Well, I'm back. I did it. I flew all by myself to Los Angeles and back home again. Last Wednesday through Saturday was absolutely incredible, and so now I am going to write about my experiences from each day, and show you guys the nifty pictures I took. Enjoy!
WednesdayWednesday was the day that I flew from Seattle to Burbank. My flight was supposed to be at 3:00pm, but there was a 40 minute delay. [FYI: I have decided that I am NEVER flying on Alaska Airlines again. They suck. Hardcore. To everyone reading this, don't fly Alaska Airlines. Both of my flights were delayed and I arrived much later than I initally expected to.] Anyway, on the way down I saw Mount St. Helens poking through the clouds, and the sight was much too beautiful to not take a picture of it:
( Pretty mountain )Once I got my suitcase (which was a very easy task, since the Burbank Airport--now called the Bob Hope Airport--is so teeny tiny that there is only ONE baggage carousel), I had to get a shuttle to take me to Keri Bowers' house in Thousand Oaks. Now, Keri Bowers is the mother of Taylor Cross, the young man who directed
Normal People Scare Me. She and Taylor came to New York in January 2005, while I was home on winter break my senior year of college. A support group that my mom is a member and on the board of put out an announcement over their e-mail list about Keri and Taylor and that they were looking for people to film in Huntington at someone's house. So, when the day of filming came around, my dad drove me to said house at the appointed time, and there I was filmed as part of
Normal People Scare Me.
A year and a half went by until I started really hearing about the movie again. Keri called my parents' house, and then me out here in Seattle, first to say that editing was nearly complete and that there were some events coming up. A week or two later, she informed me that the film was done being edited. She also told me about a screening in Los Angeles that was scheduled for April 7th, and from then on, I was determined to go. After much uncertainty about if anyone was coming with me, or this or that and everything else, I finally booked my flight and made all the other arrangements for the trip.
Anyway, back at the Burbank Airport. I managed to get a shuttle within moments of exiting the building, though my driver (a scary Russian man) took at least 20 minutes to look over various maps of California to figure out how to get to the address I'd given him. Finally we were underway, and I spent the duration of the drive soaking in the beautiful California landscape, with the setting sun as the backdrop.
I got to Keri's house around 8:00pm; much later than expected, but I was just glad to be there in one piece, after bearing witness to the scary Russian man's scary driving. The remainder of the evening was spent meeting new people--Stuart, Keri's husband and Taylor's stepdad; Jordana, Keri's younger sister; Susan Bacchus, Keri's friend and a really cool woman; and Kathy, a young woman who pays rent to live in an apartment that's attached to Keri's house. Susan and I were tasked with stuffing the gift bags for the fundraiser at John Schneider's house the following night, and so whilst sipping champagne (
much too dry for my taste) and talking about boys, we did so. I have to admit, it sure was nice to have some face-to-face girl talk, after all my months here in Seattle without my female friends.
ThursdayThe house had already fallen under the spell of nighttime when I arrived, so it was not until morning that I got to see the place in all its glory. Keri's backyard especially proved to be a spectacular sight:
( Keri's beautiful backyard )I spent the majority of Thursday morning assisting Keri with the numerous tasks that had to be done for the fundraiser that evening. Several of her volunteers had called up and said they were unable to come over to help her as promised, for one reason or another, and so we really had to hop to it to get everything done. Some of the preparations for the night included the following:
This lovely fruit/vegetable arrangement. The theme of the night was "Hearts n' Arts", and so there was a lot of red and heart shapes going on with things, as you can see here.
( Fruit n' veggie arrangement )Also needing to be packaged was this artwork for the art auction. All of the artwork is done by individuals on the autism spectrum, and these plates, along with several other items, were set to go up for auction in order to raise money for Hearts n' Arts, which allows autistic kids to pursue their artistic endeavors. Hearts n' Arts trains young people to become more skilled at the art form of their choice, and gives them a chance to flourish creatively; unlike traditional job training programs which just teach individuals to push a broom or stuff envelopes.
( Artwork )I assisted Keri as best I could, and when she no longer had anything for me to do, I took to laying on some chairs in her backyard and basking like a cat in the warm southern California sun (a decision that would come back to bite me in the ass later when I discovered that my nose and arms were sunburned).
