I'm movin' on

Well it's now official! I am living in Hollywood, CA--not that it's much to write about, honestly, it's kind of a dirty party of town--as of today. I am moving into a really cool apartment with a guy I met through a friend in Orange County. We drove around all day for about 2 days and after finding what I thought we were going to move in to we decided to go with something different and I'm so glad we did. This place is a two bed/two bath with a nice kitchen, fresh paint and new carpets. BUT the selling point for me is the rear ground level patio with a little garden around the outside. It will be a wonderful escape from the daily insanity of life here.

Now that I have a place...I need to get furniture. Yes it's true I sold everything except my coat rack my grandma got for me. So I'll be Craig's listing it up and THEN...you (general public) will have no excuse to stay away from LA.

My new pics are posted on my Flickr

...too cute...

Sometimes I get the chance to snap some really cute pics of Maddie and Sophie. This was that time and I love these shots. There are a few more on my flickr so check those on the right side of the page.

...i like your sweater...

I have a friend who works on the show "Monk" and he and I had lunch the other day and I went back on set. Some of you might remember that I worked as a P.A. for about a week and a half when I got out here. (incidental I just bought the episode I worked on--a Christmas episode--where my car was used as background and it was cool to see it)

So I went back on set and Sarah Silverman was a guest on this episode. We chatted...yeah I 'chatted' with Sarah Silverman. The following is transcript of the conversation:



Sarah: That's a cool sweater. I like the little pockets.
Me: Oh wow, thanks. Yeah I can't really figure out how to utilize them properly. They are so small. (cram fingers into pocket like reaching into the bottom of a too small chip bag)
Sarah: (chuckle) Yeah. Well at least you look comfortable
Me: Yeah, nothing says comfort like this (strike pose)

Then she was called back on set.

So maybe she's a vulgar, over-the-top, abrasive, sometimes annoying female comedian. She likes my sweater and I like her.

Just wanted to share.

...reality...

Los Angeles is not all palm trees and beauties. I just found out tonight that a girl I work with, her boyfriend and two others were attacked at a bar about a week ago.

Evidently there was a scuffle inside the bar and my friends went outside. My co-worker (female) was knocked out with a blow to the back of her head. Her boyfriend came up to fight the guy who knocked her out and was blind sided by a guy with a knife who stabbed him. Then two others were stabbed including my friend's boyfriend's best friend.

Another of my friends ran up to the best friend who had been stabbed deeply in the neck and held his neck while blood poured all over her. The guy died as ambulance crews were arriving.

This stuff is real. I forget about all sides of life. There is obviously deep hurt and I'm sure for many of you this is an "oh my gosh....what will I get for lunch today." And I understand that because it's kind of that way to me b/c 1) I wasn't there 2) I didn't know all those involved.

But it's just a reality check that:

Life really is out of our hands and is often not what we planned (including when and how we die).

So it's a charge to not take anything for granted. I charge us all to remember everyday we wake up that not everyone gets today. Not everybody makes it this far.

What are you doing with today?

Daniel Correa, 28

Daniel Correa, 28, a white man, was stabbed in a fight in the parking lot of the Blarney Cove bar in the 22000 block of Roscoe Boulevard in Northridge at about 2 a.m. Saturday, March 3, and later died. Two other men were stabbed in the fight but survived. A woman, 43-year-old Diana Tisinger, has been arrested for stabbing one of the survivors, but police believe Correa's killer is still at large. Many people were present during the fight; few have cooperated. Police ask anyone willing to come forward to call them at (818) 832-0554. (Correa is at left. This case was not on the coroner's list. Information is from police.)

website

...welcome to LA...

The caption on the license plate says:
"It's all about me/
Who the Hell are you?"


Welcome to the City of Angels

...NOT LA...

This was a picture of a sign I found south of LA in a little beach town. I thought the prices were just so absurd I had to document them.

...a note of encouragement...

If you are anything like me I often find myself stuck trying to figure out what God wants me to do, which doors to walk through, things to say, places to go to, etc., etc.

I was reading in a devotional book compiled by Jim Branch and came across this excerpt that I thought I'd share. It's a bit long but worth the read.

"I am not sure exactly what all I think we mean when we say that we are made in the image of God. But part of it, I believe, is that the calling voice of God is sounding out in the caves and caverns deep beneath the soil of our souls. And it is by obeying this call we learn who we truly are and what we can become.
So if I do not seem to hear him speak from outside, and if there does not seem to be any message from the sky, then I must listen to the voice that is within me. For that voice, too, is the purposeful, calling voice of God to us.
Not many of us have enough confidence in ourselves to listen to that whispering voice that comes from within. Most of the time, we do not even hear it. But it doesn’t matter because we wouldn’t trust it. We cannot believe that this inner voice is capable of leading us due north.
We seek advice from friends and professionals, disc jockeys and Dear Abbys. We put out a fleece. We flip coins. We take aptitude tests. We do everything but believe that we could possibly have the answers deep within.
The message of Paul in this place is that calling indded comes in the lives fo the unlikely and the “foolish.” You think you are unlikely; well you’re not. You have difficulty believing that God could do great things in you; well, he wouldn’t.
Now if God can take a tiny seed and, in the process of giving it his life, endow it with a knowledge of what it is supposed to be; if he can give it the purpose and strength and fruitfulness to not only accomplish it all, but to perpetuate itself as well; and if he can give it an inner calendar to tell it when all of this is supposed to be done, why is it so hard to believe he has done the same for our hearts?
Since he has done this for tomatoes and thistles and beans and dandelions, it shouldn’t stretch our credibility so much to believe that his image in us, the image inherent in the life he gives to each of us, is calling us to be.
The trick is to hear the voice, to believe it, and to trust it."

See You at the House
By Bob Benson

I just really thought this was powerful and so I wanted to share it with y'all.