Swedes in America

Today the swede I met up in frisco, at the hostel came to Santa Monica, and we spent the day talking about everything and nothing. We both remarked over how easy it was for us to share n stuff. I guess we bring shame to the swedish culture, considering our people are known to be cold and closed...too bad =).
We started out by walking down to the beach, ate at an expensive mexican restaurant, where the service was so bad, we actually didn't tip anything at all. Now, back home that wouldn't really have mattered, since tipping isn't such a big thing in Sweden. But here, you tip on most things, and you're expected to put down 15-20% of your bill at a nice restaurant (I.E., not "fastfood"). The reason why the waiter didn't get anything is because he actually forgot what I ordered, and I had to wait another 10min after my friend got his meal...outrageous.
After eating, we sat on the Santa Monica pier, gazed out into the beautiful sun, laughed at the crappy streetperformer behind us, and basically just basked in the fact that it is late november, and real warm n nice. Can't get enough of those pictures with a strong sunglare in the ocean...think I went a bit...overboard (teehee) with this one tho.

We continued our day by walking along Venice Beach, ended up at Venice Beach Pier, enjoyed the view from there for a while. Then we walked back towards Santa Monica, passed 2 swedes on our way. Incredible, we really do exist all over the place, don't we =) ?
After that we checked out pretty much the only interesting thing in Santa Monica. The Third Street Promenade. Just a simple street where cars aren't allowed, filled with lots of stores and movietheaters. Nice, but not extravagant in any way. To me, I don't much all that much of a difference between it and Kullagatan..oh well. Also checked out The Legend of Zorro, t'was good.

All in all a pleasant day, relaxing, with a lot of interesting conversations, but nothing special besides that. I did however get to see something that Mr A asked me to keep a lookout for. A bike cop! But not the hot chick he figured it would be. Still something I guess.

Surf's up?

Well, the comment left by my sister on my SF-post (the _only_ comment even! hmpff) inspired me to hop onto bus 434 from Santa Monica pier, and go up to the city with the most beautiful (and "famous") beach in the whole LA region; Malibu. I heard that it's slightly snowing, halfmelting away back home in sweden...today we had 30°C (87f for those using stupid systems..like they do here in this silly country), no noticable wind and nearly a clear sky, almost no clouds at all. It was perfect.

Malibu is real beautiful, if you get off the PCH (the highway from the frisco trip, remember?) and actually find your way down to the beach. See, malibu mainly consists of expensive beachproperties, built so close to each other, that you can reach the beach without trespassing on private property. Luckily for those of us without $ 17 million to spend on a beachhouse, small "hidden" accessways have been constructed here and there. They're difficult to find, but when you do, it's completely legal for you to walk along the shore, even if many houseowners put up signs saying that the beach is somehow private, all the way down to the water.

After walking for a couple of km along the lovely beach, gazing into celebrities' and "people-in-the-business"'s beach-houses, I decided to jump into the water. I realised that I can't travel all the way to California, and not swim in the pacific. The water was cold, just like I remembered it from my last trip, back in -99, but man, those waves. I understand why so many people get surflessons in this area. It was, once again, perfect.

In the end, I had a great day, here in Malibu, California. What did you do today :-p ?

teh Gay Capital of the world

Previously mentioned friends from Sweden had planned to drive up to San Francisco (from hereon referred to as "frisco", local nickname) and after much careful deliberation I decided to go with them.

Roadtrip!
Since we knew it would be a long drive, the journey (for me at least) began in Santa Monica, at 6:35am. Insanely early, for somebody used to going to bed around 2am, and get up at noon...but sure, it's a trip, we all have to make sacrifices =). Now, driving to frisco from lala land can be done in three ways actually. You can either go on the most boring freeway in the world, the I5, which is almost an exactly straight line going thru desert-landscape from LA to SF. Quickest route, as long as you can stay awake from the boringness. Then there's highway 101, going partly along the historic route El Camino Real, which apparently was set up by spaniards when the americas were still being referred to as "The New World". We drove part of the way on the 101, and got to see the lovely signs marking the old kings highway.

