For Comparison.

In this great nation, there is much comparison between the two most major cities: my beloved New York and my newest abode, LA.  So keeping in this spirit, and with my enjoyment of top ten lists, I present to you, dear blog readers:

The Top Ten Inconveniences of 

Living in Los Angeles.

10.  The parking enforcement here is like the Secret Service.  Nothing gets by them!  If the sign says you can park til 8pm, you can bet your ass that you will be towed at 8:00 and 47 seconds. It's reeeeediculous.  In addition, if they are kind enough to merely bestow upon you an infraction ticket, it will costly you dearly.  Like fifty bucks.  Bend over, Barbie.  This may be Hollywood, but your Corvette can't park here.

9. The weather.  Before you aim your tomatoes, allow me to elaborate.  LA is famous for its 366 days of sunshine a year.  (Yes I know, I added a day for dramatic effect.)  However, the constant sun and lack of cloud cover results in dry skin, frizzy hair, sunburn, and the local's complete inability to drive in any conditions other than clear skies and sunny.  I know it's a catty complaint to make, but that's why it's no. 9.

8. The food intolerances.  When you meet people anywhere else in the world, you usually start with names and then inquire of their occupations.  In Los Angeles, it would you ask their name and then their food restrictions.  There's vegan, there's no red meat, there's gluten-free, there's raw only, there's paleo, and the list goes on and on and on.  In fact, I attended the birthday dinner of a new friend last week and the first thing she asked me when I sat down is whether she needed to inform our server of any food "things"?  She was being a good hostess, I was rolling my eyes at the state of our generation.

7. THE CELL SERVICE! and lack thereof!  Holy crap, I have no cell phone service in this city.  I had previously scoffed that all of the whiny consumer reports of AT&T from major cities, and declaring myself immune to all of the supposed shortcomings.  Seriously, I have never really had issues with my service until I moved here.  Now I can barely choke out a hello before a call drops, and my poor battery drains in hours just sitting at my apartment, simply searching for a signal.

6. The smog.  I recently read a study that claimed that the benefits of outdoor exercise in poor air quality conditions in fact, DO NOT, outweigh the risks of such exposure.  I, am a person who wishes to die before forcing myself to exercise indoors.  Greeeeeeaaaat.  Besides this, the blanket of brown smog settled under the clouds really dampens the view from atop everything I hike.  Pew.

5.  People in the entertainment industry have a propensity to be very, very high strung..... with very delicate egos.  There is a particularly intricate dance when dealing with them, many unspoken protocols behaviors.  I'm learning.

4. The public transportation system here blows.  I've tried to take the metro to work, thinking that one less car on the freeway is of benefit to all cars, but the process is just plain exhausting.  I would have had to walk to a bus stop, take a bus to the metro station, metro into work.... which would all cost 6 dollars to travel about 6 miles.  Another option would have been to forgo the bus leg of the journey and drive to the metro station, but hell!  If I am getting in my car in the morning, my ass is just plain driving to work.

3. LAX airport.  This should require very little explanation.

2.  traffic!  What you were all waiting for.  Like all major cities, LA presents much more difficulty traveling east-west than north-south.  Traffic here is, literally, mind numbing.  I have sat in traffic, thinking that if I fell asleep for a while, it would probably be ok.  Not only is traffic here just generally difficult, but there are no predictable patterns.  There are no formal rush hours, freeways could be horrendous in any particular stretch at 1pm on a Tuesday afternoon.  You just cannot avoid it because, no one here works a 9-5 and so many people drive as a part of their work.  Supplies to buy, locations to scout, meetings across town, shooting all over, transporting food, etc etc etc.

1. Maintaining normalcy.  This is a town in which, I have been approached to audition for a national commercial, made friends with a stranger, and been asked to play in a pilot series.... all within two hours.  It's so difficult to not let this town suck the soul from you.  Everyone always talks about how you can be 'discovered' at any random moment.  Well, geez!  I just cant let myself worry about that because if I did, I would drive myself nuts.  SO..... I have been making a conscience effort to just live my life as I always have.  I cancel dinner plans for yoga, I go out with a bad outfit and an entirely too fresh face, and I go to the movies alone.  I am praying for help to keep my wits about me, because I have seen what happens when people get too ambitious.  Stay tuned, friends!

