Day 1
As I looked out the plane window, I learned that baseball is America's undisputed pastime. Hands down. My proof? There was a baseball diamond every inch and a half from the perspective of my window. I landed from my 5 hour flight (turned 3 hour due to the time zone change) at LAX just in time to experience rush hour traffic. It was bad, but nothing I hadn't experienced in Cincinnati or Orlando. The worst part of it was desperately trying to find a good radio station. I finally found KROQ and a smooth jazz station. I heard the song "Sex on Fire" by the Kings of Leon at least three times driving to my friend's apartment in Van Nuys. The song would become my unofficial anthem of the trip because I heard it every time I stepped into a car.
I arrived to my friend Carly's home. Carly is a friend of mine that moved to LA from Orlando. She and I both worked at the TV station in Orlando. Carly is a tiny punk girl, loaded with tattoos and smiles. She is very energetic and adventurous, which is what I needed to feed off of due to my jet lag. After some catching up at In N' Out Burger, we relaxed at her home. I had to get a good night's rest for my interview the next day.
Day 2
I got dressed up in a suit and tie. I looked good but I hate wearing that stuff. It makes me feel like I'm working for the mob. Carly drove me over to Paramount Studios for an interview with her former boss, a producer at the Dr. Phil Show. After some exploring, I sat down with the producer and she seemed to like my resume, my attitude, and well, me. She said that currently they can't hire anyone because the show was about to go on summer hiatus, but that there might be openings in other departments. If not, then there would probably be openings after the hiatus in late July/early August.
What I thought would be a twenty minute interview turned into five hours with a lunch break in between. The producer introduced me to two other producers, a field producer, and two videographers. I was bombarded with the same simple on surface, deep when you analyze them questions. My mouth was continually dry, my faced ached in order to keep a friendly expression, my feet hurt because I was running around in dress shoes, and neck felt like a geriatric woman was trying to choke me due to the tie. It was good and I made some solid contacts. I hope and pray that they can lead me to a new job.
After all that and observing a Dr. Phil taping (which ironically covered job searching), Carly and I went to the Hollywood Walk of Fame. I saw many stars' stars on the sidewalk, but after I saw Don Knotts' star, I needn't have bothered to look down at the ground any further. I stood outside Mann's Chinese Theater and looked at the footprints of various actors including Darth Vader, C-3PO, and R2D2. Spiderman was there taking photos for a few bucks. He had a fanny pack because Peter Parker didn't think to put pockets on his costume for his keys and cell phone. I also saw Zorro... if Zorro was obese and African-American.
We then went back to Carly's home and relaxed a bit. It was a productive day, but an exhausting one. The jet lag and constant stress of making a good impression took a lot out of me. Afterward, I met with some Carly's friends at their apartment to participate in their weekly "LOST" night. I don't watch that show, so the title was very appropriate for the occasion.
Day 3
I still hadn't fully recovered from the flight physically and mentally I was exhausted from doing essentially a five hour interview. I slept in and slept hard. I needed to relax and be on my "A" game. After putzing around for a while, I immediately sent emails and phone calls to my contacts, desperately trying to get them to contact a third party that might be in need of my services. Unfortunately, my contact's contact was out of town. Passover. I'm still trying to get in touch with them at the time of this writing.
I treated Carly to dinner and then we went over to her improv class. It was being held at a large house with a big open area. The class is run by group called Monkey Butler, who holds various improv and stand-up comedy classes throughout the area free of charge. There were about 30 people attending, much larger than I expected. We did some warm-up excersises and finally got to doing "freeze."
Freeze is a game in which we all stand in a circle while two performers act out a scene. When inspiration strikes, a person yells, "Freeze!" and the two performers lock themselves in whatever position they are currently in. The person who yelled out then has to tag one of the performers out, position themselves in the pose the person they tagged was in, and start a new scene from those poses. I had fun and I got some laughs from the group. When the instructor asked the class to return to their seats, he asked me in front of everyone if I had done improv before.
"Not really, no."
"You really have a natural ability."
The class stared at me. I appreciated the compliment, but I just sunk in my chair. I love getting laughs, but I usually am uncomfortable being the center of attention. Carly would later tell me that the instructor never had praised anyone in front of the whole class before. I felt good. Nervous and shy, but good.
When we were dismissed, a bunch of the students walked up to me and introduced themselves.
"What's your name again?"
"You're from Florida? I'm from Florida!"
"Did you just move here?"
"When are you moving here?"
"Looking for work? My buddy is head bouncer over at..."
"We need a few big guys at..."
"I can get you a waiting job at the Comedy Store and you'd get some stage time."
They were all very nice and for the first time in a long time, I felt welcomed into a community. At the end, there was a group prayer for those who wanted to join in. I did. The guy who teaches stand-up prayed that things worked out so I can move to the area. After the prayer, he told me to contact him and he'd be able to get me some stage time at some small but hot rooms.
The instructor told the class that there was a free improv "cage match" at a club on Hollywood Blvd. The instructor's improv troop was scheduled to face the winner the next week, so they wanted to scope out the competition. Carly and I attended the show.
