Ping Pong Smackdown

Today at the office we did...NOTHING! Basically, we had fun! In the morning the other interns did a few hours of research and I did a project for Ross. I compiled a list of all the DVD and Blu-Ray releases for the rest of 2009 and who the distributors are. Apparently, we get free copies of most of them when we contact the studios. Rad! Sadly, I won't be at the office when they're getting all that cool free stuff in. But, I'm not dissapointed because I got another 3 bags of free clothes, bags, scarves, Burts Bees, etc today. I even got free handles of alcohol which was completely random and hilarious. Basically, they treat us amazing and I love getting free stuff!
Since we didn't have any real work to do, we held an office-wide dance party, had golf cart races around the lot, rode the tandem bike to where they were filming a movie and watched for a while and had a hardcore ping-pong tournament (yes, Ellen is so cool that she has a ping-pong table in the middle of the office for employee enjoyment). I beat Taylor and Erin, but lost to Dante. It was so much fun though! I think the tournament's going to be ongoing so I'll have to get better until I can be queen of the table tennis! Make my Uncle Gary and grandpa proud. :)
I am trying to go to bed early tonight so I can wake up at 1am to go to LAX airport and pick up Heather and Abrams. YAY!!! I can't wait for them to get here so we can have a fun weekend. I've got the airmattress all set up and the house as clean as an old cottage can get. Then I'm going back to bed for a few hours when I get home and then it's up for work again in the morning. I won't get much sleep tonight but it's totally worth it! Heather and Abrams will be coming onto the lot for a visit either tomorrow or Thursday and I'm planning visits for Amy and Ashleigh and the other roommates too. So...if you want a tour of the WB lot and the Ellen stage - come visit me!! I can probably arrange for some free swag too. :)

Hello, Love.

Have you ever noticed how Brits use the most adorable endearments for just casual friends? Tony the DJ came by today and hung out in the office with us for a while. He's British so his accent is fantastic!! I love just listening to him talk, plus the fact that he was keeping me company at the front desk. I can tell this week is going to be REALLY slow. There are literally 6 people out of a normal in-season staff of 150 in the office. Luckily for us interns, it means hanging out and having fun with each other. I did get to watch Harry Potter, Twilight, and Yes, Man on the computer today. However, the highlight of my day was the impromptu intern dance party at the reception desk.
As for actual work, I'm doing on a project for Ross while he's gone. I'm compiling a list of all the upcoming DVD releases and contacting the producers to get free copies for the show. Too bad I'll never get to take advantage of those freebies. :( I'm also still going through resumes for him to interview when he gets back from vacation. And of course, I'm still on reception duty taking calls from the crazies and spending half my day giving the fanmail address or explaining why they are seeing re-runs. If you have time to sit and watch a 24 hour live feed of the stage, you need to get a life!
So I promised a report on the new intern. His name is Dante and he's actually very cool. We'd spent all this time coming up with funny ideas about him being terrible or overly flamboyant so that poor Austin was still stuck being the only one who didn't care about fashion and boys lol. Despite all our entertaining conjectures, he's a really normal, fun guy who seems to fit in well with our intern mojo. He came at a pretty boring time but I think he'll work hard like the rest of us when it gets busy again.
Tonight Amy and I shared some Ben and Jerry's ice cream and hung out. Then I did some more housecleaning/laundry and watched some TV. Heather and Abrams fly in tomorrow (in the middle of the night) and I can't wait for them to get here so we can do some awesome LA things!!! It's going to be so much fun and really busy. I'm already planning to give them a tour of the lot and Ellen office/stage, see the Hollywood sign, the Walk of Fame, the beach etc. It's going to be a busy few days but I'm looking forward to a peice of home out here on the West Coast. YAY!

Go Dodgers!

Today I went to the LA Dodgers game with Austin. Bad part? We got sunburnt. Good part? We like watching baseball. Great part? We heard more MJ songs than tweenage Jonas Brothers stalkers. Best part? We ate the famous Dodger Dogs for lunch. DELICIOUS! We had a really good time watching the game even though the Dodgers lost hard. Sad, but we're going again another day so Erin can come with us. On the way home we hit up Menchie's because, well, Menchie's really doesn't require a reason. Even more delicious!
This afternoon Amy and I did pedicures and went to Pinkberry (yes, that means I had fro-yo twice in one day). I did some more housecleaning (yes, even in glamourous LA, they still have housecleaning). Then I did some laundry (even MORE exciting than housecleaning). Amy got a rad new record player so we hung out and jammed to that a bit. I watched the movie Jumper on demand (holy Hayden Christensen) and had some popcorn for dinner (it was a really healthy day as you can tell). So of course feeling bad about the Mr. Kool Aid-size amount of calories I consumed, I went running on the treadmill. We put the treadmill in the garage which works well except that if you open the garage door for air, people walking by can watch you. Sketchy? Yes. I'm not too worried about people stopping to be creepy though because I look like a "hot mess" (copyright Jessica Erin James) when I go running. Still, it's weird watching them walk by as I play air drums, air guitar and belt out whatever obscure old-school workout song is playing on my iPod (i.e. Spice Girls, LFO, Sisco etc).
Tomorrow's another day at work! I've realized how I know, for certain, that this place is exactly where I want to work. On weekends, I miss my job. I find myself coming home from a 9 hour day at work, laying in my bed for an hour, and wishing I could go back. I may hate waking up early, but every day I am excited to go to work. That's how I know this career is a keeper. It's mostly the people, but it's so much fun! We actually get another intern added to the mix tomorrow so I'll give a full report on him tomorrow. We've already joked with our bosses that if he messes up our "intern mojo" he'll be gone faster than a man who just spotted Megan Fox. Hopefully, he'll be cool though. :)
P.S. A wise friend recently told me, "Do everything you can to the best of your ability." That's good advice...use it well!

Productive Saturday

Today was pretty productive for a Saturday (but still relaxing). I got my car washed and filled the tank and got new brake pads which it badly needed. Alvin's in good shape now! I did some laundry and some house cleaning getting ready for Heather and Abrams visit this week!! I watched the fabulous Princess Protection Program on Disney Channel which I had recorded the night before. Yay Demi and Selena!! Good movie kids. :) I also watched Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 on HBO On Demand and hung out/caught up with Amy some (which included a trip to Pinkberry). Tonight aired Ellen's Bigger, Wider, Longer special on TBS which is what she filmed in Chicago last week. It was pretty funny! If you didn't catch it tonight it will certainly play again soon so check your local listings. The real cool part was watching the credits and realizing I knew every person that was named personally. Pretty neat! Now it's time for beg since my eyelids are falling. Hope everyone has a nice weekend!

Hmmm....Interesting

Today was a really easy day at work. I don't usually go in on Fridays but since I'm covering reception for Jeannie they asked me to come in. Plus I'm taking off next Thurs and Friday because Heather and Abrams will be in town!! YAY! No crazy phone calls today, or at least nothing too crazy. We all played music and sang and danced around since the EPs were gone and the last of the other producers were all leaving today so they didn't have any work to do either. Basically we spent the day cleaning up things, finishing projects and joking around which was really a lot of fun. In fact, I feel a lot closer to all my bosses - everyone there is hilarious!! Today was definitely a blast! I had a burrito for lunch from The Com and it just made me miss Moe's. No where CLOSE to the caliber of the fine dining cuisine that is Moe's Southwestern Grill. Very sad indeed. If I want to get my fix I have to drive to Vegas and that's a little too much, even for Moe's.
So after today, only 3 or 4 people will be in the office for the next 3 weeks. It's going to be REALLY casual and probably pretty boring. So dead in fact that after next week, the interns actually get 2 weeks off! On one hand that's cool because I can get a lot of my LA To-Do list done, but on the other hand, I really love coming in to work so I'm going to miss the fun those 2 weeks. I'm sure the interns will all hang out and do stuff though since we'll all have nothing to do together. We asked if we could come in just to stay up-to-date on research which never stops, but apparently we're a liability those 2 weeks when we would be the only people in the office at all. So, it's Vay-K for the interns...party time!! Haha, when we come back in July though everyone will be back in the office and be prepping for the new season which will be cool to see.
Tonight Ashleigh, James, Shaia and I went to experience something quite unique. It was a performance art expo and I've never seen anything like it. Basically it was weird but it was really cool to experience anyway. I felt very bohemian LA in this little loft decorated with anatomical hearts being taken out of bodies, listening to poetry, chanting and a band that was actually pretty good. They even did an MJ tribute of Billie Jean which was the only song I knew of course. Anyhow, it was an interesting experience that I probably won't repeat but am still glad I had the chance to take in. I'd say it's an LA thing so I'm all for living it up this summer. On the way home we got a late night snack at Del Taco (the LA version of Taco Bell) and now I'm going to hit the sack. I get to sleep in tomorrow!! And I recorded the premiere of Princess Protection Program (the newest Disney Channel movie) that aired tonight so I can watch that tomorrow too. It's going to be a good day! :)

P.S. I can't get "I want to love you...P-Y-T...Pretty Young Thing!" out of my head. And I'm okay with that.

