Thaaaanks Monmooouuuuth.

Monmouth pulled through!!!

Talk about a huge sigh of relief. I don't think it's really set in yet.

The plan is, to take the planned load of classes, minus Citizenship (the class that was in question), and find a comparable course to take out here, and transfer that in. I'll be graduating in May. Hell yes.

I have a feeling that, since Citizenship is such a unique (read: weird) class, that finding one that Monmouth finds “comparable” is going to be a whole new battle to fight, but I've made it this far, right?

It's such a weight off of my shoulders, but what's even nicer to know, is that my Mom is done worrying about it. I was more worried about her than I was Monmouth.

So I'm reading The Time Traveler's Wife and seeing Fame tonight. I'm the gayest.

But I'm also listening to this song on repeat:



I didn't expect to be a head case for this long, apologies.

I'm not homesick, didn't expect to be. But I have a feeling there's going to be a few weeks in the fall where this is going to be a little difficult. I really love fall in the midwest, especially at Monmouth. Just the whole season, and everything brings, new friends, warm clothes, the familiarity that is found in seeing old things come around again with another year under your belt. Halloween, Homecoming, just all of that stuff. But shit, look at what I'm doing, you know? More than a fair trade I would say. I think it really just comes down to missing my friends, there may be a little guilt somewhere in there to. It's just that I left some really good stuff behind. I talk about emotions as if I actually feel them, HA. Goo...

WHAT AM I GOING TO BE FOR HALLOWEEN?!?!?!? Not to be conceited, but my costumes have always been killer, especially these last two years, how can I top them? I keep thinking Max from Where The Wild Things Are, but who knows. I mean let's be honest, I'm just gonna be shitfaced in some gay bar in West Hollywood so it's really not a life or death situation. But still, I have to do it big.


Doable. But...safe? Hmm...we'll see. Maybe I can work some spandex or nipple into it.

So.

Maybe this was the wrong point in my life to start a blog.

Andrea Gibson - Jellyfish

"Teach me how the candle wax says thank you to the flame."

Sunday.

Yes. This whole album is scary good.



Yes. GLEE. I hope you're all watching it.



Yes. A Harry Potter musical written and performed by college students. Obvious obsession.

Saturday

Brant: "I think that's what's referred to as a wake up call."
Tynan: "I prefer to think of it as raising the bar."

The VMAs.

Oh! I guess I should write about The VMAs. DUH.

Ok let me preface this by saying just how excited I was to be a part of it. It's the biggest award show of the year, point blank. Yea, there are the Grammy Awards and the Emmy Awards and all of that, but none of them bring the excitement like The Video Music Awards. It has always been a can't-miss event of the fall, and this year was no different. I'll do my best to relay the experience with help of the pictures I was able to discreetly snap using my BlackBerry. So here goes.

Saturday Morning. 4am. I wake up, stumble out of my bed and into the shower, and before I know it, the town car was outside to take me to LAX. A little after 7, I was on a plane to New York City. The flight was about six hours, and since we were going across time zones, I got to New York around 3:30 in the afternoon. This took a minute for me to wrap my brain around, since I was still sleep deprived and in a jet lagged haze. By the time I got my head together, I was in the back of another town car in the middle of Times Square. It's a little surreal to wake up in a (albeit swanky) little neighborhood in LA and then hours later be in the center of the busiest city in the world. But I mean, that's what sums up the last few months of my life: surreal. Anyway, I get dropped off at the hotel that everyone from MTV was staying at, The W Times Square, without much time to spare before I needed to get to work. So I ran in, threw my bag down on the bed, briefly admired the view, and was off to Radio City.


The View

Now, it's a well known fact that my sense of direction is basically non-existent, but The W is so close to Radio City that even I couldn't screw it up. It was almost 5:00, and Press had a walk through of the venue, so I rushed through the crowded streets and made it there just in time. We were taken through the MTV press compound, the general press room, the house, and the red carpet. It was so nuts to recognize the venue from past VMAs, and see the whole thing from behind the scenes. Then I got my credentials, which I'll admit, was really exciting.


Credentials!

After all of that, we were all dismissed, but I stayed back for a few to talk to my bosses to make sure we were all set for the next day, and to just sort of take the whole thing in. Then it was off to MTV Headquarters, the historic 1515 Broadway. We ended up working there until 3am, finalizing credentials and press releases and things like that. A lot of work, but I'm not about to complain. So worth every second of it. Plus, the offices had a sick view of Times Square.


