DISCLAIMER
This is a post from nearly a year ago. I never published it due to some major personal relationship issues that happened around the same time. I made some edits for privacy, to fix typos, and to add some side-notes, and decided to finally publish it. As painful as some of these memories became in hindsight, this still was one of the best trips of my life, and I shouldn’t let the bad get in the good’s way.
Recently, I went on my first non-school related trip without any form of supervision! To many readers, you may be thinking, Wow, why am I reading the blog of a f***ing baby, to which I say…. you’re right. The trip was busy and fun though! Because it was long, I won’t go in to too much detail for each day’s activities.
Some major details and background information before we get started: I joined the United States Ocarina Ensemble, led by David Ramos (also known as docjazz4 on YouTube), and we had rehearsals and a lot of street performing during the con. Without further ado, here goes a summary of my 10 day trip to Los Angeles!
Day 1 – The Drive
I woke up super early, grabbed my things, then went to pick up my ex. There were a few delays, but we were on the road before 8. We drove Highway 101 down, which as many Californians know, is the longer way to go between the Bay Area and SoCal. However, it is scenic, has a lot of towns along the way, and has much nicer weather than Highway 5, the fast, boring, hot way. my ex slept most of the way, but we stopped in Goleta for In-n-out burgers around noon, then finished the drive to LA.
Then the traffic began. LA is notorious for its traffic, and due to several lane closures on the highway we were on, it took us over 2 hours to go about 25 miles from Hollywood to my family in Orange County, but we got there, ate dinner with them, and set ourselves up in the basement. They have a cute dog with a nubby tail, which may have been my ex’s favorite part of the entire trip.
Day 2 – Meeting the People
The Ocarina Ensemble arrived from their various locations that afternoon, so we visited them in Long Beach at a Chipotle. It had been two years since I had seen David, and I had never met the others in person. Everyone was tired, but we had a good time. My ex and I went back to Orange County, had dinner with family, and grabbed boba from a place called BobaYa in Fullerton, which had great quality and low prices. If you enjoy boba and live around there, I highly recommend them! I played Pokemon GO with family, took my ex and my cousin out to a Mochi Gelato place called Mochilato (wow so creative), went to Barnes and Noble, and somehow ended up in the Manga section because my ex and my cousin are weebs. We then went back and slept.
Also traffic was awful, but at this point that’s a given, and we all hate it.
Day 3 – Traffic, Rehearsal, More Traffic, Sightseeing, and more Traffic
We went to Long Beach to rehearse music, which went really well and was a ton of fun. For lunch, we had a few members who had never eaten at In-n-out burger, so it was absolutely required that we go there. Finished with our burgers, we rehearsed a tiny bit more before going to North LA to see Griffith Observatory, which was featured as the Planetarium in La La Land. The drive to get there wasn’t great, and the parking situation was confusing, but the short time we spent up there was really fun! There were some great views too.
Afterward, the ensemble went to Burbank to go to a mixer for film students that one of David’s friends invited us to. It began with a presentation that would be riveting if you were in the industry, but incredibly boring to outsiders about lighting and some other things, which we all sat through to be polite, followed by a brief mixer with some food. We kept to ourselves mostly, but I think David did some networking, so hopefully it was worth the incredibly long drive to get there and boring presentation!
Next, my ex and I drove for a half hour back to Orange County, grabbed Korean food for dinner (I had bibimbap, she had tofu soup), then got more boba for ourselves and for my cousin to try for the first time. While it was a productive day with cool sightseeing, I think I spent 4-6 hours driving, which was NOT fun, especially because it was in… LA.
Day 4 – Parking Ticket and Moving to Downtown LA
We packed our things, filled the car, left my family’s house that they graciously let us stay in for free, then had morning rehearsal in Long Beach. I noticed the street the ensemble’s AirBNB was on had no parking from 8 AM-12 PM on that day of the week for street cleaning, so I pulled over to text them to move their car. However, they were all playing Ocarina, so they didn’t notice the texts. So, I quickly parked and went out to tell them, and as I was just telling them, parking enforcement stopped by. I quickly moved my car, thinking I evaded a ticket, but I got it in the mail after coming home. I am contesting that like crazy, since it seemed like punishment for doing the right thing by trying to clear the street. Life is life.
