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Ok,
So Thursday morning I woke up I immediately took the car to the mechanic that had been so nice to me the day before.He took one look at the car and smiled and said it looked ten times better then the first car I picked.Well, that was reassuring at the least.
I sat and waited and watched cable t.v while they looked over my car.After a good hour he came back with saying there were a few problems but nothing I needed to do immediately. The only thing I needed was new tyres as one of them was bald and I might as well go ahead and get all four tyres so they all get run down together.Even if it was a bid to get him some cash I paid for the new tyres anyway and he gave my car checks for free and threw in a complete oil change at no extra charge. Bonus.
So half an hour later my car was beautiful and ready to go.I had decided to name it Maurice. Maurice the Mazda.It's a bit of a beast so I thought Maurice fitted it perfectly.
I then drove the car to the DNV which is the place where you take your car to be registered. You take a ticket, and wait. You wait and you wait.I had a ticket with number 120 and they were on 66.oh. The joy. Well I made a few phone calls to pass the time and soon enough I was called to the desk.
They needed all my car details and luckily since I had bought it at a kind of dealers it had already been smogged (Californian requirement) and came with all the correct paperwork,( one of the main reasons I wanted my first car from a dealer)I handed it all over and once everything was finalised they asked for something like 9% of the selling price of the car to pay for the administration costs.Bloody cheek but I had expected it.I had to get 290 dollars so I handed over my card. Of course they didn't accept card. So I had to go outside and find an ATM.
I did.
It was out of order. ARH.
I then had to get into my car and drive about a minute round the corner to find another ATM which I did but would only let me take out 100 at a time charging me $3 each time to do so and then! It wouldn't give me anymore past 250. Stupid machine.I looked around in vain to try and think of how to get more money. I asked the lady at the café in which the ATM was in if she did cash back.She didn't however after offering her 6 dollars to cover costs of doing the cash back she helped me.God. Cash really goes a long way here.
So finally I got back to the DNV and got the car registered. Lord what a long day and it was only 2 in the afternoon.
I got back to find Chris presenting me with a list of potential places to move into and we were going to go view them that day. All were priced for 1300 to 1600 per month for two bedrooms places.He wanted specifically a ground floor flat so he could set up his recording studio and although I did previously explain that I thought I wouldn't be able to afford it I thought it was best to go have a look at them to see what the deal was but as were looking around and asking questions about deposit and utilities the prices and costs started to build up.Chris informed me this was the best we were going to get and I think he was right.But I just couldn't justify spending around 2000 on utilities, furniture, deposit and the first months rent before we even moved in and I started to think I needed to look around for a place of my own, just until I had my feet on the ground. I didn't want to sign myself up for a years contract not knowing what the future without having secured a job.
We went round loads of places and just before the very last one I got a phone call from one of the restaurants I had handed my resume/cv out to. It was the really nice fish restaurant from Beverly Hills 90210 if you will, and I had an interview first thing Saturday morning. HA!Things were looking up!
We got home, I checked my bank account and sure enough there was no way I just afford the money expected for a years contract on a house so I started to look for alternative accommodation.
This was when I found an advert on Craigs list for a personal assistant to work 4 hours a day in the mornings for a music promoter in town in exchange for cheap rent in the heart of Hollywood in a top floor apartment with a pool, gym, private parking etc. Hummm. This could be promising so I applied.
I didn't think much of it as it was a great offer and would have fitted my needs perfectly.That was when I got the call.The job was a PA for a top Hollywood Rock promoter doing myspace, website, admin and band bookings all of which is work I did with Sennah and knew like the back of my hand. I talked to the guy and was surprised to hear a decnt honest voice down the line.He wasn't boastful or over selling like most people I have met in Hollywood and who are also full of Sh+t but he seemed genuine and wanted me to meet up and have a look at the room and have a chat about his business the next evening.
So, Friday evening I went round to his top floor apartment and was let in through the security locked entrance to walk through a beautiful foyer to take the lift upstairs to his apartment. I knocked on the door, entered and was presented with a room filled with massive stack amps a sofa, an open kitchen , a huge tv and a massive wall hanging of Metalica's Black Album, signed and presented to the promoter by Metalica themselves. Wow.Who was this guy?
Well we looked around the apartment, it was clean, and tidy and my potential room was cute and with a nice view .It came with Cable tv, air con, internet and private bathroom, pool, sauna, gym, private parking and all for $500 a month flat in exchange for 4 hours of admin work in the mornings booking bands and designing posters and working on the website.Exactly what I love doing.
