Last night I stayed up until 2 in the morning drinking a bottle of wine with Lauren and Stephanie. Lauren was relating a story about her previous job; a story so funny that I knew it was perfect blog material. Lauren and Stephanie both have blogs but neither of them has updated since the summer so I consider it my duty to share Lauren's story. I'll probably leave out some parts, but the main thing, the funny list that ends the story will be there.
Lauren used to be a nanny. She lived at the house with the family she was a nanny for and took care of four kids ranging in age from, like, one to fourteen. After some time with the family she ended up quitting because it was pretty difficult to be a pseudo-mother to four kids while also trying to finish up her degree at Sacramento State.
On the particular day I am about to write about, Lauren was actually no longer employed by the family, but was at the house tying up a few last ends and finishing up with her packing. It was on this day that the fourteen year old decided to go missing. Or actually she ran away, but nobody knew that when the police found her backpack in an alley. Lauren and the kid's mom went on a crazy tour of the city trying to track down the girl.
(There are some details here that I do not remember. Something about friends and a police search and hair dye in a gas station bathroom.)
Something suddenly occurred to Lauren: earlier in the week, the kid had asked Lauren all kinds of information about trips to Los Angeles. Supposedly this was an assignment for a business class in which the kids had to plan a fake business trip and the kid supposedly had to come up with all kinds of information which Lauren had gladly supplied: how to get there, where to stay, maps, and so on. Lauren put two and two together and figured that the assignment was fake and was really a ploy to get information that would provide useful should the kid and her friends decided to run away to become actresses or something in Hollywood.
Sure enough, the kid and two of her friends were headed to LA with a grand total of $35. Over the course of an entire day they had made it exactly twenty minutes out of town to a nearby suburb where they grew tired, cold, and hungry and eventually called their parents to come pick them up.
Of course, running away is nothing to laugh about, but the list of necessities that the girls had in their Trip to Los Angeles folder was a real hoot.
WHAT WE NEED TO SURVIVE IN LA
1. iPod
2. Makeup
3. Hair straightener
4. Curling iron
5. Pajamas
If only life were so easy, girls. If only life were so easy.
Well obviously undergarments and socks can be bought easily. It's LA, they have everything. And having money to buy those things is just a minor formality.
Oh, to be 14 and naive again.
Posted by: Heather B. | December 31, 2006 at 12:02 PM
Well, underwear is, these days, obviously optional. In fact, I would say you're apt to be more of a success without it. An iPod, though, definitely important.
Posted by: Rachael | December 31, 2006 at 01:21 PM
Happy New Year Janet!! I love your blog times a billion!
Posted by: Sheena | January 01, 2007 at 10:45 AM
HAPPY NEW YEAR! First of all.
I once ran away when I was six, or seven, or eight, I forget how old I was. Anyways, after I got about 150 feet away from home I remembered that I would need food, and a warm place to sleep at night, and that if I stayed at a friend's house they would turn me in. So I went back.
Posted by: Greg | January 01, 2007 at 11:29 AM
Oh, yes! Because you have to look good when you run away! And must have comfy pajamas and an iPod to listen to, if nothing else. Who wouldn't? :)
Posted by: Zandria | January 01, 2007 at 02:28 PM
Wow! I remember 14. I knew everything when I was 14.
Posted by: Jennifer | January 02, 2007 at 11:11 AM
OMG. That story is such a crack-up! I love it. Within the span of about a year, two of my cousins ran away from home. The first one (aged approx 17 years) made it about an hour south of here (don't remember many details). Her little sister (aged 14 or 15) made it all the way to California (from CO, mind you). One of them was trying to follow Insane Clown Possee around or something. It was really scary at the time, but now it seemes almost ridiculous.
Posted by: Jesser | January 02, 2007 at 12:11 PM
True Story!!!! It was so much fun to just hang out and chat the other night!!! I miss you
Posted by: Lauren | January 04, 2007 at 11:21 AM