Times Square




The view from 1515

I only got a few hours of sleep that night, but when I woke up, I was immediately so excited about it being the day of the show that I didn't feel tired at all. Some of the girls I was working with and I went to brunch at Blue Fin, and then it was back to Radio City. We got there and started sorting credentials and figuring out carpet placement for the media. Every so often, I'd sneak off into the house to get a peak at dress rehearsals with Katy Perry & Joe Perry (no relation), Pink, and Beyonce. I had my eyes peeled for Lady Gaga the whole day, but they were keeping her under wraps. Then we went a block down to the building that we were going to be doing press check in and holding all the people from the different media outlets in until it was time to line them up on the carpet (which also happened to be the Republican Women's Convention Center. Ummm...) Reporters and bloggers from over 150 different outlets came rolling in, and as the day wore on, and the streets outside Radio City filled up with fans wanting to catch a glimpse of their favorite stars on the red carpet, people started having a pretty hard time actually finding the building to check in at.

A few times, I had to actually hunt people down. They would say “Tynan, Marc Malkin from E! Is having trouble finding the place, we need you to go find him.” Me, who has no sense of direction whatsoever, and doesn't know how to get around New York at all. GREAT. So off I went into the streets of New York City, now packed with fans, trying to find one of the biggest entertainment bloggers in the business. Luckily I found him without much trouble. Now, getting him an all access cred was another challenge, since he wasn't technically 'talent.' So here's me, on the brink of a meltdown, trying not to screw things up or look like a complete ass. But he was really great to work with and had a sense of humor about the whole thing. We're basically BFFs now. I had to do the same thing with Trevor from JustJared as well. This is my job people.


The Red Carpet

So before long, we loaded everyone onto the red carpet, and the night began. My job on the red carpet was “photo running,” meaning working with a couple choice photographers and getting their memory cards to the photo editing room. Except there were so many of us doing it that I basically stood at the top of the carpet and helped with the flow of talent. Not a bad gig. I saw EVERYBODY. Oh my god. Seriously.


Paparazzi

Ok here's the quick gossip breakdown. Pink and Shakira were two people away from eachother on the carpet wearing THE SAME DRESS. Obvious travesty. They both had a great sense of humor about it and joked the whole time. I mentioned something about it out loud and Pink's publicist threatened me within an inch of my life and was only half kidding. Leighton Meester is the only person who can pull off looking like a total crack whore and really glamorous at the same time. I ran face first into Taylor Swift on the red carpet, oops. I guess that's karma for all of the shit I've talked about her this passed year. I'm not even a fan of hers, but she looked flawless, although I'm not convinced she hasn't already experimented with botox. Just saying. It was great to see the boys from 3OH!3 there, and nominated! It reminded me of my ZBT boys :-). Kristin Cavallari is a fucking snake. Taylor Lautner is the most gorgeous minor EVZ. It's excruciating. I literally thought I was going to die when Cobra Starship pulled up in a double-decker tour bus going like 80 miles an hour straight at me. I also thought I was going to die when Lady Gaga hit the carpet. She is the only person I got starstruck over. Once I heard “Lady Gaga has arrived” over my headset, I swear to god the world stopped turning for a sec. You think Chase Crawford is hot on Gossip Girl? Wait until you've seen him in person. Unreal. We locked eyes and it was like he tore my soul into pieces. Mmm. J.Lo and Marc Anthony came, but the paparazzi only wanted pictures of J.Lo alone, so Marc came over and stood next to me and rolled his eyes. HA. Shut up Marc, you're married to Jennifer F-ing Lopez, you have nothing to complain about. Stephani Pratt is my age and has had entirely too much work done. She was literally unrecognizable. And Perez Hilton is a parasite.

I snapped a few photos of people on the carpet. This one of Pink for Kassi:



And this one of Beyonce for Dee. I can't lie, the girl is fierce.



Some of the Zebes and my friend at San Fransisco State found these pictures of me on the red carpet. How funny is that?!




Nikki Hilton. I love that the camera caught me totally judging her outfit. Naturally.



Alessandra Ambrosio. I don't know, I guess she's a super model that models for Victoria Secret & the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition. I guess that one's kind of lost on me.

I was lucky enough to get to see the show from inside the venue, since I was photo running and trouble shooting during the show. I was so happy because all of the performances were INCREDIBLE. So impressed with everyone. It was great to see Madonna (MADONNA!) (...and her huge hair) introduce the MJ tribute. And no, the Kanye thing wasn't staged.

It was a crazy night altogether, but wow, how amazing. After the show, I was SO tired and SO hungry, so much so that I turned down the after party in mid-town to get some food and get to sleep. (Me turn down an after party? I know right.) My friend Brendan, the founder of TheFacesOfUs.com, lives only a few blocks off of times square, so we went to an all night diner in Hell's Kitchen. After a huge burger and three pints of beer, I was feeling great. I ended up crashing at about 2am, and flew back to LA at 8 the next morning. What a weekend.

My Head Lately.

