Abbi's L.A. Times

For me, this year represents both the most transitions and changes as well as the most amazing and enriching experiences I have ever had. From start to finish, I have faced hurdles and achieved more than I ever thought possible, even at the beginning of the year.

The first big event of 2011 was the new addition to our family--our English Golden named Trixie. She is a retired breeding dog that we got from the breeder. It was an amazing coincidence that I emailed Louise about puppies right at the time when she was trying to find Trixie a home. She's an amazing, cuddly dog, and we are so glad to have her in our family now. I actually was not there when Trixie actually moved into our apartment, but I did get a chance to meet her a few days before I left for London.

2011 also brought me the most enlightening study abroad experience I think I could have ever had. I learned to "cook" (using the term loosely) for myself, search for apartments, and live with basically a random bunch of other girls. Despite my homesickness at how stressful it was arriving in a foreign country with all my worldly belongings and being jet lagged as I searched for apartments, I quickly began to develop a sense of myself in London. The independence I gained simply through being forced to do even mundane daily tasks on my own was invaluable, which is saying a lot because I've always felt as though I am an independent person. Pretty soon after getting to London, my friends and I decided to branch out and visit other countries as well. Here again there were learning experiences and stressful situations, but I also learned an incredible amount about the cultures of the world. I wouldn't change my study abroad experience for the anything. In London, I saw about 11 plays, went to basically ever museum London had to offer, saw the Crown Jewels, attended the Royal Wedding, took walks with Bill around the city, drank TONS of tea, and interned at a content-provider for the BBC. But aside from the sights in London, I took 4 trips to with school (Bath, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Stratford) and went to Dublin, the Scottish Highlands, Rome, Florence, Venice, Paris, and Versaille with friends. I did everything and went everywhere I had hoped to go at the start of the semester, and I'm so glad I did.

While I do consider London a second home now, I was still happy to return home to Boston for the summer. There though, I found my parents in less-than-full house searching mode. I knew they were looking, but they hadn't yet gotten anywhere. We expanded the search, and I actually picked the house we ended up moving into in my first house search with them. It's a lovely house, a little smaller in the bedrooms than we are used to, but still very nice. Actually, my bedroom is much bigger than what it was. I can actually fit a desk, bed, bedside table, and bureau in it at once! We have two living rooms, a dining room, two bathrooms, and three bedrooms, and it's just really nice to have a place of our own. The backyard and shed are great for Trixie. In the middle of the summer, as we planned the move, my dad decided to take me on a 5 day-long vacation to Disney and Universal Orlando to see Harry Potter World. I think he was jealous that he didn't get to visit me in London, and my mom did. It was great to be able to spend some time with my dad. We sure crammed a lot into the days that we were there. We saw all the Disney parks in 2 days, and then all of Universal on the third day! It was incredibly exhausting, but I'm so glad we both got to see it together. Even though I'm more hard core than my dad about going on roller coasters, he was a trooper for walking around everywhere with me. It was great reliving things at Disney that I only vaguely remembered, and I think my dad like watching me try to pull those memories out of my head. Also during the summer, my mom and I did our second triathlon and Ben graduated from his post-graduate year at Hebron Academy and enrolled at Merimac for the Fall 2011 school year. At the end of the summer was the move. We had to push it back a week because we weren't packed up quickly enough, so that meant we moved literally 2 days before I was on a plane headed for a semester at the Ithaca College LA campus. Not much time to enjoy the new house, but I'm glad I got to help pick it out.

Los Angeles was a completely different experience than London. It was a much simpler transition as I didn't have to find my own housing and the time difference was a little less dramatic. Also, while London, and the rest of Europe, is more educational and historical, LA is entertainment-based. Despite the fact that LA isn't necessarily that educational, they do have a lot of really cool sites. I think my favorites were the Hollywood Sign, the Getty Museum, and Griffith Park. The best part about living in LA was being able to relate with the people who want to do the same work as I do. There were so many networking opportunities that I felt the need to order business cards! I even met someone at a bus stop on one of my last days in LA and networked a bit. I got an internship with The Bold and the Beautiful, the most watched soap opera in the world, and it was an incredible experience. I was able to observe different departments, interview the staff, and learn about professional television production. Also, I was one of the few paid interns who was doing the ICLA program, and I was stunned when I found I even would be getting paid. The people were so friendly and willing to teach me, and I really felt like I contributed to the show. Along with interning at B&B, I had the opportunity to work a various events, including the American Music Awards, the AFI Film Festival, and the Creative Arts Emmys. I had never seen what goes into event planning before, and so these short-term internships allowed me to expand horizons as to job possibilities. It was also great to be relatively close to my cousin, Kate, who I rarely ever get to see because she's from Canada. I got to visit her in Arizona for Thanksgiving week, and she visited me for a week and came again to attend the AMA's with me and one of her friends as seatfillers. I've seen her more this year than I have in any other year. In driving back to Arizona with her, I found out that I can actually drive for a long time without it being too difficult, so that's cool. Arizona was beautiful, and Kate's husband, Steph, was nice enough to take me out to see some nature. I saw the real kind of cacti! I also turned 21 back in October, so I'm finally not restricted from anything anymore...except the typical illegal activities. The biggest news came half way through the semester when I found out that Ithaca College changed the curriculum for my major. I was already looking into going half-time during the Spring semester, but the changes they made meant that I was not required to take the one major class I was going to go back to IC to take. I did have to drop my history minor with one class left, but I was excited and nervous to find out I would be graduating a semester early on top of having been to both LA and London. What with school going on, I haven't have the time to really apply to that many jobs, but I think the game plan is to stay at home and save some money working at BSC while I try to find a job in whichever city will have me. It's a huge adjustment thinking about myself as a professional and not a student, and I actually can't believe how fast this semester, and college in general, went by.

