Bright and early Sunday, I drove out to Rancho Mirage (near Palm Springs) and spent the 4th and 5th at a resort; relaxing at the pool and disconnecting from city life.

Now I’m back in LA and looking forward to the next adventure.

This is a new level of hectic I never experienced in Missouri, but it’s hectic because I’m doing exactly what I moved here to do.

I’m extremely confident that I can be the World’s #1 Gopher (gopher as in “go for” coffee) and there are several awesome and unique skills I can bring to the set, such as:

• Being able to bench press over 150 pounds (hey, that’s a lot for a girl)
• Knowing how to work with all sorts of crazy, unique and strong personalities through my work in public relations
• Making the best cup of green tea known to man
• Having the ability to safely haul mail across 6 lanes of traffic in Manhattan as a CBS intern
• Having the best collection of Asics Onitsuka Tiger shoes in the world in which to run (no girlie heels for me, my boots were made for running)

So, I’m looking to my friends, family and web contacts for leads; if anyone can help point me in the right direction to find that first production assistant job (and inevitably land the title of “World’s #1 Gopher”), please drop me a line. My resume can be found here.

• Will the apartment unit be professionally cleaned before I move in or will there at least be an effort made to leave the unit in clean condition?
• Will I have easy access to necessary services such as mail and laundry or will I be required to make a heavy effort to check and do said activities?
• (If you’re renting the apartment furnished) Is all of the furniture in excellent working condition without any insect or fungal infections? Or will the bed be not unlike a hammock that sags along with springs so broken, they go stab in the night, or infestations that cause pox-like scabs on the ankles.
• As it’d suck if the first morning you move in, you open the fridge only to have all of the shelves along the door fall out and wine, barbeque sauce and pickle relish spill out all over the floor and then you’re not able to use the dishwasher to clean up, do all of the appliances within the unit work properly?
• Along that same line of thinking, has the apartment (including the unit’s furniture, appliances, carpet or other spaces) ever had any insect or rodent infestations that you’re aware of?
• As I’ve learned growing up in a family of Realtors, sellers must disclose any instances of crime/fire/etc. that happen after a buyer submits a contract. I think it should be the same for people who are leasing or subletting apartments. That said, I think it’s important to ask if there have been any safety issues in the building or have there been instances of crimes such as armed robberies?

Also, I’d suggest requesting to be notified if any status changes to the sublet (or building crimes, fires, infestations or other big events) occur before move-in.

If I can help even one person avoid the situation I was in, I’ll feel as though my time in my first Los Angeles apartment was not for naught.

Taking in the Getty Center, originally uploaded by James Neeley.

The Getty Center in Bel Air is the place I feel most zen in this new city of mine. Whether it’s reading, writing, networking or sleeping, I can spend hours upon hours on the grounds of the white stone paradise, listing to the fountains, without wanting to be anywhere else in the world. I recently spent the afternoon there with an old high school friend and prepared for a big interview I have coming up on Tuesday. With free wifi and a AAA discount on food and beverages, it’s a shame they don’t have apartments, because I’d live there in a heartbeat!

If you’ve been to LA, what’s your favorite place?

To eat nachos with at a Mexican shack on the side of the road at 1 a.m. (seriously, St. Louis could learn a thing or two about good Mexican and Tex Mex food).

Not to mention, to grab dinner with, to go to the beach with, to explore museums with, to spend holidays with, to sit by the pool with and to do homework with. I arrived in Los Angeles 40 days ago only knowing casually 2 people (hello Cranbrook Schools friends Elliot D. and Chelsea), and now I know people who share similar interests, enjoy spending time with me and have interesting backstories (you can tell I want to work in TV with that observation). Not too shabby!

25 days ago, I advised my roommates that I’d be breaking my sublease (I gave 30 days notice, so I’ll be moving out in 5 days). I broke my sublease because I felt like I was not given a habitable place to live with a broken bed, furniture that had notes not to sit on it because of bugs, food cabinets that I was to use filled with rotting onion peels, and after a few days, bug bites that mysteriously started appearing on my ankles in the morning (and they still haven’t healed – perhaps a trip to a dermatologist is in order). 10 days into living in Los Angeles, I felt like I had been misled, I was tired (I was sleeping on a broken bed that was more like a hammock that had springs that’d stab me as I tried to sleep) and I was grossed out. I had to take matters in my own hands and made the decision that moving out was the only option.

The hard thing is that the roommates seriously nice, smart college girls who I, in theory, have put in a tough place because there’s nobody there to pay my portion of the rent. Since they live in the apartment, they don’t feel that it is uninhabitable and so it’s really a struggle between what I think is right and what they think is right.

I thought that I was doing a nice thing by giving them a month’s notice of moving out so they could find a replacement, giving some extra utility money to help them make ends meet, etc. Despite that, they were not overly friendly to me once I told them that I’d be moving out (I can’t say I’d have acted any different if I were in their shoes – being left with 25% of the rent unpaid is a daunting proposition and would probably cause me to be rude to the person putting me in that situation). But, I felt like I was living in a Cold War every time I was in the apartment. I’ve realized how hard it is to stay positive when I dread coming home every night – perhaps this is what divorcing couples feel like.

If I could do it again, I’d know to ask different questions before moving in: have there been any bug problems? Is all of the furniture in working order (since I’m paying for a furnished space)? How clean do the roommates like to keep the apartment? Live and learn, I suppose. These were not questions I knew to ask in advance – especially since I have always had such positive housing setups before this.

Despite the stresses of the living situation, I still have a completely optimistic look at my Los Angeles relocation. In fact, in a blog post before moving to the West Coast, I asked:

“If anyone in Los Angeles has a somewhat-reasonably-priced extra bedroom or a pool house they’re looking to rent (preferably furnished and even more preferably near the beach … hey, growing up in Missouri, Michigan and Ohio, I think I’m allowed to dream of living near the beach at some point).”

Well … I found that place! Next Friday (30 days exactly from when I gave my notice to my current sublet), I’m moving to Santa Monica where I’ll live close enough to the beach to hear the waves at night. A far cry from my suburban St. Louis house, wouldn’t you say?

Being in the right place at the right time seems to lead to the best opportunities, so I decided to register to be a background actor so that I can learn about life on set. As someone who doesn’t have an acting bone in her body (in 7th grade, I was in a production of Peter Pan, playing an Indian, and I tripped over a giant mushroom during my one scene on stage), it should be an interesting experience, but also an experience I hope will lead to great opportunities behind the scenes.

After waiting (along with about 100 other people just like me), I was able to register and have my picture taken (they didn’t show me how the picture looked, eeks) and then I was approved to begin working. Basically, the day before I want to work, I call a number and listen to a recording that describes the projects for which they need extras the next day. If I sound like a fit, I call a different number and hopefully book it. Then I just need to meet the right person on set who has a TV producer friend who needs a kick-ass assistant, and then my career path starts. (Wishful thinking? Maybe…)

What do I have to lose? Nothing, not even my dignity (I wrote “no” on the registration form when it asked if I am willing to do nude work).