OK, so the headline makes it sound like we had shit day in LA, but we had a really fun, awesome day.
We were blamed all day for bringing the insane rain to the southland.
Met up with good friend/mentor/teacher/awesome dude/past Guild guest, Blake Snyder over in Beverly Hills. Had quick but awesome chat about living and writing in LA, new story ideas, and of course, I got to soak up his infectious optimism. Nicest guy ever. We returned to the Beetle to find a $55 parking ticket, courtesy of the Beverly Hills PD. Assclowns.
We visited our friend Mike and his two awesome doggies, Hemi and Buttons at Doggie Styles. Got in some much needed puppy time since the Brando is back in Seattle with Apollo (the pekingese/chihuahua) and Molly (Manager of Chocolati in Greenwood). Laura couldn’t resist getting him a shark hoodie.
Drove around Beverly Hills for a long while, ended up in Century City for a meeting with the lovely and talented Dan Nguyen, who is over at Fox Atomic. Cool office. It was exciting walking around the Fox lot, of course, until it started pouring rain (which didn’t stop). The cafeteria we were in was a mixture of h.s., Devil Wears Prada, and the Microsoft cafeterias. Weird, crowded, bustling, hot, loud, etc.
Dropped some coinage at the Fox company store. The lady working there was so distracted with her party plans for Grammy night (on the phone the whole time), that she accidentally gave us the employee discounts ($15 each) on all the seasons of Arrested Development. S-C-O-R-E.
Post Dan, we explored the depressing Mar Vista, the shiny Marina Del Ray (MDR as they call it), kickass Venice (visited the Arbor store), and Santa Monica. We met a really bitchy “celebrity” who none of us recognized. Apparently, she’s a rock star. All I know is she’s mean and “has body odor.”
Went to George Mastra’s book signing of Fidali’s Way. He used to write on Breaking Bad, so several alums were present. Patty Lin invited us, and we were joined by Sanjay Shah. We met a guy, Clark, who was a research assistant on Mad Men and getting his MFA at AFI PDQ. How cool is that?
Finally we ate dinner (vegan friendly for the wife), and hoofed it back to the Valley after spending 14+ hours on the road. Phew.
