Okay, I'll do something real

It's been such a ridiculous past few days. I had lunch with Aunt Laurie, Uncle Lou, Daniel, Aunt Theresa, and mom's cousin Scott and his family on Sunday down in Manhattan Beach. Holy crap, it's gorgeous out there. I haven't had a really good, solid beach experience yet, since all the days I've gone it's been windy and gross. I need to jump on that before fall really sets in. I had fish and chips and a Guinness, a lunch of champions and one I've missed sorely in my time out here.

Shortly after, I headed over to Culver City to check out an apartment off Overland. The guy who greeted me at the door didn't look like he sounded on the phone, which wasn't a negative thing, just a noticeable thing. He showed me around the apartment, which definitely looks like four guys live there, but four guys who at least know how to work a vacuum. He called me later in the day asking if I wanted to come back and meet the other guys, which basically sealed the room as mine.

I got up this morning and went to orientation at Playa Vista, sitting through a stereotypical series of feel-good speeches about the company. There's no romanticizing this, it's a marginally healthy dessert place. I'm just psyched to be getting a paycheck.

There were four of us there, going to three separate franchises. None of us are at the Playa Vista location, it's just the most central one. It'll be interesting heading over to the Venice location; the other trainee there was discussing the merits of Alcoholics Anonymous versus Narcotics Anonymous. She can't be older than me.

We finished up pretty early and I rolled out to the apartment to meet Jensen and the Brians. They were watching Lifetime when I came in, and I'm not sure it earned them points or docked them. One of the Brians is my height, but Jensen and the other Brian tower and make somewhat imposing figures except for their ridiculously blue eyes. I was literally made self-conscious, feeling like I needed to find a mirror and some privacy to assure myself of my marked blueness.

It's pretty clear that when I move in, I will be the bitch to at least some degree. The guy moving out, Erin, is a little more subdued than the others, who made jokes about hiding outside his balcony to scare him at night, which they assure me they won't do. I'm considering striking first, but I'm not sure if this would put them in their place or spark a war of escalation.

Either way, Erin's heading out late Tuesday or early Wednesday, which means I have a move-in day! I stopped by Venice to talk to my manager and I'm working the night shift tomorrow, 6pm to midnight. I'm looking forward to it.