[insert 20th Century Fox fanfare here]

NBC. done.
Internship log. done.
Fox. almost done. (last day = Friday)
Los Angeles. not nearly.

One more week of bidness, then finals bananas, then a week of LA sunshine, then a roadtrip to Seattle, a few days there, and then a flight to Buffalo.

I intend on going to Universal Studios, Disneyland, and the movies at least two more times each. And that is a truth fact. Oh, and In-N-Out and Pinkberry. AND PINK'S! This is my list of things to do before I leave.

This past weekend, I:
- rode The Mummy for probably the sixth time
- went on the Studio Tour a fourth time
- ate Pinkberry
- bought two records (faure's requiem and mozart's missa brevis), the toy story box set, and dave matthews band's crash album
- watched Titanic. all three hours of it. pretty great.
- watched a lot of Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory. want to be his best friend.

Allina's coming tomorrow! AH!
Tonight we have dumb Media Industries. Which means we're missing How I Met Your Mother.

OH LIFE.

I love them fishes cause they so delicious.

Since I'm a little hungry and less interested in going to sleep than I am in eating goldfish, I'm also going to update my blog.

Noelle, Jared and Alicia visited and it was legen -wait for it- dary. We did so much great stuff and the weather was nice and it was SO GREAT to see my friends. OH AND WE SAW KEVIN BACON. For realz, outside the Arclight on Sunset. It was awesome. I'm excited for summer, to hang out with everyone and be home again. I just want chicken wings and ice cream. Every day.

I've got about a month left in LA. Crazy, right?! I'm not sure how I feel about it. I'm kinda ready to go home and I'm tired of working. But then again I really do like LA and it's awesome and I love going to Universal whenever I want. In other news, it's starting to get balls hot here. Today was 98 degrees (JUST like the band) and it was insane.

I decided I'm going to go to Disneyland. I mean, it's expensive, but I'm already so close that it'd be silly not to.

And tomorrow, Hugh Jackman is going to be on Leno. And I'm going to the taping.
It's my last week at NBC. Next week I'll finish at Fox. In a matter of time, I'll be hating finals, packing my suitcase, road tripping it to Seattle, and eventually flying back to Buffalo. Hopefully by then it'll be summer-like in upstate New York.

Huzzah.

The receiving end of sirens...

Weekends are for movie watching, sleeping in, building puzzles, and baking brownies. I bought a Planet Earth 1,000-piece puzzle of penguins. FYI: 1,000 pieces is a lot and the arctic all looks the same in puzzle pieces.

Adam and Steve are at the How I Met Your Mother wrap party. All suited up and talking Hollywood - they're ridiculous. But hey, I saw Carter Bays, co-creator of the show. We have to pick them up later and they're going to be so drunk...

Oh, and I saw Fall Out Boy and Taylor Swift this week at Leno.

Yesterday, we went to see Fast & Furious on the Universal lot. Which apparently I got priority access to and Rachel and Adam who work at Conan don't. But I mean, I couldn't leave half of us behind, so we all waited in line for a while and got in. The sound was way too loud and I thought I was going to go deaf, especially because every other scene is fast and furious. But, it was alright - had a bloody marvelous opening weekend.



Tomorrow it's back to work. But no class on Wednesday. And LA takes the day off this Friday!
And my friends are coming, my friends are coming! Hopefully this beautiful weather sticks around for them. I need to comprise a list of things to do. Like go to Jamba Juice because it's so good in the warm weather. I also should decide which days I want to ask off work so that I can plan out when to do things.

That's it.
LIFE.

The Nicki College Mission Statement

"I wish LA consisted of going to internships. Sometimes. And all the other times we just sit and watch television. And no classes are allowed. Only sleeping. And baking cookies."

So enlist every ounce of your bright blood and off with their heads.

I know, I know. I was already reprimanded about my absence on blogger. So here I am. Writing this from under my blanket, like a fort, listening to Conor Oberst.

