The DreamWorks Kid

After a couple extra days in Angwin thanks to a spot of car trouble, I've arrived and settled into my room in La Canada, California. It's a mere nine miles to the studio from here, but I'm told the commute in can turn into a 30-45 minute drive.

LA driving deserves a blog post of its own. While I'm fortunate enough to have the luxury of a Taco Bell and supermarket within walking distance (there's also a Pier 1 Imports, for all my overpriced houseware needs), anything requiring me behind the wheel is straight up soil-you-pants terrifying. The aggressiveness and anger with which people here drive is reminiscent of the chariots in Ben-Hur. As many people know, I take great pride in my timid, Oregon-style driving methods. So far it's saved me from the horror of wrecks and tickets, but I'm beginning to realize that if I fail to adapt down here, I might be in for even more trouble.

However, the fear of not finding my way on my first day on the job and getting lost in the sprawling maze that is SoCal drove me to face off with my fear of LA highways and make a practice run to the studio I'll be racing to over the next few months. The drive really isn't that bad, but I can only imagine what it'll be like during rush hour time.

I did have the opportunity, once I found my way to the studio gates, to glimpse the exterior of the place. I'm not going to lie - it looks freaking amazing. I'm looking forward to actually getting to enter and see everything in its full glory. I briefly thought about driving up to the gate and asking if I could look around a bit early, but the enormous black man working the security booth didn't look like someone to approach unless you actually had business to conduct. Thanks god I'm a patient man.

It's now the pins and needles I've been sitting on all throughout the past week begin to intensify. I can't believe I'm reporting in for work at DreamWorks! It's just so surreal. The only thing that's been able to detract from the excitement (besides the obvious fact that my heart remains up north with a certain young woman), is the growing, overwhelming fear that I'm going to screw up such an amazing opportunity. Hopefully that melts away tomorrow.

One can only hope.