Live From LaLa Land

So after months of being in a state that has NOT A ONE modern rock radio station, I am all psyched to be in a place that is home to the "world famous" K-Rock, and I have to say I'm kinda dissapointed with it. I mean I've heard that same song by The Killers about 5 million times in the last week. I will say that good ol' WCCC in CT has a pretty unique style and playlist that you don't find elsewhere. Sure, they play waaay too much nu-metal type stuff, but they just don't really give a crap about being trendy or whatever, which is cool. You can always rely on them for a good Metallica song. Here, all the DJ's sound like Ryan Seacrest wannabees, and there is this weird, fake vibe that all the stations seem to have. Just a small observation from the West side. But hey, at least I finally get to hear some NEW rock music for a change.

It's been a looong week but overall I have been enjoying it. Most everyone I've met at NBC has been extremely nice, for one thing, so that's definitely helped. But this is definitely not the type of job where you can zone out or stay holed up in a shell. You're constantly on the move and dealing with people, so it is mentally pretty exhausting. Next week we start doing more stuff on our own, no more shadowing other pages. They are kind of throwing us new pages to the wolves, but hopefully it won't be too bad and people cut us some slack as we learn the ropes. Finally cracked open my Page and Studio Tour manuals today - should probably read through those before Monday.

I really do enjoy just talking to and meeting random people at the Tonight Show. I guess my dad having been a politician really instilled in me the value of being a man of the people. It's fascinating to hear the stories of people in line for the show - they just come from all over the country and world, just to be in the audience. I hope that I don't get so jaded that I stop treating them like people.

But I think I'm really going to be relying on my teaching and camp-counselor-ing experience at this job. If you can handle a group of third graders (and what groups I have had) then you can probably handle just about any kind of group. When I think of the kids I've had to deal with at Camp Shalom alone ... well, I still have nightmares about Terrell.

The Tonight Show on Friday was pretty sweet - Steve Irwin the Croc Hunter (CRIKEY!) was there with crocodiles, snakes, and A CAMEL in tow. Standing backstage with us pages was a team of doctors ready in case something went wrong. Cool! Also, news anchor Brian Williams was there (and he made an unsettling joke about the humor in him describing the "swinging balls" of the inauguration -- wait, Brian Williams is some kind of pervert? That's just wrong ... but then if Marv Albert of all people can be so freaky, anyone can I guess. Not to say anything bad about Brian Williams, but there is something off about those robotic news anchor types, ya know?). But yeah, the Croc Hunter was pretty awesome to see live, almost as cool as SNOOP DOGG a few days earlier.

I am so bad with directions. I swear I live 5 minutes from NBC right now yet constantly miss the turn to my street. It's like this weirdly angled turn that is very easy to miss, at least for me.

It is kind of weird how most of the other new pages are from right here in California. Nobody to commiserate with about moving across the country and not knowing how to get anywhere. Speaking of which, looks like the potential apt sharing with the other two pages has fallen through, so it's back to looking for a one bedroom for now.

See, I leave Boston and the northeast and all of a sudden there's snowstorms, terrorist threats, and who knows what other craziness is goin' on.

Looks like the shower in my apt is finally fixed, so I now longer have to live in two rooms simultaneously. It was nice to come back to my room today at 3 pm and find like five dudes sitting on the couch eating lunch. So I left quickly and took my snappy NBC-issue sport coats to the NBC-approved dry cleaners to be altered / cleaned. I hate how I'm still at the point where going anywhere requires a visit to Mapquest.

This coming week on The Tonight Show we've got Paris Hilton (note to self: check out the green room that day ...), Kiefer Sutherland (24! 24! 24!), and .... OZZY OSBOURNE!!! But dammit, he's only a guest, not performing. Dammit I would love to see him play while he still kind of can (never been to Ozzfest to see hime before). The audience guy from the Tonight Show was asking us who our dream band / guest would be. I think a re-united orginal Guns N' Roses lineup would definitely be up there. Aerosmith of course would be sweet. Getting more and more into fantasy I would love to be able to see a long broken up band like Led Zepellin play, or a pre-tragedy performance by Queen or Nirvana. As far as a guest goes, I really couldn't say. For pure comedy, I think the best I saw on Conan was Sascha Baron Cohen in character as Borat from Da Ali G Show. I was cracking up the entire time. I'd love to see a legitimately brilliant comedian / creator like Ricky Gervais, for example. Someone offbeat like a Gilbert Godfried would probably be really cool. Of course, there are a lot of stars I could care less about but it'd just be interesting to see them in person (just so I could say I caught a glimpse of Britney Spears or whatever).

Well, next week should be a trip. Hopefully I'll finally settle into more of a groove here and feel more comfortable. I'm telling you though, IBA: The Movie is money. Believe that, playa.