Quick favor! One of my friend's bands is in a battle of the bands competition. If you guys could click the link below, select Suckerpunch, and vote for them I would love you forever!

http://www.wtks.com/pages/monsterBestBand.html

California has been awesome, so awesome that I haven't even had a chance to update. Here's a quick rundown before I forget.

Tuesday night I drove to Orlando and spent the night at JT's house before meeting up with Stacey (wastingmylife) and Mat to fly to LA. Once we got to LA we met up with James and Amanda (cowvies) and then went to our hotel. After that we headed to Newport Beach to watch the sunset, and it was beautiful. It was also freezing. After that we got some food and then went to the hotel and crashed, because we were exhausted from traveling all day.

Thursday we got up and started our drive to Vegas. It was so different from driving in Florida, everywhere you looked you could see mountains and they were all shades of brown. Very beautiful, but I'm sure it's mostly because it's not what we're used to. Got into Vegas and went straight to the Mandalay Bay where the show was going to be, and met up with Stacey's mom for lunch. Nancy (vintagexlady) met us there and then we went to the first show. LTJ headlined and they were hilarious and awesome as usual. Chris came out and saw us and blew us kisses and told us we shouldn't have. After the show we hung out in the casino a bit and gambled, and then left and got some food. After that we decided it would be a good time to start walking the strip. At about 2 in the morning, which was 5 in the morning for us, we realized that we could barely stand so we went to our hotel. Nancy booked us a room in the locals' casino, and it was super nice. They also had a nice casino and apparently a nice buffet that people partook in while I slept late.

Friday after waking up late and checking out of the hotel we went to the Hoover Dam. It wasn't nearly as exciting as I expected. There were two clock towers, one with Nevada time and one with Arizona time, but they were the same damn time! There was also no demarcation line for when the states changed. Expectations were not met. I did buy a tote bag that says, "This is my dam tote" with Hoover in teeny tiny letters between my and dam, so there's always that. After leaving the dam we went back to the strip and walked the other side of it. Finally decided to eat dinner and then heading back to Cali around 10.

Saturday we woke up and headed up to LA for the first California show. We went by the venue to scope it out and then went up to Hollywood and walked up and down Melrose. Some very cool shops. Then we went up to Sunset Boulevard and drove round a bit, then stopped at Amoeba Records. After spending some time there we realized it was getting late and came back to the venue about an hour and a half before doors, only to realize that there was a line down the block. This was not acceptable. Apparently the venue has several levels on the ground floor, and your ground ticket doesn't actually get you into the front by the stage. For that you have to get there early and be one of the first people in. Stacey asked some kids near the front if she could pay them to let all 6 of us cut them, and they did (only $23!) so all was right with the world and we got our wristbands and got right by the barricade. Another fun show, this time LTJ played before Goldfinger though, which meant a slightly shorter set. The good thing was we didn't have to sit through the Goldfinger crowd at the front of the stage, especially when they call everyone up to sing with them and people try to crawl over you. Watching from seats on the balcony was spectacular. After the show we drove back to Hollywood and had dinner, then drove up and down Hollywood Blvd. and heading back to the hotel. Apparently Shia LeBoeuf was arrested for DUI after wrecking his truck on the same road we had driven on less than an hour earlier. Very exciting stuff for a celeb retard like myself.

Today was the show in Anaheim, which is quite near our hotel, so we didn't really know what to do before the show. We started by sleeping in a bit, then we went to this store called Tilly's. Last month when I was in Orlando I went to one and bought a pair of flip flops. I decided I really liked them, and wanted them in black also, so I looked online. Nowhere that sold them online had my size. When I was back in Orlando before flying here I went back to the store, but they were also out. On the way to our hotel I saw one, so we stopped there but they didn't have them either. Now I was on a mission. In Vegas we went to one also, but still no luck. So, this morning I looked up Tilly's locations and realized that there was one on the way to the venue, and one in the same mall where LTJ was playing an acoustic instore performance. Sweet. Stopped at the one on the way, no luck. Get to the mall, check Tilly's...finally, a pair in my size! I was so very excited, which is kind of sad. After that we looked around the mall a bit and then went to get in line for the instore. We were kind of worried because the instore was at 6 and the doors for the show were at 7, but we figured it would be worth it. When we got to the mall there were only 2 people in line, so we shopped for a bit and then came back around 5:30 and there were maybe 6 or 7 people other than us. There was some minor drama in line between an idiot that had been spitting on me the night before (just while he was talking, not maliciously), and I couldn't help myself and I ended up saying something. The employee that he had been arguing with thanked me profusely and asked for my name and number in case corporate had any questions for me. Ridiculous. After that the performance finally started. It kind of sucked because it had started late, they only played for about 20 minutes, and they played stuff that was on their set list for the night shows, but there were only about 40 people there so that was cool. After the performance they signed stuff, and Vinnie knew my name which made me very happy. Then at the end we asked if we could get a picture with all of us and it is made of win. ( Check it out )
After the instore we rushed to the venue and got pretty close to the stage, but not right at the barricade. After Suburban Legends a few of hte little girls left and we all got up there, but not together. Nancy told the girls next to us that I had flown all the way from Florida and they switched places with us so we could be together. They were nice. The show was good tonight too, but I've never really seen a bad LTJ show. During Suburban Legends set Chris came on stage with a vacuum and actually vacuumed the stage. A couple guys next to me were like, "Who is that guy?". He's funny. After the show we went and got some food and now we're back at the hotel. Everyone is asleep except for me. Unfortunately most of the people I'm with are morning people, and they're all asleep before me and awake before me.

Tomorrow is a day off for the tour, so we're going to go to Disney's California Adventure. James is a zookeeper at Disney's Animal Kingdom, so he can get us in free. It should be fun times. I'm also going to stop at the Ducks Team Store, because I tried today and they were closed. If they have a Robbie jersey I will be very tempted to get it. Definitely want to get some kind of Stanley Cup memorabilia if they still have any. The day after that is our last show, which is very sad. The time has definitely flown by, but we've had a great time. I'll update more pictures later, we're going to consolidate all our cameras and then burn CDs, but I had to have Amanda send me this one first.