"I'll show you those moves smooth as satin..." Yes, finally, an update.

I am so far behind in this thing it's not even funny. I've heard lots of people do the same thing though - set out convinced they will blog their journies and then half way through just give up. I
think you just get so caught up in actually living the adventure that you get too busy to record it. I will try and update on the big things because things actually are all starting to run together for me. I want to sort them out.

Saturday, July 4
For the 4th of July our sponsored weekend activity was going to Universal Studios Hollywood. For some people, this was like the activity of a lifetime. For me, it was kind of like ehhhh. All theme parks that are not Disney are so not exciting to me. Like, I really don't care about the Simpsons or Jurassic Park enough to get on a ride themed after it. So I mean, it was fun, but we were there from 11-4 and I was ready to leave by 230. The coolest thing we did by far that day was as soon as we got there we headed down to the "Studio Tour" attraction. It's like a big trolly/train that drives you around the lots of the working studios at Universal/NBC. You don't get to go inside them (you have to pay extra for the VIP tour for that, whereas this ride was a free attraction), but they tell you which soundstages are for what shows or movies and stuff. Then they do take you by some cool outdoor scenes they have set up which have been used in lots of movies and still are being used for future movies or tv shoes. Like, for example, we got to see WhoVille from "The Grich Stole Christmas, and the outdoor set of JAWS, and the castle stairs of Genovia from "The Princess Diaries 2:Royal Engagement" and more. By far the coolest outdoor set we saw though, because it's in actual use, was Wisteria Lane. We drove down the actual Wisteria Lane. And it's like, a legit really long street of houses, just like you see on the show ("Desparate Housewives", for those of you scratching your heads). Only one of the houses on the whole street has a working bathroom. A lot of them have first floors set up now instead of shooting all the indoor shots in a soundstage, but none of them actually have anything on the second floors. So anything you see shot on the second floor is in a soundstage. And it is on this ride that they try to pull the whole stunt like in "Earthquake" that they do at the Orlando one. If you've been to Universal Studios Orlando, you'd know what I'm talking about. However, since I knew it was coming because it looked so familiar, and because it had already terrified me as a kid and used up it's quota on scaring me, that little stunt did not faze me. It freaked my friends out though! A sidenote: Universal Studios Orlando is compeltely a theme park. It's all about the attractions and the rides and it has the roller coaster park. Universal Studios Hollywood is a working film/studio lot with a smaller-than-Orlando theme park built around it to make some money. That is my own observation/opinion. I have a hunch that the Hollywood park was there first, but they knew they couldn't expand and sent stuff to Orlando and thus that one was born, but you never know. Anyway. I'm rambling.
That night we went to Santa Monica to try and see some fireworks off the pier for the 4th. Unfortunately, they were not shooting any this year for the first time in a long time apparently, so we didn't get to see anything more than a few dinky store-bought ones. But we had dinner on 3rd street promenade, and if I think this place is enchanting during the day, it's even more so at night. The trees all have white christmas lights strung through them that are lit up and even more entertainers are outside showcasing their talents and trying to get discovered. Our whole group of girls ate at this restaurant called Barney's and we had a big booth literally right outside next to the sidewalk. The weather was perfect, and there was a guy playing acoustic guitar outside on the promenade. It felt magical. I was feeling so relaxed I ordered a nice drink to go with my meal. (I prefer enjoying a drink or two over getting schwasted lots of times. It almost annoys me that some people think you have to drink to get drunk every time.) Unfortunately, I forgot to specify that I wanted well tequilia in my margarita, and I ended up with a $10.50 margarita. my meal only cost $10. My drink cost more than my meal. But, quite honestly, I was in such a good mood, the atmosphere was just so perfect...I didn't care that much. I just let it slide right off my shoulders and continued on in this little euphoria of loving California. and I really enjoyed the drink too - one of the biggest and best margaritas I've had - so it all worked out. After dinner we went and walked the pier for a bit and the beach as well. We hung out with some guys and headed back after awhile and that was that.

Sunday, July 5
Really was a lazy day. We explored our knowledge of the bus system and rode to Malibu,which is absolutely gorgeous. We ended up at this private beach you had to pay for called "Paradise Cove"...it was this small beach area with a restaurant/cantina like in the middle sandwiched in between two large rocks so you couldn't see to either side beyond our little strip. They had mattress beds for tanning and lounging and a VIP area with little cabana's. It was a very nice, warm, enjoyable day.

Tuesday, July 7
Stayed up wayyyyy too late with Alex. But for good reason. A fun time was had by all. :)

Wednesday,July 8
That evening we had our third seminar. It was with Charlie Caudell formerly from CNN. He gave a really good presentation on how important networking is and how to make ourselves stand out to the people we want to be our future employers. He highly suggests finding another internship and he told us some unique techniques that may help us get one. Really am glad I attended this seminar. Got his card with his email address if I ever have future questions of need advice.

Friday, July 10
One of the coolest days of my freaking life. Let's think about how many people can say they've been in the live studio audience for "The Tonight Show". Not everyone in the world, but a good show of hands, right? How many people do you know who have actually not just toured the backstage area, but was a working part of the production backstage? Yeah, I don't know anyone else by name either. EXCEPT FOR ME!!!!! Seriously, I was backstage the ENTIRE time!!! How cool is that?!?!?!?!??!
Okay, let's start from the beginning.
We were there because our client, Bob Newhart, was a guest on the show to kick off his 50th anniversary of being in show business and Conan is a huge Bob Newhart fan.

Hmmm. This is a long story. And I just fell asleep at my computer. Literally. Last time I looked at my clock it was 1:35am and it's now 1:49am. I think that means I'm exhausted. But I really really really promise I will finish this story. It's probably one of the best and most exciting from the whole trip. So promise me you'll check back reallllll soon...cause I promise I'll write it!

But for now, goodnight!!!!