Finally it was time to get ready for the big event. I showered, put on my dress, and began the arduous process of making my hair look halfway decent. Thank God for Conair hot rollers and the big, romantic curls they gave to my hair. Yay. Anyway, after getting those puppies to work their magic, I applied my makeup, and then it was time to go. Taylor, Keri, and I piled into Keri's truck, and onto the 405 (possibly the 101, I can't remember which road it was), driving off to John Schneider's home in Agoura Hills.
The ride only lasted about 15 minutes, and so before I knew it, I was there, standing in this glorious, opulent house, trying to figure out what to do with myself. Susan and Jordana and Keri did have various tasks for me to do, since we were there early in order to set up and put things out. Soon enough, however, it was time for the most important job of all: schmoozing. Armed with a glass of the best Chardonnay I have ever had, I went about the task of talking to people as they arrived and trying not to look like a giant idiot doing so. Aside from somehow breaking my glass of wine (even though it wasn't even in my hand; I had set it down on the table while I was getting hors d'oeuvres), I managed to accomplish this quite well. Anyway, enough of me blathering on. Here are some pictures from that night:
First of all, here's me in the $200 dollar dress from Nordstrom that I bought for the occasion. I spent so much time agonizing over whether to buy it, and then once I bought it, over whether or not I'd look good in it, but let me tell you what: that was the best $200 dollars I ever spent. I felt SO good in this dress; the fact that I was having my period didn't even matter, I still felt awesome in it.
( Me in my special dress )Here's me with John Schneider. Let me tell you a thing or two about this man. He is so nice. Absolutely one of the nicest, easy to get along with guys I've ever met. He has a son with autism, and while his son was not in the movie, nor was he (John) involved in the making of it, he and his wife were kind enough to open their home to us for the fundraiser. They're good folks; from what I was told, they do a lot of charity work and quite frequently hold events in their home. So yeah, John's a good guy. Not to mention the fact that he is pretty cute, too. I don't normally go for blond guys, but he is quite good looking. Oh, and when he introduced himself to me ("Hi, I'm John), after I introduced myself and we shook hands, he told me that I have beautiful hair. He's just a really, really nice guy, and a gracious host to boot. (I'm not too crazy about this picture by the way, cause my eyes are half-closed and I look horrible. Grr.)
( Me with John Schneider )This one is me and Joey Travolta (brother of John). Joey is the producer of
Normal People Scare Me, and an incredibly sweet man as well. He used to be a special education teacher, and many moons ago he interviewed Taylor Cross (the director of the movie), which pretty much was what got the ball rolling, and voila! Here we are now, over a year and a half later, with the entire movie completed. (That hand, by the way, is Taylor's; he snuck it into the frame at the last minute.)
( Me with Joey Travolta )And here I am with Taylor Cross, the 17-year-old with high functioning autism who directed
Normal People Scare Me. You can't quite see it here, but he's a tall fellow, at 6'7". Also, I have no idea what happened with the lights, but it's kinda cool.
( Me with Taylor )Finally, this one is of me and Keri Bowers, Taylor's mom, the co-director of
Normal People Scare Me, and the woman largely responsible for the entire night's events coming together as beautifully and spectacularly as they did.
( Me with Keri )So what were the major events of the evening? Well, early on awards were given out to four individuals for their outstanding achievements to autism. One went to Izzy Paskowitz and his wife Danielle, whose son Isaiah has autism. They have a surfing camp for kids on the spectrum, and use surfing as a means of healing. The other three awards went to other individuals who have made contributions to austism research, treatment, and other such services to autism.
The second big event of the night was that a 15-minute trailer for
Normal People Scare Me was being shown on a continuous loop in John's TV room. People were free to walk in and watch it at their leisure. I was one of the first to go in and watch. It was my first time catching a glimpse of myself in the movie, and, as goofy as I felt I was, people complimented me afterwards and told me how terrific and articulate my interview clips were. I still don't know why I got singled out--there were over 70 interviews in the movie, after all.
