Friday, January 13, 2006

When it rains, it does indeed pour.

I guess the universe figured I've had enough quiet Friday nights.

First, I have to have dinner with a potential movie investor (I'm torn about this one. He seems like such a nice guy, and what I really want to do is scream "Run! You can't make any money investing in indie films! Go buy some real estate or something!" but I do need that pile of cash he's threatening to throw my way).

After that, there's the wrap party for the low-budget beatdown, and The Blonde is having her birthday party (delayed a month because she's had the flu from hell) at some Sunset Strip clusterfuckery (called Privilege, in case you were curious).

I can't wear the same outfit to all three places (for dinner and the wrap party, I have to look really conservative. Nothing tight, no cleavage, no short skirts. Of course, at The Blonde's party, I have to wear something tight and/or short or I'll look like someone's mom), so I'm going to have to change clothes in the car, if I can find a parking place on Sunset on a Friday night.

Actually, I might not make it to The Blonde's party. Although she claims to have a guest list, I'm not certain the door guys will honor it after 10 pm, and I won't be able to get there any earlier.

I'm off to have some coffee and figure out what I can wear that I won't have to pull over my head.

Thursday, January 12, 2006

While I'm not doing anything noteworthy, some reruns.

Sometimes I write a post and then for one reason or another don't publish it - sometimes it seems like a bad idea at the time, sometimes something better happens, sometimes I can't make it work and give up, sometimes I just forget.

Since I'm probably not going to be doing much of anything for the next couple of weeks, I thought I'd post some of them now - I suppose they're more interesting than tales of me doing laundry and fighting the Doberman- sized dust bunny under my couch (and if there's something anyone needs explained, now is a good time for me to do it).

Here's one from October 2005 titled "Cable" (I don't remember which show, though. It happened downtown, so it might have been N.C.I.S.):

Sometimes it seems like 90% of what we do is move cable from point A to point B and back again.

Cable weighs a lot - a cable cart, loaded with 4/0 (our heaviest cable and the type that carries the most power), weighs about 600 lbs. Since cable carts have four pneumatic wheels, this load is fairly easy to push (as long as one is on flat ground. Even the slightest incline with a loaded cable cart sucks.).

Until one has to turn.

The maneuver used to turn a loaded cable cart is to lean one's weight on the handle bars, thus lifting the front wheels of the cart off the ground - it's much, much easier to turn if it's up on two wheels.

I don't weigh very much, so when I do this I kinda just hang there with my feet kicking in the air - much to the amusement of anyone watching. Even folks who don't work on set understand that this is really, really funny and that they can feel okay laughing about it.

Today, as I hung there, bouncing my weight on the handles of the cable cart, trying something - anything to get the damned thing to move (while one of my co-workers kept urgently asking over the walkie if I had that cable he needed yet), a passing homeless guy pointed at me and laughed.

I can honestly say I never thought this would happen to me. Even in my darkest teenage moments, never once did I envision a future in which I'd have to list 'jeered at by transients' as a workplace occurrence.

As he passed, I shrugged and said "Hey, gotta pay the bills."

"Yeah, but like that?" he asked, as he continued on down the street.

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Big Vegas sort-of weekend.

Las Vegas is a hit or miss type of place. I either have a great time, or the trip is a total train wreck that's mercifully funny as soon as I'm back in LA - but completely miserable at the time.

This trip, I had a great time. Girlfriend and I arrived Sunday night about 6 pm, had dinner and then got on the list to the hotel's nightclub (that's one of the fun things about being female in Vegas - I've never had to pay to get into a club), where we danced until about 2:30 am. Some jeweler from Atlanta fell in love with girlfriend, who, of course, was completely uninterested in him. Poor guy. He was a great dancer, though.

The second day (Monday), we woke up, had breakfast and hit the pool, then had lunch. Girlfriend then hit the casino, where she won enough to cover her half of the trip and got us comped at the buffet. I spent the afternoon playing a blackjack video machine (I love blackjack, but I lose at it, and the cheapest table was a $15 minimum), and sucking down free drinks.

We just hung out in one of the bars Monday night, watching the crowd (CES geeks, AVN pornstars, eurotrash and hookers), and the giant animatronic frog (no, really) that would pop up from behind a waterfall every so often and dance to War's "Lowrider". If anyone can recommend a good free video hosting service, I'll upload the video.

My camera died while I was taking the video, so this is the best I could do with my cell phone. Yes, the frog's eyes are really glowing. This was happening right outside the "Parasol Down" bar.

Tuesday, we hung out in the spa, ate our free buffet and then headed home. Great trip.

Impressions of the Wynn Las Vegas:

The rooms are gorgeous, and the view from ours (on the 53rd floor) was breathtaking.

View

The hotel itself is kind of weird - it just doesn't seem to go together; sort of like they took everything that's classy, supersized it and put it all in one building - Girlfriend says she thinks they're just trying to hard.

Everything is hideously expensive - the restaurants, internet, the room service, spa access - and they charge you for everything (you pay a lower rate for internet if you bring your own laptop, but you have to buy a special network cable, as CAT5 won't work). The agent who checked us in warned us not to even touch the minibar or snack tray, as it's on a sensor and will charge you if you even lift the package.

The hotel staff were all amazing, but the service in the restaurants and bars was abysmal.

I fell in love with the pool. It's really two oval pools connected by a lap pool, and it's glorious. I don't know what kind of filters they're using, but the water was crystal clear, warm (85 degrees F), and had no chlorine taste or smell at all. Pure heaven.

If I can get another discounted room, I'll definitely go back.

Monday, January 09, 2006

[none]

Vegas rocks. Details later.


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