A Little More Personal: Time Spent in Los Angeles

So A LOT has happened since my last post about my life in California. 3 more months have gone by making this my fourth month living in California. I cannot even begin to explain how surreal that is to type. Four month is a lifetime. It’s a high school relationship. So much can happen in that amount of time and really so much has happened in that amount of time. The one major change since my last post?  NO MORE COUCH SURFING. That’s right,I actually have a permanent California address. I live in the Valley, which means I’m actually a Valley Girl.

(If you care, living in “The Valley” means that when you are looking at the hills, you see where the Hollywood sign should be, but not the letters themselves, the backs of them. Basically it’s like living in Long Island or maybe even Brooklyn without the hipsters, you can go to/see Manhattan, but you don’t actually live there.)

So I’m an adult now.

I pay rent. And bills. Too many bills. I cook for myself. Or I eat cereal. I still don’t have a bed because buying a mattress scares the crap out of me and its expensive, but these things take time. It was just a few weeks ago that my roommate and I were eating our meals off cardboard boxes  and having our friends sit on the floor when they came to visit us. We just got a couch and a table and even had a bonafide trip to Ikea. I can’t believe how far we’ve come. With every experience, I have proven to myself more and more that, yes I can do this. As much as I’ve cried and struggled (and still cry and struggle), I am making it. I am quite literally living my dreams and at the same time doing things I never dreamed possible. If you had asked me earlier this year if I saw myself not only moving cross country, but finding work and making friends and having a place of my own (with a pool) I would have say no way Jose.

All of this living on my own has really made me both appreciate and miss my parents. I finally understand why my dad constantly yelled at us for leaving the lights on or why my mom always wanted us to be just a little neater. Having your own place is a lot of work! It makes me realize all of the things I took for granted. Not to get all PSA-ey on everyone, but if you live at home or anywhere within driving distance of your parents, appreciate it. Don’t just call, visit them. The thing I miss the most about home is not pizza or Dunkin Donuts or free laundry, but just sitting and talking/laughing/joking with my family. Sure that sounds sappy, but living 3,000 miles away from the people you love can do that to you.

Other than missing my family and furnishing my apartment I’ve been spending a lot of time working which is alway good. I don’t like sitting still and more than anything I hate being bored. Recently I’ve spent my time working on several different shows. I worked on a talk show for a little while and recently I’ve been on a reality competition show. I’ve enjoyed the reality show because I’ve been able to see the entire season of the show from start to finish which I find fascinating. People may knock reality TV, but a lot goes into making it all come together. There are challenges to plan and contestants to watch over and eliminations to be had. It’s all be great fun.

Next up in my life? Looking for the next project and the project after that, finally making that big bed purchase, and counting down the days until Christmas when I can finally go home and see my family and friends (127).

I’ll end this post with a little list…

California Favs:

• Malibu

I really can’t say enough about it. Every beach I’ve been to is prettier than the next.

• Hiking. Yeah it really is that good here.
• Thai food. Seriously some of the best I’ve ever eaten.
• In-N-Out. Completely lives up to the hype and then some.
• Catered meals. If you work at all in production you will understand what a gift that is. If you don’t it basically means someone provides a hot lunch for you on set. No pb&j for this girl. (Wow a lot of these involve food)
• Making friends with other transplants who also work in production and have no family/other friends close by and so we all live the struggle together.

California Un-favs:

• The fact that the L.A. Kings beat my NY Rangers and now I have to listen to everyone pretend to care about hockey for another season (compounded by the fact that Kings tickets are now RIDICULOUSLY expensive and I will never again be able to see a hockey game live)
• Traffic. Where are you all going at 9 am on on Saturday??
• Parking. Paying for parking, actually parking, not finding parking. (Yes, I have officially become one of those people.)
• Chinese food. Those are not egg rolls, those are spring rolls. All I want is a crispy shelled deliciousness. Is that too much to ask?
• Bills.
• Being this close to Comic-Con and missing it (this year at least).
• Not having any good celebrity sightings (besides Lance Bass).

Oh and here’s the song that inspired the post title: