Live from Hollywood, it's the Natamus AMA!
10-31-2016
, 05:42 AM
Thank you! All I've ever wanted to do while being a part of the 2+2 community is learn more about poker and gambling to become better at both and to share some of my life with the world in a way that is 1) Long form 2) Free to read/share and 3) with people who would really appreciate my story. I have plans to write a book in the future that will have more stories and the stories in this thread with greater details and also more stories of gambling and road trips and Vegas trips etc. However this community has given me so much I feel it is only fair to give you all plenty of stories gratis. 
In 90% of life I am so normal and average it is almost bothersome to me sometimes. Not because I feel like I should be "special" or that I am someone who is in particular "special"; more so because ever since I could remember (age 4/5) I have had this drive to fulfill living a life worth telling others about. I understand that is super odd to say about yourself at 4/5 and I understand that it is my adult self looking back and placing an assessment on my younger selves emotions and actions but that's the closest description I can give for how I've felt since that age about my own mortality.
I was always most inspired growing up by those who grinded out success and those who had very interesting life stories. Therefore I always wanted to life a life full of some risk and chance taking, trying to reach for the top of success and if I fall short at least I would have a life story worth retelling long after I was no longer around to tell it myself.
I have 1 full sister (younger, 27) and 5 older half siblings (3 brothers, 2 sisters) and my oldest half-brother has been (by most criteria) very successful in life as a musician and has lived a real rock star life style. My 2nd oldest half-brother was special forces in the military where he moonlighted as a DJ in Korea and a music producer here in the U.S. My 3rd half brother is a true "gangsta rapper" who has spent more of his adult life in prison than out (or close to 50/50) and is in county jail as we speak on a parole violation. He has also lived a very rock star/rap star like lifestyle. I think it would be nearsighted of me to deny that some of my drive to live the life I have has been because of these three (my sisters have lived very normal lives by comparison but are all solid people.)
Anyway I guess what I am trying to say is that I am very, very grateful that you and many others have enjoyed these stories, my 2+2 trip reports and anything I share with the community in the future.
In 90% of life I am so normal and average it is almost bothersome to me sometimes. Not because I feel like I should be "special" or that I am someone who is in particular "special"; more so because ever since I could remember (age 4/5) I have had this drive to fulfill living a life worth telling others about. I understand that is super odd to say about yourself at 4/5 and I understand that it is my adult self looking back and placing an assessment on my younger selves emotions and actions but that's the closest description I can give for how I've felt since that age about my own mortality.
I was always most inspired growing up by those who grinded out success and those who had very interesting life stories. Therefore I always wanted to life a life full of some risk and chance taking, trying to reach for the top of success and if I fall short at least I would have a life story worth retelling long after I was no longer around to tell it myself.
I have 1 full sister (younger, 27) and 5 older half siblings (3 brothers, 2 sisters) and my oldest half-brother has been (by most criteria) very successful in life as a musician and has lived a real rock star life style. My 2nd oldest half-brother was special forces in the military where he moonlighted as a DJ in Korea and a music producer here in the U.S. My 3rd half brother is a true "gangsta rapper" who has spent more of his adult life in prison than out (or close to 50/50) and is in county jail as we speak on a parole violation. He has also lived a very rock star/rap star like lifestyle. I think it would be nearsighted of me to deny that some of my drive to live the life I have has been because of these three (my sisters have lived very normal lives by comparison but are all solid people.)
Anyway I guess what I am trying to say is that I am very, very grateful that you and many others have enjoyed these stories, my 2+2 trip reports and anything I share with the community in the future.
10-31-2016
, 06:27 AM
Straight in Laurel Canyon Part 1
Laurel Canyon is a road that connects L.A.'s San Fernando Valley in the North to Hollywood in the South through the Hollywood hills. Along the winding canyon and the hill off the West of it, Mt. Olympus, are some of the most beautiful, expensive and largest homes in Los Angeles. There are plenty of neighborhoods in the city that have large, beautiful and expensive houses, some well known and others lesser. What makes Laurel Canyon special is the names of the people who own the homes; it's a true who's who list of actors, musicians, producers, directors and other wealthy people of note.
In 2011 I've started working selling running shoes during the day and doing stand up at night and pitching scripts to studios and production companies on my off days because I've blown my money from my first script sale (documented previously.) During my time working there I met a bunch of celebrities that I became acquainted with because we did business multiple times a year together. A few of those people love gambling, especially sports betting and poker.
One particularly nice and degenerate Canadian I start talking up sports bets the second time he comes in to buy shoes from me. We talk for an hour after the sale is done about NFL, NBA and of course NHL betting and he teaches me a couple of interesting things. The third time he comes in I start talking poker and we talk again for nearly an hour and then I take my lunch and we went and got burgers and beer and talked poker and sports betting my whole hour break. At the end of my break he invites me to a home game he plays in Laurel Canyon but warns me the minimum buy-in is $1,000. I know that this would be at the time 15-20% of my gambling bankroll a.k.a. WAY outside of my roll but I'm being invited by one of my comedy idols to play poker with other celebs in a home game I can't pass up the invite so I snap accept.
He gives me an address way up Laurel Canyon to a house that looks similar to this one:
It was actually a house that wasn't quite as "modern" looking but more traditional mansion looking but had a very similar amount of space around it and fantastic views of the city. I drive up to the house and there is a comp'd valet hired to handle the cars. I tip and head up the stairs to 10 foot double wooden doors that are guarded by a doorman who welcomes me and offers to check my leather jacket (it's winter or early spring.) He hands me a ticket for my jacket and points me up the left side of the stairs and tells me to take a left at the top and then knock on the second door on the left. I follow his directions and when I knock a beautiful dark haired women with piercing green eyes and a rack nearly impossible not to stare at opens the door. The woman demands my buy-in, I hand her 10 $100 bills and she hands me a rack with 1 slot of green ($500) 4 slots of red ($400) and 1 black chip on top ($100). Honestly I feel very baller with my rack of chips as she points me down the hall the other direction and tells me to knock on the 3rd door on the right past the stairs. This feeling was short lived.
Laurel Canyon is a road that connects L.A.'s San Fernando Valley in the North to Hollywood in the South through the Hollywood hills. Along the winding canyon and the hill off the West of it, Mt. Olympus, are some of the most beautiful, expensive and largest homes in Los Angeles. There are plenty of neighborhoods in the city that have large, beautiful and expensive houses, some well known and others lesser. What makes Laurel Canyon special is the names of the people who own the homes; it's a true who's who list of actors, musicians, producers, directors and other wealthy people of note.
In 2011 I've started working selling running shoes during the day and doing stand up at night and pitching scripts to studios and production companies on my off days because I've blown my money from my first script sale (documented previously.) During my time working there I met a bunch of celebrities that I became acquainted with because we did business multiple times a year together. A few of those people love gambling, especially sports betting and poker.
One particularly nice and degenerate Canadian I start talking up sports bets the second time he comes in to buy shoes from me. We talk for an hour after the sale is done about NFL, NBA and of course NHL betting and he teaches me a couple of interesting things. The third time he comes in I start talking poker and we talk again for nearly an hour and then I take my lunch and we went and got burgers and beer and talked poker and sports betting my whole hour break. At the end of my break he invites me to a home game he plays in Laurel Canyon but warns me the minimum buy-in is $1,000. I know that this would be at the time 15-20% of my gambling bankroll a.k.a. WAY outside of my roll but I'm being invited by one of my comedy idols to play poker with other celebs in a home game I can't pass up the invite so I snap accept.
He gives me an address way up Laurel Canyon to a house that looks similar to this one:
It was actually a house that wasn't quite as "modern" looking but more traditional mansion looking but had a very similar amount of space around it and fantastic views of the city. I drive up to the house and there is a comp'd valet hired to handle the cars. I tip and head up the stairs to 10 foot double wooden doors that are guarded by a doorman who welcomes me and offers to check my leather jacket (it's winter or early spring.) He hands me a ticket for my jacket and points me up the left side of the stairs and tells me to take a left at the top and then knock on the second door on the left. I follow his directions and when I knock a beautiful dark haired women with piercing green eyes and a rack nearly impossible not to stare at opens the door. The woman demands my buy-in, I hand her 10 $100 bills and she hands me a rack with 1 slot of green ($500) 4 slots of red ($400) and 1 black chip on top ($100). Honestly I feel very baller with my rack of chips as she points me down the hall the other direction and tells me to knock on the 3rd door on the right past the stairs. This feeling was short lived.
Last edited by Natamus; 10-31-2016 at 06:33 AM.
10-31-2016
, 07:07 AM
Straight in Laurel Canyon Part 2
"Knock knock knock"
I knock three times on the door I was instructed to knock on. No one answers. I knock again.
No one answers. I look down the hallway and count the doors, then turn around and make sure that I went the right way and turn towards the right side. Yes. Yes I did.
I knock again and instantly a familiar face whips the door open.
"For **** sakes knock louder!" a judging but familiar voice snaps at me. I had turned my back to the door expecting to be ignored again so I don't see the women, but I get a tingle hearing her voice. I get excited as I turn around and she smirks before rolling her eyes "You. You would show up for poker night."
"Aubrey!" She smiles and gives me a big hug. "What are you doing here?" I had sold Aubrey shoes, and weed, but that was the extent of our previous interactions. "I'm going to play with you guys!" I reply and she breaks the hug and looks me up and down "Um, you know what the buy in is right?" "Of course!" I snap back. "Okay awesome!" Aubrey takes me by the hand and walks me into the room. The room is maybe 800 sq ft and is a master bedroom with it's own bathroom. Floor to ceiling windows show a beautiful view of Hollywood and Los Angeles and two poker tables sit in the middle of the room near the back windows. There is a blackjack table on the right and Bac table on the left near the door both which are empty. The poker tables both have 7 people on them and I set my rack down at seat 4 on Aubrey's table (to her left, she's in seat 2) and we go out on the balcony to smoke a joint, her pal Alia and two other players hop out onto the balcony and join us.
Aubrey and I share one joint with Alia and I pull out another joint for the others to share and we all get super baked. After 15 mins or so of smoking and flirting with the girls we head inside to play. I sit down and un-rack my chips and the dealer ask me to post because I'm in the BB and I through out $5 thinking it is a 5-5 or maybe a 5-10 game. "You're short" the dealer says as she pitches the cards and I throw another $5 out. "Double that, sweetheart" my eyes bulge as Aubrey and Alia giggle at me - this is a $10-$20 NL game!?!?!?!?! I post the rest of my BB and giggle and try to play it off "I forgot I wasn't at Commerce" I say to giggles from the stoners.
I look down at my cards and see 9
9
and I raise to $100 and the button calls (Aubrey). The flop comes 10K7
and I cbet $250 and she checks her cards and cackles as she mucks her cards "buying the pot!" I wink and grin back as I stack the small win to start. Within the orbit a male actor from "The Big Bang Theory" sits in the 9 seat and buys in for $5K. Right away he starts blind raising to $85 several hands in a row. A few hands after he sits down I look down at A
K and I 3! to $200. Big Bang Theory Bro 4! to $600 and I snap 5! so $1375ish all in and he tanks and checks his cards. Alia starts laughing and Aubrey starts laughing even harder. Big Ban Theory Bro is like "WTF what's so funny" and Alia blurts out "You're thinking this hard about calling off a guy who sales shoes for $1300??? That's like a months salary for him you know he has it!" Others start giggling, probably at the idea of what my net worth is and he double checks his cards and sighs before mucking QQ face-up. "Obviously you have AA or KK so why pay you off, I'll get you later" he says condescendingly. I smile as I stack the chips before.
"Aubrey, you wanna smoke?" She confirms and I get up to head to the balcony "come on Alia" I know she's down she's a mega stoner just like me and she heads outside with us...
"Knock knock knock"
I knock three times on the door I was instructed to knock on. No one answers. I knock again.
No one answers. I look down the hallway and count the doors, then turn around and make sure that I went the right way and turn towards the right side. Yes. Yes I did.
I knock again and instantly a familiar face whips the door open.
