Once More, With ...pain

I decided to go to Burbank again, this time to actually do something important. I was going to be on the tonight show! I had looked up who the guest was going to be the day before, and that settled it. Beauty incarnate was announced as the primary guest...I just had to be there. I'm obviously talking about Jessica Alba.

I started out the day by getting up at 4am. When you live in Santa Clarita, thats what you have to do when you want to go somewhere. As previously mentioned, the train only leaves about once every 2 hours, and I needed to be at NBC studios to get in line some time before 8am, when they open the doors to the ticketoffice. So I got up at 4, showered, packed my bag, ate breakfast, and realised that I was late, so I ran to the trainstation. Show up just minutes before it leaves, buy my ticket and jump onboard. Figured that from now on I would probably just sit still most of the day. I show up in Burbank, and find out that there's a bus waiting to take me to NBC studios. Perfect! Didn't even have to run down olive street Olive Street

When I show up at NBC, it's completely deserted. So I figure "yay, first in line, alright!". After a few minutes I realise that where I am is just the place where you line up to get in...I need the tickets first, and there are _no_ signs showing where to go. Thankfully tho, most americans are friendly and nice, and it was real easy to find the house called "Guest Relations", where I find a short (only 8 ppl) line is waiting to get tickets. Not too bad.
While in line to get the tickets, I start talking to the person behind me. Turns out he's from Switzerland. We laugh it over about how if an american would start talking to us, he'/she'd probably confuse us, thinking we're from the same country for some reason. After talking to Daniel (ze Swiss) for a while, the very cute and bubbley Heidi shows up, and exclaims "HEY, YOU LOOK FOREIGN!?". We talk for a while to Heidi, turns out she's "still out partying" and a bit tipsy. Maybe thats why she later on reinforces our stereotypes by having trouble understanding that Daniel n I are from two separate countries. After another few minutes, Heidis gorgeous friend Heidi joins the line, and we all have a nice, albeit slightly repetitive (thx to the "drunken girls") conversation. Turns out Heidi has Swedish ancestry, while Heidi had german grandparents. A little international gettogether if you will. Just before the line gets moving, we take pictures, exchange info, get tickets and say goodbyyyyeee.

Heidi is on my right, and Heidi is on the left side ;-p

I decide to walk down to McDonalds to get something to eat before I begin the actual linepart. Been about 4 hours since I ate last at this point, so I'm really hungry. Show up at McD after a short run/walk up olive street, and realise it's still "breakfasttime", so I order the "2 breakfast burritos" menu. When I get my meal, I'm at first shocked by the ridiculously small burritos lying in front of me. they're like half, if not a third, of the usual size from, say Taco Bell. "But at least it's food". Now this is where the second shock comes, and those who know me from back home realise how immense this really is. I eat the first little halfburrito, and.I'M.FULL ! ! !
I couldn't believe it. I hadn't eaten for four hours, I had been running around, carrying my heavy backpack, talking to nice ppl and pretty girls, ate a teensy tiny little burritothing, and I was FULL! Of course, I still ate the second one, I mean, come on, this is me we're (humm...schizo much?) talking about here =). It was still difficult to squeeze it down, and after I had eaten, I actually had to sit and wait for a few minutes before I could get up again. Those burritos sure pack a punch!
When I finally get up again, I realise I've been waiting for too long, and I'm worried that their might be a long line at the entrance by now. I so grab my huge backpack and start running. At this point, my legs start hurting. I ignore it and keep going, I'm getting in line to see Alba after all.

At NBC studios, it's as deserted as it was this morning. So I figure "yay, first in line, alright!". This time it was actually true. After about 20min or so (it's about 10am at this point), number 2 and 3 show up. Now it feels just like home, I'm sitting first in line, been there for quite some time, and several hours until it's actually time. Talk a bit to the guys next in line, but mostly either lean back and wait, or sit n work on sudokus I found in a free magazine. Surprisingly enough, the page with the wordpuzzles, sudokus n stuff, were right next to the "adult section"...how...peculiar.
The line behaves as usual, up until it covers most of the street, and new people coming to join the line start behaving seriously odd. They actually walk up, and stand in front of me, facing the entrance, just as I am, and think that they're going to get in line there. I quickly get rid of those fools, only to have another couple of weirdos walk up and stand in front of me. You'd think that the big sign, the large entrance and the fact that everybody are facing "this way" would clue people in that this is the beginning of the line, and that new people need to go down to the end, about 200 people away, but nooo, at least 20 (!!) imbeciles actually thought they could get in front of me...those idjits.

