Last week: in photo review

With the exception of Thursday, my picture taking had to be very discrete. As an extra, it's something you're just not supposed to do, even though fans were at Griffith Park taking pictures of Rob Lowe and Calista Flockhart and at the exterior shoot for CSI: Miami with David Caruso, I simply couldn't get the same shots. Even on Saturday when I was on "my own lot" walking around with a coworker, a security gaurd told us we weren't allowed to take pictures on the lot. That's rediculous, since tourist on the tram and walking around on the VIP tour do it all the time! Anyway...

Monday: Background on Brothers & Sisters, on location at the Griffith Observatory.


Tuesday: A Nike commercial, filmed on green screen, at Downy Studios.

Wednesday: Background for Dollhouse at 20th Century FOX. Their lot is so charming, with murals on several sound stages; we filmed inside Darth Vader, the buildings behind which are Beverly Hills/Century City.

Thursday: A commercial for Fosters Beer, at this bar/restaurant/70s hotel set, that was literally in the middle of nowhere!

This gas station is just a facade and has probably been used in hundreds of TV shows, movies and commercials, for the quintessential lost-in-the-desert scene.Below: The sunset over the mountains on the drive back to LA. Friday: Background on CSI: Miami

Above: An actual building used as the Miami Dade Police Department; below: sets inside the sound stages at Raleigh Studios.Below: The sunset over Dockweiler beach, since it was on the way home...


Saturday: Wandering around the Universal lot after a screening of Bruno

Above: A hidden treasure by Mark Platt's offices (producer of Wicked); below: Court House Square.

Starstruck!... by a set

As a tour guide I was trained to keep my composure in the presence of celebrity, not that I have had to use it on the tour. Nor am I the personality type that would turn into a gushing idiot (I hope)! However, I just walked throgh Stage 24 which houses the interior lab sets for CSI: Miami! I am so excited for this day; I watch this show consistantly and can't wait to see which primary actors are in the scenes!

"For fuck sake, that bug was the most interesting thing in this scene"

Thankfully, registering with a calling service is starting to pay off! Today will mark a third day in a row that I'm working thanks to Extras Management. I'm crazy tired right now, but feel the need to write and update before so much information piles up that I become overwhelmed and don't write about any of it!

Monday I worked background the TV show Brothers & Sisters; it was amazing but I only got like two hours of sleep because the call time was so early. Here are the highlights:

I was briefly in the hair room with Calista Flockhart, who was running a tad late because like every one else, she had to wait in a twenty-minute line of traffic to get through security at the ABC/Disney studio in Burbank. Yes, she's as teeny tiny as she looks on TV. However, she has the same hair woes as every other woman in the world; she told the stylist she didn't want a much product in her hair, as that damages it and causes it to break. The stylist said, "but without, it'll be flat." *sigh* If Calista and the ABC hair stylist can't solve this problem, there is simply no hope for any of us!

From Burbank we were shuttled to the Griffith Observatory to shoot a fundraiser/party scene. I found myself a mere ten feet from Rob Lowe and Calista; as they delivered their lines I meandered toward the Observatory for the implied event. I made eye contact with Rob, who was very funny between takes, a few times and he totally smiled at me. :) Calista, on the other hand, was either very focused, or stayed in character pretty much the whole time. Rob made her laugh only once.

Their first scene was in the grass and it was hilarious to see her in a gorgeous pink party dress, with white sneakers, as her feet weren't showing in the shot. It was like seeing a news anchor in his suit, tie and boxer shorts. The best part of the whole thing was at one point during her lines she shooed a bug away from her and the director yelled cut. She quickly replied, "For fuck sake, that bug was the most interesting thing in this scene... It gave it some life."

HILARIOUS!!! I'm assuming the writers weren't onset, or maybe they were...?!

It was a really boring scene; it was supposed to be a "red carpet" type event, even though there was no read carpet and we were wearing business attire or Sunday dresses. Other extras were dressed as photographers and there were a few videographers and faux reporters. What I could hear before having to walk across the lawn was a reporter asking Rob's character about running for Governor and then asking Kitty (Calista) about writing her political commentary verses her former radio and TV shows...

Then Monday night I went to a Universal workshop on Improv with Patrick Bristow. He played Peter on the sitcom Ellen, among other TV appearances and the films The Longest Yard, Austin Powers, So I Married and Axe Murderer and Showgirls. He runs an improv troupe here in LA and was wonderful and funny. I loved all three hours and I feel like his key tenants of improv are amazing rules to live ever day by: be focused, joyous and relaxed. Those three things tend to contradict one another, but the ability to balance them would lead to an amazing existance!

Yesterday I spent twelve hours at a Nike commercial down in Downy; after I got the booking, I had to figure out where the hell that was! I guess it would be considered east LA; it was 30 miles from the Valley and I got extremely lucky that I didn't run into bad traffic. Especially considering I slept through my first alarm and don't remember talking to my guy who also called me this morning. Instead, I woke up to my "get your ass out to your car" alarm that I always set! Luckily, I had built in two hours to get there, so I arrived with plenty of time to do my makeup in a Starbucks parking lot, then grab a coffee and still get to set.

It was an extremely long day and I met some interesting characters, to say the least! I think I broke a heart of two, but that's what you get when you follow me around for twelve hours, even after acknowledging the ring on my finger! The details of the shoot are on my public "actor blog."

For now, I need to get some damn sleep! I have to be "perfectly quaffed" and beautiful at the 20th Century FOX studios today at noon for background on the TV show Dollhouse.

The stars are shining over LA tonight

Thirty minutes ago I sat alone in my room listening to a party going on over my head. Drunk musings from their balcony flowed down onto mine and through my screen door. It was getting annoying.

Then, out of no where a deep soulful voice and a strumming guitar joined the mix. At moments the drunk people sang along or yelled out "play us another song." I eventually stepped out onto my balcony to see a tall, old, black gentleman in a plaid shirt and cowboy hat taking up a parking spot across the street. His voice was beautiful and the content of his life was beside him in a cardboard box, strapped to a dolly. He was singing songs about happiness and love.

I felt like I was watching an oxymoron. How could someone with seemingly nothing sound so fulfilled? The branches of the tree in front of me stretched out around his silhouette under the street lights; he was perfectly framed by leaves as he sang "Stand By Me."

It is an absolutely perfect, beautiful, still night in Los Angeles. I looked up and was surprised to even see a few stars twinkling above.