"For **** sakes knock louder!" a judging but familiar voice snaps at me. I had turned my back to the door expecting to be ignored again so I don't see the women, but I get a tingle hearing her voice. I get excited as I turn around and she smirks before rolling her eyes "You. You would show up for poker night."
"Aubrey!" She smiles and gives me a big hug. "What are you doing here?" I had sold Aubrey shoes, and weed, but that was the extent of our previous interactions. "I'm going to play with you guys!" I reply and she breaks the hug and looks me up and down "Um, you know what the buy in is right?" "Of course!" I snap back. "Okay awesome!" Aubrey takes me by the hand and walks me into the room. The room is maybe 800 sq ft and is a master bedroom with it's own bathroom. Floor to ceiling windows show a beautiful view of Hollywood and Los Angeles and two poker tables sit in the middle of the room near the back windows. There is a blackjack table on the right and Bac table on the left near the door both which are empty. The poker tables both have 7 people on them and I set my rack down at seat 4 on Aubrey's table (to her left, she's in seat 2) and we go out on the balcony to smoke a joint, her pal Alia and two other players hop out onto the balcony and join us.
Aubrey and I share one joint with Alia and I pull out another joint for the others to share and we all get super baked. After 15 mins or so of smoking and flirting with the girls we head inside to play. I sit down and un-rack my chips and the dealer ask me to post because I'm in the BB and I through out $5 thinking it is a 5-5 or maybe a 5-10 game. "You're short" the dealer says as she pitches the cards and I throw another $5 out. "Double that, sweetheart" my eyes bulge as Aubrey and Alia giggle at me - this is a $10-$20 NL game!?!?!?!?! I post the rest of my BB and giggle and try to play it off "I forgot I wasn't at Commerce" I say to giggles from the stoners.
I look down at my cards and see 9
9 and I raise to $100 and the button calls (Aubrey). The flop comes 10K7 and I cbet $250 and she checks her cards and cackles as she mucks her cards "buying the pot!" I wink and grin back as I stack the small win to start. Within the orbit a male actor from "The Big Bang Theory" sits in the 9 seat and buys in for $5K. Right away he starts blind raising to $85 several hands in a row. A few hands after he sits down I look down at AK and I 3! to $200. Big Bang Theory Bro 4! to $600 and I snap 5! so $1375ish all in and he tanks and checks his cards. Alia starts laughing and Aubrey starts laughing even harder. Big Ban Theory Bro is like "WTF what's so funny" and Alia blurts out "You're thinking this hard about calling off a guy who sales shoes for $1300??? That's like a months salary for him you know he has it!" Others start giggling, probably at the idea of what my net worth is and he double checks his cards and sighs before mucking QQ face-up. "Obviously you have AA or KK so why pay you off, I'll get you later" he says condescendingly. I smile as I stack the chips before. "Aubrey, you wanna smoke?" She confirms and I get up to head to the balcony "come on Alia" I know she's down she's a mega stoner just like me and she heads outside with us...
Last edited by Natamus; 10-31-2016 at 07:37 AM.
10-31-2016
, 10:23 PM
Straight in Laurel Canyon Part 3
We return to the table and play for about another hour before I post the bb with about 2000 behind and peak down at 56. 3 limp including Big Bang Theory Bro and the flop comes 487 and I check as first to act. The BBT Bro bets $50 and it folds around to Aubrey on the button who calls. I min raise to $100 and BBT Bro instant raises to $250, Aubrey folds out. I check my cards and put him on 78 or a flush draw most likely. I call and we see the A. I check and he fires $250. I tank for about a minute and then sigh call. Another A, the A comes on the river so the board reads:
487AA.
I bet $500 and he tanks and starts talking about me missing a flush draw. He keeps cutting out a raise and then putting it back in his stack. After about a minute of this act I'm pretty positive that he's on 7,8 and he's not going to call, he's either going to fold or try and bluff me out of the pot with a re-raise, probably a shove. He ask how much I have behind and I tell him around $1200 and he quickly cuts out $1500 from his stack and plays with it. Finally he goes "okay I call" and he flips over A2.
