Fire on the Mountain

There was a fire up in the Hollywood Hills yesterday and you could see the large cloud of billowing smoke and helicopters from our offices. It looked a lot more serious than it actually was, at least according to the news reports I've read.

When I got home I walked my clothes over to the laundromat (high rents here don't guarantee a washer and dryer), and I passed a couple of guys getting into a brawl on the corner across from where I live. Several weeks ago I saw an older man get sideswiped by a car on that same corner. A couple of blocks down from there I once passed a homeless guy sleeping on the front porch of a very nice house.

For a nice area, this neighborhood is pretty eventful.

Also, when I was working in Westwood, I was in line at Whole Foods one afternoon and a man was escorted out by security guards, kicking and screaming the whole way. Apparently he had inappropriately touched a woman in Aisle 3.

As I deal with all of my personal stress, these events run in the background.

TGIF, Part IV

I didn't have a chance this week to update the blog until now. The new job has consumed all my time and energy, and since I don't want to go into details about my workplace on here, I'm in a conundrum about what to write.

In general terms, the job is (probably) a great opportunity but also very challenging. The company is growing like gangbusters, and the majority of the employees have been there less than six months. A lot of the administrative employees arrived through placement agencies as the company is still building an HR department. The place has the atmosphere of a mid-nineties dot com startup-- lots of young people and lots of chaos.

Since I'm new to L.A. it seems like a good place for me to have landed. I will meet scores of people and learn quite a bit about the city, since the company is investing in and developing properties in key areas all over town, involving everyone from investors to tenants to community leaders to the Mayor and city council. As the front desk person I'm on the bottom rung of the ladder, and yet I need to know who everyone is in the company and what they do, so I'm on a very steep learning curve. I'm learning all about leasing, investment development and analysis, construction, property management, and so on, while at the same time learning how to run the office.

On the other hand, I feel like my life here is going to get smaller, as I won't have much energy left over for other adventures around the city. I have extremely mixed feelings about that but know it was time to plant myself somewhere to give my life in L.A. focus. My blog might get awfully boring though.

Although I'm interested in urban development, I'm also unsure if this is a good match careerwise for me and whether I have the motivation to work my way up into a better position.

I had several bouts of insomnia this week and a third round of a stomach virus I contracted in December, which I'm beginning to think is stress related after all. It's been disorienting to start over in an entirely new city and an entirely new industry as "the girl who answers the phone." I'm being trained by someone right out of college. I feel as if all my former work and life experience never happened. To heighten matters, by the time I get home from working and the gym, it's too late to call friends in Austin, so I haven't been able to talk over any of this with old friends.

Instead, I drive past posters for Entourage on my way to and from the office in Hollywood, and then I come home and watch Entourage on HBO. Or E! News.

Bird in Hand

I accepted the Hollywood Boulevard gig with the urban development company on Friday and start Monday. It's temp to perm, so there will be some time for me to try it out before going permanent.

Of course, several hours after I accepted the job, the Entertainment Placement Agency called to find out if I was still available. First time I've heard from them since going in there. As expected, I did not score an interview with The Big Important Talent Agency, and I do not know what else the agency was calling about, as I had to tell them I was no longer available.

Oh well, "a bird in the hand..."

The Price Is Right

My interview today was in the TV Guide Building at Hollywood and Orange, next door to the Roosevelt Hotel and across the street from Grauman's Chinese Theatre and the Walk of Fame. Anyone familiar with L.A. knows that block is crazy touristland!

It appears I may get the job and, if so, I will be working for a company that is developing that stretch of Hollywood Boulevard as well as building lofts downtown and participating in several other urban renewal projects. In what may have been a case of foreshadowing, my former co-workers in Austin photoshopped an image of my face on the Grauman's marquee for my goodbye party invitation. Also, a couple of years ago I was engrossed in a Style Network TV show about the remodelling of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.

There's a little sunray of hope peeking through the dark clouds that had been hanging over my head (figuratively and literally) earlier this week.

