Another 10 days, another bunch of activities! I guess we can pick up after the last blog entry. So the Monday after the last entry, January 10, I believe, was a food day. I got to make homemade popcorn! I haven’t done that since summer, and it was a lot of fun, and good to eat. Then, for dinner, dad cooked steak! It was quite a delicious meal!
Tuesday was a day at the dentist. I drove on the freeway – not for the first time, but for the first time at that distance – in relatively heavy traffic as well! Afterwards, we got to have take out dim sum, and visited my uncle, where I met his crazy big dog for the first time. Though on the way back, an indicator light came on when I was driving. It felt a bit like being on a spaceship, like what we’ve been watching on “From the Earth to the Moon.” Though of course much simpler. And I was able to pull off at an exit, unlike the astronauts! That night was family cooking night! We made homemade oven fried chicken! It was good – my part was the dry batter, but I think I may have coated the chicken too much. Oh well, I’ll do better next time! Regardless, it was still a very tasty and delicious meal! The skin was crisp and had good flavor.
Then, Wednesday was the Conan taping! That was a lot of fun. I went with my parents and Benson. We went out to Hollywood, but we got there early, so we drove up to the Griffith Observatory. We didn’t get to go inside, but it was an amazing view, and the outside of the building is beautiful. (Star Trek Voyager!) We could see the Hollywood sign, Hollywood, the hills, hiking trails (and people on the trails), downtown LA, and even out to the ocean! The panoramic view was great – it’s almost like the Observatory is built out on an outcrop of mountain. I’d love to go back sometime!
But anyways, the taping. A lot of it was waiting in lines. But it was really cool to go onto the Warner Brothers lot. Facades and fake buildings, and Chicago police cars. And trailers! And tripods and so many studios! It looked like the beginning of Harry Potter movies when they show the WB logo! So inside, there was the warm up act, the monitors, the applause sign, and the works. I think I might have found myself watching the monitor more than the stage though – and trying to correct myself when I became conscious of it! The Basic Cable Band came and played a set pre-show – including “Move On Up” – and wow, La Bamba can sing! And the trumpet guy whose name I forgot… There was also the group of young people with their hacky sack, which had some funny moments. The experience felt different being there than watching at home – I felt like I received the jokes differently and whatnot. But I could tell a lot more easily when jokes went over well or badly than when I watch at home. And the studio looks smaller in real life! I had never realized how many people there are behind the scenes! Dozens of people with cameras, and people (interns maybe?) who did crowd control. And Conan even sang the End of the Show Song at the end! That was really cool to hear it in person! But it was cool because when I came home I saw myself (not much more than a little dot though) on screen!
Thursday was a Rowland trip to visit the teachers who I didn’t get to see last time. I had a nice talk with Mr. Koyfman, quite an interesting time in Ms. Chu’s class, and dropped in the ASB office to thank Mrs. Phillips. Thursday night, we watched the last episode of “From the Earth to the Moon.” That was a bittersweet moment. It had been a great family experience watching the whole documentary, though the ending wasn’t quite satisfactory. But we watched the bonus feature documentary which seemed like a better ending to the series (maybe more of an epilogue!). Nevertheless, it was a great and high quality series which was a pleasure to watch.
Saturday was the CASMP gathering in Los Angeles, which was nice. It was a small but intimate gathering in Culver City – a great venue at the Culver Hotel (and good appetizers too!). Candace came out from New York, and I met a lot of interesting people which was really worth the experience.
Sunday was a haircut before I left, and I also saw the Green Hornet with my uncle and cousins. It was a pretty good movie. Didn’t watch the 3D version, but the action scenes looked good without it. I think it wasn’t that deep, but without thinking too much about it, it was pretty fun!
Monday was pretty amazing – I found a family video from 1992! I had to download some codecs to watch it, but it was so surreal seeing a 19 year old video of things I have no memory of. I think if I saw a video from when I was around 8, it wouldn’t have been so surreal. That night, was the Cornell Club Music in TV and Film event in Hollywood! It was pretty amazing to hear all that information about the industry. I had not realized just how much business negotiating happened behind the scenes. Afterwards, we had a good conversation with Ellen Perlmutter. It was a little scary driving back at night (first time on the freeway at night!) but it ended up alright!
Then Tuesday was the flight back to school. The first part, to Newark, was good, but there was no free TV (cost $6!). But it was free when we were on the ground, so I got to watch a good chunk of Jimmy Fallon! Though I couldn’t hear a lot of it because of the PA announcements. I guess the free blanket made up for it. But I listened to the music from “From the Earth to the Moon” from the Freedom 7 Flight video on the takeoff, which was amazing. Like living a real life movie with a soundtrack in the background! Got into Newark around 6am EST/3am PST. And ate a McDonald’s. Because I had only gotten 2 hours of sleep and my circadian clock was all messed up! My plane to Ithaca was supposed to leave at 8 but it was closer to 11. At least it wasn’t canceled! At first there was no plane, because the incoming flight from Syracuse was canceled. Then Ithaca flights were backed up. Finally, our little 37 seater prop plane came, and we were off, right? No. There was an aborted take off (that was a little scary). They had to test the props, which was a little scary too, because the plane shook a lot! But then they said it fixed itself, and the flight was a little scary since I don’t know what prop planes should sound like, and it sounded to my untrained ear that they were cutting in and out. Plus the low cloud cover and turbulence, but we had a safe landing! Then I was back at Cornell and had dinner with Jason that night.