"You will never lose me to the wind."
(This is so much better on her album without the audience fucking laughing through the first part)


(Dave Matthew's Band i know I KNOW)

And most important...



!!!

I Feel It In My Bones...

So I survived my first week. Not even survived, but I feel like I handled it quite well. All in all, I am so happy with how it went. It's sort of odd that today is Labor Day and I have the day off, because I'm so anxious to jump right back into all of it. I guess I should enjoy it while it lasts though, since Sunday is the MTV Video Music Awards. It's bound to be a crazy week at the office. On top of that, MTV is sending a car for me at 5am Saturday morning so I can make my flight to NYC at 7 and be there by late afternoon. Surreal. It's no use trying to explain how crazy this all feels for me, so I wont. But damn.

Still no word from Monmouth. I'm still working on all of my schoolwork as if this isn't happening, so I'm hoping that counts for something, that it will swing fate or whatever.

My living situation is working out great. The lady who owns the house, Jacquie, and I get along wonderfully. She has four children who are all grown, and most of her family has been around lately too, whether they're just here on vacation or are living in the huge house temporarily, and they have all but adopted me as one of them. It's really great of them because at the end of the day, I'm just some random kid from the midwest renting a room. But they've really taken it upon themselves to make me one of them. Leave it to me to fall into Los Angeles high society by chance. Saturday night, we had a huge family dinner on the terrace, and Sunday we all went to church (at 8am no less) and then 'brunched' at a little inn in Topanga Canyon. After that, one of the daughters and I went to a movie, and then finished off the night with another big dinner. I wanted to take it easy this weekend so I opted not to go out, I just can't afford to be exhausted or sick for the upcoming week, so taking some time out with what seems to be my new second family (or third, or fourth) was more than fine.

I'm reading Valley of the Dolls right now. It seems appropriate.

People keep telling me how amazing this entire situation is, how lucky or deserving I am. Truth is, I really don't even think about it. If I do, I'll probably just freak myself out. And the dust hasn't settled yet either, I don't want to get ahead of myself. The only time I realize how weird it is, is on the weekends. It's not that I'm homesick, because I'm not, it's just weird to be out at some Hollywood bar and get a text from my best friend about what's happening at the nasty frat house, and realize I'd be just as happy to be there. That's where my heart is.

I'm so excited for what's to come, what with THE VMAs next weekend (that doesn't even seem real to me yet), and some of the new people who've made their way into my life, and really just the year in general, no matter how things turn out. I am so excited. I know there are still some battles I'm going to have to fight, but they'll come, and I'm ready. I think I've resigned myself to the fact that there isn't a “How To” book anymore. Not for my situation at least. Now I know I'm not super special and people take big risks like this everyday, but my point is, doing the four year college thing, that I knew how to do, and when I had questions, I knew where to go to get answers. Not anymore. But I'm ok with that. In some weird way it almost gives me confidence. I don't know if that even makes sense.

I don't know that I'll ever really get used to this.


High Lounge

I Feel It In My Bones.

I'm not big on dance music, at all. But this is a song that one of my favorite bands Tegan & Sara did with Tiesto and I absolutely love it.



Hypnotizing.

"Welcome to the beginning..."

I really can't start the trend of going to bed later than I should again. It's things like YouTube, poetry, listening to music, and THIS BLOG that always get me. But it's not that late yet, and here I am.

Also, I promise not to write a bunch of pointless updates just for the sake of updating, but it was my second day, cut me some slack.

So I'm happy to report that my second day was as good as the first, which is good. Lots of juggling publicists and footage and paperwork, stuff like that. It's a really great environment for me to be in and I really look up to the people I work for. After a summer of working with them, it's a great feeling to actually work WITH them. Anyway, I'm all smiles. And great outfits.

So I finished my second appeal. We'll see what the rest of the week has in store for me and my future. I'm keeping a safe distance from the whole situation when I'm not dealing directly with it, in case things don't go exactly like I want, I won't be too totally crushed.

If I was ever honest with anyone, then it would be apparent how much I really have riding on this situation. Not just Monmouth, but this ENTIRE situation. Like I said, safe distance.

Tomorrow night, I'm gonna try to find this open mic that focuses on poetry & the spoken word that I've been hearing about. Really, I'm just going to try not to get devastatingly lost. Wish me luck.

(When I haven't been spinning Ursa Major by Third Eye Blind on repeat, which is almost never) I've been listening to this song a lot lately. I don't even know why, but I just really like it right now. I know I know, it's Dashboard Confessional, womp womp. I think it's the line:
no one is alone,
the way you are alone.
And you held her looser than you would
if you ever could have known.



I don't know, I just think that's really well put, in general. And that last line kind of relates to my last...well, my previous...my junior year of college.

Anyway. Can't wait to see what's in store for the rest of the week!