Cooling Down

The weekend and the first few days of this week were pretty good.  I kicked off the weekend by sleeping in on Saturday, as is usual.  When I finally got out of bed, I relaxed and eventually ate lunch.  After lunch, I started with my homework.  We had internship agreements due on Monday, and those required a short essay describing the internship.  Unfortunately, we had to do that for all internships even if we're only using one to count for our required hours.  I wrote up both of those short essays and then took a little break.  Since it was Saturday of the Oscars weekend, I thought I would go down to Bob's Big Boy and see if I could spot any celebrities.  I always go celebrity spotting when I visit Bob's Big Boy, but I was intentional about the timing.  I walked down there and ordered some takeout, but there were no celebs to be found.  Then I walked back home and enjoyed my delicious Super Big Boy and fries.  They have some seriously tasty food there!  After I was finished, I eventually got on to more homework.  I relaxed for a while, and one of my roommates had friends over, so it took a good amount of time to get back to it.  One of my homework assignments was to read a script and then write a logline for it.  I didn't realize they were feature-length movie scripts!  I looked at all their lengths and then selected #2, which was 148 pages.  It wasn't the shortest one, but it definitely wasn't the longest!  I got the first 40 pages or so read before I got ready for bed.  On Sunday morning, I had some of the continental breakfast and then went back out to Calvary Bible Church.  That church is kind of interesting - I've been going there 4 weeks, and we've had 4 different pastors!  I've liked them all, though - they've all had good messages!  Soon after I got out of church, I went home and made some lunch.  I decided that I wanted to go to the Oscar party some other UTLA people were throwing, so I went to the convenience store at the south clubhouse to pick up some food.  I bought a few other things as well.  By the time I got back, the party was less than an hour away!  My, how time flies when you need it the most!  I read as much of that script as I could and then headed off to the party.  It was a good time!  We had a little potluck with several different items, and the hosts of the party made spaghetti and meatballs!  It was great stuff!  The first hour and a half or so was just red carpet coverage.  I thought the Oscars ceremony was supposed to start at 4:00 Pacific time, but the actually ceremony started much later.  As I said, I had never actually watched it before.  It was cool, but it would have been more enjoyable if people hadn't been so noisy!  I didn't see most of the Oscar-nominated movies, so I didn't really care about too many of the awards.  It was just fun being at the party and watching the show!  There were some amazing parts of the ceremony, too - who knew Lady Gaga could actually sing?  I can't believe she waited all this time to show her true singing talent!  It got even better when Julie Andrews took the stage!  During the commercial breaks and other downtimes, I read some more of the movie script.  It took a really long time, but eventually the ceremony ended with the Best Picture award.  A lot of people at the party were upset that "Birdman" won.  They wanted the winner to be "Boyhood".  I would like to see a few of the nominees, and "Boyhood" was one of them.  After the party was over, I went back to the apartment and finished reading the movie script.  I liked the story, but I felt it was disorganized and didn't flow very well.  I wrote my logline, and then I reviewed the material I'll be using for a project in a different class.  After that, it was time for bed.  Monday was another typical day of classes.  We had some interesting discussions in the first class.  For lunch, I got something from the food truck in front of the UTLA center.  For the second class, we started out with our usual discussions and then had a guest speaker.  After he left, we talked about how to make a good pitch for a movie or a show.  We split into groups based on which script we read, and I discovered that I picked the most popular script!  Within our group, we had to decide on an official logline.  By next Monday, we have to have a 3-minute pitch prepared.  After we got out of class, I went back and relaxed a little.  I ate dinner and then did my Monday laundry.  Later on, I went out to the hot tub.  It's been cooling down lately here in L.A.  (I couldn't think of a very clever title, so that's why I settled on "Cooling Down".)  A cool night makes for a nice hot tub experience!  It was more empty than it usually is, so I got a lot of space to myself!  The water was really hot, so I got out after a brief period.  By the way, "cooling down" means temperatures in the 60s.  Sorry, Illinois folk!  After that, the night was just about over.  Tuesday was another day at Karga Seven.  