leftovers

I got up early in the morning to take Adrienne to LAX. Her flight was really early, but I didn't want to go back home and try and sleep for just an hour or so, so I went right into work afterward. I got there so early - obviously I was the first one there. It was actually kind of nice being there so early before everyone else. At 8:30, Brian and Sarah came in and Brian said how weird it was the there were already 3 of us there that early. We had a couple meetings in the afternoon, including a Hollywood U meeting which is a collective of all the post-secondary schools in Hollywood. I was really tired after the meetings were over, so I ended up leaving a little before 5pm since I had come in so early. Adrienne texted that she got home safe, so that was good. I think she really had an amazing trip, I know we all had such a good time while she was here. I was so tired when I got home, but instead of trying to sleep I ended up playing this game on the iPad, Angry Birds, which I...

Since Adrienne was here, and Dylan always has the day after the Emmys off work, I decided to take the day off too so I could hang out with them. I didn't think I could take any days off yet, so I offered to make up the hours throughout the rest of the week, but fortunately my boss said I could use one of my two annual floating holidays, which was so nice. So, we slept in and then we got up and went to Tender Greens in WeHo for lunch. I had the happy vegan salad which was pretty good, but I really should have gotten some meat - luckily, Adrienne and Dylan didn't mind me nibbling off their plates. Then we drove to Santa Monica to go to the beach. Had it been a nicer day, and if we had gotten up earlier, we planned to go to Malibu. But it was kind of cool and by the time we got to Santa Monica it was already like 3 or something, so we just went to Will Rogers and laid out. It was too cold to swim, so we all just read our books while we laid on the beach. At some point, Adr...

Emmy day arrives! I set my alarm to wake up early with Adrienne to help her do some errands, but when I first got up, she said she was going to go have her nails done and get some coffee, so I went back to sleep until she returned. Then I drove her to the Grove because she wanted to get Dylan a gift for taking her, so we went to Nordstrom's and got him a real bow-tie - as in, not a clip on. The saleslady was super nice and helped us pick out a really cool purple and pink striped one. Then Adrienne got some makeup at the Mac counter and we went to Coffee Bean to get Dylan a Latte. Back home, Adrienne gave Dylan his gift, which he was thrilled with. We spent the next half hour or so watching You Tube videos trying to figure out how to tie the damned thing! As Adrienne and Dylan were getting ready, they realized they didn't need to leave as soon as they thought they did, which was great for them since it meant they had more time to get ready, but bad because I knew if I wait...

It had turned out that our plans to go to Catalina Island were foiled by the fact that we waited to long to buy tickets and so all the boats were filled up by the time we tried to buy tickets yesterday. So we decided to go to the Huntington instead. I haven't been there since Dylan and I first met - one of our first dates, he took me and his friend Leah there and we did high tea or whatever it's called, in the tea room. Tiger just got home from New Zealand the other day, so he joined us and had all kinds of stories to tell us on the drive to the Huntington. It sounded like he had a great time. Of course now I really want to go there someday. We got there pretty late, and once inside we realized we needed sunscreen, so Dylan bought some in the gift shop, and then we needed to eat because I hadn't had anything all day and it was already after 1pm. Finally we got around to exploring the gardens and grounds. It was so pretty! We took a ton of pictures. We went through th...

Brandon and Angie took the day off so they could spend it with Adrienne. I had to work, but as soon as I got off I went to Trader Joe's and got some wine, sushi, and snacks to take to Brandon and Angie's because we were going to Griffith Park for Shakespeare in the park. I've never seen a Shakespeare play so I was pretty excited. We got there right before the play started and so we had to sit pretty far back. I didn't realize what a problem that would be until the play started and then we had to strain to hear the actors since there was no microphones or amplified sound - it was just all natural. Which was cool, but between how far we were, and the accents and the language, it was nearly impossible to follow. We had our little picnic dinner and wine - we ended up with 5 bottles between the 4 of us! Dylan couldn't make it because he had to work late at the TV Academy for the Performer's Nominee Reception. During the intermission, we decided to move up to be...

