July 2008 - Posts

Sh...Sh...Sh...Shaking...
30 July 08 01:09 PM | Lin_See | with no comments

Yes, there was an earthquake yesterday. No, I didn't even know it until I saw the news. I was in my car, it shook a little, I thought my car was dying. I pulled over, my car was fine. It was no big deal. I guess now I've experienced everything L.A.

Now I'm just trying to get my stuff together so I don't have to spend ALL day tomorrow packing.  Ugh. I didn't even know I brought this much stuff. Sigh. These last two days are going to be the most painful. I'm ready to be on the road so I'm antsy, but I'm sad to be leaving my internship. I wish I could just bring the internship home. That would be awesome.

Also, now that home is only a few days away, my brain is switching out of intern mode and into teacher/student mode. I'm three papers behind on my internship journals that I have to keep for credit. Plus, now I have to start thinking about writing my HUUUUUGE research paper about the internship. Ugh. That will not be fun. As soon as I get home I have to start getting ready for class too. I have books to buy and lessons to plan.

Oh yeah, I DID actually get my GA approved for one more semester. There was a bit of a crisis there because originally the graduate college said I wouldn't be able to be a GA (I have my own theory on this, but they CLAIMED I had taken too many classes outside of my course of study -- but I'm pretty sure it had more to do with a certain person -- but that's neither here nor there) thanks to Dr. Buzzard (the dept. head, who has been so supportive of all of us students out here interning), Dr. Larson (who's just awesome!), and Diana (also awesome), and my advisor Dr. Bauman (who is always helpful and always seems to have the information I need) the graduate college kindly agreed to extend my GA to include this fall semester, but I do HAVE to graduate in December. So thank goodness for that.

So now my brain is shifting and I'm not really here and I don't think I'm really there either. I'm somewhere in between -- Kansas maybe. HAH!

But I am sad to be leaving. My internship was awesome (though if I NEVER hear the phrase 'flyover state' again it will be too soon, and I'M FROM MISSOURI! Not MIchigan, not Wisconsin, MISSOURI -- I know, I know, it's one of those states you've never been too and therefore in your opinion is just some backwoods yokel farm of no consequence...) all of the people I met are amazing and they had some really good advice to give me on an almost daily basis. It's been nice to be on the inside of this industry for awhile so that all of my future plans and hopes are less about conjecture and a little more practical now.  

I still don't know what will happen after I graduate. I'm just trying not to think about it. I have no plans.

Maybe that's a good thing.

Oh well, back to packing! 

Go away, Queen of the highway...
19 July 08 11:54 PM | Lin_See | with no comments

We're tourists again!

Well, we were today anyways.

In spite of the fact that I got some pretty rotten news about my Graduate Assistantship yesterday (grrrrr...), I decided to join Brianna, Matt, and Luke for some sightseeing today. This weekend is the last weekend we are all going to be here. Luke is leaving Monday, then Brianna and Matt are leaving next Friday and I will be heading out the Friday following that. So we went to Hollywood. 

First we had to find sustenance at McDonalds.

 

But before that we made a pit stop at Sacred Heart hospital (AKA North Hollywood Medical Center) it's the abandoned hospital where they shoot the t.v. show 'Scrubs' and it's REALLY close to where we are staying.

 

 

 

Too bad they were apparently not shooting today (Saturday, duh!) I was hoping to catch a glimpse of Zach Braff....or at least the roof toilet. Unfortunately, neither were there.

From there, we trekked on down Cahuenga and up Passmore to Kathy Griffin's house. Because we, as a hotel room, are now Team Griffin wannabes...

 

 

Her house was really easy to find, but the road sucked, it was sooooo narrown and curvy. It was scary at times and I was afraid we would never be able to turn around. But we did. We tried to get Luke to buzz the buzzer and ask for Tom (he IS from St. Louis after all) but he wouldn't. We did see one of her dogs at the top of the driveway. We think someone was home...

 

From there it was on down to Hollywood. We bummed around Hollywood Blvd. and took pictures at Graumans for awhile.

 

That one's for you Mom -- it's Mickey Gilley!!!!

 

 

This is where the Oscars are held!!!!

Hmmm...the singer or the dog?

I found Wall-E!!!!

ha ha ha ha ha!!!

Betcha' didn't know that!

Hollywood sign from Hollywood Blvd.

Hollywood.

Then we headed out on our great Hollywood sign adventure.

It must have been her Super Sweet 16 -- GAG!

