First, let me say that I did not stay in Los Angeles itself. Instead, I stayed in Santa Monica, a western suburb, with my sixth-to-eighth grade Super Smash Bros. rival, Tony, his brother Charlie, and his roommate, Eli. I was fortunate to have such a good friend as Tony and known Charlie long enough to be on his good side, because Santa Monica was an incredibly nice city, and lodging in L.A. isn’t the least damaging thing on one’s wallet.

There’s a lot to be said about my first twenty hours in Santa Monica. The streets are hilly and fun to walk through (and cause a good burn in the calves), traffic is light on the side streets and heavy on the main ones at all times. The people were standoffish, but were as friendly as a 1960’s milkman compared to those that walk the streets of Los Angeles and Beverly Hills. The sky is blue, but there is no sun. But the air is so, so fresh and tasty.

The first thing that I noticed about Santa Monica was all the wonderful smells that I was experiencing. And it’s really difficult to describe. Throughout the week, I couldn’t stop commenting to Tony about how great everything smelled around me. Flowers line all the side streets; every residence is surrounded by brilliant splendors of yellows, pinks, reds, whites, and greens. I never rushed my way up the stairs into the apartment, fearing that I would deprive myself of the scents that were limited by my short weeklong stay. Moisture in the air from the Pacific Ocean was a most welcome change from my past two weeks in the desert. My skin always felt cool, even if I was hot. A cool breeze periodically blows the trees, which brings the brilliance of the vast Pacific into your senses.

Sentimentality aside, I had a really enjoyable week in L.A. Although I came into the city with no real agenda, I did have high expectations. This is because L.A. is a place that I have dreamed about for years. Much of the music I’ve listened to all my life comes from there (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age, Weezer, The Doors), and nearly every show or movie I’ve ever seen has been made there. Before I even got there, I was planning on hand-delivering cover letters and résumés to different employers (which I eventually did). But throughout the week, Tony and my father helped me see that I should drop all expectations and enjoy myself. So I did, and savored every minute of it.

The week was met with great results. I made some new friends, and even met some old friends from way back when. I’ll give you a run-down of each day I was there.

Friday

Came in early on Friday evening. Went out on the town with Tony. Tony made his best attempts with the ladies, many which I had to apologize for.

Saturday

Had my first taste of the Pacific Ocean and hit up the Venice boardwalk, which was just a short walk from Santa Monica. Laughed at all the characters up and down the place.

In the evening, we bought some burgers and gave our best shot at finding some sort of oceanside camping site. We drove all the way up Highway 1 through Malibu, but due to the sheer amounts of people in L.A., every campground we came to was without a vacant site.

We decided to make a reservation for later in the week. Later that night, we met with an old friend from high school, Martha. She followed my travels through this site, got in touch with me, and we had a night out in Hermosa Beach. Props to Martha!

Sunday

Made it out to Dodger Stadium to see our hometown team, the Cubs, make a valiant effort at losing. Thirty bucks for an all-you-can eat bleacher seat. How can you go wrong?

Once the game was over, we headed over to West Hollywood to meet another one of my friends, this time from college, Jerico. We caught up, planned to hang out, and went our separate ways.

Monday

Spent the day exploring Santa Monica and in the evening took a walk to the pier at sunset. Ended the day with some fine Mexican cuisine.

Tuesday

For much of the morning, I was hard at work on my computer submitting job applications and hand-writing cover letters that I planned on delivering to local offices later in the day. However, I got so frustrated with myself because I was in the same city as the MLB All-Star Game, and was passing up on the opportunity that I had dreamed of for so long. Going to the game would accomplish two goals from the bucket list: seeing an All-Star game as well as visiting Angel Stadium (I’ve been a follower of the team for years). I got to the point where I was yelling at myself for not going, and made the hard decision to hunt for tickets. It was only five hours away from the start of the game, so I had to really hustle. After a few unsuccessful calls to suspicious Mexican scalpers on Craigslist, I went to the official source. Much to my surprise, the game wasn’t sold out. I made my purchase, got on my shoes, and sped away to Angel Stadium.

Behold: The 2010 MLB All-Stars

In the end, I was more than glad I went. I saw the first NL victory in sixteen years. Afterwards, through Jerico’s help, I got in to the All-Star after party and stuffed my face with free food galore, and brought back some peppers and a pineapple for my gracious hosts in Santa Monica.

Wednesday

On Wednesday, it was back to business. I did more job work in the morning, and later made my office rounds throughout the city. One stop was the L.A. office of video game developer Square Enix. Their office was littered with collectibles and posters of their company’s illustrious history. Take a blurry look at some of their décor:

Thursday

It was a simple day. I hit the beach and watched the surfers, then I walked around and smelled the flowers. Got to be thankful for the little things.

That night, Tony and I made another attempt at camping. However, due to procrastination no reservation was made, and yet again, all the campsites were full. L.A. is way too overpopulated. Instead, we chilled on the beach for a long while and indulged in great conversation.

Friday

On Friday afternoon, I grabbed my New Orleans cane, called Jerico, and went up to hike the Hollywood mountain. It was a hot and sunny afternoon, but after two-and-a-half hours, we made it.

On the way down, we were low on water, thirsty, and exhausted. We took the same path as on the way up, or so we thought. Somehow, we came out at another entrance, which was two miles away from our car. So, we had no choice but to keep on marching until we got back.

The plan was to see Inception afterwards, but, once again, L.A. had too many people, and we couldn’t see the film. I made my way back to Tony’s, at which point we decided to hit the town one more time. After a largely unsuccessful night, we came upon a group of women partying on a balcony. They told us it was a girls-only night, but after we presented our case, they let us up. You’ll have to ask me for details to know the rest (hint: they were older and fatter than expected).

Saturday

It was my last day in L.A., so Tony and I wanted to make one last event out of my stay. We drove over to downtown Santa Monica and, at long last, made it into a daytime showing of Inception. As I expected, it was very awesome, and could be my favorite movie this year. Go see it. Now.

As I packed my car and got ready to set out, I came to realize that, after the whole week, Tony and I did not have one single picture together. So before I took off, we had one last laugh together.

Up next: San Diego.