Monday, July 7, 2008

The End of the See

Since wi-fi in LAX costs $9.99 per day (WTF?!!! What good is having a mac with Airport if the actual airport sucks big fat ass?!) I started writing this waiting for my delayed red-eye in Los Angeles and am posting it the next day in Philadelphia. Yeesh.

So. The end of Operation Los Angeles Go-See has come to an end. (After 14 hours of travel spanning the nation, via changeovers in Newark, Trenton, and ending in King of Prussia, PA. Heeeelllllll.)

But it’s okay, because the rest of the Operation was a hearty success! Hurrah! I got to spend some quality time sitting with my fellow Angelenos on the 101 (sans air conditioning, thank you very much), dined at the #1 restaurant in LA, Lucques, swam with musicians and red seaweed in Malibu, had some lengthy discussions with some awesome actors about how great/horrible/exciting/terrifying it is living in the entertainment capital of the world, took a look at a SWEET apartment I can’t afford unless I start selling my eggs, drove around a hybrid and pretended it was mine, and vomited in a plastic bag in the parking lot of a Holiday Inn the morning after my big birthday bash in a resort paid for by my boyfriend’s law firm. Awesome all around!

Puke aside, my goals for this trip were two-fold: explore LA both as an actor and as a potential citizen. I felt the need to really push myself to do so, or else I’d rock back into that happy little nook of laziness I’ve wickedly gotten too comfortable with in Manhattan; however, I feel entirely satisfied with what I’ve discovered. Not only is Los Angeles chock full of sunshine and blue skies, it’s also crowding with hills and mountains, hazy cerulean ocean, and opportunites to explore nature in every corner. Not to say it’s not as urban of an environment as you’ll find, but the beauty of this town is that you wander down the busiest of intersections and suddenly find yourself surrounded by houses in a picture perfect example of suburbia. You can hide yourself away in a secret neighborhood and forget you’re in LA at all.

And then came the incessant interviews. In asking my college friends, all of whom have lived here for 3 years or less, the general consensus is that the quality of living is better than in New York. All of my friends have settled into sweet homes in good neighborhoods they like and can afford, a rampant problem in New York. But some things never change: muggings, identity theft, perverts, and bad drivers. Urban living is urban living.

In reference to the questions pertaining to the actual business, an actress/writer/director/producer I met through the Tisch Alumni East told me that despite the extreme susceptibility to slide into deep loneliness here (no one gets out of their cars) she was wholly grateful to Los Angeles. She was pushed to discover herself, what she wanted out of herself and her career, what she felt passionate about (theater) and how to bring it into her life (produce her own work and start her own theater company.) Another actress, a friend of a friend, told us over lunch in Los Feliz how creative and how extraordinarily involved the community is. She reassured me that there is work out here, strike or not, there are projects going on, and that creating a life for yourself through acting is feasible. That was the word of the lunch: feasible. What is doable? What can I accomplish?

I am more encouraged than ever by this trip the answer to that is a positive one. I can accomplish whatever I want, whether it is acting or writing, dancing or lawyering.

The positivity is already working! I got called in for more work for One Life to Live, which I can't do anyway, aaaand my agent called me in for a live industrial for the Eagles (whaaat) which will pay me so much money for 2 1/2 weeks that I won't have to worry about my move at all. The bad news is, it literally screws up every other plan I have for this summer. Whatevs, I'm getting carried away.

Anyway. In conclusion. To quote the Decemberists: Los Angeles, I’m Yours. I’ll see you in October? Yes.

Next up: Operation Make a Whole Shitload of Money.

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