of my care.

I spy question mark guy

You know that older guy from commercials where he's in front of DC monuments and he's shouting about how he can help get you free government grants, free money, free tax breaks, etc and oh yeah, he's covered in question marks? 

Well, I saw him today in Jamba Juice when I was ordering my second shot of wheat grass (still grassy). He was in a black suit with hot pink and yellow question marks all over him and multi-colored glasses. No, he wasn't filming anything, just ordering a smoothie and being his own walking billboard. I smiled at him after sneaking a shot of him on my camera phone and asked "aren't you the guy from the commercials?"  He smiled and said yes and patted me on the back as he walked up to the counter to collect his smoothie. 

I guess he lives in L.A. So random. His real name is Matthew Lesko a.k.a. the guy in the question mark suit.  His website is matthewlesko.com you can go there for FREE! FREE! FREE! ;)

Here's an interesting interview with him at The Black Table, where he talks about wearing the question mark suit as a marketing tool. 

"Do you believe you need to wear the outfit so that people will take you, well, seriously?

Oh, the outfit to take me seriously? It's the opposite. I've been kicked off of shows because of it. I've lost millions because of it. I was on the Home Shopping Network and they said I had to change my suit. I thought about it and decided, 'This is way too important to me.' Years later they had me back. It was one of those hard decisions that become great later. Your loved ones tell you that you're being silly, that you need the money. But as a result of following my heart, opportunities opened and my business tripled. So now I sell tons through the Home Shopping Network, but they still don't like the suit. We're back to them wanting me to change it again. I can imagine if Jesus Christ was here they'd say, 'You know this rope sandal stuff…we're really appealing to the wrong demographic here.'

On that note, would you say that your garb is equivalent to, say, Superman's cape? Like, when you're not wearing it, you're simply Clark Kent?

You know what, in a way, when I have it on, it does something to other people. When I first started wearing it I was so self-conscious. I was walking down the airport and every step was like lugging around 500 pounds. I felt so stupid, but I just had to do it. Now people smile when they see me. I get discounts on airplanes and hotels. Pretty girls come up and talk to me for the first time in my life. Where were they when I had more hormones?

I feel like I could walk into the toughest biker bar at 2:00 in the morning and feel comfortable. It disarms people. I mean, the buzz creates my life.

Marketing has nothing to do with it. Harvard business school wanted to know about this "branding." This is just me who happens to be writing books. Strategic branding? It was a pure accident. I'm just not that smart."

 

Hmm well his outfit did make me smile and here I am continuing the buzz for him, so just more proof that his branding is working even if by accident and to get attention from chicks.