Orange County: The Magic Kingdom Part 2

Chapter Dos: How Did I Get Here?

When someone graduates college, I assume that they think of their career path. I say I assume because this is certainly not what I was thinking about, almost the opposite really. I had absolutely no desire to pursue a job utilizing my degree. Oh, it was a bachelors of science in Management Information Systems and a minor in Economics from the University of Rhode Island for those of you keeping score at home. All my friends who were graduating were discussing the jobs they were going to be trying to get. Dan was getting a job in the finance department of Verizon, Patrick was getting a job working for a Massachusetts congressman, and Paul was going to work for his father’s company. I could keep going but I know you don’t want to hear about it. Either do I, and that is what’s important. The only friend who wasn’t looking for something in the “real world” was Karim.

We were kicking around the idea of writing screenplays for quite some time now. Now that I was done with school, I could focus on such a task. I say now that I was done with school, because school is the one place that needs major focus yet it is physically impossible to generate any focus what so ever, but that is a whole other story to be told some day. Maybe if you fuckers buy this, then I can tell it. I digress, quite frequently actually, so back to the topic at hand. Karim wanted to finish a screenplay he had started. It was about halfway finished and I really wanted to see if I could ever put together a piece of writing as large as this. The longest thing I had ever written was a 10-page essay in college about the effect of the Internet on Economics. Quite the page-turner I can assure you, yet it lacked the level of fulfillment I was looking for. I kept thinking that my dad can write so why can’t I?

I needed to put together something massive. I started working with Karim on our little project. He did a very large percentage of the writing on this story, but I was involved enough where I developed a taste for it. We finished our screenplay and we couldn’t have been more excited. It was 92 pages long and the best screenplay ever written. It was going to change the movie industry as we know it. It had plot twists, action, humor, and great ending. We submitted it to Project Greenlight 2. We are two guys from Boston just as Matty D. and B-Lo are, how could we lose?

We didn’t make it past the first round of the screenplay portion of the contest. Some of the criticism was a little on the harsh side. “Is this a joke, I couldn’t get past the first 25 pages before I had to just stop reading....” This was not exactly making us feel too good about our work. I must admit though that not all the criticism was terrible. Some offered constructive comments which were very helpful, and I thank those people. However, we had to move on from this disaster. But where should we go? It was time for some magic to happen.

“We’re moving to California.” I remember those words so clearly. Karim wasn’t asking me if I wanted to move he was telling me that I was moving. What choice did I have? I had no career goals at the moment, I had broken up with my girlfriend of 4 years, and I was living at home (with my dad... I know, real smooth) on the east coast. It was clearly time to go.

We packed up and moved to Surf City USA, Huntington Beach. Driving out here was quite an experience, but it is not part of this story so I will spare you for now. We moved into our apartment here in OC on February 5th, 2003, a date that will live in infamy. We had arrived in Huntington Beach but what the hell do we do now. Karim had a job lined up before we left. He simply transferred from the Outback Steakhouse in Medford, MA to the one in Garden Grove, CA. Hey Garden Grove, just like in that Sublime song! It must be a really cool town.
People ask me why I didn’t move into LA if I wanted to be in the film industry. Well, the answer is quiet simple. I just moved from a big town with a lot of tradition and history. Why would I want to move to big town where people don’t give a fuck about you and the only history involves the Lakers or the riots? I would rather move to a town where the people are happy because all they want to do is surf, and when they can’t surf they just want to drink. This fits in perfectly with my views of life. Well not the surfing part because I can’t surf for shit, I should change that to say people are happy to do what they love, or drink when they can’t. I’ll leave both parts in for you to enjoy, kind of like a director’s cut on a DVD.