I proudly roll over my 56 for the flopped straight and he makes snarky remark about being right about the missed flush as the dealer pushes the chips to me. At this point I realize I've made one of my largest scores in a cash game but need to find a way to cash out gracefully. I fold out nearly every hand for the next 45 minutes and then stand up for a smoke break, check my pockets and proclaim I am out of Js and when the bud is gone it's time to move on. I rack up my chips about 3100ish and take them back to the cashier room where the same woman quickly counts me out a stack of 100s. I wrap them in a rubber band I had around my wrist and make for the valet, lucky to have gotten away with a profit much less my buy in considering how painfully underolled I was for the game.
We return to the table and play for about another hour before I post the bb with about 2000 behind and peak down at 5
6. 3 limp including Big Bang Theory Bro and the flop comes 487 and I check as first to act. The BBT Bro bets $50 and it folds around to Aubrey on the button who calls. I min raise to $100 and BBT Bro instant raises to $250, Aubrey folds out. I check my cards and put him on 78 or a flush draw most likely. I call and we see the A. I check and he fires $250. I tank for about a minute and then sigh call. Another A, the A comes on the river so the board reads: 4
87AA.I bet $500 and he tanks and starts talking about me missing a flush draw. He keeps cutting out a raise and then putting it back in his stack. After about a minute of this act I'm pretty positive that he's on 7,8 and he's not going to call, he's either going to fold or try and bluff me out of the pot with a re-raise, probably a shove. He ask how much I have behind and I tell him around $1200 and he quickly cuts out $1500 from his stack and plays with it. Finally he goes "okay I call" and he flips over A
2.I proudly roll over my 5
6 for the flopped straight and he makes snarky remark about being right about the missed flush as the dealer pushes the chips to me. At this point I realize I've made one of my largest scores in a cash game but need to find a way to cash out gracefully. I fold out nearly every hand for the next 45 minutes and then stand up for a smoke break, check my pockets and proclaim I am out of Js and when the bud is gone it's time to move on. I rack up my chips about 3100ish and take them back to the cashier room where the same woman quickly counts me out a stack of 100s. I wrap them in a rubber band I had around my wrist and make for the valet, lucky to have gotten away with a profit much less my buy in considering how painfully underolled I was for the game.
11-01-2016
, 10:30 AM
11-01-2016
, 06:17 PM
Come on... it's not THAT embarrassing to lose a hand of poker to you 
Last edited by fidstar-poker; 11-01-2016 at 06:17 PM.
Reason: big band bro? :o
11-01-2016
, 07:27 PM
11-04-2016
, 03:49 AM
Life and Career Update Nov '16
Hey everyone!
I appreciate everyone taking the time to read about my life and stop in and leave comments and ask questions and all that good stuff. Those with the Q's have made this thread much more enjoyable than I expected it would be when I started it.
November has started off in an interesting way. My girl and I have 2 male mini poodle mixes, a mini-poodle/retriever mix, Fonzie(on the right), and a bisch-poo, Oscar(left):
They are amazingly sweet and fun dogs. We got Oscar first and were looking for Fonzie as a friend but first we fostered 4 other dogs as try outs and helped them find homes before we found Fonzie. We still foster dogs when we feel we have time and a few days ago we fostered a mini-poodle/full poodle mix named Junior. He seemed like a very sweet dog but was very possessive about food, treats and his bed space. A couple of days ago we got him back from the groomer and he was all sweet and being nice and I picked him up and put him on the couch next to me and he growled about it. I said sorry and he put his head down looking for some pets so I started to pet him and tell him he was a good boy. He looked up right at me and started biting the living hell out of my left hand! He wasn't provoked. He was seemingly enjoying being petted and flipped out. So sadly Junior had to go back to the rescue but not without leaving me with a torn up left hand. He got me really good in the webbing between the thumb and index and on the knuckles of my index and middle finder.
So I'm out of commission for a few days and in the meantime I've had a ton of time to surf the internet. During those surf sessions and between stops at porn hub I came across a few script writing contest. I see various competitions all the time that don't motivate me to write/peak my interest however one of these is different. It's for The Black List, the exclusive script writing community that has helped lower level writers as well as major writers with scripts stuck out of production to get stuff produced or get jobs on writing staffs. For the first time in over a year I felt truly motivated to write for this TV pilot script comp.
