Hurricane Sandy

I hope everyone on the East Coast is staying inside. I will be sending a million good thoughts your way.

Quick Update

I hope your Saturday is off to a good start, if it has started at all. I am bored and awake with allergies and am sweating for no reason I can surmise. My cat woke me up yesterday by poking me in the eye and then sneezing in my face twice so it's been a wonderful 24 hours for hygiene.

Things are going okay in Los Angeles lately. I hung out with a friend I made at my book club two days in a row, which was nice. The first night, we walked around the Third Street Promenade and got some dinner and wine. The night after, we went to see one of the editors of The Onion read from The Onion Book of Known Knowledge at the Barnes and Nobles along with an actress friend of hers. There was this super creepy guy sitting next to us and at some point during the Q&A segment, he started his statement with, "You can use this joke if you want." I didn't hear the joke but I'm certain it wasn't funny and just really awkward. He also didn't actually ask proper questions. One was, "It's weird that some people think your stories are real. I never thought your stories were real. I can tell by reading them." Aside from all the weirdness that the poor editor was dodging, I did get a chance to ask where all the pictures of their columnists like Jean Teasdale and Smoove B come from. They are all taken from a Wisconsin community college yearbook from the late 80's. That was probably the best answer I could have ever hoped for.

I've also been hanging out with a few of my neighbors occasionally and I made tentative coffee plans with someone I've never actually met. That's probably super weird but she's the significant other of one of Mat's coworkers so I'm fairly sure she doesn't plan on selling my teeth. I never thought I'd ever be asking people I don't know to hang out but that is where I find myself. When I was 15, I promised myself that I would never reach the level of loneliness that I had the summer between 9th and 10th grade and I've kept that promise, no matter how painstakingly awkward making friends as an adult can feel. Besides, I'm pretty sure everyone in LA is just as desperate for human contact as I am. I'd be shocked if someone DIDN'T want a new friend.

My fall allergies have been giving me headaches and stomach cramps so I haven't felt like doing much. If things are better by tomorrow, I might go hang out with some cats and dogs at an animal shelter. Sunday is my first improv class! I am already thinking of really awful names for a future improv group. I'm channeling Michael Scott as best I can.

Here is a picture of a lovely little pup that a super cool family is fostering. She is available for adoption out here in Los Angeles and if I was able to have a dog in my apartment, I would have snatched her up days ago. If anyone is interested, I will point you in the right direction.

Have a great weekend.

PIC OVERLOAD!!!

It has been a long time since I've been on here. I am really bad about keeping up with things. I'm one of those people who abandons their New Years resolutions by 3PM on January 1st. I will have to make a concerted effort to be better about it. In the meantime, I will let you know what has been going on over the past week or so because that's what I took pictures of.

Last Saturday was the League of Legends Season 2 World Championships, which was really cool. I don't really know that much about the game yet but it was still a lot of fun. I really wanted to catch a t-shirt from the t-shirt cannon but since I was sitting in the Rioter section, they didn't shoot them at us. Maybe next time. A big congrats to TPA, who probably don't read this.

Last Sunday, October 14, was my birthday. At first, I was really down about how I'd probably be spending it alone as all my friends are back on the East Coast. However, my super amazing friends, Dana and Dennis, came to visit from Brooklyn ON MY BIRTHDAY. It was ridiculously awesome. They spent the day with Mathew and me. We went to the La Brea Tar Pits, which was everyone's first time there aside from Mat. I definitely recommend going at least once (but not into the actual museum because it's like $12 a person and I am super cheap). The Pits smell like oil and have statues of prehistoric elephants drowning to their death, which is total non-horrifying fun for the entire family. Here is an example:

We also went to the Beverly Center, which is the big mall in Beverly Hills. It is also where all of the stereotypes about women in Beverly Hills truly come to life. I went to Sephora and there was literally a line of women in short skirts, high heels, and little dogs. I have no idea how any human being can possibly shop like that but I'm sure they were looking at me (if they even noticed me) thinking, "Why is this 12-year-old boy in Sephora without his mom?" We had dinner at a "gastro pub" (God, that term is awful) up the block from my house and it was delicious. All-in-all, it was a lot of fun. Thank you to Dana and Dennis for making my birthday awesome!

Also, thank you to my friends who sent me gifts here in Los Angeles. It was really nice to feel like people remembered me. You guys are so great and I love you!

It hasn't been easy to come out on my own with no friends or family here. It can get rather lonely but I've been meeting a lot of people. I joined a book club and made a friend there, I am starting improv classes next week (thanks to a generous birthday donation from my lovely parents), and I have joined a Facebook group of the significant others of people Mat works with. We spent the day yesterday on a tour of LA with them that his company put together. It was really awesome. We went to the Walt Disney Concert Hall, ate at Hard Rock Cafe, and checked out the Getty Museum. It was really incredible of them to do that for us. Here are some photos of the trip:

This is the Lillian Disney fountain at the concert hall. It is made out of expensive dutch porcelain. Sadly, Lillian Disney died before she could see it and hopefully before she could see the hideous airport bathroom carpet used throughout the whole building.

Here is a view of Downtown Los Angeles from a balcony at the Concert Hall. It was pretty overcast, which was really weird and unnerving because after only 2 months here, I already forgot what rain is.

This is a view of the freeway from the Getty Museum tram. In order to get from the parking lot to the museum, you have to take a tram that goes up through hills and the view is incredible. I have no idea if this view is of the east or the west. Your guess is as good as mine.

Here is another amazing view from the cactus garden at the Getty Museum. Obviously, you cannot go down and see all of the cacti up close because you can possibly die if you fall on one but I thought this was a good second option.

The sky just looks really cool in this pic.

A cute bridge.

 The centerpiece of the Getty Museum garden. I think it might be a crop circle but I also think I'm probably wrong about what it is.

A pretty unimpressive picture of the Hollywood sign but whatever. If you've seen movies, you know what it looks like.

Here is a picture of Mat and me at the cute bridge. I am only posting it because I rarely take a photo I don't think I look fat in and here's one.

The trip was really awesome and I made new friends who I am making plans to hang out with. Also, one of Mat's coworkers just moved directly across the street and she invited me over for sangria and crafts so major score.

I still miss Brooklyn and I'm not entirely at home in LA yet but I am feeling a bit more optimistic about it. I am applying for jobs and as soon as I get one, I will start saving up for a trip back to NYC. Hopefully I can celebrate someone's birthday with them there, too.

I hope you're all having a great weekend and I'll try to take more pictures and update on a more frequent basis. Bye!