Opportunity lost, inspiration gained

This morning, my friend Johnny and I visited Paramount Studios for a tour of the lot.  Now, in the past, I had done TWO VIP tours of Warner Brothers Studios.  I had been hoping to do a similar tour of Paramount, but their VIP tour was not yet available.  So, we just did the standard 2-hour tour.  Two of us and four others were assigned a tour guide, Chris, who was very personable and friendly.  He took us around the lot in a oversized motorized cart, which we often disembarked to walk around.

There was a lot of filming and construction going on this particular day.  One of my favorite shows CBS-TV's NCIS: Los Angeles films at Paramount, and I was excited to see they were working on the studio grounds.  I would have been awesome to see the actors from the show, but all I saw were their assigned trailers.  In particular, I saw a couple labeled "Sam" and "Callen," which belonged to LL Cool J and Chris O'Donnell respectively.  Alas, that was all I saw, even when the guide was kind enough to make a return trip to the area at the end of the tour.  Also active today, was the production of the TV series Glee...no sightings of those actors either.  I really enjoyed the tour, and wouldn't mind doing Paramount's VIP tour in the future.

After the end of the tour, we were ready for lunch.  I drove to the Original Farmer's Market, where I decided to have the special corned beef plate from Magee's Kitchen to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.  When lunch was finished, we walked over to The Grove, where we saw the TV show Extra was doing some filming again.  This time, I saw host Maria Menounos and her Dancing With The Stars partner, Derek Hough.  By this time, I was ready to check into my new hotel.  I wanted to be closer to JW Marriott Hotel, site of the Mardi Gras Bash For Augie's Quest.

Johnny and I arrived at the Marriott later in the evening wearing our obligatory colorful beads to celebrate the Mardi Gras theme.  I was hoping John Ondrasik would be there to help support his friend Augie Nieto, who has ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) and is the founder of Augie's Quest.  The Bash is a charity event to raise money for ALS research.  As we waited for the festivities to begin, we saw host of the Bash, Entertainment Tonight's Nancy O'Dell arrive.  In addition, we spotted actor Lou Ferrigno, who is competing in the current season of Celebrity Apprentice...he's playing to raise money for Augie's Quest.

The platinum ballroom then opened for dinner, and we filed in with the other people.  Host Nancy O'Dell got things started, followed by a talk by Lynne and Augie Nieto, and finally, a comedy routine by Tom Papa.  Dinner was nice: salad, beef pot roast with grilled shrimp, mashed potatos and asparagus.  In the end, $1.425 million was raised. to find a cure for ALS.  Yeah, it would have been nice if John had been there, but Johnny and I still had a good time.  I can't wait for next year's Bash!