New Job

So, on the news front, I officially have a new job.  It's only for a week, but I'm really excited for several reasons:

a) I have a reason to get up and leave my house every morning.

b) the job is as a production assistant at a Disney Channel show (I think it's on a pilot they're producing, but I'm not 100% certain), which is going to be SO DIFFERENT from the lit department at The Public.  Not that I didn't love the lit department, but I'm really excited to try something new.

c) It's in the offices of "The Suite Life on Deck," where I spent a week observing the daily life this summer (my cousin is a writer on it) so I actually know some people in advance, which will help with first day anxiety.

I mean, (b) kinda trumps (a) and (c), but yeah.  I'm very happy with this development.

The Grammys

I've had a lot of down time on my hands since Harvard-Westlake's winter break ended as I haven't started a new job yet, so I started watching "Twin Peaks" on the CBS website.  First of all, this show is incredibly fucked up but somehow still so good.  And it also got me to watch Blue Velvet for the first time.  This movie is also incredibly weird, and also very long, although I was surprisingly engrossed and it didn't feel over 2 hours at ALL.  In fact, I was surprised when the end came about since it didn't seem like enough time had gone by for it to be over already.  Maybe I'm just a David Lynch kind of person... although my one attempt to watch Mulholland Drive was kind of a fail.

Anyway, this is all very far from my original point, which is that during the online "Twin Peaks" episodes they incessantly showed these commercials for a contest to sing Katy Perry's song "I Kissed a Girl" at the Grammy awards (I'm not really 100% sure what the prize is, although I think there's a cash component).  This reminded me of this guy Max Vernon who went to my high school.  I didn't really know him during school, he was just a friend of my best friend's older brother, but I knew of him.  Actually, I ran in to him in New York City once.  I think that's pretty much the only time I've ever talked to him.  It was outside the theater after seeing the revival of Sweeney Todd (directed by John Doyle and starring my new friend Michael Cerveris!), and we briefly discussed how great Patti Lupone is and then I had to go.

So, anyway, he has this cover of "I Kissed a Girl" that's really popular on the internet (it's actually really good, especially considering that I don't really like the song itself all that much), and I recently came to learn he entered the CBS contest.  So here's the link to go vote for him:

http://www.cbs.com/specials/grammys/moment/video_player.php?vid=93

Now, why should you do this?  Because:

a) it's pretty good

and

b) (the selfish reason) I think it would be really cool if someone I know (or... kinda know... or... kinda used to know...) won the contest

I don't know when the Grammys are exactly, but I think they're the first or second week of February so there's still some time left.

So... yeah.  That's about it.  Like I said, I haven't started a new job yet, so there's not much to report.

My parents are at Obama's inauguration today.  I could have gone, and I so very very much wish I had, but I guess I can't change anything.  So I'll get the scoop from them soon and that'll be that.

Wrapping Up

Ok, so, I have an interview for what will hopefully be my next job tomorrow, and in light of the beginning of the next gap year phase I figured I should wrap up my account of and thoughts about New York and being back in LA.  

Leaving The Public was really sad for me.  It was such an amazing job, and a huge part of the mission at The Public Theater is producing socially conscious plays, so working there is really meaningful and political.  The job I'm interviewing for tomorrow sounds amazing and will definitely be a great opportunity, but it won't be the same in that way.

I was also really sad to leave my new friends, and to leave the opportunity to be around people like Michael Cerveris and Tony Kushner on a daily basis.

Oh, the night after I saw "Road Show" for the second time I saw Mandy Patinkin in concert at The Public.  The Public had free tickets for staff, but I'd bought mine before they offered us though so I had this seat in the very very front row, which was on the floor of the stage.  It was kinda scary, although it was fun to be so close.  The concert was all Sondheim music, which was really fun, although his selections seemed almost purposefully esoteric.  He forgot a lot of the words to certain songs, including "Losing My Mind," which ended up being unintentionally hilarious, and the audience coached him through it, and he sang the concert almost completely with his eyes closed, which was a little odd but it still sounded great so it wasn't too distracting. Deborah and her friend were there as well, and after the concert we hung out in the lobby and saw Michael Cerveris one more time (my last).  I might go back to NYC this winter (if I get a chance) and see him in "Hedda Gabbler."

I was back in LA for about a week, then we left for Utah for a brief ski vacation before Christmas.  On our first day of skiing my sister fell down on her thumb at the bottom of the last run.  We took her to a clinic the next day, which took up the whole day, and discovered that she'd chipped a bone fragment off.  They fitted her with a removable cast and she was able to ski the next day.  We flew home and had a nice Christmas, then left the day after Christmas to visit my mom's parents in Michigan.  That wasn't terribly exciting but it was nice to see them, and we looked at my grandpa's old photos which are really really great.

After we came back from Michigan I hung out with friends for the last few days of the high school's break, with a really nice New Year's party at Leland's house, and now they're back at school and I'm just chilling before my next job starts (assuming the interview goes well, of course).

Oh, and it turned out that my sister tore a tendon (or ligament?) in her thumb, and she had to have surgery to reattach it.  This is unfortunate since it's her right hand, which she writes with, so she can't write well, can't play the harp in the orchestra concert that's coming up soon, can't swim with the swim team for almost 2 months, and can't even go on the trampoline our parents got her for Christmas.  Sad stuff.

So that's the short version.  And the long version is pretty boring so... yeah.  That's all folks.