I’m already missing the sun – it’s a bit bleak here, with gray skies. But the snow looks absolutely beautiful at night!
Tuesday was a day at the dentist. I drove on the freeway – not for the first time, but for the first time at that distance – in relatively heavy traffic as well! Afterwards, we got to have take out dim sum, and visited my uncle, where I met his crazy big dog for the first time. Though on the way back, an indicator light came on when I was driving. It felt a bit like being on a spaceship, like what we’ve been watching on “From the Earth to the Moon.” Though of course much simpler. And I was able to pull off at an exit, unlike the astronauts! That night was family cooking night! We made homemade oven fried chicken! It was good – my part was the dry batter, but I think I may have coated the chicken too much. Oh well, I’ll do better next time! Regardless, it was still a very tasty and delicious meal! The skin was crisp and had good flavor.
Then, Wednesday was the Conan taping! That was a lot of fun. I went with my parents and Benson. We went out to Hollywood, but we got there early, so we drove up to the Griffith Observatory. We didn’t get to go inside, but it was an amazing view, and the outside of the building is beautiful. (Star Trek Voyager!) We could see the Hollywood sign, Hollywood, the hills, hiking trails (and people on the trails), downtown LA, and even out to the ocean! The panoramic view was great – it’s almost like the Observatory is built out on an outcrop of mountain. I’d love to go back sometime!
But anyways, the taping. A lot of it was waiting in lines. But it was really cool to go onto the Warner Brothers lot. Facades and fake buildings, and Chicago police cars. And trailers! And tripods and so many studios! It looked like the beginning of Harry Potter movies when they show the WB logo! So inside, there was the warm up act, the monitors, the applause sign, and the works. I think I might have found myself watching the monitor more than the stage though – and trying to correct myself when I became conscious of it! The Basic Cable Band came and played a set pre-show – including “Move On Up” – and wow, La Bamba can sing! And the trumpet guy whose name I forgot… There was also the group of young people with their hacky sack, which had some funny moments. The experience felt different being there than watching at home – I felt like I received the jokes differently and whatnot. But I could tell a lot more easily when jokes went over well or badly than when I watch at home. And the studio looks smaller in real life! I had never realized how many people there are behind the scenes! Dozens of people with cameras, and people (interns maybe?) who did crowd control. And Conan even sang the End of the Show Song at the end! That was really cool to hear it in person! But it was cool because when I came home I saw myself (not much more than a little dot though) on screen!
Thursday was a Rowland trip to visit the teachers who I didn’t get to see last time. I had a nice talk with Mr. Koyfman, quite an interesting time in Ms. Chu’s class, and dropped in the ASB office to thank Mrs. Phillips. Thursday night, we watched the last episode of “From the Earth to the Moon.” That was a bittersweet moment. It had been a great family experience watching the whole documentary, though the ending wasn’t quite satisfactory. But we watched the bonus feature documentary which seemed like a better ending to the series (maybe more of an epilogue!). Nevertheless, it was a great and high quality series which was a pleasure to watch.
Saturday was the CASMP gathering in Los Angeles, which was nice. It was a small but intimate gathering in Culver City – a great venue at the Culver Hotel (and good appetizers too!). Candace came out from New York, and I met a lot of interesting people which was really worth the experience.
Sunday was a haircut before I left, and I also saw the Green Hornet with my uncle and cousins. It was a pretty good movie. Didn’t watch the 3D version, but the action scenes looked good without it. I think it wasn’t that deep, but without thinking too much about it, it was pretty fun!
Monday was pretty amazing – I found a family video from 1992! I had to download some codecs to watch it, but it was so surreal seeing a 19 year old video of things I have no memory of. I think if I saw a video from when I was around 8, it wouldn’t have been so surreal. That night, was the Cornell Club Music in TV and Film event in Hollywood! It was pretty amazing to hear all that information about the industry. I had not realized just how much business negotiating happened behind the scenes. Afterwards, we had a good conversation with Ellen Perlmutter. It was a little scary driving back at night (first time on the freeway at night!) but it ended up alright!
Then Tuesday was the flight back to school. The first part, to Newark, was good, but there was no free TV (cost $6!). But it was free when we were on the ground, so I got to watch a good chunk of Jimmy Fallon! Though I couldn’t hear a lot of it because of the PA announcements. I guess the free blanket made up for it. But I listened to the music from “From the Earth to the Moon” from the Freedom 7 Flight video on the takeoff, which was amazing. Like living a real life movie with a soundtrack in the background! Got into Newark around 6am EST/3am PST. And ate a McDonald’s. Because I had only gotten 2 hours of sleep and my circadian clock was all messed up! My plane to Ithaca was supposed to leave at 8 but it was closer to 11. At least it wasn’t canceled! At first there was no plane, because the incoming flight from Syracuse was canceled. Then Ithaca flights were backed up. Finally, our little 37 seater prop plane came, and we were off, right? No. There was an aborted take off (that was a little scary). They had to test the props, which was a little scary too, because the plane shook a lot! But then they said it fixed itself, and the flight was a little scary since I don’t know what prop planes should sound like, and it sounded to my untrained ear that they were cutting in and out. Plus the low cloud cover and turbulence, but we had a safe landing! Then I was back at Cornell and had dinner with Jason that night.
I’m already missing the sun – it’s a bit bleak here, with gray skies. But the snow looks absolutely beautiful at night!
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