SORRY, Man oh Man have things been crazy.  I have a legit excuse this time though!  Some of you noticed that AsthmaticAvenger went down for a while.  I was unable to post, edit, even sign in.   Anyway, with a little help from Pat, and a little help from a Drupal forum, I think I have it working, hopefully I can keep her up and running because I should have time to make an update or two every week.

Anyway, enough with the excuses, Thanks for reading!  Things have been insane.  Since my last post I have had 3 jobs, and the one I am at now is Great.  I am working on "Thor" for Marvel Studios, which will be directed by the amazing Kenneth Branagh and starring none-other than Natalie Portman, along with a great young actor by the name of Chris Hemsworth as the titular character.  I'm super-psyched to be working in film again, and to be working on a comic-book film... well... lets just say I think I am exactly where I want to be for now.

Some of you may be asking, wait, what is with the picture?  Why are you holding a Plant, Eric?  Is that Alex or Jesus making a sexy face at the camera?  Why is that dude wearing a helmet to the Pool?  Well, a) I was holding that plant because I wanted too, b) Despite an uncanny resemblance to "the Son of Man," believe it or not, that is Alex Carroll, and c) the Dude, our good friend Dale, was wearing a Helmet because thats how crazy, or "Buck Raul" in the parlance of Oceanside, things can get when you hang with the Carroll Kids (its crazy when it is just me and Alex, but when you add Beth to the equation... well, lets just say I hope you have property insurance).

Well I have to get back to work.  Thanks for checking in, E.

Hey every one, sorry for the gap, life is crazy, but I'll stop starting every post with that, as I promised to earlier. The biggest news in this asthmatics life lately? I got a new job, a job in the Entertainment industry as I had hoped to. I now work on the set of "Deal or No Deal". It's a blast, I miss my ECAD adventures, and surely the folks at GLAAD were a big part of my making a successful transition to this coast, but its nice to be working in TV. I work in the casting department, so I work with the contestants mostly. And for the record, No, I can't get you on the show, actually, if you know me well enough to read this fairly personal blog, you're disqualified from playing. Sorry. Anyway, it is a lot of fun, the people there are great and the days fly by, and the days flying by is especially impressive since my days are anywhere from 9-18 hours long... We shoot at "The Culver Studios" (which is what the photo is of) with a whole bunch of other TV shows and movies. They feed me on shoot days and most exciting for this humble blogger, I have health insurance. Its been great so far, and I don't see it getting less so any time soon! Sorry this has to be a short post since I am about to leave my apartment, so I'm not late for my new job! Thanks for sticking around, I'll try and go into more detail when I get a chance...

Many of you have emailed or called to make sure Alex and I are okay in spite of the numerous fires burning in Southern California. Thanks for your concern, and we are fine. The worst that we have had to put up with so far is a lot of smoke hanging in the air. At least where we are in the valley, the smoke isn't actually affecting us yet (knock on wood, it never will). The scale of these fires is truly scary, but they aren't nearly as close as the fire last march, which was practically in our backyard. This photo is a pic I took from the top of the Hollywood Hills on Mulholland Drive, on my commute home this monday. Scary stuff, looks like a volcano, doesn't it?

Apparently I don't post enough and it has very real consequences for those around me, so in order to take all Pug's excuses away from him I'll try and post more often.

Well, baseball season is in full swing (pun VERY much intended, I thank you very much!), and I've even managed to see 2 live Tigers games already. The second game was Tuesday and it was ridiculously exciting. Alex was the mastermind, having purchased these tickets weeks ago from the ever reliable StubHub. The Tigers were down 7 to nothing by the 3rd inning, needless to say Alex and i were a little bummed and thought perhaps we were about to see a pretty depressing game for Tigers fan. However, they then went on a run that ended in the top of the ninth, with a home run that put the Tigers up by one. Needless to say this made for some exciting baseball. Unfortunately, they did let an Angel steal home in the bottom of the ninth and Todd Jones blew the save in the tenth inning... on his birthday. Oh well, it was still the most exciting game I have ever been to live... easily. The night before, by buddy Kevin Anderson and I hopped in the car and caught the Monday night game as well. It was a blast and the Tigers managed to take an early lead that they never gave up. All in all it was a lot of baseball, but it was a LOT OF FUN, and I can't wait to go see another game and Alex and I are already hatching a plan to see the Tigers in Anaheim again and at least once in Oakland. Anyway, I scanned the tickets and included a picture that Joel and I took to send to our buddy Joel, but unfortunately, I don't think that Alex and I took any pictures together at the park, if I am wrong I'll be sure to post it asap...