While walking around Hollywood Boulevard I was handed a free ticket to a practice taping at CBS Studios of Bill Maher's HBO TV show. I hadn't been to a studio taping yet, so I decided to head over there after my interview. I had to wait in a long line with, shall we say, an "assortment of characters." Picture your typical afternoon crowd at a downtown public library. Once seated we watched a crew dismantle the "Price Is Right" soundstage in preparation for Maher's show to begin. I didn't know what to expect, but the head writer came out and explained that this was a practice show and the jokes that got laughs from the audience would make the cut for the live taping on Friday night. The writer and several other staff from the show pretended to be the Friday guest stars, and they ran through the entire show from opening monologue through closing segment. It was hilarious. I think it was even better than the real thing, as it was "no holds barred."

Afterwards, I walked over to the Grove for a snack. The weather was beautiful and the place was packed with people dining out on patios as a band was setting up for an outdoor concert. Spring has begun...

Alice in Jobsearchland, Part II

I got firm today about two things: no more driving to Santa Monica and the desire to find permanent work. It worked on both counts, with a temp job offer in WeHo and a job interview at Hollywood and Highland.

Santa Monica is not that far away in terms of mileage (maybe 8 miles?) but it takes at least 40 minutes in the morning and at least 1 hour in the evening to travel to and fro from this area of town.

I would advise anyone considering a move here without a job to locate yourself in Santa Monica. Seems like a healthy job market there (thus the traffic).

Alice in Jobsearchland

I'm taking a break from job searching today to deal with my befuddlement. I wrote again to what I will call the "Personal Assistant Company" with an updated resume, and as usual they sent back an enthusiastic e-mail, but then... nothing. I made some connections recently who insisted they could help, but their response to my resume this week was to "try Craigslist" or "The Personal Assistant Company." I feel like Alice in Wonderland, going around in circles.

One of my agencies asked me to e-mail them with jobs from their website that I am interested in, so I picked out some general office/ admin stuff, but then they didn't respond to my e-mail. Huh? What does no response mean? I have no idea.

I had a talk last night with my roommate and she was railing about the complete incompetents she has to deal with at one of her gigs, and how they all have high-level jobs, and how employees who lie and cut corners are rewarded. Might I just add that the woman at the Entertainment Placement Agency, the one who said I had no relevant skills, had to call her assistant into her office to send an e-mail for her.

I found a discussion board of frustrated L.A. jobseekers this morning that validates some of what I have been experiencing. Basically, that in L.A. it is all "who you know," that "incompetence is rewarded," and that "mediocrity is preferred" on the job market. Not that I'm getting bitter.

Link to discussion:

city-data.com/forum/los-angeles/42784-anyone-else-relocate-east-coast

The Monday Blues

Had a nice, social weekend. Dinner and drinks Friday night with a friend in the neighborhood and then an all-day pool party in Sherman Oaks on Saturday. It’s fashion week here, so on Sunday morning I walked by a model lying in the driveway next door having her shots taken.

Found out today that the cruiseline is not going to fund one of the positions I interviewed for and they chose someone else for the other one. Luckily I put some other job search strategies in motion over the weekend (including some networking, L.A. style, in the hot tub at the party) since I predicted that might happen.

I’m trying not to fret (yet).

Temping Reconsidered, Part II

I had a discussion with my current temp agency today and it was suggested I look over their permanent job offerings and let them know what interests me.

There are several decent-paying admin jobs in my immediate area of town, from Hollywood to WeHo to Beverly Hills to Century City. So I am now switching strategies and hopefully can line up more interviews for permanent positions in the case I don’t get a job offer from the cruiseline. Only one of the positions is entertainment-related, but, other than trying one more time with the personal assistant agency, I no longer have the stomach for the entertainment industry run around, at least not right now.

I realized after posting yesterday that May is just around the corner—only about six weeks away. I think that is way too soon for making a decision about returning to Austin, so hopefully a decent-enough job will come through by then, one that will allow me to spend at least another year or two evaluating Los Angeles.

Temping Reconsidered

After my interview on Monday, I debated about calling in to the temp agencies or taking the rest of the week off, with the hopes that I would get a job offer soon. Out of guilt that I was wasting the week and that I needed to reestablish contact with two of my agencies, I called into one on Monday, but they didn’t get back to me with any work. So, after more internal debate, I called into another one on Tuesday.

It’s always a gamble. The agency may call with something appealing, or they may call with something that you don’t want to do, and then if you say no, there’s a mark against you.

This time I gave them my geographic parameters, and of course they called immediately the following day with an assignment outside of those parameters but with a promise that it would be a “fun” job in the “publishing industry” doing administrative work “for a trade show.”

