Entry tags:
The LA trip that should never have happened
Here’s my attempt to stay on top of my latest trips... we’ll see if it lasts more than this one entry, lol.
The subject line is a slight exaggeration. It shouldn't have happened, because it was based on my own stupidity, but I'm also sort of glad it did, because it means I was able to celebrate Jade's (early) birthday with her. But that was the only good part.
So on Thursday, I left for LA to go to the BTS concert. It was a huuuuuuuge mistake on my part to even get the tickets, and at this point, I’m convinced that the universe forced me into the grip of temporary insanity so that I could pay J. back for taking me to Kcon NYC. -.- I like J. pretty well, and being in NYC with her was fine, but LA really tested my limits with regard to her company. We just don’t mesh in the way we do things or think about things – even though at the face of it, we have a ton in common. But it’s just off somehow, to the point where I don’t feel entirely comfortable with her, and sometimes it feels like we’re from different planets.
Day One (Thu, Sept. 6, 2018)
I took Alaska down and J. took Delta, despite the fact that it would take twice as long and had a connection, just so she could get her Delta miles. Here’s an example where we have something in common, but then it goes sideways. I’m also a big fan of Delta, and I also want to earn miles there. But for a flight down to LA, which should take 2½ hours nonstop, I would not (and did not) choose a flight with a connection and make my trip twice as long, just for the miles. Not only that, it made it so that we arrived an hour apart, which meant I was forced to wait at the airport for an hour because it didn’t make any sense for us to go to the hotel separately with only an hour in between. On the flight, I watched Table 19, which was fine until about the last third, which was stupid.
I’d initially booked a rental car for $100, but checking that day, it had dropped to $40, which cut short the debate over whether we should just Lyft everywhere or rent a car. In retrospect, it might’ve been more expensive to Lyft, but ultimately perhaps more convenient because we could just be dropped off at places instead of having to find parking everywhere we went, which was a huge pain in downtown LA. Also it cost like $40/day to park the car at the hotel. >< In any case, we rented the car (it was a Hyundai SUV that was a pretty nice drive) and got to the hotel.
The concert was that night, at 8pm, so we didn’t have a whole lot of time. It would have made sense to me to drop our stuff off at the hotel then go to dinner, because J. said she wanted to be at the venue by 7:30pm. (She’s way more into BTS than me.) We had this conversation:
Me: Since we have assigned seats, I think it’s fine if we just show up at the last minute.
Her: But I don’t want to miss the beginning!!
Me: Okay, well what time do you want to be there?
Her: I think we should be at the venue by 7:30 at the latest.
Me: All right.
We got to the hotel and she said she wanted to charge her phone for 20 min, then we could be on our way. Well, she hadn’t done her makeup or her clothes or whatever, and we ended up taking 45 min to leave the room. With traffic and everything, it meant we didn’t get to Quarters, where we were having dinner, until 6:30pm or so, at which point I said that perhaps we wouldn’t have enough time.
J: Well, as long as we leave by 7:30, it’s fine.
Me: But you wanted to be at the venue by 7:30.
J: Oh, did I say that?
Me: YES YOU DID.
At Quarters we saw young!Henry again! I was so excited to see him, lol. He’s such a little cutie, like BamBam. We ordered 5 meats: brisket, marinated short rib, spicy pork jowl, pork belly, and outside skirt. That enabled us to get the steamed egg, cheese and side soup. It was a ton of food, but we ate almost every bit of it.


It was good, but I don’t know if I’d ever go back. As was the case the first time I went there, it was INCREDIBLY LOUD in the restaurant. The acoustics are bad to begin with, but then they also blare loud music! You literally can’t hear the person sitting across from you without semi-shouting. Please, young!Henry, work somewhere else so I can see you, but not have to put up with that. I also wish we hadn’t been in as much of a rush, because I really don’t like rushing through meals. :/ But anyway we left around 7:30ish and made our way to the venue.
Along the way, we got into an argument. It was a really dumb argument because it was about BTS, and why they had gotten so mega popular despite not being from a big label, etc. And J. had a theory about it, which was fine. I didn’t have a problem with her theory, exactly, even though I didn’t really see what was so fucking special about them. The issue came when she basically said that she didn’t believe in luck, that BTS had gotten as popular as they did because they worked hard, etc. Which I took serious issue with, because IT IS MOSTLY LUCK. There are tons of good-looking, talented artists out there (I mean, just look at where we were! Hollywood is a town MADE UP of those people!), but because of timing or whatever, just hadn’t gotten their break, and most never would. THAT IS LUCK. She could not be dissuaded from her point of view, however, that that wasn’t luck, but purely hard work, with maybe a LITTLE luck. We disagreed on that point, and I was fine with disagreeing. Where she REALLY pissed me off was when she asked me for an example to "prove" my point. She wanted me to give an example of someone who SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN FAMOUS despite doing everything and having everything. And I was speechless at that point. I was like, I can’t??? Because it’s literally impossible to prove a negative?? I'd only be giving an OPINION. ARE YOU A FUCKING MORON??? And then she said something to the effect that if someone had an argument they should have proof to back up their claims. I seriously nearly threw her out of the car at that point, I was so enraged. For the rest of the trip, I literally had to suppress all my own thoughts on any topic that even strayed close, so as to avoid the confrontation, just to keep the peace. And the fact I had to do that made me even more mad.
In any case, moving on. Staples Center and LA Live share a parking lot (apparently), and it cost $30 to park for the event. We got inside the venue and made our way to our seats, which were really, really good seats (though I would hope so, given what I paid). We were practically on the floor, but without actually being on the floor and instead getting to have our own seats. Two girls were sitting in our spots, but they moved immediately when we came, which was good but also annoying. If you want seats like that then PAY FOR THEM. I WOULD HAVE GLADLY SOLD THEM TO YOU. -.-

