Life at La Brea, Disney Nights, and the price of a Post-it note

I'm looking at my notebook where I have outlined topics of my past week to write about.
This is what I have so far.

Danny's week:

1. stupid job
2. watched 'Aliens'
3. ?
4. watched 'Aliens' again

Well that's about it, see you next time.

Okay not true.
This week, despite its sluggishness, has been pretty nice. 
As many of you know, I have again resumed residency at the Park La Brea Apartments, and life in 33-9J is great thanks to central AC and wonderful cast (get it? film joke).
The amenities at PLB are great. Nice gated area, three courtyards, my own parking space, gym & pool (parking, gym & pool sold separately) and a couple of cafe's, which are great places for me to, you know, focus on my script writing. That's no joke, I made the mistake of mentioning a "great movie idea" in the presence of my roommates (3 of them are aspiring writers) and found myself in front of a screen, writing out a "beat sheet" organizing storyline and plot development. Yesterday we completed a full 45 step outline of the film and plan on moving into writing the first act this week. This is what you get when you surround yourself with creative minds I suppose. Living in a room full of writers is a lot like living in a perpetual kindergarten. Toys and movies and games and Triscuits sit strewn throughout the living room illuminated with the artificial light of at least 4 ever-glowing computer screens. The conversation in the room typically surrounds movies (go figure) and is usually accompanied by a cacophony of sound effects, usually machine gun fire or the Death Star blowing up,
"But dude, I mean c'mon, there is no oxygen in outer-space, how could the Death Star go up in flames?"
"Are you saying Lucas had it wrong?! Ok he might not write the best dialogue but the guy is a genius, don't talk to me about explosions man, I think it fits."

Steph and I throwing the football in the PLB courtyard

From my bedroom window

 Burnside cafe at PLB

Working on my 'writing beard'

BWW's Cinco de Mayo bash

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Living in a gated oasis, separated from the hustle and bustle of the "city life" has thrust me into a living situation experienced my many in LA. Life in a cell. Earlier this week Steph and I took a drive through her neighborhood in Bel Air to see what her rich and famous neighbors were up to on a Saturday morning. We soon realized that unless our heads were on a constant swivel, we weren't going to see much between the cracks in the iron gates and 12-foot hedges. The stress was only further compounded while we spent most of our time driving fast enough to keep Tailgating-Maserati-Slick Haired-Bluetooth-Guy from setting down his exotic coffee drink and laying on the horn. Beautiful Drive.
If you've ever dreamed of coming to LA and taking a Hollywood Stars Tour, save your money. It's like going to the zoo and trying to see every exhibit in 10 minutes but all the animals are asleep in their caves because they're nocturnal. I see those jokers riding around in those re-purposed convertible vans wearing $2 headphones and looking completely miserable.
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Well, while most of the weather around the country seems to improve, LA braces itself to enter "June-gloom". This phenomenon has been explained to me about 5 times so I have received about 5 different stories as to why it happens. Apparently the sky will turn gray and the wind will blow and freeze life and people will hide indoors. I will say that it has been drastically cooling down lately (today is a dismal 55 degrees and partly cloudy). I have unfortunately lost much of my Mid West resilience.
To keep our Spirits high, the roommates have engaged in various weekly rituals, Buffalo Wild Wing Thursdays and Disney Night Mondays have been some of my favorites. We have been watching the classic Disney movies in chronological order (strictly for educational purposes), this Monday is '101 Dalmations'. If you haven't gone back and watched the Disney Classics in a while, do it, your manhood will not be tarnished, at least that's what I've been telling myself.
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Work has been a real kick in the crotch lately.
This past week my job detail included scouring the internet to find a claw-foot bathtub to put in our Executive Producers house
"make sure its either claw foot or free standing, under 65 inches, and under $2000....Oh and it has to be able to be picked up IN LA BY TOMORROW, give me at least 10 different options, I'll be back in 5 minutes to pick up the list".
On Friday I was sent to Staples to pick up a list of supplies for the office, before leaving however I was reminded that if I came back with the wrong Post-It Notes (accordian style) I would come back to find that I no longer had a job (A PA of theirs was fired a few months prior for making that mistake).

Remember: 5-tab, not 3-tab

Now I keep telling myself that if I stick to my guns, do my job, and refrain from violence long enough, I will get noticed and move up in the world. Unfortunately I feel like a promotion at this place would be a death sentence. My career booster strategy happens in 30minute intervals while I attempt to rub shoulders with other people at the Paramount Lot in the cafeteria. It's exhausting. Reality TV has a way of sapping your soul, making you wear skinny jeans, and giving you a taste for coffee that only a chemist would know how to concoct.

Unfortunately there is not a lot of sympathy, this is the industry. It makes sense that in an industry that brings board games to life, people treat their careers like a game of chutes and ladders, meet the right person-climb the ladder, bring back the wrong paperclips - fall down the chute. Some people say that it could take 10 years to become an overnight success, I'll give myself a trophy if I last 10 more days here.
All pity parties aside, it's time to be proactive. My 'projects', and they are legion, have been sitting in garages with flat tires. I have finally received the Nepal footage and have been making outlines and jotting down notes about favorite clips and story structure. The next phase will be scheduling times when we can shoot interviews with the members of the team so we can string this thing together.

In other news, Julie Curtis will be coming to town on Thursday! I'm psyched to hang out with my mom in LA despite her tendency to get sucked into tourist traps and her assumption that every black man on the street is famous.

Steph kickin' it at her place, she says "hi"