Thirty Day LA

My first post and my first step into embracing my attention-whore ways. I created this blog in order to document 30 Day LA, my attempt to do something new, interesting, and exciting every day for the next 30 days. It's going to require a lot of planning (which I suck at) and tons of motivation (which I have precious little of). Because of work, I probably won't have enough time to post every day, so I'll try to update my adventures at least once every 2-3 days.

Right now I’m in the Santa Monica Public Library, 25 minutes before closing time. I have a special fondness for libraries, having spent most of my childhood afternoons in them while waiting for my parents to pick me up to go home. The Santa Monica Library is one of the more impressive libraries I’ve been to. The two-story complex spans an entire city block, and the design feels very open, with endless windows surrounding a central courtyard. Inside, there's great lighting, free city wireless, and study rooms galore. After this month, whenever I need to go out and get some writing done, I’m coming here. That way I don’t have to pay $4 for a drink at some coffee shop. The library closes at 9PM, which isn’t ideal for all the nocturnal screenwriters of LA, making it ideal for me.

I’m on day 5 of my adventure. I’ll recap my previous four days in my next post. I reserved today for starting this blog and checking out this library. My goal for Thirty Day LA is to break out of my daily routine and to explore the city that is still a stranger to me after 8 years of living here. When I first moved here from the San Francisco Bay Area, I hated LA. There were too many gorgeous people I would never be like, expensive cars I would never drive, and palatial mansions I would never own.

Me: Fuck you, LA. You suck.
LA: Get the hell out then, loser.

After a while, LA grew on me. One thing I always liked was the abundance of things to do. I can eat any kind of food I want at any time of the day, party with all sorts of interesting people, and run or play ball outdoors all year long. The other day, after another boring outing, instead of saying "All right everyone, I'm going back to my shitty apartment in this godforsaken void of plastic nihilism," I simply said, "I'm going home." Guess I'm starting to feel like I fit in here.

Me: LA, you are kind of cool.
LA: What are you still doing here? Get the hell out already. Loser.

There isn't a simple way to describe LA that can accurately encompass all that it stands for. LA is always changing and moving, like how one day it was cool to cruise down Sunset bumping trance music and go party at Miyagi's, and then suddenly the next day it was really pathetic. For a while, I didn't know where I fit in and how to make sense of the city. But I realized that instead of trying to dig a niche for myself but getting swept aside, I could just flow with it and see where the city takes me.

I live in the land of the exciting, so I'm going to take advantage of it. I look forward to having new experiences, meeting some new friends, and exploring this city I call home.