Today was another fun day of musical car/street cleaning day. Luckily for me (not) there were no spots left on the Thursday side of the street, so I had to drive around for an hour and a half, running errands that I guess needed to be ran, and what better day and time than street cleaning, Friday at 8am. I head to Target to return a few items and pick up a few more, then off to the Goodwill to drop off a few unwanted items (that oddly my mom did not want either). Finally off to Ralphs to pick up a few grocery items and then I decide I should try and get back to my apartment so I can work for a few hours before my lunch get together with an old filmmaker friend who is originally from Seattle and his best friend from USC who is now working his way up at ICM (International Creative Management).

I drive down my street hoping for a parking spot. I live at the end of the street, so I always see cars parked down the sides, but once I get to the end of my street (where my apartment is), there are usually some parking spots and this time I am in luck – a spot right in front of my apartment. My mom is still passed out in my bed (I’m jealous) as I walk in the door with my hands full of shopping bags. I start to put away my newly purchased items, grind my coffee beans and start my coffee pot when my mom awakes- sorry, didn’t mean to wake you, but I can’t really help it, my studio is tiny.

I open my laptop, start working and I’m feeling motivated, this is a great thing! My mom gets on the phone to her work and starts her job as well. We both get to work from the comfort of our own computers, all we need is internet, how lucky are we?! All of a sudden I’m blogging away, time flying and I realize, crap, it’s already 11am. I need to shower and get ready for my lunch meeting. I hate when I’m so motivated to write, then I have an appointment or I have to be some where.

I leave my apartment a little after noon (lunch meeting is at 12:45) and head to Beverly Hills. Traffic on the 101 isn’t too bad, but OMG traffic is horrible once I get off the 101. I think I made the mistake (thank you stupid GPS) for getting off the 101 too early and driving through all the heavy side street traffic. Although it has been so long since I have been to Beverly Hills (minus the other night out with my friend Chris at the Ghostbusters screening) that I’m not sure if I can get off later on the 101 and still be semi-near Beverly Hills. As I make my way to Santa Monica Blvd traffic is heavy, but that’s pretty normal during the day. It wasn’t until I got to West Hollywood on Santa Monica to where the traffic was bumper to bumper, two cars through a traffic light before it changes, bad. By that time I needed to only go another 2 miles and it took me 45 minutes – ouch!

I finally find the meeting place, but the parking lot is odd and complicated and throwing me off (when normally I’m a pro at parking structures). It was weird, there were little red lights hanging down from the ceiling on top of every car, a few green ones, but not in empty parking spots, in full ones (same with the red), so I was confused if those spots were taken by permit parking, or if it was judged by weight letting customers know if a space is free or not… I was all confused. Finally I just found a spot and parked, asked the nearest woman walking towards me where Gelson’s is and headed that direction.

I called my friend, apologizing for being now a half and hour late, thank you Beverly Hills. As I come through the parking structure and into the clearing I see him. We hang out for a bit and chat while we’re waiting for his friend who apparently was swamped at ICM to show up. My friend is starving, so we head upstairs to the food court and decide to grab a bite, knowing that his ICM friend will most likely be running late, if he even shows up at all (busy, busy, busy).

We finish our meals and guess what – his ICM friend finally arrives. Every time he tried to break away for lunch, someone else needed him for something else. ICM brings along his writer friend as well. They see we have just finished our lunch and they go and grab one themselves and sit and chat with us. ICM tells us about his day, his projects and stuff that is going on and how much he loves to talk (interesting). Writer guy tells us a few stories he has written and ICM brags about Writer the whole lunch meeting (he’s not even gay… it was sweet). They then all kept on about who looks the best from working out (complimenting each other), I was laughing so hard in my head, was this convo really happening and right in front of my eyes? Only in LA! ICM and Writer as me a few questions, I answer. Then ICM asks me all of a sudden to do a southern accent – on the spot, love those. My friend kindly sticks up for me and says its not nice to put me on the spot, but Writer quickly pipes in that I am an actor, it shouldn’t be a problem. I then ask ICM – southern belle or trashy? Trashy. Fine. “Is that there rice you have? I don like rice.” They all start to laugh. They loved it. ICM thought it was great. He then asks me to send him my info as in headshot/resume/reel (to possibly pass on to an agent or casting director?!). Fantastic, AADA paid off!

Its getting late, ICM has to head back to work, his phone keeps blowing up. We quickly exchange numbers as Writer and my friend exchange business cards and we’re off.