Insider: How I went from a broken-down car to a fancy-pants bar in 12 easy Steps!

I think God reads my blog.

If you read my last post, you heard about the whole car break-down debacle and how I had to push my car up a massive street in 80+ degrees for about a half hour until I could pull into the first available drive;  the entrance of the Los Angeles Country Club.

Well go back and read it if you need a refresher.

Caught up??

OK - The big reveal......

THEY HIRED ME!!!! I GOT A BARTENDING JOB!!!!

 

The new uniform

And I was much more excited than this picture suggests but it's what I had to work with.

I just have to put this into perspective for you.

I went like this....
1. I was running out of money, big time.
2. I was calling Paramount constantly to find more work - it wasn't happening.
3. I was ready to drive my car off the Santa Monica Pier and let the damn thing drown.
4. My car broke down on the road before I ever made it to the pier - nothing out of the ordinary.
5. I chatted it up with the security crew at the Club while waiting for the tow truck, I mentioned that I used to bar tend at a club in MN, they gave me a resume - sort of a 'poor kid's life is in the toilet' type gesture.
6. I got a call two days later, THE MOMENT I hit "SEND" on my last blog post. "We heard you were interested in bar-tending....." 
7. I went in for an interview the next day
--Now this is important--
They informed me that a position had quite seriously JUST OPENED UP - as one of the older bartenders, and I'm not kidding you, Just passed away two days before 
--OK? still with me?--
8.Then they told me that they were interested in my resume because:
"There was only 1 club that outperformed us last year, and that was Town and Country Club in Minnesota, the club you used to work at, we could use a guy like you..." 
Pretty Crazy, OH! AND! 
9. My Car got hauled to the shop for the umpteenth time BUT this time they actually discovered an electrical short in the wiring, fixed it, and now my car, AND SPEEDOMETER, have been working fine! 

So yeah... Praise God! 

He and I have been having some pretty serious discussions as of late.

One of the more heated ones was while I was pushing my car up the street:

"(heavy breathing) OK God!! Here you go!! If you really want me to...
(turn to wave-off obnoxious driver) GO AROUND A**HOLE!! 
... If you really want me here, I need something big here, please please PLEASE..."


Now I'm not one to really believe that Everything Happens For a Reason...
But I do think that the reason I got the job was because I was able to take a crap situation and find a way to laugh about it with the security crew of a country club, instead of fuming in my car by myself. I don't think I would have been able to do this if I hadn't been in a mind-frame to just think "Screw it, there are bigger things..."
And I really don't think I would have had that mind frame if I hadn't invited God into the situation...

So again, Thank you God!
It shouldn't have taken me this long to express this considering I don't hesitate to tell everyone how terrible my situation is much of the time.
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Well I must say things are getting a bit bizarre here in LA, what with Christmas just around the bend.

I've never really conceptualized what Christmas would be like in a place with no snow but it's starting to feel pretty staged.
It depresses me a little to see people putting up Christmas lights and FAKE SNOW while wearing Flip Flops and shorts....
Witnessing things like this tends to make me feel pretty snobbish:
"Look at this idiot, there's no way he'd last ten seconds putting lights up in Minnesota"
I've also caught myself scoffing at anyone wearing any sort of winter jacket - despite my own dwindled resilience.
It just seems like LA is Celebrating a Minnesotan Holliday.

The nonsense all started last month when they Assembled a Real
Christmas tree at a shopping center near my apartment . Like a giant 3D puzzle,
 they reattached every branch into its designated hole, let the scoffing begin. 

The Final Product...Ok it looks pretty good...

A couple weeks ago, we went to The Grove - the fancy schmansy outdoor shopping area near my apartment so we could watch them light the tree.
The event was to be televised, complete with musical guests like Gavin Degraw, Colbie Callait, and other hot new performers from various hot new Talent Shows and all that.

 Everything was beautiful, but the event was awful.
The producers kept stopping the performances and interviews and resetting for extra takes.
Then they demanded that everyone in the audience applaud so that the camera could capture "all the fun we were having" while waiting over 4 hours for the damn tree to light.
It sucked, we felt like we were being used, kids started crying and people started chanting "Light the TREE!!" but they just cranked up music over the speakers to drown us out.

Then all of the sudden, it started to "snow".

While the sight was beautiful, we soon realized that the "snow" was actually just some kind of chemical soap that tasted like poison and caused several people to leave the event in a cussing fury.

It was actually pretty hilarious. 

We decided to leave after waiting about 4 hours (along with most of the crowd) but were able to catch the fireworks show from my apartment building

These Seats were much better

We decided to head back to the Grove a few nights later and were able to see the final product...

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Well, in case you were wondering...

What has Darth Vader been up to lately??

Apparently hanging around Rite Aid, getting his Flu shot.

He did find time to Stop by Chick-Fil-A before heading back to the Death Star.

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Steph found a store entirely devoted to Harry Potter recently (of course she did) and lived out her dream of being selected to Gryffindor House while a room full of adults dressed in Hogwarts attire congratulated her.

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I found this book at Target and thought it was awesome.

It would appear that Dr. Jekyll is a tad constipated.

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Some people ask us how we've managed to stay grounded while living in LA and avoid succumbing to ridiculous fashion cliche's or becoming pseudo intellects or even "Hipsters"

By cuddling up with an old Steinbeck novel and listening
 to a  second hand vinyl  while  sipping some fair trade
chai and working on our exaggerated mustaches of course.

However,
always on the lookout for new trends, some of LA's citizens find ways to embrace nearly every trend in one confounding statement.
Like this guy...

Fashion Genius? Perhaps.
Ruining my favorite Sub Shop? Yes.

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Okay okay, dragging on.

The last fun thing we did recently was go to Universal Studios.

Yes! The Globe!

Steph snagged a photo with the Apollo 13 crew.

We were lucky enough to catch a throw-back Gloria Estefan music video in the food court.

Saw the "Waterworld" Stunt show: far better than the movie I assure you.

And my personal favorite.
 We got to see some memorabilia from one of my favorite shows,
Friday Night Lights.
 These pads of course belong to Dillon Texas' own Tim Riggins.
"Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can't Lose"

Ok cool, that's it.

Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving, lots of love to my family and friends, and you too I guess.