It was Wednesday afternoon that I was recalled for Thursday. Unlike the day before, it happened in a very direct way. Christopher Gray, who is in charge of casting, called me over while I was in holding and told me they would need me at 6am the next day. I said ok. An hour later he told me he would need me at 8am. I said ok again. I immediately called Extras Management to let them know my schedule had been updated. I never saw an email or text from them.
You know those moments you have where you have a very slight impulse to do something, but you are quickly distracted and forget you even had the impulse until it comes into play later? Welcome to my Thursday morning.
A call time of 8:30am once again didn't do much for added sleep, but I had gone asleep super early the night before, so actually felt pretty good when I woke up. I ate and got dressed and had plenty of time. Then I had the passing thought that I should call the hotline to see if anything had changed in my call time. That passing thought was replaced by the passing thought that I didn't have the number to call since I had never received it from Extras Management and then that thought was replaced with, it is probably the same number, but you know, I talked to the man in charge when I left, so I'm sure it is fine and if not, it's on them, right? (Note: I'm not a fan of the phone.)
So I headed out the door, got to set early and once again pulled off at the mall for a quick meditation and then drove over and parked my car. It was 8am. One thing I noticed that was different was that there was security set up by the breakfast trailers. Nobody seemed to be around, so I walked over to the honey wagon (set name for port 'o potty truck) and on my way back heard a guy being told he couldn't have breakfast until he had his voucher. (Apparently all the employees of the race track were taking advantage of the free food.) So I kept walking back to the sign in trailer and saw some people hanging out and started chatting. We were all asking the same thing, "Where is Christopher Gray?", "He is usually here by now". My other camera crew extra, Ron, showed up, which made me feel better about my decision, and we stood around wondering together. I'm not sure exactly when the collective knowledge that they had changed the schedule happened, but I know that when the casting assistant showed up the salivating of the ten or so extras that had arrived early was enough for him to be clutching his notebooks tightly.
Soon after Christopher showed up and the real questioning began. Apparently several of us were verbally told when to show up and were never verbally updated. The camera crew people (which now included an add on) having it the worst as our new call time was actually 11:30am. So yes, I was 3 and a half hours early for work. People were actually pretty calm about the situation, frustrated not so much by the lack of communication and the fact they had a ton of time to kill now, but more by the fact they still couldn't get their vouchers, so they couldn't get their coffee and bacon. In the end it was Christopher Gray who determined the solution by buying us all Starbucks. I was satisfied since I drove and added a bagel to my order, so I got fed and got an adventure. Plus, as an added bonus, now both Christopher and the casting assistant (Who happens to be named Chris) know who I am. So that was cool.
The day itself was pretty easy once it got started. The highlights being the nice extra who let me share her headphones with her as we sat in the stands staring toward the mountains and fantasizing about a picnic in the shade, the crazy extra who couldn't handle walking around an AC tube and getting to know more people.
Note: You may notice that I leave a lot of details about the actual workings of the shows and the stars in them. That is because I don't want to be sued. We all sign contracts every time that says we won't disclose anything that is going on regarding the show. Ask me in person though and I will totally gossip with you. ;)
Thursday night I hit up Afrofunke once again. Musically another solid night and a typical dance more than date kind of night for me. Maydee, who I danced with the last two times I was there was home sick, so I was stuck making new friends and avoiding the regulars I didn't want to engage with. Unfortunately I'm already too well known there, which sucks since I like to be anonymous so I can just focus on dancing. I may have to take a break and find a new scene for a while.
Friday I slept in and my friend Mona, who is between SF and LA with no permanent home, but plans to move to LA, came over. Initially I was going to drive up to SF with my friends that day for a weekend of partying and the How Weird Street Faire; one of my favorites. Unfortunately rides didn't work out the way I wanted, so I decided to stay. I was actually happy to stay since I'm broke and focused on my career right now, so I felt good about the decision.
Mona and I ran some errands and then mixed up some pina coladas and sat by my pool. It was a great way to spend a Friday afternoon after my work week. Very relaxing. So relaxing that Mona actually fell asleep for a while. I'm surprised I didn't since I had woken up around 8am that morning since that was the schedule I was used to. After Mona took off around 7pm, I told myself I was going to write and then promptly fell asleep.
Saturday was the Doo Dah parade (http://www.pasadenadoodahparade.info/) and a BBQ at my friend Jess's house. The parade itself was pretty interesting and a nice substitute for me missing the How Weird Street Faire. I didn't think the costuming was too out of control, but then again, I'm used to burning man people. Back at Jess's house we hung out, played with her new dog, drank and ate lots of carne asada. Day two of relaxation accomplished.
Sunday's relaxation did not disappoint either with a walk around the park with Maydee, picnic food (goat cheese, baguette and strawberries) and more carne asada and Guatemala guacamole for dinner. I may have over eaten more than one day this week...
Today has been about getting back to the grind. I've been submitting for projects, did my taxes and got my exercise in. I've already booked gigs for Wed and Thursday (A Marie Antoinette reenactment and Hung respectively) and am hoping that I will have some work tomorrow and Friday as well.
Thank you all for tuning in, until next time...
No comments:
Post a Comment