The third, and by far the most interesting alternative is also the longest, not by distance, but by time. It's a small road so it takes a long time to drive on. It is easily the most beautiful road I have ever travelled. I know I said in a previous post regarding grand canyon that it was basically pointless to post pictures of breathtaking views of nature, but in this case, I just feel that I have to put up a series of pictures. Partly because it's just evil of me to say "oh yeah, I saw this and it was so cool...but you don't get to see it, ha, ha" and partly because, well, the pictures turned out a whole lot better this time. Can't really say all that much about the pictures, so I advise you to just look at them, and enjoy the scenery. This is the Pacific Coast Highway, also referred to as "Number One":

Incredible, isn't it? We stopped a number of times, altho as you can see, some pictures were taken in motion, from inside the car. I'm still shocked/impressed however of how one of the pictures turned out, since I got it from sitting at the front passenger seat, leaning back to see out the lefthand side passenger window, while the car was turning in a corner. The picture I'm talking about is the 8th photo. Such a wonderful trip, even tho it took about 2 hours longer than it would have had we taken the borefest that is the I5.

After many hours in the car (close to 8 to be specific), we finally get out in front of Hosteling International (still keep thinking they say "hustling intl." when you call them) and get our bags and check in. Everything works out smooth, not a single complication. The hostel provides housing with a continental breakfast, linen n towel included, and all for just $23 / night. You just have to be ok with living with other people in the room, which really isn't a problem, since there's a large common area to sit n relax in before you turn in, in a smaller room with just 10 beds in it. Great for 3 travellers like us.
Both KeeWee and his companion Sara went to bed early, but I stayed up another couple of hours, because I met up with a swede who lived at the same hostel, who was on a near 2 months long trip, similar to mine, only with less planning. He arrived in Fullerton (a part of south LA) a week ago, and left by bus to frisco 2 days later, and simply go's from hostel to hostel. So awesome. Gave him my ¢¢ on Las Vegas, a destination he's headed towards later on. After talking about how sweet it is to be on a long vacation in california when it's cold and half-snowing back home and how jealous all the friends are, we said goodbye, and I went to bed.

Wednesday morning started with a simple continental breakfast and discussions about what we wanted to do during our stay in SF. We decided to just walk around and see what we find. After walking for 6 hours, passing by nice buildings, walking up and down hills, we finally find something interesting to see. We climbed up on a little hill, just north of SanFrancisco's most elevated point, Twin Peaks, and.I.was.amazed. I've seen a lot of beautiful sights in my life, a lot during my vacation here in the states...but the view from that hill was just simply spectacular. I was pondering if it was one of the nicest city-views I've ever seen, but I might have enjoyed it so much partially because it was gratifying just to reach the crest of that hill, considering how long we had been walking to get there. Like when you get your paycheck after working for a long boring month. Nonetheless, a great place to see all of SF from. Ofc, the battery in my camera was dead at the time, so no picture for me....but it wouldn't look all that good with my small cam anyway, so why bother. My friend, a hobbyphotografer with an awesome camera (canon! supposedly that means something extra good), got a couple of pictures tho, hopefully I can post some of his work as soon as I get hold of it.

At 5pm we drive away with the golden gate bridge behind us, a setting sun to the right, and a long boring drive ahead. We had planned to drive straight home on the I5, to save time. There was just one more scheduled stop we had to make before we left the area. Google Headquarters. Unfortunately, we disagreed on if we should drive up to the guard at the entrance or not. I figured we could just enter the area real quickly to get a couple of pictures of the place, but my suggestion was voted down, 2 to 1. Aah, democracy at work. Regardless, it was cool to be outside google, and at least see part of the building in nighttime...
On the way home, we discussed everything from anti-smoke campaigns to the nerdiness of computer enthusiasts, and if being a computernerd is a revered title or not, to my obsession/fascination of large mammaries. Very interesting. If we hadn't discussed such hot topics, I'm afraid we would all have fallen asleep from walking all day long, coupled with the monotony of the road...including the driver! But we all made it to Santa Monica in one piece..or...well...rather, no pieces missing or broken =).

