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rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

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I was promised a recession.

Nikki Haley, who can’t acknowledge ‘slavery’, is a pathetic shill.

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You are here: Home / Balloon Juice / Meetups and social events / Further Proof of Life: LA-Area Meet-Up Pics

Further Proof of Life: LA-Area Meet-Up Pics

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Thanks to dependably ace photographer BillinGlendale – no names, just art…

We had a small gathering to welcome lamh to LA with a bit of (neon)art and music.

(My personal cheat sheet: LAMH is wearing a blue jacket; Ruckus refers to himself as ‘an older white guy with a full beard’; Mnemosyne said she’d be on crutches. Anyone else want to self-identify?)
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Reader Interactions

90Comments

  2. 2.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    My apologies AL for not providing ID, I had a photoshoot before the meetup and I spent most of last night processing pics. I was also late, but I think you’ve ID’ed most everyone. Not pictured, except for a bit of his hair and glasses at the right is Fair Economist. I’ll let the other’s chime for the rest. I had a wonderful time, but it did get a bit loud once the band started playing. The last photo was taken with my cellphone, the rest with my NX500.

  6. 6.

    Yutsano

    I can always spot Mnemosyne because she looks a lot like an old friend of mine from college.

    Incidentally she was the bride to be in my wild turkey story.

  9. 9.

    Fair Economist

    Only one eye of mine made it into the pics? OK, OK, I’ll wear better-looking clothes next meetup.

    The band, Vignes Rooftop Revival, was very entertaining. They call themselves “gypsy jazz” and play a mix of older jazz styles and gypsy-influenced music from roughly similar period popular music.

  11. 11.

    MisterForkbeard

    Looks like an excellent group of people. Perhaps not quite as excellent as the SF group, but that’s a pretty high bar. :)

    But it seems like you guys had an excellent time. I was really hoping some of the resident trolls would show up at ours, but no luck.

  13. 13.

    debbie

    Mnemosyne trying to hide behind her crutches reminds me of my brother standing behind a rail fence and assuming that if he couldn’t see my mother calling to him to come in for dinner, she couldn’t see him. She despaired.

  14. 14.

    PhoenixRising

    Y’all look exactly like I expected from your comments.

    We should do one of these in New Mexico. I’ll have something come up that prevents me from attending at the last moment, but you’ll enjoy yourselves.

  15. 15.

    Steve in the ATL

    We had a bigger turnout in SF but they had the green balloons in LA. Sounds like a push.

  16. 16.

    Steve in the ATL

    @MisterForkbeard:

    I was really hoping some of the resident trolls would show up at ours, but no luck.

    Forkbeard was hoping a troll would show up and send pie over to our table. I believe that qualifies him as a “wag”.

    That would be a great move, though. Amaranthine RBG, are you reading this?

  18. 18.

    joel hanes

    First new post in three weeks went up a couple days ago at Sadly, No!

    Stop by and encourage them.

  25. 25.

    seaboogie

    I admire you folks who make an effort, go out, and do stuff like meeting other people. I am not one of those folks, but I admire how you show up and provide “proof of life”. Thank you!

  27. 27.

    tobie

    It looks like a great time was had by all in LA and SF last night. I did notice that SF Jackals were wearing sweaters, whereas LA Jackals were in t-shirts, so that’s one point in favor of tinseltown, but I don’t want to start a flame throwing war between northern and southern California. Both seem idyllic from my vantage point in the cold northeast.

  29. 29.

    Steve in the ATL

    @tobie: was almost 70 degrees in SF, but we didn’t want to intimidate other diners with our chiseled physiques.

  30. 30.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Major Major Major Major: I was kind of hoping for ARBG. That would have been kind of epic, especially if I had to resist the urge to pour a beer in their face. But it would take some major confidence for ARBG to show their face, likewise Bailey or some of the other trolls. :)

  33. 33.

    Fair Economist

    @MisterForkbeard:

    But it would take some major confidence for ARBG to show their face, likewise Bailey or some of the other trolls. :)

    Probably international air fare as well.

  34. 34.

    Mary G

    Looking good, Angelenos. Great pictures as usual , Bill. Grand Central Market had a major makeover since I was last there.

  36. 36.

    Fair Economist

    @tobie: LA has set some heat records recently. It was 90 yesterday, which isn’t normal at all for winter, not even here. Or more precisely, it didn’t use to be normal here – we have not had a normal winter 7 years running now.

    But remember, global warming is a hoax!

  37. 37.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @seaboogie: No, I’m not going to the Observatory. I’m going to try to do a timelapse from my yard.

    ETA: Weather permitting(and my ability to operate the skytracker’s moon setting), it’s warm but cloudy here right now.

  41. 41.