I actually started the day in development as opposed to postproduction, and it was cool!  I got to do research for some upcoming shows and specials!  After that was done, however, I went back up to postproduction.  Transcribing is not the most fun, but somebody's gotta do it!  When I got back to the apartment, I made myself some dinner and chilled.  At 7:10, I got an e-mail reminding me that an event beginning at 7:00 was starting "in a few minutes".  That was annoying!  If they weren't going to send out the reminder earlier in the day, they at least could have sent it before the event started!  I completely dropped the ball on that one because I overlooked the original e-mail.  D'oh!  The original one came on Sunday, so I probably just didn't pay attention to it at all.  Who gets an important e-mail on Sunday, anyway?  That was slightly annoying, but I had some more time to hang out at home.  A couple of my roommates attended the event, and they said it was neat.  It was a panel of UT alumni with jobs in Hollywood.  They talked about how they got their jobs, tips for living in L.A., etc.  I have all their e-mail addresses now, so I can still contact them.  I did some homework later on in the night, and then I went to bed.  Today was another fun day at Glassman Media!  I know I definitely haven't mentioned this (sarcasm - I mention it every week), but I love it there!  I'm considering picking up another day there.  I'm still holding out for GSN for a little while longer, but I'm just not sure about that.  After my internship, I went home and had a little dinner.  Then I went off to my class tonight.  It was all interesting stuff!  They had a whole bunch of cake and other food left over from the alumni event, so I enjoyed some of that!  Since then, I've just been relaxing.  Tomorrow is another day at Karga Seven, and I might be going to that class I'm auditing.

Time Keeps On Slippin'

Time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin' into the future!  But seriously, it's just flying by!  I haven't forgotten about my blog or abandoned you guys - I just find that I blink and it's suddenly a new day!  The week began with a couple really fun classes.  In my Development of Film & TV class, we finally started talking about TV.  It had been entirely film up to this point in time, so the discussion on TV was refreshing.  We applied our knowledge on story structure to the format of TV.  It was all interesting!  We also talked about movies at the very beginning of the class, so I got to let out my excitement about SpongeBob!  We finished class by talking about what makes a good ending, and we used "Little Miss Sunshine" as an example.  I must say, I enjoyed the ending!  After that class let out, I joined some friends and we walked to the Dog Haus.  I tell you, I love living close to that place!  The food is so good it's almost criminal!  After we walked back to the UTLA center, it was time for How Hollywood Works.  We had a cool guest speaker for the first half of class.  She's done quite a bit and had a lot of success!  I loved her talk!  However, after the break was when the true fun began!  We talked about salaries in Hollywood for a bunch of different jobs!  Just for me, the professor looked up information on game show hosts!  He found that a host of a syndicated game show makes $25,000 a week, and it's $75,000 for a network primetime show!  Then there's game show hosts like Alex Trebek, who makes $10 million a year!  Yes, please!  In any case, a lot of the jobs seemed to have pretty good salaries.  After the classes were out, I walked home.  I made myself some dinner, and I probably just hung out and relaxed.  It's hard to remember that far back!  It's kind of a blur, but I do know that Monday is one of my best days for free time.  On Tuesday, I had to get myself to Karga Seven.  There are now only 2 UTLA interns at Karga Seven, and the other one works on Wednesdays and Thursdays.  I really hope I can get that GSN internship!  I made my way there in the morning and spent the whole day in postproduction.  It was pretty neat because I got to watch an upcoming episode of a tornado show about the one that hit Washington, Illinois!  I had one big assignment that took up the whole day.  On my way home, I got stalled a bit.  The lovely L.A. transportation system decided that the subway should be off schedule for a change!  You'd think it wouldn't come late because it doesn't have to deal with traffic and it's all pretty automatic, but I guess you can't assume that!  I missed the first bus at Hollywood & Vine that I wanted to take, so I went to Starbucks and did a little work on my computer.  After I got home, I made myself some dinner.  For the rest of the night, I did homework and went to the hot tub.  Too bad it was barely warmer than typical room temperature!  Usually it's pretty nice.  On Wednesday, I got up and watched a little GSN before going over to Glassman.  It was a relaxing, laid-back kind of day!  