Hey guys! Did you like the rhyme in my title? Lie and tell me yes. 
It's audible gasp time. Two actual journals in less than a month. What is the world coming to? I really just have to share what my trip to Los Angeles was like! I'll make this one as entertaining as possible. CARRY ON!
This was my first time visiting Hollywood, first time visiting the west coast period, and--honestly--first time going anywhere west of Pennsylvania.
I don't get the chance to travel much. So you better believe I quickly grabbed this opportunity (along with Queen-Kitty, Mrs-Durden, and KovoWolf) to visit DeviantArt's headquarters and hang with staff for a few days to help collaborate and provide feedback on the "new" DeviantArt!
NEW DEVIANTART? What?! Yes! You gotta keep reading to get to the good stuff though.
I woke up at 4:00 am Sunday (yes, I was dead) and headed to the airport to catch my flight. The views from the plane were beautiful if not pretty typical to places I've flown before (lots of farmland down there) but holy guacamole was the view beautiful over the mountains and valleys. My inner geology nerd could not help but snap some photos from the plane. I almost wished we could have circled them a few more times. But hours later my plane landed in sunny Los Angeles. That is one monster of an airport, my friends. Be warned. xD
This was my first time visiting Hollywood, first time visiting the west coast period, and--honestly--first time going anywhere west of Pennsylvania.
I don't get the chance to travel much. So you better believe I quickly grabbed this opportunity (along with Queen-Kitty, Mrs-Durden, and KovoWolf) to visit DeviantArt's headquarters and hang with staff for a few days to help collaborate and provide feedback on the "new" DeviantArt! NEW DEVIANTART? What?! Yes! You gotta keep reading to get to the good stuff though.
I woke up at 4:00 am Sunday (yes, I was dead) and headed to the airport to catch my flight. The views from the plane were beautiful if not pretty typical to places I've flown before (lots of farmland down there) but holy guacamole was the view beautiful over the mountains and valleys. My inner geology nerd could not help but snap some photos from the plane. I almost wished we could have circled them a few more times. But hours later my plane landed in sunny Los Angeles. That is one monster of an airport, my friends. Be warned. xD
The hotel was great, fancier than I'm used to . Fancy as in you had to call down to the desk just to have them deliver ice water to your room--I consider that fancy. I'm used to water stations on each floor. AND the room service people wouldn't let me hold the door open for them (I tried every time LOL). Anyway, I was starving after I got there so I had a sandwich by the pool and just enjoyed the sun on my face. Mind you, it was freezing when I left Massachusetts. When I got home it was 90*F. Gotta love New England spring. My room had the coolest views! I could look out the window and see the Hollywood sign and the Capitol Records building (you know, that place where people like Katy Perry make music).
. Fancy as in you had to call down to the desk just to have them deliver ice water to your room--I consider that fancy. I'm used to water stations on each floor. AND the room service people wouldn't let me hold the door open for them (I tried every time LOL). Anyway, I was starving after I got there so I had a sandwich by the pool and just enjoyed the sun on my face. Mind you, it was freezing when I left Massachusetts. When I got home it was 90*F. Gotta love New England spring. My room had the coolest views! I could look out the window and see the Hollywood sign and the Capitol Records building (you know, that place where people like Katy Perry make music).
All that is fabulous but nothing compares to what it was like to hang at DA HQ for the few days following. I was SUPER nervous beforehand, haha. I really hope it didn't show. But you have to understand... I've been a member of DA for 14 years this summer, that's nearly half my life. While I know plenty of people on DA who care about the community as much as I do, I don't spend much offline time with people of the same sort. And suddenly I'm about to be SURROUNDED with people who also care about DA? Was definitely feeling some nerves on Sunday evening but luckily I had beautiful city lights to distract me.
Let's chat a bit about what a work day is like at DA from my viewpoint as an outsider. I was pleasantly surprised, coming from the strict office atmosphere of a bank.
Before I left home, I asked moonbeam13 if I should bring business casual for the office or what else the dress code might be. Danie essentially told to be comfy--not naked--and all will be well. I should note here that Danie's an amazing human being and I was well taken care of as one of "Danie's Deviants" the entire time I was there.
And all of my nerves were for naught. Within a half hour of arriving, I was given a tour of the office and felt totally at home... Their kitchen is insane, guys. You'll never go hungry there. They have what seemed to be every form of coffee and tea imaginable and I was able to meet damphyr and collectively obsess over some fabulous adult beverage recipes in fandom form (Thank you for those. I will probably try them all). The office has some wellness activities like yoga and pingpong for decompressing. There is fella stuff and llamas EVERYWHERE. The art they have hanging around comes directly from the community and brings so much life to the office itself. But the staff are what truly make that place shine. The evidence of their dedication is there from their overall enthusiasm to their desire to problem solve and improve the community.