The past few weeks have been alright. Busy, busy with work. But, I did have some time off to sleep in a few days and Christine and Becki visited! It was great. We did touristy things like In-N-Out, hah, Griffith Observatory, Hollywood & Highland, Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Kodak Theatre, the Walk Of Fame, the Pantages Theatre, and everything in between. We went to the Santa Monica Pier and Promenade, on an unfortunately gloomy day, but it was still the beach so obviously it was fun. I took a lot of pictures and someday I'll upload them to Facebook. I miss having friends visit, but Noelle, Jared and Alicia are coming in like ten days or something. Which is so soon. :D I need to figure out if I'm going to take off any work days...

Last night, I hung out with Steve, Adam, and Mike, we got drunk and talked about technology, our childhoods, and life and watched television. So, all in all, it was marvelous. I think we all share this sentiment. I hope there are more nights like it in the future. I mean, we still have 1.5 months. So.

WHAT ELSE.

I bought two threadless shirts because they were really cheap. And I'm expecting my VS bathing suit in the mail someday soon... THE OFFICE WAS CRAZY THIS WEEK. And 30 Rock was really, really funny. And Grey's was sad - I didn't cry this time - but it was very good. Today I spent a lot of money at Target, but I think it was all necessary. I got a shirt for $6. Cookie ingredients. Hairdye. Coffee. And Catch Me If You Can for $4.75. Seriously.

Yesterday, Mike and I went to Trader Joe's. It was pretty amazing and not nearly as expensive as I thought it'd be. :] I got some delicious food to last me 'til Noelle, Jared, and Alicia get here and we can do a grocery run then. I need to spend as little money as possible so that I have money to visit Adam in Seattle after the semester ends. And to get myself home, of course...

I think that's all that's going on in my life. I promise to update more often so that this is more interesting - rather than a blahblah synopsis of my days.

I need to watch a lot of Sex & The City Season One because I have to write a paper for Electronic Media Crit. Agh. Plus, study for Government & Media even though I'm essentially doomed...

Are we human?

So, got an A- on my paper. Nailed it.
Internships are good. Sitting in on meetings where I'm privy to confidential information is pretty nice. Heh. And it makes me really want to be a still photographer like tomorrow, plz. And then at NBC, I work with real negatives/slides/prints of like Alfred Hitchcock and literally everyone famous in the 50s and 60s. It's unreal and reminds me how awesome photography is. Real photography, even.
So, that's great.

In other news, Christine and Becki are visiting this coming week! I'm so excited for them to be here. We're going to do way awesome things. And you all will be jealous.

I have off of work until Thursday so I finally get to sleep and catch up on fanmail.

I don't really know what else to write. Saw an awesome a cappella concert at USC yesterday. Finished Choke by Chuck Palahniuk. Gave up red meat for Lent. So far so good, the only thing that sucks is that all I want is a burger. From In-N-Out. Made literally the best cookies anyone on this earth has ever had. Seeing Watchmen tomorrow.

OH. I went to a concert - Animal Collective. It was incredible on so many levels, such loud, enveloping, beautiful sound. One of the best concert experiences of my life.
Yeah.

BLOGGING INSTEAD OF WRITING A PAPER.

So yeah, I have to write a paper on the intro/opening credits of a television show. I think I'm going to do Grey's Anatomy just 'cause it's so dramatic so I'll be able to write a lot about it. Because even though the opening is less than thirty seconds long, the paper needs to be four pages. AGH.

I've come to the conclusion that every weekend should be a three-day-weekend. I'd be much happier. It's just exhausting to work full-time, every day, when I don't sleep well/much. But I'm trying harder to get myself into a better sleep schedule. I'm going to call around to some doctor's to hopefully get treated for my sleep apnea soon...

Work is going great. I like both of my jobs a lot.

Oh, I got a twitter. So, if you have one, you should follow meeee: http://twitter.com/contentdreaming

I've been feeling sort of...off lately. I don't particularly like using the word depressed. But according to a psych survey I took yesterday, I am moderately depressed, I guess. I think it's a combination of being busy, tired, and stressed - mentally, emotionally, physically. Blah. And I miss my friends or just people who know me as well as my closest friends. I can't really figure out why this happens. Especially considering the fact that hello, I'm in LA. But, I'm trying to deal with it, to not think about it and focus on the good things, and to talk to my friends when I can.