I was also panicking because even though I had brought earplugs with me to LA, I had totally forgotten to bring them with me to the venue!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. I was super scared because I did not want to go deaf. If I’m going to go deaf at a concert, it should at least be for a BAND I LIKE!!!! Argh. Anyway, it was bad but I managed to mitigate it by closing off my ears for everything in between the music and the first few seconds of every song, because that is when the screaming is the worst (and when I least care to listen, since I don’t care about the band). And if I’m going to go deaf at a concert for a band I'm into, I’d at least rather it be from actual music than stupid screaming from fucking teenage girls. God, SHUT UP.
I recognized a whole three songs, lol. And two of them weren’t even whole songs, but part of a medley! LOL. Prior to the concert, J. had looked up the setlist and said she was surprised they would not be performing Fire, one of their most popular songs (and the one I know best, lol). But it turns out they do a medley of their old songs at every concert, and that medley changes every night. Which is actually kind of cool, because if you were a big fan of the group and went to a concert every night, you could at least hear something a little different each time. Anyway, the three songs I knew:
Edit: The full setlist from the night I went!
1. Idol
2. Save Me (shortened version)
3. I'm Fine
4. Magic Shop
5. Trivia: Just Dance (J-Hope solo)
6. Euphoria (Jungkook solo)
7. I Need U
8. Run
9. Serendipity (Jimin solo)
10. Trivia: Love (RM solo)
11. DNA
12. Boyz with Fun (shortened version)
13. Attack on Bangtan (shortened version)
14. Fire (shortened version)
15. Silver Spoon (shortened version)
16. Dope (shortened version)
17. Airplane pt. 2
18. Singularity (V solo)
19. Fake Love (rocking vibe mix)
20: Trivia: Seesaw (Suga solo)
21. Epiphany (Jin solo)
22. The Truth Untold
23. Outro: Tear
24. Mic Drop
25. So What (Army Time)
26. Anpanman
27. Answer: Love Myself
Random aside: I don’t understand why people don’t understand that THEY HAVE B.O. Wear deodorant, even if you don’t think you need to, because you are probably NOSE BLIND TO YOURSELF!!! It is so terrible, every concert I’ve ever been to, I always sit near someone who doesn’t believe in deodorant, and it smells terrible. PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF HUMANITY JUST WEAR IT. SPARE THE REST OF US YOUR STENCH. Ughghghghghghgh. Anyway the point is that this concert was no different. -.- Despite all that, I didn’t completely have a terrible time. It’s always fun to see performers live, and they did well (I suppose). V was much better looking than I remembered from Hwarang or from pictures. I also enjoyed Jin and Jungkook, though the latter is actually less attractive live than in pics, lol. Anyway, there were a few songs I ended up liking, even though it was a little hard to tell, given how fucking loud it was that you could barely make anything out, and the bass was on so high that for most of every song you could feel the reverberations through your entire body. In any case, probably the best song I was introduced to was this solo by Jin called Epiphany:
I really, really, REALLY wished I had had such good seats for the GOT7 concert, and could have made out everyone’s faces clearly without having to turn to the big screens. :/ Also, the only thing the concert accomplished was made me want to listen to GOT7 as soon as I could. Sigh. (It’s funny to me that at one point I complained that I just couldn’t get into any GOT7 songs.)
After the concert we went to Hwa Sun Ji for dessert/drinks. I got the sik hye, while J. got some sort of hot tea, and we split the patbingsu. Everything was... fine. The sik hye was a little sweet for my taste, but probably it’s supposed to be like that. What was weird (to me) was that it was served in a bowl, because previous to that moment I had only known it to be a drink, like the Korean version of horchata. The patbingsu was also not up my alley. The shaved ice part was really boring, and the toppings were a little too Asian and oddly paired for my taste (I’m not the biggest fan of traditional Asian desserts): melon, matcha ice cream, red beans, etc.


That night we got back to the hotel at nearly 1am, and J. asked if I wanted to get breakfast.
Me: Really? But it’s nearly 1am already. So would we have a big breakfast then skip lunch?
Her: We can have an early breakfast then also do lunch.
Me: Well, okay.
Her: Okay, let’s leave the room around 9am.
Then we had a conversation about travel with friends, and how you have to compromise when you do that, because everyone has different needs/wants, etc. And she said that one of the ways she felt she compromised when she traveled with people was that she didn’t need much sleep while on vacation, so she always got a late start because all her friends wanted to sleep in, etc.
Please to remember this conversation when I continue to the next day.
Day Two, Fri, Sept. 7, 2018
Despite all her declarations to the contrary the night before, and despite the fact that I got up when I was supposed to and was ready to leave the room by 9am as we agreed, J. kept silencing her alarm over and over. She also takes a lot longer than me to get ready, so we didn’t leave the room until nearly 10am!! Like seriously!!!
She really, really wanted to go to Eggslut, and insisted it would be fine because she was sure its popularity had died down. I was seriously doubtful of this, because I had seen the line for it in Vegas, and it seemed quite popular. But okay, maybe in LA it was different.
WELL IT WASN’T. Despite being a really casual counter-type place, and being just one food stall in a large, open-air market, the line was insanely long. We waited for prob 30-45 min just to get to the front to order. And get this, J. wanted to have lunch IMMEDIATELY AFTERWARD. I was so fucking irritated at this point. We had gotten a late start because of her, and I wouldn’t really get to enjoy the food at Eggslut because if we had lunch right after (we were planning on yakiniku, Japanese BBQ), I didn’t want to fill up! She wanted to try Eggslut’s most popular dish, it’s like mashed potato and an egg in a jar, cooked sous vide. She asked if I also wanted to get a sandwich, and I was like, NO! I mean, I can eat a lot, but not TWO FULL MEALS IN A ROW. That’s just fucking crazy. She basically wanted the Eggslut meal for Instagram, which also kind of enraged me. What a fucking waste of fucking time.


