Demi Lovato during a free concert at the Glendale Galleria mall (which I didn't take)
The Lexus LF-A supercar preview showcase party at Lexus of Riverside
Unfortunately, I didn't go to neither of those events.
I could've took my sisters to see Demi Lovato perform since they both never saw a celebrity before and I also could've gotten at least $50 from taking photos, like the one above, of that performance. I'm still bitter about it. I can't wait till that Disney Channel expose' turns 18 next month (PLEASE don't get the wrong idea, I was making a humorous exaggeration).
I also would've gone to that event for the Lexus LF-A viewing party. Its Lexus first supercar that is competing against Ferrari and a bunch of other exotic cars that you'll only see in Beverly Hills. The LF-A is rumored to be worth around 300 grand to 400 grand, which is a lot for a Lexus. Those ads that they recently aired on TV when they tested the exhaust note noise next to a champagne glass really got me more interested in the car a lot more. I found out about that along with that show in Glendale on that Saturday, not the day before or the week before. It was all last minute shit.
The reason I didn't go was because I did something similar or even way better than those two I mentioned.
Last month my pops told me that one of my uncles is starting a little photography/videography service on the side from his nursing career and that he needed someone to help him whenever he has a event booked on that day. So he picked me up on Saturday cause he has a birthday party to cover. I thought that it was gonna be at Lancaster, but he said that its not up there, Lancaster is where he lives. He then told me that the party was gonna be all the way at Riverside. To myself, I was like "holy shit, that's far". Apparently the ride felt like it took a hour, even though its a two and a half hour drive over there from the Valley. During the trip, my uncle let me play around with his Nikon D5000 through out the ride. He said that he just got the camera and he was also surprised, VERY SURPRISED, when I told him that the camera takes High Definition video. He thought that the D5000 was just a regular camera, but it also take really stellar photos. My uncle also brought along his two kids who are around 5 years old. He brought them along cause he told me that the person who's throwing the party was for himself and his two year old son, that there's gonna be alot of kids there.
We finally made it to the place and the house is a MOTHERFUCKING MANSION! It was inside a residential neighborhood like the Knollwood Country Club where I live, but only 10 times better minus the golf courses. The house was on the cul-de-sac with a shitload of expensive cars piling up the street, which belonged to the invitees of the party. So we first loaded the equipment and gear off his Nissan Xterra, and then afterwards he then went to go look for parking.
I'm not playing around when I meant the place was like a mansion. There are a lot of these type of houses around my area that are extravagant and I've been to a few of them. This one however, is not even close. The backyard where the party took place was like a fuckin' mini-golf course, it just too large. The also has a balcony where you can access by going up the stairs from the side of the house, which is something I've never seen before at a home. And yes, there were a LOT of people there. I thought it was just Nigerians, but there were some whites and different races were there as well. I ask my uncle what he does the homeowner do for a living and he told me that he and his wife are Doctors. No wonder they got this nice place. I mean, this is a house would see on MTV Cribs for sure.
From 5pm to 2AM I was taking mad photos with the D5000 and shooting video using my uncle's Canon XL-1 professional camera. Yes, the party was really, really long, especially for a party with a lot of kids. Talking about the XL-1, that video camera was the shit back in 2001, about every filmmaker that time was using that camera and I alway wanted to play with it then. Now its way behind its time since there are video cameras that now shoot in full HD and store its content in Hard Drive disks, whereas the XL-1 is captured onto a mini DV tape. The D5000 was fun to use until the Nikon SB-600 flashgun that we attached to the camera was no longer functioning. I really dislike it when the power on flashguns go off when you take photos, which is why you should always bring a grip of batteries just in case, rechargeable batteries to save money.
I took some breaks in between during certain hours. I didn't like the food the served that much and plus they had free beer and a bartender there mixing margaritas and other drinks, so I just drank some sodas they had. I went inside the house to watch some TV that the other kids were watching. I can't even tell you how incredible the interior is inside, and of course there was a big screen HDTV system there, probably 5 to 10 inches greater than mine. At first I didn't give a shit on whatever they were watching cause I just wanted to sit on a couch that's very comfortable. I was ready to go back to my work until one of the teenagers that was there switched the channels to the NFL Network and in the NFL Network, they were showing something that definately caught my attention.
THEY WERE SHOWING THE ACTUAL, AUTHENTIC BROADCAST OF SUPERBOWL XXIII FROM 1989!
