It’s a sad day here at the Hotel Careyfornia. This morning at 7:15 AM, 2 Los Angeles Sheriff’s deputies showed up to foreclose on my condo and forcibly evict me.  They were actually nicer about it than I thought they would be.  They allowed me to gather up some personal belongings and pack them in a suitcase, but they said I had to be out by 8 AM, as the county was sending a moving company in to remove my things.  Furniture and the like will be sold at auction.  I’ll be able to keep personal mementos like photos, but that’s about it.  Luckily, they did let me keep the sign!

As I write this from the coffee shop on the corner of what once used to be my street, I’m reminiscing about all the happy times and satisfied guests I’ve hosted over the past 6 years.  Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.  I’m not the first person impacted by the global economic meltdown and I won’t be the last.  Sadly though, the famous “Fornia” name has been sullied and I’m sorry to say that we must end our Platinum VIP Guest program.  All accrued points will be donated to the foreclosure fund.  We appreciate our guest’s patronage over the years.  Here’s a glimpse at some happier times:

Click to enlarge

I’ll be staying with friends for the next few days until I figure out what to do.  I must say, this is a bad way to begin April!  It’s even worse than last year!!

Andy had a blast with Chazz the other night.  And apparently he misses him (and me).  Now if I could just lock up that favorite cousin status without Cole always being mentioned in the same breath! 

 

Best of the rest…

And lest you think little boys corner the market on cute videos with pets, I present “Eulogy for a Fish”:

I’m really getting sick of hearing about Twitter in the mainstream media.  It’s everywhere and it’s getting ridiculous.

“The concept of regularly “micro-blogging” to the world an answer to the question “What are you doing?” using no more than 140 characters seems utterly stupid to me. After all, not only do I feel no compulsion whatsoever to broadcast my every move to the rest of humanity, I suppose I’m just not narcissistic enough to assume that other people, my friends and associates included, actually give a damn anyway.  Read more…“

I’m also tired of celebrity twats:  http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/27/technology/internet/27twitter.html.  Look, I get it.  The world is smaller.  We’re all connected.  No one sticks up for this kind of technology and connectedness more than I do, but getting updates to my phone when Ashton Kutcher is getting his nipples waxed is taking it a bit far.  Do people not realize that Ashton Kutcher is not their BFF even though he might be following them on Twitter?

I think Twitter and the like, can be useful tools if used properly.  I pretty much only use Twitter, or Xanga Pulse (rarely Facebook Status Updates) when I want to get a fast message out to my readers that I think they would care about or find funny or interesting:

Carey Anthony

 

That said, if you want to “follow” me on Twitter, I’m at: 

http://twitter.com/CareyGLY 

Now before you call me a hypocrite, let me explain.  The only thing I use Twitter for is to link to my blog here on Xanga.  Let’s face it, all bloggers are narcissistic, and I’m just as big an attention whore as the next Xangan.  But I’m not delusional enough to think that anyone cares to follow the most mundane aspects of my life.   Heck, we’re all just looking to be accepted and liked.  My blog is a creative outlet for my writing and pictures.  I’m glad when people appreciate it.  I’m also glad that the people closest to me who really care about me, respect me enough to read it.  They know who they are.  I can only surmise the people who don’t take the time, just don’t care enough.

Speaking of Chazz humping…it really did happen today for the first time!  I texted Claudio & Ryan to let them know the news, and got these replies:

I think humping is equivalent to baby’s first steps in the dog world.  LOL!  Still, I’m not ready for him to grow up just yet!

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Today I went down to the Port of Los Angeles to meet Christine and her Mom and sister and little Lance, who were leaving on a cruise to Mexico.  I haven’t seen Lance since Sundance, and he’s really grown!

Best of the rest…

Speaking of growing babies, check out little Jaden at a month old now, and all better:

Claudio and Ryan are driving up the coast for Spring Break this week with Victor & David so Chazz is with me.  He’s still only 5 1/2 months old, but he’s really never been left alone, save for that hour in January when he decided to take up reading:

The other day though, we had to leave him alone for five hours.  I was pretty sure I had puppy proofed the spare bedroom, but I had forgotten about the shoes under the futon and the stack of business cards stashed under the desk.  This is what we came home to:

I need to read up on separation anxiety in puppies.  I hear it’s worse in Boxers and Chazz surely has Boxer in him. Cesar says “no touch, no talk, no eye contact”, which for me seems next to impossible:

No touch, no talk, no eye contact. Practice this rule when you leave and again when you return. By doing this, you are letting your dog know that your separation is not a big deal. For some dogs five minutes of “no touch, no talk, no eye contact” can solve the problem. For others, you may have to start practicing the rule an hour before you leave. 