And like, it was fine????? I don’t fucking get what the hype for Eggslut is about. IT’S JUST BREAKFAST FOOD OMG. It’s fucking eggs. It’s not that complicated???? Why is it such a huge deal? Why is it this major fad that people will WAIT FOR when it’s not really that different from any decent brunch place? I don’t fucking get it AT ALL. I ranted about this to
jade_okelani on KT afterward. /fumefume
For lunch we drove all the way out to Lomita, because it was basically the best/closest place that had yakiniku that was also open for lunch. Tamaen was the name of the place, but it turned out that they did not do BBQ that you cook at the table yourself, for lunch. >< That was a huge bummer. It was nice that J. spoke Japanese though, because the waitress was really uncomfortable with English. Anyway, we ordered an app of raw beef with uni (the beef was tasteless, unfortunately, and J. said that she normally had it with cooked beef, which made it way more delicious) and two of the chef’s choice dishes, which came on hot plates (and was the closest we could get to BBQ, lol). One was rib eye and the other was some kind of cubed steak that cost a lot less... but the latter was actually the better of the two (and the rice it came with was delicious). The rib eye was overcooked, and sliced in large pieces, which was weird since we were only given chopsticks to eat and didn’t have knives to cut it into smaller pieces. I also had a yuzu soda, which looked basically like they had put some yuzu honey tea mixture at the bottom of a glass, then put sparkling water over it. I had to stir it to drink. It was good, though, so maybe I’ll try that at home sometime.



After lunch we headed back toward our hotel, and went to Boteaga for drinks. They serve their beverages in a really cool cup, with a specially designed lid that has a swivel top *and* a place for a straw. It’s awesome. I ordered a mango "chizu" drink, which was basically a drink with that salty cheese cream topping that I like (I first had it in Hong Kong). Only, I thought the mango drink was a tea – instead, it was a slushie. It was yummy, but imho did NOT pair well with the topping. J. got one of their fruit tea drinks, which looked really pretty and had big chunks of real fruit in it, but I didn’t care for the taste of the tea, which was a bit medicinal.


Jade was going to come pick me up around 3:30pm, for us to do an outing. I wanted to treat her to a birthday dinner and other stuff, and when we first made plans I had felt a little guilty about doing so, because J. and I weren’t going to be in LA that long and I was going to ditch her for one of our only two dinner opportunities. But at that point, it was SUCH A RELIEF to know that I would get to escape her for the rest of the day!!
The first thing Jade and I did was get mani/pedis. Actually we tried like two places that couldn’t take us, before finally going to Paradise Nails in Silverlake, which could. It was a decent place, if a little sketchy, but had reasonable prices for the area. The ladies who worked on us were fairly careful, which was nice. After that, we immediately ruined our manicures by going to do an escape room. We did ‘The Abyss’ at Maze Rooms, which was the same place we had gone to do ‘Magic Kingdom’ a month or two ago. It was a two-person escape room, because you’re in a small pod the entire time and it doesn’t fit more than that. It was supposed to be "all brain puzzles," but there was a lot of technology involved, including the pod itself, which vibrated and such. I do NOT like escape rooms that rely too much on tech, because shit inevitably goes wrong that has nothing to do with whether or not you've solved something, and then the puzzle becomes at fault. There was a part where we had to "charge the batteries" using a handcrank, and the fucking crank kept falling off! We took SO LONG with that part we literally thought 45 min had passed and they were going to come in and tell us we had run out of time. Then there was a part where we had to use the pressure plates in the room to move a dot on a screen into the middle, only it was not based at all on logic in terms of how you moved the dot. Both of these parts were soooooooooooo fucking frustrating. I hate being that frustrated in an escape room, where it’s no longer fun but a chore!! Afterward, Jade kindly (but uselessly) told the gamemaster about the handcrank issue, and she was like: "Oh! Thank you for letting me know!" but it was so obvious she did not give a shit. I’m sure it was NOT the first time someone had mentioned the problem. I mean, seriously, without that and the dumb pressure plates, anyone would escape that pod in like thirty minutes.
In order to eat our feelings, and because it was the thing I had been looking forward to the most, we went to have dinner at Shabuya, a Korean-style AYCE shabu shabu. They have gone Western in their sensibilities, as I’ve seen other restaurants do as well, wherein everyone has their own pots. Asian hot pots are normally eaten family style, which at home is totally fine. But at a restaurant, I like having my own pot because it means everyone can get their own thing and eat whatever they like. Anyway, you order the meats you want from the waitress, but they have a HUGE buffet bar where you get your own sauces, veggies and seafood. We tried all the meats except the chicken (I think) and lamb, and our favorites were #1 and #2, as well as the pork belly (whatever number that is). I didn’t realize until today, when talking with
adelagia about it, that for lunch, even though it’s cheaper ($19 vs $30), you can only order items #5-9! So it wouldn’t be worth it when those aren’t even the good meats, and who knows what kind of seafood variety they offer then (for dinner we had clams and blue crab, which was what I got, but there was a bunch of stuff)! I ordered the #4 soup, which was some kind of Chinese herbal soup that I enjoyed a lot (it wasn’t TOO herbal), while Jade got the #1 soup, which was their house seaweed soup (she said she liked the pork one she had before, better).