The third and final big event of the night was the art auction. The Hearts n' Arts Foundation (the foundation that sponsored and put together the fundraiser) put several pieces of artwork done by individuals on the spectrum (as you saw above) up for auction in one of the rooms in John's house. People could go in at any time and write down their bids on a piece of paper next to the appropriate artwork. All of the proceeds from the auction went to Hearts n' Arts, which works to help individuals on the autism spectrum pursue their artistic endeavors. It provides money to give them mentors and train them in their field of choice (writing, painting, acting, etc.) so that they have a chance to achieve their dreams; unlike traditional training programs for autistic individuals, which only train them to push a broom or stuff envelopes.
Anyhoo...that was went on over the course of the night. There was also a huge spread of hors d'oeuvres and other food, a bar fully stocked with soda, beer, wine, and pretty much anything else you could want. It was a really memorable night overall, one reason being of course that I had the privilege of being in such a beautiful home. Below are some pictures I took of it.
( The room the auction was in )( The bar )( The outside patio with a canopy built specially for the event where the awards were given out )( More pictures of things in the auction room )Taylor, Jace (Keri's 11-year-old son in whose room I slept when I stayed at her house) and I left John Schneider's home around 10:30pm. Upon returning, I took off my dress, put on my pajamas, and collapsed into bed, exhausted from the long day.
FridayFriday was the day of the actual screening. I woke up around 8:30am feeling well-rested and excited for the day's events. Things took an interesting turn a few hours later when Keri was on the phone with someone involved with the movie, and they were talking about needing someone to introduce the movie that night. Without hesitation, I raised my hand, and the task became mine. I went onto Keri's computer to compose a 2-minute long speech, which I was able to produce in about fifteen minutes. After sharing my creation with Keri and my parents (all of whom loved it), I started packing my suitcase, since that night I was going to be staying with my aunt in a hotel.
Keri received another phone call, this one from Susan, with whom I'd spent time Wednesday night stuffing the goody bags. She was planning to go to Melrose to do some shopping before the screening, and it was quickly agreed upon that I would accompany her at 2:30, rather than leave with Keri at 4. I was quite excited, especially when Keri told me about all the funky shops and boutiques that are located there. So after they got off the phone, I got dressed in some "shopping clothes" (jeans, a short-sleeved brown shirt, purple sneakers, a pearl necklace, and a black hat I got here in Seattle last summer), and packed my outfit for the evening--shoes and all--in one of the plastic bags I'd brought in order to take it to the high school with me so I could change.
Lunch time fast approached, and since Keri's original plan to take me to a restaurant ended up being axed, Stuart instead offered to make me a salad. Now, I already knew that Stuart was an excellent cook; he had made all of the food for the fundraiser the night before, and Keri herself had spoken of his culinary mastery. So I quickly accepted his offer. Lettuce, celery, scallions, baby carrots, and tomatoes comprised my salad, along with Trader Joe's balsamic vinegar dressing. In addition, I poured myself a glass of Clos Du Bois, a Chardonnay that I had had for the first time the night before and
loved. It is truly the best Chardonnay I've ever had (so far). "Are you drinking wine?" Jordana gasped and grinned when I joined Keri, Stuart, and she outside. "Yup," I replied. "Oh you are
so fabulous!" she exclaimed, and I could not help but feel giddy.
So there I was, out in Keri's backyard, eating this absolutely delicious, fresh salad and sipping Chardonnay at 12:30 in the afternoon. The three of them went back inside, but I remained, soaking in the warm sun and the complete unreality of the situation in which I found myself. It was too beautiful. Too warm. Too perfect. Ephemeral. I knew that there was no way I could live like that anywhere but there.
2:30 soon came, and with it Susan and two other women, one of whom--Justine--I'd met at the fundraiser the night before. It wasn't quite what I was expecting; I thought it was going to be just Susan and I. In addition, rather than a car, the vehicle for the afternoon was one of those big vans that were really high-tech in the '80s because they had a TV in them and the backseat opens up into a queen-sized bed, but twenty or so years later they're pathetic and sad, especially if not kept in good condition, as this one wasn't, judging by the less-than-clean interior. Nevertheless, I put on a happy face, and off we went.
As it would turn out, we would never make it to Melrose.