I was hoping to go to Tucson to visit Christine for Spring Break in two weeks but I think I might not have enough moneys. Because her and Becki are visiting during the following week and it would be nice to rent a car for that time. And that would take up all of my money. I need to make it through the semester alive, so, that's a little more important. Besides it would be nice to save up over the summer/school year and go to Arizona next year as an escape from Buffalo/Ithaca. :D

I think that's it really.
Last weekend, we saw 2001:A Space Oddessey on 70 mm and it was CRAZY COOL. Just brilliant.
Plus, In-N-Out is the best thing about the West Coast. Other than the sunshine of course, which has finally reappeared.

Peace.

I once claimed "I am God" during a deposition.

Today was a great day.
Rachel, Mike, Adam & I went shopping. Bought some clothes and eyeliner. Got Panda Express for dinner. Came home and made cookies and just chilled for the night. It was nice. :] Also, Urban Outfitters has literally the best fitting room lighting I have ever experienced. It was nice. Probably 50% of the reason I decided to buy a top from there. Just saying.

It was a long week of full days of work and classes. And I'm still catching up on sleep. But apparently Hollywood doesn't work on President's Day, so I have an extra day of weekend to enjoy. Yessss. We still haven't decided what we want to do. But either way, it'll be nicer than getting up early and working...

I started at NBC last Thursday. It was cool. Different, because it's not as current - I work with images in the Photo Archive - and the photographers shoot on film, but I think I'll like it. All I did my first day was metadata, which is similar to 'tagging' (not like facebook tagging, but like flickr tagging) and there's a whole system of keywords. My boss said I'll work on other stuff over the next week or two, so I won't just be doing the same thing. It's a bit more technical and only slightly artsy? but less business-y than Fox. Which makes up for the fact that it's television rather than film.

Oh. As most know, there was a plane crash in Buffalo late Thursday night wherein a Continental commercial flight crashed into a house in a suburb a few miles from the airport. All of the passengers and crew died as well as one of the residents in the house. It's pretty jarring and unbelievable that it happened where I live. (And also because I've flown between Buffalo and Newark twice before.) It also makes me a little homesick for some strange reason. I don't know.
My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families.

Feeling pretty tired, I'm off to bed.
Peace.

What? Sexy? You are. Shut up.

Today, I whacked my knee square on the rail of the Universal tram. It hurts really bad when I walk and feels weird and is bruised. Blergh.

And some chick at orientation was talking about Coraline and said she's all excited because she loves Tim Burton and his work. I was like ...Right. I bet you do. Stop talking.

Orientation was pretty cool. We'll see how my first day goes on Thursday. I'm halfway through Season Two of 30 Rock which is pretty much halfway through the whole show so far. I like it, there's always a handful of solid jokes that make me laugh. I made excellent mashed potatoes today. And I ate the rest of my Ghirardelli chocolate chip shortbread cookies. I want to make some more cookies of some kind and give out them out for Valentine's Day. And I have to make a mixtape for Mike and I's car ride to Fox on Friday. I should be doing reading for class. But I'll probably upload photos from Universal Studios instead...

So there's my to-do list.

He's just not that into ya mom.

I'm at work right now. But obviously not really working. Not at the moment at least. Mondays are nice because I just worked Friday, which means that by now I've gotten everything done and would desire a nap. However, there's no comfy couch [or swag!] like there is in Mike's office.

The Grammy's were on last night. I thought they were pretty bitchin'. The performances were ACE - radiohead + a marching band = owned my life, the swagga like us crew, JT and TI, alison krauss and robert plant since they won everything. I just watched coldplay's performance featuring jay-z on youtube. Not gonna lie - I thought katy perry, taylor swift and miley cyrus were pretty terrible. I think the awards themselves have lost their credibility/prestige, but it was a great performance program.

