I HEART LOS ANGELES
Happy Valentines Day, Hollywood!
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Monday, February 9, 2009
rainy day
~No word back from "Randy" (the party entertainment owner) about training. I'm not overwhelmingly disappointed, but I would like to have more silly stories to share.
~It rained and hailed this afternoon, and could have sworn I heard someone exclaim "What the hail?!"
~I am starting to really feel that annual Skagway itch. I miss my friends up there, and I am eager to get to work again.
~I thought the Grammy's were at the Kodak theatre, and was confused when there was no crowd last night. BUT I know the Oscars will be at the Kodak, and Oscar will so be there.
~I finished my pocketed scarf this morning, just in time for the Los Angeles winter weather.
~I discovered that Oscar sheds. This is something I haven't been aware of because he has only been allowed on the bed since Saturday. As if I wasn't already addicted to my lint roller.
~I realized (again) that eating Valentine's Day candy and Cheddar and Sour Cream Ruffles is not a balanced dinner.
~Even though it's a bit of a gloomy day in Hollywood, I am excited for new goals (more school?), new projects (a ruffled purse?), catching up with old friends (my college acting teacher is in town!), and as usual hanging out with Oscar and Mitch who remind me that my life is awesome.
~It rained and hailed this afternoon, and could have sworn I heard someone exclaim "What the hail?!"
~I am starting to really feel that annual Skagway itch. I miss my friends up there, and I am eager to get to work again.
~I thought the Grammy's were at the Kodak theatre, and was confused when there was no crowd last night. BUT I know the Oscars will be at the Kodak, and Oscar will so be there.
~I finished my pocketed scarf this morning, just in time for the Los Angeles winter weather.
~I discovered that Oscar sheds. This is something I haven't been aware of because he has only been allowed on the bed since Saturday. As if I wasn't already addicted to my lint roller.
~I realized (again) that eating Valentine's Day candy and Cheddar and Sour Cream Ruffles is not a balanced dinner.
~Even though it's a bit of a gloomy day in Hollywood, I am excited for new goals (more school?), new projects (a ruffled purse?), catching up with old friends (my college acting teacher is in town!), and as usual hanging out with Oscar and Mitch who remind me that my life is awesome.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Happy Birthday to My Favorite Sister-in-Law
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JEN!
Jen is my dearest and only sister-in-law. She is one of the kindest most thoughtful women I've ever known. From the moment she and Gravy started dating she fit into our family beautifully. She is an independent spirit, and constantly inspires me with her strong outlooks and passionate beliefs.
Happy big B-day, Jen! You RULE!
Sunday, February 1, 2009
i can do that
I'm unemployed. But you know that already. I get on Craigslist everyday, and send out resumes and cover letters. I usually send on average about three a day. I don't follow through on any of them, and just sort of hope for the best with most of them. If I do happen to land an interview, I usually fall short in enthusiasm, experience, or I believe I'm over-qualified. I was, however, very excited about one particular job I applied for, and I felt like I would be the perfect fit. I knew they would be crazy not to hire me.
The job was as a character entertainer to go to children's birthday parties and perform singing telegrams. Hello?! I can do that.
The application process was pretty easy. I just had to fit into some measurement requirements for the costume, be ok with wear mascot suits (I'm still not 100% sure on that one), and be willing to make a fool of myself. I felt fine with all three of those, and got a call from Randy, the owner of "Happy Kids Entertainment" just two days after I applied.
The first step in becoming an entertainer, is shadowing one of the characters at a local party, then audition, then train. My shadowing assignment was with "Batman" at a child's birthday party in South Valley Los Angeles.
I brought my roommate, Mitch, along because he is also unemployed and kind of a wacky dude. The party was about seven miles from my house, and located about one mile from the prestigious Wilshire Country Club. The neighborhood seemed saturated with Latinos, and I wondered if Batman was going to speak Spanish. We were instructed to wait just a couple of houses away, and when we saw Batman we just follow him in, stay close to him, and try to remain unnoticed.
