Jennifer and Matthew and Malibu and Santa Monica and The Nightmare Before Christmas!

I don't tend to do too much sightseeing when I travel (especially in congested areas). Being at the gym (workin' on my fitness ) at 5 am tends to make me tired after work. But on Halloween I decided it was time to see Santa Monica. OK, OK, I was told that one of the biggest Banana Republic stores was in Santa Monica. Whatever, I was off. To get from Calabasas to Santa Monica means driving through a canyon which is a very pretty drive. Kind of like home but with more vegetation. I had never been to Malibu (a city along the way) and was surprised at how small it was. The houses reminded me of home also, with the majority of houses having great views because of their placement on the hills.

When I saw the Malibu sign that stated there were 13,000 residents, I was very excited and hoped to see Jennifer Aniston. OK I'm not that gullible but I can dream. I didn't see her but I did see Matthew McConahay walking along the beach talking on his cell phone.

Santa Monica itself is very pretty although you pretty much have to park in a public garage as all the spaces I could find were 15 minutes only. The BR store was 2 floors, very huge, very nice but I have never seen such snotty staff in a BR store before. Blech. I then trotted over to the Third Street Promenade, a blocks long outdoor mall. With an Apple Store! And four movie theatres in four blocks! And many, many sushi restaurants. I will definitely go back before I leave.

I was getting money from an ATM and this woman walked up and asked what the service fee was to use the ATM. Well I ddin't know so I said "I don't know." She asked me again and I repeated my answer. She said, "You don't see it on there?" And I didn't, I hadn't gotten to the screen yet and said, "No." So she swore at me and walked off. My polite self informed her (in a very loud voice) that I wasn't her slave and she wheeled back and said "I just wanted you to be neighborly." Well I would have loved to but even by this point I hadn't gotten to the screen that tells you the fee. I wanted to put on my best retarded voice and say "I DON'T KNOW!" Instead I just said "I don't know" and she stormed off. As soon as she did the service fee came up. $2.00. Just like I figured.

Then I came to one of the theatres that was playing The Nightmare Before Christmas in 3D. Well it was Halloween so what choice did I have? For some reason I confused 3D with IMAX so I sat in the back row so I wouldn't get a headache. It was a lot of fun, no one under 25 I would say.

Driving back I took another way, Topanga Canyon. It's evidently very steep with deep drop offs and a lot of people won't drive it. The dark made it easy for me but it is windey! Like almost making you nauseous windey.

A great Halloween.