I'm exhausted. Today, Jon and I went with David, Juliette, Philbert (Juliette's main man), Jared and his brother to downtown Los Angeles to have one last day of fun before the forboding future that is biochemistry. We all met in Sierra Madre, and rode the MetroLink light rail to Chinatown. Chinatown is... I have no words for Chinatown except I wish it was bigger. The architecture is so very cool - most buildings, from banks to strip malls, have decorative roofs in bright primary colors, Fu dogs adorn doorways, paper lanterns hang from awnings. Resturants and small shops line the streets, and we even found a little fountain with bowls in various positions labled with words like "Longevity" and "Wisdom", where one could cast a coin in the hopes of gaining what they most wanted (Jon took a picture of this nifty little spot, which I will post when he unloads the digital camera.) We walked around, and David directed us to a lovely, large resturant that happened to serve Dim Sum. Now, I have *never* had Dim Sum. The bulk of my experience with Chinese cuisine has been limited to pu-pu platters, lo mein and steaming trays of fried kibblets that are the staples of buffets. Dim Sum, frankly, kicks the crap out of the standardized Chinese fare that can be found in most places. We were seated at a large table, and within 5 minutes of sitting, the trays came rolling in. This is the cool thing about Dim Sum - ladies with carts of goodies canvass the dining area, offering several different dishes to the diners. All food is placed on a large "lazy susan" in the middle of the table, and everyone takes what they want. The food was fantastic! Lots of veggies (I actually, willingly ate cooked cucumber!) and not so heavy on the fried stuff. On top of this, the tea they served was wonderfully fragrant, and, again, for once, I didn't dump a single spoonful of sugar in it. Unfortunately, I made the faux pax of insiting on paying for Jon and myself (I can't help it! Really! It's how I was raised!) after David picked up the tab (again, sorry David.)

After eating, we walked all around the area, did a little shopping (you wanna talk awesome shopping, you have to hit the markets in Chinatown!) and hopped back on the light rail for our next stop - Little Tokyo in downtown LA. We departed Union Station, walked around a little bit, and found our way to Little Tokyo, where everyone had a chance to browse anime movies and video games. Again, we walked and walked, and found our way back to the light rail. On the ride home, several silly teenaged girls kept talking loudly and giggling (to, at one point, Jon started talking about the wood chipper parts of the movie "Fargo" and David and I mused aloud about how long it would take us to completely disassemble a human body (since we have had the "pleasure" of dismembering our cadaver in ways that would make a normal person shudder...)

Anyway, we headed out, exausted, but happy to have had the chance to go, and had one last suprise for our day... Jon and I stopped at an am/pm convenience store for a drink, and as we went to leave the parking lot, we saw a lost little dog wandering around the parking lot. My gut reaction was "oh no, someone is going to run that little dog over!" so, yeah, I had to go get the little dog (actually, I called her over, and she came and jumped into my arms... I am *so* easily manipulated.) Needless to say, we now have a little black and white pomeranian who runs amok around the house, and driving poor Kramer batty (she won't play with him, and is constantly trying to sit in my or Jon's lap.) So, now the quest begins to try and find her owners....

Anyway, I added a new photo album of some of the pictures I took in Chinatown and downtown LA (unfortunately, I ran out of room on my camera phone), and will add the pics Jon took as soon as I get a chance. Now, it's off to bed with me, as my days of having fun have come to an end (for now....)