Kim's Karaoke Bday

So last night Kim rented a Karaoke machine for her birthday party. It was a lot of fun. They even set up a little stage. It was delightful. I did a New Orleans Trifecta: City of New Orleans, Battle of New Orleans, and The House of the Rising Sun. The system came with a strange selection. Lots of country and new stuff, and then some obscure stuff like I would do, but then very little of what we usually do. Like only 1 journey song and only two david bowie. Strange. It was fun though. Yay Karaoke! Yay Kim's birthday!

Friday: FAIL

So I was supposed to go to Big Wang's for Nate's going away party, but I ended up getting a tummy ache and went to sleep instead. I feel bad, but I'm sure he was so plastered that by the time I got there he probably wouldn't remember anyway. I'll just have to visit him in Australia.

Ow, my ass!

So I went horseback riding today in Griffith Park for Vivian's birthday. It was so much fun. We did an hour walk up the trail under the Hollywood sign. I had a horse named Sawyer who didn't really like other horses apparently. He specifically didn't like Lucky, the horse behind us. At least 3 times he turned around and confronted her. He didn't rear up really but he lifted a little and nipped at her face and at least once it felt like he gave a little kick. Each time I manged to get him turned around and back in line without, you know, falling off. The guides said I got a gold star. I kept that horse in line! It was so fun. I'd even ride him again, even though he was fiesty.

I think it helped that I took lessons when I was little (which was the last time I was on a horse). My sister did equestrian so I got some lessons when I was around 9. I think it's helped me feel comfortable controlling the horse. It is a lot of fun and not very expensive. I'll probably go back more often.

Stress

So in addition to people I know dying, I've had regular run of the mill work stress. Worked all weekend, then long hours most of the week. Ended up getting sick on Tuesday. I was so dizzy I felt sea sick. I can't remember a time I've been that dizzy. So I missed a day and had to try and make it up Wednesday and today with the clients. We made excellent progress though because they are fantastic to work with. It made this week bearable. Just so much to do in a few days. Plus I had that call back to think about, and shortly thereafter my agent passing, obviously. I got home today and needed a drink. I rarely drink alone at home, but I feel like my brain is overflowing right now. I needed a time out from everything for the evening. Feeney came over and brought Super Girl, and I made calzones. We had our rum drinks and watched the entertaining flop of a movie. It's bad, but in a good way. I still don't feel like I can breathe a sigh of relief just yet. I still have a bunch of things to think about. I have a new workshop I need to plan into my schedule, a new night for classes soon, site updates, submitting, work, travel decisions, etc. All I can think about is laying on the beach though. I don't want to be tan, I just want to lay there and do nothing and not think for a bit.

Oh man.

So my agent took his own life. That makes me more sad since you can't help but wonder what could have been done to help before it happened. Not to say there was anything to do, but you just think these thoughts. Like I wish he knew he helped me. I was so excited I got my first callback, and I don't know if he ever found out.

I know he spent his career helping others find work, which is such a great thing to do for people. It makes me sad because I'm sure he has affected so many people on so many levels.

Oh.

So my commercial agent died this weekend. Yeah. Very sudden. It might be why they couldn't get a hold of him last week for my call back.

He was young, like in his 40's. I didn't actually know him that well since I'd only met him when I auditioned and other than that it was on the phone or email, but it's still just sad.

The weird thing is that a close college friend of a friend was killed in a car accident last week or so. Once again, someone I knew but wasn't close to.

It's not something that sends me into a grieving period, but it makes me sad and reflective. Sort of a big fat 'LIFE IS SHORT!' slap in the face.

Speaking of work

So I worked for 13 hours today. Ugh. Haven't done that in a long time. I think I got a lot done, but I still feel like I'm coming up short. But I have to remind myself the client won't be expecting the whole package to be done in a week. Especially since they haven't even designed anything yet. I have some decent tests I can show him to give him an idea of what we can do right now. I just wish I had an extra week because I had to spend all this week starting over installing everything on a new computer and kept having problems, so it seriously took like 4 whole days to get the right versions and things working right.