Rest In Peace, King of Pop

That's right...I got cursed out not once, not twice, but THREE times today on the phone. There were some angry people calling about everything from us starving the stage cat Smokey to be not being able to put them through to Ellen herself. Nasty words won't get you anywhere people! But it was more funny than offensive haha, I just don't get these crazy people's lack of common sense! So today was a fine day at the office with a couple big events.
Number one, of course, the big news around the world not just in the entertainment industry is the deaths of Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett. Farrah came in early in the morning and there was chatter about how it was a sad day for our business. MJ was another story alltogether. I actually fielded the call from an inside source of one of the EPs who works at the hospital. I couldn't believe it!! Two celebs in one day?? And one was Michael Jackson!?! It was the most depressing call I've ever taken. It was weird because I knew before everyone else that he had the heart attack and that he died. I twittered it and my friends all freaked out because for them it wasn't confirmed yet. I guess that's a perk of being in the biz and working for connected people. We spent the afternoon watching YouTube videos of all his stuff and playing his music. Everyone was talking about it. Erin was so upset she went to get a "mourning coffee" as she called it and the Starbucks people felt so bad for her when her phone rang with the ringtone PYT that they gave her the drink for free. So nice! Anyhow, I love me some MJ and it's so tragic that he's dead. In all honesty, I can't decide if his kids will be more messed up now from the media attention and lack of father than they were from having such an eccentric dad. Either way, I feel for both the Jacksons and the Faucets and I hope that their families get through this okay. Despite how much I love my industry, I hope the media treats them with respect.
One highlight of my day was that I got to talk to Ellen Page on the phone! She called in to speak with one of the EPs and came through the main line. It was so cool! I also got to meet Tony the DJ on Ellen today. He was such a sweetheart with an adorable accent. I was also privvy to a conversation between the 3 EPs, Ellen and Portia!! They had the call on speakerphone and since I'm up front I can hear everything if the door's open. Ellen was cracking jokes and laughing proving she's funny in everyday life too. They were working on putting a statement together about the deaths which, while it was sad, was kind of a cool process to hear.
Today was the EPs last day in the office before they go on a month vacation so it was pretty busy getting all their interviews done. Mary brought her 5-year old daughter in and she was so cute! She colored and danced around wearing her Disney princess shoes so of course we bonded. I mean, with all those similarities, how could we not be best friends? She was really fun and so cute. When I wasn't busy with new candidates and other projects I had Erin teach me the wonders of Pandora. Now I understand what everyone is raving about - it's so cool! And it totally brings you back to songs you haven't heard in forever which is the best part. I also got a bunch of free DVDs at work today that they were planning on giving away. We're going through Fanmail so if the items sent are cool we get to take them home. :)
Tonight I went out with a big group of my Radio Disney friends. It was Mikey's 21st birthday so we went to a country western bar called Saddle Ranch. The food was surprisingly good and we had a really good time! The drinks were really expensive but from what I can tell, that's just LA. Several of our group members rode the mechanical bull which was hilarious. I got to meet some of the new people on the team that I hadn't worked with yet including the on-air DJs that everyone who listens nationwide considers celebrities, Jake, Betsey and Ernie D. They were all really chill and cool and I'm really glad I have these automatic friends to go out and do things with. The bar manager got Mikey a free Cotton Candy martini (basically it's a GIANT martini glass filled with enough cotton candy to feed my sister...and that is saying something) and a 3 tier chocolate cake both of which we all shared. I couldn't believe it was free! I found out later that Mikey tipped them $40 so I'm not sure if that was really "free" but who knows in LA? I also had another LA moment...I chased a half-shot with a french fry since I didn't have another drink. Hahaha, at least the carbs probably counteracted the alcohol! Anyway, the group of 15 of us had them put on the Hoedown Throwdown (a Hannah Montana song for those of you not as up on Disney as me) and we all did the entire dance in front of everyone in the bar. They must have thought we were so lame and crazy but it was hilarious. We left around 2am and now I'm exhausted and ready to get what little sleep I can before I have to go in to work tomorrow.
I'll leave you with this. "If you enter this world knowing you are loved and you leave this world knowing the same, then everything that happens in between can be dealt with.” -Michael Jackson, King of Pop, RIP

Aussies are the craziest!

After a few days at the front desk I've come to one major realization. Australians are the craziest of all Ellen fans. It's unbelieveable how many Australians are willing to pay long distance phone call prices just to complain about re-runs or talk about their favorite episodes or beg to talk to Ellen. I spent 18 minutes on the phone with one woman calming her down because she was insisting that her local newscaster in Victoria, Australia was out to get Ellen and Portia. Really? Wooow. Yeah, these people are insane. But at least they make the day interesting.
My time as receptionist has actually become pretty busy and interesting because the EPs and some of the producers are all trying to fit in all their interviews this week. On top of all those interviews and getting candidates clearance onto the lot and arranging, placing, notifying people for the interviews, I am still working on a project of Ross. But I like being busy up front! It distracts me from being lonely while the other interns are in The Cage sorting through the electronics. Hopefully they'll finish tomorrow and we'll all be reunited (...and it feels so good!).
I did get free tickets to go see The Fray in concert at work today! That's exciting! :) It should be fun even though the seats aren't great.
I spent some time on my budding new relationship with my new boyfriend Menchie, then I chatted with the rents on the way home. When I got home I hung out with Ashleigh and James and watched some recorded TV. I'm determined to stay up-to-date on my shows so I don't build up a bunch that I'll never get to (Mom and Dad and you're 400+ shows on your DVR). So far it's been easy since my evenings are open now that Amy's working late/attending work social engagements a lot. That, and there aren't as many shows with new episodes during the summer. Glad to hear my Florida friends finally are getting all your Ellen swag I sent last week...enjoy!! Now I'm hitting the sack early after working out...trying to get in those recommended 8 hours!

"It's nice to meet you! If you could have a seat over there I'll let them know you're here. Can I get you an Ellen water?"

Sorry I forgot to blog last night!
The day went fine at work. Erin and Austin spent the day in "the cage" which is what we call the big storage area at the stage for all the electronic giveaways. There are SOO many DVDs, CDs, TVs, XBoxes, etc over there it's almost painful to walk away empty handed haha. They're reorganizing all of that so I didn't get to see much of them during the day. While they were there, I caught up on all 300 resumes for Ross...yay! It's an ongoing submission process so I'll keep doing that all week but being caught up makes my life less stressful. I'm doing fine with the receptionist duties (transferring, taking messages, calling people in for get onto the lot etc). This week they're doing interviews for writers, production assistants and travel coordinators so I'm dealing with a lot of nervous-looking applicants in the waiting room. I do get to hear some funny jokes and lots of laughing coming from the EPs office though when they interview good writers. Surprisingly that stuff has kept me pretty busy all day, but in my off-time I'm discovering the wonders of Hulu. I'll be caught up on every show ever invented by the end of next week.
My day was actually made so much better by my amazing sister, mom and bestie Tricia!! I got calls from all of them at the front desk and they all tried to mess with me of course. :) No Tricia, you can't talk to Ellen, no Amanda, if this were a video phone I would not dance with you. Hahaha, I appreciated the breaking up of my day. You guys made me smile!! :) Sorry if I had to hang up on you, I didn't expect there to be so many interviews going on this week so my bosses come up front more often and they win my attention since they kind of hold my future in their hands.
At night I watched Get Smart on HBO On Demand (this On Demand thing is so great!) and ate some leftover Chinese (real exciting stuff, I know). Then I went running on the treadmill and went to bed. Good day overall!
P.S. I've been asked by one of the EPs to come up with my 5 favorite web videos under 3 minutes. The funnier the better. Any suggestions?

