Browse Author: beakatude

locked out

Right now, I’m sitting with my laptop, sitting in my car that is parked in the garage. I’ve been locked out of my house.
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This morning I left for work without my house keys, which also has my office key to get into my clinic. So, I was locked out of my office this morning and got in by walking through two classrooms to get in the back way. La-Dee-Da…all is well in the world again. Unfortunately, when I got home just now, I opened the garage, rounded up the dogs as they attempted to escape (they were in the garage all day), and found the door to my house from the garage was locked. Boo!! I suppose Jes thinks that if the garage/patio door is left ajar all day, someone can hop the wall, get in through the garage/house door, and steal our stuff. So, that leaves me here…locked out, have to pee, need to walk the dogs but no access to their leashes, and Jes won’t be home for another 45 minutes. I need to stop forgetting my keys.

photos and booze

I went to see photos taken by Joshua Klein in LA last night at the Fred Segal on Melrose. Dayantha, my brother, and I met up with Holly, Roy, and some other friends there to check out his work. My general feeling of his work was, “that’s nice but I think a nice frame and matte can make almost anything look like art”. He was actually charging $500 for each print. Whew, I need to get into this business! Anyway, we got there in time for some free wine as we mingled with friends. Within a 30-minute period, I downed 2 glasses of red wine and felt the buzz as soon as we left the place. Afterwards, we all went to O-Bar in West Hollywood where there was a very obvious aura of gayness…dudes with other dudes and a sprinkling of women. We all had some drinks and shared appetizers until we were toasty and broke…this place was pretty pricey. Everyone went home afterwards except for the three of us. We stayed for one more drink, went to Pioneer Denny’s for some grease, and were home by 4 am. Good times…

100 yards

I had today off because of Veteran’s Day so I went to the driving range with Dayantha. We went to Strawberry Farms by my house where a large bag of balls costs $12 and you can hit balls off of grass instead of green mats. My shots were surprisingly better than I expected. I switched between my 7 iron, 5 wood, 3 wood, and driver. Overall, I made a few grounders, hit the ball collector once, and whiffed a couple times but I shot my usual straight 100 yards with the 7 iron and occasionally reached at least 200 with the woods/driver. Dayantha did rather well for someone who doesn’t even own a set of clubs. He used Jes’ clubs and managed to get the ball off the ground with some major yardage. It looks like our Dayantha is a natural at the sport. I think the only habit he’ll need to break is the baseball swing that he has a tendency wants to fall back on.

Show and Tell

To make therapy fun for my kids, I try to keep our projects within the theme of the season or holiday while working on their coloring and cutting skills. Well, they have been working pretty hard on some projects so I thought I’d put it together on the wall for everyone to see. Here’s what they made these past weeks.
Here’s a turkey that my friend Matthew made. Notice how it’s a 3-D turkey with a springy neck. I think it looks pretty comical.
Here are some pretty leaves that my other friends colored and decorated with glitter. Some of them are advanced enough to cut them out and some I had to do it for them.

Here is what the wall looks like. It’s still a work-in-progress since some of the kids haven’t made theirs yet but you get the point. The kids really like to see their work on the wall. They always come in and try to find their own turkeys and leaves. This is one of those times that I think my job is cool.

Adults Only

Jes and I have a membership to the Long Beach Aquarium and every month they have a “members night” where you can see the exhibits after hours. Well, last night it was “Adults Only Night” and what a difference that makes to the place! Don’t get me wrong…kids are cool and the aquarium is a neat place to bring kids. Unfortunately, it also takes away from some of the exhibits. Last night we walked into the room with jellyfish in it and discovered that there was ambient/trancy music playing in the background. I’ve been in that room numerous times and never noticed the music due to the abundance of “ooos and ahhs” that usually fill the room. The room was dark, quiet, and calm while the jellyfish did their mesmerizing floaty thing. It was pretty cool.

Dining in the O.C.

What I miss most about living in West LA and SF is the variety of restaurants and eating experiences. In the O.C., we are bombarded by franchises and family-oriented eateries that get old after a while. Well, in hopes of finding some “hidden treasures”, Jes and I tried a couple of restaurants that seemed promising.
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Our first stop was Opah in Tustin. The restaurant was really pretty with a very zen look. The restaurant featured seafood with a Pan-Asian flare. First we tried the Spiced Ahi Tuna Tartar that was fresh and paired nicely with the crab underneath it. We also tried the Sugarcane Tenderloin that had a subtle sweetness from the sugarcane and tartness from the cucumber/papaya relish. For our entrees, I ordered the Pan Seared Dayboat Scallops and Jes had the Hazelnut Crusted Halibut. Both were very good but somewhat overwhelming due to the very large portion size. When I usually dine at a fine restaurant, I expect a small piece of meat nicely plated with some veggies or potatoes. Instead, I got 6 large scallops with three servings of risotto underneath and Jes got 2 huge pieces of fish over another three servings of potatoes. I can’t really complain but there’s something not as appetizing when it’s served to you in Hungryman portions. For dessert, we tried their half-baked souffle, which was burnt and not very good. I think we should have ordered the crossaint bread pudding per the recommendation of our server. Oh well. Overall, it was a fun dining experience with acceptable food and a cool bar that is perfect for the afterwork happy hour crowd. I would go to this place again but it wouldn’t be my first choice.
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A few days later, we went to Chat Noir in Costa Mesa. The decor was fun and very French. They had an interesting champagne and martini menu and since the appetizers looked so good, Jes and I decided to order 4 starters and share an entree. We had the shrimp cocktail (fresh and good cocktail sauce), seared foie gras (melty with a nice blackberry sauce), frisee salad (satisfyingly warm and crisp at the same time), and lobster bisque (not as creamy as I’m used to but very tasty). They were all very good and made well. For the main course, we had Cog a Vin, a very traditional French chicken dish, which was very flavorful and the chicken was very tender. Dessert was a souffle made just the way it’s supposed to…a good follow-up to the disappointing souffle at Opah. I would definitely dine at Chat Noir again. With a live jazz band at the bar, it looks like a fun place for happy hour or a group dinner too.
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So there you go…that was my first attempt at exploring the world that is behind the “Orange Curtain”. …to be continued…