Excited to move to Los Angeles (Lakewood: renting, moving to, celebrity)

[POhdNcrzy]

Katenik,

OHG, I am so sorry. You are right.

OptimisticStudent is indeed CourtneyW.

BTW, everybody, CourtneyW aka OptimisticStudent is a MALE.

Apparently the Amazing Wallet Draining Effect of LA has claimed its latest victim.

[Texasturkey]

Originally Posted by POhdNcrzy

Oh P.S.,

TexasTurkey, nice CD handle. Too bad it's already taken, we already have one of those in the White House (Uhbb bluh bluh, gobble gobble, git the tarrarists, bring it on, uhb uhhh uh, gobble gobble).

???????

[Texasturkey]

Originally Posted by POhdNcrzy

Katenik,

OHG, I am so sorry. You are right.

OptimisticStudent is indeed CourtneyW.

BTW, everybody, CourtneyW aka OptimisticStudent is a MALE.

Apparently the Amazing Wallet Draining Effect of LA has claimed its latest
victim.

We knew he was a male from his first posting on the thread he started. He told his Mother that her boy was leaving Alabama to go off to LA to capture his dreams of stardom.

So, is he a nursing student or is he homeless? Is he both?
What happened?

[timelesschild]

Well, he was advised to QUICK get a job and do what he could to stay in school. I would imagine that he's doing that, instead of hanging out on an internet forum. Just a guess....

[Texasturkey]

Originally Posted by timelesschild

Well, he was advised to QUICK get a job and do what he could to stay in school. I would imagine that he's doing that, instead of hanging out on an internet forum. Just a guess....

I am asking because some sources said he was homeless or about to be. Another source said he was attending school at SM City College. Either he has no access to a computer or he is using a computer for his school assignments. We thought he might give us a heads up so we will know he is OK.

[timelesschild]

Yeah, that would be nice. He seemed like a nice young man.

[Poncho_NM]

Originally Posted by JadedStone

How sad your excitement will quickly turn to anxiety over how different California is from the "country". I would say it's not even worth coming here because there is nothing here worth coming too. You'll probably will run, screaming, back to Alabama. Courtney there isn't anything you can't do in Alabama that you want to do here. The pollution, clogged traffic and "terminator" robotic mentally of the people here isn't worth losing yourself over. I'm from the midwest and been here almost 2 years now but it hasn't been easy. We, people from the midwest and south, are used to hospitality and friendliness well don't expect it here. People do not use their manners and walk by each other as if they are ghosts. If the "beaches" are you're attraction it isn't anything but water filled with decay and gunk from the pollution and hazardous dumping of SoCal people who drive around flicking cigarettes out of their windows like the air is an open trash can and they just throw their trash anywhere. Darling don't come here it just isn't worth it. If you really want to expand your horizons go do some international traveling better yet go to a College overseas somewhere. You don't want to come here and end up in the Valley doing BDSM videos to pay your bills.

Wow!

Doing BDSM videos to pay bills? JadedStone, do you really know people who do that?

I've been to Alabama and I have been to California. For me, each had a good and a bad aspect.

I wonder how someone goes about going to College overseas. Is that what you did JadedStone?



Rich

[CourtneyW]

OMG Wow hey everyone! I guess i should give you guys an update lol. I guess i was too busy or stressed out when you all replied that i didn't see the email notifications in my inbox. But anywho...so let's see a quick recap of my move to LA.


I came to LA with the hopes and dreams just like every other person does. I lived with a guy i met on CouchSurfing.com for about two weeks in Venice Beach..it was a lot of fun but i didn't really come to LA with a solid plan. I just figured i could "couch surf" around while also having a job and could save up...haha...funny! Anywho..they didn't work out but LUCKILY my best friend from Alabama had been living in LA for almost 6 months by that point and her aunt and uncle allowed me to stay there until I figured out something. So i started staying there around June 10th. They lived on Del Amo Blvd in Lakewood. My friend and her mom went back to Alabama to visit family and stuff but i decided to stay in LA. While they were gone, the aunt and my friend's mom had a falling out and told them they basically had to pick up their stuff and find their own place when they get back. It was really bad! Meanwhile i was COMPLETELY stressed out! I had been sleeping on the floor..the money i had was completely gone. I eventually went and got food stamps. I could not find a job ANYWHERE. School was being sooo difficult. I had to get some much information from home to get my financial aid process started..and then i went to that Fall Out Boy concert for the Pinkapalooza thing they did at the Santa Monica Pier, and some guy STOLE my bag that had all my papers in it...it was so frustrating!!! So then i had to get the papers faxed to me AGAIN. Then it turns out the financial aid they were going to give me was not enough for tuition AND books. And I was just DISTRAUGHT. And then my friend's Aunt had really been getting on my nerves lately. And I was trying to find another place I could go to. That's when i made that post about how i was going to be homeless soon because she kept saying stuff about when her husband got back I would have to find somewhere else to live. Which was totally understandable..i mean first of all they didn't know me at all and they let me stay there..FOR FREE. So I was really grateful for that and really had over stayed my welcome. So I started looking up homeless shelters for teens and stuff like that and tried to find a program i could get into and stuff and It was REALLY REALLY REAALLLLLY a VERY stressful and frustrating time for me. Eventually I got sick..I don't know what I had but it was the worse sickness I had ever had in my entire life! I could swallow anything..i was weak...i had a fever...i was so tired..yet i couldn't sleep more than 2 hours a night. It was absolutely horrible. I went to the ER...he told me I had a REALLY bad case of Strep Throat...and then i remember sitting on the sidewalk against the medical building waiting for my friend to come pick me up. Flashbacks started in my head..from the time i first got to LA and up to that point. It had been a great start..but i just couldn't do it anymore. I took that strept throat I got as a sign that it was the last straw and that I needed to go home. So i called my mom and got a flight back home 2 days later...all those times I had taken by bed for granted, I had been so happy to lay it in again. To smell MY house and MY room..to have MY stuff. It was GREAT!



