WHAT'S THAT FALLING FROM THE SKY???!!!

A few days ago it was raining here in L.A. - Hard.

So hard in fact that we got a whole "1/3 of an inch by afternoon." In some parts of the country, this isn't a lot of rain, but here in L.A. it's a DOWNPOUR!!!!!

The people of Los Angeles FREAK OUT when it rains. No one quite knows what to do with it. It's like the world stops. Case in point: One day last year I drove for about an hour to go to an audition in Orange County. When I got there I found a sign posted on the door of the building that read "Auditions Cancelled Due to Pending Rain Storm". It was almost too L.A. to be true! It MIGHT rain, so we have to cancel everything!! When I saw the sign on the door I looked up at the sky; It was true that the news was reporting a storm on the way, but from where I was standing the sky was clear blue without a cloud in sight!! Come on! Who cancels an appointment for "pending" rain?? That's like me calling off work because it's winter and I think I might have a "pending" cold.

Anyways, that audition was a year ago, and I thought I'd moved on until it rained again the other day, and I saw something sooo L.A. and sooo bizarre that I had to write about it!

I was heading into Target (my favorite place to mindlessly wander for hours), and when I entered the store I stepped right into a huge group of PANICKED employees. They were literally covering every bare inch of the ground with "Caution - Wet Floor" signs and rubber mats to keep their patrons from slipping. I mean, I can understand setting out some caution signs when it's raining, but there were no less than 15 signs in the entryway. It was INSANE!!! I wish so badly that I had this moment on video, because it was priceless! The sense of urgency and ferocity with which these employees were setting up the area, you would have thought they were a swat team gearing up for a multi-million dollar drug raid!

But here's the best part! They had three employees who were strictly dedicated to towel drying the carts as they came back into the store so that the customers wouldn't DARE have to TOUCH A WET SHOPPING CART!!!! OH THE HORROR!!!!!!

I tried to capture the madness that 1/3rd of an inch of rain causes here in L.A., but I feel that my camera phone just couldn't do it justice. It was truly a sight! Nevertheless, I posted the pic below. Remember people - 1/3RD OF AN INCH!!!!!

SPOTTED!!!

I figured it's about time to mention some of the celebrity run-ins that I've had out here, because I know that's the kind of dirt that people really want!! Although, I have to say that I haven't had any particularly juicy interactions, but I'll give ya what I know!

Paris Hilton - Spotted her at Target of all places about a year ago. She was cute. She seemed cool enough to me despite the horror stories I have heard. She was just reading a magazine and waiting in line like everyone else. One thing I will mention is that she had huge calves!! And I'm not knocking Paris! I actually think she's beautiful, and I have nothing against her, BUT women out there should know that no one in Hollywood looks like they do in photos! It's crazy! I mean that chic had some wicked-big calves!!!



Jessica Simpson - At Teddy's Nightclub in Hollywood. Gorgeous... super-tiny ...except for her HUGE HAIR and even MORE HUGE BOOBS! Very Texas!!



Dustin Hoffman - Almost bumped into him coming out of the dressing room at the Levis Store in Santa Monica, and wouldn't have even noticed him if my husband hadn't pointed out who he was. He was just shopping for jeans and seemed really friendly and upbeat. He wasn't with a stylist, so that says something!



Tom Hanks - On the set of CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR. Here's the story:

Basically, the director had been yelling at the crew and extras to keep the noise level down for hours, and the tension was really rising on the set. We'd been working for about 10 hours, and everyone was completely exhausted. So when the 1st A.D. (director's assistant) yelled "Martini Shot" we were all relieved. "Martini Shot" is industry code for "last shot before we can all get the hell out of here!" Then the director yelled "quiet on set", and everyone really shut up this time. WE WANTED TO BE DONE!!! Except there was one noisy guy behind me who just wouldn't quit yapping, and I was getting tired and annoyed, so I turned around and shusshhhed him with all my might. Turns out the "yapper" was Tom Hanks himself. Luckily he is seriously like the nicest guy in show biz and just laughed it off. He didn't care at all and thought it was funny. Thank God!!!!!! That could have been the end of my glorious career as a Hollywood Extra!



Rebecca Romijn - Met her on the set of her short-lived TV series PEPPER DENNIS. I knew that show was getting canned after about three hours of filming. I am NOT a fan of this woman. This blog's not about trash-talking though, so I'm not going into detail here. Let's just say, not a pleasant person.



Josh Duhamel - Just as hot in person. I worked a few days as an extra on LAS VEGAS, and he seemed a little too good to be true. No diva attitude!



Jamie Lynne Spears - Seemingly normal so far. I worked as an extra on her show ZOEY 101, and she was polite, friendly, and professional. Of course no one was mentioning the disaster that is her sister!!



The Whole Cast of the Office - I worked as an extra on THE OFFICE for a good four or five days, and was lucky enough to meet the whole cast! It was the best extra-work experience that I've had out here!!! The cast and crew is really small on that show, and they use very few extras, so if you get on it you're in luck! Everyone pretty much hangs out and eats together as a team instead of treating the crew and extras like third class citizens - (as they do on most Hollywood sets). The whole cast was super-friendly and had ZERO ego! The funny thing is that when I worked on the show I had actually never seen it, so I had NO IDEA who were the actors and who were the extras! That's probably why I ended up talking to most of the cast! The only two people I recognized at all were Steve Carell and Rainn Wilson, and that's only because I'd seen Carell on THE DAILY SHOW and Wilson on SIX FEET UNDER! Here's an example of my extreme ignorance to who was actually ON the show: I told Jenna Fischer (Pam) that her dress was "sooo cute and really flattering on her". I just assumed she was another extra and she'd brought her own wardrobe. (Incase you didn't know - extras have to bring their own clothes to set, and then if the wardrobe people like the outfit enough, they pay you like an extra $10 or something to wear your clothes instead of their MUCH more expensive items!) She looked at me a little strangely for a second like maybe I was joking (and it was wierd because I didn't know why), and then she just smiled and said "Oh, thanks. I like it too." Too funny!!! I can be such a blonde sometimes!