To sum it all up:
I spent all of 2011 away from the main campus of Ithaca college. I basically attended three Ithaca Colleges as I went to our branch locations in both London and LA. I have been to 6 different countries, including the US, this year, and I have been to 5 different states, including the ones I was laid over in trying to get connecting flights. Also, I have taken a total of 17 planes just this year alone! My family got a new dog and a new house, meaning that I have moved three times this year. I am graduating early and trying to create a life for myself in the real world, which is the biggest transition of them all. I felt like all this change and news in my life warranted a nice long Christmas letter/blog post. Wish me luck in the real world!

Happy holidays!

On Friday, I worked with Danielle until 7pm, and when we got back, I helped her move her stuff to another apartment for safe keeping until she comes back in January (she's spending another semester in LA). After that, I went back to my apartment, cleaned my room, and cooked the rest of the food I had left in the house. I must say, I pretty good judgement on the amount of food I needed for these last two weeks. After that, I washed the dirty dishes and packed up all the stuff we had to take over the Pendleton center. A friend of mine, Tori, is coming next semester and is buying everything from Shelly and I. There was so much stuff! Danielle was nice enough to help run it all out to the car and then upstairs to the school. I turned in our final program evaluation forms and my Pendleton key. When I got back, I vacuumed living room and packed before heading over the South Clubhouse to turn in my apartment keys and check in for my flight the following morning. Last thing I did before bed was clean the kitchen. It was a LONG day, and I was really stressed out, which made it hard to sleep that night.

I had to get up at 5am to make sure I was ready for my 5:30am taxi. My flight left Burbank at 7:10am, so I wanted to make sure I was there early, and it's a good thing I was! One of my suitcases was 15 lbs overweight! There wasn't a lot of leeway with the other suitcase given that it was only 3 lbs underweight. I was shocked. I still have no idea where that weight came from, but in an amazing turn of events, I was able to take out and shuttle enough things around between my carry on and my other suitcase that I didn't have to pay a fee! I'm quite proud of myself for that. This is the first time I've ever flown with a "personal item" (backpack) and a carry on, so I was a little nervous, especially because I had to be really careful with my carry on the whole time because everything in it was breakable. My flight from Burbank to Dallas went smoothly--no delays or anything. Unfortunately, once I got to Dallas, I found out my flight back to Boston, which was supposed to leave at 1:10pm, was cancelled! They had to move me to a flight at 2:05pm to Chicago where I would then get a 5:40pm flight to Boston. This craziness made me 4 hours late coming home! So needless to say, it's been a really freaking long day! Best part is, my suitcases ended up on the direct flight from Dallas to Boston that was leaving at 5pm from Dallas and not getting in to Boston until 11pm, so they have to delivery me my suitcases tomorrow morning. Air travel is just great. Before going home, we stopped at my grandmother's house for some spaghetti. She was thrilled to see me, which is nice of her. Despite her forgetfulness, my grandmother is really sweet.

Since I got home, I've been unpacking and acclimating myself to our new family home. It's lovely, much less dismal than when I left it. But it also means that I've been unpacking my stuff from LA and organizing my new bedroom at the same time. It's been kind of stressful so far, but I can't wait to be home for the holidays and have a few days to relax!

Not only has this week been about finals and packing to go home, it's been about holiday events. It started off last week when I decided to take pictures of the Grove/Farmer's Market all decked out for Christmas. They are playing classic Christmas songs on the speakers and have special live performers and bands come each night. Also, there's a huge Santa gingerbread house all decked out with fake, massive candy. The (probably fake) Christmas tree at the Grove is gorgeous and gigantic. There are lights up on the palm trees, snowflakes dangling in the air, and special happy feet glaciers around as well. Lucky me, in my picture-taking venture, I got into the Grove as they started to blow shaved ice out as "snow." Nothing like shaved ice to get you in the mood for the holidays! Still, it's really pretty there, and it's even been a bit chilly this week, so maybe the weather does change here sometimes.

This weekend was the ICLA holiday party at the Steves' house on Mt. Olympus. It really was like being up in the clouds. They had an amazing view over the city. Their house was gorgeous, and the party was really fun. It's for alums as well as current ICLA students, so I got to see a lot of familiar faces of friends who graduated a few years ago. Just like at Cortacal, it's nice to be able to catch up with people. The food was amazing also, and who doesn't love a free, tasty dinner when you've been cooking for yourself for four months! The Steves were awesome and gave each apartment a present of study snacks for this week, which is finals week technically. I just took my open-note government and media final, and I'm sure it was fine. I also found out I got 100% on my huge government and media paper that I was worried about! Coming up later in the week, I have to turn in my final paper and do my final presentation for Senior Seminar. My topic is the portrayal of gender in Disney Animated Features.

On Sunday, Abby, Jill, and I went to use our second days at Universal Studios Hollywood for Grinchmas. I wanted to get some pictures of the park decorated for the holidays, so I thought it was a good time to go back. Grinchmas doesn't technically start until next weekend, which is annoying, but there were still decorations up, and it was nice to get out of the house for a few hours. We didn't stay too long, but Jill hadn't been yet, so we did a few of the most important things with her.

The last holiday event I have to tell is that B&B shot their "remote" (meaning next door from the CBS TVC building at the Grove) Christmas scenes. I was helping to escort extras to set from wardrobe, so it was a little crazy at first. As things got rolling, I was able to take some pictures of the crew and scenes. They did a bunch of different holiday activities in and around the Farmer's Market. It was really fun to watch, especially because we had a legitimate Santa! The child extras LOVED it! That man was Santa from the moment he arrived until he wasn't around the kids anymore. He was even telling me that he has a motorized sleigh at home. He was pretty fantastic.


It's so crazy that it is already my last week out here in LA. I still have the B&B intern night. The staff at the office are taking us out to dinner, which is really nice of them to do. I've enjoyed working with them so much, and I've loved it in LA in general as well. See everyone when I get home Saturday night!

On Friday, we all took a trip to Tucson to drive/hike Mt. Lemmon. Kate was still not feeling well, so she didn't do much hiking. We stopped in one location at the bottom of the mountain and the hiking there was pretty steep. That got old quickly, so we decided to drive up the mountain, stopping at vista points along the way to walk and climb on the rocks. It's amazing going from the base of the mountain where it is hot and dry with cacti all over to the top of the mountain where there are normal tree you might see at home and even snow! Kate and Stef informed me that a cactus only grows arms if it has been alive for 70 years or more. Stef and I took Supai all over the rocks at a really amazing vista point with rocks that jutted out from the mountain.

Yesterday was Cortacal! Back at IC, the big football game is played between Ithaca and our rivals, Cortland, and it's called Cortaca. So Because we're in LA, they add the extra L on the end and make it Cortacal. Pretty nice play on words there I'd say. Basically, we do the same things in LA as what the kids back in Ithaca are doing: get up really early to watch the game and drink. Except we have to do it even earlier here given the time difference. The game started at 9am, so people were drinking starting somewhere are 8am. Cortacal is usually held at a bar here called The Casting Office, but it closed, so we had it at Dillon's instead. It was really fun. They had a ton of TVs set up to stream the game and a highlights reel of old ICTV shows. We got a "Happy Cortacal" message from my adviser and the best man on the planet, Pete Johanns. Someone even made a video with a Cortacal theme song for this year! Sona had t-shirts made for the game that looked like the In-and-Out sign but said Cortacal instead. They are grey and really soft. I got a pear cider at the bar. It was awesome to have cider back in my life! I even convinced my boss at B&B, an IC alum to come. I'd been pressuring him into it all week, and he actually did! It was really awesome to see a ton of people I knew who now live out here. It was a really good community atmosphere. After the game, we were all exhausted from getting up so early, so we all went home and crashed for a few hours. It's really confusing to do this to your body because it felt like all of this occurred in the course of two days when it was really only one.

That night, Danielle, Siobhan, Sarah, Maddie, and I all went out to the local dive bar, Dimples. It was the first karaoke bar in the United States, so of course we wanted to check it out. A ton of celebrities have sung there over the years, but I'm not sure how popular it is now. Apparently, the IC kids used to go there all the time, but no so much this semester. I got a pina coolada finally! Siobhan, Danielle, and I decided to sing "Livin' on a Prayer," and the bar loved it. People were dancing and singing with us, so it was kind of funny. I was really nervous to do it beforehand, but it wasn't so bad. My first time ever singing karaoke. Newbies get a free picture and DVD, which is nice of them to do. We did have one celebrity citing that night though: Dennis Haskins, the principal from Saved by the Bell. He was a pretty awesome singer actually. It was a pretty cool night even though the bar was a bit sketchy in general.

Today, I had an RA event to go to the Rose Bowl Flea Market in Pasadena held on the second Sunday of every month. Although it's weird to charge a fee for entrance, we had a really great time. It's HUGE! They have a whole section of antiques and stuff on top of all the normal craft items. We spent a few hours looking around, got to go inside the Rose Bowl, and then went home. I'm glad we went. Seeing more things that are unique to LA. This was a pretty fun weekend. Now back to the grind for another week to get things done before Thanksgiving break!

Tonight, Danielle and I used our other voucher from volunteering at AFI to see Jeff, Who Lives at Home with Ed Helms and Jason Segel. It was a really funny movie about the relationship between brothers as well as living a lifestyle of just going with the flow, believing that "everything happens for a reason." It was a fantastic, and a lot of the conversations were improvised. There was a Q&A afterwards, and Ed talked about the difference between improvising for comedy and improvising for drama, which I found really interesting. So we got to see Ed and Jason in person and take a picture with Ed Helms, and I got Jason Segel's autograph! I love him in How I Met Your Mother and Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and I can't wait to see the new Muppet Movie. It was a great evening, and I'm glad I got to see two awesome movies at AFI.

