Haute

after being romantically linked with an a list celebrity, i can honestly say, it wasn’t worth it. reading your name on yahoo news, fansites, and blogs is fun. having people doing research on you to dig up dirt, people talking behind your back on blogs, and having no one who can relate to your dilemma is not.

it also didn’t help that i was only 21 at the time (2005), and not really keen on how to deal with the sudden attention. i might be open to it in the future, but only after my career reaches the same level as the person i’m dating.

i was an extra back in 99 for a small independent film called boneshakers.

luckily the director liked my look and i got to do some extra stuff during the bike race scene they were shooting. i’ve never seen the actual film, so i can’t really say how visible i am.

i spent all day on the set, from 8am to 5pm. this was unpaid, since it was a simple indie film. most time was spent just standing around. there was only one camera on this production, so we had to wait a lot for them to set up shots, and to also film multiple angles by running through a scene more than once.

as an extra, you don’t want to screw up the filming. which unfortunately i did when i failed at passing off a bike at an exact time. luckily i got it right the second time. no director wants to stop a shot due to an extra’s mistake. i didn’t have anyone yell at me or anything, but it’s just something you should be aware of.

we shot in san jose during the winter and it was cold. i remember my hands going numb in the morning. they had us write our names down, but i ended up receiving no credit as did many other extras. so don’t be too bummed out if you don’t get your name in the credits. it does happen from time to time.

it was a good experience, but i personally couldn’t picture myself doing this full time. maybe my experience would’ve been different if it was a paid position and it was an actual closed set. shooting outside a condemed warehouse with people driving through scenes is never fun.

if you want to get an inside look on how movie sets are, and how it’s all done, this would be a worthwhile thing to do.

i wanted to get into pepperdine since my freshman year of high school. i had a little too much fun during high school, so i had to transfer in as a junior after two years of community college.

my main reason for going to pepperdine was because of my parents. my second choice, which i also got into was the university of redlands. i personally wanted to go there, but decided to please my parents instead.

i always hear about how impressive it is and how hard it is to get into, but when you do get in, it feels nowhere as special.

some of my teacher’s were good, while others were not. like other schools, it highly depends on whom you’re taught by. the classroom sizes were on par with community college but smaller than public universities. the only exception being my religion class which had around one hundred people.

the students at pepperdine usually fall into two general categories:

1. people who go there for the prestige
2. religious people who want to be restricted from normal college life

if you’re under 21, there’s almost no social life to be had. those over 21 are able to go to bars and clubs, but until you’re able to, there isn’t much else to do. unless you get in with a crowd who is local and knows where the parties are.

without a vibrant social life, pepperdine can get tedious. it feels like more work after more work, without a break to let you enjoy life.

the views are stunning, and probably the only highlight of my time there. i loved being able to see the ocean while eating at the cafeteria or waiting outside my science lab.

i know it’s ranked highly for it’s dorms, but honestly, the dorms aren’t that special. i also had a private dorm with its own shower, but it’s nothing to rave about.

the housing rules are highly subjective and are only enforced as much as the ra chooses to enforce them. i had no problems having girls over after curfew. even girls that did not attend pepperdine.

the security at the front gate is supposedly to keep unwanted people out, but i’ve found that they’ll buy almost any excuse to let you past the front gate.

the school work itself wasn’t challenging. i was able to get an a on all of my papers two weeks after transferring. but i did get high honors at my community college, and i have an iq of 132. so maybe i’m being a little modest in my entry.

overall, know what you’re getting into. if you go here for the right reasons maybe you’ll have a better experience.

being that i didn’t want to be there in the first place, i thought it was a pretty unmemorable time of my life. the only payoff is the impressed look on people’s face after you tell them what school you got into.

the certificate you receive upon acceptance is pretty nice too. i still have that one framed.