Originally we were supposed to make one stop, at John Schneider's house, to pick up some remaining items from the previous night. Then Jordana phoned Susan and informed her that there were no snacks for the concession stand at the screening. So we made an impromptu trip to Costco to purchase an ungodly amount of chips, pretzels, candy, and soda. How we managed to fit the stuff from John Schneider's house on top of all that, I will never know. It was lucky that Justine and I still had room to sit. After those two stops, there wasn't any time left for shopping; it would take us enough time to get into the Melrose/Fairfax area. Even before that, we had to stop again, at Rite-Aid, when Jordana called and said that they didn't have any ice.
So that was what happened in the afternoon. Along the way, I snapped a few landscape photos (sorry about the rear-view mirror; I was in the back seat):
( Landscapey goodness )We happened to pass this sign on the freeway, and I couldn't not take a picture of it.
( All hail David Lynch )And of course, I had to get some palm trees, since I am very not used to seeing them. I still can't believe how tall and how skinny they grow; as such, I have nicknamed them "Jonathan trees".
( Behold the Jonathan trees )The Melrose street sign:
( I wonder if they filmed Melrose Place here... )We finally got to Fairfax High School around 6:00pm. Semi-carsick from being on the freeway surrounded by and in a car with L.A. drivers, I eagerly disembarked from the '80s van and made for the bathroom in the rotunda building where the screening was to take place. As I was changing into my red mandarin dress, another person entered the bathroom and said "Is that Amy Louise in there?" It was my Aunt Teri. She'd come up for the screening from San Diego; we'd agreed to meet at the school. I heard her go into the stall next to mine, and shortly thereafter I emerged from mine in order to do my hair in the bathroom mirror.
Everything that happened from then on is somewhat of a blur, since it all happened so fast. I went upstairs to the second floor of the building to the cast and crew wrap party, where there were deli meats and cheeses, bread, and condiments for the making of sandwiches, and cold beverages. Two ham-Monterey Jack-mustard-on-rye-bread sandwiches and some white wine later, it was seating time. As per Keri's instruction, I sat in the front next to Taylor. Instead of introducing the movie, however, I ended up introducing Joey Travolta, who in turn introduced two musical acts of people singing songs that were used in the movie. My speech lasted a grand total of two minutes, and I was actually tipsy from the wine and therefore I'm convinced I messed up a few times, but according to my aunt and everyone else, I did a great job:
"Hello everybody. My name is Amy Gravino. On behalf of the cast and crew of
Normal People Scare Me, welcome.
If someone were to ask you "What's autism?", you could easily hand them a copy of the DSM-IV or any other psychological tome featuring a detailed definition of autism. But those publications can only tell you what autism is. What you will learn tonight as you watch this film is who autism is. It is our hope that by the time you are done watching our movie, you will have made over 70 new friends, including Taylor Cross. Taylor, please stand up.
[he stands up, everyone applauds. Applause ends.] And our producer, Joey Travolta. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Joey Travolta."
Bam. Verbatim, baby. I know it by memory so obviously I wasn't that trashed LoL. Anyway...the movie itself was really quite fantastic. For the first twenty minutes, my interview wasn't shown, but after that it did come on, and it was interspersed on and off for the rest of the film. At one point they even showed a somewhat lengthy clip and while it was running, they had a montage of pictures of me that my parents had sent in. My parts aside, it really was amazing. I think this movie is going do an incredible amount to raise autism awareness and advocacy. Taylor and Keri are going on a partial world tour soon to promote it (Hawaii, Tokyo, etc.), and I believe they have secured a domestic distributor as well, so hopefully it will be in theatres soon. (It is available for purchase on DVD right now, actually--visit
http://www.normalfilms.com for ordering info!)
After the screening, I had many people again coming up to me and telling me what a wonderful job I did in the film. Once I finished blushing my way through thank yous, I retrieved my suitcase and carry-on bag from Keri's truck, piled into my aunt's rental car, and then the two of us set off for Pasadena.
Naturally, despite having Mapquest directions, we got a little bit lost, since neither of us were familiar with the L.A. area. The most notable moment of the excursion? When we bypassed the last turn on the directions and turned around to go back, even though it was a one-way street. Thankfully, we managed to make the turn just before the rapidly oncoming cars could smoosh us into nothingness.