I really enjoy what I'm doing there, and I'm not giving up that internship for anything!  I also finally got around to having my internship agreement signed.  Those are due on Monday, so I had no choice.  After I came home and had a quick dinner, I was off to New Media & Emerging Entertainment.  We had the greatest guest speaker I've ever had the privilege of listening to!  I thought the lady in How Hollywood Works was great, but she had nothing on this guy!  He's done tons of work with Disney in animation and developing rides!  He was the director of "The Brave Little Toaster", and he did a lot of other animation work earlier in his career.  More recently, he has developed designs for Disney World rides and interactive experiences.  He's getting into some crazy ways of storytelling, and he has an incredible vision for the field of virtual reality!  He seems like a genius!  Once he was done talking, we discussed the requirements for our final project and then got out of class early.  Thursday was a particularly fun day.  It started off normally with some work at Karga Seven, but it got more interesting when I was at lunch.  One of my roommates was wondering if anyone wanted to go to the Clippers vs. Spurs game because he had to buy tickets in pairs.  I saw that they weren't too expensive, and I've never been to an NBA game before, so I decided to go for it!  The price went up a few times before we got the tickets, but I was okay with that.  Thankfully, the other intern who gives me a ride on Thursdays was also going to the game with one of her friends!  After the work day was over, we went to Hollywood & Vine together.  Our little group of 4 met up and took the subway and the expo line over to the Staples Center.  It's a really big, cool-looking place!  We got there over an hour in advance, so we had plenty of time to get dinner and find our seats.  I was excited to watch an NBA game, and I was going for the Spurs all the way!  I root for them because I'm a fan of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, etc.  The whole team is great, and I love how they beat the Heat in the championship last year!  Once the game got started, it was a whole lot of fun!  The game was pretty close and intense all the way through.  It was definitely worth the money!  Sadly, the Spurs ended up losing 119-115.  It's just awesome to see a basketball game with scores that high anyway!  All 4 of us were a little sad - the other 3 are from Texas, and they're all Spurs fans.  After we got ourselves home, I chilled for a while and then went to bed.  This morning was a little unfortunate.  I had been getting a ride to the subway station on Friday mornings for the past couple weeks, but the roommate who gave me those rides no longer has an internship on Fridays.  My other carless roommate and I left for the bus stop together (I had to take a bus to the subway station), but the L.A. bus system decided to be early this time!  Naturally, it was 1 minute early when it should have been 1 minute late!  We were stranded for an hour because the 222 buses are hard to come by.  We hung out in the UTLA center for a while and then caught the next bus.  I made it all the way to Karga Seven as fast as I could, but I was still about 45 minutes late.  It's nice that they're so relaxed there!  I just got right to work, and everything was fine!  Once I was done, I ate some lunch and then set off for home.  I got on the subway just fine, but the buses continued to be frustrating!  The Oscars are on Sunday, so everything is nuts on Hollywood Boulevard!  There was supposed to be a bus at 3:29, and I got to the stop at 3:21.  After 30 or 40 minutes, people started to get very impatient.  A lot of people were calling the Metro phone number.  I tried too, but I got nothing.  Some people actually gave up and walked over to another stop!  I saw that the next bus was supposed to arrive at 4:18.  Close to that point in time, people started calling again.  That's when I learned that some people who wanted the 2:30 bus were still waiting!  2 times in a row, the bus just never showed up!  When we were calling around 4:18, the people on the other end said they didn't know where the bus was!  That's outrageous!  I was just about to ask a roommate to pick me up when the bus arrived at 4:34!  I waited almost an hour and 15 minutes for that bus!  Can the Oscars please be over now?  I'm pretty much shutting myself in the apartment this weekend!  After I FINALLY got home, I made dinner and then went over to the UTLA center again.  They were doing a private screening of a movie coming out later this year.  It's called "Run the Tide".  I really enjoyed it, and I want to see it when it hits theaters!  I love the perks we get as Hollywood Semester students!  Since then, I've just been chilling.  This weekend should be full of work and fun.  I've never actually sat down to watch the Oscars before, so I'll try to find a good party if I have the time!