This weekend, I worked at the 25th annual AFI Film Festival, a week-long film festival that takes up three different venues in Hollywood: Grauman's Chinese Theatre, the Chinese 6 Cineplex, and the Egyptian Theatre. It was really cool to see the Chinese theater all decked out for the galas that were held there. All three nights, Danielle and I worked the late shift at the Chinese 6 Cineplex in House 1. I scanned badges and tallied tickets and badges on a clipboard. It was not difficult at all, but it was really fun to work at another event, and we got to leave early most nights. We got free shirts and credentials for volunteering, and every four hours you work you get ticket vouchers to easily get a ticket to any film. All the films are free for everyone, but the vouchers let us skip the lines and get tickets if the film is sold out. They also hold raffles every night for the people who volunteer, and I won a nice sized bottle of tequila on the first night! A margarita night has definitely got to happen!Also, on the first night, I came right from work and ate dinner at the really really sketchy McDonalds in Hollywood. There are crazy people who sit outside of it and the same crazy people also sit inside. For example, I was sitting hear a man who was verbally abusing his child! It actually made me very upset. I can't believe people can just swear at their kids like that for no reason. After my shady McDonalds experience, I got a marshmallow, chocolate, caramel stick from this really awesome dessert place in Hollywood. On the second night, Danielle and I got there really early, so we spent some time at Forever 21, looking for a jacket for her and trying to find something to use the gift card Shelly gave me for my birthday on. I found some two really cute shirts, but I had forgotten my gift card and bought then tonight instead. One shirt is gray/green stripped, plain but nice. The other is a cropped off-white shirt with a black sort of Arizona, geometric-like pattern on the front, and I got a black tank top to go under it. I was in desperate need of some new shirts. I feel like I wear the same things all the time.

The time that I was not helping at AFI was consumed by my stupid Government and Media paper. I am writing about network neutrality, and it's only 10 pages but it's in a form I've never really written in before. It's really hard to do research without a library, and I've just had so many people visiting in the last month that I could not get it done until the weekend before it was due, definitely not my style at all. I had started it, so that's fine, but still I had a lot of work to do. On Thursday, I had typed up all my notes to more easily find quotes and facts to cite, but somehow all of that work was deleted when I went to go find it to use on Saturday! I was pissed! No idea how that happened, but it meant 4 hours of work I couldn't get back. Either way, I was able to finish it and turn it in today. I'm just glad it's over. I also found out I got a 90% on my mid-term, so that's good news.

The one thing, aside from AFI, that I did do this weekend was go to the Getty Museum with Danielle. It actually has a tram that takes you up to the top of the mountain where the museum sits. It was a beautiful museum and the gardens were stunning. It was a chilly, fall day, but it was just nice to get outside and be in the sun. We took a tour around the property, and the guide gave us some information about the architecture as well as the gardens. The architect was Richard Meier, and he wanted to build the museum to fit in with the mountain, looking as though it was coming from the mountain itself. The building is primarily white with accents that pick up the colors in the mountains. The traverstine stones that are used throughout are really cool, from a quarry in Italy where the stones for the Colosseum came from. They are unfinished in many places, and there are fossils of feathers and leaves in them. There was one stone in particular the guide showed us that is more of an art piece outside. It is an 800,000 year old reed pond! It was really cool to look at and touch. A design competition was held as to who would design the central garden, and the winner was a sculptor named Robert Irwin. He wanted to design the gardens like a sculptor and make sure that no matter what season a patron visited in there would be flowers in bloom to look at. Meier was not thrilled about having his garden design taken away from him, and he and Irwin really had very different views for it. Irwin used zig-zag patterns for the paths around the garden, and there is a maze at the center, while Meier was all about creating symmetry and straight lines. My favorite part of the gardens were the 6 tall tree-like pieces with purple, white, and pink flower blooms at the top. They were a really nice pop of color among all the white of the buildings. The view from the museum and gardens over Santa Monica and the rest of LA was amazing! After taking the tour, we took another one of the main part of a special exhibit called Pacific Standard Time. Different art from the exhibit is being shown at many of the museums in the area, so it's a collaborative special exhibit. It features Californian artists from the 1960s and 1970s who really created an art scene when there wasn't one happening here at the time. There was assemblage (found) art, which was really interesting as well as modern art, like a huge circle made of resin that you could see through but not see your own reflection. I was really impressed with the exhibit, and I like that it was something special that you can only see here and for a limited time. After seeing the PST exhibit, we went to see a photography exhibit. One part was really cool; all the photos were of different trees and plants in the forest with what looked like pages of books or sentences forming some of the leaves or branches. We then looked at some impressionist and European art, some of which I recognized from seeing pictures in classes I have taken. Another really awesome exhibit was the illuminated manuscript section. Illuminated manuscripts are from the time when monks had to copy the Bible by hand, but they not only copied the words, they also illustrated many of the stories or parts of stories and added patterns to make it more colorful and vibrant. They are really gorgeous. Danielle and I spent a good length of time at the museum before heading back to go to our last shift at AFI. It was a really nice day.

Today, I spent my entire day working on the paper that I finally turned in. Danielle and I used our vouchers to get into I Melt With You. It's a movie about four college friends who get back together for a week. It is probably the most intense film I've ever seen in my life. It was amazing and mind-blowing, but maybe even too intense for me. I won't give away what happens in the end, but it's not a buddy-comedy, that's for sure. At the Q&A with the actors and director afterwards, the director said he wanted to make a film for people like him, 40 year old men because, unless you wanted an action movie, there really was nothing out there for that age group. It really explores masculinity and age and is just a very dark film. The cast featured Rob Lowe and Jeremy Piven, both of whom were at the Q&A afterwards, so it was cool to get to see them. Rob Lowe had some of his friends from Parks and Recreation come to the screening, so Danielle and I also got to see Chris Pratt and Adam Scott. It was a fairly star-studded evening, and I was happy to get to see one of the AFI films all the way through. It really is a great film festival. Tomorrow night, we are going to see Jeff, Who Lives at Home with Jason Segel, so I'm really excited about that too.

