I don’t think I’ve ever felt happier in my life.  In terms of career, relationship, friends, family…everything is great.  Of course there are things I’d like to improve but overall I feel very satisfied with where I am.  I’m not sure what exactly has changed…maybe just my outlook.  I guess when you’re in love, it seems like you see things through rose tinted glasses.

But there exists a slight undercurrent of tension.  A part of me wonders, “How long can this happiness last?”  I’m a little worried that something really bad will happen to shatter my feelings of contentment.  I’m going to try not to think too much about it though.  I’m going to just enjoy the ride while it lasts and look forward to what the future holds.

After winetasting at Artiste

Lunch at Red Barn in Santa Ynez

Winetasting at Beckman Winery

Teppanyaki dinner at Something Fishy

Riding a tandem bike and rollerblading near Stearn’s Wharf

NHRA drag racing finals at the Pomona Fairplex…my friend’s team won the World Championship!

My halloween costume this year

I lost my charger for my camera battery so haven’t been taking many pictures.  These are all pics from other people’s cameras.  So no pictures of canyoneering at Zion or of the strip club where I got my face stuffed in the boobs of a stripper   For those of you that miss my reviews…you can find me at http://serinatran.yelp.com.
Add me as a friend!  Oh and I’m going to Vegas for SEMA…I’m so excited!

Dear Xanga,

We’ve been
together for over 4 years now and I must admit we’ve had some great times.  You’ve been there for me throughout my ups
and downs.  But people change and there
comes a time where we must move on.  I’m
not proud to say that I haven’t always been faithful to you.  I’ve also been seeing Myspace, Facebook, and
now recently Yelp.  I guess I’m just not
ready yet to commit myself to one website. 
I’m sorry.  My life has just
gotten so busy and I don’t have the time to give you the attention you deserve.
 I’d still like for us to be friends
(with benefits for those drunken late night booty calls).

Serina

EDIT:  I’m not breaking up with Xanga…we are just on a break   Check PP

Spa Week…everything is only $50 and you have
a list of spas and treatments to choose from. 
I got a 45 min aromatherapy massage at Le Merigot Spa…a really nice
beach hotel in Santa Monica. 
I love the thick terry cloth robes and sandals they give you as well as
the complimentary cucumber water and hot tea…I feel so pampered.  The massage itself was amazing…felt utterly
relaxed afterwards.  I think next time
though I’m going to try a male masseuse, hehe. 
Afterwards we went to Border Grill for dinner and drinks.

Movies at the Santa Monica Pier…they were showing Roman Holiday
with Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn.  It
was so much fun to watch it outdoors under the stars next to the ocean.  Even though we brought chairs and blankets,
it was extremely cold without someone to snuggle up to.  Since it was for a good cause, we bought a
whole bunch of donation tickets and got buzzed off of the wine tasting event
they had beforehand.  They even had
kettle corn…so yummy!

Check Yo Ponytail…got tickets to hear Diplo and
Switch spin at the Echoplex.  Had sushi
beforehand at the Sunset Plaza…the rolls there were so delicious.  The music was really good…danced for most of
the night.  Don’t know why suddenly they
started playing hip hop at the end. 
Surprisingly a good number of people out even though it was raining.

San Onofre State Beach…some friends camped here for the
weekend but I ended up just driving out to surf for a few hours.  The waves were a bit chaotic because of the
rain storm but I could see how this would be a great place to learn because of
the very long break.  A bit rocky though
so definitely need to remember my booties next time.  After some BBQ’d sausages and beer…took a
nice relaxing nap.

Magic Castle…it was my second time here but
since I didn’t remember much from my first time everything seemed new to me,
haha.  We ended up only watching one of
the shows in the theatre and just walking from magician to magician.  It was fun trying to figure out how they did
the tricks.  They make the drinks here
really strong…apparently the magic is much better when you’re drunk

Mediterraneo…Greek styled tapas restaurant in Hermosa Beach. 
We had built up quite an appetite since we biked from Hermosa to Marina
del Rey.  It’s nice to watch sunsets
along the beach.  It’s definitely getting
chillier at night now.  I especially liked the tortilla espanola (potato omelette), chicken brochettes and polpette (italian meatballs).

Stairmaster…went to do the Santa Monica steps.  It was a pretty good workout.  Did 10 of them.  It was nice watching the sunset although it
was a little crowded.  There are actually
two sets of stairs so you can do a loop if you want.  Not as many steps as Manhattan Beach but the steps seem steeper to me.