Another day

Day 1 as a receptionist went well. I didn't drop any calls trying to transfer, I handled all the calls just fine and I wasn't too too bored. The other interns were very helpful sitting for me when I wanted a break and keeping me company when they weren't busy. The EPs were doing interviews today for new writers so I saw a lot of people coming in and out and heard lots of laughter coming from the office so I'm guessing they had some good candidates! Since I finished Ross's last project of redesigning the inventory list of the merch store, I've been assigned a new project. I am now going through all the applicant's resumes for a few positions Ellen has listed online. I'm not sure how I'm qualified to eliminate people and pick who makes it to the next level but I've been assigned the task. No pressure! Muahaha I've got the power! haha I did see a guy from UF and was really tempted to put him through even though he lacked some of the required qualifications. But nay, I did not abuse my power. When I left today I had 300 still to sort through and more come in every day. I'd say it will keep me busy for the week. The weather was amazing today so the interns ate lunch outside and basked in the glory of not-too-hot sunshine. Basically, working reception isn't so bad as long as the other interns come visit me and no one gets too rude on the phone. I'm just doing my job! :) After work I came home and watched some TV and went running on the new treadmill Shaia and I set up in the garage. Simple and lovely day.
Oh yeah...the big news - NO TOUGH LOVE. (Go ahead and rejoice Mom and Dad, I know you're thrilled.) After reading the contract and going through it with my AWESOME Aunt Sharon (who's a lawyer), I decided there were some not so kosher bits of my life I wasn't willing to sign away. It was just too intense and I didn't want this one experience to haunt me forever since they would literally own my face and all the footage "forever" and to use throughout "the universe" (not exagerating...those are the exact words). So, I just didn't want to sign my life away when there's such high potential for it to bite me in the butt later. Sadly, I won't be a VH1 reality star. Sorry everybody - I know lots of you really wanted me to do it. I thought it would be fun too but it's just not going to work out. It's fine though, it's not like my life is lacking in the fun department so I think I'll be okay. Especially since it wasn't my idea in the first place (Jessie, cough cough, James). :) Sorry to everyone who wanted to know a reality star! :/

Malibu Beach Babe!

Malibu is sooo pretty! The sand isn't quite as white as Florida but it's huge and the weather was incredibly beautiful. Perfect 80 degrees, no clouds, no humidity and a little windy. All 4 Ellen interns took a trip to Zuma Beach in Malibu for the day. We had a really great time!! We laughed, we cried, we belted out old school Brittany, N'SYNC and Backstreet and we had a fantastic time bonding. We met up at the studio parking lot and drove over together. It took about an hour to get there. We ate and then hung out tanning and chatting on the beach. We were really enjoying laughing at how accurate the reputation of "beach babes and muscle men" was in Malibu. That and the CRAZY sexy houses out there. I realize they're ridiculously expensive, but WOW - they are sick! Literally right on a giant drop off to the beach. The view from those mansions must be insane! We "played" some beach volleyball (I use the work played lightly since our two-on-two game only got the ball back and forth twice in over an hour haha) and walked up and down and observed the other Malibu "bods" haha. You'll notice that I didn't mention any swimming during this outing. That's because the water was like 60 DEGREES!! It was SO cold and after putting a foot it...there was NO way I was jumping in. Erin and Taylor were braver though and they played in the surf while Austin and I watched on and questioned their sanity.
After the beach we drove home to the sounds of S-Club 7 and New Kids on the Block. Then we got some yummy Chinese takeout and some Menchie's (I know, you're shocked!) and headed back to my place. We watched a movie and hung out a little longer before they drove home. The beach tends to be draining so I'm sure we'll all sleep well tonight. I'm hoping no one got too burnt because we had a lot of fun spending the day together. Now it's time for a shower and sleep because I smell like beach and sunscreen (no skin cancer for me) and I have 2 weeks of receptionist duties ahead of me! Lonely. :(
Happy Father's Day to the BEST Dad I could have ever asked for!!

P.S. Feel free to call me randomly at work and chat for a minute. Or you could give me a hard time about asking if you can talk to Ellen or tell me your sob story or convince me you have the best joke to use on-air or complain that we don't feed the stage cat, Smokey. 818-954-5000. :)

I've Fallen in Love

...with Menchie. Menchie is a wonderful person who invented something that changed my life. No, Menchie didn't give me a 24-hour live feed of the Jonas Brothers lives, a lifetime pass to every Disney park, the perfect man wrapped in Zac Efron's body with bow, or my dream job of having Miley Cyrus' acting career (note, I only want her career, not her crazy life)...Menchie gave me something even better. (Okay, maybe not actually better...but it's pretty gnarly.) It's the scrumptious combination of 12 different frozen yogurt flavors and 20 toppings including cheesecake bites, cookie dough bites, fresh fruits and cereal. Yes, today was my first Menchie's experience and I'm quite certain that we are going to become the best of friends. For those of you who are familiar with my unique relationship with Moe's, that is how I plan to proceed with this new romance. I don't have as much time to develop the relationship as I did with my Moe's crew, but I'm fairly certain it will progress quickly and I'll be best friends with the entire staff in no time. I already got a card with all the stamps on it by making friends with the cashier...free froyo next trip! The best part? It's within walking distance of work. Sounds like a lovely nightly treat, doesn't it? Oh my life in LA just became even more wonderful. Now if someone could just work on those other things I mentioned...

Today I watched some TV this morning and hung out with Amy. TBS was playing Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion and once again, we got sucked in. This afternoon I met up with Taylor and we went into Burbank to see The Proposal. It was SO GOOD! The awkwardness was hilarious, the jokes were well placed and the ending was adorable. I'd have to say it was the best romantic comedy I've seen in a while...and I do consider myself an expert (just check out my movie collection...it's chock full). Plus I love supporting Disney movies (this one's Touchtone Pictures but that's Disney-owned so close enough.) After that was the historic Menchie's experience (and I do mean experience). Tonight I'm spending the evening doing my nails while watching the double feature Disney's showing of High School Musical 1 and 2 sing-along AND dance-alongs! I mean, are they trying to kill me with excitement?? Tomorrow the interns are heading to Malibu beach weather-permitting so that should be fun! Glad to hear some of you are getting your packages of Ellen swag in the mail...enjoy! Love you all!

P.S. I got the official invite to be on Tough Love Season 2 last night and was sent the contract to sign and Fed-Ex in. That means it's decision time! :/

Friday!

I'm feelin much better today. I had a little dizzy spell at work but nothing major. Today we spent a good deal of time catching up on research from the week. It was nice having all the interns together again. I also worked a lot on finalizing the inventory director/list of all the stuff we counted in the merchandise room last week. Our receptionist Jeannie is going on vacation for 2 weeks (sad!) so I've been put on reception detail. It's a good thing and a bad thing. It's good because it's a step up from intern (though still unpaid) so it's kind of an honor that I was picked as the best for the temporary job. It's also bad because I'm not allowed to leave the desk all day so I have to spend every day from 9-6 by myself. Several people are taking vacations in the next few weeks since the TBS special is done so I'm hoping it will be relaxed and not too busy. That way, I can make one of the other interns sit up there with me so we can chat. I don't want to be alone that long. I'm also a little nervous since I was only trained for a half a day on what to do...I hope I don't screw up! Feel free to call me and mess with me haha. The office number is 818-954-5000. I could always use a friendly voice. :) I start Monday! I may have a few funny stories for the next couple weeks because we have some crazies call the show.

Tonight I wanted to go to a concert for The Summer Set and The Cab at the Roxy but none of my roommates were home/wanted to go. So instead Shaia and I went to Yogurtland (SO GOOD) and she drove me around some of the nearby LA areas like La Brea and Hollywood to show me around. Then we came home and watched X-Men on HBO. I love this On Demand thing that comes with TiVo. As you can see, it was a brilliant, thrilling evening. Tomorrow I'm going to finalize my LA List and maybe get started if I can drag someone along with me.

Thursday's almost there...

(Amanda should appreciate that title and so should everyone who took Mrs. Rodriguez's English class @ Gaither)

So I definitely feel better today...I made it to work! I'm still kind of weak and my stomach isn't peachy keen but I'm no longer bed-ridden and in need of a concierge doctor (watch the new USA show Royal Pains...it's really good!) Hopefully I'll be as good as new for the weekend even though I have no one to spend it with. Amy's got several work obligations/social events and Ashleigh is going to San Diego with friends so it looks like I'm on my own. I may recruit some of the Ellen crew to do something...you know, I'm just trying to do my part to keep the rif-raf off the streets.
I spent time being trained at reception with Jeannie today which was a lot of fun chatting with her. We didn't have much work since everyone's just coming back today from Chicago. Basically we had gossip hour...for about 3 hours. :) I told you this job was perfect for me! Tomorrow should be back to normal. I actually am looking forward to it since I haven't seen my intern compadres in a week. Other than reception I just ran some errands around the lot. I do love the power of driving the golf cart. Just like the required "Jeep wave" that Heather taught me every Jeep owner must practice, there is also a WB golf cart "head nod law" that must be followed. No worries, the head nod skill was part of Day 1 training so I'm well-versed (and yes, that time as a debutante really put me ahead of the curve).
I finished my laundry that had been sitting in the drying for days since illness infiltrated my life. I'm sure the roomies appreciate that. Now, it's off to bed. Night!

P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TRICIA!!!! I love my roomie! :)

Ouch

Still sick. Didn't throw up today but I also only got out of bed once...for popsicles. My whole body hurts. I'm still hoping to make it to work tomorrow but I have Taylor on back-up in case I can't get out of bed in the morning. Watched TV, talked to my mom and Blair (Happy 21st babe!) and napped (which if you ask anyone who knows me, I only do when I'm really sick). Here's hoping tomorrow's a better day.

