This past weekend was my trip to Los Angeles.

Tara and I took the long way there: it took us ten hours or so, because we took Highway 1 all the way down to San Luis Obispo, and then the 101 the rest of the way. Due to the windy roads and lots of fog, it was a slow drive. On the other hand, the scenery was spectacular, and we had fun. Tara was intrigued by the idea of Goblet of Fire on tape, so we listened to it and talked all the way there.

She also gave me a present: two big stuffed velvet frogs, purple and teal to match my bathroom. I promptly named them Winston and Churchill. Who knows why, really.

On Friday, I went shopping. My mother gave me $300 to spend on clothes for Holland. I spent $100... on a shirt, a Nightmare Before Christmas Special Edition DVD, some jewelry, some makeup, and shiny black pants. Not the world's most successful budgeting, there. But I resisted buying the Toy Story three-disk DVD, the 25th Anniversary Rocky Horror DVD, and one of those cool triangly skirts. I really wanted all that stuff, with a lust that makes me the good American consumer that I am. I hope that counts for something.

[I'd like to point out that yesterday, I went to Ross and spent a mere $46 on three sweaters for Holland, chenille gloves, a hat, and a necklace. So I can shop smart if I try.]

The black shiny pants turned out to be a great purchase. I remembered to bring a sparkly silver shirt with me, but all I had was jeans, and I had to have something nice to wear to Lion King. The only shoes I had were black sandals with silver buckles. So, I went with the silver and black fashion theme. I bought silver nail polish, and painted my nails and toes silver. I donned the sandals, the shiny black pants and silver sparkly shirt. I bought a silver necklace and earrings.

As I was getting ready, my mom came in with a ring. It was my grandmother's and she told me in the hospital that she wanted me to have it; it took mom a while to find it. It's a black onyx ring set in silver. (Matched me perfectly.) It's huge, but that's not a bad thing. There's sparkly things around the onyx. Chips of something sparkly. Certainly not diamonds, but something sparkly.

Then we headed off to see The Lion King. For the record, I am not a huge fan of the movie. I like the songs, but the whole "Hamlet with lions" plot isn't very exciting to me. The musical, on the other hand, is a vast improvement.

Circle of Life always gives me chills (even the film version) and I had tears in my eyes almost immediately. Not only is the song wonderful and the staging magnificent, but I kept thinking of Grandma. She lived in South Africa for many years, and she always loved African animals and African art. I couldn't help listening to the South African singers, and seeing the zebras and giraffes and so forth, and hearing a song about, well, the Circle of Life, and crying. I wished so much that Grandma could be there with me. It was such a moving moment. I have tears in my eyes right now, just recounting it.

I love the fact that there's South African singing woven throughout the musical, because that's just very beautiful to me. It's a part of my heritage. Rafiki in particular is amazing, and her gender has been switched to female. Good move.

Now that I think about it, the movie is quite patriarchal. Conversely, a strong female element is present in the musical, to the vast improvement of the material. (Perhaps Julie Taymor had something to do with it.) The girl and the woman who portrayed the younger and older Nala are just incredible. My favorite song in the second act is Shadowlands, sung by Nala.

So, thumbs up, is where I'm going with this.

When we got home, Lucy showed us the video she made at work. First of all, Spike looks adorable in his flashback hair. And Lucy does a pretty good job of acting scared while Angel's stand-in stalks towards her off camera. Speaking of which, here's a funny tidbit. Lucy was talking to David (yes, that David), who told her that he can't really see all that well without his glasses. She asked why he didn't get the laser correction surgery, and he said he does a better acting job when he can't see who he's acting with. I suppose I could make a snide comment about his acting ability, but personally, I'm just impressed that he and my cousin are on speaking terms.

Dare I hope to be introduced one of these days?

The shiny pants were an even better idea for Saturday. I talked to Bruce on Friday night and lo and behold, his brother was getting married on Saturday.