In the Swing of Things

Over the past several days, I've done some serious work and had incredible fun!  Thursday was just another day working in postproduction at Karga Seven.  I'm still a little annoyed that they've had me work in an area I didn't express interest in, but at least I've had more to do!  I'm always busy working in postproduction.  I spent the whole day working on the final edit report that I started on Tuesday.  Those final edit reports are so monotonous, and they take an unhealthy amount of time to complete!  I was excited to go home at 5:00!  When I got back to the apartment, I ate a quick dinner and prepared for the Line Producing class.  I'm just auditing the class, but I really enjoy it!  We watched a couple videos and then discussed the budgeting and scheduling of films.  After I returned, I sat back and relaxed for a while.  I felt like going to the hot tub (a very common feeling), so I hung out there for a while.  My roommates and friends played video games, so I watched them do that and then went to bed.  Friday was my typical half day at Karga Seven.  I got a ride that took me most of the way to Hollywood and Vine, and I had plenty of time to reload my card and wait for the subway.  I took the subway to the right stop, and I made it from the station to my building in record time!  I'm finally getting into the swing of things!  I have my navigation down!  Once I got started at Karga Seven, it wasn't too long before that final edit report was finished!  It was such a relief to have that done!  After that, I worked on transcribing a different episode of the same show.  I never realized they had so many little details to take care of in postproduction!  I steadily worked until I got off at 2:00.  After I ate lunch, I decided to give the lady at GSN another call.  I called her on Thursday but got nothing back.  I actually managed to talk to her on Friday, and she said they were reviewing a lot of résumés and that they would get back to me next week.  I really, REALLY hope I can get that job!  I'm still praying for a big break here!  Once I finished talking with her, I started my journey home.  I think my walk from work back to the subway station was incredibly fast!  As I said, I know my way around now!  The only problem is that the buses don't come often enough!  It was a considerable wait for the bus after I got off the subway at Hollywood & Vine, but I got home soon enough.  Before I walked back to the apartment, I went to the UTLA center to pick up my free movie tickets!  They told us at the beginning of the semester that they would buy us movie tickets every now and then.  Sure enough, they had free tickets for everyone and plenty of popcorn and soda vouchers!  I picked up some for me and 2 of my roommates.  After doing a little bit of planning back at the apartment, I set off on my early Valentine's Day date with myself!  I kicked it off with a trip to the Dog Haus.  I tell you, I just love that place!  I had their Hangover burger, and it was delicious!  From there, I walked to a nearby bus stop so I could go over to the AMC theater in Burbank.  I was going to see the 6:35 showing of "The SpongeBob Movie:  Sponge Out of Water"!  Something foiled my plan, however - the stupid bus was late!  Arrgh!  It arrived 12 minutes later than it should have!  I got to my stop just a couple minutes before the movie was supposed to start.  I figured I would probably be okay because of the previews and trailers before the movie.  After I got off the bus, I hit another obstacle - I had never been to this theater before, so I needed to find it.  I started off in the wrong direction, but I turned around before too long.  When I found the theater, I realized it was too late for me to make the 6:35 showing.  On top of my tardiness, there was a huge line at the box office!  (Sadly, most of the people were probably there to see "50 Shades of Grey".)  I knew there was a 3D showing at 7:45, so that was my new plan.  When I presented my free ticket, I also had to cough up $6 because it was a night showing and it was 3D.  It would have only been $2 extra for the regular showing, but I didn't really care.  I was so excited to be there and to see another SpongeBob movie!  The AMC theater is in a nice area in Burbank that's more or less a short boardwalk.  The theater itself is so fancy, too - they have all kinds of amazing concessions and a bar!  I need to go there more often!  I settled into the theater plenty early and awaited the masterpiece I was about to see.  I can't describe how much fun I had!  I got pumped up in anticipation of the movie, and it didn't let me down!  