After standing in line for about 7 hours, we finally get in, and get to sit down. There was a whole obnoxious moment where I was handed a crappy seat, _me_, number1 in line (!!!), but it all worked out fine in the end, so I wont bring up that whole ordeal. Instead, I can mention that when you're watching the tonite show IRL as an audience, and you're waiting to see a certain guest, Jay's monologue and the stuff he does before the guest (in this case, headlines) seem utterly boring and longwinded. Especially since you're forced to clap and cheer for everything. After what felt like an eternity+1, Jay finally says those words.

"The lovely Jessica Alba...", and even tho I'm not as crazy as the guy sitting next to me, who screams out "I've been waiting for this moment since 1997", I still get a feeling of satisfaction, the kind you get when you finally get to open the gifts on christmas eve (still swedish, still don't open xmasgifts on the 25th). It really is a completely different experience to see a person in live, when you've seen him/her countless times on tv or the big screen. When it comes to the show itself, it was still fun. Got to see Ahnuld, as one of Jay's "surpriseguests" to sign the katrina bike. Can't remember much of the interview w/ Alba tho, since I was busy being mesmerized by her beauty ;o). (sidenote, later I found out that you can actually spot me in the audience, without my white pumasweater ofc)

Eventually, the show ends, we all leave and I decide to walk over to the comicbookstore (also mentioned previously) to say hello, pester them some more =). But just as I'm starting to walk up on Olive, I remember that I have no clue when the next train leaves, so I fish out my little note of departuretimes, and I realise that there's one leaving v soon, and then, as usual, a 2h gap until next train shows up. "Time to run...again...". I arrive at the trainstation, my legs hurt so much, my foot feels like it has swollen so much that it might burst open the lace on the shoe. I get on the train by as small of a margin as this morning, and begin my journey back home. Once in Santa Clarita, I call for a pickup, because at this point, my legs are numb, don't feel like carrying my body anywhere, I basically can't feel my feet...what a perfect day =D !!

Mode of Transportation

People always say that a picture is worth a 1000 words, but usually I don't pay such sayings/proverbs any heed. But in this case..well..it says it all, doesn't. I am no longer bound to depending on others to go to a faraway KFC or Krispy Kreme..or even a Coldstone Creamery for that matter ( *homerdrool* ). Now I can take this bicycle and travel as I please.
Ok, so I can't go to all corners of this huge area still..but at least a step in the right direction.
Regarding housing, it finally seems the matter has been taken care of. I shall crash at my friend's (from sweden, w00t, sweden r00ls!!) place in Santa Monica =D. Soo looking forward to being close to the beach, to venice, to everything. Now my bike will come even more in handy, since it's actually possible to go someplace interesting, by bike. Probably gonna move there in about a week. w00t!

Worst.Wakeupcall.Ever

I woke up this morning to something loud and crackling. I jumped up from the bed, pushed the weird shades aside and looked out. It was actually raining....RAINING!!! I mean, I didn't spend 5000SEK (~650USD) to go all the way over here to "Sunny" california, and experience the same crappy weather I get back home in Sweden..."I swear!".

Instead I got to go look for a bike to use to get around when I'm here. Found a really awesome one, might get it, if only I had sufficient funds. So right now I'm waiting to hear back from my sugahdaddy..erh...as in, my dad...right. Would be good to have a bike...wont take me 30min to walk over to the trainstation then...wouppie...more on that later.

After checking out lots of bikes, we ran across the street (ok, so we actually drove, but whatever) and went into the Coldstone Creamery. Now, up until this point in my life, I was pretty sure I knew what icecream was, and what it had to offer me. But after visiting this divine place, I realised that I never really knew what icecream truly was. OH MY, if I would live next to that place, I would've used up my money yesterday! I'm gonna try and limit my purchases from them to about once a day...or something...bah, I need money!!