 

We had vague directions on how to get there (if you count take Beechwood as directions). Another curvy and steep and narrow road. We went too far up Beechwood and ended up above and behind the sign. So we turned around (no easy feat) and went back. This time we veered onto Ledgewood (?) and took it all the way up past the signs that said 'No Hollywood Sign Access' and 'Restricted Area' up to the sign. We got really really close. It was really neat.

 

 
Then, the BEST part of the whole day -- we found the Scranton Office Park. Also very close to where we are staying. This is where they shoot 'The Office' Again, I was hoping to see Jenna Fischer or John Krasinski. No such luck, though since Jenna Fischer IS from St. Louis (and Kirk (from Gilmore Girls) sister-in-law) I'm sure if she had been there she would have been nice to us. I DO have Missouri plates after all.

 

After that we met up with Brianna's friend Zack and had a nice dinner at California Pizza Kitchen (thanks for the gift card Mom!) and topped that off with some Ben and Jerry's.

All in all a fun, touristy day. Tomorrow -- probably swimming in the pool.

For now, I have a script to finish and turn in (blech, it needs to be rewritten AGAIN!) and some Com. Theory papers to write. Not to mention a strategy to plan so I can somehow figure out how to regain my Graduate Assistantship -- it's only for one more semester...geez. MSU is not on my happy list right now. Sorry, I know this is an MSU affiliated blog, but I can't help it. I am not happy.

 
MILES TODAY: 40ish

Total Gas To Date: $500ish

Song For the Day: "Prescilla" - Bat for Lashes
 

 

My goal is...I'd like a career of something...
15 July 08 09:51 PM | Lin_See | with no comments

This was my weekend.

Okay, so that's not a picture of MY tire, that's just one I found on the internet. I forgot to take a picture of the RUIN -- ABSOLUTE RUIN -- that was my tire Friday night.

As I was leaving work, I overshot on trying to get over on the road to get out of the way of an oncoming car and hit the curb. THUMP THUMP THUMP. That's the sound of my wheel bending as I dragged my car over out of the way. Oh guess what! I left my phone at home that day. So that was awesome. Luckily there were still a couple guys at work.

Thank God!

Scott changed my tire for me (THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU) but the little donut spare was desperately in need of air. Not to mention the fact that my tire was DEAD and my wheel was bent and there was no way on Earth I was going to make it much further than home that night, let alone all the way back to Missouri.

So we went back to the trailer, where John was hanging around, to try and find the closest Wal Mart (there's not one) or somewhere I could get my car fixed.  Thank goodness John was still around, he gave me the name of a place that he had used and said wouldn't overcharge me.  Then they printed the directions off for me and I was finally able to go home.  It was about 3 hours after I had initially started for home...

 Ugh.

Everyone was gone when I got back. They decided to go to Pink's - some famous L.A. hot dog place.  Stupid tire. No hot dogs for me. Oh well, I think I'm over the touristy stuff, or rather, I'm just too tired and lazy these days to care anymore about seeing stuff. It's too much of an ordeal to fight traffic. Oh well.

So I had the room to myself for a few hours which gave me a chance to call Dusty and catch up.(Happy late anniversary) And as is usually the case, we talked for like two and a half hours. And then I was just sad. I miss my best friend. It's really sad that we can't hang out and watch SG-1 together in person. The phone is just not as fun.

So the weekend was pretty uneventful because I had to get up early Saturday to get my tire fixed. $134 later, it's fixed for now, but apparently I still probably have to get a new wheel when I get home. Grrr. The worst part was that my back started spasming REALLY bad Friday night, I'm sure because I was stressed out about the stupid tire, but it didn't stop until yesterday and Sunday I had some serious concerns that I was becoming paralyzed.

Oh well, it's fixed now.

Yesterday I worked 12 hours and it was actually a really busy day.  Salli Richardson (Allison on Eureka) came to the office, but of course, because I am now living under the black cloud of bad karma (although John's the one who was speculating on the political leanings of Jesus so I don't know why I'M the one being punished) she came and went in the span of time that it took me to go get lunch for everyone. So I didn't even get to see her, let alone meet her.  That sucked. Oh well.

So all in all, I won't be calling VH1 to tell them about my 'Best Week Ever.'

MILES TODAY -  ZERO! Because the pool is only about 100 feet away from the room...

TOTAL GAS SO FAR - $475ish

SONG FOR THE DAY - 'Incomplete' - Alanis Morissette
 

$9,104...I counted it...twice...
10 July 08 11:58 PM | Lin_See | with no comments

I now understand why my parents forced me to stop reading Babysitter's Club books in the 3rd grade.

