Mon Weekend Avec Le Baron: Première Partie

Okay, so, again with the not-posting.
I've been kinda not in the mood.
And I've been trying to be out of the house as much as possible, and yet not spend money.
Have you ever tried that? It's really difficult!
Anyway, some stuff did happen and it will be chronicled herewith forsooth, or somethingth.

The big news is that I have my driver's license back.
I had gotten a ticket a while back and the amount was pretty big and scary and I couldn't pay it.
So they pulled my license and I didn't have a car anyway so it wasn't that big a deal to me.
A few years went by and then it looked like I was going to get a car again.
And I was getting annoyed at not having a license.
So I went to the court on the Wednesday of two weeks ago to see how much I owed on the ticket and see what
could be done. The amount was still big, because it was in collection, but the clerk told me that if I got
a court date, showed up and pleaded guilty, I would wind paying a much lower amount.
That sounded like a good idea, but I wanted my driver's license back!
The clerk said I would get it back if I got a court date!
Awesome! So I have a court date for June some time.
I paid $15 for an extract or something, and the next day, I went to the DMV to get my license back.
They made me take the written test for car and motorcycle (I have a double license).
I had not studied! Argh! I was gonna flunk the motorcycle test for sure (25 questions total, 4 wrong max).
I got 2 wrong on the car test: the blood-alcohol level (I guessed 0.05%, it's 0.08%), and the school bus.
And I got 4 wrong on the motorcycle test. Phew!
So I got my license back on Thursday April 17th! Yea! And it cost me about $80! Booooo... :)

So it's Friday April 18th and I'm walking along Venice Boulevard, after having checked the PO Box.
And I look across the street at Guns & Roses Car Rental (NOT the actual name of the company).
And I think to myself...
"I have my driver's license back. It's Friday. The weather is awesome. I haven't done much of anything
since Pascal got really sick. Maybe I should get a car for the weekend, get outta town, clear my head."
I wrestled with these thoughts for a bit, then crossed the street.
The guys at G&R were glad to see me. I used to rent fairly regularly from them, back when Pascal had gigs.
We did some catching-up, then looked at cars. I tried to fit in a couple, but they were too small.
"Oh, what the heck, why don't you take the convertible?"



OH BOY!! A convertible! In Los Angeles! On a sunny Friday! SIGN ME UP!!!
A PCE (Pre-Cupholder Era) Chrysler LeBaron GTC convertible with a V6 engine! YEEEEEAAAAAH!!
So, of course, as soon as I clamber into that car, my callsign becomes RED BARON! :D
And Snoopy gets on my six! Get off my ass, Beagle Boy!! :D
Anyway, the guys at G&R gave me the hookups with the Red Baron and off I went!
In no time, I was on the freeway, with the top down, talking on my cellphone with gizmoelf.
"Are you being Californian?" he asked. "Baby, I'm so Californian right now, it hurts!" I replied.

So I cruised towards the only Wal-Mart in Metro L.A. to look for Lego sets.
This is the Baldwin Hills one, corner of Crenshaw and Martin Luther King Blvd, the Bling-Yo-Gangsta area.
The Wal-Mart had exactly one third of an aisle devoted to Legos. It was a tiny, tiny section.
And a waste of time. Ah well, the weather was nice. I left and headed for the "White Supremacy Toys'R'Us".
I call it that because, for the longest time, I only saw white people in that store whenever I went.
I don't know why. It's not like it's in Simi Valley, home of cops and military (active and retired).
No, this TRU is in Torrance, which isn't particularly whitebread. Go figure...
Anyway, I found one of the sets I was looking for, and it was the last one too:
the Republic Cruiser from "Episode 1", a limited set on its way out.
Lots of nice parts in that set, as long as you like red. :)
I headed toward home and called a few friends, trying to make dinner plans.
Nobody was available so I... . . . ...I can't actually remember what I did.
I might have eaten out but I don't remember where.

Next post, I'll talk about what happened on Saturday April 19th.
That was a fun day.