Gym Membership…finally rejoined 24 Hour Fitness
again.  I got a pretty good deal…I only
pay $24/month and there were no initiation/set up fees.  I can quit anytime and I have access to all
the active and sport clubs.  I’m going to
start taking advantage of the swimming pool, racquetball courts, and the
classes.  It’s nice to have somewhere to
go work out late at nights now that the sun sets so much earlier.  Let me know if you’re also a member and want
a work out buddy…I’m willing to drive to check out new locations.

Sushi…went to Sushi Mon in Santa Monica. 
Pretty cute place.  We had the
rainbow roll, spicy yellowtail roll, spicy tuna hand roll, salmon, unagi, and halibut.  The chef also prepared us a special complimentary
little dish.  The fish was pretty
decent.  Washed the food down with a
couple bottles of Asahi.

New Toy…I finally went and bought my own
kayak!  I got the Ocean Kayak Venus II
from REI.  It’s only 11ft so it’s super
light.  Not as stable but it makes up for
it by being more maneuverable and faster to paddle.  I also ended up putting my roof racks on my
car finally…yay!  I feel super outdoorsy
now, lolz.  I’m going to get a fat dividend
check this year since I dropped over $1k on buying stuff for this trip.

Kayaking Santa Barbara Island

Woke up at 5am on Friday to drive out to Ventura Harbor to catch the Island Packers ferry.  I don’t even get up that early for work so it
was painful getting up initially but once awake I was pretty excited to be heading
out.  The boat didn’t leave until 8am but you needed to get out there an
hour early to load stuff onto the boat. 
You can get a frequent flyer card and your sixth trip with them is
free!  The ride over took 4 hours since
they made a stop at Santa Cruz Island to drop off some passengers.  On the way over we saw blue whales, fin
whales, and a pod of dolphins.

Santa Barbara Island coastline

Lots and lots of birds

The
campsite is about 0.25 miles from the dock but you have to carry all of your
stuff so I packed like I usually do for backpacking.  The trail is all uphill with many steps.  We setup camp and for the rest of the
afternoon we hiked all around the Island.  There are
about 6 miles of trails and we did them all. 
The island is pretty small.  For
dinner that night we had rice with sausage, tuna salad, pita bread and hummus,
tortilla soup, and brownies for dessert. 
The stars at night were so amazing…you could clearly see the Milky
Way.  My only complaint was that it was
so windy in the afternoons and at night…made it seem a lot colder than it
actually was.

Our campsite with an ocean view

Elephant Seal Cove

The next
day we got up early and made breakfast before starting on our paddle all around
the island.  The trip was about 6 miles
in length.  The highlight was definitely the
Sealion Rookery where they go to mate and give birth.  The sealions were so friendly, jumping up and
splashing us only a few feet away from our kayaks.  We also explored Sutil Island where the waves were a lot
stronger.  There were times when the
kayaks in front of us disappeared because the waves were so big we couldn’t see
them.  There were also a lot of pelicans
and cormorants flying around.  We even
went through one big sea cave which was fun. 
It only took us about 2.5 hours to kayak all the way around.  The rest of the day I just relaxed and hung
out on the dock talking to one of the volunteer rangers.  We had another potluck for dinner on Saturday
night and I made linguine with clams in a vodka sauce.  There was also a vegetable and hummus
platter, tacos, and cookies for dessert. 
We also had mangotinis and lots of red wine.

Just kayaked past Arch point

Sutil Island

Kayaking through the cave

For our
last day we did a short kayak back to the Sealion Rookery where we did a little
snorkeling as well since there was a small kelp forest there.  We saw a dive boat and I wished I had brought
my scuba gear.  The visibility was decent
but the water was so cold that even in a full wetsuit I didn’t stay in the
water for long.  Next time I definitely
need to bring my 7mm wetsuit with a hood and booties.  I did see some Garabaldi, bat rays, and some
other fish.  It’s always fun to swim with
the seals since they are so graceful underwater and curious to play with you.  Got back and packed up the rest of our stuff before
getting picked up by the boat at 3:30pm. 
It seemed like a long boat ride back. 
Again ran into a lot of wildlife on the way as well…at this point I was
feeling a little seasick from the rough waves so I wasn’t too thrilled about
all the stops to watch the whales and dolphins. 
When we got back we stopped at Soup Plantation for our traditional
dinner.  I felt completely stuffed
afterwards since I always get my money’s worth with buffets, lolz.  It was a great trip and I’m looking forward
to checking out the rest of the Channel Islands.

