Spring Approaches

I figured that because I was sitting at the computer, I might as well update the blog, even though I'm not sure I have anything coherent to say. Therefore, this will be a "non sequitur" style entry. What comes next might not necessarily have anything to do with what came before! [insert crazy funhouse music here] (And as you roll your eyes, you ask yourself how this is different from any other entry I've done. Be quiet, you.)

Anyway. Here we go.

My sister was here last week on her spring break. It was good times. I miss her already. She needs to finish up that PhD double-quick so she can move somewhere closer to me.

Being around the female parts of my family has a negative effect on my checking account balance. We ate out a lot, I bought lots of clothes, and I haven't been able to stop. Two shirts at Limited last week, two skirts and a cuuuuuuute polo at a local store called Cliché today. What can I say about today? The weather was nice and it inspired me to buy things; cute, summery things. And I had a 10% off postcard. And honestly, that pencil skirt was made for me. It fits like nothing I've ever seen, and I look darn good in it.

I mentioned the weather was nice: high was 66ºF today. Rock. (Sorry you missed the warm weather, Ishy-girl! I think it was hiding from you. Or something.) Tomorrow should be more of the same warm loveliness, with the possibility of rain. Then it gets about 10º colder for a couple days, but I can handle it now that I really believe spring is coming.

I had a bucketful of auditions in the past two weeks, some of which have yielded summer work, and others which I can only assume I did not get. Not a problem, as other work has cropped up unexpectedly, and a small bug about doing A Raisin in the Sun has been planted in my ear. My, my: spring brings change.

I should sleep now, as it's almost 1am and I have an audition in the morning. Gotta look fresh and clean!

Night, faithful reader.

Hopefully No One Will Notice

So, um, hearing chunks of something falling in the walls when you try to hammer nails into them is a bad sign, right?

I'm trying to hang a mirror in my house and I keep hearing pieces of things fall to the bottom of the wall. I also keep hitting studs of some kind, so I gave up. I don't want to put fifty million holes in the walls trying to find a stud-free space. I'm going to try the Command Adhesive® hooks again. They fell off the walls last time (fortunately not breaking the mirrors) because of the uneven surfaces of the walls and the rather moist air from the radiator and shower combined. Maybe now that the weather's warming up and the windows will be open more it'll be drier in here. Then again, the mirror could just fall off the wall again. Eh, we'll see.

Eight Hours in the Car

Just got back from shooting a commercial in Des Moines, Iowa. The drive takes four hours. We went down and back in one day. I drove both times. My eyes are tired and all I want to do now is sleep, but I have to wash my face, brush my teeth, take out my contacts, etc. etc.

People are starting to leave more and more crap in the hallways of my building. Look, people: the hallway is not extra storage space. Do not leave your bed frame, your chest of drawers, your dead ficus, or you bag of trash in the hall just because you want it out of your apartment. If you want it out of your apartment, you can just as well take it down to the trash. If you can't manage that or it doesn't belong there, leave it in your place until you're ready to dispose of it, fer cryin' out loud...

Um...I have a job for the summer! I'll be working at St. Croix Valley Summer Theatre doing three shows, two of them musicals. Not sure how I snuck it by them that I can only sing a little, but they never need know. Shh!

My eyes hurt. Time for bed.

Billy Crudup is cute.

A local theatre, Illusion, hosted a screening of Stage Beauty tonight because the screenwriter, Jeffrey Hatcher, has a play running in their theatre right now, Murderers. Both Stage Beauty and Murderers were well-written and hilarious. And Billy Crudup is pretty adorable.

Then I went out and bought some cookies and coffee. The coffee was 2 for $10 (individual price 6.75) so I thought that was a good deal for how much coffee I usually end up drinking. ;) The grocery store late at night is an interesting place, though. That seems to be when the, um, less clean elements of society do their shopping (and that begs the question: so what does that make me? Ha). And there was a girl there that I couldn't place, but I remembered seeing her somewhere before. I don't know if I'd seen her in the grocery store before (possibly the last time I was there after 10pm picking up some munchies) or if she works somewhere in Uptown that I patronize. Maybe it's Everyday People. Hm. I dunno.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I saw The Aviator on Saturday. Gah, that was a long movie. Holy crap, man. Don't get me wrong: it was good, I enjoyed Leonardo DiCaprio's performance, but man. I kept looking at the clock on my phone thinking, "That's it? That's all the time that's passed? When is this thing OVER?!" I felt like I'd been sitting for days. Anyway, it was a good film, but a Best Picture nominee? Eh.

Yay!

I got the prints for my book! I now have something in there besides my old, old, very old headshot photos and random crap. Now I have to wait and see if I can get a tear sheet of the Target shoot I did and I'll be on my way. Of course, it may take years and years to fill up my book, and it may only take a few months. Hopefully it's the latter.