There are a lot more celeb run-ins, but I think I'll save them for a Part 2 Blog on another night when I have nothing else interesting to say!

P.S. Incase you're a huge OFFICE fan, you can spot me as a waitress at the Casino Party in the Season 2 Finale.
(O.K.... now that I feel like a big dork, I'm done typing.)

Your Very Happy Baskets in the Life???

Chinese Food - Spanish Speaking Fortune Cookie. Why not.

Sooo L.A.!!

Although I'm a little confused. I looked up the Spanish to English translation on the internet, which I know is the best place to go for grammatical advice of all kinds, and I was told that the cookie's fortune reads:

"Your Very Happy Baskets In The Life"

What the hell does this mean??? Anyone out there wanna let me know if this is ACTUALLY accurate??? Seems like it might be a little off!! Or just a terrible and confusing fortune!!

(Cookie photo sent to me by my friend Gretchen)

SUICIDE-SITTER

One of my FAVORITE things to post are weird craigslist requests, and I'm pretty sure that this is the strangest one I've EVER seen!!!!! I only classify this as "sooo L.A." because it's hard for me to think of many other places in the world where people are this bizarre... although I'm sure they're out there.

Read:

OVERNIGHT SUICIDE WATCH

Date: 2007-11-10, 6:52PM
It's dark out and this non-violent sociopath is feeling a tad bit more seasonally depressed than normal. I need someone on Sundays or Mondays to spend the night on a futon in my room, basically just babysit and make sure I don't harm myself. I heard someone did this as a job before and I thought hey I need someone like that. Pays $100/night + gas

I SWEAR to you I did not make this up!!!! I cut and pasted it straight off of craigslist!! Now here's the million dollar question: Who the hell even thinks of this??? "Hmmm ... I think I might have to kill myself tonight. Maybe I should pay a stranger to come sit here and make sure I don't. OH - but don't worry stranger. I promise I won't kill / rape / molest / torture YOU!! I'm a "non-violent sociopath"."

FREAKSHOW!!!!! Yeah, sure dude. I'm on my way over.

OH - and incidentally, my favorite part of this post is the fact that sociopath only needs a suicide-sitter on Sunday and Monday nights. Apparently the rest of the weak he's just chipper as can be!!

Buzzing Off My Wheatgrass Dudes!!!

My friend Vanessa told me a sooo L.A. story:

She's at a smoothie shop grabbing her post workout beverage, when in come a few thuggish, punk type skater teens. She said the guys were your total skater package...piercings, ripped up clothing, hair that hadn't seen shampoo in a month, etc. They looked pretty young too - probably mid-teens. Definitely not old enough to be finished with high school, and yet here they were at her smoothie shop mid-morning on a school day.

Now, to me this didn't really seem that strange at all. Kids skip school all the time all over the country, so I was waiting on the L.A. part of the story. Well here it comes.

One of the dudes walked up to the juice bar and ordered a wheatgrass shot. He then turned around to face his buddies and slammed the shot triumphantly. Afterwards he raised his arms in victory and gave out a nice long tough grunt to the cheers of his fellow skaters.

SOOO L.A. Kids here skip school to - NO - Not smoke pot all day or steal booze from their parents' mini-bar. That's for the rest of the country. SoCal teens just want to party with some juiced up grass that will improve their overall health, clear up their skin, and boost their immune system!!

I guess I really shouldn't be poking fun at this at all! It's a GOOD thing!!

Slam that wheatgrass kiddies!!!

A Sooo L.A. Halloween

No one does Halloween quite like West Hollywood. The city boasts the largest Halloween Block party in the world. The costumes are fierce and the trannys are out in spades!

Love it!!!!

Sometimes pictures speak louder than words,

so here a few of my favorites from the night:

Liza and Cher together - Gotta Love it!!!



Borat from the back... Shocking... yet effective!!



Ummm.... ?? Enough said.

To see more AWESOME photos of the entire crazy night, you can go to http://www.flickr.com/ and search "West Hollywood Halloween 2007". LOTS of fun pics there!!

My Brush With a Reality TV Star!!!

My main gig out here in L.A. is working as a Miller Lite girl. Sometimes we wear skimpy cheerleader outfits, and sometimes we dress up as dancing beer cans; but we always manage to have a good time and we usually meet someone worth mentioning.

The other night we were working a private costume party at a bar in West Hollywood. Before we knew it we were hanging out taking photos with a man dressed up as a trojan warrior. The guy was a little drunk, and a little slow, BUT my girl friend thought he was the hottest thing since the sun, so we stuck around and talked to him for a while. Just your average night of work. But since this blog is sooo L.A....

It turns out he was a guy named Burton Roberts from SURVIVOR - PEARL ISLANDS (PANAMA). Since neither myself or my friend have ever watched SURVIVOR, we didn't realize that we were having our very own brush with Reality TV Stardom!!! How exciting!!! (Hope you can note my sarcasm here.)

Anyways, I don't know if Burton was popular on the show or how far he made it, but incase you are a SURVIVOR fan, I will tell you that Burton was a nice normal guy who didn't once mention that he was a former SURVIVOR. (Which I have to admit, is slightly disappointing, as it would have made for a much more exciting blog post!) Either way it just goes to show you that you can't swing a dead cat in this town without hitting someone who's been on a reality show!!!



To check out Burton's full bio visit: http://www.cbs.com/primetime/survivor7/survivors/bio/burton.shtml