Monday, November 24, 2014

Back In Town Again

We had a nice drive back to California; Dan and I. I had told him, in passing, about my favorite artists and he took notes from when we listened to music in my hotel room. He took out CD's of artists that sound like my favorites. He told me he put them aside because he thought I might enjoy them. That was very thoughtful of him! I didn't know who some of those artists were but I recognised their famous hits when I heard them. My favorite song from all of his music, which  I still listen to this day, is Mazzy Starr-Blue light. Here's the link to it if you're like to check it out. Let me know what you think. I'm into Alternative music like that. Katie Perri, Ingrid Michaelson, Katie Melua, Lorde, Jack Savoretri, Glen Hansard, Amber Rubarth Jason Mras, to name a few. What are you listening to right now?

We talked, flirted, listened to more music, stopped just less than two hours away from LA for brunch. I don't eat when I travel, so I let him eat while I gawked at him. Before I knew it, we had arrived in Hollywood. Time to kiss Dan goodbye. I got sad. I am not the best at goodbyes. Plus I had just got back from the best vacation with a guy I like. He told me he didn't want to make out otherwise he wasn't going to want to leave. He gave me a peck on the lips and off he went to San Diego. I asked him to call me when he got home so that I would know that he got home safely. He did, that evening. It took him probably five to six hours to drive home. It's normally a three hour drive. Poor thing got stuck in traffic. I felt kinda bad. He seemed fine though. Dan is a pretty upbeat guy. That's a good thing.

I dragged my new suitcase to my apartment. Time to get hustling again. I had to start applying for jobs for the following day. What can you do? That's the name of the game! I walked into the apartment and found Carly's giant suitcase in the middle of the apartment, overflowing with stuff. I think there was another suitcase inside. A pregnant suitcase? There was hardly space to maneouvre but what are you gonna do? It's my first day back, I just had a massage the previous day, I wasn't going to waste all that because someone is acting like a child. Actually,. I've seen five year old act better.

I unpacked my small suitcase, Got on the internet, applied, applied. I think I got booked on one or two shows for the following day. My good friend, the one who lives in her car was in Hollywood, doing background on a show. She wanted to meet up. We met just outside my apartment and walked to Mc Donald's. It's about three blocks from my then apartment. It was nice to see her and she was really excited to hear about my trip. She told me to bring the camera, she wanted to see pictures as well. My friends and I make roughly the same amount of money hustling in Hollywood but I've noticed that most of my good friends from Hollywood always offer to pay when we go out. What a bunch of classy ladies! Of course, I insist on paying as well, sometimes  I end up paying at least for my food or they just won't let me pay. Most of my good friends are not Americans. Just putting that out there.

Cola, that's what we'll call this particular friend. I may have mentioned her before, she is in her late fifties, is from Eastern Europe and lives in her car by the beach. The main reason for her living in her car? Other than not wanting to share with roommates? She needs to be by the beach. She loves the beach so much, if she can't afford an apartment by the beach, then she will live in her van. I think it's been two years now since she started living in her car. She's a bit of a free spirit. She's lived in a hostel for a year or so. She worked at the hostel in exchange for accommodation. She says she loved it. She has fond memories of that experience. I don't blame her. I have applied at a number of hostels myself, both in Hollywood and by the beach. I've stayed in many a hostel. I think I'd be the perfect person to work there. Thing about them is, they don't want to pay you in cash, they want you to live there for free in exchange. I didn't want that. I don't want to permanently have 10 roommates. I think that can get tired. Fast. Can you imagine?

Cola and I spent about two hours together that night: about an hour at Mc Donald's and then we walked back. I walked her halfway between where she had parked her car by the studios and my apartment but we stopped and talked for another hour. She has an interesting life that one! She likes to hang out at this coffee shop, not far from where she parks her van, they have free wi-fi over there. I have hung out with her there. She also has her regular spots where she goes on certain days of the week for open mic. She doesn't perform but she likes music, so she goes to these bars. I've gone to one or two with her in Santa Monica. We had a hell of a time! One of the bands and I subsequently became Facebook friends. It's a duo from Australia, one guy plays the guitar, the other a ukulele. They are so good! Another guy's name is Mike, he is a seasoned musician.  An amazing one man show. I meant to go to one of his shows but never got to.

Cola is sweet, when we hang out, we have the best times. We laugh a lot. She has the cutest smiles. She used to be a dancer, ballet and all that. She has done some adventurous things in her life, I enjoy her stories and she is just a very nice person. After chatting up a storm that evening, I ran back to my apartment. It was freezing by then! I think my roommate was away for the weekend. I didn't get to see her for another couple of days. We chatted often via text. She was one of my better roommates. The chick who was never there, was probably the best cos, well, she was never there! I had the place to myself. I didn't quite like her aura though, when she did come by. Her parents were the best though. Laura was the best roommate! There was never an awkward moment between she and I. Well, not one that she instigated. Other than the drug doing and selling, which was the reason I left and of course, she never paid me back my deposit but she was a nice chick to chill with. Just don't go shopping with her because she will shoplift and potentially get you into trouble. She's a well meaning drug dealing shoplifter. She kept the apartment clean and it was the nicest smelling apartment I ever lived in.

