I had the most surreal evening I’ve had in a long, long time. And I think that’s saying a lot. I’m really tired and, like the real person that I am, have to get up to go to work tomorrow, so I will try and make sure this isn’t a surreal experience for you too.
My friend Nick works at Warner Brothers (no, he cannot get you a meeting or a screen test) and got tickets to the taping of the second episode ever (the first being the pilot) of a new sitcom called “The Big Bang Theory” from the same creators of “Two and a Half Men.” Here is the premise: Leonard (Johnny Galecki of “Rosanne” fame) and Sheldon are two brilliant, but very nerdy and socially awkward, physics PhDs at CalTech. Then a gorgeous, ditzy girl moves in next door and teaches the two guys lots of lessons about life and love. Hilarity ensues.
This should be enough build up to either make you gag or laugh, and gag was my initial impulse, but I’ve never been to a sitcom taping (unless you count watching the entire series of “The Comeback” – a must Netflix if you haven’t seen it!) and thought, hey, sounds like a fun time. So Nick and I camped out (sort of literally) for almost two hours before they let us into the studio, and then waited another hour. It was a lot of waiting, and about 100 degrees outside and 50 degrees inside (Nick made me take a sweatshirt, and while it looked utterly ridiculous while we were waiting, it was a mechiah inside). And very LA.
They played the pilot for us while we were waiting, and while it wasn’t amazing television, it was actually pretty clever. The actor who played Sheldon was the actor who played Tim in “Garden State” (the knight who was dating Peter Saarsgaard’s mom), and he was fantastic. Johnny Galecki was good, appropriately nerdy. The other two guy friends were very good (one sleezy-stereotype and the other Indian-sterotype), and the girl, Penny, was pretty good. The science jokes were funny (I’m a bit of a nerd myself) and well timed.
But the act of watching a sitcom being filmed was so weird. The episodes, sans commercials, run about 22 minutes, and it was the longest 22 minutes of my life. About 3+ hours long. They film it chronologically, in order, “like a play” they said. Except a play doesn’t stop and start as they move scenes around the set, and reshoot, and wait for actors to flub their lines. I could sort of see the live action, but sometimes the screen felt too boring. There was a lot of waiting and repetition. It was often frustrating. And really hard to force myself to laugh the third time when the joke wasn’t funny the first time. It was like being in the television show. I was creating the laughter. I was the laughter. Ha ha.
Then there’s a host who’s supposed to keep the audience entertained and happy (except the seats were horribly uncomfortable and I was sitting next to this HUGE man who oscillated between pushing me into Nick and my chair), but that’s a big joke (no pun intended). His name was Mark, and he was like William Holden on crack. He wasn’t very funny, and when he was funny, he got his laughs by poking fun of the people in the audience. It was kind of game showesuqe; he tried to give away $20 (seriously; it’s not a lot of money but people did some crazy shit) with dancing contests, laughing contests, farm animal noise making contests, a blind-dating game, a singing contest, really stupid people participating in stupider magic tricks. And then he made fun of a lot of old people. It was somewhat pathetic, slightly funny, but mainly just weird.
Today at TIOH we had a disaster and emergency preparedness lecture (it was on PowerPoint and boring and I took a brief nap in the middle), and one of the things he focused on was earthquake preparedness, because that’s the most likely disaster to strike our school. All through the taping I looked up at the ceiling, and the vast web of cables and monitors and booms and beams, and then realized there was no good place to duck and cover (the chairs were about 10 inches by 10 inches), and then kept thinking that this would be the worst possible place to be in an earthquake. If it happened, we would all be dead. Or seriously maimed.
While we were walking out of the lot, we walked past the soundstage of “New Adventures of Old Christine” and saw Julia Louis-Dreyfuss herself load up her lime green New Bug and then drive off the lot. Julia Louis-Dreyfuss! Celeb sightings at 10PM on the WB lot are always good, bizarre way to end an evening.
And now, I've seen a sitcom being filmed. I am done with LA. Goodbye, nurse!
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Monday, August 27, 2007
The Big Day, Part I
Today was the big day. Well, not really. Today was the first big day. The REAL big day comes next Tuesday, along with 17 adorable and scampy 6th graders (and, I learnt today, 22 adorable and scampy 5th graders). But today was pretty big in and of itself. It was a day of meetings, and some workshops, and more meetings and meetings. And a meeting or two. Somewhat exhausting (it didn’t help that last night I was too hyped up to fall asleep at a reasonable hour).