I had a Visit Hollywood meeting at the Roosevelt Hotel at 11 am, which was nice. It was funny because I hadn't been in that room at the Roosevelt since Mary Lou took me to some event there back in the days. It's funny how, after Mary Lou left, I became somewhat disconnected from the Hollywood people up on Hollywood Blvd., because it had been her that had been so involved and always taking me places and getting me to be part of the community. It's nice to feel like I'm back in the swing. After we had our lunch, which was really good, I said goodbye to the new people I met and the girls from the Chamber that I was sitting with, and I headed towards Atwater to pick Adrienne up. Brandon and Angie both had to work, so she was at their apartment by herself. I picked her up and brought her to my new office, and then we walked to Space 15 Twenty so she could have lunch at Umami Burger. I had already eaten so I just got onion rings to snack on. So much for only having sal...

Adrienne is here! Angie picked her up from the airport this morning, but I had a busy day at work so I couldn't meet up with them. They went up and had lunch with Dylan in the valley. I took the subway downtown today for a meeting at CRA headquarters, on our proposal for the retail recruitment program. It turned out that Kerry was not allowed to go because she had contributed to the campaign for the head of CRA when she was running for city council. Because of that, she is not allowed to talk to her for a year. It's really kind of ridiculous - a citizen makes a private donation to a campaign, and then when that person does not win the position they were campaigning for and instead takes another job, they are banned from speaking (professionally) to anyone who contributed to their campaign? Anyway, as a result, Kerry had to teach the power point to one of our board members really quickly, and I took the projector and laptop downtown and we made the presentation. We had on...

I've been procrastinating getting ready for my Emmys party on Sunday. Since Dylan is taking Adrienne to the show and the Governor's Ball after, I wanted to have a viewing party and make a dinner and everything, but after sending the initial invite out on Facebook I've been slacking. I finally decided to get my RSVP's together so I could have some idea of how many people to expect. Meanwhile, we're also planning a trip to Catalina Island on Saturday for Angie's birthday. Since Adrienne is here, we wanted to do something fun and unique. Brandon and Adrienne have never been to Catalina, so it should be fun. I got a little obsessed with reading about this other fake religion, Eckankar, which calls itself the "religion of the light and sound of God." I remember seeing their ads in the back of Rolling Stone back when I was an impressionable youth and always wanting to learn more about it. Now, everyday on my way to work I drive past their LA headquarte...

I made a goal to eat a salad every day this week, and to work out every night. Let's see if I can keep it. I did good by ordering a salad from Tender Greens for lunch. Kerry and I had gone to CRA to meet with one of the staff there on a project we are proposing for a retail recruitment program for Hollywood. I had made a graph this morning for the slideshow so I felt involved in the project. I also got a final proof of the visitor's map and guide which I approved. Great news. After work we started getting the place ready for my sister's visit, she'll be here in two days - I'm so excited!

Kevin was gone by the time I woke up. He had left a note explaining that he would have woken us up to say goodbye, but that we look like "gay angels" when we sleep. Dylan and I went over to Brandon and Angie's and I made brunch, eggs and hashbrowns and bacon. The bacon was the beef bacon I had bought the other day; I definitely am not going to buy beef bacon again. It's weird. We got caught up watching True Blood so that was good. Otherwise it was a pretty lazy day.

We all three got up and I made brunch - Biscuits and Gravy, Bacon, and Eggs. I was surprised and happy that Kevin actually ate all his food. He's gotten so skinny and I have barely seen him eat anything since he's been here. Plus I thought he might be one of those people that doesn't like to eat food unless it comes from a restaurant; I know he doesn't cook himself much if at all. Dylan and I were going to the Creative Arts Emmys today, which Kathy Griffin affectionately dubbed "the Schmemmys" when she hosted it a year or two ago. Of course we waited until the last minute to get our outfits ready so we went shopping to get everything. We went to the Marc Jacobs accessories store first because Dylan wanted a bowtie. I ended up getting this little broken heart compact mirror for Kevin since he had been borrowing Dylan's Dior Makeup case to use as a mirror when styling his hair (which he did about 20 times per day). Then we went to the Goodwill so I cou...

