Kelsey's Visit

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.