After stuffing ourselves to the gills, we went to stuff our "other" stomach, and went to Holy Roly for dessert. We ordered the Ferrero Rocher one, which was super delicious. I also want to one day try the strawberry graham and Oreo ones. I also want to try going there when we aren’t crunched for time!

Why were we crunched for time? Because we had tickets to see Searching at the Regal LA Live! So yes, I went there two days in a row, lol. Actually, we had gone there right before dinner in order to get our tickets. Since MoviePass is miraculously still working, we didn’t want to risk getting our tickets too late and then not having good seats (it turned out not to be an issue, but we didn’t know that). We didn’t quite know where the theater was, so Jade dropped me off at a likely looking place. I took her phone so that I could check in for her on MP and also get her Regal card points, but that meant we would not be able to contact one another. That became an issue as soon as I started walking, because I didn’t see the theater ANYWHERE. I finally had to ask some security guards, and basically it was at the very far end of where she had dropped me off, and there was no way for me to even let her know!! I finally got to the theater, and was given a start when someone said from their car, "I have never been so happy to see someone in my life." It was Jade, LOL! She had circled around and found the Regal, and realized how far I had had to walk to the theater, and decided I probably had to pass her on my way, and she was right! I was also, of course, happy to see her, not just because I didn’t want to walk all the way back, but because time was of the essence! Anyway, I really enjoyed the movie, and it has great ratings on Rotten Tomatoes, so yay. Good for John Cho. Parking, even with validation, was still $8, which imho is outrageous.
I got back to my room around 1am, and J. was already asleep. We hadn’t discussed what time to wake up or whether we were going to have breakfast or lunch or what, so I set my alarm for 8:30am and went to sleep.
Day Three, Sat, Sept. 8, 2018
I knew J. was not going to be as anxious as me about my flight, which left at 3:10pm. She is the sort of person who shows up at the airport with only minutes to spare before a flight; I am not like that. I am most comfortable getting there at least an hour ahead of time; I don’t like to waste more time than that, but often do, because I usually err on the side of caution in case of traffic or whatever. Her flight out was an hour later than mine, so I knew my challenge that day was going to be getting myself to the airport in time.
Similar to the previous day, I got up early and got ready, and was pretty much ready by the time J. roused herself from bed. She mentioned that she had gone to a Korean congee place for dinner the night before, and I was intrigued. She said she didn’t mind going back, because she had been torn between ordering the congee or their samgyetang; if we went back, she could get the samgyetang. She also mentioned that she wanted to go to a dessert place for more patbingsu, and maybe also stop by Porto’s (a fairly famous café/bakery most well-known for their potato balls). I was like, wow that’s a lot to fit in, so we should get going (HINT HINT). We left later than I liked, but we got to the restaurant (Healthy Zone Jook Hyang) around 11am. She had gotten the abalone jook the night before, so we decided to split the abalone samgyetang and chicken jook. It turned out that the place specialized in abalone; they had a tank full of them that they would harvest for their dishes.
While waiting, the ahjummas at the table next to us got their dish, which was a sizzling platter of pork and squid (we think). It looked and smelled delicious, so we kept surreptitiously looking over. I went to take a picture of the abalone tank, and when I returned, J. told me in embarrassment that the ahjummas had noticed her interest, and had offered her to try some of their food, saying it was delicious! LOL! J.: "I thought I was being really discreet!" Hahahahaha. If I'd been there for the exchange, I don’t know if I would have accepted their offer, but I do think I would have at least attempted to speak to them in Korean. In my head, the conversation would go something like this:
Ahjummas: Would you like to try some? It’s really delicious!
Me: 괜찮습니다. 감사합니다!
Ahjummas: 한국사람이에요?
Me: 아니요. 중국사람이에요. 한국말 배우고 있어요.
Ahjummas: Ah.
Yes, even that basic exchange would have made me really happy! Alas, they did not speak to me.
The food was good, but not outstanding. Partly it’s because both dishes were severely undersalted, apparently on purpose, because they gave us a dish of salt with which I had to make liberal use.




After lunch we headed to Sul & Beans, which turned out to be the dessert place next to Somi Somi, which Adelagia, Jade and I had gone to on our last trip to LA. At the time we had sat at one of the tables outside, only to realize it belonged not to Somi Somi but this other place. This time, though I was legitimately at the right establishment, there was plenty of seating inside so didn’t even sit out there, lol. We got the mango patbingsu and cheese toast, both of which were amazing. The mango patbingsu was done right, with milky, smooth shaved ice, which was layered with syrup and fruit, and topped with tons of mango, so it was a pleasing experience to eat throughout. The cheese toast was my favorite though, sweet and also salty – so, so good.