I arrived a little early for the 8:30 breakfast, and ran into Jo, my primary (general studies) mentor in the parking lot. She’s fantastic. We’ve started to have a running joke about our names – she’s Jo and I’m Joel – and that the kids will just have to say “Jo–” and someone will respond; it’ll be a bit hilarious for the kids, and confusing for us. Ha ha? Anyway, We had breakfast, which included meeting forty or so extremely friendly garrulous women (including myself, I can count the male faculty members on one hand). It was pretty overwhelming; I felt like a deer right before the car hits. I don’t do very well in large groups of new people, and so I grabbed a chocolate muffin (they were from Costco!) and sat with the other new staff members, and we chatted about not knowing anyone. Then began the day.
The entire staff had a small group discussion of Understood Betsy, the staff summer reading book, and then our groups created skits, drawings, poems, or songs – it was exactly like camp – about the content of our discussions. Then we did a workshop on the school’s mission statement; the school is undergoing their 6-year independent school reaccredidation and so reevaluating their mission. It was surprisingly interesting, and while I didn’t know that a lot about the character school and couldn’t contribute much (I did make one zingy comment, much to the welcome surprise of the Head of School), but it allowed me to get a better sense of how the faculty thinks about the school.
Then we lunch. Catered. Yum. And then the onslaught of meetings. Fifth/sixth grade meeting to work out scheduling. New staff meeting with the head of school. Fifth grade staff and school administration meeting with a set of parents about their student. Then fifth grade staff meeting about the kids for the year. It was a lot of meetings. Coming out of my ears. There’s been a lot of scheduling issues with my schedule: Delet has certain requirements, the school has certain needs, and the 5th and 6th grades have the most screwy schedule I can imagine, and I have certain vision of what I see my blossoming teacher role to be. Tomorrow, we haggle! We fuddle! We reconcile! Hours and hours of fun!
All and all, it was a really good first day. I feel like a real person now. I have burgeoning social responsibilities. I have a paycheck. I have somewhere to be from 8-5. And I'm tired and cranky in the evening.
I arrived a little early for the 8:30 breakfast, and ran into Jo, my primary (general studies) mentor in the parking lot. She’s fantastic. We’ve started to have a running joke about our names – she’s Jo and I’m Joel – and that the kids will just have to say “Jo–” and someone will respond; it’ll be a bit hilarious for the kids, and confusing for us. Ha ha? Anyway, We had breakfast, which included meeting forty or so extremely friendly garrulous women (including myself, I can count the male faculty members on one hand). It was pretty overwhelming; I felt like a deer right before the car hits. I don’t do very well in large groups of new people, and so I grabbed a chocolate muffin (they were from Costco!) and sat with the other new staff members, and we chatted about not knowing anyone. Then began the day.
The entire staff had a small group discussion of Understood Betsy, the staff summer reading book, and then our groups created skits, drawings, poems, or songs – it was exactly like camp – about the content of our discussions. Then we did a workshop on the school’s mission statement; the school is undergoing their 6-year independent school reaccredidation and so reevaluating their mission. It was surprisingly interesting, and while I didn’t know that a lot about the character school and couldn’t contribute much (I did make one zingy comment, much to the welcome surprise of the Head of School), but it allowed me to get a better sense of how the faculty thinks about the school.
Then we lunch. Catered. Yum. And then the onslaught of meetings. Fifth/sixth grade meeting to work out scheduling. New staff meeting with the head of school. Fifth grade staff and school administration meeting with a set of parents about their student. Then fifth grade staff meeting about the kids for the year. It was a lot of meetings. Coming out of my ears. There’s been a lot of scheduling issues with my schedule: Delet has certain requirements, the school has certain needs, and the 5th and 6th grades have the most screwy schedule I can imagine, and I have certain vision of what I see my blossoming teacher role to be. Tomorrow, we haggle! We fuddle! We reconcile! Hours and hours of fun!
All and all, it was a really good first day. I feel like a real person now. I have burgeoning social responsibilities. I have a paycheck. I have somewhere to be from 8-5. And I'm tired and cranky in the evening.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Ready to rock
So, I’m starting work tomorrow. Finally. It’s been almost five months to the day since finishing UCLA class, and even with the month long Delet seminar, my disemployment filled quasi-pseudo-early-semi-retirement phase got old long time ago. I’m ready. I’m readier than ready. I’m pumped. To an extreme. I want to do something significant, on any scale, instead of just driving my self to do things for me. I’ve read A LOT in the past five months, watched a lot of movies, taken a lot of naps and walks, traveled, spent a month in teaching seminar, spent time with friends, spent time with family, etc etc. But all of that, I hope, is a prelude to what amounts to my first post-B.A. full time job. I’m ready.