Kevin called while I was at work to say he was back from visiting his family and so he was going to go to our apartment. I told him that would be fine and I would be home soon. We had planned on going to Cut & Paste Rock & Roll in Long Beach which Annie was putting on at DiPiazza's. I might have mentioned that Shitting Glitter played at the first CPRR and had a good show, and got featured in the District Weekly, which is like Long Beach's version of LA Weekly. I really wanted to go and support Annie, and also a few of the acts that were performing - my friend Wendy Ho, Jasten's band Nancy Fullforce, and my friend Kalil aka MetaHuman was performing the track I helped produce, "So Pomo." But Kevin was beat from driving all over today (he went from Santa Barbara to Orance County back to West Hollywood) and Dylan had to work some event at the Academy, and I really was not up for driving to Long Beach by myself, and I didn't want to spend any money eith...

I had a meeting at the Chamber for the Walk of Fame 50th Anniversary this morning. We already had the community festival, but now we are planning a black tie gala that will happen in November at the grand ballroom of Hollywood & Highland. There will be celebrities, star honorees, entertainment, dinner, etc. I'm not sure if I will even get to go, but it's fun being a part of the planning process. We had our board meeting for HED today at 4pm. Because it's August and most people are on vacation, we just barely had enough people for a quorum. Since I'm still fairly new, I didn't have much to report on for Marketing, but we did have to request money out of the marketing budget to go towards promoting LOHO, which is Locals Only Hollywood Offer. It's a program that will be running in October for Southern Californians - locals - to get big discounts on attractions, restaurants, and shopping in Hollywood.

Yesterday, I lamented the closing of Del Taco. Today, I found out that my old dorm, Agnew Hall, had been demolished. This was very sad for me, because not only was it my first home after I moved out of my parents house (if you don't count me living in our old farmhouse for about 2 weeks right after high school graduation), and my mom also lived there when she went to FHSU. I still remember going in there for the first time, and being excited that I had a place that was mine and there were no parents there! My roommate, Jason, arrived a couple days after I was there, so I had the room to myself the first few nights. Dad helped me put in some carpet that we had ripped out of the living room of their house when they recarpeted, and I brought in my TV, stereo, microwave and dorm fridge and got it to be a pretty cool little place. I lived there my entire freshman year. Jason and I were very different people, we got a long fine but we never really bonded as friends. He had his li...

On my way to work I noticed the Del Taco at Santa Monica and Highland was completely demolished. It had been fenced in for awhile now so I knew it was on it's way out, but it was surreal to see it gone. They are replacing it with a Walgreen's drug store, and it was an issue I followed closely during my time at the Media District because it was a big development. As much as the Del Taco was a magnet for loitering, crime, drugs and prostitution, I love their food (as far as fast food taco joints go - much better than Taco Bell), and it was also sort of a landmark. I remember going there, or at least driving by it, with Dudley when we first started shopping around Hollywood and he told me it's where all the tranny prostitutes and drug dealers hung out. So, it's actually probably a good thing for the Media District that it's gone, since it probably would never shed that stigma (or the realities of it). But, I hate Walgreens because they are owned by Jesus freaks ...

It's always so hard to go back to work after a great weekend. I had a lunch meeting with Sarah in my office, Jim who took my old job at the Media District, and Lydia, who is a community activist and formerly the Beautification chair of the Central Hollywood Neighborhood Council. We met at Tender Greens and ate out on the back patio, which I was previously unaware of. The purpose of the get-together was just to discuss ideas of how the BIDs could collaborate with the Neighborhood Council on projects such as beautification and quality of life issue. We discussed the possibility of funding dog-waste stations throughout Hollywood. After work I got home and Kevin was there so we hung out. Later, we went out to Fubar; Dylan was too tired to go so it was just Kev and I. It was really dead - there were only like 2 other people in there when we first got there. The bartender really wanted us to stay as he must have realized the looks on our faces when we walked in and saw how empty it...