So despite trying to walk away from Hollywood I'm willfully turning around and walking back in. I say that because I know me, I can't just write one script for a competition and if it leads to nothing oh well. I'm going to get competitive and want to be rep'd again and get back in writing rooms. I've in general the last couple of weeks felt more life motivated and wanting to improve some areas including playing with the idea of getting back into full time writing. I suppose I'm taking my interest in the competition as a sign to go back in that direction, although unlike when I was younger I'm going to be open to doing article writing/column writing instead of just focusing on scripts and stand up. In fact I probably won't go back to stand up and will replace it with the aforementioned.
I'll keep the thread updated on how the competition script and the comp itself progresses. The deadline is Jan. 27th so there is some time to get this written, re-written and submitted by mid-January.
Hey everyone!
I appreciate everyone taking the time to read about my life and stop in and leave comments and ask questions and all that good stuff. Those with the Q's have made this thread much more enjoyable than I expected it would be when I started it.
November has started off in an interesting way. My girl and I have 2 male mini poodle mixes, a mini-poodle/retriever mix, Fonzie(on the right), and a bisch-poo, Oscar(left):
They are amazingly sweet and fun dogs. We got Oscar first and were looking for Fonzie as a friend but first we fostered 4 other dogs as try outs and helped them find homes before we found Fonzie. We still foster dogs when we feel we have time and a few days ago we fostered a mini-poodle/full poodle mix named Junior. He seemed like a very sweet dog but was very possessive about food, treats and his bed space. A couple of days ago we got him back from the groomer and he was all sweet and being nice and I picked him up and put him on the couch next to me and he growled about it. I said sorry and he put his head down looking for some pets so I started to pet him and tell him he was a good boy. He looked up right at me and started biting the living hell out of my left hand! He wasn't provoked. He was seemingly enjoying being petted and flipped out. So sadly Junior had to go back to the rescue but not without leaving me with a torn up left hand. He got me really good in the webbing between the thumb and index and on the knuckles of my index and middle finder.
So I'm out of commission for a few days and in the meantime I've had a ton of time to surf the internet. During those surf sessions and between stops at porn hub I came across a few script writing contest. I see various competitions all the time that don't motivate me to write/peak my interest however one of these is different. It's for The Black List, the exclusive script writing community that has helped lower level writers as well as major writers with scripts stuck out of production to get stuff produced or get jobs on writing staffs. For the first time in over a year I felt truly motivated to write for this TV pilot script comp.
So despite trying to walk away from Hollywood I'm willfully turning around and walking back in. I say that because I know me, I can't just write one script for a competition and if it leads to nothing oh well. I'm going to get competitive and want to be rep'd again and get back in writing rooms. I've in general the last couple of weeks felt more life motivated and wanting to improve some areas including playing with the idea of getting back into full time writing. I suppose I'm taking my interest in the competition as a sign to go back in that direction, although unlike when I was younger I'm going to be open to doing article writing/column writing instead of just focusing on scripts and stand up. In fact I probably won't go back to stand up and will replace it with the aforementioned.
I'll keep the thread updated on how the competition script and the comp itself progresses. The deadline is Jan. 27th so there is some time to get this written, re-written and submitted by mid-January.
11-05-2016
, 06:29 AM
Quote:
got dang OP, musta been ****ing wallowitz or Raj, I'm going with, who called off that nickel with trips no kicker.. or Stuart the comic store dude, he seems like a degen-capable. And I'm guessing you weren't invited back....?
Either way, great home game story. You've tasted the good life and boy I bet it was like an A+ peice of punanni. Rock on my man.
Either way, great home game story. You've tasted the good life and boy I bet it was like an A+ peice of punanni. Rock on my man.
Geez, you put me in a funny spot because I've seen Kevin Sussman playing in Vegas before but he wasn't at the game (aka Stuart) but if I confirm or deny the other to it narrows the range too much and you'll know who it was. So I can confirm it wasn't "Stuart" but can't say anything about the other two show regulars you didn't mention.