Side-note – I had to pay the ticket. I said my reasons, and they made me pay anyways. Thankfully it was only $50.
Venting aside, the rehearsal was extremely productive. We ate food in the room, then at the end, my ex and I drove to Downtown LA to check in to our AirBNB. We had to park about a quarter mile away, so moving all of our luggage through the piss-scented streets of Downtown was no easy feat. Shortly thereafter, some friends we were sharing the room with arrived and we helped them with their luggage. We looked around our surrounding area, grabbed Poke from OkiPoki, soft serve from the social media-famous Little Damage, then eventually got to sleep.
Day 5 – Killer Workout, Last Rehearsal, Group Bonding
My roommates Vince and Alex went to a nearby gym with me, and Vince got us in for free because the gym he works at is a sister location to the one we went to. Vince led us in the most intense bicep workout I’d ever done, so intense that I could barely lift my arms for the next couple days. I met my ex and her friends for Mexican food for lunch, who spent their timeat Day 0 of Anime Expo, then I split from her and went to the Songbird Ocarina Workshop for a tour and our final private rehearsal.
Songbird has been one of my favorite Ocarina companies for a while – I volunteered for them at Fanime 2016 – so visiting their workshop was a blast. Our final member, a busy LA musician also met us for the first time there, and he was super nice. During the rehearsal, David’s friend and large YouTuber Roxy (RoxyRocksTV) visited us and gushed at how happy she was to hear the songs we were playing as Ocarina Ensemble pieces. She too, was super nice.
After rehearsing, we all went to dinner near my AirBNB in Downtown LA at an indoor plaza with lots of food choices. It was great getting to know everyone in the ensemble better. I walked back to the room, stayed up a bit too late due to being in a room full of night owls, then slept. This was my last day of driving in LA traffic!!!!!!!!!
Day 6 – Day One at Anime Expo
We met in the morning, perhearsed (perform-rehearsed) some music, then played some easier busking songs that only had 1-3 ocarinas and had extra backup instruments. Our busking repertoire included songs from Zelda, Mario, some Anime, some pop tunes, and a lot of other types of things. Because everyone there could play another instrument, I was lead ocarinist on most songs, and hopefully I played well enough for people to throw money in! I visited the Songbird booth between perhearsing and busking, then picked up my convention badge afterward with two other ensemble members.
Side-note – Anime Expo was the most crowded convention, let alone single space I’d ever seen. The con had around 100,000 attendees in a large convention center, and it was absolutely insane how many people there were. Insane and overwhelming, but a great opportunity for busking tips 😉
My ex invited me to an expensive sushi restaurant for dinner, but my wallet said no. So, I had two dirty dogs (hot dogs wrapped in bacon, covered in grilled veggies and sauce) for dinner. They are delicious, and I have no idea where you can get them apart from just outside of major events sold by street vendors. If you have any leads, let me know!
I went over to the Staples Center’s plaza to wait for my ex to finish at the sushi restaurant, and I saw a really cool inflated Shenron from Dragonball. It was rad, and after waiting a while, we went back to the AirBNB for much needed rest.
Day 7 – More Music, fun Dinner
We went to the convention, met up, and played a whole lot of music for tips. We also did many run-throughs of our septet Ocarina pieces, which all went well. We had a great location for that, so we had a wonderful audience! The playing went fantastically, my ex and I shared a sushi burrito for lunch, and then the music resumed.
Side-note from 2018 – I also managed to fit in time to visit my friend Robert who was working at a booth in the Artist’s Alley. It was incredible how many friends from home I ran into at this con. The trip felt a lot less weird with that support system all around in addition to my friends and Ocabanda.
Side-side-note from 2018 – When I meet people now who went to Anime Expo, when I mention that I was in the Ocarina band that was playing outside, about 2/3 of people remember us! That publicity attempt definitely worked.
After all our music-ing, we grabbed dinner in Little Tokyo with people from the Songbird booth. It was really delicious, didn’t hurt my wallet, and there was great company. We finished up, and I met one of my roommates nearby to Uber back to the AirBNB. Loking back, that was the most millenial moment of my life thus far – Ubering back to the AirBNB.