Love Love Love.

A Gem.

Yes, LA is a million inconvenient things.  But in my neighborhood, you can run along the streets, up hills, past bungalows, around a reservoir, and come upon this little Shakespearean bridge.  These little things count for something, right?

Still Laughing in the Loo.

ROBOTO PROTECTO will save you from the evil perils of Hepatitis and E. Coli!

Are y'all sick of these yet?  I'm definitely not.

A Case of the Mean Reds.

In case you aren't an avid follower of the Times, please consider me your filter to the culturally significant.  Lately, I was intrigued and inspired by this piece:

Banned in Beijing!

Opinion columnist writes a blog in China containing communist.... criticizing? material and language.  Part of this content relates to the speculation that at any moment, his blog could be shut down no later than his article goes to print.

fascinating, huh?

In this age of information overshare and globalization, one of the most powerful nations on this planet is still censoring everything that their citizens see, read, listen to, publish, etc etc etc.  The three major social networking conglomerates are banned (FB, Twitter, Youtube) , and thousands of people are employed with the sole purpose of trafficking public information, moderating what becomes available.  The Commies unwittingly call this process "harmonization".  You know, like calling the Holocaust "cleansing".

Of course, my genetic material makes me particularly interested in this matter, but I believe also that this is also a phenomenon that will be appearing in the forefront of our generation's upbringing.  As my sister says, "all of the jock-y business majors are taking Chinese" at her university.  Know what this means?

We are about to tango with the slantys.  China's growth in economic power and urbanization is so rapid that it's inevitable that, in a few years, its influence will rival ours on countless fronts.  It's all over the news; american architects are finding work in China, financiers are investing in China's market.... blah blah blah.  How will they compete with us while still not being afforded the social freedoms to influence each other and the entities which govern them?  I cannot even imagine such creative stifling.

So, upon reflection of this observation and its practical application onto my life, I have added another item to my bucket list:

Get something of my own creation banned in China.

Hear that?  Chairman Mao is rolling over in his grave.

Overheard.

While sitting and tapping away on my computer at my local coffeeshop in the uber hipster area of LA, I couldn't help but overhear this adorable exchange between two hipster types playing a game of chess and discussing music:

hipster 1: "yeah, so we were in the studio for days on end and I finally knocked out this sick little jam with a guitar instead of a keyboard.  They were all telling me that it was too electronic, too disco.  I couldn't figure out what they wanted and it just came to me when I heard some awful guilty pleasure song on 80s radio.  It was ridiculous."

hipster 2: "naw, man.  sometimes you need really bad music to inspire really good shit.  hey, you know what song is so embarrassing but I love?

hipster 1: "what's that."

hipster 2: "You know that pina colada song?  You know, the guy gets sick of his girl, reads about this awesome one in the paper, they meet up, and it turns out the awesome girl was his own girl the entire time? I don't remember the words but she says something about pina coladas and doing other awesome stuff that he never knew about her."

hipster 1: "oh yeah, something about like dancing in the rain or something."

hipster 2: "I would never admit this publicly, but that song is awesome."

I wanted so badly to proclaim "ah! i have it right here! dont you want to listen to it?!"
But I didnt.  Because you know, I didnt want to call him out.  publicly.

Evidence of Old Age.

Ive decided Christmas traditions like a tree, presents, Santa, etc etc are only fun in the presence of toddlers.  Without one or several, it's just sad.

So, in a attack against the sad, Janni and I have started a new yuletide tradition:

Waaaay better, right?  Now if I could only convince Janni that she's not Shaun White and to embrace the fact that she's actually better than me at something, if ONLY snowboarding.

Sam's latest.

My sweet sweet goddaughter is just advancing herself way too rapidly for me.

Yes, this is the view of her I see most often.  Because I can barely keep up with her.  Isn't she the greatest?

This is what the sky looks like.... when it's getting too dark to hike.  You should probably be heading back to your car, instead of continuing up the canyon, further into the wilderness.  I, however, am not a prudent individual and proceeded to lead my friends deeper into Will Rogers State Park, take just a few wrong turns due to confusing trail markers, and have to explain myself to a quite disgrunted park ranger.  Whoopsie.  Thank heavens for the almighty headlamp and our adventurist spirits.