I stole the title for this blog post from what apparently LA calls their Halloween weekend. Nice play on words I thought. Therefore, I'm going to tell you about my Halloween weekend.

Saturday night, after having spent all day writing my government and media paper and studying, I needed some relaxation time. Danielle and I decided to take my sangria to the hot tub. We drank a whole jug! It was a really nice, relaxing night then. Afterwards, Danielle went to use the bathroom at Chris's apartment because it's right next to the hot tub. A bunch of people were getting ready to go out, so we hung out with them for a while and danced. Chris's dance moves were hysterical. Everyone had good costumes: Maddie was Courtney Love, Sarah was the walk of shame, Siobhan was the house from Up!, Chris was a guido from NJ (which is funny because he's Irish and is, in fact, from NJ), and Jack was Scuba Steve from Big Daddy (which I thought was wonderful). It was a really fun night, and a good start to Halloween weekend.

As my last blog post says, Sunday I went to Runyon Canyon with Danielle.

Today was Halloween, and the biggest thing to do in LA for Halloween is to go to West Hollywood for their Halloween Carnival. It's HUGE! Also, West Hollywood is known as the gay section of LA, so there were tons of drag queens dressed up in crazy costumes. There were so many people dressed up in some wicked awesome costumes. I think among the best were a wolf-man in a cage, the queen of hearts, and Ursula from Little Mermaid. But my favorite costume by far was the Angry Bird's couple. This one's for you dad:
So anyway, it was cool to walk around and see all the costumes, but it was really crowded. I'm glad I had the experience of spending Halloween in LA though. It was really fun.

1.  The highways and streets are HUGE. It is typical for the highways to have like 5 lanes on both sides.
2. The cars seem to not have to be required to have plates on the back and on the front because a lot don't.
3. This is something my friend, Kelsy, noticed, but there are a lot of cars with plates that start with 6. I've also noticed a lot of 5. I don't know how license plates are assigned normally, but I think this is weird.
4. They sell alcohol at CVS here, and a rather large selection too.
5. There are hummingbirds here. I've never seen one at home, but I've seen a couple since I've been here. It's pretty cool.

Danielle and I have been planning to do a hike in Runyon Canyon for a while now, and we finally did it today! Of course we went right in the middle of the day, so it was blazing hot out. Also, it's totally not like hiking in the White Mountains in New Hampshire. There was barely any cover from the sun, so it's beating on you nonstop. Any shade we found, we stopped for a breather (we saw some of the dogs people were walking trying to do the same thing lol). Danielle had looked at a website that said it would take about 45 minutes round trip to hike it, but I have no idea where that person was going because it took us close to 2 hours. We hiked most of the canyon, skipping one smaller loop on the other side. It had some really beautiful views over LA, and you could see Griffith Park Observatory and the Hollywood Sign. It was more difficult than I expected it to be, but I'm proud of myself for doing it! We had a really good time getting a bit of fresh air.

This week was incredible. Kelsey came to visit me for my 21st birthday! We had a great time and got to do so many things I've been meaning to do. She arrived on Friday night, the day before my birthday. The next morning we went to Rodeo Drive with Danielle, looking at all the shops and taking pictures. We didn't really go in anywhere, but it was really fun to window shop. I saw a website that said the store Boulmiche near Rodeo Drive is supposed to have been the one that Julia Roberts got kicked out of in Pretty Woman, so we stopped to see that. We took pictures by the Beverly Hills sign. Right by it were some "Free Christian Books." Kelsey made herself embarrassed because she made a joke about it and it turns out the man who was taking our pictures was the man who wrote the free books! She had to take one then to make up for it! We ate a diner close by, which was pretty good, and as we left we drove past Gene Kelly's old house (I read about it on a website)! I love Gene Kelly. When we got back, we made a run to the store, where I bought some sangria. When the man at the store noticed the birth date on my ID, he gave me a high five and told me to have fun and be safe. He was really nice. It was just a funny thing for a grocery store man to say. Afterwards, we got ready to go out to Saddle Ranch. Nine of my friends were joining us there for dinner and drinks: Danielle, Shelly, Kelsey, Christine, Melissa, Amy, Kelsy, Sarah, and Maddie. Saddle Ranch is at Universal City Walk. It's a bar with a dance floor and mechanical bull. At first I just went and put my name in, but after I saw another birthday party group get escorted somewhere right away, I told them it was my birthday too. The manager came over and told the bar tender that my entire group gets a free round. A somewhat drunk woman with her husband who has kids a bit younger than me, suggested I get a mojito. It was good, but not something I would have ordered for myself. Still, it was a good first legal drink! After that, the bartender gave everyone at the bar a shot of something that was pretty good. It's funny because we looked at the menu before we went, and Kelsey really wanted to get the 3 foot high cotton candy. We didn't even have to order it because they gave it to us for free for my birthday! It was awesome!!! I bought a shirt while we waited to get seated, felt like I should have something to commemorate my birthday. When we finally got to sit down, Kelsey and I shared quesadillas and Danielle and I shared a giant mah tai. It was really good, but the only problem was that I got SOOOOOOO full! I could barely drink anything else. The waitress gave me a huge shot for free for my birthday. I got tons of free drinks that night, and it was really nice of them to do. I also road the bull twice for free! My arm hurt for the whole week afterwards, but it was so worth it. It was really fun, but they definitely didn't go easy on it. I had a great 21st birthday! Better than I ever expected! We went home kind of early just because Kelsey and I had to get up pretty early for Disneyland the next morning.

