My 2010 New Year's resolution was to have 10 new "adventures"- either new places or new experiences. Things I've always wanted to try or places I've always dreamed of visiting - that's the goal for the start of the new decade. Here's the recap of what I did this year:
New Adventure #1: Snowboarding
New Adventure #2: Mardi Gras in New Orleans
New Adventure #3: Skydiving
New Adventure #4: Las Vegas
New Adventure #5: Pistol Shooting
New Adventure #6: San Francisco
New Adventure #7: New York Stock Exchange
New Adventure #8: Hoover Dam
New Adventure #9: Grand Canyon
New Adventure #10: Live Show Taping
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Friday, December 10, 2010
New Adventure #10: I was discovered for a professional laugher career
You know, for anyone looking to supplement their income with a second job, I could consider waiting tables, getting a retail job at the mall, or of course, I could pursue a career in professional laughing. Just in case you are interested, this Google Answers entry outlines how you can market your laugh.
Well I headed to NBC to participate in the live audience for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Potentially to be discovered as having an irresistably appealing laugh that needs to be in the laugh track of every comedy show, but honestly just to experience a new adventure - seeing a TV show taping is pretty uniquely Los Angeles. I figured it was something that needed to be on my LA Bucket List. And it was free. Woo!
We got up to the NBC studios super early. The gates opened at 2:30, so we parked in Burbank at about noon, grabbed some food at El Torito, and then headed over to the studios to get in line. I felt kind of ridiculous arriving about an hour and a half ahead, but when we got there, we were already number 35 in line, so at least we weren't the only crazy folks. It wasn't even just wanting to get there early to get a good spot in line to ensure we got in - it is also the crazy Los Angeles traffic. It was a Friday afternoon and you can never tell if it is going to take you an hour or two hours to get across the city. So there Amy and I are at the NBC gate outside of studio 11 where they tape The Tonight Show. Her Dad was in town so he came with us too. :)
And it is ironic that I was checking off an item on my bucket list of things I need to do before I leave LA when I found out my next rotation. Facebook broke the news really. On my phone I got an alert that I had a new wall post. One of the fellow LDPs in my class wrote "Texas! Congrats!" - then immediately deleted it, considering the fact that I might not know yet. And in fact, because it was my 9/80 Friday and because I was sitting minutes away from the Jay Leno taping, I hadn't caught the e-mail from my program manager asking me to call him. I did then call him, and learned it is true! I'm headed to Dallas next. I'll have to make a new list - "things I want to do in Texas before I leave." :)
The Tonight Show was pretty cool. Loved seeing the monologue live. Wish I was there on a Monday so I could watch headlines. :)
The episode's guests were Louis CK, a stand up comedian who was honestly a little too rude and crude and racist to be funny, and Aron Ralston, the hiker who is the inspiration for the movie 127 Hours. We rounded out the evening with musical guest Josh Turner.
Aron Ralston was a very inspirational and interesting guest as he described his unbelievably traumatic choice between living by cutting off his own lower right arm to free himself and death if he remained trapped by the boulder. And he was quite candid - he described going in for a preview of the film with a test audience in disguise. When they got to the amputation, having lived through the actual experience, watching a Hollywood re-enactment of it - while dramatic enough for some viewers to have fainted at the scene -was relatively easy to watch. He sat munching loudly on his popcorn, earning himself dirty looks from the captured, shocked film-goers around him. Want to hear his interview? Click to watch the December 3 episode I watched live.
Well I headed to NBC to participate in the live audience for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Potentially to be discovered as having an irresistably appealing laugh that needs to be in the laugh track of every comedy show, but honestly just to experience a new adventure - seeing a TV show taping is pretty uniquely Los Angeles. I figured it was something that needed to be on my LA Bucket List. And it was free. Woo!
