today we had a farewell party for michelle

our cheif engineer, the brains behind chopper one and several other of the magical machines and devices at the xbi.

michelle is the heart of the company. a devout partier and deadhead, she is the polar opposite of what you’d expect from a mechanical engineer.

her desk is a mess, her bob marley tapestry hangs proudly above her cubicle, and her groovy jams blaring from her speakers.

michelle loves ice cold coke. medium cold coke will not do. therefore dozens of half drunk plastic one liters litter her desk. as do dollar bills, trick staplers that electocute you upon touch, pennies, and a slinky.

shes not leaving the xbi entirely, just our department.

she is moving to the equipment room where she will fiddle with future machines and inventions.

so to celebrate we had a pot luck.

danielle was late to her flower stand this morn, which is bad news for a friday. but she too loves michelle, as we all do, so she picked me up out back in her newly fixed mercedes and we sped to the kfc, as a bucket of chicken was to be my contribution.

every excursion with danielle becomes a photo shoot, and we did get a few good pics in.

when we returned, john woo broke out the turkey mac, someone brought pizzas, someone else brought sandwhiches. there was potato salad, fruit cups, corn dogs, corn, ice cream sandwhiches, home made deserts, pop for the kids, and of course plenty of booze.

crime had a free for all this afternoon as we toasted our favorite dreadlocked engineer and she toasted back wearing a pink boa.

life sometimes is very good.

you forget that during the parts when its very bad, which seems to be all the time at the xbi, but days like today put things into perspective.

a beautiful drunken loving perspective of too much food and so much joy.

bunny has been a blogging fool + 2cents + i aint scared to say it + no, i am not the rudepundit

this week in rock in la

tonight 7/30

mere mortals, spaceland

mini-kiss (pictured), avalon

alanis morissette, greek

suicide girls, knitting factory

dita, dragonfly

kd lang, hollywood bowl

tomorrow 7/31

black sabbath + judas priest + slayer + slipknot, hyundai pavilion

jessica simpson, pacific amphitheatre

kristin hersh, largo

al green, the greek

rick royale, lava lounge

mutual admiration society, roxy

sunday 8/1

heart + lisa loeb, greek

zz top, pacific amphitheare

amoebapalooza (20 bands playing 10 minutes each), king king

monday 8/2

eric clapton, hollywood bowl

the hives, henry fonda

elefant, el rey

abandoned pools, viper room

tuesday 8/3

i love you but i’ve chosen darkness, viper room

the hives, henry fonda

wednesday 8/4

the crickets, house of blues

papa roach, roxy

thursday 8/5

john frusciante, knitting factory

richie havens, santa monica pier (free)

doc searls + flagrant + muscle68