Tacos, Inception, Oscars, and Lightsabers

Well Friday night we had several people over for Taco night at our apartment. It was a ton of fun and it was good to get to know some more people. We ended up playing spoons with fourteen people followed by mafia. I had not played that game since high school church camp. We then decided to go see Inception at the ArcLight. The ArcLight is a really nice movie theater where you purchase your tickets and get assigned seats. You are not allowed to text or talk during the film and you will get in trouble for it. Kids can go at certain times. Its the snob movie theater. Inception was great the second time around. Still trying to figure out if its real or a dream.

Saturday we all headed to Hollywood Blvd. and went on a tour of the Kodak theater (where the Academy Awards are held). We got to enter on the grand stair case that the celebrities walk up. We went down to where the hosts and presenters hang out before they go on stage. We went into the theater then walked down the hall the celebrities walk down after they have won their Oscar. And we got to see a real Oscar. It was so fascinating.
I then decided to hang out in the area with a group of people instead of heading back to the apartments. We had about 8 hours to kill before the John Williams concert. We grabbed lunch then headed down Hollywood Blvd. looking at the stars. Once we had reached the end, we crossed the street and walked the other way. We realized we should probably head back since the Hollywood Bowl was back. We decided to walk to Sunset and head back that way. Well we saw Amoeba Music and had to go in. The bottom floor is filled with discounted and used CDs and Records. The top floor is packed with used DVDs. I bought 2 DVDs, The Royal Tennenbaums and The Star Wars Trilogy (IV, V, VI). We then spotted Urban Outfitters and had to go in. Needless to say, we killed time. We stopped at Starbucks and realized from there we had doubled our walking time. We took the first 20 minutes to get to the mall by the Kodak Theater and grab dinner before taking the next 20 minute walk up to the Hollywood Bowl.
The Hollywood Bowl was spectacular. John Williams did an awesome job! If you don't know him, he is a composer and did films such as Star Wars, the first 3 Harry Potter films, Jaws, Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, Superman, Catch Me If You Can, Schindler's List and many more. He started the concert with other people's work and ended with Jaws, Indiana Jones and Star Wars. As soon as the Star Wars theme started playing several hundred toy lightsabers popped up in the audience. It was really cool to see. Then when they started playing the Imperial March, all the lightsabers were bouncing in time with the music. I was laughing because it was so funny to see. John Williams ended with an encore playing the theme from Superman. It was a wonderful concert. Definitely one of my top 3.
Sunday I got to go to church on Hollywood Blvd. The service was held in the old Hollywood Pacific Theater. I liked the church, but there are several others that I am going to check out as well.
Today my only class was a camera lab, teaching us how to operate their cameras. The cameras are nice and it will be great working with them. I finished my script and have a interview tomorrow to figure out where I will intern at. I will let you know where I send my resume and keep you updated on whether or not I get that internship.
Life has been going great and I am loving it out here. My roommate and I had a lightsaber battle on our phones this evening after a FroYo run. I also got to talk to my roommates back home Christa and Megan! I miss you guys and it is weird not moving in with you! I have been a bit spoiled here though but I guess thats just
Life from LA

What Do the Silver Surfer, Fauno, and Abe Sapien All Have in Common?

My first celebrity that I have met!
Life has been crazy here in LA! I have been starting classes and working on homework every night while glancing at that pile of movies I checked out from the school DVD library, dying to watch them.
I have been loving the classes here! They are all so interesting and the professors are great! They all co-teach and its great to hear from several different people. I will be making 3-5 films this semester while having an internship (still not sure where yet). Busy yet amazing!
Tonight we got to meet Doug Jones. He played the Silver Surfer in Fantastic 4, Fauno in Pans Labyrinth, and Abe Sapien in Hellboy and Hellboy 2. He was also in Legion and many other films. Check him out on IMDB! He is a Christian actor and came and talked about how he got where he is today. He is hilarious and I had a lot of fun listening to him.

Let me tell you about life here. Well my apartment is 3 1/2 blocks from the school. I walk to the school in the morning then back to the apartment for lunch then back to the school for the afternoon class then back to my apartment for the evening. That is just the daily routine. I also walk to get FroYo (frozen yogurt) and sometimes drive up to Hollywood Blvd and Sunset Blvd then walk around there. You walk everywhere. The other day I went to Sunset Blvd and walked down to Aroma with my roommate Alisha. It was a fabulous restaurant and I highly recommend it. Then we went to Pinkberry a really cute frozen yogurt chain that lots of celebrities go to. It is really good! I did not see any celebrities while I was there though.

Tomorrow I have a small group meeting from 10-2 (free lunch!) then I can spend the evening writing my scrip. Saturday we are going on a tour of the Kodak Theater then heading to the Hollywood Bowl to see John Williams (Harry Potter, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Jaws, Jurassic Park). It will be amazing and I am so excited!

On Tuesday I have an interview with one of the professors for internship possibilities. Then she will submit my resume and I will interview with that company. I will give updates on my internship. I know I will be working Monday, Wednesday, Friday.