So with visions of myself blowing up balloons for the booth of a book publisher, I acquiesced. It didn’t help my decision-making powers that the agency had woken me up and needed someone within the next two hours.

As it turns out, the company is a publisher of a couple of trade journals and the job is strictly data entry. Three full days of repetitive, mind-numbing data entry. I have to be here at eight, which means I have to get up by 6 a.m., since of course the job is again near Santa Monica. At least this time I get a real computer chair.

Needless to say, I’m in a black, black mood. They have already asked if I could come back next week, and I, of course, said no. Thank god I had the presence of mind to tell the temp agency that I was only available through Friday.

Oddly, at lunch today I ran into one of the few people I know in Los Angeles.

Anyway, I am planning to take next week off to regroup. I already did a review of my finances last night, and I’m not yet in a place where this type of soul-destroying work is financially necessary.

I’m really hoping that the travel industry job comes through. I liked the people, the offices, the hours, and the location, and the job sounds interesting. It’ll be tough to live on half the income I was making in Austin when it is so much more expensive here, but I’ll just have to hope for the best in terms of future job prospects with the company.

As I see it, if that job doesn’t work out, I have some combination of the following options:

1) Telling the temp agencies that I am now primarily interested in interviewing for permanent jobs and will only accept one-day temp assignments (out of fear of getting stuck in another unbearable situation).

2) Revisiting the personal assistant placement agency with an updated resume.

3) Picking a date at which I end the career exploration and submit an application for Los Angeles Public Library (which isn’t a sure thing, as they have a preference for Spanish or Asian language speakers, and there’s no guarantee they would have an opening within what I would consider a reasonable commuting distance). I have to keep in mind the city training that would be involved and the probable six months without benefits and decide whether I want to go down that path here. Perhaps a part-time librarian gig would be the answer.

4) Making a decision by May 1st that I will return to Austin and telling my real estate agent not to lease my place after the current tenants move out in June. This would be motivated by the desire to reduce my “burn rate,” since my living expenses in Austin were 1/3 of what they are here. I would then just make the most of my last two months here and would travel to Santa Barbara, Laguna Beach, etc. I’d like to stick it out a couple of years, though, so I hope the job situation isn’t bad enough to drive me to retreating that soon.

The Real(ity show) O.C.

Tuesday night was the finale of “The Real Housewives of Orange County.” I admit to getting sucked in, but I claim that it was all in the name of “research.” After all, those people are now my (distant) neighbors. Not that I’ve ventured into Orange County or particularly want to after watching the show.

To be fair, I think most families would come across as dysfunctional if cameras were trained on them. What struck me, though, was how ordinary, not particularly bright, and, to be frank, downright insipid the people on the show were…and yet, they are *loaded.*

Proof once again that wealth seems to follow no rhyme or reason.

The Metrosexual L.A. Male

Good cartoon in Salon today. These guys ("perfectly coifed, with just a bit of stubble, they wear $300 jeans and tight clingy shirts...sunglasses and cell phones on their ears") are up and down 3rd Street, where I live, and probably all over Austin right now for SXSW. I haven't seen any with little dogs though:

http://www.salon.com/comics/knig/2007/03/14/knig/index1.html

Slums of Beverly Hills

Caught another good movie with Alan Arkin on HBO the other night called "Slums of Beverly Hills." I saw it for the first time in the late nineties, but it has more resonance now that I'm living in L.A., on the edge of Beverly Hills, although not exactly in a slum (except to some people).

Anyway, I enjoyed seeing the various apartment buildings the family moved into, now that I recognize the architecture as part of my everyday life.

Rumor has it that, as recently as ten years ago, Los Angeles rents were relatively low. What happened? I recall reading in Tamara Draut's book "Strapped" about the out-of-control upward spiraling of rent prices in Los Angeles and New York in the nineties, but I can't recall the figures now. Of course, as all Austinites know, the same upward spiraling of the cost of buying a home here has led to many a Southern Californian relocating to Austin.

Recommended Reading, Part II

I'm in the midst of reading a book called "New York & Los Angeles," edited by David Halle. As the title suggests, the book compares and contrasts the two cities, with the idea that "New York and Los Angeles are the two American cities with the strongest claims to global city status" (Gladstone and Fainstein, p. 79).

As a sidenote, I once read that Houston might become the most important city in America, due to the rising importance of oil. But now that Halliburton is relocating to the Middle East...

