Joshua Tree, not to be confused with JTT (Jonathan Taylor Thomas), love of my teenage years.

Ruben came to visit from SF on Friday evening. I think he tried to time it so he’d land before sundown, and we could cook Shabbat dinner together. I was of course running around town from meeting to meeting. I met with PE dude where I’ve been interviewing for a year. They kept dragging it out because they weren’t sure if they wanted to hire away from the operating group at Vista, and everyone had a different idea of what the operating partner profile should be. I guess traveling bum of a confused Korean chick wasn’t top on their list of priorities. Hm, I’m pretty sure woman wasn’t really top on their list of priorities, but I don’t want to assume. OK, I do lol. It was pretty obvious. Anyway, we sat in the courtyard and talked about PE, LA, and startups and agreed to try to go to some meetups in LA periodically together.

So…I was a jerk and running late. I ran to Von’s to get groceries, but I had to seriously use the bathroom that was out of commission and deal with interminable lines. This meant that I didn’t get all the ingredients necessary for dinner, and the choice in supermarket meant that the items were of far too low quality for a Parisian. I personally thought the sourdough was tasty, but I can see how a soft vinegary crust doesn’t appeal to the European palate.

His flight was late. I had rushed home with the bare essentials. When he arrived, we wanted to cook, but I didn’t have olive oil. So we played the guitar and drank wine and contemplated a trip to the store. We walked 15 minutes to a store that was even worse than Von’s and decided to eat bad bread and bad cheese for dinner. I think he may have been a bit upset about that, but I was loving the simplicity of the meal and the company and wine, personally.

The next day was LA / Los Feliz observation day, as we settled on the deck of a coffee shop called Go Get Em Tiger. Just phenomenal people watching. The egg biscuit Ruben ordered was pretty dope too.

Rubes and I argued about people in SF, LA, and NYC. Somehow, it felt like a competition, but I honestly just think it’s true that people in NYC are dressy and attractive. LA people are creative. SF people are generally homogenous and largely not stylish at all. I see it as more of an objective truth. We had many of these sorts of “discutations” (what do they call this in French? It sounds right, but I don’t know WTF that means) about meaningful work and other topics. I, of course, didn’t have much of a leg to stand on. However, I do believe everyone has a role to play in this world, and it’s not a hierarchy. Truck drivers play an important role, as do doctors. I used to wait tables, and I learned so much about how to be a decent human and how to treat people through that job.

The next night after sundown, we had a delicious amazing so yummy yum dinner at a Mediterranean restaurant called Bowery Bungalow. Then we drove east out to Joshua Tree, arriving closeish to midnight on a starless night. We finished watching the first episode of BlackMirror, which Ruben despised. I was scared, but I loved it. He thought it was a show designed for women (eh?).

The next morning, I ate 4 Nature’s Valley Oat & Honey granola bars for breakfast chased by some horrible coffee-like substance and followed up with some real Nitro Cold Brew in town. Then 30 miles we went towards the park.

We bouldered around in silence around the Hidden Valley, climbing higher and higher. The vegetation was magical, and climbers surrounded us. I probably haven’t seen so many climbers so visibly in one place before. A few more vistas reached by car and then we did the 6.6-mile Lost Horse Loop Trail passing the old gold mine in the process. I did a lot of thinking during those 2.5-ish hours. I wonder if I reached any conclusions. If I did, they were left there in the desert. By the time we were done, I think we were dehydrated, and it was time for Ruben to get to Burbank airport.

It started raining in the desert, and we immediately hit traffic. It was tense, but we arrived with just enough time to consider it a comfortable margin for check-in and take off.