Dylan and I got up and had brunch; Kevin was already out and about. We wanted to go swimming, so we called Jennn who had just gotten home from work and was tired, but said we could come use the pool in her building, so we did. Kevin is not the "swimming type of guy" (according to him) so he was out shopping while we swam. Later, we met back up with him and we walked down to WeHo to have dinner at Bite. He treated us, which was very nice of him. I felt bad having ordered two glasses of wine with dinner in light of that. So then we walked down to St. Felix and I bought a round of drinks for everyone, we love the drink they have their called "Stockholm Syndrome." I love any drink that involves fresh rosemary. Hello 2010, goodbye junk! NEW YEARS RESOLUTION LOG ENTRY 225 Well, this is a sad day for my new year's resolution. After some technical difficulties (my iPad ate a whole list of things I had gotten rid of, I misplaced c...

Today was a VERY, VERY big day for me!!! We got up and chatted with Kevin and then I got ready and headed to Hollywood - I wanted to finally buy those Scissor Sisters tickets that I had tried to get before. So, this time I got to the box office of the Palladium on time, and got two tickets! I walked over to Floyd's on Cahuenga and Selma to get my haircut, and then I went to Iguana on Hollywood Blvd. to try and find something to wear tonight. Club Blender's theme for the evening was Durrty Disco, so I wanted to find some Studio 54 type clothes, but couldn't decide on anything. I stopped by the grocery store on the way home to get the supplies for my dishes - there was to be a potluck at the Palms BEFORE Blender, and then Kevin and I would perform between the potluck and the actual club night. My dishes were going to be my mom's Hot Hamburger Dip, which I make often and it's always a hit - it was one of my favorite things my mom would make when I was younger. I als...

I can't remember how much of this I've already explained, but we had been planning on going to Palm Springs this weekend for Luther's Birthday. However, since Kevin was coming to visit, and then this whole thing with us performing at Blender panned out, we canceled our Palm Springs plans, and then Kevin decided to come down early. So, he is arriving tonight! I left work a little early because we are going to Red's birthday party in Santa Monica and it starts at 6pm. I wanted to get some beer to bring, and I also wanted to exchange my camera at Target today since tomorrow the gays are going to start boycotting Target, since they made a big donation to an anti-gay candidate in Minnesota. Since this was my second camera to not work, I decided to get a different brand. I got an Olympus since I read online their cameras were really good. I ended up just spending an extra $20. Then I went to BevMo to get some beer for Red's party, and I got some Whipped Cream flavor...

There was this YouTube video that has gone viral, of these deaf guys who were shopping at Forever 21 at Hollywood & Highland, and then the security guys are attacking them, holding one of them on the ground and basically strangling him, while the other guy is trying to let them know that they are deaf. The way it looks, the deaf guys were possibly innocent and the guards are just going crazy on them. Unfortunately, our BID Security guys come in later to do crown control, and because people on the internet are of course, completely stupid, some people are thinking that our guys had something to do with this, even though it's clear in the video that they do not come in until the very end and had nothing to do with the incident itself. As it was, we had a security committee meeting scheduled for today, so we talked about that a little at the meeting, but there were other things going on too, so it ended up not being that big of a deal. We had a staff meeting in the afternoon, wh...

My Kylie Minogue cover ("Get Outta My Way") has been getting lots of plays on my SoundCloud page. I posted it to an LGBT musician's group, so I think that's where most of the plays must be coming from, although I also posted it on Facebook so some of them might be coming from there. I'm getting really excited about my gig coming up. I'm not sure if I mentioned this yet (I probably did), but I talked my friend, DJ Rawburt, into letting Kevin and I perform at his Club Blender this Saturday night at the Palms. I know I have bitched about the Palms before, and have probably told many people that I would NEVER play there again, but this is different since it's a solo show, and since it's Club Blender. Also, as much as I have a love/hate relationship with the Palms, it is a place that I have spent A LOT of time at, have had MANY great memories there, and it will always be a part of me. So, in a way, it's kind of fitting that I would have my first s...

