New Attitude, Sopranos (spoilers)

In keeping with my plan to be more positive about this wack ass city, I actually went out this weekend. Usually I spend Friday and Saturday nights reading scripts, watching movies or talking on phone with my friends about how much we hate Los Angeles. This is not good.

I'm sure my friends back east are tired of me complaining, I'm tired of complaining. The "industry" is based here so until I can produce films elsewhere or inherit a bunch of money, I am going to make the best of it. I got a new attitude...well, at least for this week.

Friday went to the Belmont for happy hour with one of my friends. Saturday night drove downtown (in the rain!!) to see my friend's new apartment. She bought the loft months ago and finally moved in. It's stunning. I felt like I was in Williamsburg or Soho, before the chain stores showed up.

I need to spend more time downtown at night. It's a totally different crowd then the Koi/Hollywood type scene. Sometimes I go to the flower mart on Saturday mornings and I have been to MOCA (kept comparing it to MOMA  which is not fair) but other than jury duty that's about it.

There are a ton of loft conversions going on but very few services, like grocery stores, dry cleaners etc. It's starting to change with new restaurants, galleries, and stores. We drove to a great Japanese place, then pick up another friend and went to a very fun bar. I noticed while we were driving, we would drive past some amazing buiding. Then around the corner was skid row/tent city. There is a major homeless problem downtown. I have never seen anything like it and after college I lived in some pretty sketchy neighborhoods in DC. The non-profit I volunteer for works with the Downtown Women's Center. Most of the women have children and are fleeing abusive relationships. The stories are just heartbreaking.

Sopranos (spoiler alert!)
Last night I choked up when Carm was talking to Tony. I remember when she told Tony (I think it might have been the first episode), he was going to hell while he was getting a MRI. Six years later she still felt guilty and apologized. Not sure what is going to happen to Tony. I think he will live but clearly there is going to be a power struggle. It won't be pretty.