I'm not talking about some 30-minute highlight reel with narration from NFL Films. This is the real fucking deal here, with the old school NFL on NBC graphics and commentary from Dick Enberg and Merlin Olsen. This was between the Forty-Niners back when they owned the league that time and the Cincinnati Bengals back when Chad Johnson was in sixth grade. I'd never thought they would show this on television again since the licensing to re-play the actual broadcast of NFL games is crazy expensive, but then again, its the NFL Network, a channel that 80% of the San Fernando Valley can't get, as well as a large percentage of Los Angeles unless you had Direct TV, which they had at the mansion. Fucking ass Time Warner not carrying the NFL Network. The dude had a replica of the World Cup trophy in the room as well, which is tight as fuck. I couldn't stay to watch the 4th quarter drive comeback cause I had to go finish doing work.
The party was still going on at 2AM when we left. I got $100 for covering it, which I really didn't mind since its money either way. It took us a while to get back to the Valley due to the traffic and a shit load of construction in like every freeway. I got home at around 4AM and I still felt awake from drinking all that soda. I didn't take photos of my own with my camera cause my brother has been using it for a while.
On Sunday, I wanted to go out with my brother to Hollywood to pick up some CD's, but he said that he wasn't able to do it today. So I called up one of my old friends from Pierce to see if she's down to chill. I haven't seen her since January of this year and she's been very busy for a while so I wanted to see how she's been. I drove to her place in the Thousand Oaks/Westlake Village area to pick her up, and then we went to the Topanga mall to see what was there to do. Prior to that, we stopped at the Westfield Promenade I bought a Lakers Draft day cap a Dicks Sporting goods there, but I returned it the next day cause the fitted was supported with elastic and it made my head feel compacted and it bothered me when I wore it the whole day. We we got to Topanga, the parking garage was so full, I had to park at the top level. I've been to this mall many, many times and I've never parked on the top level of the garage. I'm sure many people wanted to park inside the garage due to the temperature in the mid to high 90's that day, and Woodland Hills/Canoga is one of the HOTTEST places in the Valley. I bought my friend and myself some Frozen Yogurt from Pinkberry, which is freakin' delicious, and I bought myself some Panda Express, which I spent 10 dollars on, but it was a tad worth it.
After that, we walked around the mall just like we used to back when I was at Pierce in 2008, checking out the Apple Store, Sony Style and Urban Outfitters, which I didn't notice despite the fact that I went to Westfield Topanga three times in a four week span. The store had some decent clothes, something that you would see aspiring student filmmakers and graphic designers wear. The last time I went to Urban Outfitters was in the one at Burbank last year. Then when we finished, we got on the 101 Freeway and I drove her back to her place.
Since I was in Ventura County, I decided to see if my other friend was at his place in Simi Valley so that I can pick up my Barcelona Olympic Air Force 180s that I let him borrow last month. It took me less than 10 minutes to get to his place from the Thousand Oaks/Westlake Village area. We then chilled for a bit at his place, watched some freestlyle rap performances as well as the first episode of the new, current Top Gear from 2002, discovered a private country club in Northern Simi Valley, and walked to this park near his place to shoot some hoops. The park is really nice, but the disturbing part was when 4 high school kids came onto the court shirtless like their pretending to be either the cast of the Twilight Saga, Abercrombie and Fitch models, or the males of the Jersey Shore. Very embarrassing. After that, I left to my house only to find that on my way, the 118 was hella jammed before my exit off Balboa Boulevard due to some irregular activity being handled by the CHP. It was a good thing I was close to the Reseda Boulevard exit so I got off there instead.
I completed my night by watching the new episode of Top Gear that was just aired in Britain earlier via Streetfire.net. That episode was so damn funny and great at all levels. Jeremy Clarkson test driving convertible versions of the Porsche 911 and a Audi R8 with a fuckin' fine ass blonde chick who looks like he stole from one of The Sun's Page 3 models. I think he made her wet from doing all those turns with both cars. The best part was when Andy Garcia was the celebrity guest that night, which his way cooler. I saw the dude twice at the Staples Center during the NBA Finals, and I was surprised that he likes to watch Top Gear as well as being a Lakers fan. Bottom line, that was the funniest episode I've seen so far.
That was one of those rare great weekends unlike those other weekends I had recently. Major shoutout and thanks to my friends Tiffany and Jeremy for taking their time off to be with, and shoutout to Westfield Topanga and Ventura County for making my Sunday great. Its been a while since I wrote on stuff that I actually did as opposed to just headlines. To me, that is what the summer is about, having a lot of fun. I sure as hell had fun this past weekend, even though I picked a mansion party over seeing a superstar and a supercar.
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