California, here I am, right back where I started…fram.

For those of you who don’t stalk me on Twitter or Facebook, yes, I have graduated, yes, I did get an iPod nano as a graduation gift (Goodbye, crappy old CD player!), and yes, I am at the Oakwood Apartments in Los Angeles, California, home of the slicked-haired sunglasses-wearing suited executive who is so out of touch he thinks YouTube is a brand of swimming pool floatation noodles and yet somehow has the power to greenlight “2012”. (I, personally, have not met this guy yet, but I’m sure he lives around here somewhere.)

I flew in, departing from Hartford early Monday morning (meaning I just missed the JoCo/Paul and Storm concert that everybody else on the entire internet attended, from Wil Wheaton to Felicia Day to Al Yankovic), changing planes in Dallas, and arriving in LA in the early afternoon. Because I couldn’t exactly annoy you all via Twitter during the flight, I instead took notes to share with you all at a later date.

My friends, that later date is today. You’ve all been warned.

MONDAY, MAY 18, 2009

8:01 AM
I’m in flight between Hartford and San Antonio.

So far, the first flight has only been a minor disaster. The seat number on my ticket actually belonged to somebody else, my overly-bulky suitcase is in an overhead compartment way back on the other end of the plane, and the in-flight movie is “He’s Just Not That Into You”, which I will brave to the best of my abilities and journal accordingly.

On the plus side, the intro to the in-flight entertainment included a clip from Psych.

8:24 AM
So far, this movie is a lot of flat characters saying things about how they feel instead of doing things that demonstrate how they feel. Very common, but pretty annoying.

If this movie was in 3D, Jennifer Connelly’s eyebrows would be an awesome effect.

8:33 AM
Ah, now we have flat MINORITY characters saying URBAN things about how they feel! NOW things are picking up!

8:39 AM
This movie managed to make an Al Pacino reference that had ABSOLUTELY NO HUMOR in it. That’s talent.

8:44 AM
I like Justin Long, but I don’t accept him as a smooth, relationship-savvy bartender instead of a nerdy kid or gay porn actor. Now, John Hodgman, HE’D be great in this role.

9:07 AM
A character said “I am so into you.” Naturally, my brain instantly followed it up with “But I’m way too smart for you, even my henchmen think I’m crazy, I’m not surprised if you agree.” I start to think that a romantic comedy based on “Skullcrusher Mountain” would be a MUCH better movie, but then I realize that it would basically be “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog”.

9:13 AM
I keep forgetting Drew Barrymore is in this movie. Her subplot barely even qualifies as a running gag; she basically just shows up in scenes occasionally.

9:36 AM
How exactly are we supposed to feel sorry for the woman who fails to seduce a married man? Foiled selfishness without regard for the feelings of others is supposed to earn our pity now?

9:55 AM
Nothing like hearing an actor you like say “You are my exception” to make you lose a little respect for them.

10:00 AM
Drew Barrymore could VERY easily have been cut from this movie entirely. Actually, almost ANY of the subplots could have been cut. That’s usually not a good sign for your story structure.

10:03 AM
That movie was (a) extremely girly, which I wouldn’t mind except that it was also (b) extremely pointless. I didn’t care about any of the characters’ subplots. (I did ALMOST care about Ginnifer Goodwin’s character a couple of times, because I do like cute neurotic girls, but her neuroses were WAY too ditzy for me.)

10:08 AM
“Ben Mackenzie from Southland” is welcoming us to NBC Universal on American Airlines. He could not possibly sound more bored.

A little after this, the plane arrived in Dallas, and I was able to resume my Twittering. I ran into Christian and Krista at the airport, who were also changing flights on the way to LA. I got on the next flight and was far too tired to journal anymore, which is just fine because not a single interesting thing happened on the second flight.

I arrived in LA, grabbed my luggage, and got on the Super Shuttle to Oakwood Apartments. Now, between the three and a half hours of sleep, the jetlag, and the stop-and-go LA traffic that I hadn’t been used to for the past six years, I got fairly carsick. Good start.

Still, there was one very awesome moment on the shuttle ride: dropping off some other gentleman in some other neighborhood, we pulled off an exit, and as the buildings and hills seemed to move out of the way, we had a clear view of the Hollywood Sign. It was like an awesome big movie reveal, and it was beautiful. Hopefully that’s more indicative of my time here than immediate carsickness.

So far, things are looking good…the roommates and I have been settling in, we’ve ben sending out resumes and I have two in-person interviews coming up this week, both of which I’m very excited about. I don’t know exactly what this summer will hold, but I’m very excited to find out.

Look out, Hollywood. There’s a new annoying little pipsqueak who will ultimately not do much to affect your status quo in town.

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