Wandering Aimlessly

There's this semi-decrepit building on Riverside Drive I pass on my way to and from work every day. Oftentimes at night, they're shining bright lights at it. It sort of looked like some kind of... rehabilitation center, maybe, or a nursing home that they were trying to refurbish. The first time I saw the lights, I thought maybe they were filming a commercial or doing a photo shoot there, but I never saw anyone outside, ever. So then I thought maybe they had repainted it and the lights were helping the paint dry. Or something. I don't know! I really thought it was an old building being fixed up to house some kind of medical care facility.

I've been watching a lot of "Scrubs" lately. It's such a great show. And I know I've been brainwashed by it because yesterday, when I went to visit a friend in the hospital after her appendix burst, I kept thinking to myself how much it looked like Sacred Heart. But that's beside the point, really. Today I finished watching Season One and started in on the extra features. The first thing they show in the mini documentary is a building that looks very much like that one I drive by. The very one I've wondered about countless times over the last few months on my way home from work. Then someone on the documentary says something about how they film in an actual old hospital that was shut down seven years ago, previously the North Hollywood Hospital.

After a year and a half, I still must not be in that Hollywood mentality of everything is a potential film set.

Yes, that run down building on Riverside Drive was North Hollywood Hospital. The lights I see while I drive home from work? That's because they're filming "Scrubs" in there. They must film the outside shots on the backside of the building, because nothing ever made me think Hey! That building looks familiar! But now that I know what it is, I can definitely tell.

How cool is that?

Posted by kate at 08:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Happy: Getting two precious little kittens!
Happiness Squashed: Angry apartment manager at the fact we'd gotten them prior to signing the pet agreement (despite the fact they were gifts and we went over immediately to sign, and despite the fact we'd offered repeatedly to sign at the beginning and were told not to do so until we were ready to get our cat).
Happy: Getting word that the pet agreement was ready to be signed!
Happiness Squashed: Furious apartment manager finding out we had two instead of one (even though she herself had said two would be no different than one).
Happy: Writing a well-thought-out letter with our point of view and apologies; having it take over a week before getting any word, which gave us lots of hope!
Happiness Squashed: Receiving a fax stating we absolutely had to get rid of one precious little kitten.
Happy: Writing a second well-thought-out letter with the full story, and then receiving a voice mail saying the situation was being reconsidered. Hope! Hope!
Happiness SquashedStomped Upon: Three hours later, upon receiving a phone call saying nevermind, absolutely not, get rid of the second kitten.
Happy (Sort Of): Writing a third well-thought-out letter pleading our case, and also stating that moving out was a better option for us if that's the way we would have to go; not sending third well-thought-out letter because...
Extreme Happiness: Getting a phone call, followed by a revised pet agreement, stating that we are able to keep both kittens!!

One hell of an emotional roller coaster. We are now the proud owners of a book on California tenant rights, with which we were researching the process of eviction, should it have come to that. Good grief! I mean, Gen and I are the girls who bring our recycling to the recycling center because there is no neighborhood pick-up here. We are not the girls who ever in our lives thought we may possibly be facing eviction! Over a kitten!

I'm really, really glad it didn't have to come to that. I don't want to be those tenants. I want to live peacefully and quietly and drama-free. We have our cats--both of them--and we're very happy.

Posted by kate at 11:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)