it's crunch time
so believe it or not, 2009 is pretty much over. Sure, we've still got half of October, then two whole more months, but for all intents and purposes, it's over. We're all going to be so busy from here on out that it's just going to fly by, and whatever is going to happen is gonna happen and we're just along for the ride.
Tonight was supposed to be the 10th Annual Celebration of the Hollywood Media District, which has been my employer for the past 7 years. Here's the story of how this came to happen. Back in 2001, things were getting ugly at my first job in LA, and I'll be nice and not mention the name of the place I worked. But, things were getting bad between my employers and I, and I'll go ahead and admit that a lot of it was my fault. I maintain that gays, unlike straights, really don't start going through the regular process of adolescence until they "come out". I mean think about it, in junior high and high school, straights start the process of dating and dealing with the opposite sex and that whole thing of contending with societal norms and figuring out who you are and where you want to be in the scheme of things. And of course to some degree, I was doing that along with my classmates. But I was also struggling, covering up, and questioning everything about my existence. I didn't get to flirt with boys or date boys or anything like that in high school. So, when I moved to LA it was like high school really began. So, maybe I wasn't the best employee. But I also don't think it was fair when, after using my lunch break to excersize and only eating vegetables and chicken breast for 6 months, when my boss asked me if "everything was OK" and if I had maybe gotten AIDS which was why I was becoming so skinny. Or when his wife started calling all my clients to make sure that I had really been doing my job properly.
So, I quit that job and didn't really have another job. I had a fantasy that I was going to work at the Renaissance Hotel which was being constructed in Hollywood. It was actually a Holiday Inn that was undergoing an extreme renovation to become the crown jewel of Hollywood, adjacent to the tourist trap (which I actually love) called Hollywood and Highland.
I didn't get that job, so I ended up being an independent contract for a company that inspected leased equipment for awhile, and had many interesting days driving around Los Angeles and it's outlying suburbs, barging in to large industrial complexes and demanding to see - and photograph - their equipment which, as I was there to remind them, was just a few delinquent payments away from belonging to whatever financial institution had lent them them the money to purchase said equipment. Good times.
After that didn't really pan out, I went to the Gay and Lesbian Center to peruse their job board. A couple of them caught my eye; this job called "Administrative Assistant" seemed like something I could do. I applied for two different jobs. The first ended up being Hollywood Media District, where the person in charge told me she liked having a gay employee because she had had a gay assistant once and they got along great. The second was a small phone company that catered to the film industry, and the person who interviewed me was a gay. I ended up getting the second job and worked there for about 6 months. But, in August of 2002, I got a call asking me if I was still interested in working for Hollywood Media District. I said I would come in to discuss the possibility, but they had me at "you'll have your own private office."
So, I started there as an Administrative Assistant (or executive assistant) and after a few years, got bumped up to Operations Coordinator, and then recently I changed my title to Operations Manager because it sounds better.
Anyway, that's really not the story I was meaning to tell. It just explains why I am at home tonight instead of being at the party. We had to reschedule until next Thursday because the rains came in Los Angeles, and when it rains in Los Angeles, noone knows how to deal with it.
I can't even remember what I was going to say.
I saw three movies recently. "Zombieland" was like an amusement park ride - fun, fast and thrilling. I highly recommend watching it at the Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.
"Capitalism: A Love Story" was amazing and very thought-provoking. It sucks that so many people have come to dismiss anything Michael Moore says as propaganda because first and foremost, I think he is a filmmaker and his job is present his interpretations of the facts, and then it's the viewer's job to look into it and draw their own conclusions. Some people say he is heavy handed, or that he oversimplifies things. Personally, I need certain things to be oversimplified, like the economy - so I loved this movie. It really got me thinking about our nation and the way we do things here. And, as much as I hate to say it, it really made me question some people in the democratic party that previously I blindly admired. Good intentions are one thing, but being able to stand up for your principles is another and it seems that it's harder and rarer for that to happen in Washington D.C. than maybe I though.
"The Invention of Lying" was interesting - it wasn't necessarily that great of a movie and certain things about it bugged the heck out of me, but it had very lofty ambitions and did provide lots of food for thought, as well as plenty of delicious social commentary on religion and society. If it would have focused more on that and less on the "romance" between Ricky Gervais and Jennifer Garner, it would have been much better.