I did four shows today at Jackson Middle School in Champlain. Today was a doozy and I was running on adrenaline alone: they didn't offer my lunch and I didn't really have time to go get anything. I should have packed something, but I assumed, and that made an ass out of me. Ah well: I survived. A student came up to me that had attended an elementary school I'd performed the MMB show at last year and asked if I remembered him. I was touched that he'd kept the little scrap of paper I'd autographed for him. He showed me his pierced ear. I told him my autograph might be worth something some day. I forgot to ask his name.

I should be sleeping right now, but I'm wired. I shouldn't be, because I couldn't sleep for about four hours last night, and I most certainly haven't had a nap today. I hope this isn't insomnia setting in. I don't want to deal with that. In fact, I'm going to brush my teeth, take my contacts out and go to bed right now. I just experienced a jaw-cracking yawn, so I think that's a sign I need to sleep.

Phew.

I'm glad today is done. It was good, but trying.

1) I was having an extremely off day in ballet. My lower back was still sore and weird on the right side, and I hadn't eaten anything or drunk any coffee so I was fuzzy in the brain and couldn't do anything properly.

2) I had training today for the new home shopping network I will be modeling for, and I got really, really lost in a neighborhood I know fairly well and was half an hour late. It's not that I have a bad sense of direction, it's just that when I start to get lost I get flustered and I can't think straight. If I had just pulled over, whipped out my map and taken a few deep breaths, I wouldn't have been so late. But they were kind when I arrived, so I appreciated that.

3) Afro modern was ok. I felt really gimpy when I looked at myself in the mirror. Oy. I have a long way to go.

However, now, I just finished devouring some kung pao chicken and my belly is full and I am happy. I have four shows tomorrow, so you can bet your boots I'll be getting to bed early tonight. Four show days are not good days to be tired.

I Should Be Sleeping

Tomorrow is the Unifieds: they're the big Twin Cities general audition in which as many theatres as would like to come get to see a whole bunch of actors at once. It doesn't lead to direct work for a lot of people, but it's nice to show one's face every now and then.

I should be sleeping now so that I'm not tired tomorrow, but I dozed off tonight during the "encore presentation" of Top Model. I fully intended to watch because I missed it on Wednesday, but oh well. I can read the recap on Television Without Pity.

I attended an audition workshop on Wednesday night at Mixed Blood Theater. I was 15 minutes late because I had to drive around looking for a parking space and ended up parking across the bridge in the Holiday Inn ramp for lack of a closer space.

The panelists were the Artistic Directors of the Guthrie and Mixed Blood, and the head of the Wehmann Agency. Their advice and industry knowledge were on point and informative, but I had one criticism. I felt that their viewpoint wasn't really that helpful to the non-union folks in the audience. The Guthrie pretty much employs only Equity actors, Mixed Blood is 50/50, and Wehmann represents SAG and AFTRA people only (with the exception of print: there isn't a union for print). I understood and agreed with them that an actor's career is pretty much at the mercy of the market and the whims of the theatres in town. However, they were all very pro-union, which is good, because the union needs to stay strong, but for someone who isn't union and isn't going to be for quite some time, worrying about the union isn't something one does. I, for instance, am trying to make a living and avoid getting a "real job" (read: boring 9 - 5 that doesn't pay nearly as much as on camera work) for as long as possible. If Best Buy wants to cast me in something that's going to pay $2000, I'm going to take it, because that $2000 is going to pay my rent for three months. I'm not really concerned right now with the fact that they should be paying a SAG/AFTRA actor $30,000 for the spot; I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. Yes, my view is short-sighted. But until Wehmann, the Guthrie and Mixed Blood are beating down my door asking me to become union so I can be in every single one of their commercials and shows, I'll take that $2000, thanks.

On another note, I feel rather unprepared for tomorrow. I know my monologues, and they fit in the time allotted, but they could be in better shape. I haven't put in the time that I should, and by Wednesday of this week, I pretty much gave up. I'm pretty good at faking my way through things with confidence, and I don't think anyone will know that I started memorizing my second monologue on Monday, but I wish I hadn't procrastinated for so long. It's not like I didn't have the time.

February's Over!

I'm excited. February is over. And I made it. Whew. February is my least favorite month here in Minnesota. The weather is the epitome of suckitude in February. See, when winter begins here, right around the end of November, it's kind of exciting. Crisp, cold air, the possibility of the first snow of the year, and Christmas right around the corner. December is great for obvious reasons, and January is cold and can be brutal, what with the snowstorms and below 0 temperatures, but I'm not tired of winter at that point. Not really.

Now February, February is the time of dirty snow, icy winds, and monotonous wintery nothingness. The nice, fun time of winter is over. The novelty is worn off, and now it's just a slow slog through the rest of it until March comes and rescues us. March is often the snowiest month of the year for Minnesota, but the promise of spring is inherent in March, and the snow is bearable. Besides, Easter is in March this year. I think.

So anyway, now that February is over - the month in which I had maybe three auditions total - I had three auditions just today, March 1st. Commercials, industrials, shopping networks, I'll take 'em.

Time to get ready for bed, though. Have to be in Coon Rapids - about 25-30 minutes away from here - at 8:30 tomorrow morning. Blech.

Night. Or morning, whichever it is when you read this.