Anyway, this section from the book was enlightening to me:

Unlike the economies of paradigmatic American industrial metropolises such as Chicago, Detroit, and Pittsburgh, which were based on "Fordist," mass production industries churning out automobilies, steel, machinery, and domestic appliances, the economy of Los Angeles is composed of "enormously diverse, flexible production sectors, including financial and business services, high-technology industries, and various craft, fashion and cultural product industries ranging from clothing and jewelry to motion pictures and music recording" (Halle, p. 14).

"Flexible" is the key word here, the one connected to my job search difficulties. A lot of work here is contract and thus based on connections. As a newcomer, that's a problem. For a former city employee, it's confusing.

Another interesting bit:

New York and Los Angeles are the premier cities/ metropolitan areas for immigration in America, in a close race with each other to rank first in terms of their numbers of immigrants (Sabagh and Bozorgmehr, p. 99).

Someone wrote into my blog that I was writing only about "white" Los Angeles, but I explained that I must have been giving a "vanilla" impression because I was trying not to divulge too many details about the people I was meeting here. In actuality, I have been hanging out with several East Asians, Asians, and Latinos (both foreign and American born) as well as African Americans. I have also been steeped in Jewish culture here. My acquaintances may tend to be professionals (regardless of ethnic background), but just going to the grocery store or the gym here is a true experience in "cultural diversity."

Lies, Lies, Lies, Yeah!

I've pretty much concluded that the interview with The Big Important Talent Agency ain't gonna happen, despite the temp agency's advice to go buy a suit. I'm sure they have plenty of resumes from Harvard grads willing to do anything to work there, so it makes sense that they wouldn't be interested in dealing with me. It also appears that the entertainment temp/placement agency will not be beating down my door with other opportunities.

Several people have advised me to fabricate entertainment industry experience on my resume, but I don't have the heart for it. Lying is a common practice in the Industry, though. "Fake it til you make it" and all that. I just feel like my experience should be good enough as is.

I did have a good second interview with the cruiseline and become more attracted to working there with each passing day. It's not as youth oriented as the entertainment sector, and everyone seems to go home before 6 p.m. Although I would be back in an office, I think that the travel industry could offer some of the same offbeat and adventurous job potential of the entertainment industry, with less competition and stress.

Los Angeles Social

It looks like I won't be temping today, which is fine with me. My inclination is to lie in bed with my head under the covers. I need to process the last 2 1/2 months.

My busy dating life has gone bust again and I think it's time to find some social activities to participate in. Flipping through the LA Weekly, though, I just don't see the listings for clubs and activities like I did in the Austin Chronicle. There's a guidebook coming out this month called "Los Angeles Social," by A.K. Crump, that looks promising, despite the fact that it is supposed to cover 2005-2006. Okay, maybe not so promising.

I did manage to pull together five people for drinks last Friday, which was fun. Three actors (including my British friend J.), one talent agent, and an architect. Lots of shop talk about the entertainment biz, but it was lively.

I'm also going to a party this weekend, which I'm really looking forward to. I could use a party!

More Driving

On Saturday night I drove up to Sherman Oaks again to eat dinner at a jazz restaurant with a date. I took Beverly Glen as opposed to Laurel Canyon, but it was dark so I wasn't able to get much of an impression of the drive. If I hadn't gotten lost at one point, the drive would have taken around 40 minutes.

Drove out Venice Boulevard yesterday to play paddle tennis in Mar Vista. It was around 90 degrees (a record, I hear). The drive took approximately 30 minutes. On the way home, I took Washington Boulevard, which took me past Sony Studios and through the shopping district in Culver City. I had previously only been to Culver City to go to The Museum of Jurassic Technology (www.mjt.org) and, although that museum is definitely worth a trip, I did not have a good impression of the area. Yesterday I realize that it is actually yet another very nice, self-contained area with it's own pleasant, walkable central district and scene going on.

Interviews, Celebrity Sightings, Parking Mishaps...or TGIF, Part IV

Had a good job interview this morning at the cruiseline. I liked the employees and the environment, and the job itself is intriguing. The office didn't seem like the type of place where the roof caves in if someone misses a call, or where you should feel extremely grateful to work extremely long hours for extremely low pay for an extremely difficult person. Not to criticize the entertainment industry, ahem.