Books are expensive.

Case in point -- the EIGHT books I've cycled through since last Thursday.  It's getting expensive.  This is why I worked at Borders for so long...free books to borrow and an employee discount.

Sigh. 

I can't find the time to write my mind the way I want it to read...
09 July 08 10:57 PM | Lin_See | with no comments

Bruce Miller writing lesson for the day:

"If you can't sum it up in 6 words or less then you don't know what it is (and therefore cannot write it)." 

This is very true.  You should be able to sum up each beat within 6 words.  If you can't then you really have no idea what story you are telling.  That's according to Bruce, who just minutes after telling me this, proceeded to break his own rule and put up a beat card that had no less than 12 words, thus proving the rule.

HA! Very good day today!

I got to write the cards in the room today.  That means as Bruce and Curtis and Ed and Jon came up with beats for each act, they told me and wrote down what they said on giant index cards which were then put up on the board in order.

We also had some lively discussion about sexual harassment, kiddie porn (we're against it), and Alicia Silverstone in Clueless...

We also took some time out to have Art Class...

Yes, that is supposed to be Earth -- according to Jon, the artist...he was drawing from the perspective of the southern hemisphere and the giant orange thing in the middle is north and south America...and no, he CLAIMS he didn't confuse Florida's coast, but according to him, the Yucatan peninsula is much larger than Florida.

Well, then Curtis had to get in on the action -- hence the Enterprise (yes, it's supposed to be the enterprise - you should have seen the viper he TRIED to draw -- it ended up looking like the Enterprise was pooping out stars, but I digress) which is apparently attacking Earth...and not that's NOT a carrot floating through space -- it's supposed to be a dude, in a capsule...

Not to be outdone by Script Coordinator and Supervising Producer, P.A. Scott had to get in on the art action...

Now this one might be a little more difficult to see, but off to the left of the dueling Enterprise and Earth is a Hot Dog Spaceship...though I've never seen anyone put a hot dog vertically into a bun and why a hot dog spaceship that shoots hot dogs (yes, that's supposed to be a hot dog, not a large piece of bacon) in space, at the Enterprise no less, is needed in this scenario...I have no idea...

Unfortunately my camera missed the "draw a better Earth than John's" action in which Scott tried to best John's artistic ability by drawing the North and South American continents, complete with an Alaska that strongly resembled a chicken leg.

But, kudos to John for at least being geographically knowledgeable enough to even attempt to draw the Earth.

HA!

And that was all the excitement we could handle today.

And all the excitement I can handle relating to you so I leave you today with photographic images of the BEST waffle and chicken breast lunch I've ever had.  Courtesy of last Sunday, Roscoe's House of Chicken and Waffles (thanks for the tip Matt, I'm still investigating the t-shirt issue), and my trusty iPhone (3G comes out FRIDAY! YAY!)

BEFORE

AFTER

It was mmmmm...Good! (sorry, no mullet lady...) 

Filed under: L.A., Writer's Room, Internship, Tips

I'd like to think the best of me, is still hiding up my sleeve...
08 July 08 07:07 PM | Lin_See | with no comments

Okay...how in the world does THIS happen --

 We are in L.A. -- home of the STARS -- ALL SUMMER...and Matt is the one meeting and rubbing elbows with the celebs! In Springfield!

So not fair...

And speaking of not fair...

That's Crackers...he's up for adoption at Petfinder.  RIght now he lives in Pryor, OK with his foster mom who found him abandoned and abused on the side of the road.  His hair was so matted he had to be shaved and he had some injuries.  The lady has been taking care of him for about four months or so. I was going to adopt him.  I wanted to adopt him anyway.  My Mom (HI MOM!) finally called the lady (because I was whining so much about him) and it turns out that I can't have him.  It appears that he will probably need more vet care than I can afford.  In the last four months he's been on antibiotics twice.  I am poor. No Crackers for me.

But someone should really adopt him.  He needs a home. 

I think the people who work at the Barnes & Noble down the street here think I am insane.  I bought a book, this book...

I bought it because I thought it was the third book of the series (Secret History of the Pink Carnation series) and that's the one I haven't read yet.  Then I started reading it and realized -- I've read this before, so I went back to Barnes and Noble intending to get...

Well, it turns out that this one IS ACTUALLY the second one and the one I bought the other is in fact the 3rd book.  This is just another hazard of working in a bookstore -- I've read the first chapter of about a MILLION books, which always makes me think I've read things when I haven't. ANYWAY the girl at the counter looked at me like I was a blister on her toe when I told her - oops, no I don't want to exchange that book, I'll keep it.  But I bought another book too so she really should have been nicer about it. Grrr.