Directly above me, the party goers decided to head to a local bar and I stood ready to yell at them, depending how they interacted with the man on the street. As surprised as I was to see the stars, that paled in comparison to what happened next; three of them gave him money. Shame on me for my lack of faith in humanity.

Not long after they all left, the man with the guitar leaned his dolly back upon its wheels and literally moseyed down the street. Now there's silence.

I have found that this city consistently lacks substance; but if tonight is any indication, the moments that do speak to you, speak... or rather sing volumes.

So long to #24

Tonight I worked on Californication again; this time it was a scene between Evan Handler and David Duchovney. I am also scheduled to work a Nike commercial next Tuesday! More about that later...

In other news, I am dissatisfied with the skin care trial I am in for a number of reasons. The products dried out my face far worse than I could have imagined, even with their warnings. My two emails about it have not been returned and I have no idea when we're shooting the "after" testimonials, rendering me incapable of scheduling a visit home in August!

Dry skin is about to be the least of my appearance problems; in the morning I am having a tooth pulled! Number twenty-four, which is front and center on the bottom, will be gone! In its place I'll have a gap for the next few months until the Invisiline braces start pushing the other teeth to their proper placement. I think I already explained that I could have kept the tooth, but the results would have been less predictable, taken a bit longer and we would have had to file between all my other bottom teeth to make room for #24, which currently protrudes forward. The filing sounded worse than the pulling to me!

I fear the gap will really limit my abilities; will I look like a freak when I speak to my tourist at Universal through the fish-eye camera on the new HD tram monitors? Will I still be able to get "pretty girl" background work? Should I even bother submitting for film and theatre projects?

*Deep breath*

I just keep reminding myself that a gap in my bottom teeth will be no worse than the hideous crookedness of the tooth that will no longer be there. As I've written before, my teeth are absolutely unacceptable, I'm just used to them; the gap will be equal to what I've lived with for twenty-some years! Then, the gap will be gone in a few months and by the winter of 2010, I'll FINALLY have straight teeth!

Last, one of my roommates is moving out. I'm bummed because I really liked him, we all really got along and he was never here, which is the very best trait a roommate can have! I am excited that for only $2 more per month I can move into his room, which is much larger and have his spot in the parking garage! However, this means the remaining roommate and I have to find someone new, which will be a time consuming, difficult, obnoxious processes. I literally want to advertise "a room for rent for storage or day time office space!" Or even "rent this cheap room so your parents don't know you really live with..." AKA we want someone who won't really be here much!

My concern is that the new person won't be a push-over like me and they'll actually question the inadequacies of the price vs. room size and parking space. This is compounded by the fact that the roommate gave us his 30 notice yesterday as he left for a two week family vacation over seas! This means that if we interview people and show the room now, the fact that I'm upgrading to the larger room will be obviously. I suppose that may have been the case no matter what, depending when in the 30 days he moved out... Rather than all that hassle, I think I'd rather find a new two bedroom place with the existing roommate! Finding a whole new place probably sounds like more of a headache, but if you saw the nasty carpet in this place, or tried to split space in a refrigerator among three people, you'd understand!

I am officially a dot com!

In the unlikely event you haven't already seen this on my other blog, Facebook or Twitter, I have purchased my domain name and have "launched" a new website. It's www.myfullname.com. If you are a random reader, to whom I am actually anonymous, wow, really? And sorry, you shall remain out of the loop.

As I mentioned before, the new site and Twitter will feature a positive version of reality, but the rest of the story can still be found here. :) Nonetheless, please sign up to follow me on Twitter and the new actor blog, otherwise I just look like a loser!

Wow, where did this week go? When I haven't been busy I haven't felt like being online a whole lot either...

Tuesday I worked on Californiaction, which was pretty cool. I guess it was the first time I was in the presence Hollywood names! (Paris Hilton doesn't count! I did background on her New BFF reality show last fall.) We got out early and I was able to go to an open call at Central Casting for background for an upcoming vampire movie called Priest. I wore a black corset and made my hair look all gross and all they did was snap a quick photo. The casting director working on the project wasn't even there, so I could have just emailed a photo. Oh well. That night I went to the first of the summer's free acting classes offered to Universal Tour Guides. Last year I was only able to go to two of the six classes, being taught by a guy who specialized in the Stella Adler technique of acting. This year, instead of being so style-specific, the class is more on an audition technique course, which is probably more useful to a broad range of people. Sherry Shaw is the instructor.

Needless to say, that day felt amazing. I was paid to be on a set, I went to an open call for future work and I participated in a class. That is what I moved here to do!

Wednesday I picked up a shift at Universal. That was my first day working on the new HD trams, meaning the screens the guests see the video clips on look a whole lot nicer, but also that I had all new numbers to punch in to que those videos up! Oh, and my second tram got stuck coming out of "Park Lake" where we "part the waters" ala Charlton Heston and the Red Sea, and drive by the scale model sets used for the recent King Kong. That was fun; it's such a boring place to be stopped, I just played them the bloopers clip to pass the time!

I am so mad at myself about Wednesday night... First, you have to understand how disgusting you feel after doing that job. You're sitting in scary poli-blend, pleated, "mom" shorts on a faux leather padded seat in 85 degree weather. Every time you get off a tour, you're sure it must look like you've wet yourself. Somehow, it doesn't show, but your back and ass feel gross! So Wednesday night we had the first free Universal workshop of the summer, featuring a manager and the casting director from House. HOUSE!

I absolutely had to pick up copies of my headshot after work to take to that workshop and taking a shower was a close number two on my priority list. I live very close to Universal and literally did nothing but grab the headshots, take an uber quick shower, scarf down some food, blow dry and apply make up. There was no dilly-dallying, no curling the hair, no updating my Facebook status or Twitter... Nothing! Still, I did not make it to the workshop in time to read for them. I wasn't late, but they only agreed to give sides to the first twenty-two people to sign up. I still stayed and listened to them speak and watched my peers read. There were ten or twelve of us who didn't make the cut. I was so mad at myself! How did I miss the opportunity to read for the woman who casts House! Stupid, stupid, stupid! I should have just gone in my stinky work uniform. The woman who schedules the guests says they'll come back to read the rest of us again, but we'll see...