UGH

Got a horrible stomach bug today. Spent the whole day throwing up nothing and watching TV. Hopefully tomorrow my fever and stomache insanity goes away and I'll be able to at least keep water down.

New Jonas Album!

That's right folks...today is a monumental day because the Jonas Brother's 4th album came out!!! I, of course, have already downloaded it and listened to it all. The boys went with more brass and piano-heavy songs which I'm really enjoying. I think they're maturing in their artistic style. It's not quite the same cookie-cutter pop rock they usually do but I really like that they're branching out. The songs are great! Question is...will the stupid little girls who their fame depends on dig the new sound? I'm guessing they're immature little ears will love anything.

As for what I did today, it was a nice day off. Aside from the abrupt and unpleasant wake-up call, I had a nice relaxing day. It was productive in my opinion. I spent the morning sorting through all my Ellen swag and then went to UPS and sent some of it out to those of you who requested things so look out for that. I had so much stuff it literally took me 2 1/2 hours at the UPS store to pack and ship everything! Wow! I grabbed some Pinkberry (fro-yo) on the way home and got gas ($3.08/gallon!). I caught up with a few friends on the phone and went for a run since the weather was so nice. The plumbers re-did all the pipes under the house so once I got home I was able to start my laundry. I did three loads so it's a good thing they came when I did or I'd be wearing my new Ellen wardrobe everywhere. When Amy got home from work we hung out a while since we hadn't talked since she got home from her fancy Catalina weekend. Basically her stories just made me even more jealous, but I'm glad she had fun. Tonight I put together my "L.A. To-Do" list so I can get started on that this week/weekend. I don't want to run out of time to do all the cool things the area has to offer. I'll start planning some of that tomorrow. I also e-mailed several professors at USC so arrange meetings to talk about grad school programs out here and possible assistantships. So I can't say the day was really interesting but it was productive.

Now it's time to fall asleep to the sounds of Nick, Joe and Kevin serenading me. "Everyone's allergic to poison ivy..."

Grr

Here's an equation for you.

7am + a doorbell-happy, popeye singing, big boot-wearing plumber + a neighbor's six barking dogs = a very grumpy Hilary on her day off

And you all said I wasn't good at math.

KSM is "Rockin"

Not too exciting of a day but not bad. Most of it was spent watching TV, setting up my Media Center computer, catching up with my mom, aunt and uncle and a few FL friends. I did a little reading and I cleaned the bathroom and my room.

Tonight was pretty entertaining though. Once again Radio Disney provided me with some hilariously random entertainment. I got 4 free tickets to go see a new Disney signed band called KSM. Surprisingly, they were very "un-Disney". It's a group of 5 girls with a heavy punk rock sound. So with free tickets in hand, my roommate Ashley, her husband James, intern Taylor and myself tried to keep our utter thrill under control as we headed to the famous Roxy in Hollywood for the KSM concert. I saw on Twitter an hour before that one of my favorite Disney channel stars, Nicholas Braun was going to the show too, so we made it our mission to hunt him out. Once we got there, we realized just how easy that was going to be. Despite the fact this is normally a 18 and up club, the entire audience was made up of 15 year old girls. Lucky for us, they were still serving so we got our drinks and had a fantastic, funny time. James stuck out like a size 2 at fat camp but that just made it even funnier. The group that opened for them was so bad! They couldn't have been older that 13 but we pretended to love them and later got their autographs and a picture (in Hollywood, you just never know.) Taylor and Ashley actually had them sign their arms haha. When KSM came on stage we were actually pleasantly surprised! I really did kind of like their music even though it's not my usual taste. Our favorite part was the 15 male groupies that were moshing and crowd surfing at a Disney band's show. Nice try guys! Hahaha. We danced around like fools and had fun. We eventually found out that they sing the theme song for the new ABC Family show, 10 Things I Hate About You. Which, explains why Nicholas Braun was there- he's starring in the new series. Of course, I spotted him when he came in and after the show we made good on our mission and sought him out. He was very chill and a really nice guy. We chatted for a bit, I got my picture, and he commented on how much older I was than the rest of the crowd lol. Ya think? Yeah yeah, funny kid. He was really nice though so I'm glad we found him. One down...a lot of Disney stars to go! :)

Billy Ray Cyrus...Play Free Bird!!

It's really late so I appologize if I'm a little delirious in this blog. This morning I woke up and worked a Radio Disney event in a mall about an hour away. The L.A. area is so big that it's normal to drive an hour, hour and a half to get to an event. Unheard of for Tampa Radio Disney. The event started with a little bit of technical difficulty but we worked it out and it ended up just fine. Better than fine really when you think about what I got out of it. Bridget (one of my fellow RD people) had an extra set of 4 tickets to meet Billy Ray Cyrus and go to his concert tonight. So...she asked me if I wanted them and I thought, what the hay? Could be funny to go meet Billy Ray, say hi, pine for a mullet and sing about my achey breaky heart. So I asked the other interns to come and it turned into a girls night out! A GREAT girls night out I might add. We had a few drinks when we got there and immediately started making friends. :) We made friends with a woman who bought us a round because we let her use our camera in the meet and greet. So here we are, 3 young college girls, in a line of middle aged women, buzzed and anxiously awaiting meeting Billy Ray Cyrus. It was absolutely hilarious. We stuck out like sore thumbs but we were having a fantastic time just being silly. Sure enough we got in there, met Billy Ray, chatted for a few minutes and got a picture. He was really nice as expected haha. The whole last-minute of it all was just hilarious. We were acting silly and having a great time being the youngest people there. Once the concert started we were surrounded by middle aged women and southern country men. SO funny! We continued to make friends (like I do) with security guards, random guys, a group of women with free tickets, and a women who invited us to her beach house in Malibu. We got her number and might actually take her up on that! One man we talked to is playing a biker on an upcoming episode of Hannah Montana and thought he was big stuff lol. We also got in buddy buddy with one particular security guard who said he'd get us into any concert there we wanted...just let him know when. SAH-WEET! Haha I love how crazy and random life can be...especially here in LA!

So overall the three of us girls had a great time being tipsy at the House of Blues in Anaheim while watching Billy Ray Cyrus. You should have seen us get overly excited and dance to Achey Breaky Heart hahaha. Erin kept yelling out for him to play Free Bird. I wonder why everyone looked at us funny. (Uhh wrong band Erin!) We also met his daughter Brandi's band (they opened for him) and they were really cool. The drummer had a massive jew fro. I'll try to post the picture of us with Billy Ray as soon as Taylor sends it to me. I'm sure it looks as awkwardly funny as it felt. Erin told him to "break many legs" to which he said, "Wow, break many legs...that's a new one I've never got before." Hahah...yes, she made an impression, no surprise. I also don't imagine he sees many 21-year olds in his meet-and-greets either. We topped the night off (after making more friends with other audience members who offered to show us around Anaheim whenever we head out to that area again) with a late-night trip to McDonald's (classy, I know). A cheeseburger has never tasted so good. It was a really fun night and great bonding experience for us girls. Everyone who found out we were interning with Ellen was really impressed. Muahahaha! We recapped our hilarious night with funny pictures on the drive home and I couldn't be happier that we three had such a stupid, silly, out-of-the-blue evening. It just goes to show...anything can happen on a whim in LA! (As long as you get free things working for Radio Disney. Score!)

Today Will Go Down in History...

...as the day I finally got internet and cable in my house. PRAISE THE HEAVENS! I am finally back to the real world and I love it. Today was a busy day for the Lion's Den (the name of our house). Starting at 9am I dealt with the cable guy, the gas company guy, the landscaping team and the plumber. a)Cable guy did something amazing and unexpected...his job. He actually had to drill and run a whole new cable line into my room for me to get cable but I don't even care...it had to be done. So, I have cable, Amy has cable, Shaia has cable and the living room DVR works. The wireless internet reaches every computer in every room of the house. Thank God. My tumultuous relationship with Time Warner is over. No pity party here! b)The gas company guy was my favorite. He rang the bell, told me he was here, went around the back on his own, did what he had to do and I never saw him. Solid. c)The landscapers were very chatty but apparently did good work. A tree in our backyard had to be removed because of some law so Amy and Shaia were very upset with the loss of aesthetic appeal. So, our overeager landlord arranged for us to get some brand new trees that apparently are going to look very cool. d)The plumber. The only thing that really went wrong today. So he came to router the pipes leading into the washing machine so it wouldn't flood when we did laundry...and instead he delivered the fantastic news that what we actually have to do is replace all the pipes under the house for a total of 3K. Surprisingly, Jeff the landlord wasn't too thrilled to pay this so we had to send the plumber away without resolving anything. Jeff's sending another plumber for a second opinion though so hopefully it will be fixed soon. Until then I suppose I'll have to use a laundromat which is just creepy but a necessary measure.