Batman showed up. He came running down the street and we followed him into the most amazing backyard party. It seemed like such a modest house, but the back yard was covered by a tent, filled with tables, chairs, a band, and at least 50 people. Batman immediately focused in the kids and clowned around like a true professional. We played parachute games, he did some magic tricks and made balloon animals for each child. All the while Mitch and I observed quietly, and I knew I could totally do this job, and be good at it.
Although Mitch and I tried to be inconspicuous, this was a party thrown in the Hispanic culture. We were bombarded with offers of food, beer, and tequila. We kept turning them down, even though we were starving, but they did not let up. We finally agreed to some bottled water. The mother of the "birthday boy" made us promise we would eat as soon as Batman was done with the show. She made is seem like she would be very offended if we didn't take her up on her offer. Needless to say, we came back after Batman was out of sight and pigged out on delicious, greasy party food.
Batman's energy at the party was intoxicating. Watching his energy, and seeing him sweat because he was trying so hard to make this little boy's birthday party the best ever was thrilling. Entertaining and making a fool of oneself is my forte. I know I can do what he did. Mitch, on the other hand, thought the job looked like torture and hated the idea of working with kids.
I called Randy the next day to set up an audition. I drove 15 minutes north to Panorama City to a modest house. Randy brought me to his backyard, where he has a shed full of every possible character costume you can imagine. He pulled out the head of a dinosaur (yes, like the head of a dinosaur mascot suit) and he said, "Try this on and see how you feel."
I put on that dinosaur head, and couldn't see anything, unless I looked out just one of the one inch size eye holes. My first impulse was to yank the thing off my head and give up. It was hot and dark, and I was afraid I would really hurt myself because I was almost blind. Randy told me to shuffle, move slowly, feel my way around, and I would be fine. I thought - yeah right. But he told me to clown around a bit, so he could see if I had "what it takes." Ha!
I used my big girl voice, acted as much like a dinosaur, and flailed about. Randy smiled and said, "Wow, you have a loud voice." Two words- THANKS MOM! I wore the head in the afternoon sun to see if I could handle the heat, and I realized that it wasn't that bad. I told Randy that I am totally game, and really want to get started right away. He told me he wanted me to be sure, because most people like the idea of entertaining, but then quit because they discover that it is some of the most intense work they've ever done. But me? I am up for it, and I want to prove to Randy that I can be the best Cinderella/Clown/Spongebob Squarepants the greater Los Angeles area has ever seen. HA! I can't wait to train for the job, and hope that I get more gigs then I can handle before I head back up to Skagway.
Look out, Los Angeles, it's about to get real wacky up in here!!
The job was as a character entertainer to go to children's birthday parties and perform singing telegrams. Hello?! I can do that.
The application process was pretty easy. I just had to fit into some measurement requirements for the costume, be ok with wear mascot suits (I'm still not 100% sure on that one), and be willing to make a fool of myself. I felt fine with all three of those, and got a call from Randy, the owner of "Happy Kids Entertainment" just two days after I applied.
The first step in becoming an entertainer, is shadowing one of the characters at a local party, then audition, then train. My shadowing assignment was with "Batman" at a child's birthday party in South Valley Los Angeles.
I brought my roommate, Mitch, along because he is also unemployed and kind of a wacky dude. The party was about seven miles from my house, and located about one mile from the prestigious Wilshire Country Club. The neighborhood seemed saturated with Latinos, and I wondered if Batman was going to speak Spanish. We were instructed to wait just a couple of houses away, and when we saw Batman we just follow him in, stay close to him, and try to remain unnoticed.
Batman showed up. He came running down the street and we followed him into the most amazing backyard party. It seemed like such a modest house, but the back yard was covered by a tent, filled with tables, chairs, a band, and at least 50 people. Batman immediately focused in the kids and clowned around like a true professional. We played parachute games, he did some magic tricks and made balloon animals for each child. All the while Mitch and I observed quietly, and I knew I could totally do this job, and be good at it.