Friends from overseas

This morning, my cellphone started ringing obnoxiously early. It was like...9am, which is 3 hours (!!) before I usually get up. How rude, how dare people commit such a henious crime!?
j/k, my friend KeeWee called, and asked if he could drop over. the following conversation ensued: "Of course man, come right over!"
"you're sure I didn't wake you up?"
"nah, don't worry 'bout it, I always wake up around this time...I just stay in bed for a little (heh) while longer"

About an hour or two (I was still groggy ;o) ) later, the cellphone rang again, and Kay (just had to =)) was standing right outside my door in the pouring rain (grr...), asking where to go. I welcomed him and his friend and colleague Sara into my temporary home, and we had a couple of nice conversations about the crappy weather, my view of americans and how I'm wasting my time here, in front of the computer (go fig). After a too short time, they decided to take a taxi to continue their tour of LA. Read about their adventures on the mans blog, 'tis a wellwritten one at that. 'Course, it is in swedish, so for my fellow readers of nonswedish origin...tough luck :-P.

After they left, I slump down in front of the tv to pass the time until around the usual time for my weekly adventures. Finally it's wednesday again! This time, the bill ended at $54.11 at HiDeHo, and $14.88 at Hooters. Not too bad, considering I missed last week, and I'll miss next week. Huh...those trips actually save money, in a way. Las Vegas previously, San Francisco next time. Oh well...looking forward to it.

Overall, a nice day, good to have you here my dear trekkie (trekker? :-p), just annoying that I didn't get a picture of the two of you in the rain. Here's for future adventures.

A post about October

Alright, so it's been a while. I'm sorry that I haven't written for about 4 weeks, but I guess I just lost the inspiration, the will to sit down and write. Partly because life here in Santa Monica has been so nice and relaxing (read: lazyy) that I just rather sit/lie down to read whatever comic I recently bought. But after talking to the parental units during their stay here (and reading comments on the previous post), I realised that more people read the stuff I write here than I thought. Since it's been almost a month since I wrote last, I guess a short resume of what I've been doing these past weeks is in order. It will however be quite brief, since I haven't really been using my camera at all and I can't really remember exactly what I've been doing =). So here we go

October 5th
Ida, Will (her boyfriend) and I drive down to a slightly less safe neighborhood than Santa Monica, Crenshaw. It's about a 15min drive, and we go all that way, just to find a cheap store. Yes, I'll do anything to save a dollar or five. So we end up at Wal*Mart and I figure we're just there to find a good airbed for me. Well, we did (see previous post), but apparently, Ida didn't think that the clothes I brought were fancy enough to be allowed entrance to various venues in Beverly Hills. She says I have to buy clothes as well, and I walk out from walmart with new shoes, socks and a shirt.

October 8th
I met up with another old friend that I've talked to for a long time online, but never met IRL and we had dinner, went to a mall, saw a movie. Really nice evening. I spent 60 bucks on being a set of tickets for a paintball-place that I still haven't used (man that'll piss me off if they stay "unused" until I leave).

October 9th
I discover Jack-in-the-Box, and their Ciabatta burgers, and I know what I'll be eating for the rest of my stay here in the states. Man..they're so good...in fact, I feel kinda a hungry right now...maybe I should..NO! keep writing!

October 11th
Walked around in Hollywood, really nothing special. In n out of tourist-shops, trying to find something interesting. Did find a little thing I'd love to buy, to play a mega-hilarious prank on somebody, but I've forgotten who...

October 12th
I start an expensive, but very lovely tradition, of going to the local comicbookclub, Hi De Ho Comics, and buy a couple of hardbook-covered comics for about 50 bucks, and then proceed to Hooters of Santa Monica, to eat an overpriced meal while enjoying the sights =).

October 13th

Will is nominated for a Music award, and the voting is taking place, basically by entering a club. So we head over to to show our support. (I also got to use my new "outfit", yay). Part of the voting process was walking up to strangers inside the club, and ask them to vote for "your friend" (in my case Will, obviously). I quickly realised that that meant I had a reason, a cover if you will, to walk up to beautiful girls and talk to them. I've always been kinda shy around people I find attractive (well, more than me that is ;o)) and therefore this was a great night. I must've approached at least 15 hot chicks in one night. Safe to say, I had quite an evening, and I'm sure Ida n Will would agree with me, if they could be reached for a comment =).


October 15th

My order from ThinkGeek finally arrived, and I got to play around with my new geeky stuff. Wohoo! Can't wait to order again, need more shirts and more stickers =).



October 17th
I start working on finding some kind of live music event for my parents to enjoy during their stay here 2 weeks later.