    Something fabulous

    I will out self as mostly lurker Something Fabulous (placeholder nym I never replaced!) sitting at table head. So excited to break out the consistently wrong hoodie for ID! So nice to meet Lamh, and hope she got into will & grace today! Safe travels home. Great to meet & re-meet the rest of y’all & finally make it to central market besides. Thanks!

  42. 42.

    Steve in the ATL

    @seaboogie: you’d be fine. It’s a safe space. Many jackals prefer online interaction to the real world, but there’s no pressure or judgment at these meetings. Everyone is cool, everyone is friendly. Except Mnems, but you know how those stuck up Hollywood types are.

    Seriously, go if there’s one in your area. You will be glad you did.

  43. 43.

    trollhattan

    @Fair Economist:
    90 in January is wrong in more ways than are countable. Jerry mentioned in his SOTS address how many days have been added to the official fire season but I’m not sure how you can have a number above 365. With our puny snowpack it may be back to the drought–call it year 7.

  49. 49.

    Mnemosyne

    @debbie:

    I really hate having my picture taken. A lot. I’m pretty much the opposite of photogenic — I look fine IRL but my face photographs oddly. It doesn’t help that I don’t wear makeup.

    @Mary G:

    It was NOT very accessible, so don’t feel too bad that you couldn’t get out to see us. I was going up and down stairs with my crutches. And what’s with these places having unexpected live music show up, anyway?

  52. 52.

    Fair Economist

    @trollhattan: The drought is back already, and it’s worse in Socal than further north (where it’s bad). Los Angeles has had 3% of normal rainfall (yes, 3%, as in one-thirtieth), and we’re halfway through the rainy season with no rain in the forecast.

    The one good thing about this is that we’ll have clear skies for the supermoon eclipse Wednesday morning, which is also pretty unusual.

  57. 57.

    Mike J

    @Steve in the ATL: UCT[1] once said he was going to come to one of the Seattle meetups. I wonder if he did?

    [1] After he was banned, if you used his full nym in a comment it would vanish. Which was pretty neat.

  61. 61.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Major Major Major Major: Then I’m proud of him that he showed up, and sad that he couldn’t admit who he was.

    But I would feel awful assuming a lurker was ARGB. I don’t really have an analogy for how awful a moral act that would be, but it’s pretty bad.

  62. 62.

    Mnemosyne

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    Yeah, best not to frighten the jackals with it.

    @Yutsano:

    I used to have a straight-up doppelgänger who banked at the same branch I did. The tellers mistook me for her one time and were a little weirded out that we looked so much alike but were total strangers to each other.

    She apparently became a lawyer because around the same time someone else asked me if I was a former law clerk of theirs.

  63. 63.

    efgoldman

    @Steve in the ATL:

    Amaranthine RBG, are you reading this?

    Generally, keyboard kommando trolls are cowards, and afraid of personal confrontation. They don’t do conflict for a living, like you do.

  69. 69.

    Anne Laurie

    @joel hanes: IIRC, it was at Sadly, No where I first discovered Balloon Juice… (First Vanity Fair’s Wolcott blog, thence Lance Mannion, thence TBogg, thence S,N!) But I can only contribute this much content to one blog at a time!

  72. 72.

    Ruckus

    @Mary G:
    I think the last time I was in there was during the Eisenhower administration. But I don’t remember other than being told it happened. OK I did march by a week ago.

  74. 74.

    Mnemosyne

    @Anne Laurie:

    If you’re truly dying to know what I look like, I’ll send you one of my Disneyworld photos, where at least I was wearing lipstick and tinted moisturizer.

    Mostly I look like a boring middle-aged woman with glasses who would never call someone a motherfucker online.

  76. 76.

    Mnemosyne

    @Ruckus:

    That’s what I like to think, yes. ?

    I do take truly awful photos, though. I somehow always get caught in the middle of a weird facial contortion while I’m talking.

  82. 82.

    opiejeanne

    @Fair Economist: I’ll bring a pie to the next meet-up I attend, if that’s allowed by management of whatever unfortunate establishment we visit, as long as it’s either in LA or Seattle where I have access to kitchens. If I show up in SF I’d have to buy a pie, and that’s not as good. .

  84. 84.

    debbie

    @Mnemosyne:

    Know you’re gone, but I’m exactly the same. I am better than you, however, at getting out of the frame very quickly. There are many photos with empty spaces where I’d just been.

  88. 88.

    opiejeanne

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Dumb question: I know things have changed a lot since we moved away from SoCal, but is the original Farmers Market still a thing? It looks like Grand Central Market is about a block away from it, or are they one and the same?.

  89. 89.

    Mnemosyne

    @opiejeanne:

    Your geography is off — the original Farmer’s Market is on Fairfax and 3rd. Grand Central is right downtown near Figueroa.

    They built a giant new mall next to the Farmer’s Market about 15 years ago, but it’s still going strong. G’s internship is in the same neighborhood.

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