So after that super fun and exciting morning, which also included a quick call into the radio station for my weekly update for the entertainment show, I picked up Taylor and we went to another taping of the Bill Engvall Show. Being VIP was so baller! We sat front row next to the emcee and Bill's wife! It was very cool. Ron the emcee gave me his copy of the script at the end! And Bill's wife Gayle was so nice and chatted with us during breaks and got us food from the set. The show, as always was really funny and I'm looking forward to the new season premiering in July. After the filming was over, we went to chat with our new friend who had gotten us in VIP, Ken, up at the sound/lighting booth in the back. Then we went down and got autographs from the cast again. Cool part? The cute guy remembered us hehe. :) So did another of the actors so that was sweet of them to notice us from last week. I got my script signed and we also got free cups so now I have a mini Bill Engvall swag collection to add to the Ellen heap. The best part however, was after most of the audience had left - we got invited by Gayle (Bill's wife) to go down onto the set and hang out with the whole crew!! We got to walk the set, chat with the cast and crew and....Bill Engvall got me a beer. I drank a beer with Tim Meadows and Bill Engvall. I love my life!! Haha it was really cool!! They were having a post-production party because today was the final episode of the season. Tomorrow's the real wrap party but we outsiders couldn't swing an invite to that haha. I still can't believe our luck though! I literally partied with Tim Meadows and Bill Engvall and the rest of the cast. They are such nice people, I was very pleased. Anyhow, we stayed late, got special treatment and basically totally pulled off being ballers all stemming from my amazing magical powers for making friends with the right people in random situations. I even impress myself sometimes. Taylor even said she bows to the queen of "working it"...what can I say? :)

So...productive day, fun day, long day. Now I'm tired and have to go to bed so I can wake up for my Radio Disney event in the morning. I'll leave you with this quote from the SNL man himself, Tim Meadows, to me tonight. "You look like my niece...but white." Classic!

I love Delirious Dancing Amy

We are done with the merch room! Yay! Hundreds of boxes and tons of free swag later...we finished our big project for the week...on schedule I might add. Things were crazy around the office today running errands and shipping stuff out and getting Ellen's wardrobe and dressing room stuff all ready to go to Chicago. Everyone will be gone by tomorrow so it was a little wild. But I think it says a lot for people if they're still nice and considerate under pressured situations, which they all were. I got some free popcorn and a hot pocket this afternoon...always a nice plus haha. We worked mostly in the merch room and some in research as well as running all over the lot and the stage and wardrobe getting Ellen's stuff together. I saw the stage cat, Smokey, a few times but he still won't let me pet him. :( I did see him playing on his carpet castle though which I've heard you can watch a live stream of on the website. Anyhow, we finished the big project in style so all that's left is a final typed version of the inventory. I'm hoping they'll let me do that next week because I love the organization of inventory. It makes me feel so in control! (Yes, I know my OCD is coming through...everyone at work keeps reminding me.)

I found out today that we aren't coming in Monday through Thursday! Basically, we have an entire week off meaning I'll get to do some cool LA stuff. We interns are already planning a beach trip, LegoLand, Six Flags, movie nights and other cool stuff we want to do together. I'll probably go to USC one day (yes, Mom...I noticed the recent not-so-subtle hints) to talk with a counselor about the two grad programs I'm interested in and about scholarship/fellowship possibilities. (I'm currently watching Amy pack for her weekend trip to Catalina and she just did a nice little dance for me...the result of sleep deprivation delirium I suppose. It was sweet.) So next week should be more fun than work, not that work hasn't been fun. (Amy just told me it's not her fault she's so glamorous...we were talking about food.) So I'm really loving my fellow interns which is good since we spend a lot of time together. Tomorrow I have to wait ALL day for the TW guy to come fix the bloody cable. We have FOUR problems! Steller set-up the first time around bucko! We need to get cable in my room, more than 20 channels in Amy's room, DVR that plays back what you've recorded, and a move of the internet modem to a more centralized location. I mean seriously...this whole thing has been ridiculous and now I have to spend my first real, full day off waiting around for their incompetent butts. Literally my appointment time is from 8am to 7pm. And since the Jonas Brothers have been doing promo stuff all week on various TV shows and I've missed them all...that TW guy will be lucky to walk out of here without bodily injury (by injury I mean the emotional scars as a result of my subtle but effective verbal abuse). The washing machine plumber is also coming so hopefully my clothes won't have molded and be stained from the soap and I can finally (3 days later) finish my laundry. After a day of that loveliness...I do get to go see the final episode of the Bill Engvall Show season film! I made friends with the DJ and tech guys last week when I went so even though I didn't have tickets for this week, I asked if they'd get me in so Taylor and I are VIP for tomorrow! I love working my magic. :) (Speaking of Magic...boo) So at least I have one fun thing to look forward to. I just hope I don't miss the taping because I was arrested for beating a TW employee with a remote control or strangling him with a cable cord. Assault charges wouldn't look so stellar on my resume. So here's hoping that as of 6pm tomorrow evening I will have no more house-related complaints for you all to suffer through. I'm sure you'll all agree that would be a pleasant change. :)

Jessica so kindly sent out a mass e-mail over the Cicerone listserve today notifying everyone of my "acceptance" onto Tough Love. Now everyone knows the details of my issues and has been inundating me with emails/calls/texts and facebooks trying to convince me to do it. Only 1 person under 40 is opposed (yeah that's you Amanda). But I challenge you all to come up with the most original argument...I've heard some pretty funny ones haha. Amy and I hung out a lot tonight since she's going away for the weekend. I'm still getting used to my new QWERTY keyboard phone but so far I like it. I can send pictures with voice messages attached which really freaked my mom out haha. Well, time for bed...I have a big exciting day of dealing with imbasiles ahead of me. Look for me tomorrow night on America's Most Wanted. :)

Chuck Knocked me Over.

Hello followers! (Muuahaha) Today at work was pretty standard. We did research in the morning and ran errands around the lot. Then after lunch we put a lot of time into the merch store boxing. Everything was put into crappy paper boxes that are falling apart so we're moving everything to bins. While we're doing that we have to organize and categories all the different items and clothes and take inventory. It's a big project but I'm happy to say we work well together and are almost done. Plus, we get to jam out which is nice. So we'll probably finish that tomorrow which is good because that's a day before our requested deadline, and bad because that gives us nothing to work on next week while everyone's out in Chicago for the TBS filming. It will literally be about 10 of us in the office. I'm making brownies. We're going to use the free time to decorate the Intern Office...and maybe sneak decorate our boss's office too.

So the only really funny thing to happen to me today was my celebrity encounter. Does anyone watch the TV show Chuck? It's actually quite funny. Well they film on the lot and we always see the Nerd Herd cars parked at our building but we never see the actors because they're not filming right now. Well I was on my way into Starbucks today when the door swung out and literally knocked me on my butt. I fell backwards and rolled down the mini-stairs right outside! It was the most humiliating thing that could have happened to me in front of everyone at Starbucks and everyone walking through the common area where the food is on lot. Really??? I was so embarrassed I hurried to get up when what do you know, Zachary Levi, the star of Chuck was helping me up and apologizing like crazy! He was the one who pushed the door open sending me into a tumbling mess. He could not have been nicer. He offered to buy me a coffee and make it up to me. He kept checking to make sure I was okay and since I was so embarrassed and awed by his in person adorableness (yes, I created that word), I didn't mention the giant bruise I was getting on my butt and upper back from my impromptu back roll. I don't drink coffee but I did get to talk to him for a few minutes!! He asked me what I was doing, how I liked working with Ellen, if I knew his friend who worked there to (I did) etc. Honestly, he is the nicest celebrity I've ever come in contact with!! He seemed so upset about having knocked me over and genuinely concerned which was really sweet. Anyhow, it was one crazy celebrity "encounter". In the movies, they'd call that a "meet cute". Taylor thought I should have told him he could make it up to me by taking me to dinner haha. Hey- he's only 7 years older and apparently a really nice guy! But sadly, I missed my chance. Though there's still the whole summer...haha. Anyway, I guess you could say I fell head over heels for him! (Hehe I crack myself up) But come on people...REALLY? Embarrassing myself like that in front of a cute TV star?? This could only happen to ME! But it makes for a good story lol.

Today I got a new phone which is fun and exciting slash expensive and annoying. It's cute though...white and teal. I'm having to adjust to having a QWERTY keyboard for text messages though so that will take some time. But at least I'm back in contact with world! I was feeling very isolated today and had no way to wake up in the morning since my phone is my alarm. It's off to bed for me. Tomorrow after work the interns are going to see The Hangover. Everyone's been raving about it on Facebook so I guess it's time to check it out myself. Should be funny!