The sun eventually showed up, and all was well again. Right around the time I decided to watch The Simpsons on tv. wow, this trip is AWESOME.

(FYI, title of this post is to be read in Comicbookguy's voice)

Walkabout in Burbank

well, I've had quite the day today. You could say I had my first real "adventure" since I started this trip. I took the train to Burbank. I know, it doesn't sound as interesting, but it's not the destination alone that matters, but what you make of it.

Since Los Angeles is a HUGE place, and I don't have a drivers license, I had rely on public transport. So I decided to check out the metrolink. The schedule read a departure from the station once every two hours. Guess LA haven't gotten that far on public transport. Something I actually noticed while travelling with the train. For a "doubledecker", the train wasn't really packed with people. More like the opposite. On both levels of the train, you could easily count the number of travellers on one hand. At the same time, there is a constant roar of cars, driving the same way I was going. You'd think that people could stop and think for a second, and travel collectively. But noo, that would mean they'd have to sit in the same open area as other human beings...how...scary?

When I arrive in downtown Burbank, I'm greeted by a sign that, in my mind, screams Hollywood -50s style. Kinda like the decor of "Nats Peach Pit" in 90210. It gives a feeling of finally arriving to what I've been so desperately waiting to see. I begin my journey into downtown burbank (not by elevator mind you) by walking across the i5 and eventually, after asking several different characters out on the town for help, end up at the public library in Burbank. The last person I asked for help was the most helpful...maybe because he was the nicest...but probably because he actually worked at library =). We talked about different things, he eventually found out that I'm from Sweden, which helped me out quite a lot. Apparently, he was impressed with my accent (w00t, how nice of him =)), and pursuaded the personnel to give me access to a computer for an hour, without any need to go thru all the applications n stuff. Sweet!

With info on a couple of things to visit (thx Google) I walked around with a bit more confidence, a bit more direction. Up until know, I had passed a few buildings more than once. Like the AMC, which was completely empty when I saw it the first time, or some coffeeshop, where a dude was handing out free tickets to some movie, and the "ticket" was basically just a green piece of paper, that read "this entitles you to a private screening of Zathura". I was like "yeah right, sure =)". But two hours later, I pass the AMC again, on my way to the western part of Burbank, and there's a huge line outside of the theater. I walk up to one of the queuers (queueuees?) and ask what it's all about. The guy answers "Zathura. We got a free ticket from some dude outside this coffeeshop". "oookeeey". I slowly walk away...

When I reach the burbank trainstation, I realise that what I'm heading towards, NBC studios, is kinda far away (in fact, so far away, that the nice man from the library said it was near impossible to go by foot. He obviously hadn't met a non-los angelenos before), so I pick up the pace. I wasn't exactly sure how long it would take, all I knew was that my timeframe for going and getting back was 2 hours. I was sure I'd make it. Turns out, it took less than 30min to get to the studio. "Near impossible?" hah! The only sad part about my little trek to NBC studios is of course that it's closed...this being a saturday n all. So I take a couple of pictures, then I decide to go back to where I came from. 'course, going back took a bit longer than 30min. I mean, come on...a comicbookstore, and I'm _not_ supposed to go in? now _that_ is even beyond "near impossible", it's downright impossible. So I check out a few magazines, ask the chick at the counter for a couple of magazines that they don't have, start talking about how I'm from sweden, and that you can't really buy any good comics back home, when I realise that I have to go, or else I miss the train. I wrap up the pleasant conversation, she whishes me a happy trip, I don't want to go, but still, head out of the store nonetheless....and when I get out, I'm almost scared. See, when I walked into the store, everything was like it is everywhere else in this country (or at least this part of the states), cars everywhere, "a constant roar". But when I come out from the store, it's dead-quiet. Ridiculously eerie. I'm standing at the side of a large road, with 3 lanes in each direction, and there's not a single moving car in sight. If crickets could survive in this atmosphere, I'm sure I'd hear them all of a sudden, but since none were to be found, it really was dead-quiet. Half-expected some tumbleweed to blow by, but then again, that would actually make a noise. Try to bring up the camera real quickly to get a shot or two, but by the time it's ready to take a picture, cars have shown up again, and the scary feeling of being completely alone in a huge city disappears. Hourray for lots n lots of cars!