An improv cage match is quite simple. Two improv troops each have twenty minutes of freestyle improv. After both groups have performed, the audience votes for their favorite of the two troops. Winners continues next week. Losers walks.
The champion troop was so creative, innovative, and worked fairly clean to the point that I forgot that their troop's name was Freedom Snatch. They obliterated the other improv troop. Not that the challengers weren't amusing, but they merely maimed the audience while Freedom Snatch killed. Freedom Snatch won yet again for the unprecedented 33rd week in a row.
After some further conversation and email exchanges with the Monkey Butler folk, we headed back to the apartment. I had to get up early, get suited up again, and drive to companies to cold call and toss my resume to whomever owned eyes.
Day 4
It was Good Friday, but not good Friday. In observance of Good Friday, I fast. This Good Friday was no different, except that I usually am not this active on Good Friday. Needless to say, I had a pounding "FEED ME!" headache that lasted all day.
After showering and getting my suit on, I drove around LA to various studios and production companies in the area. Some places accepted my resume, but I assumed they just threw it away when I left. Some places I just left it with a receptionist. Some places I was stopped cold at the security gate. Some places I would drive to and it'd be some apartment building or house. I didn't even bother with those. If they can't afford a proper office, then they probably can't afford any employees.
I got back in the early afternoon, meeting up with Carly. I decided to treat the two of us to a movie over at the famous Arclight theater. It was quite large. We went and saw Observe and Report, the Seth Rogen mall cop film. While it had some funny scenes and Rogen was playing a slightly different character than "I'm a stoner that needs to face up to my responsibility" type that he's been given, I'd say pass on it.
Carly and I then met up with a friend of hers (a potential boyfriend) for pool. Carly kept asking me for my input regarding him and his motives. The guy was just as small as Carly is and with me being a big guy, he tried to make a good impression on me. He was trying to win me over by buying me drinks. It got to a point in which I think his goal was win me over instead of Carly. It worked. I gave him a thumbs up for Carly.
We had a great time shooting pool because we all equally sucked at the game. One game took probably almost an hour. Mind you we are three people, each with only five balls we to sink in for the win. It was pathetic, but a good time was had.
It was getting close to midnight and my head was killing me from lack of food. Stomach, too. We found a late night pizza joint and I pigged out while the other two tossed back a few. We head over to Carly's to watch a movie. I was tired and I knew they wanted some alone time, so I graciously left to get some sleep.
Day 5
I woke up late and putzed for a few hours. Carly was at work so I had the apartment to myself. After downloading "Sex on Fire" on my laptop since it was in my head, I heard it everywhere on the radio, and I liked it, I drove out over to Griffith Park with some In N' Out burgers.
The park was large and busy. Kids running around, birthday parties, cookouts, frisbees, touch football, merry go rounds, hustlers selling bootleg DVD's, and couples lying out on blankets holding each other with their jackets draped over their faces to hide the obvious. I found a good spot under a tree to read, meditate, pray, and eat hamburgers. After a couple of meaningful phone calls, I lied underneath the trees and looked at the sky. It'd been too long since I've been to a park.
After I had my fill with nature, I drove back to Sherman Oaks and walked around the busy streets filled with various shops and restaurants. I did little window shopping and got a couple books for the flight home, but it was nice to have a little bit of nature atmosphere and city atmosphere within one day. The whole thing reminded me of living in Athens in which I could walk around the town into various shops and then spend some time reading on a bench in one of the many green spots.
My evening was rather low-key. Carly and I were invited to a party hosted by a tattoo artist. While I do enjoy a rowdy time, I was still in a state of calm and didn't wish to disrupt it. I told Carly to go to the party and I hung out alone with my thoughts.
Day 6
My Easter and final full day in LA was restful. I woke up, read scripture, and ate eggs and Eggos until I was about to burst. Later in the day, Carly took me over to Venice Beach where masses of people were walking along with boardwalk. There were numerous artists displaying their paintings, jewelry, sculptures, and various metalwork sculptures. Street performers juggled, walked on stilts, or jumped on glass with their bare feet. Vendors shilled t-shirts, overpriced pizza, hotdogs, and ice cream. Panhandlers roamed for streets begging not for money, but for pot.
After gazing upon the busy marketplace of art, commerce, and ideals, we walked on the beach past muscle beach. No beefcake today on account of the Easter holiday. Trudging along on the beach in our shoes, we passed many rollerbladers, bicyclists, hacky-sackers, and frisbee throwing free-spirits.
I approached the Pacific Ocean and placed my hand in the water. This was the first time I had ever seen it. The sun's light bounced off the sea onto my face. Numerous writers state that gazing upon ocean humbles you and makes you think that it goes on forever. I always found that statement to be cliche. It's cliche because it's true.
Afterward, we went back to Carly's apartment. While she went to a meeting, I relaxed. She and her boy interest came over for Chinese food and a viewing of Run, Lola, Run. We have all seen the movie before so there was much talking over it and laughter. I conked out early. I had to be up at 5 AM for the flight home.
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So that was trip to LA. I hope to be resident there fairly soon. With prayer, guidance, and the right people in my corner, it'll be a reality fairly shortly.
