Friday, August 08, 2003

It's insanely early right now. 6:43, to be exact. I woke up at 6:20, in hopes of doing laundry. I gathered all of my dirty sheets and towels, located my laundry detergent, and then tried to find my quarters. And looked. And looked. And then I realized that I left my roll of quarters in Houston on my desk. Yes, you can officially call me stupid. All my efforts only resulted in a total of $1 in change, definitely not enough to wash and dry one load of laundry. So, I guess I'll have to wait until tonight to become a laundress.

I haven't updated for a while because I've been rather busy. RA training has been informative and quite a bit of fun. I think I'm really lucky. My staff is extremely nice, and the three RCs that work at Parkside are exceptional. I'm feeling a bit more confident about my duties... let's not even mention how cool move-in will be. Let's just say, if you're going to be living at PIRC, you'll have a fun time on move-in day. And we're getting soccer shirts! Yay!

I had a strange experience on Tuesday evening. I met Justin for dinner at this cute little restaurant called Bird's in the Hollywood Hills. This whole area reminded me of a small European city. The streets were narrow, parking was difficult, restaurants were plentiful, and al fresco dining was the norm. Naturally, it was a perfect Californian sunset, so we sat outside to eat our meal. After the waiter delivered our food (Mexican chicken wrap with side pasta salad for me, caesar chicken wrap with roasted potatoes for Justin), I noticed this amazing chateau-like structure across the street. It wasn't immediately apparent because the building was surrounded by an ominous looking black fence with a large woody hedge growing inbetween the metal posts. Both Justin and I were curious about this magical looking place, so we wandered around the building. As we passed a parking lot, this woman comes up to us and says, "Are you here for the conference? We have two events going on at once, so I wanted to help you find your way." We explain that we were just admiring the grounds, and she said, "Oh, do you want a tour?" Naturally, we both agreed. As we walked inside, she started explaining that this building was a Scientologist celebrity center. And that's when the whole thing started turning a bit... strange.

Our tour-guide, Athena, took us to this huge display on L. Ron Hubbard's insight into dianetics. She fervently advocated the use of dianetics in every day life, and tried to persuade us to take a couple of introductory courses on the basic principles of Scientology. Then she took us to this beautiful waiting room, where she introduced us to Lizzie, another recruitment official at the celebrity center. We were asked to sit down and read a few of the magazines on the table while Lizzie set up a film for the other Scientologist neophyte in the room. Justin and I were having a hard time containing our giggles, so we pretended to be overly interested in the pictures of celebrities in the magazines. Then we were asked to fill out an information form. So, I put down my name, and... that's about it. I used the excuse that I had just moved into my building to explain my lack of address. Which was true. Sorta. Conveniently, Justin also "moved" that day as well, so his form was also left blank. Lizzie seemed a bit perturbed by our reticence, but she still gave us a tour of the building.

Evidently, the "chateau" is really just a 1920's hotel made to impersonate a French country house. The Scientologists may be slightly creepy, but they certainly maintained the building well - it's actually a historical Los Angeles landmark. Lizzie started listing off some of the big stars that used to stay there, and I got the chills. She mentioned just about every big Hollywood name from the 30s and 40s. We toured the restaurant, L. Ron Hubbard's "office," a course room, the rooftop (which had an amazing view of downtown Los Angeles and Hollywood), and the gardens. The whole time, Lizzie kept on staring into my eyes, with this funny, slightly crazed look on her face. I had to stop looking at her in order to keep from breaking up into laughter - but honestly, I was just a bit freaked out. Finally, Justin and I insisted that we had a meeting we needed to attend, so we said goodbye to Athena and Lizzie and started to leave the premises. Just as I was about to burst into laughter and ridicule the whole experience, Justin whispered, "Shhh! She's following us." I looked over my shoulder, and sure enough, there's Athena about twenty paces behind us. We walked down the street as fast as we could, nearly ran to my car, got inside, and just exploded with giggles. Justin and I agreed, the whole thing was just beyond creepy, but... the building was cool. I don't know if I would recommend going back - even though I hear the Sunday brunch is quite excellent at the restaurant. But I don't think it's worth the hassle of trying to defend my own religious views.

Alright, I should take a shower now... a long day awaits me. But we're going to a Dodger game, which should be fun!