Over the weekend I slept and just chilled since it was chilly and rainy. And still is. We saw He's Just Not That Into You on Saturday. It was alright. Good for a chick flick, probably the best chick flick I've seen. But that's both saying a lot and not much at the same time. It had a happy ending and it wasn't supposed to, in my opinion. But because they personalized all of the points the movie was trying to make, they had to tie the ends up in a pretty bow instead of leaving things the way they are. The way life really is. So, I'd say two-thirds of the movie was good, effective, but the last third just ruined any larger purpose the movie was trying to serve. I mean, it follows all other chick flick trends, so why should one expect anything different? Because the movie marketed itself as such, it claims it's different and moderately 'revolutionary'. So when that's the idea, they fake it and it's not fully executed, it's practically worse than even trying. Blah. Whatever, you should see it anyway. Just don't get wrapped in the happy ending and take it with a grain of salt - it's generalizing male perspective just as much as chick flicks singlehandedly generalize female perspective. It's still entertaining nonetheless and Kevin Connolly is the man of my dreams.

----

Okay. I just sat on the floor putting old material into boxes for the past 1.5 hours and now, I'm shredding things. DID YOU KNOW that a shredder can eat CDs!? True fact. And that's exactly what I'm doing right now, it is both scary and fascinating. Every time I stick one in. That's what she said. Anyway. Time to go home and make dinner and go to bed at a reasonable hour maybe, sinceIgotthreehoursofsleeplastnight.

Here's a nifty gifty, courtesy of 20th Century Fox:
http://www.iceagemovie.com/game/

We could live beside the ocean...

I'm just finishing up a five-hour shift at the Pendleton Centre.
Which consisted of sending one fax, watching one episode of 30 Rock, spending hours perusing the internet, and listening to Animal Collective. That's it. I feel like this time could've been spent much more constructively, but I'm getting paid so that's constructive enough for me.

I'm now listening to the epic mix-tape Adam and I made yesterday. It's pretty fucking great.

One thing that I should've done was sort through my Universal Studios photos and upload them to FB. Oh well.

Tomorrow's a full day at Fox. I'm looking forward to it; I have to finish filing the Fantastic Mr. Fox concept art, which looks crazy cool. Then the weekennnnd. We're going to see He's Just Not That Into You at CityWalk on Saturday for Lisa's birthday. The Taken screening is then, but I'm sure there will be more. And, I have Intern Orientation at NBCU on Tuesday...

All of my friends are here: http://www.wgfoundation.org/noms.aspx , right now. So I'm sure I'll have time to do things while they're gone. I vote going in the hot-tub when they return!

Oh, life...

Ocean Avenue.

Yo. It's been on my to do list, updating this blog. And I've finally felt like it.

Fox is going great. It's cool to experience this side of the process and see all of the film stills. I love movies. Everyone is nice, I get lunch with Mike, and visit Adam on Mondays. And this past Monday, Adam showed me the How I Met Your Mother set and it was legendary. :D And everyone on his floor is so nice! It's so cool, the whole show from start to finish takes place there (and on set, of course). And the writers are like right there. A noted goal: to one day have a parking space on the lot. There's a free screening of Taken (#1 at the box office!) on Saturday. I want to go.

I dyed my hair. It's red. It's a little less bright today, since I washed it, but I still like it. Hair dying is like a form of therapy or something. I'm allergic to Tide laundry detergent, I've come to find out. So now I have to re-wash all of my clothes. That's great. Since laundry costs three bucks a load.

I've started watching 30 Rock. It's getting funnier so far, so I like it.

Oh! I got the internship at NBC Universal. :] Before I can start, I have like forty pages of paperwork to fill out and fax and junk. But, I'm hoping to get it done tomorrow and start next Tuesday. I'm going to work half days on Tuesdays and Thursdays, then I have my Tuesday nights to do homework and my Thursdays for work-study. Hooray! I hope I like it.

Yeah, things are good. It was eighty degrees out today. So really, I have no complaints.
(Except for the fact that I could use some better sleep.)

Foxy Fox.