Who would have thought staff are real people (I joke but I have definitely seen people question that around DA, LOL. Can confirm. Many much living people there)! I mean... I discussed hair curling techniques with TheLaurenVerse when we weren't getting down to business and finally got to meet ggMattB instead of just spamming him with art in #ThumbHub. I witnessed TheSquidArrives handle some mod biznizz (I believe my words were "YES I WANT TO SEE THIS") and finally got to meet Hero-skin master danlev and dodgeball extraordinaire Heidi. And I certainly cannot forget to mention sitting down and talking community with spyed... which was pretty awesome, let's be real.
DA is not all work and no-play... They play this awesome trivia game twice a day, which was so fun (and funny). There are dogs everywhere... actual, lovable, doggos. And sometimes things get really exciting... Like when *NSYNC appears outside to claim their star on the walk of fame. YEP, THAT HAPPENED. Pretty sure Queen-Kitty and I were not alone in the office fangirling over the spectacle below. Probably better than *NSYNC was seeing Ellen give a speech. Ellen is one of my spirit animals, after all. HQ is definitely in a very cool area of Hollywood!
Before I left home, I asked moonbeam13 if I should bring business casual for the office or what else the dress code might be. Danie essentially told to be comfy--not naked--and all will be well. I should note here that Danie's an amazing human being and I was well taken care of as one of "Danie's Deviants" the entire time I was there.
And all of my nerves were for naught. Within a half hour of arriving, I was given a tour of the office and felt totally at home... Their kitchen is insane, guys. You'll never go hungry there. They have what seemed to be every form of coffee and tea imaginable and I was able to meet damphyr and collectively obsess over some fabulous adult beverage recipes in fandom form (Thank you for those. I will probably try them all). The office has some wellness activities like yoga and pingpong for decompressing. There is fella stuff and llamas EVERYWHERE. The art they have hanging around comes directly from the community and brings so much life to the office itself. But the staff are what truly make that place shine. The evidence of their dedication is there from their overall enthusiasm to their desire to problem solve and improve the community.Who would have thought staff are real people (I joke but I have definitely seen people question that around DA, LOL. Can confirm. Many much living people there)! I mean... I discussed hair curling techniques with TheLaurenVerse when we weren't getting down to business and finally got to meet ggMattB instead of just spamming him with art in #ThumbHub. I witnessed TheSquidArrives handle some mod biznizz (I believe my words were "YES I WANT TO SEE THIS") and finally got to meet Hero-skin master danlev and dodgeball extraordinaire Heidi. And I certainly cannot forget to mention sitting down and talking community with spyed... which was pretty awesome, let's be real.
DA is not all work and no-play... They play this awesome trivia game twice a day, which was so fun (and funny). There are dogs everywhere... actual, lovable, doggos. And sometimes things get really exciting... Like when *NSYNC appears outside to claim their star on the walk of fame. YEP, THAT HAPPENED. Pretty sure Queen-Kitty and I were not alone in the office fangirling over the spectacle below. Probably better than *NSYNC was seeing Ellen give a speech. Ellen is one of my spirit animals, after all. HQ is definitely in a very cool area of Hollywood!
At this point, I imagine you're ready to defenestrate me unless I tell you what I mean by the "new" DeviantArt. While I can't go into specifics, I can tell you that we provided feedback and ideas for new ways to discover art in the community and spent significant time reviewing coming changes to the site for a massive redesign. It was really an honor and humbling to be asked to help with something so important! There will be a lot of changes coming but I am honestly looking forward to it. Somehow they have managed to retain the familiarity of the DeviantArt we know and love while getting a healthy upgrade that makes finding what you WANT to see much, much simpler and putting your art on display in stunning ways. And I mean stunning. Don't get me wrong, there are definitely some areas where I have reservations about what is coming, but it would be truly impressive to find someone who loves every update headed our way! I like to think our team had some decent suggestions to build on what staff had already come up with, but we'll let them be the judge of that. 
Wednesday night was my last one there and a bunch of the staff (plus me, Queen-Kitty, and the newly arrived KovoWolf) went to an improv night at a local comedy club. GUESS WHAT?? One of the headliners was Flo from the Progressive commercials. Who knew?! She was hilarious as were the rest of the cast. It was an awesome night out with even better people and was a great way to spend my last day in Hollywood.
Wednesday night was my last one there and a bunch of the staff (plus me, Queen-Kitty, and the newly arrived KovoWolf) went to an improv night at a local comedy club. GUESS WHAT?? One of the headliners was Flo from the Progressive commercials. Who knew?! She was hilarious as were the rest of the cast. It was an awesome night out with even better people and was a great way to spend my last day in Hollywood.
Obviously I needed a picture with Giant Mega Fella and we managed one group selfie at improv night! I could keep going but those are the best bits of the trip. Being able to visit, work, and play at HQ with everyone was something I imagined but never really thought would happen. Huge shout out to everyone at HQ, thanks for hosting us! Too many people that I met to list here but everyone was so welcoming and made the trip fantastic. 
Skin by Dan Leveille
) Truthfully, I can't wait to see what they'll do next...so long as I can still log in and everything's the same on my page, I'm down for something new!