Thursday morning I had a dentist appointment downtown. I've written before about my crooked teeth that I've ignored instead of fix. Back in April I agreed to help a coworker at a bridal expo where I met a dentist who does Invisiline, the clear retainer type braces. I'd previously been told my teeth were too bad for Invisiline, but this guy seemed to think it was possible. With the bridal show special I got a free consultation, slight discount and free whitening (after it's done), even though I'm not a bridezilla. People have suggested shopping around and various ways of trying to get it done for free, all of which I appreciate very much, but at the end of the day, I went with this guy because I actually like him! In my experience, most dentists are assholes who are completely unsympathetic to your pain and anxiety. This guy runs a practice called Zen Dental. Granted, that mainly means Asian decor in the lobby and a TV above your head to watch during procedures, but at least they're making an effort!

Anyway, after taking all sorts of molds and photos and sending it to the Invisiline company and talking to other dentists, I went in Thursday to watch my videos. With a didgital model on his computer he was able to show me the journey my teeth will take. I was, unfortunately, given the choice, to pull or not to pull! Both are possible, but by leaving the tooth that protrudes forward, we'd have to file between all the other teeth to create room and the results are much less predictable. Pulling means I'd have one less front bottom tooth than most people, but he'd be more sure of the results and get them a couple months sooner. I had originally thought that if I had to have things pulled that I should be knocked out and rid myself of my wisdom teeth all at the same time! However, only my top wisdom teeth are showing on ex rays and only one of them has really come in. I complained about it's pain back in March, but since then it's only bothered me once. So the big decision is to.... go back next Thursday and have tooth #24 yanked out of my face! OMG, I can't even think about it! Moving on...

Also on Thursday I registered with Extras Management. Instead of constantly calling the Central Casting hotline to get extra work, I now have a calling service to do it for me! They also book for at least fourteen additional casting agencies for background and standin work. With them, I will hopefully get more consistent work. Their monthly fee is $75, which is about one days pay. If you're not booked in a given month, you only pay $10 or if you're only booked once it's $40. I've been told by several sources that given my type, I should work a lot, but now that I don't have to call in myself to get work, I feel apathetic! I am anxiously awaiting my first text or call from them; after it starts happening, I'm sure I'll feel better.

Today I'm working at Universal, so I suppose I should get some sleep!

"Most people recognize my ass from looking up at it during strip club scenes."

This morning I did background work on Showtime's Californication. I was a patron in a restaurant scene with actors Evan Handler and Pamela Adlon. For those of you asking, "who?," I know Even best as Charlotte's second husband Harry in Sex and the City. Or, he's the actor who looks like Howie Mandell. We only worked for four hours, but will be paid for 8! It was a small call, only about 25 extras; most of them were extremely low key, so I sat with the first woman who exhibited signs of a pulse. Big mistake. I ended up learning more than I ever wanted to know about the world of being a stripper extra!

I said, "You look really familiar to me, I think you remind me of someone I know, but I can't put my finger on who." She said, "Oh, we were probably extras together, most people recognize my ass from looking up at it during strip club scenes." And away she went... "My friend is really flat, but stuffs and gets tons of work, but one time they made up go topless and then she got fired... So then on my next interview I didn't stuff, just in case, and I was the only one who didn't get called back, and it ended up not being topless. I should have stuffed... And then on Showtime shows they made you were a lot of pasties..." And on, and on, and on...

Anyway, the set was gorgeous. Evan smiled at me and depending which shot they use, I might be a blur over his left shoulder! lol!

Now I'm headed to an open call at Central Casting for an upcoming vampire movie. Although my instinct is that all vampire movies for the next few years will just be bad Twilight knockoffs, it would be nice to be booked on a film that would give me steady work. And by steady I mean maybe a week of knowing you're on the same project each day. That would be awesome! They want pale, skinny, stringy haired, sickly, unhappy people. Perfect! I'm wearing a black corset and jeans with dark lips, dark eye make up and I plan to take some baby oil to my hair.

While I'm in the area, I was going to register with the highly recommended calling service across the street. However, I'm not sure this is the look I want them to photograph and their website isn't loading.

And then, Universals free six week acting class starts tonight. I'll need to practice a scene they emailed us and wash the stringy, sad, vampireness out of my hair!

I*N*S*O*M*N*I*A

I have not been sleeping at night; it's ridiculous!

It's now 5:20 a.m. and I haven't gone to bed. It's been like this for a few days now. Yesterday was really bad; I was awake until 9 a.m. and then slept until 5 or 6 in the afternoon, completely missing any possible Independence Day celebrations.

It's easy to blame this on the all night Iron Man shoots, but I don't really think that's it. It certainly didn't helped, but moreover there's some sort of bored energy that pushes the normal 2 a.m. bedtime into 4 a.m., 5 a.m., or later... I think I'm so bummed that I'm alone each night with nothing to do, that for some stupid reason going to sleep makes it seem even worse. Does that make any sense at all? The annoying thing is that I can't really account for the lost time. It doesn't feel like hours pass by, rather, all of a sudden it's tomorrow! The main way I've spent the phantom time is building a website of sorts.

It's actually a blog because that's what I'm familiar with, but I'm attempting to pass it off as my official actor website by removing as many blog attributes as possible Along with it though, I've set up another actor blog and will begin "tweeting" actor things, even though I think Twitter is really lame. I even broke down and purchased my domain name for $10. It hasn't gone live yet, but this faux website will be at myname.com, hopefully in a day or two. I thought it would happen immediately, but apparently internet magic takes one to three days.

Basically, the website and actor blog will make everything look and sound wonderful, but I'll still share the real story here! Not only is it just smart for me to own my domain name, I'm going to use this to hold myself accountable. It'll probably just increase my stress level, but hopefully I can make that work for me. Public opinion has been a part of my life for several years now as a pageant contestant and then a TV spokesperson; although I wish I didn't, the fact is that I do care what people think. Honestly, we all do!

When I was in high school and college I was always really busy and always competing and winning things. No longer receiving tangible awards that are tall or sparkly or written about in a newspaper feels odd!!! As most of you know, the pageant circuit is a place where you need to be constantly active and accomplished. Since moving on to this new phase of my life, there have been periods of time when I couldn't answer the questions "what are you doing now days? What are you up to? What's new?" At least I didn't have an answer that sounded good enough to me or impressive enough to suit my former active college/pageant contestant self.

I figure with the public actor website, blog and twitter, I'll be motivated by a fear of public scrutiny! That doesn't sound healthy does it...? Let's put it this way, if I spin everything into a positive light for those sites, maybe I'll start to believe my own bullshit instead of being such a downer all the time! We'll see... If nothing else, I now own myname.com, even though google is holding it hostage out there somewhere in the depths of cyberspace.

I AM SO PISSED!