Disneyland was AMAZING! It is smaller than Disneyworld and a lot of the rides are the same, but it was still really fun to go. There are two parks: California Adventures and Disneyland Park. We arrived right as California Adventures opened and went there first because it wasn't open as long as Disneyland was. Being that Kelsey and I love The Little Mermaid so much, we had to go on Ariel's Undersea Adventure ride. It basically just took you through some of the scenes from the movie, and we may have been a little old to be on it, but Disney is about reliving childhood, so it was a necessary. We got a nice picture with Mickey for my scrapbook. We also went on a really good roller coaster, probably the most intense I've been on at either of the Disney theme parks, and we went on Goofey's Test Track, which made you feel like you were going to fall off the side of the roller coaster. California Adventure had the Tower of Terror, which was fun but doesn't drop you as much as the one at Disneyworld. Disneyworld does not have a live stage show for Aladdin though, so we were really excited to get to see that. It was a pretty good show because the Genie was hysterical! He was making things up the whole time and basically stole the show. After we had seen everything we wanted to at California Adventures, it took us from 10am to about 4pm, we went over to Disneyland. It was all decked out for Halloween, so we got a picture in front of the giant Mickey pumpkin right on main street. As we waited in line for Space Mountain, there was some confusion with the ride situation and basically everyone was leaving. It was only about 7pm, and Kelsey and I still had a lot left to see. It was really important to both of us to get to see it all, so after a pretty nerve wracking experience trying to figure out how we could possibly get back to Burbank, we booked a ride back for $75 with Super Shuttle. Thank God we found a way to get back at all! After that we just decided to relax and have fun. We got to go to Toy Story Midway Mania (me and Dad's favorite ride from Disneyworld) and on the revamped Nightmare Before Christmas Haunted Mansion. They have this Finding Nemo ride where you go on a sub, which actually goes under water, and see some scenes from the movie and stuff. It was kind of cool. Dad and I had seen Fantasmic at Disneyworld, and it was incredible, so Kelsey and I went to see it here too. It was a bit smaller scaled than at Disneyworld, but it was still really cool. A few of the parts were different, but this one did have a whole pirate ship with Peter Pan and some of the pirates swinging around on it. As our last ride, I was excited to go to the Tiki Room. I had not been there since I was a little kid when I went with my parents to Disneyworld because it was under construction when I tried to go with my Dad this past summer. Before we left, we did a little shopping and got ourselves matching bracelets brown leather with our names on them and mickey ear rivets with 2011 written on them. Although it is a little corny, I loved getting to see it again. Kelsey and I had a great time and just barely got to see everything we wanted to before we had to meet our shuttle. We got home at around 1am! It was a long but really awesome day. I'm glad my plan of going to Disneyland with Kelsey worked out because it was one of the things she most wanted to do while she was here, and we had a great time.

As an extension to my birthday weekend, Kelsey, Shelly, and I went to see Chelsea Lately with Chelsea Handler on Monday. We got in line about an hour and a half before the show was supposed to start, and we were really close to the front of the line. Kelsey had given me Chelsea's newest book for my birthday, so we both brought our copies to get signed. They collect the books before the show and give it back to you autographed after. It's really nice that she's willing to do that for her fans. Shelly didn't have a copy of the book, but we luckily were able to get her a copy by talking to security, so she got an autograph too. The show tapes really quickly, but it was still really fun. Kelsey got to see the panelist she most wanted to see, Ross Matthews, and Mike "The Situation" from Jersey Shore was the guest. We sat in the last row of stage seats before the bleacher seats, so we had a really good view of most of it. I'm just excited that I now have both autographs I wanted while I was out here: Chelsea Handler and Craig Ferguson (Kelsy works at The Late Late Show and was able to get my book signed for me a few weeks ago. So nice of her because that's the one thing I wanted most. Now I've been on the show, and I got my autograph!)

Tuesday was rather uneventful for me. I had to go to work. This week was harder than usual though because I had to take the bus in to and back from work everyday. Kelsy usually drives me in, but she wasn't working this week because The Late Late Show is not taping. It made it a little harder on me and I'm glad that's over, but it wasn't too bad. Kelsey, on the other hand, braved her fears of going places she doesn't know by herself and used my instructions to take the bus to Hollywood. She spent a few hours looking around at the Walk of Fame and Grauman's Chinese Theatre. I've been down there too many times, so when people come to visit I just tell them where to go. Hollywood isn't all that exciting, and it doesn't take much time to see it. She enjoyed herself with the exception of the few run-ins with the crazy Hollywood people. One man asked her if she wanted to buy weed and another told her she had a nice vagina! What an eventful day! There's definitely a reason they call this place "Hollyweird." I had class that night, which only took an hour instead of three because we basically just asked questions about the upcoming midterm and left.