Are you feeling lucky?

Today was a big day with the merchandise store. We took an iHome from the "cage" where they keep all the electronic, expensive giveaways and used it to jam to music while we organized, inventoried, and re-boxed lots of the merch. Good for us because we were having fun with the music, and great for us because we got to take some nice SWAG home! Being a college student, there's nothing I love more than free stuff and I'm going to come home with a BUCKET of it. People are going to think my name is Ellen and I get all my belongings monogramed haha. Our boss Megan left today for Chicago and our other boss Gabi leaves Friday. It appears we'll have abbreviated hours next week while everyone's gone for the TBS special filming. That will be nice to be able to aviod some of the rush hour traffic (even though compared to more LAers, I see very little traffic). Speaking of LAers...YAY MAGIC! I finally feel vindicated since everyone's been giving me a hard time about the NBA finals around here. Also, I saw Clint Eastwood today. His office is next door to George Clooney's which are both right outside the door of the Ellen office. He drives a suped up Mercedes that's really nice. We made eye contact but I was too terrified to say anything because he kind of scares me (despite the fact he's like 70). Let's just say, I wasn't feeling lucky. ;)

Tonight the roommates of the "Lion's Den" (Amy named the house) all went out to a Whiskey Bar for Shaia's 22nd birthday. It was my first time going out here in LA and it was surprisingly low-key. Probably because it was a Whiskey Bar/Cigar place. But there was live music and it was really nice. I got a Whiskey Sour but it was reeeaaalllly strong so I couldn't finish it. The drinks out here are OUTRAGEOUSLY expensive. My small drink with about 1 cup of liquid was $10 plus tip! Ouch! Certainly no XS or Copper Monkey. But we had a nice time talking and hanging out. The only downside of the evening is that my phone broke. I'm not sure what happened or how it happened but the screen is busted and it no longer works. Which means I'm going to have to go to T-Mobile tomorrow after work and get a new one. Perfect. Just what I need...another extra expense. I'm thinking it might be time to get one with internet for the TV station and because everyone in this business has one but that's kind of up to Mom so we'll see.

We still don't have a working washer/dryer and my clothes are still sitting in there rotting. The guy's supposed to come tomorrow so I hope that gets resolved. I worked some magic and got an earlier date to REfix our cable. Now they're coming Friday which means I can't work the extra day but also means I'll "fingers-crossed" have internet and cable fulling functioning for the weekend. Especially since I'll be alone while Amy jets off to a spa in Catalina with the partners at the law firm she's interning at. Yes, I'm both bitter and jealous. But I'll be happier with the arrangement if I can use the free weekend alone to catch up on weeks of missed TV. But right now it's late, I have work early and I smell like smoke so I really need a shower. Until tomorrow...always keep your eggs sunny-side up!

Week 2 Begins

Today began Week 2 with Ellen. It's nice now that I'm more comfortable with the layout of the maze-like office and the people in it. The more time I spend with them the cooler they are. I love that we can joke and make fun of each other and be completely relaxed instead of nervous around my bosses. Even the higher-ups are very chill which makes for a calming work environment. Today we interns spent most of the day working on getting merchandise together for the trip to Chicago. Ellen's is filming her TBS comedy special next Wednesday in Chicago and they're planning to sell merchandise while she's there. Everybody on staff who's going is flying out by tomorrow. It'll be weird not to have anyone we're used to reporting to around the office. I can only assume they'll leave us a nice long laundry list of things to do.

One big project coming up, now that we've started sorting through merchandise to ship to Chicago for the special, is we're going to be organizing the entire merch store. It is quite the undertaking but my OCD side is really going to enjoy the super organized sorting, re-categorizing and taking inventory. I'm so lame I just get excited thinking about it. Nothing feels better than an overly organized, neat room where everything is in its place. Well...maybe a good pedicure but it would have to be really good. :) We'll probably start that project tomorrow. The good part is we're doing it all in the "rif raf" room which, if you watch the show, you know is the overflow room where they put people for concerts and big star appearances so they can have more guests. That means we get to spend more time on the stage which just has a cool vibe to it. We also get to spend time with the stage cat, Smokey. Yes, there is a grey tabby cat who lives on the stage. Literally, they leave food, water and a climbing house for him on the stage whenever they aren't filming. He's very cute but kind of shy. And he doesn't like the music we blast when we're working back there. Ellen has a wicked good speaker system. :) The really cool thing about doing this merch store inventory is that old merchandise or things we have a lot of...we can just take! YES! Freebies baby! I'm going to come home with an entire suitcase of Ellen stuff after this summer is over. The array of random items with "Ellen" printed on them is astonishing...and funny. My personal favorite are the "Ellen, Live. Dance. Love." thongs and boxer briefs.

Amy, Shaia and I went to Yogurtland tonight for a treat. It's even better than Pinkberry! I had 4 frozen yogurt flavors and 9 toppings!! You serve yourself and then just weigh it at the end so you can get small amounts of anything you want. Note: Nerds are only good accutrement with fruit and simple flavors, while Oreos, Nilla wafers, Reese's, Cookie dough bites and cheesecake bites are better with the specific flavored froyo. I'm guessing you're now all either a) thouroughly confused or b) really craving frozen yogurt. Go with b). Anyway, it was absolutely delicious. As for my internet/cable situation. We found out today that the shows we DO record on our DVR in the living room can't be watched. They skip frame by frame until you want to throw the beastly technology back at Anthony Wood and curse him for being such a tease. So...when the boody Time Warner tool comes out SUNDAY, he'll have to fix that too. Because he darn well won't be leaving this house until I am fully satisfied that EVERY last peice of technology is functioning to my exact specifications. Speaking of functioning...our washer still is not. The plumber came today and "fixed" it so Amy nicely restarted my laundry only to find a few minutes later...the laundry room was flooded again. That ladies and gentleman is what you call an EPIC FAIL. It's what I call typical L.A. service. Hopefully he'll come tomorrow and actually do something useful before my clothes mold. Other than that...life is good. I'm missing my friends and family some but work's keeping my busy. And I'm sure that'll pass when I finally have my second family (those close personal friends I interact with through a square box with moving pictures) back in my life. Love you all!

P.S. Special shout-out to all my law school bound friends for rocking the LSAT!

Soap Box....GO!

First off...SO sorry I didn't blog last night! I realize my lack of witty writing just RUINED everyone's daily routine (dad), but I had no access to the internet. Here's what's going on. After all my hard work with Time Warner and playing "hardball" with multiple supervisors to drag someone's butt out to hook up our internet yesterday, it was a major FAIL. They apparently sent the most incompetent person currently employed at that sorry excuse for a company to come "hook us up". I wasn't home so when I returned from Radio Disney in the morning, I was elated to see that glorious beacon of mobile light coming from the screen in our living room. I full-on did a happy dance and teared up with joy. Then, life slapped me in the face with a big "take that Hilary." The cable in my room doesn't work. The cable in Amy's room works. The cable in Sheia's room works. The cable in the living room works. The cable in my room...the ONE member of this household with a diagnosable addiction to the tube...still doesn't work. We specifically asked for him to set it up and he left the cord hanging from the wall without checking to see if it worked in my TV. Guess what? It doesn't. So I spent a good chunk of both today and yesterday on the phone with them troubleshooting until they finally decided they need to send a technician out....wait for it...NEXT WEEKEND. Kill. Me. Now. I am so unbelievably fed up with Time Warner. So basically, I can record the most important of my shows on the living room TV but with no furniture yet, it's kind of hard to enjoy watching them out there. Plus, I'm sharing it with my roommates so I can't be a hog. I have to wait another week to have my media center computer and TV set up. Another whole week. I think part of my soul is dead and can't be returned. Some of the episodes I've missed aren't online or youtube. So another week of mourning and me complaining to all of you on this lovely blog is in store. Lucky you. :)

We're also having internet issues as I mentioned before. I spent a hot second (by hot second I really mean several hours) setting up the wireless that the braindead TW fool didn't set up for us and finally got it to work. I guess some of those engineering/science genes made it to me afterall. Unfortunately, after we thought we'd purchased a hardcore router, the signal won't reach a lot of the house. Basically, it only works well in the living room. But because the problem is with the router, the oh-so-helpful TW people can't come fix it. We have to talk to the router people and solve it over the phone. It turned into too big of a project for today. Since I work all day during the week, I probably won't be able to fully handle it until next weekend. As someone so nicely pointed out to me...this has been the most complicated sublet ever haha. I need my desktop set up to access and work on my L.A. To-Do list which I plan to complete and begin executing next weekend. Here's hoping.