Say goodbye long before you leave. If you are having trouble practicing “no touch, no talk, no eye contact”, take a moment to tell your dog how much you will miss him and share affection long before you actually leave. Remember, this display is for you — not your dog! Your dog won’t be hurt that you didn’t kiss him goodbye before leaving for work.

Practice! Start out small; leave your dog alone for five minutes. Then the next time, expand the time to 20 minutes. Then an hour. Continue increasing the time until you can leave your dog alone for a full 8-hour business day. 

Maintain calm-assertive energy. This is crucial! Don’t feel sorry, nervous, or concerned. Project the confident energy of a pack leader. Let your dog know that everything is going to be alright.

Other that that incident though, we’ve had a good week.  While taking these photos, rolling in the grass at the Pacific Design Center however, I lost my phone. 

When I realized it had fallen out of my pocket, I went back to find it and someone had already picked it up.  I sent texts, but never heard from anyone.  I needed a new phone anyway, so this is what I got:

So far, it seems like a pretty decent phone.  I have 30 days to decide if I like it.  If not, I’ll switch to T-Mobile and get a Google phone (G1).  By the way, if you’re one of my Xanga friends who know me personally, send me your phone # again, as I lost a bunch of numbers.  Thanks!

Here are a few more photos from Chazz’s Spring Break:   

Ticket #: 3c975de0 Dancing with the Stars Mon March 23, 2009 Carey Anthony, Party of 2 Here is your ticket to Dancing with the Stars. Please print this page and bring it to the show with you. Please email us if you need to cancel your ticket, if you have problems printing your ticket or if you need further assistance. Thank you! We’ll see you there! The name submitted for this ticket on our internal database must match the I.D. of the person presenting this ticket. TRANSFERS ARE NOT ALLOWED UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. YOU MAY NOT HOLD A PLACE IN LINE FOR OTHER MEMBERS OF YOUR PARTY. Location: CBS Television City in Hollywood. 7800 Beverly Blvd. Hollywood, CA. 90036

Joelle and I went to see “Dancing with the Stars” tonight.  It’s a live show on the east coast, so they start at 5:00 here.  It’s performed just down the street from me at CBS Television City on Beverly & Fairfax in the same studio as American Idol and the Price is Right.  We ended up getting pretty good seats on the main dance floor.  We were in back, but we had our own little corner to ourselves, which allowed me to covertly take photos with the camera I was able to sneak in.  The security was tighter than Jimmy Kimmel, but not as tight as Idol.  To get my camera past the two security guards and the walk thru metal detector, I had to create a diversion.  I let Joelle go first and waited for them to take her Blackberry away.  While she was arguing with them, I discreetly stuck my camera in underneath my wallet in the basket and nudged it through while no one was looking.  I also got my iPod Touch through!    Afterwards Joelle said I should have gone into terrorism…thus the title. 

Contrary to the picture above, Barack & Sarah weren’t dancing.  In fact, most of the “stars” were D-List bordering on F.  The girl from “The Bachelor”?  Denise Richards?  Steve Wozniak?  The Playboy Bunny from “The Girls Next Door“?  Please!  I see bigger stars walking their dog in front of my house or at the KFC down the street!  At any rate, the show was entertaining.  I think the judges do a better job than the ones on Idol.  It doesn’t seem rigged…I guess there would be know reason to rig it, since all they win is an ugly disco ball trophy.  The photos I took aren’t great, as there was a lot of dry ice smoke in the air, and I was trying to be extremely discreet.  We even had a plan where to meet if I got kicked out (as I lost my cell phone yesterday).  Still the blur effect is kind of cool on some of them.  It’s a pretty studio. 

Having sushi for lunch before being let in to the studio.  It was a gorgeous day in Hollywood.

Julianne Hough with her boyfriend, country star Chuck Wicks

Co-founder of Apple, Steve Wozniak.  Only worth 4 billion dollars!  Horrible dancer. 

Mark Ballas and Olympian Shawn Johnson

Lil’ Kim and Derek Hough

Singer, Jewel, who had to drop out of the competition due to injury.  Her husband is still dancing though.

Hastily take self portrait of Joelle and I…trying not to get caught!

After the show…

The only picture I took with a flash and the girl who took it for us, covered the flash with her finger.  Ugh.

A quick video of Gilles Marini and Cheryl Burke dancing while Joelle and I look on from the audience

Ryan Seacrest, eat your heart out!

One last Los Angeles sunset, before returning to Santiago, Chile then New Delhi for 3 years!


The picturesque fountain at The Grove

I swear, people don’t know how to take good pictures!
 

That’s us…The biggest stars in the place!