But I’m not nervous. Well, maybe a little bit. Tomorrow starts “staff week” – the kids don’t come until after Labor day – so I’m really not expected to perform, at all, tomorrow, except to be present and alert and involved and engaged. Piece of cake. There’s breakfast, and then some classroom time, and then a few meetings, and then that’s the day. Maybe some more classroom time. I’m not actually sure. No one gave me a schedule. I just gotta show up at 8:30, dressed casually, and ready to rock. Ready to rock hard. I’m ready. Let’s rock this shit.
But I’m not nervous. Well, maybe a little bit. Tomorrow starts “staff week” – the kids don’t come until after Labor day – so I’m really not expected to perform, at all, tomorrow, except to be present and alert and involved and engaged. Piece of cake. There’s breakfast, and then some classroom time, and then a few meetings, and then that’s the day. Maybe some more classroom time. I’m not actually sure. No one gave me a schedule. I just gotta show up at 8:30, dressed casually, and ready to rock. Ready to rock hard. I’m ready. Let’s rock this shit.
Friday, August 10, 2007
gouache (say "go-wash")
I haven’t posted in a few days because there hasn’t been many Delet-related things to post. In fact, there hasn’t really been anything. I’m waiting for TIOH to complete a final draft of my contract so I can go in and sign it so then I can get pay checks, but they’re still not ready. Apparently I fit into such a unique, strange, and unheard of category they don’t know how to word my contract. Or some other such nonsense.
But, I am enjoying my second round of semi-retirement. I guess it’s not officially retirement or disemployment anymore, because I am under contract with Delet, and will soon start to receive both relatively large amounts of money and insurance. But until August 27th, I’m a free free free man.
Yesterday, I painted for the first time since before Graduation. It was lovely (I was told by a friend that I say “lovely” too much. I countered by responding that I really don’t say "lovely" very much at all, I only write it. A lot. Maybe too much. So here goes nothing:). Painting was very relaxing and pleasurable. My friend Stephanzia, who is very artistic, came over and drew/sketched while I painted with Gouache paints. It was like an art-a-thon, except no one was raising money.
Gouache was a new medium for me – it’s a water-based paint, but thicker and with bolder pigment than general watercolors – and after a few pages of trial and errors, I feel I’m getting the hang of it. Sort of. I have very little actual painting technique, so I’m thinking I should get a book. Or take a class. Or do both. And then sometimes mixing the colors was a challenge. Like I’d add too much red and then suddenly the blue I was trying to mix would be brown. Stupid genetics. But it’s so calming, and soothing, and it’s an outlet for my super busy and super stressed out life.
But, I am enjoying my second round of semi-retirement. I guess it’s not officially retirement or disemployment anymore, because I am under contract with Delet, and will soon start to receive both relatively large amounts of money and insurance. But until August 27th, I’m a free free free man.
Yesterday, I painted for the first time since before Graduation. It was lovely (I was told by a friend that I say “lovely” too much. I countered by responding that I really don’t say "lovely" very much at all, I only write it. A lot. Maybe too much. So here goes nothing:). Painting was very relaxing and pleasurable. My friend Stephanzia, who is very artistic, came over and drew/sketched while I painted with Gouache paints. It was like an art-a-thon, except no one was raising money.
Gouache was a new medium for me – it’s a water-based paint, but thicker and with bolder pigment than general watercolors – and after a few pages of trial and errors, I feel I’m getting the hang of it. Sort of. I have very little actual painting technique, so I’m thinking I should get a book. Or take a class. Or do both. And then sometimes mixing the colors was a challenge. Like I’d add too much red and then suddenly the blue I was trying to mix would be brown. Stupid genetics. But it’s so calming, and soothing, and it’s an outlet for my super busy and super stressed out life.
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Why capitalize those letters in DeLeT? Don't you know how to write?
I realized that I’ve been writing about this mysterious entity “DeLeT,” that has all these really funny capitalization and haven’t explained it at all. You’re either confused, or don’t care. But since this is a DeLeT inspired blog, humor me!
DeLeT is a Jewish day school teacher training program through Hebrew Union College in LA. Basically, it’s a 13 month program, the core of which is a year of what can best be referred to as student teaching in a classroom in a Jewish day school, bracketed by two summers of learning (classes on all sorts of teaching techniques, background, etc). While it is a graduate program, there is no degree waiting for me in a year. We come out of this as, and I’m quoting, “well-launched novice teachers.” I do get paid, so in that respect it’s very much like a job. But during the year I am both a full-time student at HUC as well as a full-time employee of Temple Israel of Hollywood.
