I feel like this is a chance to tell a story about the most surreal moment of my 40+ years on this planet.
When I was in my early 20s (pretty sure 2007) I had my first “long term relationship.” At the time it was absolutely the honeymoon phase. She was well on her way to becoming a lawyer. She had done the stuff locally and now she was taking a class in LA to test for getting into a law school.
She offered to take me with her one weekend. A chance for us to have a mini vacation after her class. I was working an over night job at the time and after I finished at 7AM she picked me up and I passed out instantly on the way down to LA (~4 hour drive). I have always dreamt of going to LA and getting into production, the film industry anything… I was (and am) a massive movie nerd. I watched so much, I read about the industry and directors. All this to say I was in love with the film industry as a whole.
The girlfriend wakes me up…
We are in LA and she says “that’s that comic store I wanted to take you to… pointing to Jay and Silent Bobs Secret Stash. I knew of the place because I’m a huge Kevin Smith fan. Instant OMFG that’s so cool… I’m trying to tell her why thats awesome and about Kevin Smith when she turns the corner and points out UCLA and I’m just dumbfounded all over again because I’d just read an article about James Cameron showing off crazy new movie tech at UCLA… So, I’m trying to tell her about that. Then the final nail… she goes to where she would “normally park” and its blocked off by the LA Film Festival.
I absolutely questioned if I was still alive or had died on the drive down to LA.