Fox is awesome blossom, extra awesome.
Today was my first day at work. And thus I am pretty exhausted, so this shall be brief. The Fox lot is awesome and cool and there's a full real life size New York City style block right next to the 20th Century Fox building I work in - which looks like a high school and was most likely used for establishing shots in films. Oh and New York street is clearly where they film the outdoor scenes of How I Met Your Mother. BOOM.
Basically I organize photos all day, putting CDs and prints in binders and marking up prints according to whether or not actors have approved them to be released, if actors are pictured in them. There are tons and tons of prints for each upcoming film, in various sizes. So I get to see them all pretty much. And read their scripts if I'm bored.
There's a big iron-clad secure...vault, essentially, where the stills for Wolverine and Avatar are kept. And if you have it open for more than five minutes, security automatically gets called and probably alarms go off. I'm hoping I don't lose track of time and end up experiencing that. But I can't say anything about the stills I see from either of those films. :|
It's pretty sweet to see all of the stills that are captured during shooting and all of the responsibilities of a still photographer. Plus, I get to peek through portfolios of various still photographers that are being chosen from to work on Fox films. The photo editors who work above me are in charge of choosing them as well as sorting through all of the photos that are taken and picking the best ones. It'll be interesting to interview one of them for my Media Industries project.
Mike and I meet up for lunch at Moe's. Not Moe's southwest grill, but Moe from the Simpsons. Disappointing, but still pretty awesome. P.S. Lunch break in LA is from 12:30 to 2. Ridiculous, right?!
In other news, tomorrow I have a phone interview with NBC Universal. I was supposed to have a real-life interview, but who knows anymore. Maybe he'll just hire me, that'd be excellent.
I have to do lots of reading for my classes on Wednesday. But first, I should probably get some decent sleep...
Peace.

West Coast.

Uh, so it also sucks that I'm three hours behind the East Coast because now when I'm online late at night, there are NO FRIENDS online to talk to. ARGH. If anyone reads this on the West Coast, freaking add me on AIM. contentdreaming

This is probably what I'd be saying, if I were currently IMing:
I've been to Coldstone twice in one week. That's more than I have in my whole lifetime prior to now.
And Grey's Anatomy makes me cry. Damn that show.
I'm getting a season pass to Universal Studios Hollywood. It's shall be legendary. Which means I have to go like all of the time. I'll even ride the rollercoasters because they're inside, like at Disney.
I bought a shirt at American Eagle for eight and a half dollars. What up. And it's pink. I don't really wear pink. But I guess I do now.
I need to buy a new bathing suit, fa realz. If anyone has any good suggestions, holla. Right now I'm debating over which Victoria's Secret ones to get.
I paid off my credit card balance in its entirety today. Now I have a lot less money, but it feels good to get rid of that debt.
I want so many tattoos, I have so many ideas and I want them allll. I just need to have money to get them. I really want to go to the studio on LA Ink, even though it's really expensive.
I want to dye my hair, really bad. Something exciting though. I keep seeing Paramore music videos on MTV Hits and I want her hair so badly. Maybe I'll look for a crazy salon around here that'd do something awesome like that.
I probably should get more big girl clothes for my internship, since we have to dress business casual, and I'm not completely prepared for four days a week of that.

I love Los Angeles.
(Even when it rains, because it's still sixty degrees and the hills are lovely shrouded in clouds.)

In the words of Ari Gold: "BOOM."

So baaaasically I have a kick-ass internship at Twentieth Century Fox. I start on Monday in the Still Photography department, doing all sorts of cool stuff like order prints out of enormous binders full of film still photos. It's crazy cool. And the Fox lot is epic - the building 20th Century is in is basically a high school and I don't doubt they've filmed it as one. And the rest of the lot has little streets and buildings that are essentially a movie set, only they have ordinary rooms/offices inside. Plus, Adam and Mike work at Fox too! So, we carpool and can hopefully have lunch together...
And, I have an interview at NBC Universal for their Digital Media Distribution department on Tuesday!

So, that looks good. I switched out of Fiction Film Theory and into Electronic Media Criticism. Now, I have that and Government and Media both on Wednesday, leaving my other days open to intern. Woo.

