I'll Miss You More Than You'll Miss Me

Through the vicissitudes of nearly twenty years Justin has been my best accomplice, although our teachers, girlfriends, mothers etc. would probably disagree. I showed up minutes behind our friend Tyler who had flown in from Little Rock. Now a bona fide LA resident, Justin was able to show us the city I had missed on my last, somewhat disastrous trip out.

A mutual friend from Oklahoma, Sam, surfed the feeble afternoon waves with us at Manhattan Beach. A local character flashed a crucifix shaped joint at me at an intersection and I ate more In-N-Out than any one man should. Museums; a ghostly, unlit Hollywood sign; amazing food - nothing disappointed. I even shrugged off the compulsory out-of-towner LA parking ticket.

Jumbo's Clown Room is a self described "exotic dance bar". I'd say it fits snugly in the void between strip club and burlesque show. I've always been fearful of my own weakness towards excess and have avoided swill; I was nearly 25 before I'd ever gotten drunk. So it was no surprise when I managed to get us thrown out of Jumbo's after leering maniacally at Leah, a friend of Justin's, and throwing up and passing out in the bathroom. Tyler snapped this picture outside of the club just before I vomited on the ground, then stumbled out of the car at a Jack In The Box and puked over a retaining wall to a soundtrack of cheers and honking from the cars behind us. I managed to throw up in the shower before finally blacking out in a pile on Justin's floor.