So I've been home since August 25th i believe. I just started school here on Wednesday. I'm still DYING to come back to LA maybe this summer or fall, but this time I want to be MUCH smarter about the move. I am so glad i went to LA last summer and wouldn't take back one single minute of it because it taught me ALOT about life and growing up...it was like I graduated high school and 2 weeks later i jumped into the world of adulthood and it was TOUGH as nails! But you learn from experiences and it was DEFINITELY an experience lol! Some people may be wondering why I want to go back to LA. Even though i just mostly told you guys about the bad parts of my summer in LA..there were alot of good things as well. I made some really good friendships with people there, I loved the city, i loved MOST of the people, the food was "OK" lol...(nothing will ever beat my mama's southern cooking I loved the diversity of the city, the different cultures meshing together, seeing people walk and bike on the streets and sidewalks (believe it or not..people don't walk/bike on the streets in my hometown..everyone has a car and if you're walking people assume you're homeless..no joke lol!), the sounds of the city at night, getting to be an extra on the set of Entourage and Heroes!!!, THE WEATHER, the beaches in my opinion SUCK lol...I'm use to the warm beaches of Alabama's gulf coast...LA beaches ARE FREEEEZING lol. So while I can see some of the points that people who don't like LA see...i also see the great parts that i'm dying to get back to! I still love LA! So if anyone is reading this who was in my situation before and is just dying to come to LA, DO IT! But be warned..it's definitley NOTHING like you see on "The Hills" lol..there's a reason they have a show...they make LA seem more than what it is. Oh god and now i here they gave one of the girls a show in New York City....i bet their population will start to rise a little bit now too lol.

But please try to learn from my mistake and come with a SOLID plan. Make sure you know where you're going to be living, preferably have a job already lined up, preferably have a car because the people on this forum were NOT kidding about the transit system here..i used it almost everyday and it took FOREVER to get where i needed to go, have a good stack of cash on hand as well for emergencies! And that's pretty much all you'll need..don't forget to bring your spirit and energy with you and you will do JUST fine! I want to say thanks to everyone who was thinking about me last year! It was definitely a summer to remember, a summer i'll be telling my kids about one day when one of them undoubtedly will inherit my "everything will be ok, i don't need a plan" mentality and decides to run off to New York or Europe after they graduate high school lol. Hope everyone had a good NEW YEAR'S!!! And please please please do not listen to the Naysayers! Experience LA for YOURSELF and then decide.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by CourtneyW

a quick recap of my move to LA.

i was COMPLETELY stressed out!

I'm still DYING to come back to LA

I eventually went and got food stamps.

I'm still DYING to come back to LA

I could not find a job ANYWHERE.

I'm still DYING to come back to LA

School was being sooo difficult.

I'm still DYING to come back to LA

it was so frustrating!!!

I'm still DYING to come back to LA

I was just DISTRAUGHT.

I'm still DYING to come back to LA

I started looking up homeless shelters

I'm still DYING to come back to LA

It was REALLY REALLY REAALLLLLY a VERY stressful

I'm still DYING to come back to LA

it was the worse sickness I had ever had in my entire life!

I'm still DYING to come back to LA

i just couldn't do it anymore.

I'm still DYING to come back to LA

I needed to go home.

I'm still DYING to come back to LA

To smell MY house and MY room...It was GREAT!

I'm still DYING to come back to LA

it's definitley NOTHING like you see on "The Hills"

I'm still DYING to come back to LA

there's a reason they have a show...they make LA seem more than what it is.

I'm still DYING to come back to LA

it took FOREVER to get where i needed to go,

I'm still DYING to come back to LA

please do not listen to the Naysayers

What will you do different next time?

[CourtneyW]

What will I do next time? Basically what i told other people to do. Definitely already have a place to stay before i get out there...try my hardest to have a job already lined up, the new job i have now will definitely open up more doors and job opportunities than just my cashiering experience i had last time i went out there...have a car, and have a good stack of savings when I get out there. I don't plan on coming back out there until I have at least $8,000 in savings. And that's it. Those were the key things I didn't have last time that prevented me from being able to successfully live out there. School won't be an issue this time because my mom hasn't worked since December 2007 due to surgeries and complications from the surgeries..so this time when i do my financial aid..i will be able to use her 2008 taxes..so there's no way i wouldn't get enough money this time. So it's all good! I'm excited! I think everything happens for a reason and I don't think I would be as mature as I am now, if i hadn't went out to LA and experience all the things I did.