Anyway of the all the people from the home game, the ones I miss the most are Alia and Aubrey. Alia reminds me so much of my best girl-friend from HS, this lesbian chick who I smoked weed with all the time and would make out with and go to 2nd base with from time to time. Aubrey I still have a hard crush on. Our paths may cross again but she's so much more busy (not to mention famous) now than when we previously crossed paths I don't think we'll be much more than pals. She wouldn't be the first friend I've crushed really bad on, but one of only 2 or 3 since early on in college.
I'll probably get over her someday, but maybe not. I mean, I'm still pretty crushed on my first boyhood crush... Oh! That reminds me... (this story isn't one of the better ones per say, but it will be appreciated by anyone who has had a serious boyhood crush on a celebrity slightly older than you (so in theory would be in the age range for you to date if the stars aligned.)
story forthcoming...
11-05-2016
, 07:09 AM
Oh Mandy I Miss You Like Candy...
Every boy has a crush on a celebrity when they are a teenager. My first one when I was 14 was Mandy Moore, who at the time was 16 and had just come out with a hit music single "Candy". My older brother Gabe played guitar on the studio session so my family had a copy of the music video, which I watched probably 2500 times. Other than breaking down all the inaccuracies and/or silly things in the video I had fallen 100% for Mandy. This wasn't some fapping obsession like some would have to one of the Baywatch girls; I had determined that Mandy was obtainable as a girlfriend. I didn't know how I was going to meet her or in what way I was going to convince her to be interested enough in me to be willing to go on a date, much less start dating. However, despite having absolutely no plan, I was 18 months from getting my license and when I did I was going to go to L.A. on the weekends and I was finding my future love!
Of course that didn't happen whatsoever. Despite continuing to crush on her I went on to snap my ankle in a very violent way playing HS football, stunting my soccer career why trying to be some type of 2 sport athlete. I went through a long and painful rehab and recovery to get back to playing health and fitness, dated a few local girls, learned how it felt to get my pecker wet and basically forgot about the pursuit of my crush. I went to L.A. many times during this period between 14-18 including dating a girl who is an actress and was a Miss Teen California runner-up from the San Fernando Valley, but Mandy was back burnered. I went to college in Santa Barbara, took 9 months in Arizona living near my Dad who had a heart issue, then sold my first screenplay and moved to L.A. in early 2010. That's when things changed.
When I worked for New Balance I was having a regular, fairly slow Friday in the late Fall and had taken my hour lunch break at Barney Beanery. I came back in the side entrance to the store (the store occupies a former bank building at 26th and Wilshire in Santa Monica so it has a big front entry and then a side door entry that use to be for bank employees.) and I hear my Manager yell at me to get on the floor immediately and help the woman waiting to be fitted on the far right of the store across from where I entered. I put a thumbs up behind my back as I disappear into the back to clock in and put my drink in the fridge. When I return to the floor I see her standing by herself about 20 yards away. Mandy ****ing Moore. In a grey sweet suit and pink t-shirt, brown hair in a pony tail and light make-up it was like the stars had aligned.
I gather myself and stride over "Hi, I'm Nate!"
"Hey, I'm Mandy."
"Yea, I know" I smile back, "Oh, did you like take your high school girl friend to see "A Walk To Remember, or something?" I tell her about my brother working on her song and we move onto fitting her for shoes. I get her set up with a couple of pairs and some insoles and of course give her my card. She thanks me and goes about her day. 2 days later I get a call from her at the store, her insoles aren't quite right. I explain how she can fix it at home if she doesn't want to bother to come back in but she says she'd rather come down and have me adjust it for her. I would be a fool to not see this as an opportunity to at least ask her to get coffee sometime.
She brings the shoes in question in hand and we sit together while I trim the insoles and we chat a little bit about what she's working on and what not. She tries the shoes on and they are good to go. I tell her that I'm in the industry having recently made my first script sale and I would like to invite her to get coffee and ask her some questions about navigating being in the industry. She agrees to meet me at the starbucks across from my work a few days later.