Well, we finally did it. We said, LETS GO TO VEGAS at like 10pm at night an actually got in the car and went! Sunday night Alex, Dale, Kevin, Hart and I gathered to watch the Mets in their first game of the new baseball season, and then grab some dinner. Just before dinner Alex threw the Vegas idea out and immediately Kevin and I agreed. Hart was on the fence and almost came, but needed to get a shift covered to be sure he could go and couldn't take care of it on such short notice. Dale also wanted to come, but sadly his work, and acting class schedule wouldn't allow for a random 48 hour trip to Vegas on a week day. Alex, Kevin and I however, hopped in the Eclipse and headed for Vegas, getting on the road about 10:30pm. We drove pretty much straight through and Kevin ans Alex manged to catch a quick nap. We were in Vegas by two, took a drive up and down the strip since I had never really been to vegas before (except for a brief one night stay) and had the car parked by 2:45am and were looking for poker games by 3:30am. After a quick snack at a Starbucks (even in Vegas it was all we could find to eat at that hour), we ended up playing at a 1-2 No Limit Texas Hold 'em Table at the MGM Grand. Which is where we stayed until almost 8am. It was a blast. Then we found a cheap motel 6, and crashed for a few hours before getting up to watch the Tigers lose their home opener to the Blue Jays. Then we played Craps, then we watched the NCAA Championship game, then it was more poker! We got up on Tuesday and drove back to LA, which, with the top down resulted in me getting a pretty silly farmers tan. Anyway, it was a blast, we didn't get many photos, just this one really, since casinos aren't big on cameras and video, but we did shoot a little video before leaving, on the drive there and on the drive back. I'll try and edit it into something to post here...

This Saturday Morning, Alex, Dale, Ridgeway and I (the four roommates at our sweet house) got together with a group of friends we've taken to calling "The Girls" or "The Ladies" for a few friendly games of Tennis. Now, what I did could hardly be called "playing tennis" but whatever it was, it was fun. We've been making an effort to all get together once every couple of weeks or so, but this event was motivated as a send off 'party' for Jenni, who is headed off to Dubai for a week. It was a blast, and after tennis we walked over to Hana and Jenni's sweet pad for a waffle brunch! It was an amazingly good time... (if you ever get a chance, be sure to ask Dale about mile 3 of his marathon, one h of a story!)

Anyway, the people in the picture are (from left to right); Top Row - Me (Eric, the Author), Jenni (who was leaving for a week and the reason for the 'Party'), Sarah, Alex (my brother), Michael Rideway (the fourth roommate), Bottom Row - Hana, and Dale (the original roommate to the Carroll Brothers).

Anyway, the unofficial 2nd theme to the Tennis party (Tennis being the First) was the 80s, so I put a "Trapper-Keeper" style title and border around the picture... ENJOY!

So, many of you have heard the sad story of the death of my first real car, the Champagne Wonder, or the 1995 Saturn SL1 I had driven since the summer of 96. This month has been interesting, to say the least. Normally I work 15 hours a week, and can drive my self there. Due to one of my collegues needing to take a few weeks off work unexpectedly, I was working almost 40 hour weeks, and all the while having to depend on Alex and Arlene to pick me up and drop me off. It was... frustrating, and difficult. Luckily, Connie, my employer at GLAAD, is great and understood the obstacles I was working around and was very accommodating. And even thought it was frantic, I needed a new car, so I definitely didn't mind the extra money.

While working these crazy hours and calling on Alex, Arlene, Dale and a few other friends for rides, I spent all my spare time on Craig's List and Autotrader looking for cars. I had pretty much given up on the idea of getting a convertible, since they cost more and I'd rather have a car with more life left in it, and maybe even more options than an older, less reliable, BUT convertible car. Then literally as I was making plans to go look at and possibly buy a VW Sedan in Orange County, I found an Ad for a 2001 Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder (Convertible) with low miles, leather interior and which had obviously been taking care of. I met with Amy, the girl selling the car, as SOON as I could and committed to buying the car from her less than a day later... Once we had figured out the money, getting the car insured and so on, I picked up the car and I've been loving it ever since! It really is beautiful and I'm really psyched to be driving a car I am excited to be driving. I loved the Saturn, and she did her part, but this is the first car I've ever purchased and had my name on the title first, and I like that its more than just a way to get from here to there, it's something I can enjoy and even be proud of. So am I glad I got hit at an intersection in San Fran? No, I'd rather I got to run the Saturn into the ground and save my money for other things, but thats not what happened and I think this worked out about as well as it could have!

Sorry I haven't posted since the 20th, but I swear things have been insane. So you all know that I lost my car to an accident on the 8th, and I am still without a car (although not for much longer, I'll post all about it when it is a done deal in a day or two!). Then a few days later, our new room-mate Mike, ended up having a car stolen. THEN, last Thursday Alex was kind enough to pick me up from work, and unfortunately he also got hit driving me home. So now his Jeep is in the shop... Luckily Alex has a rental car, and hopefully I will be driving my own car by Friday at the latest. Even thought no one was hurt and things seem to be on their way to working out, I have to admit its been a mentally stressful few weeks, and I am looking forward to putting this all behind me. I'll try and post again soon, hopefully under the much happier circumstances of showing off my slick new car, but please be patient. I honestly would have posted more if the Universe had allowed for it... Anyway, if you are in California, try not to get in an accident. It is a real pain in the butt...