Tonight I filled in for a friend in a role in the Mini Musical Festival; it did not go well. As I've mentioned before, it's just a 10 to 15 minute show and not difficult or a very big deal, but any performance requires a certain amount of preparation and resources that I was not given. As a result, tonight was embarrassing!

This show has 8 characters, which is a lot for such a short piece. The character I'm filling in for this weekend is one of three chorus women who are almost always onstage, either as factory workers or roadies with a band. A huge frustration is that we didn't receive actual music. I read music! I need to read music. Three of the male lead's songs were written and then the chorus had to write in where we sometimes echo or "ooooo" along with him and basically pick a note to harmonize. It's easy music so that part actually isn't the issue.

What sucks is that the show opens with the three of us onstage and over the canned accompaniment we sing a few lines, then speak a few, and so on. The first two lines of the show are sung, by my character.

Let me back up a bit... Last week I went to a rehearsal; the friend I'm filling in for couldn't be there until the end, so I assumed they'd go over music with me. Well, since there isn't sheet music that didn't happen, I just sort of watched and tried to figure out where my character fit in. I got up and learned a bit of the blocking, but it wasn't a very structured rehearsal and they were also breaking in a new male lead who was taking over the end of the run. When my friend arrived I watched her do a couple scenes, then watched the entire festival last Sunday afternoon.

Last night I went to my friend's place to go over more of the blocking, the dance moves and the music. However, she had never actually practiced with the accompaniment CD she'd been given. When she popped it in she realized that since it was given to her, they'd changed the keys of all the songs! So, I had no sheet music and incorrect canned music...

After Sunday's show the composer said he'd email me about a rehearsal. He had not. Thursday night I emailed him and he said they'd "try to get everyone together at 6:30 to run through it" before the festival began at 8 p.m. Well, that didn't happen tonight. My cast mates rolled in between 7 and 7:15, and no one was concerned. I wasn't tremendously concerned myself, but rather a bit annoyed.

Really? The person with the first fucking line is going to go on in front of a sold-out house without so much as a run through?

We talked through things, but I kept reminding people, even though I've seen the show and I understand what you're telling me, that's very different than actually, physically doing it on stage! We finally walked through a few scenes in the parking lot, no props, no music.

Okay, so those who know me well know that I love to sing; I'm a well trained singer, but HATE kareoke. Does that sound odd? I can't stand canned music and I can't always find my pitch from that weird computer generated noise they call accompaniment. Well, that's how tonight was. I counted and came in at the right moment, but my pitch was off. Gee I wonder why... because I hadn't heard the actual song in the correct key since Sunday, when I was an audience member, perhaps? I was quickly able to get the the right melody, but my next line was a measure early and then a cast mate covered my next spoken line, since I was obviously all fucked up!

It's just embarrassing because I'm so much better than that. I should have known better than to think it would just fall into place. That doesn't happen; art is a difficult discipline. Performing is so much harder than people think. I'm amazing and I love it, but the easier a performer makes it seem, the more time they've probably put into it!

Apparently, the woman I'm replacing was the glue of the cast, as later in the show everyone forgot to sing the first two lines of a group number. The director mentioned another place where something similar happened, but I don't remember where... Not all the props were correctly preset, the scene changes were sloppy, it was simply a disaster!

You probably can't tell by everything I've just written, but I do really like everyone in the show and the festival. The composer is amazingly sweet, the director is really cool, the cast is fun, but... There's just no excuse for a TEN minute show to be such a train wreck.

I am embarrassed and I want to take responsibility for my part, but I don't feel like I have the resources to do that! I mean, without sheet music or the correct key on the cd, what am I supposed to do? Tomorrow I will insist that we do the first number, with the music, on the stage before the house opens. Past that, the six people who have actually been doing the show for three weekends now really need to get their shit together!

And by "Callback" they meant...

That they'd take your "before" photos, make you sign some forms and give you your free products!

So, yes, I am in the Neutrogena SkinID trial. I am happy, but still a bit frustrated with their misuse of the term callback. You see, to an actor that insights a certain level of mental energy; I spent a lot of time thinking about what I'd say at my callback and how to sell myself as an ideal candidate. I dressed to impress, I curled my hair, etc... I shouldn't be complaining, but they shoudln't have called it a callback!

For the first time ever, I don't want this blemish gone in the morning!

To my surprise, I did get a call back for the Neutrogena SkinID trial for this afternoon. (Read the previous post first if this is new to you.) So I am actually hoping that my current blemishes don't clear up! It was odd yesterday morning, as I looked at myself in the mirror wondering, "is it bad enough?"

Is it bad enough? Of course it is! As I told the camera yesterday, I can't believe I've been dealing with this problem since I was in junior high; I'm a little bit of a control freak and my skin has never been something I could control. It saddened me to realize, what seems good by my usual standards for my face, and hopefully not too good for the purposes of this trial, should not be acceptable for anyone!

I told them yesterday, "I saw a skincare ad that was 'finally' for the woman who is too young for wrinkles but too old for acne, but I don't know who that is! I don't feel one bit sorry for her! I'm at an age that I need a product to combat both and I haven't found that yet; I'm an ignored demographic." I have no idea what SkinID targets, but that's honestly how I feel. I'm sure there is an appropriate product out there, but I don't have the money or time to try new things. Once you find a decent routine, you're hesitant to disturb the somewhat good thing that you have going, but a free trial... Fantastic!

As soon as I left yesterday I was thinking of all the things I should have said, so hopefully I'll get the opportunity to say them at the callback today.

This one's for you, babe...

Today my guy noted that I hadn't been blogging much. "I blogged from set," I replied. But he's right, I've not done anything extensive. It's been a... rough? interesting? trying? couple weeks. In my mind various things have been floating around and as a result, I haven't taken the time or found the focus to tackle any of them.

As Murphy's Law would have it, in this moment I'd like to sit here on my balcony with my cup of coffee and type up a storm, but I have to go... Recall the musical that was on, then off, then on, then off again? I felt guilty when I declined another small role in a different musical, but alas, I will be part of that damn festival after all! A friend and cast mate from one of last years shows got roped into it again this year, but she can't do the last three performances. Tonight, or right now rather, I'm going to her place to go over the music and dance moves to perform her part TOMORROW, Friday and Sunday! I've gone to one rehearsal and watched the show Sunday, but that's it. Granted, it's just a chorus role in a campy ten minute show, her character does sing the first line and there are synchronized dance steps, so I'm a little frustrated that I've not heard from the director about a run through tomorrow afternoon. Of course, I'm regretting saying yes! But, after I get tomorrow night out of the way, I'm sure Friday and Sunday will be fun; unless something better comes along that I can't do because of the show, then I'll just be pissed.