The following week, while Carly was working, I took it upon myself to tidy up her stuff. Someone had to! I sorted her clothes according to dresses, tops, bottoms, the works, to make it easy for her. I put her empty suitcases under her bed. When she got home that night, she was shocked. She hugged me and thanked me so much. She was like omg, I left work early tonight, do you wanna go out? I owe you! She called her friend and told her how amazing I am for what I did for her. It was nice to be appreciated. You know? She was like we have to go out. I told her, no we don't. She was like well, what are we gonna do? I owe you for your birthday and now this. I was like ugh, ok, let's go. We got ready, took the bus to the center of Hollywood, on Sunset boulevard. We couldn't make up our minds as to where exactly we were going to go. Well, I could, she couldn't. I was ok with going to the first joint that was open, eat, drink, go home. We grabbed Frozen yogurt aka FroYo. It was some kind of a big Hollywood event. I think it was Coachella. Everyone was out of town. We went to a few restaurants/bars, there was nothing going on. Carly made a few phone calls. Calls I never thought were ok to make to businesses, talking about, hey, what's the vibe there tonight? How much are your meals? Do you have happy our? Meh, how about your neighbors, what do they serve? Do they have happy hour? Can you recommend a restaurant I should go to (other than yours?). People were pretty nice to her and answered all her questions. She's a waitress, maybe she knows that it's ok to ask such questions.  Eventually, we went to Big Want, some place near Hollywood and Vine. It's on Selma Avenue. It seemed like a sports bar, judging by the number of TV's they had all around the place.

It was still happy hour, she asked for their happy hour menu. We ordered just about everything on that menu and split it. I enjoyed their food. Everything was 50% off. That didn't matter, she was treating me and she told me to order whatever I wanted from that menu. The first thing I ordered were potato skins, love me some potato skins with bacon. I first had them at Ocean Basket in Melville, Johannesburg. It was my favorite, affordable, filling item on the menu. We took pictures, Carly paid and called Uber. The in taxi service where people use their own newer model cars to transport people but work for Uber and aparently they make lots of money doing it. It's pretty cheap. There's also Lyft in some cities, we don't have Lyft in Vegas, it's the cars with a big pink moustache, google it, if you've never seen it. We just had Uber like beginning of November 2014 or end of October in Vegas. Yay! When we left the bar, Carly was like, omg, I didn't tip him. I feel so bad! The Uber guy was literally there in two minutes. We got home within minutes. Carly used her credit card to pay.When we got off, she was like, omg, I didn't tip him! I was like dude! Seriously! You're a waitress, you know better than that! Whatever happened to a dollar. When in doubt, just give them a dollar bill, like if you're paying cash. That's what I do, but you must tip. It's poor etiquette not to tip. You can't depend on other customers, and be like, I'm sure they have tipped him. What?

Not too long after that, Carly came home with a gift bag  for me. It was Lady Gaga's Fame Black Fluid perfume. I've always like that perfume but hadn't gotten around to buying it. Apparently Carly had been gifted that gift set for her birthday the year before. She still had a few droplets in her bottle when she moved in. I told her that was one of my favorite perfumes. She remembered that and bought me that for my birthday. I was like, you spoil me! You really didn't have to. She used to ask me if I wanted a handbag or perfume. She heard that I was shopping for a yellow handbag. I told her, it was really ok, I was going to buy myself both. I felt bad, she had already treated me for my birthday! She bought perfume and bought a jewellery box, used that for a gift box. When I opened it, I was like this is cute! I love it! She was like, really? I got this for the perfume. I said this is a jewellery box silly! It has a mirror and everything! She was surprised, she told me that made sense, because she was wondering what the small compartment inside it was, good thing she didn't throw it away. She gave that to me too. Very nice of her.

Around the same time, I went to Santa Monica. I love that area! It reminds me very much of Melville in Johannesburg. It's like taking Melville and putting it right by the beach and making it really really expensive. I got paid on my way there and also collected Cola's check. Of course, we called her first to find out if it was ok with her if I did. It would save her gas money, driving about an hour back and forth to Hollywood. I may have bought myself a pair of cute boots on my way there. When I was done with my errands, Cola and I met up. Just as she was walking towards me, guess who walks right past us?  Derek J! One of the two gays from Atlanta Housewives and co-host of Fashion Queens. I was so excited to see him. I told Cola, but of course, she had no idea who I was talking about. She hasn't watched tv in ages. We took a walk to Mc Donald's, dang, we seem to be eating at Mc Donald's a lot! From there, we went for a walk, we always go for long walks she and I! She tried to pay for me, I was like, that'll be a hell no! I got paid too, why don't I pay? She said, I want to treat you, I appreciate that you brought me my check. Oy! I let her. She even bought ice cream afterwards! We then walked around, she showed me her favorite thrift store in Santa Monica. So expensive! Granted they have cute stuff! I did see some cute Christian Louboutins for $200 IN MY SIZE though! I shouldn't have tried them on because I really got tempted to buy them after that!