That movie was so hilarious!  It referenced the classic show several times, and it had tons of slapstick humor!  I was laughing out loud the whole time!  I felt about half my age as I watched the movie, and it was such an incredible feeling!  When the movie let out, I walked around the boardwalk-type area for a while.  There are some restaurants I definitely want to check out!  I found my bus stop with plenty of time to spare, and I rode it back to around the same stop I got to from the Dog Haus.  Because I walked all the way out there, I had to ride 1 bus to get to the theater but 2 buses to get home.  There was about half an hour in between buses, so I visited a 7-11 and kept myself occupied for that time.  When the time came, I got on my last bus for the day and rode home.  I didn't have a single problem finding the right bus or subway the whole day!  Yay for me!  It was about 11:00 when I got home, but my roommates were out seeing a different movie.  I watched some TV until they came home.  They played some video games, and I went to bed after watching them for a bit.  Saturday was more of a lazy, lonely day for me.  One of my roommates had to wake up early to go to a shoot, and the other 2 slept in way too long.  I wasted away a good portion of the day watching GSN.  In the afternoon, I took a bus to Burbank so I could get my hair cut.  I found a pretty nice, cheap place that gave me a good haircut!  In the time between my haircut and the arrival of the next bus, I visited a cool candy and soda shop in the area!  They had all kinds of candy and about a million different flavors and kinds of soda!  I'll have to go there a few more times!  After I got home, I chilled for a while and made myself dinner.  One of my roommates went on an In-N-Out Burger run, so I got an order of Animal Style fries.  They were okay, but I want to try them when they're fresh!  I did some more sitting around, but I also completed some of a paper for my How Hollywood Works class.  On Sunday morning, I got up and headed to the free continental breakfast.  They had some great stuff from a popular bakery!  I need to do that every week!  Then I got a ride to church, and the service was another great one!  Soon after church, I joined a group that was going out to an Irish pub.  I had a Reuben sandwich that was pretty tasty!  When I got back to the apartment, I procrastinated a little and then watched "Little Miss Sunshine".  We had to watch it as an assignment for my Development of Film & TV class.  It was decent, but not the best movie I've ever seen.  The last thing I had to accomplish was finishing my How Hollywood Works paper.  I got that all done and sent it in!  I had kind of a crazy weekend, but it was a good time!  Monday, of course, will bring classes and some free time.  Now that I'm in the swing of things, my weekdays here should go a lot more smoothly!

One Heck of a Month

The past few days have been pretty good.  I've been busy, but it's a fun kind of busy.  On Sunday, I got up and went to church.  I really like the church I've gone to the past two weeks!  We've heard from 2 different pastors, but they were both great!  After we got out of church and hung out for a while, the guy giving me rides took me back to my apartment.  I made myself some lunch and then planned to get a haircut.  The problem is, all the hair places (at least the ones I looked at) were closed on Sunday!  I should be able to actually get it done on Friday or Saturday.  From there, I relaxed a little bit and then completed my movie review assignment.  I watched "Evan Almighty" and then wrote a bad review for it.  I was really struggling to come up with a movie I disliked, and I remember thinking that "Evan Almighty" was not too good.  I liked it when I watched it now - when it first came out, I was probably expecting it to be as good as "Bruce Almighty".  I like the original much better, but Evan isn't that bad.  I had to analyze it a little more deeply to point out the flaws in the story structure, but that was probably a good exercise.  After I got done writing that review, I touched up my good review for "Rain Man".  Then it was time for bed.  Monday brought with it the usual classes, but it was a nice week.  For my Development Process of Film & TV class, we had a guest speaker instead of just a lecture the whole time.  He was really interesting and funny!  How Hollywood Works was even better because we started class by eating a huge cake!  We had a big birthday cake to celebrate all the January and February birthdays!  One week after my birthday, I was still celebrating!  We're going to do this again in March and April, and I can't wait!  