Swimming…went over to a friend’s place to do some
laps.  I’m still too freaked out by water since I had a traumatic
experience when I was 10 where I was caught in a riptide and almost
drowned.  I’m getting better but I still need to work on my strokes and to
breathe deeply instead of holding my breath.

Free Movie Screening…saw Shoot Em Up at the Block in Orange. 
I thought it was pretty hilarious with great action scenes.  Plot was a
little week but if you want some brainless entertainment then it does its
job.  We had dinner beforehand at the Market Broiler. 
Seafood was pretty decent…we had a firecracker roll and the combination
dinner with mahi mahi, halibut, and crab/lobster cakes.

Izakaya…which is like Japanese tapas or small plates at Musha.  They bring out a little charcoal grill called shichi-rin to cook
the meat.  I really liked the beef tongue…they slice it so thin and it’s
so tender.  It’s a bit of a wait to get a table but worth it.  They
have one large communal table in the middle where several groups sit at so it’s
more like a fun bar experience.  We had the ahi tuna salad, takotama (with octopus, egg, noodle, onion, and mushrooms…really good), yuzu chicken, ebi mayo (tempura fried shrimp with a thousand island like sauce), gyu hire ponzu (beef tenderloin), and spicy fried rice.  The soju tea is pretty good and dangerous since you can’t really taste the alcohol, hehe.

Girls Night Out…at Republic in West Hollywood.  I’m
really attracted to guys that can dance.  I think it’s because I correlate
moves on the dance floor with moves in the bedroom I only had 3 drinks but I think because I
mixed different alcohols, I ended up with a terrible hangover the next
day.  Went to Canter’s
afterwards to eat.

Rollercoasters…ended up going last minute to Knott’s Berry Farm
because a friend had an extra ticket.  It was actually pretty fun. 
Not too hot and the lines weren’t that long.  The rides aren’t as fun as Magic
Mountain but still decent.  I
especially liked Accelerator (you go 80 mph in 2 secs), Boomerang (the ride
starts out backwards), Perilous Plunge (it felt good to get wet) and Silver
Bullet (your feet dangle in the air).  I didn’t like Ghostrider…the old
wooden rollercoaster.  It was way too bumpy and gave me a headache. 
Because the tickets were for my friend’s work picnic, there was an all you can
eat buffet.

Manhattan Beach
barhopping…after all the rides we ended up going out for drinks. 
Started off at Hennessey’s
then headed over to Towne
which is a restaurant that turns into a lounge.  It was so crowded you
could barely get in.  Took forever to get drinks so we decided to go
somewhere else.  Shellback’s
had a line so we ended up at Shark’s Cove.  Ended the night by going back to where we
started, lolz.  

Training Paddle…went
kayaking from Long Beach to San
Pedro pier for a total of 8 miles and boy my arms are sore.  We paddled out to the Esther oil rig where we
saw tons of seals…they’re so friendly and cute! 
The water was really choppy from all the boat and jetski traffic.  Plus we had a headwind coming back which made
it especially difficult.  This was in
preparation for my upcoming kayaking trip to Santa
Barbara Island.  I think I’m going to just buy my own kayak
since renting adds up and I’ve been going a lot recently.  Afterwards we had a BBQ at the trip
coordinator’s house where we discussed the logistics of carpooling and food while
chowing down on hamburgers and hot dogs.

Underworld…at the
Hollywood Bowl. 
Paul Oakenfold opened up and Jason Bentley hosted the show.  My love of electronica music first started
with trance so I’ll always have a special place in my heart for it but my taste
has definitely matured.  Now I enjoy more
house music and funky electro and breakbeats although there is a lot of overlap
in the genres and I still get them confused sometimes.  I got really tipsy on pineapple wine from Hawaii…a
little on the sweet side but so good!  I
love dancing underneath the stars.  The
music was so good that I was barely in my seat. 
It was fun because we had a huge group of about 100 people.

Originally the plan was to leave LA at 3pm on Friday before some of the traffic started but we
didn’t actually end up leaving until about 4:30pm. 
We were further delayed by a flat tire and with stopping to grab dinner at
Subway and making a short stop to gather last minute supplies, we didn’t arrive
at King’s Canyon until around 11:30pm. 
We camped at a walk in site at Moraine in Cedar Grove which was surprisingly
not too crowded for a holiday weekend.

The next day we got up early to be at the Road’s End permit station by 7am to pick up our permit.  We didn’t have
a reservation (you have to get them at least 2 weeks in advance) but we got
lucky and got some of the last spots available.  Bear canisters were
mandatory as there had been high activity within the area.  We ended up doing the clockwise loop that
started out along Wood’s Creek.  I was
worried that it would be too hot but at a starting elevation of about 5,000 ft…the
weather was definitely cooler.  Plus
there were plenty of trees along the well marked trail as well as nice cold
pools of water to cool off in. 