This afternoon I went to Hollywood for an audition for a trial of Nuetrogina's SkinID. If selected I'd get free products for six weeks. A year ago I contemplated a similar trial but my acting teacher discouraged me since those things are not normally paid. This time I said fuck it! I need the freebies! When I got there today I ran into a coworker from Universal who said she'd heard you do indeed get a couple hundred dollars if they use your testimonial. That would be awesome. In the audition room however, I don't think I did so well. I have always had troubled skin and in answering their "how has acne affected your life?" questions I was genuine, but I fear it didn't come off that way. Between seeing a zillion skin care product commercials and knowing what is said on them, and being a trained speaker and tour guide, I worry I wasn't "real" enough, even though I was, I wasn't. Does that make any sense? I guess we'll see!

As for my sales job, I never went back! More on that later...

I am looking at a stunning pink and blue sunset, stretching out above the biggest green screen I've ever seen! We're in the Valley, filming more expo scenes for Iron Man 2. This time the background actor holding area is just a large tent... It's going to SUCK later!

As many of you are waking in Ohio, I have yet to go to sleep in LA. Tonight's Iron Man shoot is much more involved. I actually think I'll have sore muscles because of all the running. We have done 10 to 15 takes running down a flight of 50 steps. Yes, I counted. Let me remind you, the average staircase in ones house is 10 to 15 steps! They've told us we'll be going out at least one more time, which means overtime pay! I've also been recalled for Monday, and possibly Tuesday, at a different location that is much closer to my apartment.

Photos from last night

These are not as exciting as you thought they would be...

Part of the lovely holding area; I was incredibly impressed by how thoroughly the gymnasium floor was covered.


Here we are walking down the stairs to the courtyard; note the graphics I mentioned previously projected up on the wall.


This huge green screen was a story above the courtyard where we filmed our running scenes; in the photo above, I had just walked around it and it was then on my left.


Production trailers; none of the actors were there, meaning none of the fancy trailers and cool cars. Last night we did filmed a few more running takes at about 4:00 a.m. and were then release at 5, but will be paid until 6 a.m., minus a half hour break! So, yes, I'll get a little bit of overtime, having only been onset for like 45 minutes!

I'm headed back right now for another 6:30 p.m. call time.

At about midnight we finally went to the set, if you can call it that. The courtyard area of this high school campus is huge, modern and very industrial. They only had a few "expo" signs and graphics projected on a large wall. All we did was four takes, running and screaming as drones attack. This scene will end up including tons of CGI , crazy editing and special effects.

After chatting with some other actors, they set out another meal for us. It's like wedding reception food, but about ten times better.

Others who've worked the previous two nights don't think we'll be here as long, since none of the characters are here shooting their scenes. I hope they're wrong; I'll gladly stay till the sun comes up in order to get overtime pay!

Well, five hours later, I've still done nothing! I can't complain and I was totally wrong about craft services, there has been a constant spread.

We're in a 98% finished wing of this high school, so it's perfect for this purpose. Although, someone was speculating this was the school that cost millions but hasn't been opened due to toxins or something. Yikes!

Hello from the auditorium of LA High School. I've been here for nearly an hour and a half and done nothing but consume a burger and fries! I have no idea when they'll be taking us to the set, but I have heard that shooting has been going till 6 a.m.

Headed to Iron Man 2!

I am headed off to my first gig through Central Casting - extra work on Iron Man 2! It's going to be huge, I'm guessing like 500 extras; we're supposed to be attendees at a techie expo in New York City. We had to agree to "lots of running," so I assume it's a scene where all hell breaks loose.

My biggest concern is hunger. I'm eating now, but this is my first meal of the day; I have to be there at 6:30 and it'll last 8 to 12 hours. I highly doubt they'll have craft services (food on set) for such a large scene with so many extras. I'm taking a snack, but with that, a second outfit just in case and planning whether to carry a purse or keep the few essentials on me, I feel like like I'm packing for a trip! $8 an hour shouldn't take such mental energy! I guess I'm just a little nervous; it's not that my "performance" will actually be seen by anyone or that I'll even make the credits, but rather that it's my first time on a big, working production, and first job with Central. I don't want to fuck up in any way...

I'm sure I'll have lots of fun updates, stories and maybe even a picture later.

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Random!

In my last post I likened the lanes of LA traffic to a snail and a turtle; but then I wondered, was that right? Are turtles slightly faster than snails, or is it the other way around?

Well, thank you LOL blog for letting me know I was correct:

"Wait, what?"

That is what I keep saying to myself. "I'm sorry, what? You'll have to explain this again because it can't be right..."

What am I talking about? My life! My current existence. This situation I find myself in. My guy was here for seven days, which is his longest trip yet; he usually distributes his days off in shorter segments. We had an absolutely wonderful time. We visited three different beaches, we hiked three different canyons, we went to two films, spent a day at Universal, had a picnic at the park... We're just good together! It's instant; I totally forgot it was even his first day here until he noted it was 2 a.m., his time. I could go on and on with the sappiness, the point is that my life is full and complete when my true love is here to share it with. Being reminded of that for not just three or four, but seven days, made his departure the hardest yet. At the airport he had to put me back in my car and walk away.

My life is so hollow without someone to share things with. I do nothing. NOTHING! Sure, I have a few friends out here and one of my roommates is awesome, but everything with everybody is "we should do...," "we should meet...," "I'll let you know..." And that's as much my fault as theirs, probably more so. When that one special person is present in your life, you actually go and you do and you, I don't... LIVE!

In that week I became so used to not being alone anymore, I am now completely lost. Last night I wrote to my guy, "I feel honestly confused and paralyzed at the idea that you're not here anymore, that we're not going to wake up and go hiking tomorrow, that I will spend my day at the most unfulfilling job I've ever had only to come back to this apartment and have absolutely nothing of major importance to do... I mean, that can't be right, can it? How is it that we have the one thing most people can never find, and yet, we can't fully enjoy it? I just feel like I can't, can't, CAN'T keep living like this, without you."