I've read about 5 whole books in the last 5 days.  That's good, but it's really cutting into my homework time.  I've been slacking on my rewrite and only just today did I finally finish my papers for the last two weeks of my internship and get them turned in...about a week late.

Oh well, I'm really glad it's Tuesday because Tuesday is 'Deadliest Catch' day!!!

YAY!!! Totally my favorite show!! I want to be a crab fisherman in Alaska!

Okay, really I just want to work for Mike Rowe.  I would be a really good personal assistant...or whatever.  I just want to work for the Discovery Channel...well, that's really just my backup plan, I still have faith in Brittany's ability to get me a job at Frontline or The Journal.

Summer t.v. sucks, except for the Deadliest Catch! Thank goodness for the Discovery Channel!

Total miles today: ZERO!

Total Gas so far: Approx: $475 (only 15 mpg on the last tank of gas I got....ugh)

Song for the Day: Citizen of the Planet -- Alanis Morissette 

You can sleep a little longer, you can dream another dream...
06 July 08 11:38 PM | Lin_See | 1 comment(s)

 I've been a bit preoccupied this week.

You can thank Stephenie Meyer (and Andrea for suggesting it) for writing the Twilight saga.  I devoured all three books in less than 3 days.  And now I am desperately awaiting the release of the 4th book 'Breaking Dawn.'  The only problem -- it comes out on August 2nd.  I will be on the road.  Boo.  But I did call Borders and had Bambi (HI BAMBI!!!) reserve a copy for me so it should be waiting for me when I get home.  I kind of don't want to read it though because then the whole thing is over and I'm stuck waiting impatiently until December 12 for the movie...

Sigh.

Vampires are awesome. Thanks so much Joss Whedon (sarcasm).  I would never have given a second thought to them if it weren't for Buffy...and Angel...mostly Angel...and thanks so much for Angel because as awesome as vampires are now I kind of want to be Temperance Brennan.  Although I guess I could blame that on David Boreanaz and Hart Hanson.

And yes, I did just make a random connection from teenage vampires to slayers to forensic anthropologists.  Don't ask how...just enjoy.

I should be writing my paper for this week right now.  But I really don't want to. I can think of a lot more exciting things that analyzing the details of organizational and interpersonal communication in the writer's room.  Besides, I haven't even been IN  the writer's room for over a week.  I had Friday off and Monday and Wednesday were incredibly uneventful.  That seems to happen when NO ONE is in the office.  

I'm a little uncertain of my footing within the whole social/professional structure of those offices.  I got comfortable with the internship duties and the atmosphere pretty early on, but I'm finding out that maybe my Midwestern sensitivities are a little more prominent than I thought.  Or at least from their perspective.  I don't know. Or maybe I just worry too much about whether people like me or not.  Oh well, all I can do is go in everyday and do the best I can.  And that's what I'm trying to do.  I just hope it's enough.

ANYWAY

There are a lot of things that I am observing and learning from in my time in the writer's offices.  I don't really feel comfortable going into detail here because this is pretty much an open blog and ANYONE can read it and I signed a confidentiality contract that I don't want to violate.  But I'm learning a lot about people, the industry, and maybe even myself.

The summer is starting to wear on me.  The city is starting to wear on me, though I am now pretty proficient in finding my way around.  I still don't understand the seemingly random smattering of sub-suburbs and tiny towns that actually make up L.A. but I understand a little better about the way things are set up and how to get from point A to point B even without directions.
 

Needless to say, as interesting as L.A. is, I am ready to be home and I am still not 100% sold on the city as the place I would CHOOSE to live if given other options.  But, I am resigned to the fact that I will most likely HAVE to move out here for some portion of time.  But I am exploring all of my options at this time.  I'm putting aside the homesickness because I know that's mostly brought on by the fact that I left an ENTIRE life back home and I HAVE to go back now to fulfill my teaching contract and finish my degree.  I'm fine with that.

But I know that December is going to come way too soon.  I still have no idea what to do after graduation.  I don't even want to think about it.

We did nothing for the fourth of July.  That was just fine with me because it was hot.  I have spent the last 4 days at the pool.  I enjoy the pool.  It's relaxing and provides plenty of time for my reading obsessions.

Okay, well, no pictures or celebrity sightings this week, so if you made it this far congrats to you and wow, you must have a lot of time on your hands...

=)