Cola's daughter  called, they were going to meet up for Mother's Day Dinner. I had heard a lot about her daughters but never met them. Just before we parted, Cola told me to walk her to the van. I did. She got me a set of Covergirl Lipgloss. Good lipgloss too, it lasts like 8 hours straight! I couldn't believe it! She told me it was my birthday gift! It was May, and I was still getting birthday gifts! Do you see me complaining? Cola has this cute pair of sunglasses, they are old Hollywood style, round, translucent tan frames and peach sides. I died when I saw them on her. She told me she would give them to me but she got them as a gift from her daughter so they had a sentimental value. I loved them so much, I was willing to buy them from her. But I wouldn't if they had such sentimental value. A few weeks after that, SHE GAVE THEM TO ME! She told me her daughter bought her another pair that she likes even better, so I could have those. My gosh, was I happy! If you're my friend on Facebook, you may have seen me rocking them.

I don't know if I told you about a friend of mine who I met doing background work, we stood next to each other in line, exchanged a few words one day, then set next to each other one more time in a show. I was between her and Cola. At some point, she, her girlfriend and I exchanged massages. She whispered something about a couple on the show that was good looking, she said, 'I bet you they have cute kids'. I teased her and pretended to be shocked she would say something so perverted to me. I was like, don't you think it's inappropriate for you to whisper, ' I am cute, you and I would have cute kids together while giving me a massage?' I still laugh out loud when I think about that. She was so embarrassed. She thought I was serious. She was like, that's not what I said! lol lol looooolllllll. I got her a few more times after that. It was an 8 hour show, we had to keep ourselves entertained. At some point, she saw someone's black jacket on the floor, she was like, 'who's black jacket is that?' I told her that was racist, she was going to offend people. She said, ok, who's African American Jacket is that?' Oh man, we had so much fun! From then on, we referred to black things as African American and white things as Caucasian. All in the name of fun.

She and her girlfriend were about to move out of the country. She told me that she would like to give me something. She mentioned one or two things. I didn't have much in my apartment, so I welcomed whatever she wanted to give me. I had no idea! She had a ton of stuff for me! I literally still can't believe they did that for me. Oh and the girlfriend is originally from South Africa. She was two when they moved though, so she doesn't really have any memory of  South Africa. She was born in Cape Town, so I call her Cape Town. They are the coolest people! The kind of people you get acquainted to just before they leave. At lease I got to know them though. We added each other on Facebook and chat often. They are doing very well where they are, working in big productions. I am so happy for them. They deserve it!

I wanted to go to San Francisco on vacation. Carly did too. We even planned to go there together. She told me she hadn't been to that many places, she was down for whatever, so wherever I wanna go vacation, I can count her in. It sounded like a great idea. We did have fun together. One night, we were fast asleep. I heard a weird sound and something fell on my legs in bed. It was my wardrobe. The Chinese one made of cloth like material. I used that and let Carly use the walk in one because it wasn't enough for both of us and she had more stuff. Unfortunately, mine gave in. Right there and then, something clicked; I knew I wasn't going to buy another wardrobe. I decided, instead, to pack my stuff in suitcase, put in my 30 day  notice and move to Vegas.

9 comments:

  1. So for the past week I have been trying to post a comment on this blog. Wrote a whole book and it just never went through. Three time!! Can't even remember all my comments

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  2. What a birthday. In true Brook style. Celebrating it the whole month!!!! How lucky can a girl be!!


    On another note, OMG. Just like that. How nomadic are you. You find it soooo easy to uproot yourself.

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    1. I know, right? What else can one ask for? I am truly grateful for my life.
      Haha, hashtag Nomadic! I think somewhere at the back of my mind I was ready to move on. I could've broken a nail and found that as reason enough to move. When it's time, it's time :)

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  3. I don't know. Kept saying I couldn't post an empty comments. Tried and eventually gave up.

    Gosh your husband is going to have to share the same desire to uproot himself like you.

    Lol #nomad

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  4. I don't know. Kept saying I couldn't post an empty comments. Tried and eventually gave up.

    Gosh your husband is going to have to share the same desire to uproot himself like you.

    Lol #nomad

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    Replies
    1. Don't you just love it when that happens? Frustrating!
      My husband would have to first catch me! :)
      I think I will settle down eventually. Probably soon, as long as I am still going to travel on vacation etc. You know?

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