A very nice by-product

For the past four nights I've been out and about in Los Angeles. Three movies and last night a Dodgers game (my first Dodgers game mind you). I had a great time at each and every event. Tuesday Angela and I saw a free sneak preview of the movie The Informant! starring Matt Damon. Then on Wednesday I went to the Hollywood premiere of Jennifer's Body with a friend. This was something because it was my first time inside Graumman's Chinese Theater (which has hosted the Oscars and beautiful inside) and it was my first time see a horror movie in a theater. And frankly, I haven't seen many outside the theater either. And then on Thursday Angela and I went to a free sneak preview of the movie Love Happens starring Jennifer Aniston.

But you know what made each night, each event, much more enjoyable than I would have ever imagined? The people. The conversation. The fact that I had to slow down, step away from work and writing and life for a few minutes (in the case of the movies, a few hours) and just wait. And each time I got to wait with friends.

Angela and I met Daniela through our friend Emily, at the Big Bang Theory taping. She arranged for our tickets, got us to the front of the line, and got us awesome seats in the studio. Since then we've communicated via Twitter here and there. Then Tuesday who's right in front of us in line at the ArcLight but Daniela! It was great. See to get into these free movie screenings you have to stand in line. It's first come first serve. We've figured out if the movie starts at 7:30 we'd better be in line about 5:15. Sometimes Ang and I take a book or magazines but usually you're standing and moving and it's hard to concentrate. So it was great to run into Daniela, and her friend Eric, because now we had someone to talk to for 2+ hours! How fun!

Then on Wednesday was the horror movie that Angela refused to attend, frankly she's freaked out by the commercials for the movie. So I asked my friend Angela Garber to go with me. And the best part of the night (though the movie was really really good!) was getting to spend a big chunk of it talking with Angela. We've spent a lot of time together over the past year but we're usually in church, volunteering for this or that, or surrounded by our throng of mutual friends. And it was very cool to get to hang out with her one-on-one for a while and just chat.

Same goes for Thursday even though it was just Angela (my sister again, she was excited for this movie) and me. We ate dinner in line at the theater in Burbank and it was nice to hear all about her day and her week at school. A lot of the time we eat in front of the television but this was a nice change of pace.

And that brings me to yesterday, to Dodger Day.

We had fun, though it was a bit more stressful than I anticipated, going to a major league ball game by ourselves. We found the stadium fine but parking was a nightmare and we ended up on the opposite side of the stadium from our seats (and they won't let you in the wrong entrance) but we did eventually find out friends. And enjoyed talking and laughing for a while. Yes, I wore my Detroit Tigers hat but yes I cheered for the home team too. We watched some of our friends form a human red AIDS ribbon on the field (it was Strike Out AIDS night, thus the group discounts), we watched some ho-hum baseball (they were tied when we left, ended up losing), we watched our friend Pauley take picture after picture with fans and sign count autographs, and then we left early. But it was fun. And it was very cool to see the view from the parking lot: Los Angeles at night.

All in all, I have to say, the best part of the week was the by-product of each night's activity: the conversations. Sometimes, when I sit alone at my computer for hours and days on end, I forget that that's really what life's about.