Well, where were we? let’s see, well, I had my b/day and got some nice cards and e-cards and a nice bottle of Bushmills (courtesy of Mr. Squeezebox), and a nice phone call from Mr/. Chapple, who wasn’t quite sure what day was my b/day but more importantly he could do work on his bathroom wall, each a sandwich, and chat with me all at the same time. So all that brought us to sunday. And Sunday was a really fun, wild, interesting day. it was.

first, Hannah and me got up and then we had breakfast (i think we made scrabbled eggs and bagels w/ cream cheese)…then we rounded up my housemate, Kate, and our other pal, Laura, and the 4 of us headed to sunset ranch to ride horses for the day ( www.sunsetranchhollywood.com ) and this was around noon. the sun was out just before we left but when the 3 of us drove to get laura from her west LA flat, it got cloudy and COLD. cold for LA, that is. so we drove up robertson blvd, turn east on pico, turned left to go north on la brea and took la brea (past the PICO LOCATION OF Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles) just past san viceinte where we saw EDGEWOOD AVE to our right. took that and it swung round, turning into Highland Ave at Wilshre. we took highland all teh way to franklin, made a right and stayed there until we got gas at gower and then went 1 more block to BEACHWOOD and made a left. take beachwood ALL THE WAY TO THE HOLLYWOOD SIGN and then yer at the ranch. the drive from franklin and beachwood to the ranch is about 5 to 10 minutes.

once we paid and got our horses (mine was a feisty lad name ASLAN and he just wanted to eat grass off the cliffs), us 4 rode the upper hollywood mountain and the weather, though chilly, was picture perfect and we could not only see Catalina Island but also the Channel Islands of Santa Barbara, which sit about 80 miles north west! The horses walked the trails so close to the edge i thought i was a goner but ASLAN held it together. he kept trying to sniff and bite Kate’s horse in the arse but Kate’s horse kicked my horse and Aslan nearly freaked out but it was his own fault.

After that, we all hit BIRDS on franklin and Hyperion, but Laura met up with a friend so Kate, Hannah and me had lunch and pints of stella and then headed back home to santa monica. i HAD to shower, as i smelled like a horse and felt all itchy but it was fun and well worth it, although a tad bit scary cause the trails had 600 foot ravines on any given side! Hannah and me went to Gilbert’s the next day (monday) and then later met up with Rusty and Lucy and some friends. Hannah and me both had the delicious mini-super beef burrito, which i HIGHLY recommend. yum-meee. we both got pissed at (brit Pub) THE DAILY PINT, which is on Pico and Cloverfield (in santa monica), and then Hannah and me taxi’d back ($7) to the house. we were both pissed but she was REALLY pissed and got a bit annoyed with me and used some rather bad Brit words before bed. But she loves me to pieces so i never worried for a second! Today I got back from getting Julian from school in West Hollywood she’d done the shopping at Albertsons and bought me a little balloon on a stick and a ‘Sorry for being naughty’ card and we all had pizza for dinner. I had an important session tomorrow, but for now, I was safe and sound, alive and kicking.

Mike Randle