Wednesday, May 10, 2006

I had a busy day today. Mostly mental, just because I've got so much on my mind I sometimes feel like I'm going to explode. It’s all good stuff, but stuff nonetheless.

This marks the 11 year anniversary of my moving from Virginia Beach to New York. WHAT!? 11 years? Yeah, 11 years. Wow. Even I can hardly believe it. I gotta tell you I've had a good ride, a really good ride. I was talking to my friend SonHui just last night. She is embarking on a career transition and used me as a sounding board for some ideas she has about making it happen. I don’t feel like I have much to offer in the way of answers, but something she said kinda resonated with me. She commented that “you did it, you up and moved to New York to follow your dreams. Look at all the things you’ve done in the last 11 years.” “Huh”, I thought. I guess I have gotten a thing or two done in my time at the wheel. I mean I don’t usually see myself as someone who just up and does whatever it takes to make changes. I have a master’s degree in “procrastination” trust me, but I guess it’s all relative to what you’re comparing it to.

It was also an interesting day for another reason. My friend, Jonathan Julian, left this afternoon for Vancouver to work on "Noah's Arc"; a show that he is a series regular on. As I've mentioned before, he landed this role from a self-submission on NowCasting. Anyway Jon and I have been friends for a long time. He introduced me to my first acting teacher, Sylvia Harman, in Virginia Beach back in 1993.

When I think back to whom I studied with back then, so many years ago, and what some of them are doing in the business it bring a smile to my face. As mentioned Jonathan is in Vancouver, Michelle Krusiec is always working on something, Joanna Canton is anticipating pick-up on a new ABC pilot and William Gregory Lee is currently in Hawaii working on a series as well. I feel like I’m in pretty good company, but I better get my a** in gear to keep up!

Bright and early this morning I had my stitches removed from my mouth. It seems that my recovery is moving along well. While there I saw the gentleman who gave me a ride home last week after the surgery. It was then that it dawned on me that I had no recollection of getting into his SUV. I was on four different medications plus whatever I was given through the needle in my mouth. I totally underestimated what I was in for. For the life of me I couldn’t figure out why I couldn’t do everything I was used to doing. Hello, I had been through a surgical procedure, duh. It worked out great though, I only missed one theatrical audition during the week and I was okay with that.

OMG! While they were removing the stitches I got pinched a couple of times. I was squirming in the chair like crazy trying to be a big boy about it. I’m really glad those stitches are gone, because some of them were coming out on their own and I would swallow them or worse “almost swallow them”. Yeah, if you saw a young African-American male running in the street looking for a bottle of water while making sounds like a cat with a hairball in its throat it was probably me. Good riddance to those stitches; it’s not natural to have thread in your mouth anyway.

I gotta tell you this dental stuff is crazy expensive and while there I had to purchase this special rinse to aid in the healing for $25. WHAT? The good thing was that when I parked to go to the appointment the parking meter was broken so I didn’t have to pay. Yeah! So I saved like a $1 right there. Every little bit counts. The even better thing was that when I was leaving the office I found $20 on the ground. There was nobody around, just cars waiting for the light. Yup, you got it; it went straight in my pocket. I knew when I woke up this morning it was going to be a good day. Free money before noon is always a good start.

From there I ran and did a quick drop-off. The drops will start to slow down since I am planning my month long break from Los Angeles soon. I’m really looking forward to that; I’d love to leave with a booking or two.

Callback/Avail "KFC" @ Ross Lacy Casting. Another one in the books; it went really well. I did all I could, so we’ll see. This is especially great because I didn’t originally have an appointment for it.

CUT TO: one hour later – 3:50pm.

My agent calls to inform me that I have another callback tomorrow for this same “KFC” spot and I'm still on avail. Well that’s good right? Of course yeah I’m still in the game! I don’t get paid to audition very often, but I’ll get another $133.75 for this 3rd audition. Oh yeah and I’ll get to eat some sort of hot wings or whatever it was we were pitching in the spot. Lunch is good, and I like chicken…it is chicken right? Of course it’s chicken! It’s right in the name “Kentucky Fried CHICKEN” – KFC.

It seems these days I attend as many financial/real estate seminars as acting related events. This one tonight was at the Marriot/LAX and it was about real estate investing and the importance of credit scores. I gotta tell you the financial world is just as interesting as Hollywood to me; incredibly creative.

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