Tonight I did some reading and watched the Lakers/Magic game in Amy's room. We also went for mani/pedis and to Pinkberry. It's a really popular fro-yo place out here frequented by the likes of my favorite teen role models Miley Cyrus and the HSM cast. It's actually really delicious! I wanted to get my room entirely, fully set up so I could start with a normal morning routine that involved TV and e-mail but obviously that didn't happen so we needed a house detox. Thanks everyone for the Tough Love opinions...it seems that friends are gung-ho and family members are pretty anti. I have a month to think about it before the official invites come out so feel free to comment with pro and con arguments because I'm going to need them to make the decision. I'm starting to stress about it too much so I'm going to let it simmer for a few days. But I still want your opinions! Tomorrow starts another cool week with Ellen but don't expect too many awesome "LA" moments. I can only spit the truth and the truth is I'll probably be doing a lot of the same things I did the first week for the rest of the summer. And supposedly I just got really lucky with my celeb sightings. We'll see! But boring or wicked gnarly (yes, I'm picking up on California lingo)...you'll hear about it. That's all for tonight! I know my dad's getting old (just check out all that grey hair) so I'll try to make sure I blog every night from here on out so he doesn't have a heart attack or anything. You know they say the elderly need a steady routine or they can't function. Maybe I should consider getting him one of those "emergency help" buttons for Father's Day. Something to think about.... Night! :)

I love LA!

Today was a day for the books. Today was a CRAZY fun day! First off, I woke up at 4:30am to get ready and go to my first Radio Disney event. We held a safety program/event at an elementary school in Toluca Lake. I enjoyed getting back into the Disney work. :) It's so different from the Radio Disney in Tampa. Here, every member of the team is required to know the choreography to all the High School Musical dances and words to songs so I fit right in. They kept talking about how they had to be taught it and I didn't offer up that I had voluntarily taught myself haha. The event was kind of tiring since it was so early in the morning but I liked the people I worked with. They're more structured out here but they've got corporate breathing down their necks since they're in LA so I can understand that. I work another event tomorrow so I'll get to meet more people. It's true what they say about people in LA though...every other person on the team today was either a struggling actor, dancer or singer working jobs like paiges and PAs trying to get into the business. It's a crazy world I tell ya.

After work I came home and showered. I spent 2 hours on the phone with 3 different supervisors for TimeWarner because I was not about to accept NEXT Saturday as the best they could do for installing out internet and cable. It was THEIR mistake not showing up on Thursday so I went all mad hispanic woman on them and 2 hours and several pointed (but not rude) comments later my demands were met. They're bringing in a whole other delivery person just for our order tomorrow. Yes, because of me someone who wasn't supposed to work tomorrow has to. Too bad! I need my internet and TV shows and it's their fault anyway. But I was rather proud of my accomplishment since Amy had tried the same thing earlier this morning to no avail. What can I say? I can be very persuasive. ;)

So...the "exciting" meeting I had today was, as many of you guess, for the reality show Tough Love. They called me asking for a final one-on-one video interview with the producer of the show. So today from 3-4 I sat with the producer of Tough Love explaining my sad, pathetic love life. WELL...I guess it all paid off because she "unofficially" told me (and I quote) "You're on the show." YES ladies and gentlemen...in about 4 weeks I will officially have a spot on Season 2 of VH1's Tough Love. UNBELIEVABLE!!!!! I am litterally incredulous and in shock. A reality show? Me? REALLY? YEAH RIGHT! I never thought I'd make it this far and up to this point it was all a joke. But now Jessica James the Almighty Persuader is trying ton convince me otherwise. What makes it worse is that the timing of the filming is actually relatively manageable. But the woman absolutely ate my story up and was obsessed with me which I find SO hilarious because I didn't even want this and SO many other girls really did. I can understand how my tale is unique though. Anyhow, I now have 1 month to decide if I'm insane enough to participate in this ridiculous charade. While it might be a good story, my main concerns are how it will affect my reputation and ability to be a professional and make a career. I've got time to think about it but I'd LOVE to hear your (my loving and brutally honest friends) opinions and arguments for what I should do. It would be right in between my internship and I'd miss Drop/Add at school. Plausible. So what do you guys think? Funny or a terrible idea? lol Everyone around me here is totally rooting hardcore for me to do it but I just don't know haha.

So after hearing that HILARIOUSLY entertaining news and making Jessica's day by calling her and telling her what a mockery she's made of my otherwise legitimate and simple life, I had more fun stuff to do! I changed in the car and went to pick up my friend and fellow intern Taylor to go see a taping of the Bill Engvall Show. This is my second time seeing this show filmed and I really love it. If you don't watch it, you should try it out. The new season premieres in July on TBS. The episode was really funny of course and the emcee was great which made it even more fun! She and I had a total blast! Afterwards I worked some of my glorious star magic by making friends with the lighting tech and DJ who gave me their cards and told me they can get me on to see any show that films at the CBS lot! YES PLEASE! I love making valuable friends. :) Thank God for my smile and shamelessly outgoing personality. We waited until the crowd died down before we left so on our way out...our new friends got the cast of the show to come over and talk to us and sign autographs!!! HAHA I love my life!! They were all really, really nice and I'm in love with the older son. I remember thinking he was the hottest guy I'd seen in a while last time and he didn't dissapoint this year. Yummy! :) It was SO cool meeting Tim Meadows from SNL who is on the show too. It was SO much fun and I really hope my connection pays off and I can see more shows before I head back. Problem is not too many film over the summer so we'll see.

Now I am home, relaxing and getting ready to go to bed. Before I go to sleep I need to film Amy in on my freaking awesome, hilarious, unbelievable day. Don't forget to leave your comments about the whole ridiculous Tough Love situation! I want to be entertained by your responses. I had a super busy day and will sleep well tonight. Well, happy and dreaming of my crazy, amazing life in LA. Night!

Week 1 Complete

So, I've finished my first week with the Ellen Show and the verdict is...I LOVE IT! I literally got the dream internship and I couldn't be happier. Today we did some more research in the morning. We did inventory and packed the "Pelican Cases" which are all the information, supplies, props etc that the team will need out in Chicago for Ellen's comedy show. We did a few errands running props and things to other places on the lot. On one particular errand I "got lost" and biked through the Gilmore Girls set on the backlot and sat for a couple minutes watching the J.Lo movie film. It reminded me how much I miss Gilmore Girls! That and the big picture of Ellen and Lauren Graham riding horses that I pass every day on the wall. We got some cool free stuff today, a new shirt that says "I Danced With Ellen" and the DVD Box set of Grey's Anatomy. Pretty awesome for free!! Speaking of shirts, the ones we made turned out great!! Everyone around the office loved them and thought they were hilarious and quite clever when we wore them all day today. Everyone's continuing to rave about what great interns we are so I have to thank last semester...they really made it easy for us to look good! Jeannie was telling me today that she knows of 2 interns since she started there who did such a good job they were hired after they graduted. YES PLEASE! Just more motivation for me to be awesome so I can have a wicked job next year. The interns have decided to decorate our office Luau/Nautical themed (using Carley and my's masterpiece in the dorm as a guide). I'll probably do some shopping this weekend for cheap stuff to work on that so we can have some fun with it on Monday. They keep encouraging us to do it because they think we work too hard. No problem! I'll post pictures when it's all done. I'll also try to take some pictures of the office and around the lot in the upcoming weeks and post those. (I have to be careful because I'm not sure that's actually allowed.)

Drama on the internet front. You might think I am writing this lovely blog from the comfort of my own home while multi-tasking with my ever-present TV shows and wearing PJs. Well, you'd be wrong (mostly...I'm still wearing PJs). I am at Starbucks...again. :( Amy took the afternoon off work just to sit at home and wait for the Time Warner people to come and they never showed or called. We were PISSED! I have been waiting for this day to come for weeks and I feel like my heart is dying a little more with every preview commerical for new episodes I see while at work. Curse you Time Warner! So Amy called tonight and they're telling us they don't have another appt available until NEXT Saturday. Aww, that's cute. UNACCEPTABLE. Simple as that. So their higher-ups are going to hear from some angry girls tomorrow morning insisting that they come out THIS Saturday and install the bloody internet and cable. I'm starting to feel my growth stunt just from being around coffee so much. Although, I did have an amazing lemon blueberry muffin tonight.

Tomorrow's a busy day. EARLY in the morning I'm working a Radio Disney event. Then at 3 I have an appointment which, if I decide to keep it I'll fill you in on tomorrow. Then at 5, Taylor from work and I are going to see a taping of The Bill Engvall Show!! Yay!! This is one of my favorite things about LA so I am very excited. I know Amanda's jealous since she loves it too. She should come out and visit and maybe I'll take her. Speaking of visit...my best friend Heather is coming to visit!!! She and her boyfriend booked their flight tonight for July and I can't wait! Starting this weekend WHEN I get internet, I'll fully compile my list of things I want to do in LA. Now that I'm all settled at home and work I want to get started before the summer slips away. I do have work again on Saturday but I might do something fun Sunday if I'm not too exhausted. Amy's doing some work next to me in our "steal free internet" corner of Starbucks that we lay siege to every night but I think I'm going to head home since I have to wake up at 5am! Ouch. That's even early for Florida time. Nighty night!