So needless to say I was none to happy about going back to my daily grind yesterday. I started off a bit behind schedule, but then it was shot to hell when the apartment manager stopped by. It was an issue I had to talk to her about. Obviously it's my fault that a few minutes would push me into serious lateness; what wasn't my fault was not being able to find the lid to the container I wanted to take coffee in. I hate my kitchen and my roommates lack of cleanliness and organization. So frustration was added to my apathy.

Once in my car, the very first bump I hit on my side street knocked my rear view mirror off my window. My guy had forgotten it was broken and had tried to adjust it early in the week, thus disturbing the way it had been rigged up there for over a year. It was dangling by a 4 inch wire, swirling around and bouncing against the window.

I merged onto the highway to find a bumper-to-bumper traffic moving at a snails pace. Yes, I'm in LA, which is known for traffic, but for the place and time, this was abnormal. Without the mirror I couldn't possibly get across four lanes of traffic to the "fast lanes" in which I could have upgraded to turtles pace.

Tears. Instant, pathetic, stupid tears start rolling down my face. None of it was worth the hassle. When you're alone in the world again it's even harder to power through the things that you hate...

Last Tuesday, when I last worked, they made a huge deal about tardiness, saying if you were late you'd get the worst agent number (meaning really old leads) and they won't do any take-overs for you. I don't know if they're actually enforcing that or if it was a one day threat, but it deterred me from trying to get there at all. By my standards, my mascara streaked cheeks and red nose could not be seen in public, so I got off the highway at the next exit and drove back to my apartment. I know I'm going to be on probation; I'll absolutely have to get five deals in a week to keep that job, but I don't want that job.

I thought after a week off I could go back refreshed, but instead it made me dread it more than ever. When you're in a routine, it's just what you do, but once you step away from it, you can see how truly horrible it is! Why the hell are we enduring such loneliness during our long weeks apart and debilitating angst with every goodbye, when I'm not even doing what I'm here to do? I mean, I'm selling fucking auto warranties from 1 to 7 p.m., which renders me nearly incapable of auditions and classes. The job boasts of flexibility, but that's only for the "hitters," as they call them. If you don't sell enough, you can't constantly get time off for this and that. This is a job that I honestly don't want to be good at, even though it's a decent company and product, I can't stand the tactics. Most of the people who are successful, are absolute douchebags who work longer hours; they think they're god's gift to warranty sales, as if that's an impressive life accomplishment.

I know my goal was to get a day job and save some money, but after a month and a half of doing just that, I find myself freaking out. What am I doing? What the hell am I doing? I haven't gone on a real audition in a month! I'm no closer to having a good agent than I was six months ago and our house in Ohio has been on the market for a year now. Why? Certainly not so I could spend all my time selling shitty auto warranties over the phone. If I wanted to waste my life in an unfulfilling job, I could have stayed in Ohio and avoided the heartache.

As for that horrible job I blew off yesterday, I think I could probably waltz in today without consequence. If by chance someone actually notices and mentions that I was supposed have been there yesterday, I think I could play dumb. Oops. Did I write down the wrong date? My guy says he would fire one of his sales people for something like that. I don't care. I know my number is about up anyway. The funny part is that I was more motivated to outlast the people I trained with than by my earning potential. Now that I am the last of my class left on my shift, what have I to strive for? Um, actually keeping my job and making tons of money? Well, yes, there's that, but this is not a company at which I'll flourish, and I'm okay with that. I really like that I'm stimulated by something other than money. Being the last one to endure was so much more fulfilling than successfully selling a markup to a customer who is fighting tooth and nail not to buy...

Some friends were really supportive, saying I deserved a "mental health day!" I don't know that it helped though. I did nothing yesterday and feel more lost than ever. It's like I just woke up from a coma or something; I'm really trying to understand what's going on around me and it just doens't make sense.

The mini musical that could, then it couldn't, then it could again, and now it can't...

As I mentioned before, after the run of the ten minute musical festival last year I found myself a bit frustrated with the lack of professionalism and caliber of performance, both from myself and those I worked with. If you'd have asked me then, I would have said I'd absolutely not do that festival again.

Fast forward one year and I was elated to have the director of the theatre help me move into my new apartment and eager to get back on stage, any stage, once again! This years festival opens the 19th of this month; I was given a dominant role in one of the shows about a month ago. Three weeks ago I auditioned for a director, who then quit before even holding a rehearsal and so the show was off. At that point I was bummed... Then it was on again! A week and a half or two weeks ago, I actually saw the script for the first time at our read-through. Two of the six roles still needed to be filled, so I took my roommate along to audition for it.

Though perfect for the role, my roommate couldn't fit it into his work schedule. At our second real rehearsal, this past Tuesday, another man auditioned and was instantly given the role, and the sixth small part was still open, as was the end of the show... The writer was still finishing things and we'd not actually gotten sheet music of the songs!

Wednesday they met for a music rehearsal, which I did not attend because my guy got into town that day and it was our anniversary. Then last night, as I peeled myself off of the couch, where he and I were watching movies, to go to a 9 p.m. rehearsal, I discovered two voicemails from the director. Three cast members had quit within 20 minutes of one another! One due to work and the other two were family and had to travel out of the country for a funeral! Now it is officially cut from the festival.

This time, I am relieved. My assumption is that the music rehearsal I'd missed the night before was probably a huge disaster! I knew what I was getting into, but I could see the look of "WTF?!" that I had had last year on the faces of my cast mates on Tuesday night.

At my last rehearsal our director, who again is a co-owner/director of the theatre, received a call from the director of another musical in the festival still looking to fill a small part. No surprise, in his voicemail to me with the "bad news" that my musical was cut, the director had "good news" that I could fill a role in another show. I am horrible at saying no to people and though I feel really guilty, I am proud of myself that in this case I did it! This musical festival opens in six days! The role was described as "lots of singing and dancing" and I do not dance! There's no way I was going to devote several hours of rehearsal to a tiny part in a thrown-together ten minute musical, while my guy's in town! Not to mention, I hadn't told work that I'd need to leave early on Thursdays and Fridays for the next four weeks to get to the performances! I hate to be a diva, but having one or two lines in a ten to fifteen minute show is simply not worth it...

I do feel very badly about it. I mean, when he helped me move, the thanks I was to give him was by being in the musical festival. I remember thinking (and probably writing) that it was a total win-win for me!

*sigh*

I don't think I've burnt a bridge, but I've definitely let someone down, which is often worse...

This is why I don't like being early...

"To be early is to be on time; to be on time is to be late and to be late is unacceptable."

There are people in this world who live by that motto; they are better than I. I like to be just a tad early, but right on time for the most part. Being too early makes me crazy.

