Have you ever been able to rightly guess someone’s SunShign only after speaking with them for a few minutes? I left work at CBS-TV in Santa Monica yesterday and it felt like one of those Twilight Zone days. You know the feeling. It was my first day on a new assignment. I rushed in and didn’t get a chance to look around much but during lunchtime I had more time to walk around and take in my new yet strangely familiar surroundings. The Yahoo! Center complex where I work is across the street from Interscope/Geffen/A&M Records, where I was a publicity intern several years ago. One thing I can tell you about those music publicists is that they’re stoners. lol. One guy, Greg Miller, used to wear one of those golden arches t-shirts but instead of McDonald’s it read McMarijuana. That’ll give you the munchies. Anyhow, it all came back to me.
On my way home I stopped by Brentwood and the old offices of UPN, where I worked hard and happily for years. Years ago when I went to interview there I hid a bottle of Kenneth Cole Black, my favorite fragrance, in the bushes because I had taken the bus to get there rather than drive and brave Westside traffic on Wilshire Blvd. I didn’t want to smell like public transit so I sprayed myself a couple times before I went in. I remember the first day I walked into that place: a nice, sweet smiley faced gal named Athena greeted me at the reception desk and sitting on the little couch next to me was Daryl, a plain-clothed-ex-cop security guy with a friendly grin that reminded you a little of Denzel Washington. It was in December so there was a Christmas tree in the lobby, decked out in lights and ornaments. They were both so nice and friendly to me that I knew from that moment that I wanted to work there, even before I met who would later turn out to be my mentor, boss, best friend and sister, Leisha Smith-Townsend. A Scorpio, Leisha is very forthright, caring and kind. Leisha seemed very professional and serious, as most Scorpios do, but there was something about her that was so unpretentious and genuine. Even though she worked hard in the entertainment industry, it didn’t get to her head. Anyhow, to make a long story even longer, we hit it off and I got a chance to work with her and with Eric Cardinal, a savvy TV research executive who is a brilliant man. An Aries, Eric would get a little impatient when others couldn’t keep up but overall he was always very enthused, decent and kind. I learned a lot from him.
At any rate, back to the present-day. I went in to UPN’s old offices, which is now occupied by CBS Films and looked wistfully at the parking space I was assigned and I could almost see the big wooden security desk which was no longer there. The place looks the same, only the people are different. Well, except one: Aldo, the building facilities manager, is the last one left from the old UPN bunch. He’s the defunct network’s sole survivor and was kept by CBS to maintain facilities. I didn’t get to see Aldo yesterday because he had just gone home but I did meet a very beautiful young lady at the security desk in the main parking lot near the entrance. Her name is TaiShay and our conversation went off on many tangents. We talked about the crazy state that the world is in and we surmised that the reason we are all going through this is because we stopped looking out for each other and that me me me is now the rule of the day, screw everybody else. So sad. Just as my eyes welled up with tears when I was telling her how I used to work there and how it all seemed so familiar I noticed something about her. She seemed so wise and so attentive, giving me, a total stranger, a listening ear without much effort and making eye contact with full attentiveness. I said something about how we’re all connected and she said, “Yeah, just like the ocean…” I asked her, “Are you a Pisces?” and she said, “Yeah, how did you know?” The universe puts people in our paths for a reason. I remember Linda Goodman used to write that it really isn’t that difficult to guess someone’s SunShign, so long as you are attentive and take the time to actually listen to them.