My dad wanted to pay for the hotel because of Aunt Teri coming up for the screening, so the reservation was booked under my name and for the first time ever, I did the checking in. I had quite a grown-up feeling, presenting my credit card and one form of personal identification. It was nifty. After we schlepped our stuff to the room, we decided to drive down Colorado Blvd. (the road the hotel was on) to see if we could find a bar or something in which to have a drink. For the first portion of the drive there was nothing, just a long empty stretch of closed shops. Then we drove into Old Pasadena and hit the mother lode. Lots of bars and such alive and hopping, just as they should be on a Friday night.
We remained indecisive about which establishment to patronize; that is, until my aunt spotted The Cheesecake Factory. "Oh let's go there!" she enthusiastically opined. So we pulled into a pay parking lot around the corner and made for the Factory. A glass of Red Zinfandel and parmesan-crusted chicken with pasta on the side (me) and a glass of Merlot--I think--and a really big artichoke (her) later, we were on our way. Back to the hotel we went, the Best Western Pasadena Royale Inn (which was, ironically, situated next door to a regular Best Western and down the street from another). After makeup removal, pajama putting on, and the brushing of teeth, we climbed into bed and quickly fell asleep.
SaturdayMy last day in SoCal.
While checking in the previous night, I'd requested a 7:30am wake-up call from the front desk. For some reason or another, it did not come, but luckily I woke up at about 7:40. My aunt was a bit more difficult to rouse--I ended up calling my father (her brother) and had her talk to him on the phone (I knew that if she talked on the phone her brain would wake up and she'd be able to get out of bed). Sure enough, this strategy worked. We dressed and packed our bags before heading downstairs for the continental breakfast in the lobby. I'm really only mentioning this because when I went into the bathroom in the lobby after eating to wash my hands, I saw this hand soap on the counter that I had never seen before:
( In L.A., even the hand soap is method )(The line in the LJ cut is a refence to
method acting, just so everyone understands.)
Anyway, on this particular day, there was only one destination that I had in mind: Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash in Westwood. I'd been to the one on Red Bank (last summer, before I moved), but not to the L.A. one. I wanted desperately to go, and thankfully, my aunt agreed to drive me. Mapquest directions from Pasadena to Westwood firmly in hand, we checked out and left the hotel at approximately 9:30am.
I'm pleased to report that my navigation skills did not fail me this time. We successfully found the store, and a parking space only a block away. Unfortunately, upon reaching the actual entrance, I discovered that it was closed, and would not open for another hour. This, however, did not deter me from taking a picture. First, though, some lovely palm trees from the block before Westwood Blvd:
( Pretty palm trees )The Westwood Blvd. street sign:
( Westwood Blvd. )And finally, The Stash!
( Stoners of the world, unite! )There was a cafe nearby, and so it was there that my aunt and I killed time while waiting for the Stash to open. I must admit that my stomach was in knots, as I knew that there was a possibility of meeting VA celebrities in the store. Heck, I was just plain excited to be finally seeing the Westwood Stash in person.
After what seemed like forever, the hour was up, and we quickly set out for the store. When I walked in, the first thing I noticed was that behind the counter was Bryan Johnson, a VA alum. I cheerily said "Hello", though I didn't acknowledge that I knew who he was. My next stop was the Metatron wings at the back of the store. I was dying to get a picture with them, and my digital camera's batteries were on their last legs, so I had to get the picture
fast. Luckily, I did, and it came out great:
( In here, everyone gets to be a Metatron )I took a great deal of time to survey the store, as I wanted to make purchases but I wasn't quite sure what to buy. As I meandered back to the front of the store, Bryan and I finally spoke.
"You post on the board, don't you?" he said.
"Yup, I do," I replied.
"I don't go on there much, but I knew I recognized you from the board."
It was at that precise moment that I finally felt like a movie star. All of the accolades I'd received in the last two days on my performance in the movie hadn't done it; neither had hobnobbing with John Schneider and Joey Travolta. But Bryan Johnson recognizing
me? That did it. What a crazy world, eh?