The program is entering its 6th year; I am part of Cohort 6. There are five of us in the cohort, and we’re a pretty eclectic group, all coming from very different backgrounds and experiences and we bring something totally different. We spent the past month together, every day, the entire day, so we’re pretty well acquainted with each other. At least, in an academic setting. We’re all placed at different schools – three in LA and two in the Bay. I'm going to be at Temple Israel of Hollywood (TIOH) Day School, which is a day school part of a Reform congregation in, well, Hollywood. During the year we’re working at our schools every day, except Thursdays, when we spend five hours in the afternoon at HUC taking classes. The two guys in the Bay will learn with us via video conference (I’m already planning my Thursday wardrobes so I look good on camera. Suggestions?).
This summer we took classes in child development (early childhood, then middle childhood, and then early adolescence), teaching/learning about prayer, Jewish textual tradition, Parshat HaShavuah (“Torah portion of the week”), and a class called Teaching and Learning, which will continue through the year and it’s an introduction to how teaching-learning-content-school context all intersect, feedback on each other, and how it affects us, as teachers. It was all really great, but a huge overload of information. Like someone took a big syringe and injected it into our veins.
I’m going to be teaching in a 6th grade classroom. I’m really excited about TIOH – every time I’ve been there and everything I’ve heard about it from secondary sources leads me to feel is a very warm, open, committed day school that encourages growth in both its students and teachers. I know that sounds standard and “blah blah,” but as I’m coming to learn very fast, it is not at all standard or to be taken for granted in a day school community.
I've been writing DeLeT with these funny, random capitalized letters because that's how THEY (the ubiquitous) write it. DeLeT is a Hebrew word דלת meaning "door" or "doorway;" the program is designed to be a “doorway” into the world of teaching. But, because Jews can’t do anything straightforwardly, it’s also an acronym or mnemonic or something like that. The letters stand for words. (Quick Hebrew crash course: Hebrew words only have consonants, and the capitalized letters – all the consonants – represent the three letters in the Hebrew word). I’m not entirely sure what the letters represent, but I think the D stands for “Day School” the L stands for “Leadership” or “Leader” and the T stands for “Teaching” or “Teacher.” So that's the gist of it. Awwww.
I’m going to stop writing Delet with the caps now, because it’s annoying to type.
DeLeT is a Jewish day school teacher training program through Hebrew Union College in LA. Basically, it’s a 13 month program, the core of which is a year of what can best be referred to as student teaching in a classroom in a Jewish day school, bracketed by two summers of learning (classes on all sorts of teaching techniques, background, etc). While it is a graduate program, there is no degree waiting for me in a year. We come out of this as, and I’m quoting, “well-launched novice teachers.” I do get paid, so in that respect it’s very much like a job. But during the year I am both a full-time student at HUC as well as a full-time employee of Temple Israel of Hollywood.
The program is entering its 6th year; I am part of Cohort 6. There are five of us in the cohort, and we’re a pretty eclectic group, all coming from very different backgrounds and experiences and we bring something totally different. We spent the past month together, every day, the entire day, so we’re pretty well acquainted with each other. At least, in an academic setting. We’re all placed at different schools – three in LA and two in the Bay. I'm going to be at Temple Israel of Hollywood (TIOH) Day School, which is a day school part of a Reform congregation in, well, Hollywood. During the year we’re working at our schools every day, except Thursdays, when we spend five hours in the afternoon at HUC taking classes. The two guys in the Bay will learn with us via video conference (I’m already planning my Thursday wardrobes so I look good on camera. Suggestions?).
This summer we took classes in child development (early childhood, then middle childhood, and then early adolescence), teaching/learning about prayer, Jewish textual tradition, Parshat HaShavuah (“Torah portion of the week”), and a class called Teaching and Learning, which will continue through the year and it’s an introduction to how teaching-learning-content-school context all intersect, feedback on each other, and how it affects us, as teachers. It was all really great, but a huge overload of information. Like someone took a big syringe and injected it into our veins.
I’m going to be teaching in a 6th grade classroom. I’m really excited about TIOH – every time I’ve been there and everything I’ve heard about it from secondary sources leads me to feel is a very warm, open, committed day school that encourages growth in both its students and teachers. I know that sounds standard and “blah blah,” but as I’m coming to learn very fast, it is not at all standard or to be taken for granted in a day school community.