I show up at the trainstation 35min early. (grr, why don't I learn that my legs are so long!? Can never estimate how long time it'll take me to go somewhere...could've stayed in the comicbookstore) I put on some awesome music and walk around the lovely station. Here I notice a few things:

• Water is wasted in incredible amounts, to keep things green and nice
• You're actually offered free electricity...at a public trainstation! (hope the dude doesn't mind being featured here)
• Once again, the trainstation is almost deserted at a time when a lot people leave work to go home
• They actually do have buses here, and they stop at the trainstation...how...fitting. Gonna have to check that out l8r

After walking home from the trainstation, it almost felt and looked as if my foot had swollen to twice its size...so I decided to end the day by going to one of teh lovely pools we have access to in this neighborhood. Was soo sweet to just lie down in the water and relax.

If you have Google Earth installed, you can download a detailed path of where I walked when I was in burbank.

I have arrived!

Finally I've shown up here in Los Angeles. Flight went well, just that _everything_ was delayed, starting with the cabride down to the ferrystation back in helsingborg, the train was delayed to copenhagen, the flight from CPH was delayed to London, and finally leaving london about 50 minutes late! Quite annoying for the people that were waiting to pick me up in LA. Altogether, I didn't show up until 2 hours n 30mins after I was supposed to arrive. But the flight went well nonetheless, good movies on the plane (mr&mrs smith, madagascar, unleashed), good music with me on my zenµ and great views from the window, as you can see. Now I really understand what they mean when people use the expression "Farming-country". I mean, I come från Skåne, and that's always the constant joke back home in sweden, the south (skåne, my region) is filled with farmers and hillbillies. But that is nothing compared to this!
The comment left on the wing is great btw, love it =).

In other news: Got another possible apartment on the way. Located in a nice neighborhood, just a bit far away from everything, but in a way, thats nice as well. I'm hoping less traffic will mean more space for me on my bike =). Then again, what I'm really interested in is being able to go to any kind of fastfood restaurant ;o).

Access Granted

My trip to stockholm went great. I got some time off from work, I got to travel around, I spent waay too much money and met friends. Really needed to get away, and even tho this was just for 4 days (6 if you include traveltime!) it was very relaxing, and I enjoyed it a whole lot. All in all, a good trip. Especially because I got my visa! Which means I am most definitely going to LA. See, up until this point, the whole trip was kinda on thin ice, since the visa is quite vital. But that didn't worry me, I was sure it would work out, and it did =). I now have a touristvisa valid for another 10 years. Not that it means I can stay in the US for 10 years, but at least I wont have to apply for a new visa if I feel like going back next year.
Unfortunately, my time in stockholm wasn't all good. When I was up there, working on a computer, I read my email, and long story short, the room I mentioned in the previous post is no longer available to me. So while I solved one problem, an old one came right back. Been a week now, still looking for apartments, leaving in 4 days, and I still haven't been able to lock anything down. I'm still not worried, but it would have been nice to know that I have a place to live for the duration of my trip before I go. Would've been comfortable. But I'm sure I'll find something within the first week or two. Otherwise, I guess I'll just have to cut the trip short...which would be difficult (or at least expensive) considering my planeticket home is already bought, and is very nonrefundable, and not exactly flexible.

On to site design. As you can see, a few words are now underlined (well, actually...I guess they're under-dashed, if such a word exists), and when you hover the mouse-pointer on the words, a small little window shows up. That function is sort of a dictionary. See, my sister complained about not understanding what I'm writing about from time to time. Guess thats the computernerd in me, being used to using acronyms when chatting. So from now on, certain words will have explanations attached to them. I hope I get them all. I also changed the background-color. Good or Bad, opinions are welcomed =).

While I'm on the subject, me being a computernerd, how on earth am I going to survive 3 months without a computer, without internet!? I mean, seriously, what will I do ?? It's gonna be rough. Just look at the picture to see what I'm used to. Does life get any better than that? I guess I'll find out this fall.