The group near the
trailhead.

Mist Falls where we cooled off

Paradise Valley

Castle Domes at sunset

We got to our destination at the John Muir trail junction
around 7:00pm which was about 16
miles from the trailhead.  We were pretty
exhausted by this point and were extremely happy to put our packs down.  Washed up in the creek before dinner which
was salmon and mushroom fettucine…yummy! 
We went to bed early and got up for an early start but somehow we ended
up taking two hours to pack up and didn’t start hiking until 8:30am. 
Most of the time we carried less than 2 liters of water since there were
plenty of spots to stop and use the water filter.  Also the bugs weren’t as much of a problem as
I thought they’d be.  Barely had to use
my mosquito net although I did get a few bites. 
There were plenty of bear boxes at the established campsites so we could’ve
brought less bear canisters to save on weight (we had 3 canisters for 5
people).  There were a lot of stream
crossings along this part of the trail.

One of the members of our party started getting sick around Rae
Lakes which was a little past the
halfway point.  Luckily one of the fitter
guys hiked up to Glen pass and dropped off his pack and came back to us and
carried her pack or else we probably wouldn’t have made it.  The switchbacks leading up to the pass were
pretty steep and strenuous but we were rewarded with amazing views at the
top.  It was pretty windy at that
elevation and with thunderclouds on the horizon, we didn’t stay there
long.  Going downhill was much easier,
however our feet really took a pounding. 
After hiking for about 14 miles on the second day my feet were aching
pretty bad and I was starting to question myself about how fun the trip really
was.  It would have been nice to have had
an extra day to do some side trails and have more time to enjoy ourselves.  Dinner tonight consisted of spaghetti and macaroni
with cheese.  I really like the
backpacking food packages from Mountain House…they’re extremely lightweight at
4.5 oz and compact.  Plus it’s very
convenient since you only have to boil water and mix and you can eat right out
of the pouch so no dishes to clean.

Suspension bridge by Woods Creek Crossing

Dollar Lake
(the fish were jumping here…wish we had brought our fishing poles)

Rae Lakes
where we stopped for lunch

Glen Pass
at 12,000 ft

Campsite at Vidette Meadows

On the third and last day of our backpack we again got a
later start than planned at 8:30am.  Along this part of the trail we start
following Bubb’s Creek.  The canyon walls
are really quite amazing and there were lots of great climbing areas.  We actually ran into two climbers who had
done the approach to Charlotte Dome the day before…definitely something I’d
like to go back and climb one day.  There
seemed to be a lot more backpackers going the counterclockwise loop that we ran
into today.  Around Sphinx Creek we saw a
bear cross the trail just a few feet ahead of us.  I’ve seen bears before but that was probably
the closest I’d ever gotten. 
Unfortunately I was too slow to take a picture but my friend got a good one.  There were plenty of bridges by where the
loop closes and the last two miles back to the car seemed to take forever.  The 14 miles on the last day though didn’t
seem as bad and I was surprised by how great I felt considering…I guess my body
had finally gotten used to the physical strain. 

We washed up by the creek and changed into some clean
clothes and started driving back at around 4:30pm.  There was a quick stop by Boyden Cavern but
we had just missed the last tour.  Also
decided to make a stop at Grant Grove where we did a quick 0.6 mile loop hike
to check out General Grant which is the third largest tree in the world.  There is also the Fallen Monarch which is a hollowed
out sequoia which you can actually walk through.  For dinner we stopped at Visalia
at a restaurant/brewery.  I shared a tri
tip steak and their ultimate hamburger…so good! 
We also sampled their beers…my favorite was their double buzz which was
a stout with hints of chocolate flavor. 
Ended up getting back to LA at around 11:30pm.  Overall, the trip was amazing.  The scenery was beautiful (the pictures don’t do it justice) and although my
body was sore from the tough pace, it was definitely worth it.

Bubb’s Creek

Near the end of the trail

Bear

Fallen Monarch

General Grant…this is actually the widest tree in the world…I’m in the picture so you can see the scale

USA Dine Out…for two weeks certain select
restaurants in LA have a special prix fixe menu.  We decided to try out Mirabelle in West
Hollywood. 
You get three courses for $35/person. 
For appetizers, we ordered the crab bisque (so yummy) and the artichokes.  The main entrée consisted of steak and free
range organic chicken.  Dessert was
cobbler and chocolate soufflé with peanut butter ice cream.  We also ordered some wine…a pinot grigio and
a syrah.  Overall the food was good but
service could have been better.  It
sounded like a great deal at first but I realized that I usually never order
both appetizers and dessert because it is too much food.  And when I do order one or the other, we
usually share it.  So in reality you
probably end up spending the same amount or more than you would if you just
went to the restaurant any other time.

