On Saturday, we drove all the way down to Huntington beach to watch pro and amateur surfers battle on the waves in the US Surf Open. Watching a surfing competition has always been something I've wanted to attend and I've missed many opportunities in the past while in Hawaii. This time, we had to go!
The actual competition was held right off the Main Street Pier so I wanted to park as close as possible even though I had mentally prepared for traffic.... It must have took us 30 minutes just to find our little spot 2 miles (!) from main street! It was sooooo far away. Most people parking near us luckily brought skateboards or bikes just to ride over to the pier. geeeeeez.
After walking for about a day, we get to Main street and see this!!! Shitttttt... naked drunk people everywhere a 1pm! Every restaurant was jam packed and every poor/stupid car that was trying to drive through, was infinitely stuck at a standstill. Most were heading for the pier to join in on the festivities, but a large number were just happy to stand around and watch the bodies pass by. I over heard 2 dude's conversation:
Dude1: "Hey, what are you doin' just standing there?"
Dude2: "Oh, I'm just people watchin'"
Dude1: "Heh, heh. Cool. I'm boob watchin!"
Here's the view from the pier to the beach down below (or what was left of the beach). There were dozens of tents and makeshift building setup to showcase various surfing brands and technologies. It was here where many were getting free handouts while others were standing in line to try to win better prizes. And it was also here where I led Jenna around like a rag doll among the thousands of naked people! Sorry babe!
This is a view at the waterside where people were watching the surf competition. There was absolutely no room in the stands and we didn't even try hassling with finding a spot on the sand.... Our view from the pier was great and we were actually closer to the action.
I have no idea who any of the surfers were so I will call this girl, Surfer Dudette #1. I think she was pretty good... much better than me anyways. Actually, before Jenna and I left for the beach, we were watching the competition online and actually saw Kelly Slater surfing! He's so famous that even I've heard of him!
This guy was okk...
Another wave full of white water.
I'm pretty sure I could surf these waves.... haha. Maybe. But, maybe not.
Too bad I didn't have my $4,000 len like most of the people perched on the pier. I was having DSLR envy! :( The only way to cope with that is to tell myself that they're just compensating for something!
That last picture is from the pier looking back at the beach... Still insane and still crowded. I kinda wish we had brought our swimsuits so that we could either go into the water or suntan... but that would have been too much of a hassle. We watched the competition for a while and then decided to scurry back to Alhambra where there were less drunk, tanned potheads.
Yesterday, Sunday, Jenna and I went to the Hollywood version of Rent at the Hollywood Bowl! It by far surpassed every one of my expectations and I thought it was superb! I kinda know the story of Rent (only from the movie) but didn't know that this performance featured some real famous people! Jenna notified me only about 1 hr prior to the start of the show and that's when I really started to get excited!!!
Famous faces: Wayne Brady, Nicole Scherzinger, Vanessa Hudgens and directed by Doogie Howser aka NPH aka Neil Patrick Harris.
Here's us outside the theater before the show. The lady that I asked to take our picture was not very happy about it and seemed almost angry and me... and technology. I'm assuming she's had problems with 'hi-tech' cameras and photo takers in the past. Biatch.
And here's the view from our seats! Great selection by Jenna: we were on the isle (which gave us a lot of leg room) and about in the middle of the entire theater.
For our picnic food/beverages, we went with Vietnamese sandwiches from Banh mi my tho!, Snapping Turtle Cab red wine, crackers with Brie, grapes and a bar of dark chocolate! And although our meal was an overall excellent choice, we couldn't help but be jealous of the other people's home cooked intricate meals! It was crazy... some people had bbq'd ribs and mac and cheese and even homemade guacamole! Groups of people just parked themselves in the walking lanes with blankets and picnic baskets and were chowing down on their fresh hot brownies or empanadas! Geez such creativity from this crowd. Next time, we'll have to up the ante!
Here's a very blurry picture of Vanessa Hudgens aka Gabriella from High School Musical. Her live singing voice was ok most of time but she did have some pretty raunchy dance moves. Lucky for Zac (according to a fella next to us!)
This is Nicole Scherzinger from the Pussycat Dolls during the Moo song. She did such a frickin awesome job during this song and I was totally blown away with how great of a performer she is. I mean, yeah, she's a musical artist who's job is to sing and perform but I thought she mainly got famous from her sexiness and the large boobs! (which they were!) But dam! that girl can really sing AND she's even really funny. She put so much energy and passion into her performance and this was probably one of my favorite songs of the night. Good job DWTS Winner.
This is the group during the 'Seasons' song and that's Wayne Brady and Nicole on the right of the pic. The large woman in the middle of the pic is one of the original cast members and DAM, she sang so loud that she probably didn't even need the mic for us to hear her!
The entire production was fantastic and I would go back for another show in a heartbeat. John Mayer is playing in a few weeks but I think his show is much to expensive. Oh, but to stay with the theme of crowdedness... I have to talk about the crazy crowd that appeared when we tried to exit the theater. Getting in was a synch because most people were picnicing outside the theater and only trickled in when the show started. However, when the show ended, people were in a rush to make it back to the shuttle busses and everyone had to funnel through one small walkway! GEEEEEZ. Poor Jenna was once again stuck staring at people's backs for nearly the entire time. Luckily, we managed to take advantage of our youth and agility while slipping in and out of the empty rows and skipping a few hundred patrons. We got down to the buses in record time and got back to our car in no time. Let just not talk about the line in the parking garage to pay and get out.... ugh. Crowds...
Anyway, FUN FUN FUN FUN weekend and hopefully Jenna will be right back in LA this Wednesday! Next stop is the Orange County fair. Lemme know if you wanna go too!
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