J. still wanted to go to Porto’s, which made me kind of nervous because we still had to get gas and return the car. It was, as usual, packed, but at least the line went quickly. I got two potato balls, two chicken croquettes, two raspberry kisses, and at the recommendation of the server, some brioche as well. All of that only cost just over $7, which is probably partly why Porto’s is so popular. I ate one of each on the plane (but not the brioche), and was super into the potato balls (which were stuffed with some kind of ground beef mixture) and the raspberry kisses. The chicken croquette was only okay, as was the brioche. If only I hadn’t been super stuffed when I bought them, I could have eaten the potato balls while they were still hot, and probably enjoyed them even more. I didn’t even think about taking a picture of anything, so here are other people’s photos:
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After getting gas, I was really worried about getting to the airport in time, so J. agreed to return the car after dropping me off. Luckily I had flown into Burbank, so there was no line and I got to my gate 15 min before boarding. But also, I GOT TO MY GATE 15 MIN BEFORE BOARDING OMG. I’ve never cut it that close in my life!!! Meanwhile, J. was kind of complaining that she had to get to her own flight "so early" due to mine being an hour earlier, and I was like, bitch, I waited for you for an hour on the way here, and the reason our flight times are even different IS YOUR FAULT SO STFU.
On the flight home I watched Logan, but didn’t start it til late and it’s a long movie, so I didn’t actually get to finish it – which I now have to do!
The subject line is a slight exaggeration. It shouldn't have happened, because it was based on my own stupidity, but I'm also sort of glad it did, because it means I was able to celebrate Jade's (early) birthday with her. But that was the only good part.
So on Thursday, I left for LA to go to the BTS concert. It was a huuuuuuuge mistake on my part to even get the tickets, and at this point, I’m convinced that the universe forced me into the grip of temporary insanity so that I could pay J. back for taking me to Kcon NYC. -.- I like J. pretty well, and being in NYC with her was fine, but LA really tested my limits with regard to her company. We just don’t mesh in the way we do things or think about things – even though at the face of it, we have a ton in common. But it’s just off somehow, to the point where I don’t feel entirely comfortable with her, and sometimes it feels like we’re from different planets.
Day One (Thu, Sept. 6, 2018)
I took Alaska down and J. took Delta, despite the fact that it would take twice as long and had a connection, just so she could get her Delta miles. Here’s an example where we have something in common, but then it goes sideways. I’m also a big fan of Delta, and I also want to earn miles there. But for a flight down to LA, which should take 2½ hours nonstop, I would not (and did not) choose a flight with a connection and make my trip twice as long, just for the miles. Not only that, it made it so that we arrived an hour apart, which meant I was forced to wait at the airport for an hour because it didn’t make any sense for us to go to the hotel separately with only an hour in between. On the flight, I watched Table 19, which was fine until about the last third, which was stupid.
I’d initially booked a rental car for $100, but checking that day, it had dropped to $40, which cut short the debate over whether we should just Lyft everywhere or rent a car. In retrospect, it might’ve been more expensive to Lyft, but ultimately perhaps more convenient because we could just be dropped off at places instead of having to find parking everywhere we went, which was a huge pain in downtown LA. Also it cost like $40/day to park the car at the hotel. >< In any case, we rented the car (it was a Hyundai SUV that was a pretty nice drive) and got to the hotel.
The concert was that night, at 8pm, so we didn’t have a whole lot of time. It would have made sense to me to drop our stuff off at the hotel then go to dinner, because J. said she wanted to be at the venue by 7:30pm. (She’s way more into BTS than me.) We had this conversation:
Me: Since we have assigned seats, I think it’s fine if we just show up at the last minute.
Her: But I don’t want to miss the beginning!!
Me: Okay, well what time do you want to be there?
Her: I think we should be at the venue by 7:30 at the latest.
Me: All right.
We got to the hotel and she said she wanted to charge her phone for 20 min, then we could be on our way. Well, she hadn’t done her makeup or her clothes or whatever, and we ended up taking 45 min to leave the room. With traffic and everything, it meant we didn’t get to Quarters, where we were having dinner, until 6:30pm or so, at which point I said that perhaps we wouldn’t have enough time.
J: Well, as long as we leave by 7:30, it’s fine.
Me: But you wanted to be at the venue by 7:30.
J: Oh, did I say that?
Me: YES YOU DID.
At Quarters we saw young!Henry again! I was so excited to see him, lol. He’s such a little cutie, like BamBam. We ordered 5 meats: brisket, marinated short rib, spicy pork jowl, pork belly, and outside skirt. That enabled us to get the steamed egg, cheese and side soup. It was a ton of food, but we ate almost every bit of it.


It was good, but I don’t know if I’d ever go back. As was the case the first time I went there, it was INCREDIBLY LOUD in the restaurant. The acoustics are bad to begin with, but then they also blare loud music! You literally can’t hear the person sitting across from you without semi-shouting. Please, young!Henry, work somewhere else so I can see you, but not have to put up with that. I also wish we hadn’t been in as much of a rush, because I really don’t like rushing through meals. :/ But anyway we left around 7:30ish and made our way to the venue.
Along the way, we got into an argument. It was a really dumb argument because it was about BTS, and why they had gotten so mega popular despite not being from a big label, etc. And J. had a theory about it, which was fine. I didn’t have a problem with her theory, exactly, even though I didn’t really see what was so fucking special about them. The issue came when she basically said that she didn’t believe in luck, that BTS had gotten as popular as they did because they worked hard, etc. Which I took serious issue with, because IT IS MOSTLY LUCK. There are tons of good-looking, talented artists out there (I mean, just look at where we were! Hollywood is a town MADE UP of those people!), but because of timing or whatever, just hadn’t gotten their break, and most never would. THAT IS LUCK. She could not be dissuaded from her point of view, however, that that wasn’t luck, but purely hard work, with maybe a LITTLE luck. We disagreed on that point, and I was fine with disagreeing. Where she REALLY pissed me off was when she asked me for an example to "prove" my point. She wanted me to give an example of someone who SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN FAMOUS despite doing everything and having everything. And I was speechless at that point. I was like, I can’t??? Because it’s literally impossible to prove a negative?? I'd only be giving an OPINION. ARE YOU A FUCKING MORON??? And then she said something to the effect that if someone had an argument they should have proof to back up their claims. I seriously nearly threw her out of the car at that point, I was so enraged. For the rest of the trip, I literally had to suppress all my own thoughts on any topic that even strayed close, so as to avoid the confrontation, just to keep the peace. And the fact I had to do that made me even more mad.
In any case, moving on. Staples Center and LA Live share a parking lot (apparently), and it cost $30 to park for the event. We got inside the venue and made our way to our seats, which were really, really good seats (though I would hope so, given what I paid). We were practically on the floor, but without actually being on the floor and instead getting to have our own seats. Two girls were sitting in our spots, but they moved immediately when we came, which was good but also annoying. If you want seats like that then PAY FOR THEM. I WOULD HAVE GLADLY SOLD THEM TO YOU. -.-

