The plan was to get into Los Angeles on Friday night and meet up with the guys at Billy's place, hopefully to play a little cards. Billy was in, as was David, however, Will was missing. Finally, I got through and though he said he was under the weather and staying in, I know the real reason was fear. He was afraid of how quickly I would take his money at poker. With poker cancelled, Burger, LDG and I went for the next best thing. Food.
Cruising up Venice Blvd in Billy's X-Terra, a helluva step up from his old shitbox Acura, we went for a little In-N-Out. Ah, nothing like the old In-N-Out. We sat outside, ate a late dinner and talked until almost 1 am. We caught up on each other's lives and then reminisced about the old eToys days and all the crazies that worked there. While we were talking, I kept looking around and thinking, Damn, I love this city, I miss this city, and I wish we still lived in this city. Then again, you do certain things for the benefit of your family. I will just have to find a job that can get me back in LA as frequently as possible.
By Sunday, Will felt safe and so I stopped by his pad to deliver some furniture and finally meet Nora. Walking up the steps, I found his place much as it always was, the door open, LPs surrounding the fireplace, an amp inside of it, baseball on TV and the periodic chart still hanging on the wall. It was fun catching up. I only wish I could have stayed longer. Hey Will, it's Rick Costes.
There was just enough time to make a surprise visit to Billy's shop before leaving for the airport.
I've always had my life-long friendships like Otto (age 2), Bruce (age 14) and Indy (age Awhile, I'm not really sure when we first met). As for my LA friends, we've known each other about 6 years now. We live 1600 miles apart; live different lives yet maintain our once daily friendships through this little blogosphere of ours.
Okay, okay, enough of the borderline sappy crap. It was great to see you guys and hopefully we can sit down at the table again one day soon.
