The Big Event(s)

Three large, well-attended events occurred in L.A. this past weekend-- the Coachella Music Festival, the Los Angeles Book Festival, and the Israel Independence Day celebration. I, however, declined to attend any of them, as I am no longer a twentysomething (Coachella), not yet a fiftysomething (the book festival), and, well, not Jewish.

Sandal Season

I have a new, L.A. induced obsession-- the state of my feet. I have never in my life had a manicure or pedicure, a confession that elicits shocked disbelief from my acquaintances here.

Given that I swim, hike, run, kickbox, dance ballet, etc., I had pretty much accepted that my feet would always look battered. In L.A., however, a calloused bunyon is an object of such repulsion that I am forced to seek treatment. I am still holding out on a pedicure but have been lotioning away every night to little effect. I am also treating two recently blackened toenails in a vain race against the clock to sandal season. I really don't like the painted toenail look though; it reminds me of a poodle.

I am already starting to resent the maintenance requirements in L.A. and am beginning to dislike the artificially perfect eyebrow look so popular here. And I have still held out on the self-tanner! A few months ago a friend of mine held a dinner table in rapt attention as she described the process of laser hair removal of her private area.

After the cocktail party this afternoon I tooled around the Venice boardwalk and was happy to realize once again that there are hordes of non-perfect-looking people (well, in this case, freaks) in this city.

It's Confirmed

I had coffee this morning with an extremely nice guy who works for New Line Cinema. He moved here a dozen years ago, but even back then he and several of his friends had difficulties with the Entertainment Placement Agency that gave me the runaround about the CAA interview. He never got any work out of them, and he is the third person who has told me a tale of woe regarding that agency.

He highly recommended another agency in town, but I don't know if I have the stomach right now to resume the employment agency dance. I just had a very difficult week at my current job though and seriously considered telling them the job was not for me. I did, in fact, tell my boss that I was not in any rush to gain "permanent" status. Everyone treats me with kid gloves the minute I hint I'm about to walk! They know it's a bad job. I found out tonight that my coworker will be out sick tomorrow, so I am now looking at a hellish Monday on top of the grinding week I just wrapped up.

I don't want to quit until I have a plan of action in place though. I did apply to the library system a couple of weeks ago so am biding my time to see what happens with that situation.

Just like the guy who went to Largo with me on Wednesday, my coffee date encouraged me to stick it out here at least a year, saying that he went back and forth for the first four years he lived in L.A. about whether or not he wanted to stay. He agreed that the uncertain "contract" nature of a lot of work in the entertainment industry is not for most people and that L.A. is a difficult place to have your accomplishments recognized in order to land a job. He also said that it's challenging to meet people here and that he had tried meetup.com (scrabble, poker) with decidedly mixed results.

After my coffee date I drove to an afternoon cocktail party in Venice where I met a Los Angeles native who had lived all over the country before moving back to L.A. She told me a familiar story: that Los Angeles is the most difficult city she's ever lived in regarding socializing and has the fewest activities to facilitate meeting people of any city she's ever lived in. She, however, did have great success with meetup.com and had a new Latin American boyfriend on her arm that she met at a Spanish language meetup group!

My property manager in Austin has already placed my condo on the rental market, so pretty soon I will no longer have the option of turning tail and running back to Austin and will have to stick it out another year regardless.

Blog Wars

I came across another blog on blogspot today called "lost librarian" that has the same format and style as my blog. I am sure we are going to attract a lot of confused cross traffic.

I Luv Largo, Part II

I made it to Largo again tonight to catch a benefit reading by Glasgow Phillips, the author of "The Royal Nonesuch." His reading was funny, he seems like a genuinely nice guy, and I highly recommend the book to my fellow ageing Gen X friends.

The musical guest for the evening was Fiona Apple. She is very petite, very dramatic, and blessed with a very good voice. She has become something of a jazz chanteuse of late.

The opening comedian looked so familiar... I couldn't quite place him... and then I figured it out! He played the hippie high school guidance counselor on that beloved cancelled TV show, "Freaks and Geeks."

The Morning After

I drank a couple of glasses of wine last night and ended up with a raging headache that lasted all night. The good news is that it distracted me from my emerging anxiety disorder, and I was finally able to sleep.

I went out with a coworker and her husband; we had dinner first at their landmark apartment building in Hollywood, complete with old-timey elevator. My friend's husband is a former actor/ model. My roommate's boyfriend is a former model. One of the men I met on New Year's Eve was also a former model. I don't recall ever having known a "former model" before living here.

My friend used to work in the entertainment industry as a craft services provider. I've been a bit envious of the entertainment industry lifestyle because it allows for a lot of time off and because of the variety it provides in terms of working with new people and at new places all the time. But my coworker and her husband emphasized how stressful it all was, never knowing where your next paycheck is coming from.

We went to a birthday party for another coworker that was held in the penthouse suite of a hotel in Hollywood. The birthday boy was turning 27. As I wrote before, the bulk of my coworkers are in their twenties. His friends were all very sweet and polite, but I felt like I was watching an episode of the O.C.! Everyone looked so young.

My friends gave me a hard time upon leaving for not flirting more with some young guy who approached me at the party. He looked all of 24 years old. I asked my friend's husband if he knew any single men in their late thirties/ early forties, and he said all his friends were either married or in the closet or terrible people I wouldn't want to date. This does not bode well...

Culture Shock

Someone wrote into the "Dear Cary" column on salon.com today about the culture shock he was experiencing having moved to San Diego from New York.

Cary recommended returning to New York because "New York is your home. It's where you are known and understood. If you walk around strangers too long you get strange. You get estranged from yourself. They don't understand who you really are. They haven't seen what you have seen. It is a struggle to make them understand."

I am starting to agree with that sentiment, but most of the response letters to the column have encouraged the letter writer to stick it out for at least two years. They do agree that a lot of Southern Californians prefer to keep social interaction "light and happy" and can be passive aggressive. I've had that experience at work. Several coworkers have asked me how it's going on the new job, and I've replied tactfully but truthfully that it's been a steep learning curve, memorizing everyone's name and job description. Inevitably the questioner's face will fall at this reply, as if the only acceptable response would have been "I love it!" with a high-five to emphasize my enthusiasm.

I've realized that if I stay here, most of my friends will end up being people who are transplants like myself.