The cake was a Black Forest-type thing, and it was heavenly!  The class itself was normal.  We had our usual discussions and then heard from a guest speaker.  We have a speaker in that class most weeks.  The only bad thing is that the teacher assigned a 500-1000 word essay reflection!  He doesn't like homework and very rarely gives it, but he's required to assign a certain amount.  It's not the length that's bad - just the fact that we have to do it!  I would have paid attention a little more closely had I known in advance!  After that class, I went back to the apartment so I could work on my résumé.  I added some items and made some changes, and then I sent it off to GSN!  They have several different internship offerings, and I jumped on them!  Once I was done with that, I ate some pizza.  We ordered some Domino's because Monday was National Pizza Day!  (It was also Read in the Bathtub Day, but I didn't celebrate that.)  A little while after dinner, a couple of my roommates and I went on a grocery store trip.  I needed to stock up on food - I spent a little over $60!  (Money doesn't go as far in California, but I still bought a lot.)  After that, I just chilled and hung out with my roommates and friends.  Tuesday was another day at Karga Seven.  I worked in postproduction the whole day, and I should have expected no less.  I worked on actualizing the transcript for an episode that hasn't aired yet.  We fought through some particularly horrible traffic going both there and back!  While I was working at Karga Seven that day, GSN gave me a call!  I couldn't answer it then, but I was so excited!  I got back home and immediately left them a message.  Then I made some dinner and hung out for a while.  I also took care of some laundry and did homework for another class.  Today was another day at Glassman Media.  I didn't do quite as much this week as I have the past couple weeks, but my work there is all fun stuff!  I'm definitely not dropping that internship even if I get one at GSN!  I have had some incredible opportunities at Glassman already.  When that was done, I went back to the apartment for the short break before my class at night.  GSN didn't call me at all today, so I left them one more message.  I'm a little nervous - I want that internship more than anything else in the world!  Please pray for me and think about me!  I'll tell you more information right when I know about it!  After I ate dinner, I went over to the class.  It's a pretty neat class!  We started talking about our final projects for the semester.  I have some good plans!  Since then, I've just been relaxing.  It's amazing to think that I've been here in Hollywood for a month already!  It's certainly been one heck of a month!  I have a few more where that came from, and I'll be sure to keep you updated!  It sounds like people have enjoyed my blog posts, and I'm glad to hear that!

Hollywood Sign Hike

Hi, everyone!  Before I forget AGAIN, here are the pictures I took on my hike to the Hollywood Sign!

An Event I Couldn't Refuse

Hi, everyone!  I'm sorry I haven't posted anything in a while!  I've been really busy and having a lot of fun, and I assure you that I'm alive!  This week has flown by.  On Tuesday, I went back over to Karga Seven as usual.  It was kind of a dull day.  My supervisor told me I would be updating Karga Seven's IMDb page, but that didn't exactly happen.  He told me to sit down for a while and wait until he was ready.  After about half an hour, I got up and asked if he was ready.  He told me he would be back to help me in a few minutes.  Another half hour or more passed by, and I tried again.  He finally gave me the login information, so I tried that.  Naturally it didn't work, so I got up and told him.  He told the secretary to figure it out.  After a while, she was able to give me valid login information.  Once I got logged in, I was completely confused.  She warned me the website was hard to figure out, and she was right!  I called her over and asked if she could help me, and she spent 20 or 30 minutes messing around with it.  She couldn't really do what she wanted to do, so she told me not to worry about it.  After that mess, my supervisor had me hang up a few signs, which took all of 2 minutes.  Soon after that, I asked him if he could give me anything else to do.  He told me to go to lunch and said he would have something once I came back.  When I came back, I helped him and another guy hang some dry erase boards and maps up on the wall.  He didn't really say much after that, so I chilled some more.  Another lady actually told me to relax, take a book off the shelf, check my Facebook, or do whatever!  