Sleep?  Who needs sleep?  Me.  That’s who.  Who gets enough sleep?  Not me.  That’s who.  I’m not sure how I get away with it for such a sustaining period of time, but I’m smart enough to know that I’m not really fooling anyone…not even myself.  People, including me, need their rest, but I actually enjoy working…in general.  I don’t necessarily enjoy all aspects of my current employment situation, but I love the feeling of a “job well done”.  I LOVE it! 

Usually, as long as I know ahead of time what kind of time demands I have ahead of me I’m able to handle them, no matter how stacked BUT it’s getting old.  Really old…heck I’m getting older too!  But I try to keep moving and not give in to the temptation to…whatever the temptation is.  Issues man!  I got ‘em!

So I worked last night, Monday night, which is “my Friday/end of the week”, but that’s only for my night job week.  Ugh!  I got off of work around 4am, in the bed by 4:30 with an 3 alarms to wake up at 5:45 for my BEVERLY HILLS CHIHUAHUA 3 call time of 7am in Pasadena.  To have a fourth “just in case” alarm, I even asked my little brother in Virginia to call me on his way to work.  I’m terrified of oversleeping for an acting job.  Oversleeping for slinging burgers, eh, not so alarming; oversleeping for an acting job – alarming.  Actually, I have a story about that. 

So I woke up at 5:45, but my body was telling me to relax for a bit.  I got out of bed at 6am, hopped in/out of the shower and was on my way to BHC3 by 6:20am.

SHOOTING: BEVERLY HILLS CHIHUAHUA 3 – The Langham Hotel - Pasadena, CA – DAY –

Wow, the property was amazing; a beautiful hotel – five stars or diamonds or something like that.  I followed the signs to crew parking, checked-in with a PA who drove me to the production truck and my trailer.  As I was getting out of the golf cart two of the young leads in the film, Erin Cahill & Marcus Coloma, were getting in the same cart to go to rehearse the first scene of the day.  They both were very nice and immediately introduced themselves and shook my hand.  That doesn’t always happens.  Sometimes coming on to a production can be a little cold.  Not necessarily because people are mean, but there is just a lot going on.  It was very nice to feel welcomed.  I will definitely do the same when I am higher up on the call sheet.  You bet ya!

I’m playing a waiter in the film; which was ironic because just 3 hours ago I was actually being a waiter serving breakfast.  Now someone is getting breakfast for me!  I guess that’s “life imitating art” or however that saying goes.  The funny part was that at my job night I often wipe my hands on my apron, but as an actor in wardrobe I kept catching myself almost doing that.  Not a good thing for an actor in wardrobe.  It took me a minute to get used to that.

After a while of waiting in my trailer a production assistant drove me to set where my scene was to be shot.  I was reunited with Marcus & director Lev L. Spiro and met for the first time Cedric Yarborough, Frances Fisher.  This really caught me by surprised.  This kinda blew me away…well, not kinda, it did blow me away.  The first thing director Lev said to me was something about liking what I wrote in my blog after the audition.  I about froze in my tracks!  Heck, I DID freeze in my tracks!  That comment completely caught me by surprise.  I mean, yeah, after all these years of writing about my journey I do understand that it’s published on the WORLD WIDE WEB and that’s it very easy for anyone to find, but still.  I don’t know, it’s just funny to know ANYONE repped by CAA has read any of my stuff.  After I thawed out from being frozen in my tracks I smiled…not sure why, but I smiled.

So, back to rehearsal, we did a few blocking runs, 2^nd team came in, they set up lights and focus and then we went back and filmed it.  Well, more accurately, taped it and that was about it.  It was a great time and possibly still early enough to make my audition for THE OFFICE.  As I was leaving and saying good-bye to Frances I thanked her for her service on the SAG board.  I think that really caught her by surprised and we really started talking about all that, not so happy, depressing SAG/AFTRA stuff…  In the middle of that, director Lev walked by, thanked me and said “don’t leave”.  I was confused because, obviously he wasn’t talking to Frances, she had many more scenes but I didn’t have any other scenes on the schedule, but of course I was going to stay…just in case.

We broke for lunch, actually, Marcus, one of leads and I got to talking about a whole bunch of stuff – acting, kids, personal finance, motorcycles, movies, writing, producing, etc.  Great conversation, cool guy. 

So I stayed after lunch…and stayed.  And stayed, for hours and then I was released.  I’m not sure why I wasn’t released sooner, but that’s okay; I definitely wanted to be there just in case Lev had something else in mind for me.  Fortunately, I got released right in time to make it to my, oddly late, 7:40pm commercial audition back in Hollywood. 

Audition: “Hyundai” Heidi Levitt Casting.  Wow, I hadn’t been to this building in years!  The casting office itself reminded me SO much of being in New York.  It made think of exactly how far I have come in this business.  It was a good feeling and I ran into one of the guys from the DEGREE commercial.   The audition was fun and went really well.  I felt productive…and tired.  Exhausted actually.  No slinging burgers tonight; I’m catching some shut-eye.

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