Side note – I haven’t used Uber or AirBNB since Anime Expo (as of May 2018). I guess I’m not a real millennial.
Day 8 – Recording Videos
Today was the pinnacle – our rehearsal led up to our recordings. We dressed in matching clothes, found quiet spots, and did a few takes of most of our songs to make promotional videos for a Kickstarter project and other publicity. We deifnitely played all those recordings fairly well, so hopefully the recordings turned out! Next, we made the most of our matching clothes and performed our septet songs a few more times for our largest audiences yet, followed by a tiny bit more busking.
We finished early, so i looked around the convention center to see what I’d been missing, met with some of my ex’s friends, walked with them, then met with my after she went to a concert by the con. We went back to the room, and stayed up even later watching dumb videos and fighting the urge to get ice cream. It was good fun, but personalities were beginning to clash due to the extended time together in a confined space.
Side-note – The personality clash was at least half my fault. I was in charge of the AirBNB reservation, so I was a little too crazy about keeping it in good condition which led to me being a bit bossy. If any of my roommates are reading this, I apologize!
Day 9 – The Final Day
This one was hard. Friends who never met until a week ago became like family, and leaving was hard. Thankfully, we had until the afternoon. That morning, I used my share from busking to buy two more ocarinas, resisted making more purchases, then met with the group for our final busking session. We played our last set of busking songs, then people had to start going home. We made goodbyes, then split ways. It was really great spending time with that ensemble. I’ve always been passionate about ocarinas ever since I bought my first in middle school, but I never felt like I had much of a community to belong to for them until now.
Side-note – This was a fresh wound at the time of writing, but the final song we played was All Star by Smash Mouth. A Twitch streamer suggested it, and I knew the melody perfectly after playing it in…. middle school band. We had a perfect improvised run of the song, as we finished, one of our members, Steven, dropped his ocarina and it shattered on the ground. He and David managed to fix it, but the irony of smashing an ocarina to Smash Mouth was… a bit too perfect (and terrible).
After those bittersweet moments, I met with my ex and many of her friends to go to Little Tokyo for dinner and ice cream. I had bibimbap, which was good, and an over-the-top Korean soap opera was on the TV while we ate. It was fantastic in how overly-acted it was. The ice cream afterward was fantastic, and we walked around Little Tokyo a bit longer before returning to the AirBNB – intending to pack, but staying up late watching dumb videos again instead.
Day 10 – Going Home
We woke up fairly early, around 7:30 to pack and then get breakfast. There is a restaurant called Eggslut that has delicious… eggs. All AirBNB residents and some other friends met there. The food was great – I had a cheeseburger with an over-medium egg on it, and it was fantatsic. Vince and I grabbed cars while the others returned to the AirBNB, then we loaded the luggage – in front of the AirBNB this time.
Then we left.
I took Highway 5 to drive home, since we had a late start. We stopped for gas in Hollywood, then for McDonald’s in Coalinga, and only had a bit of traffic. And the 5 was so boring. We made great time though! We first dropped my ex off, finally giving each other much needed space after 10 days together. I dropped another friend off, then went home for dinner. We went out for sushi, and that ends the trip!
Side-note – Looking back, this was the tipping point for the relationship with my ex falling apart. While we are definitely better off without each other, I definitely made some mistakes after all the pent-up frustration that weren’t the right thing to do. Oh well, live and learn.
What’s Next for the Ensemble?
The United States Ocarina Ensemble will meet again! We plan on going to MAGfest in Maryland during January. As soon as we have our promotional videos done, I will share those as well!
This entire trip, due to split costs in the AirBNB, finding family help when possible, and being somewhat frugal was not too expensive. It definitely could have been cheaper if we went out less and bought fewer things, but the total cost to me was less than $650 for 10 days in LA. I’d say that’s pretty decent, as a longer-than-normal trip goes! If you have anywhere you want to go, see how cheaply you can make it happen, since you might just be able to afford it. If you’re a musician who can busk for tips, even better!
Andy Cormier 