sha in LA

chichen itza-mazing...part 2

This evening E&P and I got together for a belated birthday dinner for E. We have been threatening for a while to return to Chichen Itza, the site of a fabulous dinner we had there earlier this year, and tonight was the night we decided to own up to that proclamation.

One noticeable difference was in the chips that are served pre-meal. Last time they were served plain with a combination of salsa's to try, this time they were served a la nacho-style with a black bean puree drizzled over them topped off with a stunning mild tomato salsa. It was so delicious that we devoured them almost immediately.

We started out again with the appetizer sampler which is always a favorite there and definitely recommended for larger parties. We then chose 3 separate main courses than what we had during our original outing. I chose the Pollo Pibil, E had the Queso Relleno and P went with a Shrimp dish. All very good choices and all plates were empty when all was said and done. The pibil was really amazing and I highly suggest that dish in either the pollo or pork.

For dessert we decided to walk over to Royale as we did the last time we went to Chichen Itza...are you sensing a pattern here? Essentially we do like to drink our desserts if possible and it's definitely possible at Royale where Tyler the master mixologist tempted our taste buds further by creating some wickedly delicious martinis.

Our next dining adventure you may ask? Well that'll be in a few weeks when we will venture back to Royale for their happyhour REMIXED to try the food...and maybe a drink or two.

x

Elephants' party, Once In A Blue Moon

Soon my hiatus from the theatre will be over as I begin a new show, One Fell Swoop, just after the 4th of July. No more Friday nights at home relaxing; instead I will have to fight rush hour traffic into Hollywood and put on my "Shannon the Sassy Stage Manager" persona and deal with actors, audience members and other assorted technical matters. Ah, but I love it right?

Along with the work comes the parties. Theatre folk love to party. And speaking of parties...guess what theatre company will be having a fundraiser for their upcoming show that is set to open on Friday July 13th?? Yep, the Elephant Theatre Company! As if you were surprised...

From the looks of it we'll be at M Bar this coming Friday night (June 29th) from 10pm on having a gay old time. Do stop by and have some fun with us if you are in the 'hood. There will be raffles and drinks and drama, OH MY! And of course all proceeds go toward future Elephant productions.

x

sha(y) loves LA

Sometimes life gets the best of me and the best laid plans never pan out.

I've not been dancing recently due to a shoulder injury. This week though I've been cleared to start back up by my physical therapist. Tonight was a sorta big event that I had planned on attending, I even sent an email message to some dancer friends warning of my impending entrance back into that world.

And then E called. He had a hankering for sushi and wanted to know if I was up for some dinner. I told him I had to get my walk on but if he could wait I'd get there as soon as humanly possible. At 8:20 I arrived at his place and we walked over to Little Tokyo for some Frying Fish. Afterwards we had some CeFiore frozen yogurt and ran into the IAAL•MAF crew who had just finished their bike tour of the 10 bridges that span the LA River. On the walk back to E's place we stopped into e3rd for a drink however as we were pondering the drink selection it hit us that we could head over to our favorite supersecretlatenighthangout instead...so we did.

And what was originally supposed to be just dinner then me off to go dance turned into what usually happens when E and I get together....dinner, dessert, drinks and debauchery. I love Downtown.

x

Bergin's Blue/Crew 2007

The Bergin's Blue/Brew Crew assembled on Wednesday night for our 3rd Annual trip to Dodger Stadium and this year we did it in style. EA took the lead from me and secured a luxury motorcoach to transport us from Tom Bergin's to the game and back. Various beverages were provided not only by our sponsor but fellow revelers alike. Let's just say there was little need for $10 beers once we got to the stadium.

As we arrived in the top of the 1st inning, the Mets were scoring what would be their only run of the night. Which is really sad...but not really. We sat in Inner Reserve just a snooch to the left of Home Plate on the 3rd base side and somehow managed to not piss off any of our other section-mates.

And for the 2nd year in a row we got royally screwed by the Dodger Stadium Scoreboard Staff. You see, when you purchase more than 30 tickets they "claim" that they will put the name of your group on the Scoreboard intermittently throughout the night. Last year one person "apparently" saw it but we have doubts about her sobriety at the time, this year no one saw our name and we were more vigilant in our quest.

The game turned into a hitting fest midway through and never let up. The Dodgers secured a win and about 95% of our group was happy. Yes, a few Mets fans were amongst us. It's inevitable at an Irish bar I guess.

I dubbed myself the official photographer and "Julie" the cruise director. Thanks to the spiffy camera I have on loan you get to see my continued experimentation here.

No doubt we'll be back next year in 2008. Maybe then I'll remember to post something here prior so the friends-of-Bergin's-regulars can experience the mayhem.

x

sha(y) by the bay

Due to a certain set of circumstances I found myself in San Francisco this past weekend. And what a weekend it was. My newfound love of walking up big hills was satiated in a grand way seeing that I spent a lot of time in Pacific Heights and had to ascend hills quite often.

Some highlights include stumbling upon the Cable Car Museum, sitting in a park watching a French Bulldog furiously attempt to catch a Jack Russell Terrier in a great game of chase, the slingshot flying monkey, that little corner of Ghiradelli Square, The Bucaneer (both times), sitting by the lake at the Palace of Fine Arts, the impromptu 7 mile walk, The House of Nanking, Saturday night in general, and spending quality time with 2 of my favorite people who happen to share the same name.