The interview was held in Century City, so there were a lot of Industry types buzzing around the food court where I ate lunch (another B-list celebrity sighting: Harry Hamlin!) I sat next to (and too close to) three men who work in entertainment and who ogled all the women who walked by, noting that they were seated in a good pickup location. One of them talked to his friends about working on The Girls Next Door and shooting an upcoming scene with Bridget. Through TGND he met a former Playboy centerfold who showed up at his house one night "looking hot" in a cowboy hat and wife-beater. He leaned into his friends and said intensely, "What do you think about this idea for a reality show? HOT MODELS on a RANCH."

Readers, look for it in your TV guide next season.

After lunch I could not figure out how to get back into the most mammoth, convoluted parking garage known to man. I ended up just walking down into it through the car ramp and then the security guard had to call me a golf cart escort to drive me back to my car.

While I was waiting for my escort, Bridget, from the above mentioned The Girls Next Door, drove through in her red sports car with the Playboy license plate.

SXSW-- Ya'll Have Fun Now

On a Los Angeles morning radio show a couple of days ago they were discussing SXSW. Time has flown by so quickly; I can't believe the festival is about to begin.

I'll be missing Austin those couple of weeks.

Recommended Reading

I'm in the midst of reading Phil Rosenthal's book called "You're Lucky You're Funny." Good look at the ups and downs of show business by the creative/ executive producer of "Everybody Loves Raymond." Although he definitely endured some stressful and uncomfortable job situations before "Raymond," his chapter about a typical day in the life of The Writer's Room for that show would make anyone envious. Basically a bunch of former stand-up comedians would roll in around 10 a.m. and munch on doughnuts for a couple of hours while telling scatological jokes and stories. Then they would get down to the business of writing the show, which involved yet more scatological jokes and stories. Much like hanging out with your friends on a Saturday night.

For anyone inclined to ruminate on how much more fun they *could* be having on a job, I direct you to Chapter 8, "This Is How We Do It."

Rosenthal frequently refers to "writer's assistants" in that chapter, which provided me with yet another idea for a possible job, although again, I don't think I have the right background or connections to get a position like that. But I think I'd be good at it.

The Coveted Personal Assistant Position, Part II

I keep being told by agencies that I can't be placed as a personal assistant until I've already been a personal assistant and the way to get that first position is by "meeting someone at a party who likes me."

I don't know what kind of parties they think I am attending, but, uh, for the most part, the people I socialize with do not have personal assistants. Although they do like me.

The Beleagured Temp

Exhausting day yesterday. Filled out all the applications and tests at the entertainment placement agency and while doing so my cell phone kept ringing with other possible temp assignments and job interviews. Finally I was asked to step outside in the hallway to take the calls.

After looking over my resume I was told by the entertainment agency that I had no applicable experience and that asking for a minimum annual salary in the mid-thirties (and I had swallowed my pride writing that down) was an outrageous expectation for the entertainment industry. Yet in the same breath they found a position at a Big Important Talent Agency and called them extolling my virtues.

Afterwards I had to hustle down to Santa Monica for an afternoon temp job at an investment company. I was the receptionist, and it was one of those stressful positions where I felt the roof would cave in if I dropped someone's call. Then I had another dinner date.

I was absolutely beat by the time I got home. I was told I would need a suit for the interview with the talent agency (if it happens), and I need one for another interview this week anyway, so I planned to go suit shopping today. Woke up this morning with a headache and an agency calling me with a one-day job. I told them I couldn't do it and they definitely sounded disappointed.

This is getting difficult.

Back to Business, Part II

Had an interview today with an import/ export company for the travel industry. The experience had me feeling like I was in a Coen brothers film.

Found out import/export and hospitality are two of the biggest industries behind entertainment here.

A connection was able to get me an interview with a big entertainment temp agency in town that I had previously not heard back from. That is tomorrow morning. Then I have a temp job in the afternoon at an investment firm in, yes, Santa Monica again. That agency initially wanted to send me to Encino for the week but I told them I couldn't do it. I still have to work in another permanent job interview this week that's in my area of town.

Starting to feel a bit bedraggled...