I was also panicking because even though I had brought earplugs with me to LA, I had totally forgotten to bring them with me to the venue!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. I was super scared because I did not want to go deaf. If I’m going to go deaf at a concert, it should at least be for a BAND I LIKE!!!! Argh. Anyway, it was bad but I managed to mitigate it by closing off my ears for everything in between the music and the first few seconds of every song, because that is when the screaming is the worst (and when I least care to listen, since I don’t care about the band). And if I’m going to go deaf at a concert for a band I'm into, I’d at least rather it be from actual music than stupid screaming from fucking teenage girls. God, SHUT UP.
I recognized a whole three songs, lol. And two of them weren’t even whole songs, but part of a medley! LOL. Prior to the concert, J. had looked up the setlist and said she was surprised they would not be performing Fire, one of their most popular songs (and the one I know best, lol). But it turns out they do a medley of their old songs at every concert, and that medley changes every night. Which is actually kind of cool, because if you were a big fan of the group and went to a concert every night, you could at least hear something a little different each time. Anyway, the three songs I knew:
Edit: The full setlist from the night I went!
1. Idol
2. Save Me (shortened version)
3. I'm Fine
4. Magic Shop
5. Trivia: Just Dance (J-Hope solo)
6. Euphoria (Jungkook solo)
7. I Need U
8. Run
9. Serendipity (Jimin solo)
10. Trivia: Love (RM solo)
11. DNA
12. Boyz with Fun (shortened version)
13. Attack on Bangtan (shortened version)
14. Fire (shortened version)
15. Silver Spoon (shortened version)
16. Dope (shortened version)
17. Airplane pt. 2
18. Singularity (V solo)
19. Fake Love (rocking vibe mix)
20: Trivia: Seesaw (Suga solo)
21. Epiphany (Jin solo)
22. The Truth Untold
23. Outro: Tear
24. Mic Drop
25. So What (Army Time)
26. Anpanman
27. Answer: Love Myself
Random aside: I don’t understand why people don’t understand that THEY HAVE B.O. Wear deodorant, even if you don’t think you need to, because you are probably NOSE BLIND TO YOURSELF!!! It is so terrible, every concert I’ve ever been to, I always sit near someone who doesn’t believe in deodorant, and it smells terrible. PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF HUMANITY JUST WEAR IT. SPARE THE REST OF US YOUR STENCH. Ughghghghghghgh. Anyway the point is that this concert was no different. -.- Despite all that, I didn’t completely have a terrible time. It’s always fun to see performers live, and they did well (I suppose). V was much better looking than I remembered from Hwarang or from pictures. I also enjoyed Jin and Jungkook, though the latter is actually less attractive live than in pics, lol. Anyway, there were a few songs I ended up liking, even though it was a little hard to tell, given how fucking loud it was that you could barely make anything out, and the bass was on so high that for most of every song you could feel the reverberations through your entire body. In any case, probably the best song I was introduced to was this solo by Jin called Epiphany:
I really, really, REALLY wished I had had such good seats for the GOT7 concert, and could have made out everyone’s faces clearly without having to turn to the big screens. :/ Also, the only thing the concert accomplished was made me want to listen to GOT7 as soon as I could. Sigh. (It’s funny to me that at one point I complained that I just couldn’t get into any GOT7 songs.)
After the concert we went to Hwa Sun Ji for dessert/drinks. I got the sik hye, while J. got some sort of hot tea, and we split the patbingsu. Everything was... fine. The sik hye was a little sweet for my taste, but probably it’s supposed to be like that. What was weird (to me) was that it was served in a bowl, because previous to that moment I had only known it to be a drink, like the Korean version of horchata. The patbingsu was also not up my alley. The shaved ice part was really boring, and the toppings were a little too Asian and oddly paired for my taste (I’m not the biggest fan of traditional Asian desserts): melon, matcha ice cream, red beans, etc.


That night we got back to the hotel at nearly 1am, and J. asked if I wanted to get breakfast.
Me: Really? But it’s nearly 1am already. So would we have a big breakfast then skip lunch?
Her: We can have an early breakfast then also do lunch.
Me: Well, okay.
Her: Okay, let’s leave the room around 9am.
Then we had a conversation about travel with friends, and how you have to compromise when you do that, because everyone has different needs/wants, etc. And she said that one of the ways she felt she compromised when she traveled with people was that she didn’t need much sleep while on vacation, so she always got a late start because all her friends wanted to sleep in, etc.
Please to remember this conversation when I continue to the next day.
Day Two, Fri, Sept. 7, 2018
Despite all her declarations to the contrary the night before, and despite the fact that I got up when I was supposed to and was ready to leave the room by 9am as we agreed, J. kept silencing her alarm over and over. She also takes a lot longer than me to get ready, so we didn’t leave the room until nearly 10am!! Like seriously!!!
She really, really wanted to go to Eggslut, and insisted it would be fine because she was sure its popularity had died down. I was seriously doubtful of this, because I had seen the line for it in Vegas, and it seemed quite popular. But okay, maybe in LA it was different.
WELL IT WASN’T. Despite being a really casual counter-type place, and being just one food stall in a large, open-air market, the line was insanely long. We waited for prob 30-45 min just to get to the front to order. And get this, J. wanted to have lunch IMMEDIATELY AFTERWARD. I was so fucking irritated at this point. We had gotten a late start because of her, and I wouldn’t really get to enjoy the food at Eggslut because if we had lunch right after (we were planning on yakiniku, Japanese BBQ), I didn’t want to fill up! She wanted to try Eggslut’s most popular dish, it’s like mashed potato and an egg in a jar, cooked sous vide. She asked if I also wanted to get a sandwich, and I was like, NO! I mean, I can eat a lot, but not TWO FULL MEALS IN A ROW. That’s just fucking crazy. She basically wanted the Eggslut meal for Instagram, which also kind of enraged me. What a fucking waste of fucking time.


