This summer is ending much differently than how it began, and yet some things are oddly repeating themselves.
After driving across the country with me to help me settle into a new, sprawling city, me and my mom and Whit spent a borderline miserably hot day strolling around Hollywood Boulevard, taking pictures and remarking about the Hollywood sign and Humphrey Bogart’s star on the Walk-of-Fame. It felt touristy and a little embarrassing, but it was fun and sweet and it made my mom happy.
Cut to a day ago and I’m guiding two of my best friends, Faith and Celia, around the same path on Hollywood Boulevard, but this time I’m not scared and I don’t feel like a tourist. I feel almost like a pro.
I know where decent restaurants are and I know how to navigate back to the 101. I’m still a little nervous, but I”m not scared out of my mind. Two months in Los Angeles, California and I feel comfortable. Well, at least a bit more comfortable.
Sure I still freak out about parking from time to time, but I now know I can figure it out. I’m not sequestered to only hanging out with the people I came with. I’ve built a small but incredibly fun group of friends from work. I no longer stress out that much about running out of money because I can’t figure out to budget. It may have taken me two months, but now I know that a salad from Trader Joes isn’t going to break the bank and it’s actually going to taste good.
I also know that I am capable of working a 9-6 office job, but I don’t necessarily love it. Researching guests for Conan day-in and day-out got tedious and exhausting, but I had friends that were always willing to commiserate with me after an especially brutal afternoon of screenshotting two years’ worth of Zac Efron’s twitter pictures. Work is hard. Friends make it better.
At the end of these two months, there are a lot of things I’ve done. I’ve gone to four beaches, I’ve met a few Very Important People, I’ve spent WAY too much money on food, I’ve made wonderful, lasting friendships, and I’ve been happy.
But I’ve also been lonely and frustrated and confused about my future career path. I came to LA thinking I would learn about how to become a writer for television. That was the career that all of my favorite people that I look up to had and I just wanted to be like them. Then, through panels at the Writers Guild Foundations, talks with other people trying to break into television writing, and some heavy soul-searching, I realized it wasn’t for me. The endless, breakneck hustling in this industry and especially this city is not for me. I love sharing other people’s wonderful work through film festival work and this class in Los Angeles guided me to that conclusion.
Every panel and every event narrowed down my scope of vision. It showed me some things I wanted and some things I definitely didn’t. At the beginning of this summer, I was scared and frozen by the career path I thought I needed to chase. Now that I’m standing at the finish line, ready to start my junior year, I’m still scared, but I’ve never been more excited to start my journey and achieve goals far more suited to the person I’ve become.
-- Becca Murdoch --
Me meeting one of my favorite people in the whole world, Justin Baldoni, at the the Writers Guild Foundation Jane the Virgin event.
Me pretending I know what I'm doing behind a camera. (I don't)
First day of Conan with my official badge!!
When you're in LA, you get last minute tickets to see Kanye debut a heinous video.
Obligatory roommate squad pic :)
A wildfire on Cahuenga Blvd got WB all smoky. This is a very LA picture.
A writer at Conan had to hug me during a sketch rehearsal. It was wonderful.
The beaches in LA are actually beautiful. Don't get me wrong though, the Gulf Coast is still 100 times better.
No comments:
Post a Comment