He was happy in this picture, just not so happy about getting his picture taken.
Joel lives in Echo Park. It is a cool, upcoming area near Echo Park Lake and the 101. It does have a small tent city but they are all over.
We then drove downtown and got to see Joel's work. His building is super cool, retro, upscale. The lobby and a library upstairs had old style red couches. The floors were those tiny octagon tiles and the walls were marble. Joel's work is actually in a loft with a full kitchen and bathroom. It had a sitting area and a long work table and huge windows. 
I met one of Joel's co- workers, Rae, as his boss and the other co worker were off .
They put the VR goggles on me to show me one thing they've been working on. It was an ocean and sky sequence with birds and fish and animals. The blue sky and sunset and ocean and fog were super cool. It zoomed down and soared up. I oo'd and aw'd. 
Joel took me up to the roof of his work and I was very impressed. It is a patio with fountains and about six seating areas with awesome furniture and then a pool deck with comfy furniture around it. There was even fake grass in an area for dogs. 
We walked a ways downtown to a food court that had all kinds of food, mostly ethnic. Joel and I got wood fired pizza. Joel, mike, Rae and I sat outside and ate lunch. 
After lunch we went to the grocery store then back to Joel's apartment and took a nap. Then we walked up a huge hill and two blocks more to echo park lake. We found a grassy place to sit and laid down and looked up into a weeping willow tree. We relaxed and talked with a duck napping nearby and a turtle checking in on us several times. 
We changed clothes at the apartment and drive into the next neighborhood and ate dinner at Umami burger. I had truffle cheese fries.
We drive further into Hollywood and went to a friend of Jc's house for a birthday party. I had such a great time. These are Jc's friends from church and some friends that Kristin knows from dance everyone there was beautiful, literally, models and dancers. But they were also very nice and fun to talk to. Jon was there with some people from home and I made friends with a gal who wants to be a social worker. We drank and played beer pong, but not with beer. 
Woke up early this morning and had my quiet time in Joel's room while a Kansas thunderstorm boomed outside. We eventually went to a yummy breakfast with mike then made arrangements to take me to the airport.
I had such a great visit with Joel. It was short but very worth it bi am determined not to feel sad as Joel is hoping to come home to visit in September.
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