I asked him if anyone (read: Kevin or Jay) was going to be in that day. "What, you mean other than me?" he said, and I laughed, partly out of amusement, but also out of embarrassment. I mean, he's a cool guy and yeah, he's in the movies too, but can I help it if I wanted to meet Kevin and/or Jay just a little bit more? lol. In any case, he said that Kevin wouldn't be in, and Jay only maybe. So I thanked him, and said that I needed more time to decide on my purchases, but I'd be back later.
My aunt and I left the store, got back into the car, and headed for Hollywood to see the sights. We drove all the way down Sunset Boulevard, through Beverly Hills, past Bel-Air, past Rodeo Drive (I couldn't bring myself to drive down a street full of shops that I'll never be able to shop in), and finally to Hollywood. It was an incredible drive. The houses that I saw were all monumental--most likely they belonged to lawyers or doctors or plastic surgeons. Huge, ornate mansions glittering in the hot California sun. What a sight. I don't have any pictures from this excursion, unfortunately, but I can say that it was a great deal of fun (aside from lunch at a sub-par Indian restaurant).
After lunch, we drove back down Sunset to Westwood, and got to the store around 3:00pm. Bryan was gone by then (he told me he was getting off work at 2:30), and Jay was nowhere to be seen. I was somewhat disappointed, but went ahead and made my purchases (a Buddy Christ figurine in a box signed by Kevin; a metal sign bearing a vintage Kellogg's Frosted Flakes advertisement; and a "Got Christ?" wifebeater/tank top for Jonathan).
I knew I had to be on my way after that, since my flight was at 5:55pm, and I wanted to be at the Burbank Airport by 4. This was easier said that done, of course, since my aunt and I ended up getting HORRIBLY lost trying to find our way to the airport LoL. We tried getting directions from my dad, from her husband Jeff, and from random people at gas stations and 7-11s, but still we somehow managed to get turned around and confused. At one point we were going north on Route 5 and had missed where we were supposed to get off, but we hadn't realized it yet and so we just kept on going. Luckily I realized our error, and we exited immediately and tried to find someone to give us directions. (I took some nice landscape pictures from our wrong-way driving, but I won't bore you all with them).
Four o'clock came and went. I called my father and he informed me that he'd gone online and discovered that my flight had a 40-minute delay (surprise, surprise). So that did buy us some more time. FINALLY, after asking the same guy twice for directions ("It's that way, god damn it!" lol. He was a funny guy), we made it. A few kisses and hugs later, our goodbyes were out of the way and I was hauling ass into the terminal. As it turned out, I really had nothing to worry about, because of the delay and all. The only minor freaking out moment was when I was sitting at the gate and they kept paging people to the desk, and one of the people they were paging was "Jennifer Lerner." This freaked me out because that is the same name of the girl (though she spelled it "Lehner") who picked on me and tormented me mercilessly and made my life hell for seven years in elementary/middle/high school. I told myself there was no way it could be her, since I was on the other side of the country. Thankfully, I did not see her anywhere in the terminal.
I didn't get home until 12:30am. The plane ended up making an unscheduled fuel stop in Sacramento (apparently we needed more fuel in order to balance out the weight of the luggage or something. Whatever.). That "10 minute" stop was further delayed when it was discovered that there was a discrepancy in the amount of luggage the computer showed in Burbank and the amount of luggage the computer was showing in Sacramento. At long last, we got underway, and I found myself dragging my tired form through the SeaTac baggage claim at 10 o'clock at night. Anyway, after waiting for my suitcase, and then getting a bus (two buses, in fact), I finally made it home.
And so, that is the (very long) story of my trip to Los Angeles and other parts of southern California. I truly did have a wonderful time, much more than I thought I would. I don't know if I could ever live there, but I'd love to go back and visit again sometime. As for the experience with
Normal People Scare Me, well...I feel as though this is really just the beginning. I am most excited to see how the future of the film will play out, and what impact it will have upon the world. That's the biggest, most important part for me: the potential comfort, guidance, and knowledge that the film has to bring to individuals on the spectrum and to those who know them. We'll just have to wait and see what happens.
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