In less than 2 months (and less than 72 hours after I decided to go take care of it) I managed to do something that I HONESTLY tried to do in NYC and never pulled-off: I got a California Driver's License. The Los Angeles Area DMV is GREAT. You can sign up for appointments on their website, so even though getting my license and registering my car took about two hours, almost NONE of that was spent waiting. Very easy, very efficient. In New York, I swear I went into the NYC DMV's License Express on 34th St. about 5-6 times, and each time they told me there was some problem and that I need to come back with another form. Once they asked for a form that the Michigan Secretary of State Office said didn't exist and couldn't be produced. When I put the lady from the NYC DMV on the phone with them so they could explain that this form/paper didn't exist (not just for me, there was NO form at ALL) she said she understood, hung up and then told me there was nothing they could do. So I asked that that meant no one from Michigan could get a NYC driver's license, to which she replied "Yes". Insane. Well, I am glad that California went better. I am glad to be on the right side of the law. Unfortunately the Saturn broke down the DAY I registered it, giving me a scare, after a few days and a couple hundred dollars though she is back on the road. Now I just have to get her Smog Tested, and get new insurance and I'll be all set in this Western World were you HAVE to own a car...

The view from the office I work in is great. We are on the 15th floor of a building on Wilshire, and it's pretty much the tallest building in the area, at least there is nothing as tall as this building to the EAST of us... This affords us a pretty terrific view of the LA Skyline. The view in all directions is great and I promise to post pics from all directions when I get a chance, but for now you'll have to settle for this slightly crooked picture facing East on Wilshire. Today is pretty clear, so the view was particularly nice, ad I just happened to have my Nikon with me, so I took the pic to post up here... Alright, now I am just Rambling... Enjoy...

Those of you whom I have managed to talk to since I moved out to Los Angeles know that I have been feeling very lucky. Alex had a GREAT HOUSE lined up for me, I've made some great friends, I have an idea of how to start my career in film, I have a job that pays the rent and might even let me save some money... Honestly, every-thing's coming up ERIC! The latest case and point? My new desk as pictured above. I had just talked myself into the idea that I should buy a NICE desk with one of my first paychecks out here. Then Alex and I were driving down Wilton and he said, "Hey doesn't that Desk match your bedroom set?" We pull over and not only does it match my bedroom set, it IS the exact IKEA desk from my bedroom collection... In perfect Condition... For free... just sitting there. Alex helped me put it on top of and strap it to the Jeep and get it home and into my room. Amazing. I am truly thankful...

Anyway, I just thought I would share, what I hope is a feel good story with everyone! Doesn't my room look nice?

Driving home from work in Los Angeles, isn't always fun. I don't even have it that bad, the longest it has ever taken me to get home was about 40 minutes, of course that seems crazy since I only work 5.9 miles from home (yup, an average of under 7 miles per hour). Too be honest, it usually only takes about 25 minutes to get home, and in city traffic (lots of cards, frequent stops, dozens of intersections) that really not that bad. However, last night was one of those night where the usual route home was really, really crowded, causing a 2+ mile backup at one stop light on a one lane road, so I turned off said road and went driving through the hills. I knew it would take about as long, or maybe even longer than just waiting at the light, but I figured, hey at least I'd be moving, and I'd maybe learn a little more about the geography of my new neighborhood. The road I turned onto was none other than the famous Mulholland Dr., which winds across the tops of "the hills". I had driven it before, but not at Magic hour and as I came around one turn I was stunned by the view of Los Angeles that greeted me, I used a nearby pull-over and snapped some pics... Well, The skyline isn't much compared to New York, but the view sure is great, and the distance you can see is just amazing, there are almost no views like this in New York with out being in an Aircraft... Wow.

Tonight Alex, Dale and I went out and met Tiffany, Christelle and Arlene at Pace in the Hollywood Hills for a little dinner. The food was great and the company was perfect! We had a blast. The people in the picture are (From left to right): Tiffany Dupont, Christelle Dupont (they are sisters), my brother Alex, Me, Dale Hersh (our room mate in our amazing new house) and Arlene Tur. After dinner we went back to Tiff's place for a little more hanging out and some wine and eventually the evening took us to a club called 'The Abby' where we drank on a bed under the stars... it was great.

Although we didn't get together solely to welcome me to L.A., these guys sure made me feel welcome and man, did we have a good time. If this is what I can expect out here, well, then, I have a feeling this is going to be an amazing chapter of my life...