Opportunity presented itself to me today. In the form of an afternoon jaunt to Hollywood. I've been in LA for a week and half and hadn't yet been. It's really surprising that it wasn't the first stop I made when I got here. Hello! Hookers, bootleg music, stars on the sidewalk, tourists, Scientologists, and lots more! My priorities must have been pretty intensely out of whack, I was obviously way out of line. Well, I've sure seen the error of my ways. I've now walked along the only sidewalk on the planet that requires your full attention. No looking at other people or surroundings, lest you miss out on seeing the name of someone famous immortalized on a gold star. Those who visit the street on a regular basis are easy to pick out because they're the only ones not hunched over while they're walking, trying to make out names on the shiny stars reflecting sunshine (thus making them quite difficult to read).

And when offered the chance of being a part of the studio audience for Jimmy Kimmel Live (for free), we of course were like, "Fuck yeah! Anything for the chance of being in front of a TV camera and maybe being on national television for a few seconds!" The opportunity of a lifetime, that is. All the glamour of standing outside for an hour, being told to stand in place like a herd of cattle, having our digital cameras removed from our possession, and then of course going through the metal detector and everything. Not to mention getting to sit for another hour and a half or so, waiting for eight o'clock to roll around so they could start the forty-minute filming process. With one of our crew feeling quite sick, and with said icky Jimmy Kimmel happenings, we opted to collect our things and take leave of all the glitter and fuzz.

As to where we took leave, that would be the road home. Which just so happened to involve a highway whose turn we missed at first but caught on the turn-around. A highway that was serving as a temporary parking lot, but whose traffic moved slower than the average grocery's.

Despite it all (and perhaps because of it all), a fabulous time was had by, uh, all.