On Wednesday, Kelsey came in to my work (again taking the buses all by herself!). I was supposed to show her the set that afternoon, but literally 10 minutes before I took my lunch break, my computer just flipped out. The screen went all green/pink and pixelated. I shut it off and turned it back on and the screen was still a mess. The apple icon showed up but it couldn't get to the start up menu or anything. I was freaking out because my pictures aren't backed up yet! Luckily, my work is right next to the Apple Store, so I took it in during lunch, a bit of a change of plans from what we thought we'd be doing for lunch. The guy at the Genius Bar looked at it and figured out that my logic board had failed. I have no idea why, but I was sooo happy I didn't have to pay for the repair! It would have been over $500 to fix, so thank you Apple Store! It's all better now. It only took a day or so to fix, which is good because I really need to start writing my Government and Media paper soon. We ate lunch at the Farmer's Market together, and she looked around the Grove for a couple hours until I was done with work. Before we took the bus back, she came on set of Bold and the Beautiful with me for a quick look, and I think she thought it was cool to see. I think the set is pretty impressive myself. I went to Music Industry to present my project about how I would popularize an unknown artist in the US. The artist I chose is Vanessa Amorosi. She's really big in Australia, and Joanna and I just did a powerpoint of our marketing plan for her. I've never learned about the music industry or marketing, so this was kind of a stretch for me, but it was fun to learn something new. It was a good mini course and only a pass/fail class so not something I was too worried about.

The one thing left to see on Thursday was the Hollywood Sign. Kelsey had seen it, but we needed to get her a good picture of it, so Shelly, Melisa, Kelsey, and I drove up to where you would hike around to the back of it. I've done the whole hike twice now, once with the whole class and once with Kate. This time, we just walked up the first steep hill, a challenge for Shelly but she made it! From there, you can get some really nice pictures with the sign. After our little adventure, we got some Yogurtland in Burbank because it's something all my visitors have to experience. That night, I had to go to a quick training session with the people at the American Film Institute because I am volunteering at the Film Festival next weekend. It should be a really good time, and I'm excited to hopefully see some really good movies. It was over at about 9, and Kelsey and I just stayed up watching TV for a bit and talking.

Friday I was working the late shift. Good thing too because it meant I got to sleep for a few hours after I got back from dropping Kelsey off at the airport at 6am for her 7am flight! The airport is right down the road, so I borrowed Shelly's car and got there in no time. Kelsey made it home safe and sound with no problems. At work, I got to observe in the Director's booth for an hour. It was nice to be able to hear what the director and producer and everyone else say and do during tapings. I had a really good time. I got out of work early today and hitched a ride with Sarah back home. I've just been relaxing tonight, but I really need to get going on some homework soon and get my papers done.

As an added note, I found out a few weeks ago that I'll be graduating early in December. My course requirements were changed around so that the one class I had to take going back to IC is no longer required. I'm going to have to try to find a job really soon, and hopefully I'll find something in the Boston area. I'm excited about it, but at the same time I see real life approaching, and it's nerve-wracking.

Gianni visited me this week as our Christmas presents to one another. I really wanted him to see LA, and it was awesome to get to see him. He took two days off from school, extending his fall break a bit, to come, but we had a great time and it was worth it. He arrived at 9PM last Friday at Bob Hope Airport. The security guards there are so annoying about how long you can wait for someone in the pick up/drop off area, so Shelly and I had to drive around a few times before we actually picked him up. Since we were in the area, we decided to make a quick stop at Yogurtland with Danielle. Gianni got to experience one of my favorite things about LA right when he arrived! I think he enjoyed it as much as I do.

Sunday, we walked around in the Toluca Lake area, taking pictures of the Big Boy fast food restaurant and getting a few extras at Trader Joe's. I love that place. Some of the stuff is so much cheaper and better quality than the regular grocery store. That night was the Open Mic Night fundraiser for our AIDS walk. Gianni and I went with the other RAs and Jon to help set up early. It was at Jon's church, and many alums and his church members performed. There was singing, comedy, and even one story teller (she recited Where the Wild Things Are from memory!). Gianni and I were in charge of asking for donations at the food table. There were yummy cookies and hot cider! I helped raise money and contributed to the ICLA Team so that I could eat cookies and have cider. tehehe. It was a pretty fun night all in all, but I wish more current ICLA people could have come or performed.


Monday was Columbus Day, so Danielle took part in Gianni and my plans to go to City Walk at Universal Studios. We spent a few hours looking around at the shops there. It's basically a big shopping area with restaurants and a movie theater, but some of the signs to the stores are pretty cool: Yogurtland had a big yogurt dispenser, dispensing yogurt into a giant cup, and Jamba Juice had a big cup with all the giant smoothie ingredients around it. We stopped at Yogurtland again while we were there. We also went into a candy store with HUGE, oversized candies. It was really cool. After spending a few hours there, we went home, and Gianni and I spent a few hours cooking. He made his mom's fish recipe, which is amazing, while I cooked us tabbouleh for the week for lunches. It took such a long time to chop everything up.

I had work on Tuesday, and Gianni had tickets to go see The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. Unfortunately, the taping didn't start until 3:30PM, and I had to work at 10AM. I walked with Gianni around the Grove and the Farmer's Market before I started work. Both are just nice little shopping areas. He spent a few hours in the Barnes and Noble reading Tina Fey's book while I was working, and then we met up again for lunch. I love having someone to eat lunch with. It's always really boring eating alone. I made the tabbouleh that Kate taught me how to make, so hopefully I impressed someone him with my new cooking skills. After lunch, I showed Gianni where to line up for Craig. I went back to work, and he finished Tina Fey's book. It was perfect timing that as soon as I got off of work, the show was done taping. Gianni said he had a great time seeing Craig behind-the-scenes. I showed him a little bit of the B&B set while we waited for Kelsy to be done and to drive home. It literally took an hour and a half to get home because of the traffic! It was nuts.

