Hollywood

Well, I arrived in one piece with all my luggage to L.A. yesterday. That was a feat and I spent most of the morning thinking LAX would lose my luggage or I would get robbed. I think my expectations for Californians was lower than it was for New Yorkers! But, I have thankfully been proven wrong. It's been a great experience, all 24 hours I've spent here.

I have a conference meeting in Hollywood today, so I came in a little earlier to get settled and to see what little sights I could. I spent a few hours bumming around town, checking out the Kodak Theatre and the "Walk of Fame" stars. You can see the Hollywood sign from the hotel, and my room view includes downtown LA and Hollywood Hills....it's pretty nice! Today will be spent wrapped up in a meeting, but I've got the evening open to see what I can see. I was kind of ticked, because I couldn't figure out where the People's Choice Awards were being held last night. The Oscars and such are usually held at the Kodak Theatre, which is right next door to my hotel. But obviously the PCAs were not there, because it certainly wasn't a madhouse last night!

Have you ever seen "Kiss the Girls" with Ashley Judd before? You know the crazy cab diver that locks people in and then kills them on their way home from the airport? Every time I get into a cab that's what I think about. I don't worry about the swerving in and out of lanes and the honking (and boy was there honking yesterday) or the lightning-fast speed. No, I worry he's taking me down some backroads to a torture chamber and I'm never getting out. And let me tell you, my cab driver yesterday looked like he could do that. So that was one more sigh of relief when I arrived at the hotel: the plane didn't crash, my bags arrived, and the cab driver didn't kill me. I was so relaxed after all that I didn't know what to do with myself.

This morning has been so nice. Since we're two hours behind OK time, I slept until 7:15, which was really 9:15. Then I have been sitting in bed working on my laptop, enjoying the view of downtown LA through the huge picture window in my room, and munching on room service. It's fun...I don't often take time to enjoy the travel opportunities I get with this job so a morning like this helps me realize how fortunate I am and how fun it really can be. Tonight my friend, Beletra, and I are going out on the town...ok, maybe we're just going next door shopping and out to eat with her friend that lives here, but it's fun to think we're going out on the town. I can pretend all I want that I like to stay out late and party, but what I really want to do is pack my suitcase and crawl in bed. I'm so boring!