They call it background....

....because you're in the background.

Recently, I believe that I have been slightly drunk on a false sense of importance relating to the fact that I can be seen in flashes standing behind principle actors on the magical light box in your living room called the television.


So when there was a nasty rumor going around Glee that production was going to replace all of their regular background actors after the holidays due to annoyance and misbehavior, I experienced about twenty minutes of devastation.  They were sick of yelling at all of the loud people, and didn't want to deal with the weeding so had plans to just clearcut everyone and start over.

I was so sad because Glee is so fun, the cast and crew are mostly spectacular humans, and I just liked the summer camp morale of the set.

I gave it a few minutes of mourning, and then I forced myself to be mature.  After all, I came here to learn the art of acting, and I certainly am not doing much of that walking hallways and 'reacting' to slushy bombs.

Turns out, the rumor was just that and I have still been booked on America's favorite weekly guilty pleasure.  I cant deny that I was tickled by and and joyfully put on my sneakers to prance the halls of William McKinley High School.

But despite the fun and industry knowledge I get from working background, I am going to start backing off, and going to get serious about classes and real scene study.  I've already discovered that it's easy to relax into background work.  It's brainless, and you convince yourself that youre making progress just because you're on set in the presence of cameras and actors.  Even so, I have to keep reminding myself that I'm not here to just hang out at Paramount Studios.

Sounds scary, right?  Let me tell you, it's terrifying.  I'm contracted at the hospital through the beginning of February, and after that, it's gonna be less day job distraction.

Go Figure.

When you live in southern california, people are all of a sudden just hugely interested in coming to visit you.

"oh, don't bother coming up here for thanksgiving, Mingni.... we'll just come see you down there!"

sounds pretty sweet and accomodating, right?  dont be fooled.
really, what you don't realize straightaway, is that it means that i had to host thanksgiving.  turkey and all.

quelle pressure, but i think i pulled it off..... pumpkin cheesecake disaster nothwithstanding.

Look at me, I'm growing.

Fun Fact.

Concerts are a kind of challenge for me.  I like being in the mass of humans, all intoxicated with sounds of music they like..... and other things of course.  Despite this entrancement, I, being of rather short stature, have some difficulty seeing anything that happens on stage.  I miss all the funny faces that the musicians make, I totally miss the non verbal cues.

Until now.  With the advancement of technology and generalization of cell phones with impeccable image capabilities, I am now able to view concerts from the cell phones of those standing in front of me.

You may now laugh.

two oh one one.

To face unafraid,
the plans that we've made.
walking in wonky wonderland.

this is my mantra for the new year.

I've recently been reminded of a discussion that took place while I was in nursing school, talking about childhood development and culture.

Prof:  "So for example, what were your expectations for your life when you were a young child?"

Us: "I'm gonna play in the NBA!"

Prof: "and then in high school?"

Us: "Maybe I'll get to play in college..."

Prof: ...."and then in adulthood?"

Us: "My knee hurts."

At the time, I just laughed at the wittiness of my friend Jen with the knee line.  Now, I just think it's real sad how our dreams seem to get smaller with age.  If anything, the opposite should be true.  With age, we allegedly gain wisdom, experience, and resources.  Apparently, we just lose the follow through.

Be inspired with me, my friends.  Face unafraid.  Cowabunga, dudes!

Laughing in the Loo

This is also funny.  Bathroom verbage apparently is my new joy. Yup folks, I went to college.

blurgh.

I am embarassingly in love with my iphone.  I use it as an ipod, I read the Times on it, I use it as a Bible on Sundays, I neglect my camera in favor of the chic Hipstamatic app.

Did your alarm go off on New Years?  Mine sure didn't.

I haven't owned an alarm clock in years and have ridiculously relied on my mobile device to arouse me every day.

In case you hadn't heard, there was some software glitch with the arrival of 2011 and iphones nationwide protested in silent revolt.  Seriously.  No alarm.

Does it kill you how much our phones have become singing, vibrating, flashing tumors on our hands?  Oy.

I would like a list of superfun volunteers who would like to go on a gadget free trip with me. No phones, no pods, no pads.  Oh lordy, what would we do?

im alive and well. promise.