Well I am so tired and need to go to bed. I wanted to give you all an update. I am loving LA and am so glad I am here. I know this is where God wants me right now and am so thrilled! I am having a blast and loving
Life from LA

No Longer An Outsider

I had two fabulous classes today! The first was preparing me for my internship (still don't know where yet). We talked about how due to this class and the internship I will have, I am now an insider!
I had the wonderful In N Out Burger for lunch. Then headed to my second class. Jim and Karen Covell talked about looking at Hollywood as a mission field. We are going to a area where many people have not heard the gospel and sharing it with them by the way we live and our actions. We also heard about Karen having to do an interview with Hugh Hefner and decided to approach it about his life and how he grew up. He had a really sad childhood and is looking for love. Yes, he does not go about it in a good way, but it does explain why he lives the way he lives. It was all very interesting to hear! I read a script for homework by the pool and took a dip in the hot tub. But that is
Life From LA

Windows with No Screens

So I am officially moved into my new home! It is a beautiful apartment. I will post some pictures once we finish decorating...for now the walls are bare. (We did buy a rug though!) My new roommates are great. I have really gotten along with them! There are no screens on the windows here. Bugs are not that big of a problem. A small one might come in but is gone fairly quickly. Its weird to not have the screens though. Parking is a disaster in this city though. It is impossible to find where to park. Three of my roommates and I drove down to Target. We parked in a parking garage, grabbed the cart, then took the elevator up right into the store. It was weird. Then after we put way too many items in the cart we checked out. Well i volunteered to buy the things we were splitting the cost on so that the girls could pay me back later. Well the total came to $192.97. I went to use my card, but since I am from out of town the card was declined. I did not have any checks on me and my Target credit card was in my other wallet. I had $52 dollars on me so the rest of the girls pulled their cash together and we got it. It was completely ridiculous, but welcome to my life. I have orientation the next 2 weeks. Its not solid orientation there are classes and interviews and homework, but I won't have a normal schedule for 2 weeks.
Well I have nothing more to share for now. It is late and I need some sleep. I am sure I will have many more adventures to share about
Life from LA

Cold Water, One Dollar

Well the adventures begin even before reaching Hollywood. We had a 14 hour drive from Sterling, Colorado (Northeast corner) to Las Vegas. We stopped in Vail, Colorado for lunch. It was a beautiful town up in the mountains and I could have stayed there for hours. We did stop at Fizziwig’s, the cutest candy shop ever. I got to drive the rest of the way through Colorado and three quarters of the way through Utah. It rained on and off the entire time as I am driving down the mountains. 
 

By 6:30 Dad and I were hungry for dinner so we started looking for restaurants, but we were in the middle of nowhere. We finally made it to Beaver, Utah. Dad’s iPhone showed a Mexican restaurant so we followed the map to it. The map led us to a neighborhood in the middle of nowhere so we ended up at a little diner. The inside was pink and white. I had a good dinner, but Dad’s failed. When we got back on the highway we saw the Mexican restaurant at the next exit. 

Dad drove the rest of the time. We arrived in Las Vegas around ten. We got to Paris Las Vegas Hotel and Casino. The service was great. They got us a bellhop and took care of our car. We didn’t have to carry our luggage up to the room. Once we got to the room we called and the bellhop brought it up. It was so much easier then hauling everything yourself. We found Dad some snacks to feed him since his dinner wasn’t good then headed out to the strip. We watched the Fountain at the Bellagio dance to “All That Jazz.” It was amazing. The water shoots way up into the air. It is beautiful to see. We walked over to Caesar’s Palace and walked around. It is huge. We then went back to our hotel to crash for the night.

The next afternoon was spent at the beautiful pool. We then walked around the Bellagio and Dad played a little 21 and won some money. We walked down the strip and saw Monte Carlo, New York New York, MGM Grand, and Planet Hollywood. As you walk down the street you hear people saying, "Cold water, one dollar." It is great cause you can easily get water to hydrate yourself. We then went to the Flamingo for dinner before heading to the Bellagio to see the Cirque Du Soleil show “O” which was fantastic. I was very impressed by the performance. It was definitely the best show I have ever seen. After a short rest back at the hotel Dad and I headed back to New York New York to go on the roller coaster there. It is crazy. It goes 67 mph and goes upside down and twists around and over the strip. It was a sweet ride. 

The city is amazing! It is also very clean (meaning tidy) except for the occasional cigarette butt and the ads for “escort services” littered on the ground. It is so sad to see at every street men (and some women) handing these out. Dad talked to a police officer and asked about it and we found out that prostitution is legal in Nevada if the population is under 250,000. Since Vegas is not, these people get around it by calling it an escort service. It is really sad to see. Vegas is a beautiful and fascinating city, but it is corrupt. It has been amazing to see and I am thrilled I got this opportunity.

Tomorrow we are going to relax by the pool, grab some lunch and head to Hollywood! Well that’s 

Life from (almost) LA.

Just Another Blog

This is my first post in my LA blog. I am in a hotel in the middle of Sterling, Colorado (Northeast corner) on my way LA. As I travel to Los Angeles for a semester of school, I figured I would write a blog so my friends and family can see what is happening in my life. I plan on updating it once a week sometimes more often depending on what is going on. Enjoy cause this is Life from LA