Anyway, enjoy the rest of 2009 while it lasts.
Tonight was supposed to be the 10th Annual Celebration of the Hollywood Media District, which has been my employer for the past 7 years. Here's the story of how this came to happen. Back in 2001, things were getting ugly at my first job in LA, and I'll be nice and not mention the name of the place I worked. But, things were getting bad between my employers and I, and I'll go ahead and admit that a lot of it was my fault. I maintain that gays, unlike straights, really don't start going through the regular process of adolescence until they "come out". I mean think about it, in junior high and high school, straights start the process of dating and dealing with the opposite sex and that whole thing of contending with societal norms and figuring out who you are and where you want to be in the scheme of things. And of course to some degree, I was doing that along with my classmates. But I was also struggling, covering up, and questioning everything about my existence. I didn't get to flirt with boys or date boys or anything like that in high school. So, when I moved to LA it was like high school really began. So, maybe I wasn't the best employee. But I also don't think it was fair when, after using my lunch break to excersize and only eating vegetables and chicken breast for 6 months, when my boss asked me if "everything was OK" and if I had maybe gotten AIDS which was why I was becoming so skinny. Or when his wife started calling all my clients to make sure that I had really been doing my job properly.
So, I quit that job and didn't really have another job. I had a fantasy that I was going to work at the Renaissance Hotel which was being constructed in Hollywood. It was actually a Holiday Inn that was undergoing an extreme renovation to become the crown jewel of Hollywood, adjacent to the tourist trap (which I actually love) called Hollywood and Highland.
I didn't get that job, so I ended up being an independent contract for a company that inspected leased equipment for awhile, and had many interesting days driving around Los Angeles and it's outlying suburbs, barging in to large industrial complexes and demanding to see - and photograph - their equipment which, as I was there to remind them, was just a few delinquent payments away from belonging to whatever financial institution had lent them them the money to purchase said equipment. Good times.
After that didn't really pan out, I went to the Gay and Lesbian Center to peruse their job board. A couple of them caught my eye; this job called "Administrative Assistant" seemed like something I could do. I applied for two different jobs. The first ended up being Hollywood Media District, where the person in charge told me she liked having a gay employee because she had had a gay assistant once and they got along great. The second was a small phone company that catered to the film industry, and the person who interviewed me was a gay. I ended up getting the second job and worked there for about 6 months. But, in August of 2002, I got a call asking me if I was still interested in working for Hollywood Media District. I said I would come in to discuss the possibility, but they had me at "you'll have your own private office."
So, I started there as an Administrative Assistant (or executive assistant) and after a few years, got bumped up to Operations Coordinator, and then recently I changed my title to Operations Manager because it sounds better.
Anyway, that's really not the story I was meaning to tell. It just explains why I am at home tonight instead of being at the party. We had to reschedule until next Thursday because the rains came in Los Angeles, and when it rains in Los Angeles, noone knows how to deal with it.
I can't even remember what I was going to say.
I saw three movies recently. "Zombieland" was like an amusement park ride - fun, fast and thrilling. I highly recommend watching it at the Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.
"Capitalism: A Love Story" was amazing and very thought-provoking. It sucks that so many people have come to dismiss anything Michael Moore says as propaganda because first and foremost, I think he is a filmmaker and his job is present his interpretations of the facts, and then it's the viewer's job to look into it and draw their own conclusions. Some people say he is heavy handed, or that he oversimplifies things. Personally, I need certain things to be oversimplified, like the economy - so I loved this movie. It really got me thinking about our nation and the way we do things here. And, as much as I hate to say it, it really made me question some people in the democratic party that previously I blindly admired. Good intentions are one thing, but being able to stand up for your principles is another and it seems that it's harder and rarer for that to happen in Washington D.C. than maybe I though.
"The Invention of Lying" was interesting - it wasn't necessarily that great of a movie and certain things about it bugged the heck out of me, but it had very lofty ambitions and did provide lots of food for thought, as well as plenty of delicious social commentary on religion and society. If it would have focused more on that and less on the "romance" between Ricky Gervais and Jennifer Garner, it would have been much better.
Anyway, enjoy the rest of 2009 while it lasts.
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