Wallpaper. at the Roxy

Whenever Wallpaper. is in town, Lulu and I make it a point to see them. This began since the first time we saw them perform at the Echo when they opened for The Astro Galaxy Tour. As the Astro Galaxy Tour performed, we went forwent seeing them and went to hang out with Ricky Reed amongst the crowd. We saw him blow up to the producer he is now, working with big list talent and having these records reach the Top 3 in Billboard Hot 100.

Before our trek to the Roxy, we decided to go get some wings at Hot Wings Cafe on Melrose Ave. We didn’t want to pay a lot for parking so we parked near some local small bars in Hollywood and walked a few blocks to the venue. Little did we know it would start drizzling as we were walking uphill.

Wallpaper. did not disappoint during their performance. They went as far as to play jams from their first album when it was just Ricky and Arjun and they used a projector for effects.

Once the show ended we were walking back down to the car when we saw Christopher Mintz-Plasse with his friends. We felt a bit weird to ask for a picture, so we just continued our trek then headed home.

LA Artwalk

It was that time again, where downtown LA is transformed into their monthly Artwalk. Having not been there in a while, my friends and I decided to head to downtown to check out the galleries and head to a bar afterwards. We decided to metro it so we can all drink. It’s funny how years ago I never would have thought I’d be so keen on going to Downtown LA, as back then night life wasn’t so…. Fun. What was once roamed by homeless people and hooligans was now the habitat of youngsters, hipsters and now considered the “good” part of town.

Once we got off on 7th, we had to walk a few blocks to the core of the Art Walk. There were droves of hipsters that roamed the streets gushing over the drinks, food and art displays of the night. We walked around stopping at a few galleries that caught our eye. Some were new to me and these had some of the better art displays I’ve seen.

We then went to another gallery that had some of my favorite displays of the night. It wasn’t one of my friends favorites, but some of these just caught my eye.

When we had enough of the galleries, we then stopped by Big Man Bakes for some cupcakes. I’ve had these once before and remembered how rich their carrot cupcakes were. I had to indulge a bit and grab a few.

Off we went to Broadway Bar. It has started to become our go to place whenever we head to downtown. After a couple of drinks and some chit chat, we got some pizza from Two Boots, then began our trek back to the metro.

I didn’t get as wasted as I originally hoped, but I couldn’t pass the opportunity to head out during the weekday on this monthly event in DTLA.

Griffith Observatory

Last week my pops was talking to me about space, stars, galaxies and the universe. He loves all things cosmos, and I love speaking to him about it. A few years ago I bought him a large book called “Cosmos” and he asked me where the book was, so I grabbed in from my bookshelf and we began to flip through it. My mother walked in and joined the conversation. I asked them when was the last time they went to Griffith Observatory and they let me know it’s been about close to 40 years.

We planned a trip and this off we went with my niece also joining us. I took them for breakfast to start the day off, then trekked to Griffith. As we got there, they spoke to me about how things were 40 years ago. My pops more than anything was so excited and described the differences from what he remembered.

Once inside, I bought tickets for two shows, “Water is Life” and “Centered in the Universe.” We walked around the inside of the Observatory and I explained a lot of things and they were so in awe at the displays.

We saw the two shows, which they enjoyed and we spoke about how “Centered in the Universe” was the better of the two. We trekked downstairs which confused my old man, as he didn’t remember any displays ever being there. This may have been their favorite part of the the trip.

They enjoyed this small trip and I couldn’t be happier. I plan on taking them out a lot more often to various destinations just to spend some quality time with them. I’ll only have them in my life for a limited time, and I want to be sure to take advantage of spending time with them while I still can.

COAL

Last night I went to Whole Foods Market with Jessica. It was the first time setting foot inside this place. We had some late dinner first and then ventured around the market. The closest one is not as far as I thought, considering its In Pasadena.

When we were paying for her groceries, the friendly cashier asked one of the regular customers to tell us about COAL. This elderly bearded man came up to us, introduced himself and asked us if we were together. We said no, that we were just friends and he smiled and said that’s what he meant, as he had a feeling we were just that, and nothing more. He then asked if we knew what COAL stood for. We both said No, and he the proceeded to tell us….

“C” is for Curiosity. We are all curious about things and this is a fundamental thing for us to have. Curiosity is the key that drives us in life. Curiosity got you to listen to me.

“O” is for Openness. We need to be open in life to anything and everything. We need to be open to new experiences. It’s the key to the next step.

“A” is for Acceptance. We need to accept things for what it is. We need to accept that things aren’t always what we think to be right. We need to learn tolerance and acceptance in what life brings us.

He then asked is we knew that “L” stood for. I answered Love! He applauded and said, “Yes!” He told us that COAL always brings him to new things and helps him in meeting new people. He hopes that we can help in spreading this message to others as its his mantra for living life. To be quite honest, this will stick with me. I really liked the meaning of it all. COAL….. One small word, one HUGE concept.

