She fell in love in East L.A.
I have been unemployed for over two years now :D
While I have actively been looking for a job, and have had about 20 interviews to date, I can't say I've been anything close to desperate to go back to work. Collecting unemployment is an absolute blessing and I have been fortunate to qualify for it twice now in my life. Plus all the extra COVID bonus money and extensions this time around.
After losing my job I signed up for an online class at UCLA Extension. I liked it so much I decided to continue taking classes, mostly in-person, when I moved to LA. Though I put the classes on pause until we go back to in-person (if that ever happens...), I decided to read some of the required books from classes I would have taken.
Here is a list of the books I've read over the past two years. All non-fiction hehehe.
bold = personal favorite
italic = re-read
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... And Others Don't / Jim Collins
Dealmaking in the Film & Television Industry, 4th edition: From Negotiations to Final Contracts / Mark Litwak
The Big Picture: Money and Power in Hollywood / Edward Jay Epstein
The Big Picture: The Fight for the Future of Movies / Ben Fritz
I Might Regret This: Essays, Drawings, Vulnerabilities, and Other Stuff / Abbi Jacobson
Writing Movies for Fun and Profit: How We Made a Billion Dollars at the Box Office and You Can, Too! / Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant
Good in a Room: How to Sell Yourself (and Your Ideas) and Win Over Any Audience / Stephanie Palmer
Truth in Comedy: The Manual for Improvisation / Charna Halpern
TV Development Guide: How an Idea Becomes a TV Show / Stephanie Varella
The Science of Getting Rich / Wallace Wattles
The Connectors: How the World's Most Successful Businesspeople Build Relationships and Win Clients for Life / Maribeth Kuzmeski
Yes Please / Amy Poehler
7 Strategies for Wealth & Happiness: Power Ideas from America's Foremost Business Philosopher / Jim Rohn
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Crying: Lessons From a Life in Comedy / Carol Leifer
Hollywood Game Plan: How to Land a Job in Film, TV and Digital Entertainment / Carole M. Kirschner
A Martian Wouldn't Say that: Urgent Memos TV Excutives Wish They Hadn't Written" by Leonard B. Stern, Diane L. Robison, et al.
In the Blink of an Eye: A Perspective on Film Editing, 2nd Edition / Walter Murch
The Biz, 5th Edition / Schuyler M. Moore
The TV Showrunner's Roadmap: 21 Navigational Tips for Screenwriters to Create and Sustain a Hit TV Series / Neil Landau
Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo, and the Battle That Defined a Generation / Blake J. Harris
What Color Is Your Parachute? / Richard N. Bolles
Nickelodeon Nation: The History, Politics, and Economics of America's Only TV Channel for Kids / Heather Hendershot et al.
Resistance: A Songwriter's Story of Hope, Change, and Courage / Tori Amos
Beginner's Albanian with 2 Audio CDs / Anila Mayhew
Mindset: New Psychology of Success / Carol S. Dweck PhD
Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business / Neil Postman
Born Standing Up / Steve Martin
Anatomia di un cuore selvaggio / Asia Argento
Is This Anything? / Jerry Seinfeld
The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption, and Pee / Sarah Silverman
Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones / James Clear
Audiobook:
The Ultimate Jim Rohn Library / Jim Rohn
Currently reading "Custodians of the Internet: Platforms, Content Moderation, and the Hidden Decisions That Shape Social Media" by Tarleton Gillespie, and hope to one day finish "1984" by George Orwell (paused when a couple of library holds came through).
NOT listed are all the podcasts I listened to during the lockdown while walking laps around my apartment! Some of them were just for fun, but others were incredibly informative regarding the television industry and stand-up comedy.
And here are some of the more notable things I did during my unemployed time:
- Went to New Orleans with a friend to see Missy Elliot live at the Essence Festival, explored an abandoned theme park.
- Performed comedy for 30+ minutes to a lovely crowd in Canada at my friend's cozy venue before it shut down.
- Went to Just for Laughs in Montreal for what I suspect to be the last time, at least as a spectator.
- Worked as a production assistant on a film shot in Seattle (The Stairs).
- Went to NYC with a couple of friends and went on the NBC tour, discovered a new delicious smoothie that I was able to recreate and make on a regular basis.
- Performed at the All Jane Comedy Festival in Portland.
- Moved to LA, experienced my first (and second and third) earthquake.
- Was a guest on my first podcast.
- Visited friends and family in Spain.
- Did not see the northern lights in Finland (third attempt to date), but bought some cute Moomin stuff.
- Performed comedy in London.
- Took some good online and in-person Entertainment Studies classes at UCLA Extension.