I've been writing DeLeT with these funny, random capitalized letters because that's how THEY (the ubiquitous) write it. DeLeT is a Hebrew word דלת meaning "door" or "doorway;" the program is designed to be a “doorway” into the world of teaching. But, because Jews can’t do anything straightforwardly, it’s also an acronym or mnemonic or something like that. The letters stand for words. (Quick Hebrew crash course: Hebrew words only have consonants, and the capitalized letters – all the consonants – represent the three letters in the Hebrew word). I’m not entirely sure what the letters represent, but I think the D stands for “Day School” the L stands for “Leadership” or “Leader” and the T stands for “Teaching” or “Teacher.” So that's the gist of it. Awwww.
I’m going to stop writing Delet with the caps now, because it’s annoying to type.
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
three minor celebrities in one day
Let me first start this post with a digital moment of silence for the 7 dead people and 60 injured on the bridge in Minneapolis.
It freaked me out a lot when I first saw the new posting this afternoon. The bridge just... collapsed. It's crazy. It's horrible. just thinking that bridges can just... collapse. It's mind numbing. Scary. I'm never driving on a bridge again.
Anyway, tonight I went to an Ingmar Bergman double feature at the New Beverly Cinema with my friend Liz. Liz is an old friend from BBYO (the youth group I was in during my high school era) and just moved to LA to start grad school at USC film school. So she knows a lot, but is very non-pretentious about it. Anyway, Bergman died on Monday, and yet this double feature had been already on the New Bev schedule. Coincidence? I think so.
So, of course, it was packed. We sat through the first film - The Virgin Spring - despite not being able to read all the subtitles because of the big heads in front of us. The film was excellent, although intense and bleak and with some very strong Christian imagery at the end. We decided a second film (it was Wild Strawberries, for you Bergman fans) was too much, and so we left. We stood outside discussing the movie in a non-pretentious way (as compared to the guy in the tailored suit who threw in comparisons to Citizen Kane, Wagner, and Dostoyevsky in one breath).
Then I see a guy in line who looks familiar, and then I realize he's on the OC (or was on the OC). I pull Liz aside, and in hushed tones, I ask her to calmly look at the guy in the yellow shirt and see if she recognizes him. She says it's Adam Brody. Go me. He's kinda scruffy and has weird eyebrows, but we're pretty sure it's him. And then, a few people behind him, I see the guy who played Harold in Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle. Then we quietly freaked out for about 6 seconds, stopped, and then walked to our cars.
So these two minor celebs, coupled with the fact that I saw CJ from the third season of Top Chef at the Santa Monica Farmer's Market today, makes it a three-celebrity day. I can’t remember the last time I saw a celebrity when I wasn’t ushering. I feel so LA.
It freaked me out a lot when I first saw the new posting this afternoon. The bridge just... collapsed. It's crazy. It's horrible. just thinking that bridges can just... collapse. It's mind numbing. Scary. I'm never driving on a bridge again.
Anyway, tonight I went to an Ingmar Bergman double feature at the New Beverly Cinema with my friend Liz. Liz is an old friend from BBYO (the youth group I was in during my high school era) and just moved to LA to start grad school at USC film school. So she knows a lot, but is very non-pretentious about it. Anyway, Bergman died on Monday, and yet this double feature had been already on the New Bev schedule. Coincidence? I think so.
So, of course, it was packed. We sat through the first film - The Virgin Spring - despite not being able to read all the subtitles because of the big heads in front of us. The film was excellent, although intense and bleak and with some very strong Christian imagery at the end. We decided a second film (it was Wild Strawberries, for you Bergman fans) was too much, and so we left. We stood outside discussing the movie in a non-pretentious way (as compared to the guy in the tailored suit who threw in comparisons to Citizen Kane, Wagner, and Dostoyevsky in one breath).
Then I see a guy in line who looks familiar, and then I realize he's on the OC (or was on the OC). I pull Liz aside, and in hushed tones, I ask her to calmly look at the guy in the yellow shirt and see if she recognizes him. She says it's Adam Brody. Go me. He's kinda scruffy and has weird eyebrows, but we're pretty sure it's him. And then, a few people behind him, I see the guy who played Harold in Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle. Then we quietly freaked out for about 6 seconds, stopped, and then walked to our cars.
So these two minor celebs, coupled with the fact that I saw CJ from the third season of Top Chef at the Santa Monica Farmer's Market today, makes it a three-celebrity day. I can’t remember the last time I saw a celebrity when I wasn’t ushering. I feel so LA.
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