And like, it was fine????? I don’t fucking get what the hype for Eggslut is about. IT’S JUST BREAKFAST FOOD OMG. It’s fucking eggs. It’s not that complicated???? Why is it such a huge deal? Why is it this major fad that people will WAIT FOR when it’s not really that different from any decent brunch place? I don’t fucking get it AT ALL. I ranted about this to
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For lunch we drove all the way out to Lomita, because it was basically the best/closest place that had yakiniku that was also open for lunch. Tamaen was the name of the place, but it turned out that they did not do BBQ that you cook at the table yourself, for lunch. >< That was a huge bummer. It was nice that J. spoke Japanese though, because the waitress was really uncomfortable with English. Anyway, we ordered an app of raw beef with uni (the beef was tasteless, unfortunately, and J. said that she normally had it with cooked beef, which made it way more delicious) and two of the chef’s choice dishes, which came on hot plates (and was the closest we could get to BBQ, lol). One was rib eye and the other was some kind of cubed steak that cost a lot less... but the latter was actually the better of the two (and the rice it came with was delicious). The rib eye was overcooked, and sliced in large pieces, which was weird since we were only given chopsticks to eat and didn’t have knives to cut it into smaller pieces. I also had a yuzu soda, which looked basically like they had put some yuzu honey tea mixture at the bottom of a glass, then put sparkling water over it. I had to stir it to drink. It was good, though, so maybe I’ll try that at home sometime.



After lunch we headed back toward our hotel, and went to Boteaga for drinks. They serve their beverages in a really cool cup, with a specially designed lid that has a swivel top *and* a place for a straw. It’s awesome. I ordered a mango "chizu" drink, which was basically a drink with that salty cheese cream topping that I like (I first had it in Hong Kong). Only, I thought the mango drink was a tea – instead, it was a slushie. It was yummy, but imho did NOT pair well with the topping. J. got one of their fruit tea drinks, which looked really pretty and had big chunks of real fruit in it, but I didn’t care for the taste of the tea, which was a bit medicinal.


Jade was going to come pick me up around 3:30pm, for us to do an outing. I wanted to treat her to a birthday dinner and other stuff, and when we first made plans I had felt a little guilty about doing so, because J. and I weren’t going to be in LA that long and I was going to ditch her for one of our only two dinner opportunities. But at that point, it was SUCH A RELIEF to know that I would get to escape her for the rest of the day!!
The first thing Jade and I did was get mani/pedis. Actually we tried like two places that couldn’t take us, before finally going to Paradise Nails in Silverlake, which could. It was a decent place, if a little sketchy, but had reasonable prices for the area. The ladies who worked on us were fairly careful, which was nice. After that, we immediately ruined our manicures by going to do an escape room. We did ‘The Abyss’ at Maze Rooms, which was the same place we had gone to do ‘Magic Kingdom’ a month or two ago. It was a two-person escape room, because you’re in a small pod the entire time and it doesn’t fit more than that. It was supposed to be "all brain puzzles," but there was a lot of technology involved, including the pod itself, which vibrated and such. I do NOT like escape rooms that rely too much on tech, because shit inevitably goes wrong that has nothing to do with whether or not you've solved something, and then the puzzle becomes at fault. There was a part where we had to "charge the batteries" using a handcrank, and the fucking crank kept falling off! We took SO LONG with that part we literally thought 45 min had passed and they were going to come in and tell us we had run out of time. Then there was a part where we had to use the pressure plates in the room to move a dot on a screen into the middle, only it was not based at all on logic in terms of how you moved the dot. Both of these parts were soooooooooooo fucking frustrating. I hate being that frustrated in an escape room, where it’s no longer fun but a chore!! Afterward, Jade kindly (but uselessly) told the gamemaster about the handcrank issue, and she was like: "Oh! Thank you for letting me know!" but it was so obvious she did not give a shit. I’m sure it was NOT the first time someone had mentioned the problem. I mean, seriously, without that and the dumb pressure plates, anyone would escape that pod in like thirty minutes.
In order to eat our feelings, and because it was the thing I had been looking forward to the most, we went to have dinner at Shabuya, a Korean-style AYCE shabu shabu. They have gone Western in their sensibilities, as I’ve seen other restaurants do as well, wherein everyone has their own pots. Asian hot pots are normally eaten family style, which at home is totally fine. But at a restaurant, I like having my own pot because it means everyone can get their own thing and eat whatever they like. Anyway, you order the meats you want from the waitress, but they have a HUGE buffet bar where you get your own sauces, veggies and seafood. We tried all the meats except the chicken (I think) and lamb, and our favorites were #1 and #2, as well as the pork belly (whatever number that is). I didn’t realize until today, when talking with
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After stuffing ourselves to the gills, we went to stuff our "other" stomach, and went to Holy Roly for dessert. We ordered the Ferrero Rocher one, which was super delicious. I also want to one day try the strawberry graham and Oreo ones. I also want to try going there when we aren’t crunched for time!