- Did improv for a few months before the lockdown ended that.
- Researched a bunch of stocks and invested in about 50 of them (pre-pandemic, sigh).
- Opened for Maria Bamford and got to see her perform a really funny new hour in an intimate setting.
---
- Took meditation classes, have kept it up twice daily.
- Recorded a few more episodes of my "comedy dissection" video podcast.
- Bought what is now one of my most prized possessions - a writer's draft script from the "The Cafe" episode of Seinfeld.
- Found some platinum records on the sidewalk, cleaned them up and sold them on eBay profiting about $240. Kept one on my wall ;)
- Rented a car for a day and drove to the beach and ran a bunch of errands. This was a huge deal for me since I barely know how to drive and was terrified the entire time.
- Got "Aisha and Arijana" on Amazon Prime and IMDb.
- Took free online classes for Excel/Google Sheets, SQL and Tableau. Played with Power BI a little.
- Used free trials to Hello Fresh and Purple Carrot and learned some amazing go-to recipes that I've kept making (Black Bean & Poblano Soup, Hot Honey Brussels Sprouts & Lemon Ricotta Flatbread, Italian Garden Veggie Soup, Crispy Carrot Dumplings).
- Went hiking at nearby Mt. Yamashiro and Griffith Park a few times, visited the Batman cave.
- Went to Miami with a new friend, performed stand up when LA was still largely shut down, took a day trip to Key West.
- Visited friends in Denver a couple of times, went to a gun range and went jet skiing.
- Visited friends and family in Houston.
- Painted old food jar lids black to reuse glass containers without it looking ghetto.
- Made a concerted effort to reduce my plastic consumption. Have been using the bulk bins at Sprouts and the Santa Monica Co-Op for a lot of foods, and switched to Dropps dishwasher tablets.
---
- Planted Swiss chard on my balcony in an old baby spinach container.
- Performed stand-up in some unique outdoor settings in LA, such as on the beach and in an old zoo.
- Caught and recovered from COVID-19 (still can't smell 100%).
- Started feeding neighborhood alley cats :)
- Started cleaning up trash on my street (I carry a rubber glove and plastic grocery bag in my backpack now).
- Visited friends and family in Seattle.
- Obtained my second degree black belt in karate (training before, during, and after the lockdown).
And like my last time unemployed, I continue making an effort to conserve my foreign languages and learn a new one.
While I have actively been looking for a job, and have had about 20 interviews to date, I can't say I've been anything close to desperate to go back to work. Collecting unemployment is an absolute blessing and I have been fortunate to qualify for it twice now in my life. Plus all the extra COVID bonus money and extensions this time around.
After losing my job I signed up for an online class at UCLA Extension. I liked it so much I decided to continue taking classes, mostly in-person, when I moved to LA. Though I put the classes on pause until we go back to in-person (if that ever happens...), I decided to read some of the required books from classes I would have taken.
Here is a list of the books I've read over the past two years. All non-fiction hehehe.
bold = personal favorite
italic = re-read
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... And Others Don't / Jim Collins
Dealmaking in the Film & Television Industry, 4th edition: From Negotiations to Final Contracts / Mark Litwak
The Big Picture: Money and Power in Hollywood / Edward Jay Epstein
The Big Picture: The Fight for the Future of Movies / Ben Fritz
I Might Regret This: Essays, Drawings, Vulnerabilities, and Other Stuff / Abbi Jacobson
Writing Movies for Fun and Profit: How We Made a Billion Dollars at the Box Office and You Can, Too! / Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant
Good in a Room: How to Sell Yourself (and Your Ideas) and Win Over Any Audience / Stephanie Palmer
Truth in Comedy: The Manual for Improvisation / Charna Halpern
TV Development Guide: How an Idea Becomes a TV Show / Stephanie Varella
The Science of Getting Rich / Wallace Wattles
The Connectors: How the World's Most Successful Businesspeople Build Relationships and Win Clients for Life / Maribeth Kuzmeski
Yes Please / Amy Poehler
7 Strategies for Wealth & Happiness: Power Ideas from America's Foremost Business Philosopher / Jim Rohn
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Crying: Lessons From a Life in Comedy / Carol Leifer
Hollywood Game Plan: How to Land a Job in Film, TV and Digital Entertainment / Carole M. Kirschner
A Martian Wouldn't Say that: Urgent Memos TV Excutives Wish They Hadn't Written" by Leonard B. Stern, Diane L. Robison, et al.