Back to Business

So now I have to get back to business because I have two job interviews this week and need to do my homework on the companies. I had to cancel the trip to Santa Barbara in order to do so. I hope I can sleep tonight. Both positions barely pay enough to scrape by on, but perhaps I need to swallow my pride (and financial concerns) and accept that as part of the transitioning process. The employment agencies who arranged the interviews are, I'm sure, taking a nice cut. Neither of the jobs are in entertainment, although one job is not completely out of that realm.

In regards to the entertainment industry, maybe I'm a victim of ageism, as I'm no longer in the desired 18-34 age demographic, so I'm not as easy to exploit salarywise and perhaps am seen as not having "my finger on the pulse."

Thank God the word-processing temp job is over. I went to yoga after work on Friday and my toes spasmed into a misshapen pretzel. That's how messed up my body was after sitting in a hard plastic chair for three days.

During my lunch break on my last day, I walked around the Yahoo! campus, which was down the street, caddy corner to Universal Music Group. That's definitely where all the young people are. Google, a logical place of employment for a former librarian, also has a campus in Santa Monica. Maybe I should have located myself there due to the increase in new media companies in the area (and thus the increase in traffic heading that direction). But I really can't drive there and back every day. It took half an hour just to get from Santa Monica to the 405, which is about a third of the way home for me.

Parties (Birthday and Other)

Yesterday was my birthday, and I was greeted in the morning by a bouquet of balloons from some Austin friends. My roommate D., who is back in town from a spokesperson gig, brought out a cupcake and a candle in the evening. She also told me celebrity gossip from her earlier years. It occurs to me that since I don't go out drinking at Hollywood hot spots that I'm missing the celebrity action. But everyone tells me that scene is overrated, and frankly I'm too old, especially after yesterday. Although D. says that L.A. is ageless and you will see lots of older people on the scene-- particularly men.

One of my acquaintances who works at a studio, and who recently quit drinking, said that the socializing here revolves around bars, so people are either drinking or they are in AA. Speaking of which, D. told me you have to apply to be accepted into the hot celebrity AA groups.

To end the night I went out salsa dancing on a date at Mama Juana's in Studio City, which was fun. It's a date-oriented supper club, so not the kind of place I would go salsa dancing alone. My date told me that he has never seen a celebrity out salsa dancing. Not even J-Lo!

Screenplays in the Closet, Part II

So I have two new friends with screenplays in the closet. One now works in the business side of healthcare and has given up on the TV scripts he was writing and sending out, but the other is still working on his, and he wants me to help him edit one that he is about to send out. Ironically he also mentioned that he was friends with a former personal assistant to Alicia Silverstone. When I first arrived in L.A., someone told me she needed an assistant, and I sent off a letter, but I never heard back. That's been par for the course with the P.A. gigs. I never heard back about the Garry Shandling possibility either.

I've never worked on a screenplay, so I guess I'll see if I am able to be of any help.

Little Old Ladies in Line

I keep getting in line behind little old ladies (at the bank, grocery store, 99 cent store) who love to recount, to anyone who will listen, their glory days working at the movie studios, back when "stars were really stars."

Today I was in line and one old lady was asking another one where she bought her red Easy Spirit tennis shoes, because she had been looking for red tennis shoes everywhere but couldn't find any.

TGIF, Part III

This is my last day at the temp job at the private school. I’ve been sitting on a hard plastic (at first, metal) kid’s chair for three days straight, fixing a scrambled word document. It’s a very New Age-y school, but the “open heart” does not seem to apply to adult temps. Then again, I’m not paying tuition.

I’ve had to get up at 6 a.m. every morning in order to make it here on time. After this week, I have definitely ruled out working in Santa Monica, due to the drive (although that qualifies me as extremely wimpy here). What’s made it even tougher is that I had my usual night of insomnia the night before the first day and only got about four hours of sleep. Yesterday, probably because I was unable to make it to the gym and had been sitting all day, I had another night of insomnia and got a total of two hours of sleep. I’m shot, what with the lack of sleep and the back and hip pain from this chair.

Also, as soon as I arrived at this job, another agency called me with a job in Beverly Hills. Sigh. Them’s the breaks.

I have had fun outside of the job. Tried out salsa dancing at Monsoon on Wednesday and had drinks at the lovely Casa Del Mar last night. Had to cancel my tennis game today though due to exhaustion.

I may be interviewing for a job next week at the headquarters of a luxury cruiseline. The office is very close to where I live, which is becoming a top priority.

Looking forward to the weekend. There’s a trip to Santa Barbara in the works.