At work, we are getting ready to go through renewal for Sunset & Vine BID, and I feel pretty confident about my knowledge of renewing BIDs since I went through the renewal of Hollywood Media District after I had worked there for a couple of years. Mary Lou and I renewed that BID for 10 years, with a pretty successful percentage of "yes" votes, and it was one of our proudest accomplishments. So, for S/V BID I have been asked to create a renewal brochure, which will be a like a newsletter but full color and about 6 pages, summarizing what the BID has accomplished so far and why it is so important to keep it around. I'm looking forward to working on this, and started by asking some other BID people I know if they could send me their renewal brochures that they made. Meanwhile, I'm also really excited because I found a video director who wants to work with me on "Alien Nation," via Craigslist. He had an ad posted on there, and so I checked out some of hi...

I ended up being so thrilled with my acoustic recordings, that I burned then on a CD and listened to them in my car on the way to work, and driving around doing errands. Then, I created a ReverbNation page for myself that was really fun but also a little surreal. I'm so used to everything I've done musically being either private on my own computer, or being related to a band that I've been in. This was the first time I was looking at a public internet page presenting myself as a 'solo artist' trying to get 'fans.' At work, I made up some information packets for the Visitor's Guide and Map, and then went walking down Hollywood Blvd. and going in to talk to the managers at places that hadn't advertised that I thought maybe would. A couple people seemed interested, but I'm not sure it will lead to selling any more ads. After work, Sarah and I went to this event over at 6464 Sunset Blvd. (in the Sunset & Vine BID) for the John Lennon Educatio...

With the very scary impending reality of my first ever solo acoustic gig, I realized I needed to be more proactive and so I decided to record my acoustic set on the computer so that I could hear how it should sound. I moved the piano into the bedroom and hooked it up to the computer via MIDI cable, and recorded myself playing "Not in a Million Years," "Get Outta My Way" (by Kylie Minogue), "Winnipeg Beach," "Alien Nation," and "Ordinary World" (Duran Duran cover). I tried to not rely on the computer to edit the songs later; I really wanted to play them the right way and not have to correct anything later. So, it took me a few tries on some of the songs, but in the end I was pretty happy with how I did. Of course I did go in and fix some of the really bad mistakes, but I left the smaller ones in and I didn't quantize or anything like that - I wanted it to really sound like I was playing it live rather than producing it. After I r...

Every year, the Stunt Performer's Group has a big party at the TV Academy to honor their nominees for the Emmy's, and it's always a theme party and one of the most fun of the year. This year the theme was '50's and they had Bowzer from Sha Na Na there as the host. The decorated the courtyard in front of the theatre to look like a diner, and it was really cool! I didn't have time to really go find an outfit, but Dylan said I'd be fine if I just wore a white t-shirt, jeans, and did my hair up in a pompadour. I was worried because I thought I didn't look very good to be going to a cool party, but when I got there, all Dylan's co-workers were complimenting me on my hair and asking me how long it took me to do it. So, I was fine after all! Since Dylan's head is shaved now, he borrowed my Elvis wig. The party was really fun. They had some dancers that did a sort of "west side story" routine to kick things off and then they had a video o...

Today is my uncle Ronnie's birthday! Happy birthday! I went across the street to Dillon's Irish Pub to meet the manager there, she had e-mailed me and wanted to say 'hi' since she knew Katie before me. I took a copy of the Visitor's Map and Guide, hoping that I could get them to advertise, but she said they were not interested. After work, Dylan was going to meet me at Bodega Wine Bar, a new place in the Sunset & Vine BID, in the Sunset Vine Tower. As I was waiting for him, I stopped in the Borders books and perused the Belinda Carlisle autobiography, "Lips Unsealed," which I am sure I'll have to read someday soon. Then, Dylan was right across the street so we went to Bodega, which was really nice. Their whole philosophy is making wine accessible to everyone without any snobbery. Almost all their wines are priced the same (the house wine being a bit cheaper, and the premium wines a bit more, but still all the same price) and they let you sampl...

