The Adventures of Couch

So, I started writing this a week ago and am picking it back up now. We'll see how it turns out.

I'll give the sparknotes version of my first week.

My First Friday: I spent 2 hours packing and unpacking my bag to nervously avoid making phone calls. I'd like to point out how much I regret nicknaming the producer who convinced me to move "The Scary Man". It's a lot harder to cold call someone when you have them in your phone as Scary Man.

He is really a nice man. I called and left him a nice little shaky-voice message after three failed attempts. (I learned you can press 1 to re-record). Somehow he understood me enough to call back later on. He actually laughed when I told him that I'd listened to him and has since done a lot to help me get started out here.

Periodically between my other phone-calls, I'd take breaks to swim with Milkshake.

This is just an excuse to put in pictures of Milkshake

After all the scary stuff, I had my first weekend in Cali!

On Saturday, we had breakfast in a really cute diner in North Hollywood. The walls were covered in  cool old photographs of actors but I didn't take any pictures because I felt awkward.

That night, we went to see a movie in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

It's a really weird and kinda cool concept. A lot of stars are buried in this cemetery so we got to enjoy their stunning on-screen performances while their bodies rotted just feet away.

I'm as nervous as I look.

Mason's friends are all really cool and have truly been troopers putting up with my debilitating shyness.

On Sunday, they took me to the beach!

As soon as we got there, we were informed that there was a save in-progress. Apparently, two young girls climbed up the side of the cliff and got stuck about 50 feet up.

Apparently the only people less capable to get down from a precipice than those two girls were their rescuers.

It took them an hour and a half to finally lower the girls to safety.

In the process, we got to witness the attempted save from a chopper. They chopper save failed but it was a lot of fun to watch. If you look on the left you can see the man hanging from the chopper and our two little adventurers stuck on the mountain. #beachentertainment

 

After all that was over we went back to seeing other cool things like sea lions and dolphins.

Two of the kids we were hanging with are from Colorado so they took me on a barefoot climbing adventure. We got to see some tide pools, touch anemone and see gigantic starfish. It was awesome.

The next day I got wheels!!

I ran to enterprise then sweated in their lobby for an hour. 

After that, I really hit this town by storm.

In the midst of exploring I drove halfway up a mountain then cruised down going 60 in neutral. It was really, really thrilling. But these runs are gonna suck.

 

Oh okay, cool.

Lastly, here's a pic of my home these past few weeks, hence, the nickname "Couch".

Despite not knowing my actual name, the guys I'm staying with are really cool.

I'll update the past week of adventuring in a bit. For now, Couch is out.

A little of topic in this context, but supports my newest priority: "Do not read, as children do, to amuse yourself, or like the ambitious, for the porpoise of instruction. No, read in order to live." -Gustave Flaubert