A little later, they had me go upstairs to postproduction where I checked and organized some release forms.  Once I was done with that, the day was over.  I intended to start some homework after I got back from work and ate dinner, but that didn't exactly happen.  A friend came over to our room and hung out for a while.  Then we decided to go out to the hot tub together.  We had a good time there, but by the time we got back, it was too late to start homework.  On Wednesday, I went over to Glassman Media.  I helped one of their guys in postproduction who was editing an ad for a TV show.  I found some sound effects for him.  I also downloaded videos and clips to be used in some shows and commercials.  Later on, I helped by downloading more videos and assisting in the production of one of their shows.  I really enjoy what I'm doing there!  After I came home and ate a quick dinner, I went to my New Media and Emerging Entertainment class.  Normally that class gets done an hour early, but we actually got out 10 minutes late this week!  We were watching some cool videos, but it still went on a little too long for my liking.  I went back to the apartment and probably just relaxed (it's hard to remember - the days are such a blur!).  On Thursday I was back at Karga Seven.  Most of that day, I was working in postproduction.  I added a bunch of information to some contact sheets and then made a bunch of contact sheets by myself.  After that, I had to look up all the transcripts on a hard drive and make sure everyone who was interviewed had contact information listed.  That was a long and involved process!  That took up the whole portion of my day that I was actually working.  Then I went home and audited the Line Producing course again.  I enjoy it!  The instructor is great, and he only keeps us for about an hour because there are 3 people in the class (including me)!  I finally started that homework on Thursday, but I didn't get much done because I got caught up in other things.  A friend came over and we got some late night ice cream!  On Friday I got to Karga Seven by myself without any issues!  It was a personal victory!  I worked in postproduction again and knocked out a chunk of a final edit report.  That work is so tedious!  It's rather annoying!  After I was done with my half day there, I also got home without incident!  Woo hoo!  I sat around for a while and chilled, and I decided to buy a ticket for an event going on at Grauman's Egyptian Theater that night.  It was a double feature of The Godfather Parts I and II!  I had never been to the theater, and I've heard great things about The Godfather. so it was an event I couldn't refuse!  We went on over to Hollywood, and some of the guys I was with ate at Juicy Burger.  I had already eaten dinner, but I went with them and bought a big cup of Coke.  I knew I was going to need energy!  After I looked up the running times for the movies, I knew what I was getting myself into!  We went over to the theater for the 7:30 showing of The Godfather.  It was an excellent movie!  The storyline is so complex that I'd have to watch it a couple more times to get everything, but I thoroughly enjoyed it!  There was a 10 minute intermission after the movie ended, so we got up to go to the bathroom.  Some of the guys got a drink from Starbucks, but I didn't get anything.  Then we settled in for Part II.  I tried to follow the movie, but I was tired at that point.  Sometimes when I'm tired, my mind will wander.  I was having serious problems paying attention through some of the movie!  The Coke only got me through the first one!  I thought it was decent, but I didn't like it as much as the first.  I thought it didn't flow together as well, but I really need to give it another try when I'm not so tired!  I'll probably pick up on a lot more!  When that movie was over, it was only 2:15 in the morning (do you like my sarcasm?), so we headed home.  I went to sleep, and I slept in quite a bit this morning.  I didn't do too much today other than homework.  I got the first half of that homework done!  It's due Monday, so I'll do the other half tomorrow.  I also walked myself over to the Dog Haus.  I kind of have a problem - that place is so good!  Tomorrow I plan on going to church in the morning, watching a movie, and finishing my homework.  (I promise that the movie is related to my homework!  I have to write reviews about a good movie and a bad movie based on their storylines!  I'm watching the bad movie tomorrow!)  Also, I'll be posting pictures from my Hollywood Sign hike tomorrow.  I completely dropped the ball on that!  Sorry!