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Yeah, you read that right.  Backwoods Barbie is at it again, this time jumping on the bandwagon criticizing Obama’s “Special Olympics” gaffe.  For the record, here’s my take on it, since John and a few other of my Republican friends have asked:

Yes, Obama apologized and has even managed to spin it in his favor.  But Sarah Palin and her retarded baby* (who is the uncle to her bastard grandson) has the gall to reject stimulus money that would have been used to fund, among other things, SPECIAL EDUCATION.  Nice family values Sarah. 

The biggest single chunk of stimulus money that Palin is turning down is $160 million for education. There’s also $17 million in Department of Labor funds (vocational rehabilitation services, unemployment services, etc.), about $9 million for Health and Social Services and about $7 million for Public Safety.

*By the way, there’s no need to educate me about the fact that Trigg has Down’s Syndrome or that “retard” is an offensive term.  I’m not an idiot.  I’m just venting.  It’s my blog goddamnit and Sarah Palin is more offensive to me than any words I can put on this page.  She’s vile, reprehensible and evil incarnate.  For the record, I put myself through college partly by working at group homes for the developmentally disabled and partly by babysitting over 50 kids.  I have attended and worked my fair share of Special Olympics over the years.  All people are “precious and unique” Sarah, not just your white trash baby and illegitimate grandson. 

Now that I have that out of my system, here are some pictures from tonight.  Claudio & Ryan are back with Chazz and we had a nice dinner at home and watched movies.  Tomorrow we’re heading to Santa Barbara.

Joelle’s enjoying all the amenities the H.C. has to offer

Claudio always has to get a sneer in!

Chazztastic!

Ryan was asleep before the movie started!

The Hotel Careyfornia welcomed an honored guest today.  Joelle arrived from Santiago, Chile.  She was actually the first person who ever visited The Hotel Careyfornia when I moved here in 2002.  The place has changed quite a bit since then!

My first visitor in LA.  Joelle lived here before moving to Uzbekistan and then Chile

Before we got our famous moniker…

We’ve had a few renovations since then!

Joelle and I have traveled all over the world together; spending New Year’s Eve with the “GLY Gang” on countless continents:

 

She’s in L.A. until Tuesday.  Claudio & Ryan will come on Friday, and Bassam on Saturday.  We might head up to Santa Barbara Sunday to see Eva.  Tonight we went to Venice to have sushi at one of Joelle’s favorite old haunts, The Canal Club.  Good times!

A quick lunch down the street at Basix

Miso soup, edamame, cucumber salad and sushi at Canal Club

 

Joelle was the one who had been flying all night, but I look more tired!

 
The canals of Venice…California

Chazz and I were lucky enough to run into the Oscar winning screenwriter of Milk, Dustin Lance Black yesterday.  For those of you who don’t know, he’s the young man who spoke so poignantly at the Academy Awards this year.

When Dustin met Chazz it was like watching history being made.  A new Hollywood power couple was born.  Move over Brangelina….meet “Chazzlance Black“.

Coincidentally I heard from a filmmaker this weekend who is doing a documentary about Proposition 8.  He had seen some of my blog entries and videos about the protests and emailed me to ask if he could use my video footage for his documentary:

Carey Anthony

From: YouTube Service	Tue, Feb 3, 2009 at 12:22 AM
To: careygly
help center | e-mail options | report spam Great Prop 8 Footage! Hi Carey, My name is David McCoy, I’m a photographer/filmmaker. I’m working on a documentary and a photo book about the battle to overturn Prop 8. I’ve been shooting stills of all the Prop 8 events since Nov. 6th, however I didn’t start shooting video until December 20th, so I’m looking for video of events prior to that. From what I’ve seen in your youtube posts it looks like you’ve got some really good footage. Is there any way I might be able to get a copy and use it in my documentary? It would be a huge help! Unfortunately I totally missed out on Nov. 5th’s rally, so your footage from that would be particularly helpful.  I’d offer some compensation for the footage, but I currently don’t have any funding and the project is being made on a volunteer basis. I don’t have any video up yet, but I do have some stills posted in my Facebook group, Love = Love (Challenge Prop 8), if you’d like to see a little bit of what I have shot... From: Carey Anthony Sat, Mar 14, 2009 at 12:57 PM Reply-To: careygly To: David McCoy David, I finally found the original video files.  There are 27 of them.  All unedited.  I’m in the process of zipping them up now and then I’ll FTP them to you.  Sorry for the long delay.  –Carey From: David McCoy Sun, Mar 15, 2009 at 4:57 AM To: careygly Thank you so much!  There’s actually something really cool, and something that’s really helpful to me in clip 9337.  Around the 7 second to 11 second area of in the clip there are two guys in the middle of the shot.  One is a tall blond with a light blue shirt, the other is a shorter guy with dark hair and gray t-shirt.  They are two of the guys I’m following for my documentary. They are co-founders of a group called The Equal Roots Coalition.  This video is before I met them and before they started the coalition.  In some ways this is very much a “before they were famous” sort of moment.  I can’t tell you how awesome it is to have this!  Thank you so much!  Let me know if I can help you with something at some point.  Also, if you ever want to get involved in the battle to over turn prop 8 or any other gay rights issue let me know.  There’s tons of ways, big and small, to get in involved, and by all means if you hear another protest outside, which you very well may in the next few months, feel free to jump out with your camera again.  Sorry I babble when I get excited, thank you.  =) ~~David