October 18th
My first night out on the town, having fun, going to various clubs, buying drinks n doing lots of stuff. First time in my life that I spent 700 SEK without actually buying something to bring home. I've heard people do this every weekend...I wish I had that much money...oh well. Bottomline, had an awesome time. Thank you Leslie =D.

October 19th
Wednesday again, w00t. Bought a great superman story, and a hardbook cover of, according to my new friend Ian, the definitive Batman story. Another visit at the restaurant. Nice as usual.

October 25th
Another step in Ida's makeover of ...well, me. We went to the local hairdresser (barber?) and asked for a very specific cut. My first time at a professional hairstylist, and I don't see why people spend $32 on this. He wasn't much better than mom when she cuts my hair. Completely overrated! But the new style sure is different, and people (well, besides mom that is) has been complementing it, and saying I look better in shorter hair. I guess I'll try to stick to this for a while...

October 26th
Sweet, a wednesday. That means I'm allowed to spend money without considering the consequences...heh..at least this is a little better than spending 80 bucks without bringing anything home besides memories (ah yes, thank you Leslie =D). Got Marvel 1602, volume 1 in hardbook cover. Had interesting discussions about my newly purchased comic when eating afterwards. More nice than usual!
Also went with Ida to her friend Spencer's place, and ate, watched southpark (oh my that setup was nice) and discussed politics.

October 30th
Parents showed up, I finally got real candy (w00t, lakrits!!! knäppa jänkar). We went to church, was interesting for the parents to see a real gospel church. Then they claimed to be too tired, and went straight home to go sleep. 2 weeks of preparations to find some place where they could enjoy live Jazz down the toilet...yay...bah.

Besides the dates mentioned, I really didn't do anything interesting enough worth mentioning. Mostly I biked around Santa Monica, bought groceries at Vons, ate at Jack-in-the-box...mmm, bacon , bought more stuff at Vons mmm, Poptarts . So enough with the "previously on, the life of Jacob". Time for what happened the first week in November:


"A little less conversation, a little more action please". The tunes of the Las Vegas themesong (a song written by Elvis some 35 years ago that got released as a remix by Junkie XL) playing in my head as we drive down the Strip in Las Vegas, and pass the beautiful Mandalay Bay resort and casino. Las Vegas is all what I've imagined, expected, and then some. Screens sized at about 200 inches, neon signs larger than a normal house, lightshows in great fountains and beautiful people all over the place, gambling away their riches. If there's ever been a moment for me to use the expression "larger-than-life", this would be it. I knew what I would see in Las Vegas, and still felt unprepared for all the sights. Just think then how it was for my parents who were expecting a "sinful dirty place, with drunks and prostitues at every corner with just one shady casino in the dark". Lets just say they were all impressed by the glamour of everything.
Is there anything more american, than being too lazy to go to Paris, France to experience The Eiffel tower that you decide to build a smaller copy of it yourself in the middle of the desert? Either way, my parents loved it.
Since we were in Las Vegas for only 1½ days, we didn't really do much. Tuesday night (when we arrived) we walked around on the strip, looked at all the attractions, and mini-wonders they've built there. Shot a lot of pictures and video and just had fun (some a bit too much, *cough*)

The main attraction for the trip tho, had to be the Grand Canyon. What a sight. A 1 ½ hour flight took us around the boring eventless nature of Nevada and Arizona, but also showed us Hoover Dam, Bolder City, an old erupted volcano and obviously, the Grand Canyon. I really was speechless after I had seen it, and I still am. It's uncomparable to anything else I've seen in nature. I could post pictures I took, but they wouln't come close to doing the real thing justice. 'Course, I still need to put up one picture, just for the sake of it.
After returning from the GC-tour, we needed to eat, and mom decided that we were going to eat something that just simply screams american food. It meant I finally got to find out what Krispy Kreme really is...deliciousness sold in boxes.

Wednesday night was once again, spent on the strip, walking in and out of hotels and casinos. Sure was interesting to see. I played some, (altho not at all as much as I'd like to) and I won some (once again, far from as much as I'd like to =) )


I ended my little Vegas adventure the morning after by flying home. A 1 hour flight that felt like 5min, because I spent the time reading a movie script. Sure hope that script will become a movie, so awesome.
Anyway, that was it for this time. I'll work on writing a bit more often, if you, my fellow reader, help out a bit by commenting on what I write about.