Last weekend, Allina and Brian visited from San Diego for a night and we went out to Venice Beach for the sunset. It was beautiful! Though the water was cold, I walked through the waves of the Pacific Ocean. :] Afterward, we went to In-N-Out for the best ever cheeseburgers and fries. It was great to see Allina! And she'll be back in April.

Tomorrow we're going to Universal Studios! And though it has been raining, the rides are indoors - like Disney - so if it does rain it'll still be awesome. Rain is fine except for the fact that I don't have an umbrella here.
Also, I need to see a dentist here. Which suuuucks. Because I hate the dentist. But I can't eat without being in pain and I don't want to end up needing a root canal, so I guess I have to.
I need to make myself some dinner and do laundryyyy.

Peace. :]

California Love.

So here I am. In Los Angeles. Woo!
Firstly, it is warm and sunny and our apartment grounds kinda feel like Disney except without the Disneyness.
Secondly, I'm applying for internships today. Which is exciting and terrifying. Cross your fingers for me.
I'll have to take pictures and post them soon...

Los Angeles is huge. It's a different kind of huge than London. We're down the road from Universal, Warner Brothers, and Disney. The other night we went to CityWalk, which is like Universal's Hollywood-ish version of Downtown Disney. I really want to go to the beach.

Yesterday and today, we had orientation. The Pendleton Center Suite (where we take classes) is really nice - there's a blu-ray theatre room where we watched a bit of Wall-E and it was AWESOME and I hope we get to watch a zillion movies there... Then, we walked to Warner Brothers down the road and saw/laughed for a live taping of The Big Bang Theory which will end up airing at 8:00pm next Monday, the 19th. So you should all watch it and know that I was in the audience. The taping was really long, like three hours for a 21 minute show. But, all in all, it was interesting and a cool experience.

Today, it's 80 degrees out, btdubbz. And I've heard back from one place so far about an internship and am thus going for an interview at Blake Little Photography tomorrow. I'm still waiting to hear back from all the other places I applied (NBC Universal, Fox Films, Warner Brothers, Columbia TriStar, and others I can't think of right now). But, I just now applied for one that I want REALLY bad because it's perfect, it was listed as Photo Still Intern for Twentieth-Century Fox. Uh, yes please. I hope and pray they contact me...

Anyway, I'm still waiting for my package to get here. It should be here by today at the latest. Bah. We'll see. I should go get check now and then finish putting pictures up in my room. :] I'll take pictures soon.

Peace and sunshine.

2+2=5

I am all packed and have a few hours to spare. Not enough to sleep, though. So, I'm here to start my blog about my Spring '09 semester in Los Angeles, California. I only recently fully realized that it's 2009 already. Wow. Well, looks like it's going to start off on the bright and sunny West Coast. I certainly am looking forward to warmer weather and no snow! It's been snowing quite a bit recently in Buffalo... Hopefully I'll keep up with this blog a bit better than my London one. At least I'm starting it now, before I'm even there even. :]

My bags are packed minus my laptop obviously. I shipped a box of miscellaneous stuff earlier this week and ordered a pair of jeans from American Eagle, so those are both on their way to California. I'll be on my way soon - my flight leaves Buffalo at 09:55 and lands in Atlanta at 12:10. Then I leave Hotlanta at 13:25 and land in LA at 15:19. Hopefully I'll get some sleep on the second flight.

I thought for a while that my flight left at 08:55, so that's what I've been planning for and now I realize I have an extra hour. Which is both good and bad because more time is always nice but my parents are asleep and unaware. So, we'll see how the morning goes. I wish the mail came earlier because I'm expecting one last amazon shipment - my LA moleskine notebook. The only thing I actually NEED. Ugh. Hopefully my parents can mail it to me as soon as it comes in.

I can't tell how I feel about going to LA yet. I'm sure I'll really figure it out when I'm actually there, of course. But, right now I definitely know I'm: sad to be leaving my friends, worried about finding a [killer] internship, missing London, excited to see friends and meet new ones, and tired all around. And it is the new year so I'm ready, set, going to live my life.

Peace.