i was up all night, i was trying new things, i was writing my booty off

i was trying to recruit people to write for us for free

i was trying to get photographers and even copy editors

but one thing i was having no problem getting and that was bad reviews.

on Wednesday, HBO debuted a new weekly series hosted by Bill Simmons where he talks to a sports person and an entertainment person. a few days later the LA Times ran a review about the first episode and was super harsh about it.

i found it strange that they would go after a guy who had never hosted a show before and pounce on his first night out of the blocks.

i remember how the Food Desk would never review a restaurant the day it opened. instead they would let it get the kinks out, and then go 3-4 times during different parts of the day. theyd go on a weekend and then a weekday. that way their findings would be, in a way, scientific.

on this day ten years ago i was about ten days into my rule over LAist and i can tell you, things were far from ironed out

but still i posted some of the harshest comments that were being left by people who did not like my style.

behind the scenes i would write emails to the staff, sometimes daily, telling them that its ok, to hang in there.

keep writing, i would say, it’s the only way we can make it to where we want to go.

i felt like i was a captain of a ship that had to go through a huge terrible storm to get to the paradise on the other side, and there was no other route that could get us there quickly

either the ship would be sunk trying or it would sink not trying so we had to try

and i was going to yell at the storm as we did it and curse it out and give it the finger and moon it and dare it all along the way

but i needed the writers sooooo sooooo badly. without them i couldnt do it alone. so i begged them to be patient

and they were.

and of course i put the negative comments on the world famous, because f the haters. if anything they are the hot air in our sails.

blow, fuckers, blow.

and i hope Bill Simmons and his crew do likewise.

so thats what i was doing ten years ago today.

today im walking down robertson in beverly hills about to eat some sushi with anna kournikova because she cant stop loving me. and maybe i feel the same.