Working For The Weekend

The past several days have been pretty busy and very fun!  I started out last Friday by waking up and heading to my internship at Karga Seven.  I figured out that one of my roommates drives by Hollywood and Vine to go to his internship on Fridays, so I got a ride with him up to that point.  Once I was at Hollywood and Vine, I stopped at Starbucks since I had a while before the subway would be around.  I got a Java Chip Frappuccino, which my brother Chase recommended.  It was pretty good!  Then I headed over to the subway station and got on the train.  Once I got off at the station on 7th St, I started heading in the right direction!  I was going the correct way, but I thought I could cheat the system and go in an entrance that was closer to where I was.  It didn't exactly work out...the entrance was for cars only, and I'm pretty sure the pedestrian entrance was actually closer!  I was a little late to work, but it was pretty relaxed as usual.  I am going to be on time this Friday, mark my words!  The first thing they had me do was look at some release forms for an episode they were producing.  Once I got that done, they sent me upstairs to postproduction where I watched another unaired episode and reviewed the transcript.  I hadn't gotten through a lot of the episode when it was already time to go!  After I left around 2:00, I ate lunch and then started heading back home.  When I got to the subway station, I hardly had to wait at all!  And I got on the right train, too!  Little did I know that things were about to get really frustrating.  When I got off the subway at Hollywood and Vine, I walked over to the bus stop.  It was raining a little bit, and I was definitely ready to go home for the weekend.  The annoying thing is, the 222 bus only comes around every 50 minutes or so.  The rain started to pour harder, but I wanted to stay out there to make sure I could catch the bus.  After half an hour or more, I saw the bus coming our way.  One street before it got to us, it broke down!  I kid you not!  The bus broke down, and I was stranded there for another 50 minutes!  I felt like I had waited very patiently for a long time, and that time became a whole lot longer.  When a functioning bus arrived, I rode it home and walked back to my apartment.  It was only a few minutes before 5:00 when I walked in the door!  At this rate, I might as well work a full day on Fridays!  I relaxed by myself for a while because my roommates were gone, but they got back soon enough.  One of them brought over a friend, and we all went out to the bowling night!  We were excited for a night of free bowling, pizza, chips and salsa, and soft drinks!  When we got there, we put on our shoes and got going!  The pizza wasn't there yet, but we attacked the chips and salsa.  Me, 2 of my roommates, our guest, and another friend formed a group of 5 for bowling.  It was a lot of fun!  I was my typical bowling self, and I scored 53 in the first game and 64 in the second.  I really enjoy bowling, though!  Everybody thinks my bowling technique is funny - they say it looks like I'm throwing a microphone!  One of them called me a "sassy bowler"!  The bowling was fun, the food was delicious, and we had a great time!  After we got kicked out, we went back to the apartment.  Then I went over to another UTLA student's apartment to hang out for a while.  Several hours later, when it was early in the morning, I finally went to bed.  We all slept in quite a bit on Saturday morning, but the afternoon was crazy!  After we ate lunch at The Dog Haus, we left for the Hollywood Sign.  We walked all the way along a hiking trail that led to the top of the mountain!  At our highest point, we were looking down at the sign!  It was a challenging hike, and there were some breathtaking views!  Overall, it was an enjoyable experience.  I'll post some pictures from our adventure tomorrow!  When we hiked all the way down the mountain and drove home, we were exhausted!  We all just chilled at the apartment for a while.  I made myself some dinner and played on my computer while one of my roommates watched a movie.  The next day, I woke up and got ready to go to a new church.  I walked out to the parking area just outside the front gate and met the guy who's giving me a ride!  I got in, and we went to Calvary Bible Church!  (I didn't end up going to Saddleback - sorry, Aaron!)  When we got there, I met a whole bunch more people!  The service started at 10:45 and lasted for roughly an hour and a half.  I really enjoyed it!  It reminded me of my home churches!  Following the service, I met more people, and then we headed off to a Super Bowl party!  One of the church families hosted a party at their house!  We had great food and just played around for a while!  When the game started, we all eventually made our way over to the TV.  Once halftime came around, we just hung out and had fun.  A lot of the parents and little kids left after halftime was over.  The rest of us watched the second half of the game.  I kind of wanted the Seahawks to win, but I'm not particularly fond of either team.  After the game was all over, we went to another person's house.  It was all fun, but I was tired and ready to go home after that.  This morning was like any other Monday morning, except I woke up to a bunch of birthday texts and Facebook posts!  I went to my classes as usual, and I had a quick advisement meeting afterwards, but then it was time to celebrate!  I started "celebrating" by doing laundry, but then my roommates took me out to In-N-Out Burger!  I got my gift card in the mail last week, and I was ready to try it!  I liked my burger and fries, and the chocolate milkshake was amazing!  After we got back, I continued doing laundry, and then I watched "Rain Man" on Netflix.  I hadn't seen it in years.  It is such a wonderful movie!  I enjoyed it much more now than I did then!  I broke into my chocolate birthday cake (Thanks, Mom!), and then my day was basically over.  My mom also bought me a ticket for the Weird Al concert in Bloomington on May 26!  Yay!  I'm so excited!  Tomorrow I continue my internship at Karga Seven.  I can't believe I'm 20 years old!