January has been another busy month. John and I are doing much better (not that we’re ever FULLY out of the woods), and I’ve taken some much-needed respite flying out of town to meet up with friends. For MLK holiday, I jetted down to Long Beach to hang with my Shanghai buddy Pamela. She’s newly divorced and well, out on the prowl. 🙂  Just opened an account on Match.com and well, let’s just say, it’s been kinda fun scoping out the scene vicariously through her. I know, all my single friends insist the dating scene is brutal, but honestly, Pamela appears to be having fun with it! She’s a little boy crazy, which is different to witness, but you know, not so bad in short doses. Plus, now that I’m back home and there’s been tons of development, I realize that she is all talk after all. She had been going on and on about how her dude would have to be hot, blah, blah, and then a week later, she started communicating with someone who didn’t even post a photo of himself. They met up for dinner, and so far, it’s on its way to being another Match.com success story. See? The scene is not so bad!

Anyway, we had a busy itinerary. We went to a dueling piano bar where we had these tasty Mandarin shots (plus a mojito). They made that shit strong, but I did fine– inched closer to being the most drunk I’ve ever been but still under control. We played some darts, some pool, hit the hot yoga studio, and then I was off to the OC to visit other friends– with a totally different lifestyle. Young couple with a 3 y/o, but I had a great time hanging out with them. I used to work with the hubby, but I get along super well with the wifey. She’s one of the sweetest people I know. After that, I was back home and of course, leave it to my immune system to let me down. I got sicker than hell Wednesday and just like that, the rest of the week was shot. I’m still getting over it actually. I know, I was a total dumbass about NOT getting the flu shot this year. Never again will I test fate that way.

This weekend, I flew down to Vegas to meet up with Nathalie who was in town for a vet conference. Thankfully, we avoided most of the usual Vegas bullshit and opted instead to rent a car and drive out and explore: Hoover Dam, Red Rock Canyon, Valley of Fire State Park– wow, who knew Vegas had all this to offer. And plenty of nice, scenic drives too, so it works well for those who prefer to sightsee by car.

For her birthday, we had dinner at the Stratosphere, which was a pleasant surprise. They have a rotating restaurant up top with an awesome view of the city. And during dinner, they have skyjumpers taking off from the roof above, so you get to have dinner while people are, well for your mind’s intents and purposes, “committing suicide.” Super bizarro. After dinner, we went up to the Observation Deck, where we discovered an interesting amusement ride– basically, it was a ship of passengers on a seesaw mounted on the edge of the building. The ship would start on the high end of the plank, and as the plank tipped, the ship of people would slide over to the low end. Fucking crazy if you ask me. It’s like people asking to die.

Anyway, Nathalie and I had a fun time catching up. The weekend escape with buds works out pretty well for me, because after that, I’m ready to head home and reunite with Bubs and the pups.