I just don't want to be short handed on demos and have my boss or the client be disappointed and feel like the trip was not as useful.

Call back

So I ended up getting a call back on that commercial audition! Hooray! It's Monday, very inconvenient, but hooray! Hopefully there won't be any meetings scheduled at that time. I feel ok telling my producer, but I don't know if my boss will be as cool with it. But I gotta do what I gotta do.

Comedy and Roscoe's

So last night a bunch of us went to see Paul's stand up gig at the Comedy Union. It was his first booked gig I think. Most of the other acts were good if not really great. Paul was really great. I'd never seen his act before, and it's always nice when you go to a friend's gig and it's actually good. It was lots of fun.

Afterward we went to the nearby Roscoe's Chicken & Waffles. I'd never been, though I did not eat chicken nor waffles. I did have some killer Mac&Cheese and greens though. Oh man. Sooo good. Plus, in a booth right across from us, Floyd 'Money' Mayweather (the boxer champion) was eating with a bunch of his friends. Jeff spotted him because he was on Wrestlemania this year fighting Big Show. Because I mean, let's be serious here, we don't watch boxing. Only the stunt fighting stuff for us.

Other interesting news

So lets see, after the earlier trip to Atlanta I had a lovely dinner party for Liz's birthday since some folks had been out of town. I made everything from scratch. Fennel Arugala Salad with lemon shallot dressing, cous cous stuffed tomatoes, shrimp scampi and a chocolate pots de creme (basically pudding). It was awesome and everything got eaten.

I started getting a few auditions for student and independent films. We finished shooting Craig's short film and he's really happy with all the footage. I auditioned for a casting workshop but didn't get in and I was all sad. but then I got over it. Did a quick shoot with Funbox again. Did a shoot downtown for an animation company and got paid! Ah, my first paid gig. I'm officially a professional. Ha ha.

There were some parties I ended up having to leave or skip entirely since I was either too exhausted or had a terrible headache. (Had a 3 day on and off splitting headache after i got back from the second Atlanta trip. go figure.)

I did get to Corinne's party and the Memorial Day bbq, though that was the day I was sad about the audition i didn't get. I was only sad because it was essentially a rejection from a class, not for a part, so it felt shitty.

Went toa Jen & Abby show. T hey were a delight as always. Went to see Liz's play which was great and later saw my friend Brandan's play. It was a series of vignettes and his was by far the best one. He's a really good actor.

Saw REM, modest mouse at the Hollywood bowl. got there late and missed the National. Modest mouse wasn't as good as when I saw them a few years ago, but the Bowl is sort of hard to play I'm sure. REM was great but someone made the mistake of deciding to play their stage projections (which looked awesome on the screens on stage) on the large monitors, so us folks in the 'cheap' $40 seats hardly got to see the band at all beyond the chopped up colorized images they had on the screens. It just looked tacky on the monitors and pissed me off. Eventually we could see more of their faces later and at one point in the encore they fed the actual clean video from the stage, but quickly went back to the tacky chopped up images. Boo to that. But the band was fantastic. so it was worthwhile.

Went to a Derby Dolls event. It's a banked track so they can go way faster than the flat track leagues. It was totally awesome and exciting. the crowd was big and loud and the action was intense. it was a really close match, but the Sirens barely defeated the Tough Cookies for the win. It was like 47 to 44 or something. The crowd was like thunder,. it was probably the most amped up crowd at a sport event i've ever been in. It was $20 to go, but totally worth it. then we tried to go to The Redwoods downtown, but the bar was sooooo packed and we left after an hour. I don't consider super packed bars to be fun.

Had delicious teryaki BBQ at Will's before I had to take a red eye to Atlanta. that guy can cook.

Went to Atlanta again, which i sort of blogged about before. Ugh. What a pain in the ass the client's engineering dept is. My boss inquired about one of us returning for the launch and i explained that i didn't think i could speak to those guys civilly. So he sent Grant. sorry grant, but i'd seriously lose my shit on them and make our company look foolish. Because boy did they piss me off.