Although Mitch and I tried to be inconspicuous, this was a party thrown in the Hispanic culture. We were bombarded with offers of food, beer, and tequila. We kept turning them down, even though we were starving, but they did not let up. We finally agreed to some bottled water. The mother of the "birthday boy" made us promise we would eat as soon as Batman was done with the show. She made is seem like she would be very offended if we didn't take her up on her offer. Needless to say, we came back after Batman was out of sight and pigged out on delicious, greasy party food.
Batman's energy at the party was intoxicating. Watching his energy, and seeing him sweat because he was trying so hard to make this little boy's birthday party the best ever was thrilling. Entertaining and making a fool of oneself is my forte. I know I can do what he did. Mitch, on the other hand, thought the job looked like torture and hated the idea of working with kids.
I called Randy the next day to set up an audition. I drove 15 minutes north to Panorama City to a modest house. Randy brought me to his backyard, where he has a shed full of every possible character costume you can imagine. He pulled out the head of a dinosaur (yes, like the head of a dinosaur mascot suit) and he said, "Try this on and see how you feel."
I put on that dinosaur head, and couldn't see anything, unless I looked out just one of the one inch size eye holes. My first impulse was to yank the thing off my head and give up. It was hot and dark, and I was afraid I would really hurt myself because I was almost blind. Randy told me to shuffle, move slowly, feel my way around, and I would be fine. I thought - yeah right. But he told me to clown around a bit, so he could see if I had "what it takes." Ha!
I used my big girl voice, acted as much like a dinosaur, and flailed about. Randy smiled and said, "Wow, you have a loud voice." Two words- THANKS MOM! I wore the head in the afternoon sun to see if I could handle the heat, and I realized that it wasn't that bad. I told Randy that I am totally game, and really want to get started right away. He told me he wanted me to be sure, because most people like the idea of entertaining, but then quit because they discover that it is some of the most intense work they've ever done. But me? I am up for it, and I want to prove to Randy that I can be the best Cinderella/Clown/Spongebob Squarepants the greater Los Angeles area has ever seen. HA! I can't wait to train for the job, and hope that I get more gigs then I can handle before I head back up to Skagway.
Look out, Los Angeles, it's about to get real wacky up in here!!
Friday, January 30, 2009
knitspiration
I have been buzzing with some major knitting energy. It's probably because of my unemployment status and constant Hollywood stimulation. Since I am unemployed, I have committed to open my online store by April and cross everything off of my to-knit list. We will see how that goes, because knitting can begin to feel tedious when I knit the same thing over and over again, but I am up for the challenge. There will be a post very soon featuring my favorite creations . . . wait for it.
In the meantime, here are some of the latest greatest inspirations I have found in my online quest for the perfect wearable knits.
Photo courtesy of Urban Outfitters.
Photo courtesy of Marc Jacobs.
Photo courtesy of Urban Outfitters.
In the meantime, here are some of the latest greatest inspirations I have found in my online quest for the perfect wearable knits.
Marisa and Michelle in Skagway. Photo courtesy of Michelle Oaks.
Photo courtesy of Urban Outfitters.
Photo courtesy of Marc Jacobs.
Photo courtesy of Urban Outfitters.Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Saturday, January 24, 2009
m'buddies
Daniel at I at the perfect vintage party. This is after we gave in, and decided to play dress-up.
My good friend Mitch has come to stay with me for awhile. He is here to Hollywood it up, and I think he is going to love it here.
We have been going to a bunch of comedy shows, because I am taking a Musical Improv class at the Second City. You haven't seen improv until you been to Second City or Improv Olympics. This was a game show at IO, much like "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me." The guy in green is personifying "salmonella" and the girl is "Little Debbie." HILARIOUS. I got last place, though. I mean, I thought I would know all the answers, because I check my CNN.com daily. But I didn't know ANY pop culture questions. I live in Hollywood, but I have no idea what is going on with Britney!
Oscar got a perfect little haircut, and suddenly isn't so scruffy. I think he looks a bit like my family's dog, Buster.
I get to look at this face all day long, and could not have made a better choice. Oscar is the dream.
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