LA Travelogue

So as predicted it has been a busy, and fast, summer. I can't believe it's almost August. I have four weeks until school starts again for the students and I am trying to figure out my own life. But before leading to any in-depth conversation on where I should live and how I should get paid, I am going to update you on my recent adventures.

It's July 28, just shy of 11 pm as I start this commentary. I just arrived home after a 10 or so hour drive from LA. It was a quick drive (being 10 hours), which was nice. Just less than two weeks ago, I departed to LA to figure some things out in my head and to work.

I left with Becky Brown and Davi Silviera, who I worked with on HSM-Get in the Picture in Utah. We were invited to continue working in LA on the finale, which was a great opportunity. Davi's friend Ben also tagged along for the ride and the opportunity. We left Tuesday night, July 14 at 6:30 pm and with a stop in Vegas, we got up bright and early to make to it to LA by noonish. Actually 11, but we got there at noon. Since we weren't planning on having a lot of free time during the upcoming week and a half, we took advantage of the day and headed to Marina Del Ray for lunch at El Torito and to walk around the Marina. I will say this a number of times, but I love seeing the ocean and the Marina was so much fun to walk around. From there we drove up PCH/"The 1" to Malibu. As also (even in traffic) is was awesome to drive along the coast for a couple miles. I have a soft spot in my heart for Pacific Palisades and Malibu, so it's always good to return. That even my friend Amy went through the temple for her first time. She is getting married August 1st to the love of her life and this was her first step toward that eternal commitment. Since I am unable to make it to her wedding, I was sure to make it to the temple that night. So I dropped Becky, Davi and Ben off at Santa Monica Pier and headed a couple miles inland. I got a little lost (made a couple left turns when I should have gone right...guess I have been gone too long, but I made it there on time. It was nice to have that peaceful and spiritual moment to start off my week down that. After the temple I darted back to the beach (didn't get lost) and picked up my friends. We completed the evening with some In-N-Out and a little Diddy Reese to introduce them to Westwood Village.

The next two days blurred as one. Becky and Davi got to go to work and I got to take a couple days off and play. On Thursday, I slept in a little (just until 8) and got up for some pancakes, courtesy of Bishop Farlow. From there, I went down and picked up my friend Shayne (who was hosting the guys) and Ben. And we headed to Zuma beach in Malibu. We stopped off at Malibu Seafood - a fish-n-chips sort of fast food place just north of Pepperdine. We spent about 3 hours at the beach and headed towards Woodland Hills. My best friend Wendy was getting off at 4 that day, so I tried to catch her at Whole Foods before she took off. I barely caught her. From there Shayne, Ben and I went to Fry's Electronics so Ben could look around. And we headed home. That night Sister Farlow made us an Italian meal of spaghetti and Glenn came over to eat dinner with us. It was nice to hang out with him again.

The next day - day-off again - I became somewhat of a tour guide. Shayne and I took Ben to Hollywood, where we visit Mann's Chinese Theater, walked the Hollywood Walk of Fame, went through the mall at Hollywood and Highland. From there drove over to Griffith Park and visited the Observatory. Amazing. It was a smoggy/foggy/cloudy day but I can image right after it rains how cool it is. From there you can see all the way to the Ocean (probably a good 15 miles away). Then we headed back home and caught an early dinner with the Elwells and Jack Hart at Claim Jumper...one of my favorite restaurants in California. After dinner, again, I heard that Wendy was nearby at the mall, so I saw her and Isabel there. I headed home from the mall just as Becky was getting home. Wendy came over for a brief visit and then Becky and I headed back to the mall, just as it was closing. I took Becky over to California Chicken Cafe for a light dinner, which she liked.

Then came Saturday. Time to get back to work with HSM: GITP. I am not sure how much I can say just yet, so I am not going to say much. All I can say is that it was good to be back with the crew, even if it meant long days in a low air conditioned office.

Sunday we had off, which was really nice. I was able to go to church with my old friends, have a nice Sunday meal with the Farlows, lounge out in the backyard, and visit some friends who came over to the Farlows' home. That evening we were able to watch the Premiere of High School Musical which (I am biased) was a lot of fun. And it was cool to see my name in the credits on TV again.

The next 5 days were busy. Four of them were for the show and we just kept busy. Again not a lot of details because I am not sure what I should say. On Tuesday I interrupted my week by working for BYU. That too was an adventure. I picked up Tom Lefler at 8 am at the airport. From there we visited the VP of Production at Disney, the Executive VP of Production at Warner Brothers, had a networking lunch with entertainment business professionals down at Lion's Gate, met with the Human Resources Director at Sony, and completed the day meeting with the director of the LA Film Festival. It was interesting to take note on the internship possibilities for the students at BYU as well as see what sort of networking opportunities are for the LDS/BYU alumni. That evening I drove down to Long Beach to hang out with my friend Matt, who I have known since our freshman year of college. We went to dinner at some Mediterranean/?? place. It was good. Kind of like Greek food. After that we drove up the coast a little to walk along the beach. It was good hanging out with him and talking. And it is always great to walk in the sand. Love it. I ended up getting home late that night and went straight to bed to get ready for a early and long day the next day.

We ended up wrapping up the show on Friday at 10 pm at night. Which gave us just enough time to get some IHOP for dinner. Play a little Dr. Mario with Shayne and then go to bed. The next morning I slept in until 8:45. I had planned on helping out with the ward luau that night, but instead ran the boys around town trying to deposit some checks. (Becky left us on Friday morning). Finally at 1ish we got that done. While doing it, I found out that my friend Ali (from the show) was not doing anything, so we picked her up and we all headed toward the beach. While there I ran into my friends Charite, Andrea, and Adam who were at a beach church activity. We got there just as they were leaving. We ended up staying at the beach until about 6:30 (4 hours). We walked along the coast of it, saw some dolphins playing in the surf. It was so good to be there again. That night Davi, Ben, and I headed up to a luau that the ward was putting on. We were only there for about an hour, but it was quite an amazing event. From there Ali bought us tickets to go and see Dark Knight - which was amazing. I was ready to be disappointed, especially by Heath Ledger. But all the hype. It's real. And he is really as good as they say...maybe better than you can image.

The next day was another nice day to attend church. After church, I had dinner with the Farlows and then went over to Charite's to hang out with some friends before heading back to LA on Monday morning. Monday morning, we planned on breakfast at the Griddle. One last LA spot that i wanted to get in. Just as good as ever. Then we headed over to Jay and Tony's office to drop off some items that belonged to the contestants. Said good-byes and got on the road - with Ali and Ben. The drive home went quick and we did good on gas mileage, which is nice for this time when gas is so expensive.

Those were my adventures in LA. Much more to come later...