I heard a russling upstairs and asked if there wa another person living in the apprtment.It was a two story apartment and a lady in her 50's came downstairs and introducd herself as Jojo. She lived here too and was the second housemate and had her own room upstairs. I asked what she did for a living and she told me worked for….
DISNEY.
Oh yeah.
Anyone who knows me knows my obsession with Disney so will have no trouble imaging my eyes popping out of my head and my mouth dropping when she mentioned this.It took a couple of seconds to collect myself and not make it too obvious how impressed I was.
Now some may think this is a rubbish offer as I wasn't actually getting paid but for me it was perfect. It was safe, honest protection and that was very important to me. The job was secure and left me more then enough time to work and waitress in the evenings and at the weekends or teach piano if I chose to.
It was also no stings attached.I wasn't likely to suddenly get asked for more money on a charge or tax I was unaware of when signing for a lease. It wasn't cash but it was protection and a safe haven in an environment that could turn out to be incredibly beneficial to me in entering the industry.So I accepted the offer.Both of them were nice, decent, non showy, normal people. Plus they were older, and I feel safer with adults.
Joe, the promoter, turned out to be incredibly passionate about his company he owned and having been in the music business having worked and still working with bands such as Guns and Roses, Velvet Revolver and Metalica etc he had a lot of stories and a lot of gained experience that I sussed him as a great tutor in which I would be able to learn a lot from.
I know what it sounds like. Young naïve English girl accepts moves in to plush apartment for cheap and what else is expected of her? But it seriously isn't that type or set up.We are allowed no guests, its not a party house, but a quiet peaceful place which suits me just fine. Joe is in his 40's and says he had enough parties back in the 80's when he was touring with his own band.
I bid them both a friendly farewell and drove back home to await his final decision the next day to find out whether I would be accepted for the job.
I got a call Saturday afternoon but unfortunately it wasn't him, it was the damn guy from the mobile phone store phoning me up like he said he would to 'see what I was up to'when I lied and said I was just leaving to go to the store he threw this AMAZING line at me that he was just 'off to the gym himself' .
Oh COME ON!!Why ring a girl up asking what shes up to only to turn around and say you are off to the gym?Oh my god, how pathetic a line can you get. He asked if we could go for lunch sometime and I came up with the brilliant excuse. I told him I was still not quite settled and when I got sorted I have his number so I would give him a call back .He agreed that was a great idea. Unlucky for him that I have absolutely NO intention of EVER calling back but at least the control is with me and hopefully stops him ever ringing me again HA! Very slowely Im getting the hang of this new way of avoiding men .Maybe I should tell them I'm all gay and they will leave me alone.However with all these 'free' people running around the place, there are so many lesbians and gays flying about the area that if I tried to lie and say I was gayI have no doubt that I would then be pestered by the other side with ideas of fresh meat.
So maybe nunnery?
Well the second call I got after that was infact Joe. He phoned right after my interview at Beverly Hills and I moved in that afternoon and started working immediately and have been here ever since.
So. Lets recap. All in just a week, I got a rental car, a phone, a car, got the car checked, cried, took the car back, cried some more, got another car, got it checked, got new tyres, got it registered, bought insurance, took the rental car back, looked for accommodation, got two job interviews; one in Beverly Hills and the other for a top Rock Promoter slap bang in Hollywood, went to both interviews, got job offer from one , got accommodation, moved in, started work and am waiting to hear back from the restaurant about the second job.
I cant tell you all how unbelievably lucky I am.I know I have made it all sound and look so easy but I know I was lucky.Yes, I came out prepared with enough savings and two really strong cv's /resumes but still, I knew but one person in LA and I am so grateful that someone or something or somebeing was looking down on me this week and decided to give me a chance.
I also wanna thank everyone who I have rung back in England and either balled my eyes out to on the phone, or just patiently sat and listened to me moaning at the start of the week.I know its not cheap to accept incoming calls from the US and so thanks guys.
As for my new and old friends out here that I knew before or who I met and have stayed in contact with through my travels, thanks to you guys too.You have all been so helpful with advice on companies I needed to contact out here, like car insurance, phones carriers, the ways of living in America that I feel my move has really been a group effort with help from everyone who knows and cares for me.
Ok. I know I love cheese but that's enough cheese for one day.Basically.Thanks.
I now have internet and so am making my way through all the emails I have from people and family asking if I am alive having left my blog empty for a few days.
I love hearing all the updates from everyone and so please keep them coming. I think I have talked enough of me to last more then a couple of centuries now and so I am looking forward to everyone's gossip and news.
Much love to everyone.
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