Claudio and Ryan went back home today, but they’ll be back with Chazz next weekend to drop him off before heading up the coast for spring break.  Joelle is also coming on Thursday, so it will be another busy week at the Hotel Careyfornia.  Cheers!

Best of the rest…

At 4 AM in the morning I was awoken by a car alarm.  Usually something like that never wakes me up in the middle of a sound sleep, but this alarm was loud and seemed quite close.  (People have become quite nonchalant about alarms these days, have you noticed?  Even sometimes when I see people walk out of a store where the alarm goes off, the cashiers and sometimes even the “security” guards, just wave people through, or worse yet, don’t even notice!)

So as I lay in bed waiting for whoever the idiot owner was to figure it out and turn off the damn alarm before waking up the whole neighborhood, a thought came into my mind…What if it was my alarm?  Surely it couldn’t be?  My car was safely parked in my garage.  No, wait, when I came home from the grocery store earlier that evening I parked on the street because it was easier and closer to carry the groceries into the house.  But how could my alarm be going off?  Did I somehow hit my keychain on the nightstand next to me while dreaming?  At any rate, this had been going on for at least 5 minutes, and by now I was wide awake. So I grabbed my keys, and ran out to my patio.  Sure enough it was MY car alarm, and my trunk was open!

I was able to stop the alarm from my patio, and then I put on some shoes and ran outside.  I expected half of my neighbors to be looking out their windows and cursing me.  When I got to my car, I found the passenger side window was down (?), the trunk was open, as was the center arm rest in the car.  I quickly started the car and moved it into the garage, where I began to take inventory.  Strangely, nothing seemed to be missing.  Apparently alarms really do work.  Mine must have scared this would be thief away.  But how then did he have time to rifle through the center arm rest?  Very odd indeed.

Then I noticed my neighbor from across the street, movie and TV personality, David DeLuise was outside.  He’s the son of Dom DeLuise (of Cannonball Run fame) and brother of Peter and Michael DeLuise.  In fact, here’s a bit of Hollywood trivia, they all (even Dom) appeared in 21 Jump Street, the television show that rocketed Johnny Depp to fame in 1987.  Turns out that David thought it was his car alarm going off, and by some weird coincidence, we both clicked the buttons to turn off the car alarm(s) at the same exact time.

As we stood on the street and pondered the 4 AM coincidence, we noticed a band of punks (think West Side Story…when you’re a Jet, you’re a Jet all the way, from your first cigarette, to your last dyin’ day…) loitering up by Sunset Blvd.  Suddenly we were back in 1987 as undercover cops, posing as high school students a la 21 Jump Street.  I was the Johnny Depp character (or course) and David was, well, whoever he played in 21 Jump Street.  I asked him if he thought we should call 911, and (in character) he pondered the question, analyzing the danger, and responded “Let me get my dog”.  At which point he went into his 1.2 million dollar house and brought out what can only be described as a teacup!  This dog made Paris Hilton’s dog look mean!  (OK, maybe I’m exaggerating, but the point is, it wasn’t a Rottweiler or a German Shepherd!)

We started walking up the street with the “attack dog” and we both had our keys in our hands, in case we needed to gouge one of the Shark’s eyes out.  As we got closer to Sunset Blvd. we found, quite anticlimactically, that this band of ruffians had escaped.  (And not a minute too soon, lest they face the wrath of our keys and our faithful sidekick, who for the purpose of this story, I’ll call “Killer”).

By now it was after 4:30 AM, and it was time for Johnny Depp to get his beauty sleep.  I went in and phoned the West Hollywood Sheriffs office with an “anonymous tip” (very 21 Jump Street), and they said they’d send out a patrol car.  My job was done.  Just another night in Hollywood.

Speaking of ferocious dogs, I’m Chazz-sitting this weekend, while Claudio & Ryan are in San Diego.  Chazz is 5 months old now, and he finally learned to bark.  And what a manly bark he has!  He would have scared away the robbers for sure!  It’s only been 2 weeks since I last saw him and he’s taller.  Isn’t he handsome?