I had to be at the Street Closure Committee meeting at 9am over on Western and Hollywood Blvd. at the CD 13 field office. It was my first time at the committee so I was just kind of getting the hang of it. It's a monthly meeting where we review all the applications for full street closures of Hollywood Blvd., a response to the increasingly overwhelming amount of requests in recent years for movie premieres, filming, marches and protests, etc. I was really excited about the proposed premiere party for Tron: Legacy, scheduled for December at the El Capitan. More on that later. I had gotten an e-mail at work about some real estate in Hollywood here in the District, and upon clicking through, I saw some other residential listings, one in particular that caught my eye was a house down near Santa Monica Blvd. and Wilcox. Of course I got completely obsessed with it and ended up driving by after work. I called my mom a couple of times, and Dylan, to tell them about it and try and see...

I met up with my predecessor at the Media District today for lunch at one of my favorite spots, Cafe Muse. He had some questions for me so I tried to help him out the best we could, but we also just talked about a lot of stuff too. It's definitely a little surreal, after having worked there for 8 years, to really ponder the fact that someone else is now doing that job. After we were finished, I got a red velvet cupcake to go, as usual, and talked to Jen about Kevin and I performing there so she asked me to send her an e-mail. After work, I went to Prime Time, a dive bar on Santa Monica Blvd., near Western Ave. I had driven by the bar many times but never ventured in, but tonight I was to meet Angie and Brandon there to hang out with our friend Scott who runs the website www.findadeath.com and the Dearly Departed Tours, which is an amazing tour of Hollywood and the surrounding area focusing on celebrity deaths, scandals, and lots of other bits of history. Scott is a history buf...

I read quite a bit of "More Possible Than Perfect," a book/cd project that my brother is putting together as the definitive collection of music by his band/solo project, S No S. After Plaything broke up, sometime in 1999, Brandon decided to continue working on music by himself. I'm not sure why I wasn't involved but I think between my last year of college (and all the activities therein), my various jobs, and the impending move to Los Angeles, I was probably too distracted to be of much help. Anyway, I remember one day he came down stairs to where my bedroom was with some ripped pieces of cardboard from an 18 can pack of Keystone Beer, which spelled out S NO S and he was very excited about using that as a band name. I didn't quite get it at the time, but reading through "More Possible Than Perfect" at least shed a little light on it. When we moved to California, Brandon and I developed very separate lives - or as separate as two brothers who live in ...

It was a slow day at work. I walked to Chipotle for lunch but the line was way too long, so I went to Baja Fresh instead. One of the big windows looking out to Sunset Blvd. was broken out, which was weird, and also meant that there were less table to sit at and I thought I was going to have a panic attack when I was about to get my food and there was no table to sit at. Would I have to go sit with some random person? Or just eat standing up, holding my tray? Luckily, I saw some girls getting ready to leave so I swooped in and got their table right as they were leaving. I went to Bed Bath & Beyond to get a cabinet organizer for the kitchen. Stayed late at work so I could meet Dylan after at the Station Bar at the W Hotel next door to my office. I wasn't sure where the Station Bar was, but it turned out just to be the outside area where mom and dad went with me and Brandon when they were visiting and I showed them around. Dylan was there working as they had a Governors mee...

Dylan and I were extremely hung over when we finally crawled out of bed, so we went to brunch at Silver Spoon. Then went home and I played The Sims on my iPad while Dylan watched this movie, "Black Dynamite." Then I cleaned the closet out and got rid of a whole huge box of junk, catching up a lot on my New Year's blog project, although I'm still really behind. After that, we went to Brad and Alf's for True Blood, and it was just the four of us this time. Alf ordered pizza, which was very yummy. We watched 2 episodes and now we're all caught up. Hello 2010, goodbye junk! NEW YEARS RESOLUTION LOG ENTRY 211 Glamour Magazine, March 2010, Victoria Beckham cover. I kept the cover and the section about Victoria.