Case in point, I had to move my car at 8 a.m. My guy's flight gets in at 11:15. On the way, I need to stop at a store that opens at 10:30... So here I sit at 9:38, going C*R*A*Z*Y! My makeup is on, my apartment is clean, I am just waiting to leave. I probably should have gone to the grocery this morning, but now there's not quite enough time to do that...

Right now my guy is somewhere over Colorado (thanks to flightaware.com) and I just want him here. Now. It's been two months and two days since we last saw each other, which is not long in comparison to some distance relationships, but the longest he and I have ever been apart in our five and a half years (today!) of knowing one another.

I don't know how, but I made it through the last two days of work and am looking forward to seven days with him. We have a loose schedule of great things planned, including two free movies, a day at Universal, hopefully a day at the beach if the thermometer can manage to crack into the 70s... I do have rehearsals for the mini-musical, but other than that, it's just he and I!

Needless to say, I'll likely not be blogging much...

Survivor: Warranty - Outlasting and going out of my freaking mind!

It is almost 4 a.m. and I should be sleeping.

I just spent a ton of time on my other blog compiling a list that was all involved, as if I'm still a participant in a past activity. Now my alertness has shifted from an activity that I know all too much about to the reality of my sales job, at which I'm still a novice.

I've been working on an entry titled "My job makes me feel bi-polar," but have yet to finish and post it. In a nutshell, sales is full of extreme highs and lows. Two weeks ago, I wrote seven deals; three of which came on the same day! That's called a hat trick and it makes you feel pretty damn good. The managers kept asking me what I was doing differently and acting as if I suddenly "got it." No. Not at all. I truly believe it's the leads, and maybe that's part of my problem. That week I was using the log in of a veteran employee who was on vacation. I was calling people who literal requested the information online twenty seconds prior!

Last week I should have had four new deals and three post dates. None of the post dates went through and one of the deals was disconnected after I got bother her VIN number and credit card info; I just needed to transfer her to verification but haven't been able to get her back on the phone. That's a very frustrating situation. As a result of only putting three deals on the board last week, I was back to a horrible "agent number" today, calling leads that were six weeks old. What the fuck? I am so sick of working at a place that fosters the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer... And they wonder why they have to hire a new training class every four to six weeks?

Friday was the last day for my closest female coworker; I miss her, but we all knew it would happen because I don't think she ever did more than three a week. All last week a male coworker, who I give a ride to work, was out of town. Today he came back and was told some managers wanted to outright fire him, but another "fought for him" and the requirement was that he had to get at least one deal every single day, or he'd be gone. That's rough because normally the probation period requires five deals in a week, no matter when or how you come by them. He didn't get a new deal today, but a post date hit the board for him, so we're not sure if he's good for tomorrow or not. Either way, he hates it and is ready to move on; meaning, I'll be the last of my training class left on my shift. There were four of us and now just me...

But I've taken this Wednesday to next Wednesday off since my guy will be in town. I haven't been on probation, so the time was given without question. I expected them to tell me just to take the full two weeks, since only two days in a work week doesn't do much for anyone in my job, but they did not. Now I'm awake at 4 a.m. thinking I should make that extension for myself.

I did try at work yesterday, but it was miserable and unsuccessful. If today is the same, all that does is put a huge target on my back! I know I'll be on probation as soon as I get back from my vacation. Then there's the fact that the Thursday and Friday I get back are show nights; I'll need to leave an hour early to get to the musical. I feel like I'd be better off not going in today and then extending my leave through all of next week. That way I'd go back Monday the 22nd and have a full work week to get five deals and be in the clear again. Does that make sense?

I am usually not one to shy away from making money. I'll do what I have to do to make ends meet; I mean, obviously, I've been enduring this bullshit for six weeks now! But I really feel like going in today and not getting a deal is worse than not going in at all and the meager amount money I'll earn today barely feels worth it.

Per my request via an email that basically said everything written above, my guy (the sales manager) just called me. His words of wisdom? "Effort goes a long way in getting someone to cut you some slack." Gggrrr! *sigh* Eye roll.

I know he's right, but it's certainly not what I wanted to hear when I'd pretty much talked myself out of going to work today.

Two weeks ago when I got seven deals, I felt like I could do this job; once you're on a roll, it's not hard anymore. But when you're dealing with people who don't even remember requesting a quote, it's an out-and-out fight to get their credit card. Even though the company is credible, closing people in a single call almost always requires some sort of white lie; it's never about the coverage they get, and price is always a negotiating tool, but rather it's about why they have to buy today. When you're getting new leads, creating that urgency is like a comment mentioned in passing; it's fine because they wanted to buy anyway. But when the leads are old, that white lie becomes a heavy dead horse that you have to beat over their head for thirty fucking minutes... I don't get exhausted from talking to people, following my script and responding to their objections. But when it becomes a fight and everything hinges on the white lie reason they have to buy today, I just can't take it. This is not the kind of job for me.

I've proven I can do this job, when given the opportunity with legitimate buyers, but I'll gladly be fired before I become like the cold hearted douchbags I work with who think it's funny to take the last dollar from someones bank account based on the complete lie that if not today, they could never get a warrenty on their car, that's a piece of shit no matter what!

So what will get me through six more hours of it this afternoon? Probably Silly Puddy and secretly working on my lines. If by chance a buyer actually picks up the phone, that will be great, but if not, I'll harbor no feelings of inadaquacy. In the game of Survivor: Warranty at least I outlasted the other newbies of my shift!

Over It!

I am at work, hating my job right now! I'm calling leads that requested a quote six freaking weeks ago! That's pathetic. And I'm only working today and tomorrow, then I'm off for a week while my guy's in town. Needless to say, I am checked out, completely! No one's answering, so I'm working on lines for the musical.

Nothing like an evening stroll on a movie lot...

Last night I met a Universal coworker/former scene partner/friend and his partner for an employee screening of Land of the Lost. This is not a movie I would have ever considered even seeing on dvd, but since the screening is free, and we have to tell our guest it filmed in Stage 27 and I feel really cool being on the lot, I went... Oh, and I had nothing else to do on a Friday night. I tried to have an open mind and it was slightly better than expected, but still not my cup of tea. Neither Will Farrell nor the plot did anything for me. The dinosaur named Grumpy and Matt Lauer's cameo were both fantastic though!

