Brown Bag Sexy

Today I was a pilot and wore awesome glasses... and I volunteered for the Good News Foundation. Since most of you probably don't know what the Good News Foundation is, I'll clue you in real quick. The Foundation was started by a group of female reporters in the L.A. area. They decided that the news industry needed to make an effort to help underprivileged youth achieve their dreams of becoming reporters. Every year they give scholarships and grants to young female reporters and other charities who are committed to improving people's educational access. I wasn't sure what to expect out of the whole thing, especially because of my neck, but I had a lot of fun.

I had to wake up at 7:15 to get to Santa Monica Airport by 9:30. It was not easy! Even though I tried really hard to go to bed early, it is impossible for me to fall asleep before 2 AM. So I dragged myself out of bed, straightened my hair and drove up to Santa Monica. There were about 12 other college girls helping out and luckily for me two girls from my broadcast class from last semester decided to come. We were given green pilot jumpsuits and aviator sunglasses. We were then told our main duties for the day. Since the event was at an airport we were supposed to use airline terminology the entire time. We were told to direct people to their seats by saying "Alright everybody, we cannot depart until everyone is in their seat with their seatbelts fully fastened. Please make your way over to your designated seat." It was super corny but we had a lot of fun. During the silent auction we were even given orange lights to point at the bidders. The guests seemed to think it was really funny. A couple of random people at the tables would ask me about my glasses or start conversation from time to time. Unfortunately none of the reporters decided to do this. It's really hard to network when you're at an event where all the reporters are there with their friends and worried about their own networking duties. You never know when it's appropriate to interrupt and introduce yourself. Luckily, all of the event coordinators were very famous reporters and they were all super friendly. I spoke with Christine Devine from FOX news and Wendy Burch from KTLA a few times. Christine Devine even gave me her card and told me to email her. I am definitely going to take advantage of that opportunity. I met a few other anchors/reporters such as: Susan Hirasuna, Sam Rubin, Ruth Ashton-Taylor, Dorothy Lucy, Mark Thompson, Ana Garcia, Jessica Holmes, Elizabeth Espinosa and probably a bunch of other people that I didn't recognize.

The program itself was really interested. They gave out a lot of different grants, most of them were for more than 5,000 dollars. A woman named Teresa Simmons got a minivan, free movie tickets once a month forever, and 5,000 dollars. I was really impressed with all the people they recognized. Oh and I almost forgot the most important part. Chaka Khan was there.... and she performed. It was insane. That woman has one of the best voices I've ever heard.

I also managed to exchanged numbers with a couple of the girls who volunteered. They were all very friendly and it would be cool if we could all keep in touch and have networks outside of our school contacts. We'll see what happens. I am glad I decided to help out with this event, even though my neck was killing me the whole time. I was okay the first two hours, but after standing around for a while my neck pain became excruciating. I didn't have my medicine with me either (not even an aspirin) so I had to deal with it. I put up with it but after the show was over I realized I couldn't drive all the way home in that kind of pain. So, instead of going home I went to my mom's house, which was a little bit closer, and took a nap on her couch for an hour. When I woke up I felt a little bit better, but now I'm at home and I am pooped out. My plan was to clean up the house before going to bed, but my pillows are calling to me. Goodnight.

P.S. More pictures to come soon.