So, as we will get to later in this blog, apparently all the staying up late partying that I've done in my life was really just training for my last couple of days...
So, where were we?
Thursday I had an audition for mylife.com. Probably one of the best auditions I have ever had both in regards to performance and promptness. I arrived to the audition 15 minutes early, signed in with no one there and two minutes later did my audition. It was great since I had the sides ahead of time and had practiced just enough to know it, but not be stale. The auditioners liked my work, thanked me and I was back in my car before my scheduled audition time. Looks like I didn't book it unfortunately, but I think that may be a demographic thing since mylife is for 30-40 somethings and even with my stubble I'm still ranging in my upper 20s.
Thursday night I hit up Afrofunke again. There was a rapper from Africa that rapped in 3 languages at once (French, English and another that I didn't know.) Good show, but low on the dancing. I did make some new friends though, which is always fun.
Friday turned out to be a mellow day/night, which was fine. I was supposed to go see Jenny's theater piece, but Buddha did not will it. Yes, that statement does deserve an explanation and no, you aren't going to get one.
Saturday I went to my friend Matt's house and helped him in his garden. Mostly I was the grunt laborer, turning over soil and digging holes. Good honest work. That night we had some people over and cooked steaks and sat in the hot tub. A solid reward for the day. I crashed there so I could help out with more gardening in the morning. After breakfast we drove to the free mulch place, which exists on the fringe of Culver City. More shoveling. Then we did some shopping at Home Depot, where I had to explain to Matt that the picture with the little man next to the giant purple mushroom was in fact a gnome and not a fairy dwarf. Then a quick stop at Trader Joe's to pick up supplies for my afternoon Easter party and then home for more shoveling.
That afternoon I went to Beverly Hills, where you can only park your car if you have eight different permits and there is a chance you park during normal house cleaner hours. The Easter party was being thrown by my friend Erin who I re-met when I moved to LA. Erin is a bit of a social and shall we say business butterfly and as such has a wide variety of friends. I can't possibly begin to lump the people that were there together outside of their connection to Erin and an average age of maybe 40. Among the guests was Erin's mom, who I had met about ten years again and apparently had made an impression since I was quickly teased upon by her. Apparently failing to become committed to an 18 year old virgin when you are 25 is frowned upon in Lodi, CA. I do however still have some charm left on me because I went from having no aura to having a very slight one by the end of the party.
The other party guests were equally engaging and enjoyable, although in retrospect, given the level of quirkiness of the guests I'm starting to question Erin's opinion of me. Fortunately there were left overs and there is no question half of a red velvet cake can't answer. Overall I'm giving the party a 9. Minus one point for having an Easter party with no egg hunt despite pre-clammering about it. :)
Monday I got up with no confirmed plans and ended with the beginning of my busiest few days since I moved here. The first thing to go right is that I got to meet up with my friend Ashley. Ashley and I met up at my favorite walk and talk place, the North Hollywood park. She brought her dog Jasmine with her, who is a cutie and has an insatiable desire to chase squirrels, of which there are plenty at that park. We all got our exercise in that afternoon as we walked and walked around the park. Ashley is really easy to talk to and has been studying some of the same philosophies as I have lately and has been going through some of the same trials as an actor and a person. She also has a mother with an acute sense of worry, although I gave my mother 2 years off as I try to make it in this town.
And now onto the madness...
Earlier that morning I had submitted for a rush call for night club goers that shot that night. I got a call about an hour and a half later booking it for a 10:30pm call time. I was excited because it was AFTRA and we were supposed to dress swanky, so I was hoping for some hotties on the set. I had a bit of a dilemma though. So the way that Extra's Management works is that unless you tell them otherwise, they assume you are free and if you were not free and can't make something they booked you for, you get in trouble and may get kicked out immediately. It is kind of scary for us new people because we have just spent a bunch of money and obviously don't want to get blacklisted in a town that is so competitive. However, at the same time, I really wasn't sure if they would call me for work this week since I just started and I hadn't heard anything by the time I got home from my walk. Long story short, I decided not to call in and tell them about the night shoot.
Around 4pm that day I decided to try to nap so I would be fresh for the night shoot. I got a solid couple of hours in, waking up before my alarm. I sauntered over to my computer to check my email and guess what I found? I had been booked for an 8:30 am audience gig. So now I was booked from 10:30pm until technically 10:30 am, but told I should be wrapped at the night shoot by 6 or 7 and then an 8:30 am audience gig that was scheduled for 5-6 hours. Fun.
So the first thing I did was stress if I should call one or the other casting people and explain the situation. I knew I couldn't call Extra's Management since I would get in trouble for not telling them I had booked out and I knew cancelling on an AFTRA gig was a terrible gig. "So I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me." (Bonus points for that quote.) At first I was stressed, but then I remembered my meditation training and called the night shoot hotline a few times to confirm the probability of getting out by 7am and relaxed into whatever would be.
I know you all worry for me, so I won't keep you in suspense. It worked out fine.
The night shoot was super cold, but luckily we were playing a NYC winter scene, so we were all dressed very warm. And yes, one of the actors jumped into race discussions ten minutes into our being there and yes, the ladies were not as single and flirty as I hoped, but overall a very painless and at times quite fun shoot. Also a shoot full of caffeine, too much caffeine.
We ended up wrapping around 5am and I was so awake I could have gone out dancing. Other actors had been handing me energy drinks and I had been downing them, using the logic I was going to have to stay up all night. This meant that I know had 3 and a half hours to kill, was wide awake and going home just meant that I would be putting myself in rush hour traffic to get back.
I decided to drive over to N. Gower, where the game show was shooting and take a nap in my car. Of course by the time I got there, only about ten minutes later, I was still wide awake. There was a Denny's nearby and I decided to go there to read, but got side tracked by a Starbucks and a desire to save some money and ended up in there, where I probably spent the same amount since I bought a panini. There I sad for at least an hour, although it all trailed by quickly. I couldn't focus on my book and while the sandwich had started to make me sleepy, I had bought a large Chai tea for god knows what reason. I mean, I know what reason and god knows, but you know, we have our secrets, so I can't share everything with you.
Next up was a wonder over to the mentioned Denny's to use their bathroom because this was one of the few Starbucks that didn't have one. After that it was a leisurely walk down Sunset at 6:30 in the morning, passing the Coffee Bean that is for some reason a landmark for me from years past. Mostly I was just killing time until 7am when the RiteAid opened so that I could buy more eye drops since my contacts were glued to my face at this point. I also bought sunblock for my car (I'm so freaking tan already; including lines :( ) and toothpaste. After that I went back to my car and decided to meditate a bit since it was too late to sleep. The meditation went well, but the setting wasn't the best, so it didn't last that long.
At 8:15 am, about ten hours into my adventure, I got in line for the game show. I actually felt pretty good at this point and only anticipating a 4 hour shoot while being seated, I wasn't too worried. Luckily for me, all of the shows had technically difficulties and we ran late. I won't bore you with the details of the show itself since it was all pretty basic and since it is 9pm and I still have only slept for a few hours, but the hightlights are; got to chat with a new friend Adam that signed up for Extra's Management on the same day as me, ate lots of candy, and stayed awake.
Back at home I tried to crash for a few hours, setting my alarm so I wouldn't miss any potential calls, but just tossed and turned for a little over an hour and got back up. And guess what? I got that call and I go back to the game show tomorrow. Thankfully, my call time is 2:45pm, which means I am going to go to bed soon and hope to sleep for about 12 hours straight. :)
Night night.
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