After the movie we decided to find Stage 1 where Conan O'Brien is now filming Late Night, since the tram is now going a different direction to show the guests. It's probably adding three to five minutes to the tour and taking us by sound stages that we know nothing about. The funny thing about movie lots, or Universal's at least, is that the sound stages do not go in order. For example, Stage 5 is next to Stage 16. Also, what appears to be a single building might house or connect multiple stages, so it's very confusing. One of our stall clips features Jason Alexander talking about getting lost his first day of filming Seinfeld.

[The two photos below are things seen on the front lot that I found random and amusing.]













Anyway, we walked in circles for a while and finally decided that Conan's new theatre must be in an unmarked building right up front by one of the gates. As tour guides, my friend and I have "All Access Passes" and can technically go anywhere on the lot as long as we're not interrupting filming. Many employees walk the lot for exercise, but we were both still hesitant to use our privilege, especially since it was 9 p.m. and we had a guest with us. But after passing a couple security guards without incident, we became braver! We decided we would walk a bit more, and my friend decided he had to go to the restroom. Restrooms only accessible to the outside were open on one of the stages and I said, "I'll go too, just to say I went in Stage 24!"

My friend wanted to walk around inside Stage 28, which still has some of the Paris Opera House sets from the original Phantom of the Opera (1925); it's supposedly haunted by Lon Cheney. I was relieved when all the doors were locked. We journeyed past the production bungalows and I took a picture with the giant Mr. Potato Head that sits by the Hasbros offices and with the Alfred Hitchcock silhouette painted by the door of his former bungalow, #5195. (I know I stress my anonymity on this blog, but I think the quality of this picture is so poor, it's no big deal.)


We walked behind the sound stages the the tram passes to the lesser seen, older ones, where a production crew was striking a set (tearing it down). We noticed at least five different stages that were labeled for Desperate Housewives, indicating which sets were inside.






At every point I felt like perhaps we shouldn't go any farther, but there there would be one more thing we wanted to see. That is especially true of the ongoing construction of the metropolitan sets. We gazed up at the half-built structures and pondered if they'd be done this month, as the rumors say. They seem much larger, taller and more substantial than before. Then again, my friend and I had been employed only a week and barely experienced them before the fire.

At this point we had officially crossed from the front lot to the back lot, where (as we tell our tour guests) "the world is just around the corner." And so are the coyotes and bobcats! No sooner did my friend mention them as the main reason we're discouraged from walking around back there at night, did we hear them howl! I called my partner, who was fast asleep in Ohio, and he assured me that they're more afraid of us...

By this time security had driven by us a couple times, but after the first flash of our badge, didn't even slow down. We were smart enough not to walk into any of the construction but rather follow the road beside it which eventually leads to an intersection of sorts between Six Points Texas, the Red Sea and New York Street. From there, we could see another section of the Metro sets were more accessible; we carefully walked in and decided it was being used for filming. It was free of construction and complete with set dressings. As we proceeded farther in, we found ourselves in Court House Square. COURT HOUSE SQUARE! As in, To Kill a Mocking Bird, Back to the Future and now Ghost Whisperer.

One of the misconceptions after the fire was that it was destroyed, but it was not. The actual Clock Tower building and a row of facades adjacent to it were not touched. I literally ran up the steps of the Clock Tower. We stood in front of Melinda's antique shoppe called The Same as it Never Was. We pondered if the cracks in the sidewalk were real or made to look that way by a set designer.

Even though the moon was almost full above us, there were few other lights and it makes me sick that my phone's camera couldn't capture any of it. As I wrote after my first walking tour of the lot as a new guide, the feeling of being ON THE LOT is incredible. I mean, just standing where great actors have stood is amazing and feeling the energy of a place that holds all the potential in the world is indescribable! It's remarkable how real the facades look while still holding the magic of being transformed into anything, anywhere and in any time period. At the same time, it was eery. That, obviously, came from the darkness and my general jumpiness. I felt like at any time something could creep out of a shadow, be it a coyote, a security guard, a Ghost Whisperer ghost, or the Creature from the Black Lagoon! One of the faux brown stones had its door standing open; it was gaping blackness that sent a chill up my spin!

We decided there was a possibility our cars could get locked in the garage, so we headed back toward the front lot. On the way, were made a loop around a large, unmarked building, and decided it must be the infamous film vault. That is something we're not allowed to talk about on the tour; during our training they said they'd point it out to us, but never did. Behind it is a smaller two story building with several outer doors on both levels, like a motel. It's industrial, raw, old look seemed more like jail sells to me. First we thought they were old dressing rooms, but none I would ever want to use. You could tell it was old by the door nobs and each door had a light by it, so we decided they must have been dark rooms for film developing. Again, very creepy.

My friend had to use the restroom again and so we went to one right behind Six Points Texas. With the ominous moon above us and what looked like an old western ghost town before us, it was certainly unsettling, but so, so cool! We were on the opposite side of the sets than what the trams drive by. It's amazing how many different environments can be created in such a small space.

Finally, we walked back into the front lot and once again by the production bungalows. Like peeping toms, we found ourselves taking a closer look! Again, we only ever drive by them. Upon closer inspection we found an influential casting office where we both plan to hand deliver headshots! We unsuccessfully tried to locate Ron Howard's parking spot by the Imagine Entertainment offices, but did find Marc Platt's by Reveille (the producer of Wicked and Ugly Betty) and legendary producer Dino De Laurentiis (he won an Oscar for La Strada and produced hannibal and the original King Kong). Their offices were both amazing; yes, we literally looked in the windows.

My friend desperately wanted to walk down into the Amblin Entertainment bungalows, but I would not. Amblin is Stephen Spielberg's production company; his offices are sort of behind the others. Though you can clearly see them from the tram if you know where to look, even nodding in their direction is grounds for immediate termination! My friend gave me crap for picking the jasmin that is now filling my bedroom with a wonderful aroma and he warned me several times not to put these pictures on Facebook. I replied, "this flower will not get us in trouble, but I like my job and my clean criminal record too much to step foot toward Spielberg's bungalows!"

Nearly two and a half hours after the movie ended, we finally left the studio. We had to have walked a two or three miles. I would have never guessed a stupid Will Ferrell film could develop into such an inspiring evening! Being in that environment makes me want to learn all there is to know about the history of Universal and it makes me want to devote all the time and energy I have to becoming the best possible actor. Well, I guess that's laughable at this moment, as I'm blogging at 5 a.m. and I have a rehearsal at 1 p.m. for a show that opens in less than two weeks with a script I received only a day ago!

Nonetheless, I love being a tour guide...!