an interesting road trip

i am a cheap ass when it comes to the majority of things. we all know that. heh.

so when i went to place an online order for jewelry display supplies for you-know-what, i was pretty stoked to find that the company i was ordering from is local. i'd been debating heading downtown to the jewelry district to pick up stuff there, but i hate driving out there during the week and didn't have time to wait for a free weekend to go.

after asking around, i found out that a lot of fellow stylists turn to nile displays for their supplies. when i saw that their area code was the same as mine, i did a happy dance and called in to make sure they allowed pick-ups from local customers. and, as luck would have it, they did - and even reminded me to order online for an 8% discount. sah-weet!

processing my order took them a little longer than i'd expected. to their credit, they had quoted me three to five business days, but i was hoping it wouldn't take quite that long. of course, it did - and i found myself driving out to city of industry to pick up my order yesterday afternoon. talk about cutting it close, huh?

it was pretty easy to find, although i did drive through some fairly...colorful areas to get there.

except that for some reason, every single driveway into the damn parking lot was blocked off. i couldn't find an entrance anywhere, yet there were lots of cars parked in there. what the eff.

but i'm a crafty mofo. i drove past it, found an alley to turn into, and despite my misgivings, swung in and drove cautiously through. it was a super ghetto area, and i was (too late) having second thoughts about picking up my freaking shit.

i managed to find my way to the right area and found a parking spot right in front. after listening to a temp agency's rep apologize her ass off to what looked like the office manager for sending her undocumented folks to work in their warehouse, i got my order and happily made my way back out onto the street.

when i got back to the main drag, i was super amused to see this:

i wasn't really surprised - i'd seen spearmint rhino referenced on my google map when i pulled up directions to nile display. by the way, i'm so not putting a link in here to their site (because god knows what could come of that), but if you don't know, google is your friend. so, come on. you KNOW i had to pull in and at least check it out from the safety of the pri-YES. and maybe snap a few pictures. [snickering]

i paused in front of the "gentlemen's club" to take this and then had to hightail it outta there quick, because the bouncer poked his head around and shot me the stink eye when he saw my camera. oops.

if you need to pick up some discounted clear stripper heels, nipple tassels, crotchless underwear, etc. - i can totally hook you up now.

a few years ago, when i was job-hunting, i came across an ad for an executive assistant position, offering a pretty darn good salary, full benefits, and flexible schedule. when i called the number, i was startled to find that it was for spearmint rhino's corporate office. ha! i actually did consider applying, but the hub side-eyed me and said "yeah, and how would you explain your employment to people? like, my parents (you know they're quite conservative and religious), for instance?" this was not long before we got engaged, but i was already in that mindset. not wanting to upset the balance, i passed and kept looking. but can you imagine the interesting shit i'd likely have been dealing with on a daily basis?

anyway, i ended up having to drive behind rhino plaza to get back out to the traffic light and found this shady ass looking entrance into the superstore. i tried not to think of how gross that door handle must be. ewwww.

oh, and i must give props to wells fargo - pretty genius to station one of their ATMs right outside the store, which is next door to the club. as someone tweeted to me (because of course i was sharing this live), i wondered if it dispenses $1s.

i got the hell outta dodge and, instead of heading back the way i'd come, i decided it would be easier to head north and find my way home via surface streets. and while it wasn't necessarily faster, it was a more entertaining route. i found myself smack dab in the middle of pinoyville - west covina has a high concentration of folks from the homeland. when i saw this sign, i knew i was amongst my peeps.

since i hadn't had lunch yet, i decided to be adventurous and try something different. well, not really different, since i've had the food of my people tons of times. but this was the first time i'd actually seen a jollibee - the only fast-food chain i know that's based in the philippines.

i pulled into the drive-through and studied the menu. spaghetti? burgers? fried chicken? huh. so much for a taste of the homeland. there was palabok and lumpia and what looked like boba drinks, but none of it sounded good. i went into reverse mode and took off.

on my way back out to the street, i smiled at the signs written in tagalog at the market.

i considered stopping here to find something good to eat, but didn't.

on the sign for the next plaza, i was a little surprised to find that there's a ruby tuesday here. i'd seen lots of commercials for it, but had never seen one around before. but it's just another chain - nothing special. i don't even know why i bothered to take a picture of it. but i did, so here you go.

and after all that, i ended up hitting up the arby's drive-thru for a roast beef sandwich. ha! so much for being adventurous.