Although Gianni was going to come in with me to work again, he decided he would rather sleep in and not use the Price is Right tickets he had for that morning. Instead, he spent the day hanging out with Sowande while I was at work. I took the bus back to meet him. We ate before going to the Pendleton center for the first meeting of the three-week long mini course I was starting. Gianni decided to play on the computers at Pendleton instead of coming to class this time. It is called Music Industry, and it's basically about how to market musicians and bands, etc. Because it's only one credit, it's a pass/fail class. The only thing I need to do to pass is show up for class (the three times it meets) and do a final project. We paired up and each got to pick one CD he had. The project is to come up with a plan of how to market the artist on the CD successfully in the US. All of the artists were successful in other countries but had done nothing in the US so far. I'm working with Joanna, one of the other RAs, and I think we'll do a good job. We picked Vanessa Amorosi. She sings dance songs, and she's popular in Australia. It's an interesting class because I haven't learned much about the music industry or about PR, so at least I get to learn something new. The teacher is really nice but just a little bit socially awkward. I'm glad I decided to take the mini course though. I want to make dean's list, and I needed two more credits in order to do that for the semester, so that's what the minicourses will make up for.

On Thursday, Gianni came with me to Senior Seminar. The class was talking about violence in video games that day, so it was a perfect topic for him. We watched Pen and Teller's: Bullshit talking about how video games do not make a person violent in reality. It was a really interesting class, and I think Gianni really enjoyed it. We watched Big Bang Theory on TV after class, and then Gianni came with me to do my RA rounds. He got to meet a bunch of my residents. After that, Shelly wanted to go to Yogurtland, so, of course, we went again.

Friday, I had to work again, so I sent Gianni down to Hollywood in the afternoon to check out some of the sights. He looked at the Hollywood Sign and Grauman's Chinese Theatre and the Walk of Fame. Honestly, there isn't much to see in Hollywood, so it only takes a few hours to go through. Like me, he didn't really like it very much and got bored after a while. There's no book store or anything like at the Grove, so he was waiting for me to get off work for a while. We had a little miscommunication trying to get back to Oakwoods. I was on my first bus trying to get to Hollywood/Highland to meet him, but just before I got there he got on the 222 bus back to the apartments, thinking I was on that bus. Confusing situation for both of us. I had to wait another 40 minutes for the next bus up. I hate the 222 bus. It's never there when I want it. I've actually had to wait an hour and a half for it. It's terrible. We decided not to go laser tagging that night because I got back right as it was time to go to laser tag and neither of us had had a chance to eat. Instead, we watched a movie and hung out together.


Saturday, Danielle was nice enough to again bring Gianni and I, with Shelly this time, to the beach. We spent a few hours walking along the Venice Boardwalk. I rollerbladed along the boardwalk, and we all checked out some of the shops. I even got a shot at muscle beach! There are quite a few characters on the boardwalk, so it was interesting to people watch. I might have to go back there to get some souvenirs. It's a really cool place. As a side note, there are also a crap ton of medical marijuana places on the boardwalk. LA is nuts. I had an awesome time rollerblading, and we both thought Venice was a pretty cool place. Danielle had to get back in time to go to a concert with her roommates, so we drove back after a few hours of hanging out there. As a treat before Gianni went back home, I wanted to take him to the Thai food place down the street that I've been meaning to try, Gindi Thai. It's also a sushi restaurant. It was really good! They give you crayons when you sit down so that you can color of the paper over the tables. It was a pretty modern looking place. I got pad thai and thai iced tea, as usual. We ordered tempura fried green tea ice cream for dessert. All of the food was excellent, and I would definitely go back there again. It was just nice to spend a night alone, out of the house because I don't typically get to do that when I'm by myself here. After our fabulous dinner together, we went to the Pendleton center so Gianni could check in for his flight. We watched a movie and relaxed at home together for the rest of the night. We stayed up way too late for our 5AM wake up the next morning, but whatever.

We got up at 5AM this morning to make sure we could get Gianni to the airport by 6AM. Shelly let me borrow her car, which was really nice. It was really sad to see him go, as usual. I waited for him to get through security before leaving the airport. As of this post, he's landed at Newark and on his way back to school. I couldn't be sad about him leaving for long though because I was a part of the ICLA team for the LA AIDS Walk today! It's a 10K walk to raise money for AIDS research. It's a really huge event, and they've been holding it for 27 years now. We got there really early in order to get parking, so there was a lot of waiting. There were about 10 current ICLA people who were there, Jon, Sona, and probably 4 ICLA Alums. Before the walk started, the opening ceremonies included talks from Coach Beast from Glee, Carson Kressley, Abby from NCIS, and Drew Carey! Star studded. As the walk started, it was really crowded, but it thinned out eventually. Danielle and I walked most of the course together. It got soooo hot in the middle of it. 6.2 miles is definitely a long way to walk, but at least I got a workout in. We walked pretty fast too; I think we finished it in about 2 hours and 20 minutes. Despite the heat, it was a really fun time. They had good snacks and drinks for us along the way, which was nice of the event coordinators. I had some yogurt, cereal, strawberry lemonade, cheetos, and lara bars. It was a really great event for a good cause, and I had a great time.

Tonight, Shelly and I are going to see Footloose at Paramount. She gets free tickets there because she works for CBS on the Paramount lot with The Doctors. It should be pretty fun. Danielle's roommate, Sarah, has her boyfriend visiting, so Danielle is staying at my apartment for the next few days now that Gianni is gone. It's going to be a busy week trying to get some of my Government and Media paper done before Kelsey arrives on Friday for my 21st Birthday, which is next weekend!!!