This was the only weekend we both were free since Alicia’s birthday nearly two months ago, so I went up to Murrieta to visit the bestie. Her kid planned the itinerary, so we went blueberry picking at Temecula Berry Co and ate sandwiches at Great Harvest Bread Co.

At night, Alicia and I watched Micheal at Temeku Cinemas, a luxury movie theater that reminded me of Angelika by my sister’s old apartment in Carmel Mountain.

Sidenote: When Michael Jackson suddenly died in 2009, I was working as a graphic designer for a jewelry company in Mission Gorge. It wasn’t a customer-facing job, so I never had any calls. I don’t even think I had a phone at my desk. I was plugging away at an email that day, when someone told me I had a phone call. There was another employee named ‘Mary Un’ (full name) in customer service, and people would always mistakenly think people were calling for me (Marion) when it was always for her. ‘No one calls me here, guys. It’s probably for Mary.’ They were like, ‘Nah, they asked for Marion Choa.’ So I pick up the phone and it was Alicia hysterical on the line telling me MJ had just died! At first, I was like, ‘WHAT?!?’ then after I calmed the fuck down, I was like, ‘How did you get this number?’ LOL. She had never called me at work before. I DVR’d hours of footage on TV after his untimely death, but that was several cable boxes ago.

All that to say, we were huge MJ fans and were absolutely crushed when he died.

There was this mini series back in the day on VH1 about Michael and The Jackson 5 that left me wonderstruck as a 10-year-old kid. Angela Bassett played his mom, and I still quote her flawless performance to this day (I don’t want you, I don’t want you, I don’t want you no more LMAO IYKYK). When they dropped the trailer for the new Michael, I was like, ‘Ain’t no way this is better than the VH1 series’ and had no desire to see it.

But, we were celebrating Alicia’s birthday, and what the birthday girl wants, the birthday girl gets. And the birthday girl wanted to watch Michael for the THIRD time (my first). IDK if it was Jermaine Jackson’s son’s portrayal of Michael or the micheladas, but your girl got emotional 🥹

After the movie, we went back to her house and I was getting my stuff together to drive home around 11pm. Did I have everything? My hand-picked blueberries? ✔️ Cinnamon Burst bread from Great Harvest Bread Co? ✔️ Leftover Milk Duds from the theater? ✔️

‘Do you have your keys?’ I checked my clear crossbody (that I’ve used since I went to a ballgame last season and haven’t changed back to my regular purse 😅). It wasn’t in there, or inside any of their cars we took to the blueberry field or movies. I have an AirTag on my keys, so I opened the Find My app on my phone and pulled up the location of AirTag.

Actual footage of me seeing that I left my keys in the blueberry field:

They were closed till the next morning, so I had no choice but to sleep over! We woke up at an unholy hour and went to the blueberry field. Before he handed over my keys, the guy at the farm stand was like, ‘Describe the picture in the Rocky keychain.’

‘Umm, he’s a yorkie… and the goodest boi ever?’

Keys secured, we caffeinated at Better Buzz and stopped by Bruegger’s Bagels for breakfast. There was a line almost out the door, but living in LA, I’ve gotten used to waiting in line for food – It doesn’t turn me into a monster, no matter how hangry I am. We were just standing in line, minding our own business, when this Karen ass lady starts yelling at the cashier. ’35 minutes I’ve waited in line for a plain bagel with no cream cheese!’ Then as she’s leaving the resto, she’s huffing and puffing and addresses the line like we give a shit, ‘They’re working on a $600 catering order and that’s why this line is taking so long!’ We were all looking at each other like, ‘Is this lady forreal?’ A plain ass bagel with no schmear. Like, we are literally next to a Sprouts, you could’ve just went there and got a plain bagel, but instead you waited in this 35-minute line so you could complain about waiting for 35 minutes. This woman in front of me was like, ‘That was wild. I’m gonna be thinking about that crazy lady for the rest of my day!’ 😆

Anyway, my East Coast Pastrami Egg & Swiss was *chef’s kiss* and well worth the wait!