This wasn't just any brother and any wedding. It was his brother Brian, who has been with his high school sweetheart Amy for 13 years now. As long as I've known Bruce, I've known this couple. And I've never met a more wonderful, successful, gorgeous, hard-working, deserving, amazing couple. I've talked about them before, actually. They're inspirational. And I love them.

When I heard the wedding was Saturday, I told Bruce that I happened to be in town and begged an invitation. It is probably extremely boring to hear about other people's weddings, but suffice it to say it was elegant, huge and extravagant, and it made me cry. It also made me sad to be single. The last time I saw Brian and Amy, they were cheering me on, saying that Matt and I could definitely make the long distance thing work. After all, they did it. Sigh, sigh, sigh. I tried not to wallow in those thoughts.

I also got to see all of Bruce's nieces and nephews, who I love as if they were my own. They grow so fast. (There's a shitload of them; Bruce is the youngest of ten siblings, most of whom have kids.) I mentioned that I was studying to be a teacher, and a handful of them (ranging from 18 to 13) piped up to say that they thought I'd be a great teacher, and they'd love to have me for a teacher.

What warm and fuzzy validation!

I was sorry to have to leave the reception before dinner. In fact, I left right after the first dance. This was because I made dinner and movie plans with a bunch of friends, and those plans had been in place for a long time.

We met at the Eclectic Café, my favorite restaurant in the Valley.

My sister and her girlfriend were there. Ash ended up leaving the table in a snit (I missed the precipitating event, but it was probably something stupid). She was pissy all weekend, actually. She can be cool, but, whatever. Lucy and I both put up with her because she's my sister's girlfriend. And to her credit, Abby seemed to move on from there. The old Abby would have obsessed over Ash all night. The new Abby decided not to let "Ash's bullshit ruin my time with my sister." Go, Abby!

Matthew showed up, and brought me a stuffed shark from Hawaii. He was filming a movie in Hawaii and I hadn't seen him for months and months. So that was amazing. I also got to hear (later, in private) about his experiences in a Hawaiian brothel. Quite educational.

Charlotte and Bruno also came. They were both extremely cool and it was nice to see them. The more time I spent with Bruno, the more I enjoy his company. Not very entertaining to read, but quite a relief. I'd hate to go through the rest of our lives sustaining the kind of animosity I once felt towards Bruno.

Tim met up with us at the theater, where we went and saw Pay it Forward. Kevin Spacey and Haley Joel Osment gave amazing performances, but the ending completely ruined the movie. Of all the places they could have gone, that was the least interesting.

After that, we went to a bar and had a couple of drinks and a couple of laughs. You know how it goes. It was way fun.

On Sunday, I went out for brunch with my parents. Abby brought her girlfriend, and I brought Tara. Sadly, that's the only time I got to spend with Mom and Dad all weekend, and it wasn't much. (This is probably the first time I've felt like I needed more time with my parents. They're big on parenting by suffocation, normally.)

After brunch, I took Tara to go visit a new baby. Lucy has been best friends with Sally since the first grade. Lucy's a perpetual virgin, but Sally has always been quite the turbo slut. Until, that is, she got pregnant and married the baby's father, a "recovering" drug addict with a filthy rich family.

Sally is only 21, and already a mother. It's amazing to see this person, who I remember as being seven years old, cradling a baby in her arms and talking about stretch marks and post partum depression.

I don't think much of the husband, though. He barely said hello before he bolted from the house without telling anyone where he was going. From the way Sally talks, they've been having lots of problems. Their relationship wasn't great in the first place, and having the new baby just puts a strain on it, I'm sure. Plus, he doesn't have a job.

Emma is a cute kid, though.

After checking in with baby Emma, Tara and I headed back home. The trip was much shorter (we took the 5). We had our deep and meaningful conversation, and I got home in time to get a good night's sleep.

And if you've read this week's entries, sweethearts, you know what happened from there.

"Reason #3 to e-mail me:

I haven’t gotten any hate mail or proposals of marriage since I started this journal."