We meet up and spend 2 hours chatting and telling stories back and forth. At the end of it I give it a go and ask if she would like to have dinner sometime - she's seeing someone and has been for over a year. I understand and thank her for her time and she gives me her manager and agents information so I can send them any roles that she may be right for on projects I work on in the future, we hug and she leaves.
That's about as close as I'll ever get to my first celebrity crush and it was good enough, she's awesome and out of my league, but that was a very fun crossing of the paths. Who knows, maybe I will have a part for her someday, she still has the same manager and same agent
Every boy has a crush on a celebrity when they are a teenager. My first one when I was 14 was Mandy Moore, who at the time was 16 and had just come out with a hit music single "Candy". My older brother Gabe played guitar on the studio session so my family had a copy of the music video, which I watched probably 2500 times. Other than breaking down all the inaccuracies and/or silly things in the video I had fallen 100% for Mandy. This wasn't some fapping obsession like some would have to one of the Baywatch girls; I had determined that Mandy was obtainable as a girlfriend. I didn't know how I was going to meet her or in what way I was going to convince her to be interested enough in me to be willing to go on a date, much less start dating. However, despite having absolutely no plan, I was 18 months from getting my license and when I did I was going to go to L.A. on the weekends and I was finding my future love!
Of course that didn't happen whatsoever. Despite continuing to crush on her I went on to snap my ankle in a very violent way playing HS football, stunting my soccer career why trying to be some type of 2 sport athlete. I went through a long and painful rehab and recovery to get back to playing health and fitness, dated a few local girls, learned how it felt to get my pecker wet and basically forgot about the pursuit of my crush. I went to L.A. many times during this period between 14-18 including dating a girl who is an actress and was a Miss Teen California runner-up from the San Fernando Valley, but Mandy was back burnered. I went to college in Santa Barbara, took 9 months in Arizona living near my Dad who had a heart issue, then sold my first screenplay and moved to L.A. in early 2010. That's when things changed.
When I worked for New Balance I was having a regular, fairly slow Friday in the late Fall and had taken my hour lunch break at Barney Beanery. I came back in the side entrance to the store (the store occupies a former bank building at 26th and Wilshire in Santa Monica so it has a big front entry and then a side door entry that use to be for bank employees.) and I hear my Manager yell at me to get on the floor immediately and help the woman waiting to be fitted on the far right of the store across from where I entered. I put a thumbs up behind my back as I disappear into the back to clock in and put my drink in the fridge. When I return to the floor I see her standing by herself about 20 yards away. Mandy ****ing Moore. In a grey sweet suit and pink t-shirt, brown hair in a pony tail and light make-up it was like the stars had aligned.
I gather myself and stride over "Hi, I'm Nate!"
"Hey, I'm Mandy."
"Yea, I know" I smile back, "Oh, did you like take your high school girl friend to see "A Walk To Remember, or something?" I tell her about my brother working on her song and we move onto fitting her for shoes. I get her set up with a couple of pairs and some insoles and of course give her my card. She thanks me and goes about her day. 2 days later I get a call from her at the store, her insoles aren't quite right. I explain how she can fix it at home if she doesn't want to bother to come back in but she says she'd rather come down and have me adjust it for her. I would be a fool to not see this as an opportunity to at least ask her to get coffee sometime.
She brings the shoes in question in hand and we sit together while I trim the insoles and we chat a little bit about what she's working on and what not. She tries the shoes on and they are good to go. I tell her that I'm in the industry having recently made my first script sale and I would like to invite her to get coffee and ask her some questions about navigating being in the industry. She agrees to meet me at the starbucks across from my work a few days later.
We meet up and spend 2 hours chatting and telling stories back and forth. At the end of it I give it a go and ask if she would like to have dinner sometime - she's seeing someone and has been for over a year. I understand and thank her for her time and she gives me her manager and agents information so I can send them any roles that she may be right for on projects I work on in the future, we hug and she leaves.
That's about as close as I'll ever get to my first celebrity crush and it was good enough, she's awesome and out of my league, but that was a very fun crossing of the paths. Who knows, maybe I will have a part for her someday, she still has the same manager and same agent
Last edited by Natamus; 11-05-2016 at 07:15 AM.
11-05-2016
, 09:23 AM
My money is on Kwipke.