On this trip I was able to use a different camera than the norm. It was a Canon Digital Elph SD550 which I greatly enjoyed playing with, especially the Color Accent Feature whereby you select a certain color and it highlights that while making the rest of the image black and white. As you can see already, I utilized that feature often and it just may be the selling point that sways me toward this line of digital camera for my impending upgrade.

San Francisco, always a good time, and this little "get outta LA" trip was no different. Call it coincidence or synchronicity but the following story gives me hope that my life is on the correct path.

As I'm sitting with Chriss in the park my phone rings, its a mutual friend of ours from LA also named Chris. I answer and he asks if I have Chriss' number as he will be in SF in a few weeks and wants to get together with her. Now mind you, LA Chris has NO IDEA that I'm actually sitting in a park with SF Chriss so I casually say "yeah, hold on a minute" and hand the phone over to let her take care of the well timed request.

You can amuse yourself with the complete photoset of the trip here.

x

i saw Once, twice

2 weeks ago today I was at a Memorial Day BBQ. Not feeling all that communicative around others that particular afternoon I came home and scoured 777film for a movie to go see. Sure it was a holiday but it was also a beautiful evening so I figured the movies wouldn't be too packed. Blockbusters were out of the picture so I decided on a little movie called Once that caught my eye.

I found it an to be an inspiring and simply beautiful little movie. Continually thinking about it for the past 2 weeks, tonight I went back to see it again. And there's a damn good chance I'll see it Once more.

x

isn't that a mortgage?!?!

As spotted this weekend during my travels in San Francisco. Granted this was in Russian Hill I believe, but still. I like the amenities...heat is included, yay!!!

Angelenos, I think we've got it OK down here.

x

urban exploration trifecta

On Saturday Dave (eecue) and I went around to numerous buildings on the HC LAC tour for an HDR photography session. After the “official” tour was over, and with my badge removed, we immediately and almost in sync reverted to our deep seeded urban exploration roots. Generally speaking, my UE adventures are somewhat elementary compared to others...a few hopped fences here, some random open doors there...but nothing too spectacular. This past Saturday though was pretty much right up there with one of the best adventures to date for myself.

The first building explored was very near a street corner adjacent to Pershing Square. We walked in as if we know exactly where we were going and pressed the UP button on the elevator. Almost immediately the Security Guard questioned our intentions. Dave hauling a camera mounted tripod over his shoulder isn’t exactly the most inconspicuous looking person so he matter-of-factly said that he wanted to photograph the building. To our surprise the guard informed us that the 9th floor would be a good choice. Slightly speechless we thanked him and were off to the 9th floor as he suggested. Once inside the building we decided that roof access was not out of the question since technically he didn’t say we couldn’t go there, so up we went. Prior to the roof we found the 12th floor completely gutted and ripe for more picture taking. Upon finding the roof access door we were greeted with one of those red handles that states an alarm will sound if opened. We then inspected the door for a good 2 minutes to see if it really was alarmed and pondered the options. My solution…get the elevator prepped and ready for our escape should the door actually be wired. Thankfully it wasn’t. After that foray we visited the basement and then left the building making sure to say goodbye and thank you to the nice security guard who was busy reading a magazine while a TV monitor with the security cameras’ feed sat in the background.

[photo by Dave Bullock]

[photo by Dave Bullock]

Since that building was a relatively easy adventure I decided we should try another just down the street that I had gained access to a few months ago. Upon entering the lobby area we were greeted with the construction supervisor whereby we told him that we wanted to take some pictures. He was hesitant at first, then said yes, then said he needed to call his direct supervisor....finally we were granted access with an escort. Sweet! This particular building was a former bank so we got to inspect a few old vaults in the basement before going up to the 3rd and 4th floor which oddly enough entirely consisted of small-ish wood paneled offices. We speculated that perhaps the floor used to be lawyer’s offices. As we were leaving the 4th floor we saw a United States Senate seal on a glass doorway however it looked a bit fake so most likely it was leftover from a film shoot many years ago. I was left wondering how the developers will incorporate the existing layout of those floors into residences while keeping the interiors intact.

[photo by Dave Bullock]

[photo by Dave Bullock]

Next up was another building being converted that Dave knew of which was also just a few blocks away. Since we had so much luck at the 1st two buildings we thought it best to keep riding the wave. We entered the 3rd building and without seeing anyone scurried up the first available staircase to the 2nd or 3rd floor. We tried to sneak around for a bit but then Dave decided we should just come clean and attempt to get permission to be there. We walked down the hallway and saw 2 workers. We greeted them, they nodded and kept walking, so did we. Dave then randomly says, “the elevators are working in this building, let’s go to the roof.” So the roof it was for more breathtaking Downtown views and an elevator equipment room for Dave to photograph. On the ride back down to the lobby the elevator cab stopped on floors 6 & 5 to pick up workers who looked rather perplexed upon seeing us standing there. But still, no questions from the peanut gallery.

[photo by Dave Bullock]

[photo by Dave Bullock]

[photo by Dave Bullock]

[photo by Dave Bullock]

Racking our brains for yet another conversion to explore we finally decided to call it a day. At that point it had been a 4 hour journey and we were pooped. Now here comes the sad part....because I knew Dave would have a camera and because I had no idea the day would bring what it did, I left my camera at home and have absolutely no photographic evidence of our adventure! Thankfuly Dave has graciously allowed me to link up his photos (giving credit where due) and you can see more of his great photography in this set. Go have a look to see what we experienced, I for one will be riding this urban adventure high for a while.

x

* all photos used under the creative commons deed