I’m a Jinius

During my trip to Los Angeles I had a mini panic attack. I realized that I could never move there unless I had three things.

1. A job
2. A car
3. An aptitude for driving

How is it that I, a twenty eight year old third wave feminist, the eldest of three children, who went to a women’s college and studied the texts of Betty Friedan and Carol Gilligan, have an unmitigated fear of driving? How am I supposed to be independent and self-reliant when I can’t even drive myself around a mall parking lot? Actually, parking lots are okay. It’s just freeways, highways, and anything above a 30 mph speed limit that horrify me.

It’s not that I don’t know how to drive– I have a driver’s license that expired three years ago–but I’m just scared of driving. I took driving lessons after college and my instructor told me that my problem was that I didn’t know how to relax and that I needed a boyfriend to calm me on the road. He was joking ( I think) but now I could blame my driving incompetence on my singlehood. And being Asian. Apparently Asian women are notorious for being horrible drivers. Another stereotype I can fully embrace!

I realized all this as I sat in my hotel room on Sunset Boulevard. I had an entire city to explore yet I was paralyzed. There was no way that I was going to rent a car and navigate the streets of Los Angeles. And there was no way I was going to take public transportation. It’s one thing to take the bus when you’re in New York but in LA? I’d probably end up in San Fernando valley or something. So what was I to do? I had a couple of hours to kill before my friend Ally was going to pick me up for dinner. So I did what any feminist without a car would probably do.

I walked to the Mondrian Hotel next door.

I bought a New York Times and sat at a plushy couch in Sky Bar. I ordered a glass of red wine. I noticed that the gentleman having drinks to my right was none other than Colin Farrell. I texted my friend Fab about the celebrity sighting and she suggested I go up to him and ask why he makes such bad movies. I didn’t. He was engrossed in a conversation with the fellow he was with and one of the cocktail waitresses was already fawning on him. He’s not that cute in person. He kinda looks like a Nascar driver.

Later on, my friend Ally picked me up and we went to Little Tokyo for dinner. There was a 40 minute wait at Sushi Gen so we walked around and had a Japanese pancake with bean in the middle. Here is a picture of them making the pancakes:

After dinner, we headed downtown to a hipsterish bar called Bar 107.

This is the type of bar that has all walks of life–degenerates in Pirate Hats, Mexican goths who listen to Morissey, and preppy boys from USC. My friends Fab and Holt showed up. One of the guys I was with thought Holt was a homeless guy who just decided to sit next to us. He was even about to tell Holt to get lost. My friend Holt is not homeless. He’s just from New York!

This is my friend Holt. He has a home!

Why am I drinking three bottles of Stella at the same time?

The bars close at two here so I told everyone to come back to my hotel room for an after party with the mini bar. Except by the time everyone got into their cars, they decided to just go home and I was stuck in a hotel room with a bald guy that I didn’t know very well. Luckily my friend Fab was also crashing at my hotel room. We were trying to give the guy subtle hints that we were about to pass out. So Fab and I climbed into bed, put on the tv, and watched an informercial on how to get clear skin. The guy left in ten minutes. No offense to the guy–he was very sweet. It’s just that when I booked my hotel room I didn’t envision myself bringing back a bald guy for the night.

The next day Ally took me to the Getty Museum.

The museum is on top of a hill and you have to take a monorail to get there. It was a gorgeous day so the views of the city were amazing.

Can you tell I also have a fear of heights?

On my last night Fab and I had dinner at Magnolia and then night caps at Sky Bar. You can sit at these pod like sofas outside and the waitresses even give you a blanket!

Here is Fab getting cozy with her night cap.

All in all, it was a great trip to LA. I met so many cool people while I was there including some blogger friends. How did people ever meet before the interweb???

Here is blogger friend Neil hiding behind seafood.

He and his friend Max have an amazing food site Just One Plate that you foodies have to check out. The photography is incredible! I also met Neil’s friend K who probably eats more spicy food than I do and likes to drink tequila at dinner. My new best friend!

So there are lots of pros and cons surrounding the move. It’s funny how evaluating a city can reveal your inner fears. Like commitment or… freeways. So before I can fully commit to LA, I’ll have to learn how to drive. I’ll just make LA my friend with benefits…for now.