Went to Wrestling on Tuesday this week. Got to see Edge! :) also CM Punk, John Morrison, Big Show, jimmy wang yang, Matt hardy, kofi Kingston, Duce & domino, shelton Benjamin, a bunch of divas, Kane, tommy dreamer, the miz, Mic Foley, teddy long, Colin Delany, some other cruiser weights, Batista, Chavo, hawkins, ryder, Viki geurrero, armando estrada, Great Kali and probably a bunch of other dudes. I was extra excited for Jimmy wang yang and of course, Edge. those events are so fun because there are all these kids who are sooo into it and it's adorable.
Oh, we also saw Jimmy Kimmel and his cousin Sal. Sal beat Santino. We saw Sara Silverman in the front row but they left after Sal's event.

Had an audition Wednesday for universal Studios. it was from my agent, so it was for reals. ;) I felt really good about it. didn't get a call but oh well. i thought i was great. i left feeling like i did a good job. i'm not union or anything, and who knows what face they liked best. no lines, but a vicious scream. i felt very ferocious. then last night i auditioned for a different casting workshop program and I am pretty sure i got in. she said she'll send me info on it. She told the other auditioner to continue taking cold reading classes. I really appreciate that she gave immediate feedback because the other place did not and i had no clue why i didn't get in. But yeah, that will be soemthing good for me to meet new people and get more industry folks to see me. I'm also trying to decide between my two acting teachers because they are no longer sharing the saturday class. i'm auditing on monday so I'll know which works best for me. i hate having to choose, but they understand.

I did a photo shoot with a student photographer on Wednesday. it was pretty fun. he didn't quite get what he was hoping for though, so he'll probably come back on Sunday and try something else. It's sort of fun because it's like acting.

I think that's about it for me lately. Sorry I'm so sporadic with blogging. I generally end up yammering on about this stuff to Jeff now. ;)

Hell's Kitchen!

So we got on the show! it aired this week. Will got some screen grabs of us. He and Heath are complaining about it taking so long. It was funny because they were totally hamming it up for the cameras and it worked!























Oddly enough this week I was at the taping of ECW and Smackdown, and we could see ourselves on ECW. If we can see ourselves on Smackdown tonight, then I was on TV 3 times this week! Ha ha!

How to be a shitty parent

So Aimee and I were up on Runyan today and witnessed some people setting up some rope ladders on the ground and cones for drills. We head up the hill and on the way down we stop to chat with a friend. while we are standing there these kids come running by dragging two of these rope ladders and then stop near us and are lining them up. We are pretty appalled that their dads, who mosey on up shortly after didn't stop them from basically stealing them and just sort of stand there going- "oh hey, now you found two of them."

Then the people who had set up the drills come running up around the bend and the dads are all- "Oh, these are yours?" and then they say "Thanks a lot guys." presumably to their kids? We were confused. basically they never once said they were sorry for fucking up this group's drills they took all that time hiking and setting up this morning.

WTF? those kids are going to grow up to be assholes. How hard is it to see your kid pick something up off the ground, that is obviously deliberately set up there, and tell them to leave it alone? What douches.

3 hours of sleep and no sign of progress

So I'm in Atlanta again. Ugh.

And once again getting shit done is hindered by the client's engineering dept. My coworker just went up to their dept to get a list of answers I need. Basically: what software versions are you running on 3 machines and what drives are they mapped to? This should take all of 5 minutes to answer. They have been up there for like a half hour now. Fuck that.
The project manager guy was all concerned because there's this list and I'm like, look, if you want things fixed then your IT dept needs to get your equipment working or else anything we do here this week is moot.

It's so predictable at this point, but still so inexcusable. I could probably clear up all their issues in half a day if i were allowed to even see the machines I'm referring to. They don't even let anyone look at the console. It's fucking retarded and completely counter intuitive.

At one point today I had fixed something and it was still fucked up on 2 machines and I'm like, Well, it works and I'd love to help you out on those, but I can't. I give up. I know what needs to be done, but oh well. not in my power now.

What a waste of time and money. this would have been running fine last time i was here if we didn't have the engineers to contend with. They spend thousands flying us out here and then won't do a thing we suggest. Whatever. that's corporations I guess.