Thirty Day LA

Time to see how well 30 Day LA is going.

Cost: C

Started off strong with some free activities:

• Getty Museum: Off the 405
  
• Central Avenue Jazz Festival (PDF)
  
• Tribute to American Film Music
  
• Santa Monica Public Library
  

Fishing was well worth the $30. Most of the other activities I only had incidental costs like food and transportation. However, it all went downhill with drinking in Hollywood. $110 man, I’m still killing myself over that one.

Quality: A

I’m going to judge the quality of all my activities based on two criteria: fun and newness. In terms of fun, I would give myself a solid B+. Some of the activities were more chill than anything, and the amount of fun was determined by how well I was able to enjoy the moment instead of thinking too much about random stuff. And also alcohol, of course. Notable fun moments include:

• At StimpPimp’s birthday, killing the other team with a volleyball tip that I figured out how to do like a left handed basketball layup
  
• Snapping a picture of Gerald Wilson mid-fistpump while conducting his orchestra, as two older black gentleman near me talked about how Gerald Wilson is the biggest shit talker ever
  
• Having the thrill of hooking a huge barracuda only to have it snap my line, as a wide-eyed Satan exclaimed “That would have been the jackpot, man!”
  

Newness, I would give myself an A. I’ve actually never hung out with my coworkers this much before, usually I avoid hanging out with them because I want to keep my work and personal life separate. However, I’m glad I got to spend some time with them outside of work this week. Also, this week really helped me realize how much there is to do in LA, way beyond what I had even expected. And I didn’t resort to doing anything that I had done before. I can honestly say I did something completely new everyday this past week. Special shoutouts go to ExperienceLA, Citysearch, and the LA Times.

Overall, my cost to quality ratio could be higher, so I’m going to work on that next week.

Maintaining current activities: C+

Not so good on this one. I only cooked once over the past week, but it was good that I cooked enough to last me about 4 meals. I only ran once and I didn’t get to bike at all. I also didn’t get to write as much as I’d like to. I did post as much as I said I would, but I’m getting a backlog of entries so I might need to up the posting frequency. Oh and I also haven’t been sleeping much at all. Need to work on the time management as well.

Overall: B

Before this week, here was me in a nutshell: sarcastic, introverted, unenthusiastic, discontent, and insecure. When I started mulling the idea of 30 Day LA around in my head, I wasn’t too sure it would work. Even when I told people about it, I kind of said it in an offhand and nonchalant way, even though it was kind of a big deal for an ordinarily boring and routine person like me.

But this past week has given me a fresh perspective on living in LA. I don’t think I’ve ever gone out this much before and done such a wide variety of activities. Initially I thought it might be hard trying to find stuff to do, schedule it, actually do it, and then finally post about it. It's tough keeping it up, but the effort is worth it.

So after being stuck in a rut for quite a while, I see now that I am capable of change, even if the change is something small and maybe slightly frivolous in trying to go out more and do new things. But it does help knowing I have ability to be able to make changes in my life and know that it’ll work out. And also, I’m not so grumpy anymore because I always have something to look forward to.

Now I find myself more willing to talk about what I did the other day or what I’m planning on doing. I don’t really worry about projecting geekiness from my enthusiasm. In fact, some of the friends I don’t normally hang out with that much seem interested in doing some of the activities with me, which gives us a good excuse to catch up.

One thing I need to do is meet random people when I go out. I've never been great at talking with strangers, so I'm going to use this as an excuse to step out of my comfort zone.

Anyway, enough premature gushing about how this project is turning out after only just a week. Suffice it to say, it’s been a great experience so far and I hope to keep it going.