In the Blink of an Eye: A Perspective on Film Editing, 2nd Edition / Walter Murch
The Biz, 5th Edition / Schuyler M. Moore
The TV Showrunner's Roadmap: 21 Navigational Tips for Screenwriters to Create and Sustain a Hit TV Series / Neil Landau
Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo, and the Battle That Defined a Generation / Blake J. Harris
What Color Is Your Parachute? / Richard N. Bolles
Nickelodeon Nation: The History, Politics, and Economics of America's Only TV Channel for Kids / Heather Hendershot et al.
Resistance: A Songwriter's Story of Hope, Change, and Courage / Tori Amos
Beginner's Albanian with 2 Audio CDs / Anila Mayhew
Mindset: New Psychology of Success / Carol S. Dweck PhD
Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business / Neil Postman
Born Standing Up / Steve Martin
Anatomia di un cuore selvaggio / Asia Argento
Is This Anything? / Jerry Seinfeld
The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption, and Pee / Sarah Silverman
Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones / James Clear
Audiobook:
The Ultimate Jim Rohn Library / Jim Rohn
Currently reading "Custodians of the Internet: Platforms, Content Moderation, and the Hidden Decisions That Shape Social Media" by Tarleton Gillespie, and hope to one day finish "1984" by George Orwell (paused when a couple of library holds came through).
NOT listed are all the podcasts I listened to during the lockdown while walking laps around my apartment! Some of them were just for fun, but others were incredibly informative regarding the television industry and stand-up comedy.
And here are some of the more notable things I did during my unemployed time:
- Went to New Orleans with a friend to see Missy Elliot live at the Essence Festival, explored an abandoned theme park.
- Performed comedy for 30+ minutes to a lovely crowd in Canada at my friend's cozy venue before it shut down.
- Went to Just for Laughs in Montreal for what I suspect to be the last time, at least as a spectator.
- Worked as a production assistant on a film shot in Seattle (The Stairs).
- Went to NYC with a couple of friends and went on the NBC tour, discovered a new delicious smoothie that I was able to recreate and make on a regular basis.
- Performed at the All Jane Comedy Festival in Portland.
- Moved to LA, experienced my first (and second and third) earthquake.
- Was a guest on my first podcast.
- Visited friends and family in Spain.
- Did not see the northern lights in Finland (third attempt to date), but bought some cute Moomin stuff.
- Performed comedy in London.
- Took some good online and in-person Entertainment Studies classes at UCLA Extension.
- Did improv for a few months before the lockdown ended that.
- Researched a bunch of stocks and invested in about 50 of them (pre-pandemic, sigh).
- Opened for Maria Bamford and got to see her perform a really funny new hour in an intimate setting.
---
- Took meditation classes, have kept it up twice daily.
- Recorded a few more episodes of my "comedy dissection" video podcast.
- Bought what is now one of my most prized possessions - a writer's draft script from the "The Cafe" episode of Seinfeld.
- Found some platinum records on the sidewalk, cleaned them up and sold them on eBay profiting about $240. Kept one on my wall ;)
- Rented a car for a day and drove to the beach and ran a bunch of errands. This was a huge deal for me since I barely know how to drive and was terrified the entire time.
- Got "Aisha and Arijana" on Amazon Prime and IMDb.
- Took free online classes for Excel/Google Sheets, SQL and Tableau. Played with Power BI a little.
- Used free trials to Hello Fresh and Purple Carrot and learned some amazing go-to recipes that I've kept making (Black Bean & Poblano Soup, Hot Honey Brussels Sprouts & Lemon Ricotta Flatbread, Italian Garden Veggie Soup, Crispy Carrot Dumplings).
- Went hiking at nearby Mt. Yamashiro and Griffith Park a few times, visited the Batman cave.
- Went to Miami with a new friend, performed stand up when LA was still largely shut down, took a day trip to Key West.
- Visited friends in Denver a couple of times, went to a gun range and went jet skiing.
- Visited friends and family in Houston.
- Painted old food jar lids black to reuse glass containers without it looking ghetto.
- Made a concerted effort to reduce my plastic consumption. Have been using the bulk bins at Sprouts and the Santa Monica Co-Op for a lot of foods, and switched to Dropps dishwasher tablets.
---
- Planted Swiss chard on my balcony in an old baby spinach container.
- Performed stand-up in some unique outdoor settings in LA, such as on the beach and in an old zoo.
- Caught and recovered from COVID-19 (still can't smell 100%).
- Started feeding neighborhood alley cats :)
- Started cleaning up trash on my street (I carry a rubber glove and plastic grocery bag in my backpack now).
- Visited friends and family in Seattle.
- Obtained my second degree black belt in karate (training before, during, and after the lockdown).
And like my last time unemployed, I continue making an effort to conserve my foreign languages and learn a new one.