We got up to the NBC studios super early. The gates opened at 2:30, so we parked in Burbank at about noon, grabbed some food at El Torito, and then headed over to the studios to get in line. I felt kind of ridiculous arriving about an hour and a half ahead, but when we got there, we were already number 35 in line, so at least we weren't the only crazy folks. It wasn't even just wanting to get there early to get a good spot in line to ensure we got in - it is also the crazy Los Angeles traffic. It was a Friday afternoon and you can never tell if it is going to take you an hour or two hours to get across the city. So there Amy and I are at the NBC gate outside of studio 11 where they tape The Tonight Show. Her Dad was in town so he came with us too. :)
And it is ironic that I was checking off an item on my bucket list of things I need to do before I leave LA when I found out my next rotation. Facebook broke the news really. On my phone I got an alert that I had a new wall post. One of the fellow LDPs in my class wrote "Texas! Congrats!" - then immediately deleted it, considering the fact that I might not know yet. And in fact, because it was my 9/80 Friday and because I was sitting minutes away from the Jay Leno taping, I hadn't caught the e-mail from my program manager asking me to call him. I did then call him, and learned it is true! I'm headed to Dallas next. I'll have to make a new list - "things I want to do in Texas before I leave." :)
The Tonight Show was pretty cool. Loved seeing the monologue live. Wish I was there on a Monday so I could watch headlines. :)
The episode's guests were Louis CK, a stand up comedian who was honestly a little too rude and crude and racist to be funny, and Aron Ralston, the hiker who is the inspiration for the movie 127 Hours. We rounded out the evening with musical guest Josh Turner.
Aron Ralston was a very inspirational and interesting guest as he described his unbelievably traumatic choice between living by cutting off his own lower right arm to free himself and death if he remained trapped by the boulder. And he was quite candid - he described going in for a preview of the film with a test audience in disguise. When they got to the amputation, having lived through the actual experience, watching a Hollywood re-enactment of it - while dramatic enough for some viewers to have fainted at the scene -was relatively easy to watch. He sat munching loudly on his popcorn, earning himself dirty looks from the captured, shocked film-goers around him. Want to hear his interview? Click to watch the December 3 episode I watched live.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Challenge Accepted: Eat only fried food for an entire day
A November day in New Orleans. Kyle and I went with his sister and parents to the French Quarter.
It is unbelievable how peaceful Bourbon can be - at least compared to the weekend before Fat Tuesday right after the Saints won the Super Bowl. The Saints were playing that Sunday so before the game started there was a crowd of folks in Brees jerseys, but after kick-off, we were practically the only ones wandering the streets.
I am a large fan of Jackson Square, apparently formerly Place d'Armes but renamed after the 1814 Battle of New Orleans. That's Andrew Jackson there in the equestrian statue.
I think I mostly like seeing the artists that paint around the square. And the fact that the square has a somewhat Disney feel with the Saint Louis cathedral in the background and the mule-drawn carriages - yes mules, not horses - that take tourists on jaunts around the quarter. Kyle and I look pretty insignificant and small compared to the architecture behind us.
We grabbed a bite to eat at a restaurant that lines Jackson Square, and then headed to Pat O'Briens because, obviously, no trip to New Orleans would be complete otherwise. A potential recipe for disaster - a lot of dark rum hidden, undetectable in a sweet, fruity hurricane while meeting Kyle's parents for the first time.
I drink one and they say, why don't' you have another? I courteously oblige. :) It is the polite thing to do, right?
I did unfortunately have to courteously decline the offer for a Hand Grenade, despite the lure and temptation of Tropical Isle. So tasty, but after two Hurricanes - while touring the city with my boyfriend's parents - I thought it best to opt for dessert instead.
Only in the South can you go an entire day eating fried food - including your desserts. You certainly can't in California - not even if you tried. In California, you might find a restaurant that serves only veggie burgers and faux chicken, complemented by of course frozen yogurt for dessert, but it'd be quite a challenge to eat one meal fried let alone all of them in Los Angeles.
Not a challenge in New Orleans.
Lunch: Fried shrimp and fried fish
Appetizer at Pat O'Briens: Fried alligator (mmm.. I like alligator)
Dinner: Fried Chicken
Dessert: Fried dough (Cafe Du Monde beignets of course... beignet meaning fritter or donut in French - yes! I've found an application to my high school and college French classes! I'll pretend I didn't look up beignet on wordreference.com to be sure of its meaning... but I did know how to spell it based only on my knowledge of the typical word structures and vowels in the French language).