Chasing Electricity

I think we’re all chasing an electricity in life, that spark that you feel with another person. Maybe it’s just me, but It’s like a drug, you get it once and you just keep wanting more and more. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always happen the way you want or the way you hope it will. I don’t know, I sometimes feel as if I’m running after this feeling. I guess I just want to feel alive.

Home Remodeling

I’m starting the week (and my vacation) off with remodeling my brother’s former music studio into something else. I’m currently debating on just making it into a full storage room OR converting 1/4 into storage and turning the other 3/4 into a workout room. I could be relaxing and just planning a mini getaway while I finally have a full week off of work, but nope, as Phillip from Rugrats once said…..

Halloween & Day of the Dead

This years Annual Halloween outing included Kidvic, Jeff and Vanessa (her first Hollywood outing). This was my 4th year heading to Hollywood, and it’s become a tradition now. My ass got grabbed quite a few times and I didn’t really care until I was in line ordering pizza and some dude just got a handful grab of my derrière. Wasn’t expecting that, but I was starving and I got my pizza, so meh!

The night was super fun. I saw some awesome costumes and many scantily-clad hotties. We were debating going to a bar, but the lines were SUPER long, and it began to sprinkle at this point so we decided on heading back to the car as it was about 1am at this point. People in the streets were cheering and dancing, and I will say it was pretty cool. Our trek to the car became a nightmare when out of nowhere gushes of water fell from the sky. Pandemonium struck and people in the streets began screaming and running looking for cover. Some girl tried to jump a puddle, landed wrong and rolled in the puddle. She got up, looked around and said, “I’m fine. I’m fine. I still want to go dancing!” Brave girl because if that was me, I would have been mortified. Wearing a zentai suit with only my boxer briefs underneath did not help as the rain continued. We got to the car soaking wet, and drove home.

The day after was the Day of the Dead festival at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. I had never been to it before and have always wanted to attend. I ended up going with Vanessa and Lulu. A bottle of wine was our pre parting drink of choice, and having not eaten much earlier that day, it did its job fairly quickly. Before entering the cemetery, we got a street dog, and if you are not familiar with these, they are hot dogs wrapped in bacon and toppled with onions, bell peppers and condiments. My god, there is no other hotdogs that come close to these amazing motherfuckers!

Jessica and Nessy went separately and took their kids. We were supposed to meet up with them inside, but we never found each other. We ended up getting double shot margaritas to warm up. The way the altars were decorated was really a sight to see. I’m not a very spiritual or religious person, but this whole thing was fascinating to me.

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We decided to all meet up in Downtown LA, specifically The Broadway Bar. Daylight savings time was coming to an end and we would gain an hour, so we were hoping for an extra hour of booze. When we got there, we ended up meeting with an old middle school friend and the people he was there with. We got some drinks throughout the remainder of the night and ended up spending about an hour and a half outside the bar after they had closed. We ended up getting some pizza and one of the guys I met ended up giving me condoms and comparing me to looking like an actor. He was so drunk, and although his friend was super annoyed at his behavior, I had a lot of fun.

The ride home with Vanessa, Lulu and Jessica was the most interesting part of the night due to the conversation we had. I fucking love these girls!!

Nightwing

Leaving shit to the last minute is never a good idea. “I tend to work best under pressure,” is such a bullshit excuse. Lets face it, it’s laziness met with the realization that time is running out. I knew exactly who I wanted to dress up as, but had no idea exactly how it would come out as many ideas filled my head.

In my mind I was first going to just get a fitted black long sleeved shirt and spandex pants and use felt to sew on the design I needed. Although that seemed like a good idea, in hindsight it was terrible. I decided to try and make more out of it, so I went shopping a few days before Halloween.

Almost everything I needed was gone. Target had taken 80% of their halloween items down and began putting Christmas stuff up…. Seriously…. Fuck this, I decided to purchase almost everything from Amazon. As a prime member, I get free 2 day shipping.

I bought a black zentai suit, foam to make armor pieces, spray paint, pvc piping for the Escrima sticks, liquid latex and spirit gum for the mask.

Googling some images I took ideas from various pictures and began formulating my Nightwing design.

I then began making the escrima sticks from the pvc pipping, which came out better than I anticipated.

The mask was the next step. Many coats of Liquid latex is needed for this. My advice, be patient. I couldn’t find a mask to use to make the costume mask, so I used my niece’s makeup to draw the mask on my face, filled it in with more makeup before beginning to apply the liquid latex. After about 10 coats, I used baby powder to peel the mask off.

Slowly the costume began formulating. Using a heat gun, I was able to bendy the pieces of foam to get a better fit on my body. When making costumes, a glue gun has been my best friend. I wouldn’t dare try to make a costume without a glue gun. The mixture of ideas and tutorials really began paying off.

At this point I found out I could use other materials instead of foam to give the costume a better look, but I decided to use that for the next costume I make and just focus on finishing this one with the foam. The end result:

Although I learned to late what I can do and different materials to use to make my costumes better, I was proud of this specific
costume design considering it only took a few hours in total to get this done.