NetParty mixer…attended another
networking event at Social in Hollywood.  I’ve been here before but not to the second
level which is usually held for private parties.  They had a game room with an Xbox and a
billiard table.  The crowd was pretty
interesting and diverse.  I think I’m
sort of getting better at socializing and small talk.

Bouldering…at the Rock Gym in
Signal Hill.  It definitely feels like a
different sport…I’m so used to being tied into a rope.  I don’t like the feeling of climbing 15 feet
with nothing to protect you from a fall but a thin layer of foam called a crash
pad.  The good thing about it is that you
don’t need any heavy gear and you can do it by yourself without having to try
and find a partner.  It’s fun to watch
the local regulars as they work out boulder problems.

Happy Hour…went to Dragon in Hermosa
Beach. 
From 4-9pm all food is
half off and you can get a beer tender for $10. 
I had the dragon roll and the kobe beef udon…food
was just ok.

Backpacking…in King’s Canyon National Park for Labor Day weekend.  We hiked for 45 miles over 3 days with about a 25-30 pound backpack.  I can’t believe how sore I am.  Saw lots of deer and a bear.  Will update with more details and pictures soon.

Pier to Pier…went jogging all the way from Manhattan to Hermosa and back.  It was a good run of 4 miles…I love watching
the sunset at the beach.  Too bad there
are too many mosquitos out at night now.

Ktown…had Korean BBQ at Soot Bull Jeep.  I like this place because they use charcoal
grills and you can definitely taste the difference.  We had kalbee, short rib, and bulgogi (it was
so good it just melted in my mouth…definitely my favorite).  They don’t give you as much good pan chan
here.  Washed down all the food with some
Hite beer.  Afterwards we went to Kool
lounge and ordered a pitcher of their amber lager.  Interesting discussion about the Game and how
guys should approach girls at bars/clubs.

Hammerfest…late night party at the Armand
Hammer museum in Westwood where the galleries were open until 11pm and they have a cash bar as well as
a DJ playing music.  There were even some
people dancing.  It was the last night of
the Eden’s Edge exhibit which highlights art from 15 different LA artists.  Very interesting pieces ranging from neon
lights to ceramic sculptures tied with scarves to drawings of orgies and
mushrooms to giant Buddhas.   We had dinner first at Noodle Planet and later we grabbed some drinks at Westwood
Brewing Company where they were promoting the new Balls of Fury movie.

Birthdays…had a ton of them this weekend but
ended up only going to one at E3rd in downtown. 
Man the service here was so bad. 
They cleared our drinks and table before we were done and then took
forever to bring us our food.  At least
they tried to make it up by bringing us another round of drinks and comping one
of the entrees.  The food was ok…I like
their sautéed mushrooms and kim chi mashed potatoes.  The lemon drop sojutinis weren’t bad
either.  It was supposed to turn into a
lounge later that night but it was so dead that we ended up leaving.

Bike Riding…rode from Hermosa up to Marina del
Rey and back…probably 20 miles or so. 
Originally wanted to make it up to Venice or Santa Monica but we needed to go
back and put more money in the meter. 
Stopped for drinks at Hennessey’s and had lunch at Wahoos.  Afterwards went home to take a nap and then it
was time to meet up with some friends for dinner at Indian Restaurant in San Gabriel. 
I thought the food would be Indian but it was really a Chinese restaurant
where the waitresses dressed up like native American Indians.  For dessert we went to Crepe in the Grip…their
crepe with mango, nutella, and chocolate ice cream was soooo good!

Taquitz…did a multi-pitch trad route called
White Maiden’s Walkway which is rated a 5.4 (5 pitches) but definitely had
moves that were more 5.6/5.7.  We ended
up free soloing the first pitch and then a thunderstorm came while we were
finishing the second pitch.  Lightening +
climbing + gear made of metal = not a good idea.  We waited out the storm though and it was
worth it.  Clear sunny skies afterwards
and gorgeous rainbows.  After we finished
the route, we toproped the last pitch of Left Ski Track which was pretty
tough.  We stopped for dinner at La
Casitas, a charming Mexican restaurant in Idyllwild.

Me and my climbing partner Brian at the top of Taquitz…sorry girls he’s married with kids