Who knew fried dough could taste so good when loaded with powdered sugar? I am fairly certain that eating beignets is an acquired skill - or at least eating them without ending up with white frosted shirts, shorts, shoes, lips, cheeks, noses, elbows... I swear I had powdered sugar everywhere and Kyle's family have all finished theirs with clean clothes and faces. I think they enjoyed the opportunity to see an out-of-towner try it out.
The nice thing about New Orleans sans the Mardi Gras crowd (look, more French... sans = without) is that you can actually see and do the things the city is famous for - like strolling through Jackson's Square, which was closed the week of Fat Tuesday so the drunks wouldn't destroy it, or getting a beignet at Cafe Du Monde without a two-hour-long wait in line. Obviously the people watching isn't quite as good, but I think that peaceful afternoon we spent in New Orleans is the city at its finest.
It is unbelievable how peaceful Bourbon can be - at least compared to the weekend before Fat Tuesday right after the Saints won the Super Bowl. The Saints were playing that Sunday so before the game started there was a crowd of folks in Brees jerseys, but after kick-off, we were practically the only ones wandering the streets.
I am a large fan of Jackson Square, apparently formerly Place d'Armes but renamed after the 1814 Battle of New Orleans. That's Andrew Jackson there in the equestrian statue.
I think I mostly like seeing the artists that paint around the square. And the fact that the square has a somewhat Disney feel with the Saint Louis cathedral in the background and the mule-drawn carriages - yes mules, not horses - that take tourists on jaunts around the quarter. Kyle and I look pretty insignificant and small compared to the architecture behind us.
We grabbed a bite to eat at a restaurant that lines Jackson Square, and then headed to Pat O'Briens because, obviously, no trip to New Orleans would be complete otherwise. A potential recipe for disaster - a lot of dark rum hidden, undetectable in a sweet, fruity hurricane while meeting Kyle's parents for the first time.
I drink one and they say, why don't' you have another? I courteously oblige. :) It is the polite thing to do, right?
I did unfortunately have to courteously decline the offer for a Hand Grenade, despite the lure and temptation of Tropical Isle. So tasty, but after two Hurricanes - while touring the city with my boyfriend's parents - I thought it best to opt for dessert instead.
Only in the South can you go an entire day eating fried food - including your desserts. You certainly can't in California - not even if you tried. In California, you might find a restaurant that serves only veggie burgers and faux chicken, complemented by of course frozen yogurt for dessert, but it'd be quite a challenge to eat one meal fried let alone all of them in Los Angeles.
Not a challenge in New Orleans.
Lunch: Fried shrimp and fried fish
Appetizer at Pat O'Briens: Fried alligator (mmm.. I like alligator)
Dinner: Fried Chicken
Dessert: Fried dough (Cafe Du Monde beignets of course... beignet meaning fritter or donut in French - yes! I've found an application to my high school and college French classes! I'll pretend I didn't look up beignet on wordreference.com to be sure of its meaning... but I did know how to spell it based only on my knowledge of the typical word structures and vowels in the French language).
Who knew fried dough could taste so good when loaded with powdered sugar? I am fairly certain that eating beignets is an acquired skill - or at least eating them without ending up with white frosted shirts, shorts, shoes, lips, cheeks, noses, elbows... I swear I had powdered sugar everywhere and Kyle's family have all finished theirs with clean clothes and faces. I think they enjoyed the opportunity to see an out-of-towner try it out.
The nice thing about New Orleans sans the Mardi Gras crowd (look, more French... sans = without) is that you can actually see and do the things the city is famous for - like strolling through Jackson's Square, which was closed the week of Fat Tuesday so the drunks wouldn't destroy it, or getting a beignet at Cafe Du Monde without a two-hour-long wait in line. Obviously the people watching isn't quite as good, but I think that peaceful afternoon we spent in New Orleans is the city at its finest.
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