Why were we crunched for time? Because we had tickets to see Searching at the Regal LA Live! So yes, I went there two days in a row, lol. Actually, we had gone there right before dinner in order to get our tickets. Since MoviePass is miraculously still working, we didn’t want to risk getting our tickets too late and then not having good seats (it turned out not to be an issue, but we didn’t know that). We didn’t quite know where the theater was, so Jade dropped me off at a likely looking place. I took her phone so that I could check in for her on MP and also get her Regal card points, but that meant we would not be able to contact one another. That became an issue as soon as I started walking, because I didn’t see the theater ANYWHERE. I finally had to ask some security guards, and basically it was at the very far end of where she had dropped me off, and there was no way for me to even let her know!! I finally got to the theater, and was given a start when someone said from their car, "I have never been so happy to see someone in my life." It was Jade, LOL! She had circled around and found the Regal, and realized how far I had had to walk to the theater, and decided I probably had to pass her on my way, and she was right! I was also, of course, happy to see her, not just because I didn’t want to walk all the way back, but because time was of the essence! Anyway, I really enjoyed the movie, and it has great ratings on Rotten Tomatoes, so yay. Good for John Cho. Parking, even with validation, was still $8, which imho is outrageous.
I got back to my room around 1am, and J. was already asleep. We hadn’t discussed what time to wake up or whether we were going to have breakfast or lunch or what, so I set my alarm for 8:30am and went to sleep.
Day Three, Sat, Sept. 8, 2018
I knew J. was not going to be as anxious as me about my flight, which left at 3:10pm. She is the sort of person who shows up at the airport with only minutes to spare before a flight; I am not like that. I am most comfortable getting there at least an hour ahead of time; I don’t like to waste more time than that, but often do, because I usually err on the side of caution in case of traffic or whatever. Her flight out was an hour later than mine, so I knew my challenge that day was going to be getting myself to the airport in time.
Similar to the previous day, I got up early and got ready, and was pretty much ready by the time J. roused herself from bed. She mentioned that she had gone to a Korean congee place for dinner the night before, and I was intrigued. She said she didn’t mind going back, because she had been torn between ordering the congee or their samgyetang; if we went back, she could get the samgyetang. She also mentioned that she wanted to go to a dessert place for more patbingsu, and maybe also stop by Porto’s (a fairly famous café/bakery most well-known for their potato balls). I was like, wow that’s a lot to fit in, so we should get going (HINT HINT). We left later than I liked, but we got to the restaurant (Healthy Zone Jook Hyang) around 11am. She had gotten the abalone jook the night before, so we decided to split the abalone samgyetang and chicken jook. It turned out that the place specialized in abalone; they had a tank full of them that they would harvest for their dishes.
While waiting, the ahjummas at the table next to us got their dish, which was a sizzling platter of pork and squid (we think). It looked and smelled delicious, so we kept surreptitiously looking over. I went to take a picture of the abalone tank, and when I returned, J. told me in embarrassment that the ahjummas had noticed her interest, and had offered her to try some of their food, saying it was delicious! LOL! J.: "I thought I was being really discreet!" Hahahahaha. If I'd been there for the exchange, I don’t know if I would have accepted their offer, but I do think I would have at least attempted to speak to them in Korean. In my head, the conversation would go something like this:
Ahjummas: Would you like to try some? It’s really delicious!
Me: 괜찮습니다. 감사합니다!
Ahjummas: 한국사람이에요?
Me: 아니요. 중국사람이에요. 한국말 배우고 있어요.
Ahjummas: Ah.
Yes, even that basic exchange would have made me really happy! Alas, they did not speak to me.
The food was good, but not outstanding. Partly it’s because both dishes were severely undersalted, apparently on purpose, because they gave us a dish of salt with which I had to make liberal use.




After lunch we headed to Sul & Beans, which turned out to be the dessert place next to Somi Somi, which Adelagia, Jade and I had gone to on our last trip to LA. At the time we had sat at one of the tables outside, only to realize it belonged not to Somi Somi but this other place. This time, though I was legitimately at the right establishment, there was plenty of seating inside so didn’t even sit out there, lol. We got the mango patbingsu and cheese toast, both of which were amazing. The mango patbingsu was done right, with milky, smooth shaved ice, which was layered with syrup and fruit, and topped with tons of mango, so it was a pleasing experience to eat throughout. The cheese toast was my favorite though, sweet and also salty – so, so good.


J. still wanted to go to Porto’s, which made me kind of nervous because we still had to get gas and return the car. It was, as usual, packed, but at least the line went quickly. I got two potato balls, two chicken croquettes, two raspberry kisses, and at the recommendation of the server, some brioche as well. All of that only cost just over $7, which is probably partly why Porto’s is so popular. I ate one of each on the plane (but not the brioche), and was super into the potato balls (which were stuffed with some kind of ground beef mixture) and the raspberry kisses. The chicken croquette was only okay, as was the brioche. If only I hadn’t been super stuffed when I bought them, I could have eaten the potato balls while they were still hot, and probably enjoyed them even more. I didn’t even think about taking a picture of anything, so here are other people’s photos:
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After getting gas, I was really worried about getting to the airport in time, so J. agreed to return the car after dropping me off. Luckily I had flown into Burbank, so there was no line and I got to my gate 15 min before boarding. But also, I GOT TO MY GATE 15 MIN BEFORE BOARDING OMG. I’ve never cut it that close in my life!!! Meanwhile, J. was kind of complaining that she had to get to her own flight "so early" due to mine being an hour earlier, and I was like, bitch, I waited for you for an hour on the way here, and the reason our flight times are even different IS YOUR FAULT SO STFU.
On the flight home I watched Logan, but didn’t start it til late and it’s a long movie, so I didn’t actually get to finish it – which I now have to do!