My brother Noah came to visit this week and every day was an adventure.
On the day Noah got into town, my other brother Seth's car was stolen in the night. Since I was at work, Noah had to rent a car (a whopping $400 for a week!) just to have a ride. My brother reported the car stolen and waited to see if it would turn up one day. On Monday we went to Universal Studios which was a lot of
fun. I always enjoying bringing people there when it's their first time. Afterwards we met up with my friends Jenni (who was in town) and Alicia and Jenni's friend Brad at The Cheesecake Factory. On Tuesday, we met up with Brad and Jenni for brunch at a diner in Sherman Oaks and then drove on Mulholland Dr to see the vista in the Hollywood Hills. It was a great view of the city and the Hollywood sign. There's a perfect spot out on a hill with a ginormous bench that you can sit on. That night I had to work and Seth and Noah went to a concert downtown. Wednesday we drove around Van Nuys, introducing Noah to some places around here and then I worked.
Thursday I got my co-worker to cover for me so I could go to the taping of two shows of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. As a side note, I think Craig Ferguson is the funniest man on television and by far the best late night talk show host... with Conan coming in second. It was an amazing feeling being in the studio in person when I'm so used to watching the show on my TV every night. The first thi
ng I noticed is that it's a very small studio. It only holds 116 people which is a huge drop from what the other talk show hosts have. Every other late night talk show has at least over 300. We were told that this is because Craig likes to feel like he is with family when he does his show and he likes the smaller environment. Anyway, after being "warmed up" by the pre-show guy Craig came on set and it was a surreal feeling. The first two things I noticed about him were that he seemed smaller and much older in person than on TV. Go figure. The first taping was a little "meh". There wasn't a lot of energy from the audience and the guests were Betty White and Kristen Bell. Kristen Bell by the way seemed a little too thing and her face was more "alien-y" than I remember. The second taping was much more fun. At the top of the show, I pointed to him with both hands and he pointed back to me as the show opened and he used it on the camera which was a very cool feeling knowing that I instigated it. Christina Applegate, Britanny Snow, and Jackie Chan were on the second taping and by far Jackie Chan was the coolest to see. We all gave him a standing ovation and he seemed very humbled and genuine during the taping. Overall, he seems like a very cool guy. At the end of the two shows, I was kind of light headed from all the laughing because they really stress that we are "show enhancers" and that we need to laugh and clap as much as possible to highlight the show. It was as great experience and I'm really glad I was able to do it.
On Friday, we decided to go the beach, and after debating which of the eleventy-billion beaches in Southern California to go to, we decided on Malibu beach. It was a little out of the way but had a great scenic drive to it, and the beach itself turned out to be beautiful. Once there, we immediately noticed that the ocea
n was only about 60 degrees which kind of sucked because we wanted to go in the water more. Since it was that cold, we wouldn't really swim in it. Instead we layed out on the beach for hours , relaxed, played some catch, and after being thoroughly tanned/burnt we took off. The Dodgers happened to be in town, so Noah was kind enough to get us tickets for the game. I absolutely LOVE baseball and I feel like a little kid everytime I'm in a ballpark. Dodger Stadium was no exception and it was great to be in a ballpark again. Unfortunately, it felt different being in a ballpark in LA opposed to other ballparks around the U.S. Everyone in the park seemed less interested in the game and more interested in other things like talking, hitting beach balls around, arguing with eachother, etc. Who knows, I guess that's Los Angeles for ya. The game was fairly entertaining from a fan't perspective. It was close all game until the Padres pulled ahead at the end and ended up winning by a couple of runs.
On Saturday I had to work at Universal and half way through my shift I was told to report to "Charles". Basically, he is one of the head guys and when you're sent there it's the equivalent to being sent to the principal's office and you know you're in trouble. All in all, it felt very juvenile and I had no idea why I was going to see him. Once I was there, he tells me to sit down in a very authoritative and mean tone. Also in the room is a Union Representative who is monitoring the meeting. Charles goes on to tell me that I'm being given 7 disciplining points for failing to log out on my computer 2 months ago and that someone else used the computer under my name. After him telling me this, I immediately tell him that it is false and what really happened. He basically gets furious with me and that I'm wrong and that what I'm saying is "impossible!". Me being the person I am, wasn't willing to back down and I told him I wasn't going to be given points for something I didn't do. In our department when you're give 15 points your fired and they were giving me 7 alone for what "suppposedly" happened. After 30 minutes of heated debate, he tells me that I need to sign saying that we had the meeting and that if I wanted to fight it I would have to contact my Union Representative and then another woman who if she believes that my story has enough weight to it, she will submit it and I will have to "fight" my own case to get the points removed. In the end, I was furious for what happened and I told him I'm not going to be given points for something I didn't do.
That night we stayed in, relaxed, and watched a movie.
Sunday I worked again, and as fate would have it, my drawer was over $20 at the end of my shift and I'm going to be given more "points". But I have a hard time agreeing that I should be given 3 points for being over $20 especially when I made over $14,000 alone that day. Whatever. Can you tell I'm bitter? Later that day, Seth got a call saying that the Police found his car and when the guy crashed it when they were trying to pull it over. Seth proceeded to pick the car up and there was a bunch of damage to the front and side passenger door. At least he got his car back...
On Monday, we saw Noah off and it was sad to see him go. I can tell he enjoyed a break from his job back home, and for us it was really nice to have a friendly face around especially when we're so busy working and don't have much of a social life out here. In other news, I finally bought a mattress to sleep on. My back was hurting too much and I knew I couldn't wait any longer. So, I took advice from a co-worker of mine and bought a rebuild one from a small hispanic furniture store. It definitely feels great to sleep in a real bed.
Imagine that.
Oh, and the Sprint commercial I was an extra in has just aired on TV. It's exciting seeing the finsihed product: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO6DORwBzuA
Movie Reviews of the Day:
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang - 4.5 stars
The Matador - 4 stars
For Your Consideration - 4 stars
t 2-3 months. Once that time comes, I will probably get my headshots done with one of my friends who just started up her own photography business, KLiK Photography: http://klikphotography.com/homephotography.com/homephotography.com/home
