Can I have your attention please?

Just in case you missed the not-so-formal announcement, or care for that matter, I moved to LA.

In two short months, I naturally refer to main thoroughfares as THE 101, THE 5, etc., mentally roll my eyes when someone advises me that they’re “in the industry”, am slowly coming to grips with the fact that no one shows up when they say they’re going to and know that people who live in the Valley are “over the hill.”

I FREAKIN’ love this city.

A lifetime could be spent in this town, let alone this state, and one could never fully experience everything it has to offer. But I’m not finally writing a blog post after an eight-month hiatus to inundate you with my favorite places to dine,drink, hike and dance; I just need to have a cathartic moment to give the people who live here a shout-out.

Opinions + Judgement = Fail

Many friends and strangers advised me that LA is, “cold, calculating, superficial and lonely”, among other negative adjectives and diatribes. My response; show me a city that doesn’t have any of these attributes.

I’ve met some fake people, sure. However, they do not define my experience when meeting people in LA in the least bit…. A happenstance run-in with a local has led to my being introduce to the sounds of very talented house music DJs and to a very nice tight-knit Armenian family and their friends. PS There is a huge community of Armenians here in LA. Read up on the culture and the country’s history, PEOPLE and stop giving them a bad rap…Well, most of them!

From striking up a random conversation with someone at the bar only to find out they’re an agent to one of my best friend’s brothers and forcing friendship onto the Abb-ster and the talented songstress, Poeina, to attending a small intimate screening of a small independent flick in a new friend’s home in the hills – people have been welcoming.

My Long Story + Its Moral 

Every experience, whether it’s meeting new people in a new town or having a mini-momentary-heartbreak, is affected directly by how one approaches it and what they make of it. So, I’m grabbing the proverbial bull by the horns and if I fall off the ride/bike, I am going to dust the knees off and hop back on, as I continue on this new adventure of making LA my home… Ideally, forever.

And while I’ve no aspirations of being an “industry” star, I’m going to shine like one anyway.

*D. Washington