Happy Half-Birthday to me!

Yes, we celebrate half-birthdays. Usually I get a special dessert so I treated myself to a brownie from The Com at lunch.

Today was a day of research. Nothing too new or exciting to report. No celeb sightings haha. I did make a friend with the head editor though who was really cool. I also met a Gator alum who's a PA on the show. We just pop up everywhere! We did research most of the day so I now know EVERYTHING there is to know about anyone who's remotely considered a star in the world. And instead of feeling ashamed, I'm just happy to be so well-informed and in the loop. :) We are caught up on the 3 weeks that the department was behind so we'll only have a little to do each day instead of a massive influx of magazines from the past month. The EPs and their assistants left today for Chicago where Ellen will be taping her TBS stand-up comedy special. They're there to do prep work and get things ready for her. A good chunk of the staff is leaving next week to join then so it'll be pretty quiet around the office coming up. Hopefully it will mean we can spend some time over at the stage doing editing and different things since we'll have a little more freedom.

The Fantastic Four are taking our group shot tomorrow for the Ellen Family Wall so tonight we got together to make matching shirts. If you're familiar with Ellen, you'll understand them. They say: Laugh. Dance. Intern. Clever huh? Anyhow, we'll become a part of the wall tomorrow which is exciting. Everyone seems overly happy with our work thanks to the past semesters of slacker interns so that's good. They love us! I also found out today that I will be asked back as an intern for another semester if I want it. It's SUCH a tough call for me because I would LOVE to be there during an active filming season but I just don't know how I can miss a semester of school with my baller roommates and last year of football. :( UGH! Life decisions... Well, I guess that's all for today - it was pretty standard. But I think it's a good sign that even my standard days are fun for me! :) Love you all!

P.S. Detective Noriega solved the case of the missing bagels swiftly as expected. The culprit unfortuantely can't be prosecuted because I'm just happy she could eat something other than Saltines (hint hint). But next time... ;)

Day 2 with Ellen

Day 2 on the Ellen show today! I got there early to check my e-mail and ease my withdrawal and lucky I did...I got to help the EPs with some official business. I actually can't say exactly what I helped with (haha I feel so sketchy FBI but it's true) but it was good that I got to spend time with them. They're big important people so the more they know me the better. :) This morning we did some typical intern stuff like delivering mail. Then we did research for a couple hours. We broke for lunch (I had a fantastic blueberry muffin from Starbucks on site and a freeze-dried cookie from Jeanie. Don't knock it 'til you've tried it) and decided to wander around the lot a bit. We'd heard Jennifer Lopez was shooting near Stage 11 so we headed that direction. Success! Sighting number 2! We couldn't get close but we sat in the golf cart and watched her film a scene before getting back to work.

This afternoon we spent some time in a different department, website. One thing they're in charge of is online giveaways so we worked on calling people to tell them what they won and organizing/packing up the items. I have never been so jealous of other people in my life! Bulgari jewelry, flatscreen TVs, autographed items from guests, iPods, DVDs, and the oh-so-sought-after Ellen thongs! We have what's called "The Cage" which is a warehouse off the side of the stage that contains mountains and stacks of crazy cool giveaway items like TVs and cars and stuff. It's like a high-ceilinged heaven. I so badly wanted to just slip some of them into my purse but nay, I have too much integrity (thanks a lot mom). But...as a consolation prize...we have what's called the "free pile" at work. Every day they put new things that no one won or the show is just sent from companies and people. We can take whatever we want!! I took home an entire swag bag today of cool shirts, jewelry, hats, CDs, DVDs and room decorations. It was pretty cool! I've also heard that at the end of the term interns get a real swag bag with legit expensive cool stuff from Ellen so we'll see. Either way, I get the feeling I'm going to need to ship an extra suitcase home. You know what, I'm okay with that! I also get discounts/wholesale on any WB merchandise and DVDs including seasons and stuff so if you have any requests let me know. I'll definitely be hitting the store up before the summer's out.

After work I came home and now I'm at Starbucks, my usual evening hang-out. Mark the coffee-man says hi! He gave me a free rice krispy treat tonight. (Just to be clear I'm wearing sweatpants Jess, okay?) Amy just text me telling me she had a tough day so I think I'm going to head home and hang out with her. She had to work late and then got lost on the way home. On a side note...I think one of my roommates has been stealing my cinnamon rasin bagels. Not okay. Detective Noriega is on the case...I'll give you status reports as my investigation develops. Miss you all!

First day with Ellen!!

The day has finally arrived! Today was my first day working for The Ellen Show. I may have mentioned before that there were 25 interns...wrong! There are 4 of us. 4!!! I can't believe I got this job! So first today we did some boring employee paperwork and went to get ID badges/security badges/parking decals etc. Then the cool part started...tour time!! We got a full multi-hour tour of the entire Warner Brothers lot, backlot, buildings, craft services (food), shops, gym (apparently I can work out with George Clooney if I time it right), and stages! It was soooo amazing and cool!! We "accidentally" drove our golf cart into a "hot" set where they were filming a new movie so we could see what was going on. It was so fun! Never did I dream I'd be golf-carting myself around on a real movie/tv lot and NOT be on the run from law enforcement! It was unbelieveably cool to see all those official places and actually belong there. Everyone we passed just nodded greetings and stuff because we had badges and looked official. We even saw a group of tourists on the Studio Tour who were staring us down to see if we were anyone famous - it was hilarious!

So the other interns are as follows: Erin from New Hampshire, Austin from Indiana, and Taylor from UF!!! Yes, there is a fellow Gator there!! No, they didn't take 2 from our school because we're awesome, her mom is friends with one of the Executive Producers. But the Gator Nation is strongly represented at Ellen! :) She also incidentally is a HUGE Jonas, Miley, Disney fan!!! What are the chances I'd find another freak like me!?!? I love this town. All of us get along really well so I'm glad we should have a lot of fun working together all summer. Our 2 direct bosses are the sweetest people ever! Gabi and Megan were so welcoming and helpful and really chill. In fact, we were introduced to TONS of awesome people on the staff today including big wigs like the EP (Exec producers). Every one of them was SO friendly and joking and funny and didn't treat us at all like lowly interns. I couldn't be happier with the working environment. It's just a fun place to be! If you watch the show, you'll know my new friend, Jeannie. She's on the show a lot when Ellen has her do funny things like go stand on streets or cover red carpets. She's the receptionist so we see her a lot and she is the sweetest, most bubbly, adorable person ever!

So back to my day...the Fantastic Four (what we interns so deemed ourselves) took a WICKED tour of the entire lot and detailed tour of the Ellen stage and offices and then we got to work. We did some typical intern work reorganizing the supply room and cleaning out a storage room. It doesn't even feel like work though because we all laugh and joke with the staff and chat with each other while we do our job. We went to lunch at "The Com" (commissary) and I SAT 2 TABLES AWAY FROM STEVE CARELL!! On my first day I actually saw a big-time celebrity! Apparently his office is on the lot along with lots of other cool people whom I hope to see at some point throughout the summer. SO COOL! For the afternoon we worked in what we call the "research" department. Sounds boring right? WRONG! "Research" at a talk show means reading every Entertainment magazine imaginable and just cutting out articles about celebrities to put into their files. We have a massive file closet with a file for every celebrity big or small. It's like my mecca, my mothership. If anyone ever has a question about a celeb, just ask because if I'm not completely up-to-date from my "research", I have the perfect resource to find out. While we do this so-called "research", we watch TV on 4 different TVs because we're supposed to know about different TV shows and actors who are on them. I'm sorry, my job is to watch TV and read magazines??? YES PLEASE! Some of the other departments we'll be working in will be Production, Audience and anything anyone needs really. I'm told to be assertive so you become trusted and asked to do more so that's what I intend to do. Everyone's so cool anyway and the work is so fun I'm happy to do it!

Amy and I are both still a little sick but we're surviving. Speaking of Amy - her job is SO LEGIT! She has her own office with windows looking out over the city, personalized stationary and notepads and her own personal voicemail extention! It is very legit and professional. She's a serious lawyer intern man- they don't play games! Looks like the Proctor women are big time now! Haha Basically, I love my job, I love my roommates, I love my Ellen family and I love LA. The smog smells like home (don't cry mom). :) No earthquakes yet! I am still stressed about not having internet or cable but I'm too happy to be depressed. I have developed a similar relationship with the Starbucks crew as I had with the Moe's crew back in G-ville. So, life is good. I think this post is long enough for one day but hey, it was one exciting day. :) I love you all and thank you for making me believe I could do this! Good night!