Real Live Actress

Real Live Actress

And now the trick is -- how not to starve to death while being a paid actress for a season. Though today's confirmation of a three day Nannying gig will pay the bills and buy food for a couple more weeks.

Start Spreadin' the News

Start Spreadin' The News...
I am an honest to goodness paid actress now. I just got the call from the director of the show I auditioned for, and I'm in the cast. Phew.

Costuming

Aliens Abounding
I'm in Seattle for another round of costuming the retro sci-fi movie I've been involved in. Yesterday was the great unveiling of the 'pr-skirt' costume I had to construct. The director was effusive in praise, though he was high on cough syrup. But the director is happy and so is the talent coordinator. Next week I got on location in Vantage and Issaquah to babysit the costumes.

Learning

...how to sew on vinyl and clear plastic to make a 'pro-skirt' shape shifting alien costume. So far the red vinyl miniskirt and bra top are done (minus fastenings, since I haven't done a fitting yet), and the clear plastic Regency Pelisse is finished - and I can't believe I got the director to go for it, but it looks amazing with the costume!

I've been in Seattle three days this week, and must go back tomorrow for the final rehearsal. I also had an audition of my own on Wednesday which I'm waiting to hear back from. I have no idea if I'll make it in, but I had a really good audition, so I feel very well about it. If I don't make it in, this is it for the holiday season, and I'll settle down next week, get a couple of jobs, and try to pay off the credit card, save up for lazic, and put a little aside for the next hiatus.

Today we're working on the bathroom.

Civic Duty

Doing My Civic Duty

Very long couple of days. Very long weekend upcoming. I arrived into Seattle from Chicago Monday night, and then attempted to stay awake (with only moderate success) through two episodes of Star Trek Enterprise before I was told it was legal to sleep, where I collapsed on the fold-out chair and was out like a light in less than a minute.

Yesterday I had a costume meeting for the film I'm working on. I ran around to thrift stores trying to find a 1950's swimsuit pattern. No success. But I didn't manage to find the huge downtown Goodwill, which I will try today.

I scheduled an audition for today while in Chicago, but of course all of my headshots and music are at home, so after my meeting I drove back across the state, arriving just in time for the latest episode of Bones and heckling Dancing with the Stars with my mother, while Dad snored on the couch. My cat was so happy to see me after being gone for over a week that he opted out of his hunting routine to sleep as close to me as he could without being technically on top of me.

Today I'm being efficient, as I have to drive back to Seattle for my audition. I'm debating whether to stay for the weekend since I have a costume to make and a dress rehearsal on Sunday, but since I have a lot to do at home, I think I'll come back tomorow, construct here, and then head back Sunday. We'll see. I might change my mind between now and 1:00.

Oh, and the reason I wanted to post in the first place. Yesterday was election day. All over Seattle people had signs and banners. I had the envelope to my ballot in the car, but not the ballot itself. When I finally made my way back to my apartment, there was my ballot sitting next to my computer -- so I filled out the rest of it, and got back in my car to drive to the 3rd Avenue post office in order to get it postmarked by midnight. I was so tired and inattentive that I plopped it in the packages slot instead of local mail, but the clunk I heard from behind the wall assured me that someone caught my mistake in time. And I drove half asleep back home to pass out.

I contemplated wearing my "I VOTED" sticker on my forehead to sleep.

Ahh, Vacation

Ahhh...Vacation

Well, my time here is halfway up. I leave on Monday. We thought about going into The City today, but realized, on our budgets, we have plenty of money to get there, but none to actually do anything. That leaves an excuse to come back though.

Yesterday was the beginning of Operation Christmas Child '07. We've got about half of our boxes done, only hindered by an excessive lack of wrapping paper. Stupid expensive (ha -- dollar store) foil paper that only has enough for 2 boxes. Silly us. And then I wrapped three boxes that turned out to be large enough for the crayons, but too small for the requisite coloring books. Oops.

More Buffy ensues. We finished season three last night and then did the musical sing along -- or Teri did. I only know about 3 songs partway through thanks to Youtube.

I've scheduled two auditions for the next two weeks back, plus my costuming 'gig' plus my ongoing filming in Portland. I'm going to be plenty busy for the next two weeks, and if I get any of the gigs I'm auditioning for, I'll be busy and PAID through the holidays. Won't that be nice?

Signing off now for some Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

Hello from North of the Windy City

From North of the Windy City
Well hello all. I am currently visiting CleverTitleHere for the week. So far, I haven't done much except force my friend Miles to get up very early on a Monday morning to take me to the airport -- note to self, check more than just the departure time before booking a flight. Monday I was up at 3:15. Teri picked me up from the shuttle drop off and we had Thai. I then watched some Buffy season 1. Yay! Then we went out for Margaritas with a friend of hers. I forgot to order blended. Dang it -- that's the best part. In fact, most days, leave out the tequila and make mine a smoothie. Ok, not technically true. Leave IN the tequila and make mine a smoothie.

Today I woke up half asleep and stayed that way. After a trip to the farmers market and a non-chain espresso, I went home and fell asleep in the sun spot on the floor...for 5 hours. Could not wake up. We'll call it jet lag or something. Then I availed myself of the fabric store - but not Hobby Lobby yet (there's one here!!!!!). I bought some solid green for appliqued vines with flowers I'm putting around the border of my quilt I finished. With flowers though. Don't you hate when you put vines around something and then it just looks like snakes...yeah, you know who you are.

So that's the trip so far. Now I'm hanging out while she runs a small group. Then hoome to begin cutting out green fabric strips on the bias. I didn't bring any yo-yos with me though. So it won't be totally finished when I come home. But I had to find something to do instead of just watching hours of Buffy ... quilting justifies an otherwise guilty pleasure.

Addiction

It's a terrible thing to have to admit.

After all, addictions aren't something to be glib about or joked over, unless you're Karen Walker. It's time consuming and money consuming. It takes you away from reality and all your friends. Eventually you find that you've spiralled downward and your choices are rehab, or self destruction.

I have discovered my own addiction. It's shameful to admit.

I'm addicted to Wikipedia.

There, I've said it. It began while reading Buffy scripts (another shameful admission). I realized how many offhand references Joss Whedon puts into his scripts and needed a way to quickly cross reference them for full impact. Pretty soon I had both screens up each time I indulged. Then I found myself checking other information -- book synopsis and backgrounds, movie plots and character backgrounds, historical references, snippets of lyrics or poems I needed to identify. One night I found myself clicking link after link looking up Harry Potter non-canonical references. Hours later, in the middle of an article on Bellatrix Lestrange I realised I have a problem.

I can cross reference for hours. There is so much interesting information out there are the click of a button! Summaries of science concepts I probably won't understand otherwise, word usage, entymology.

I could go on forever. But I won't, because I need to look up something.

Breaking and Entering

Breaking and Entering and the date that wasn't.

Another out of town weekend. Saturday I drove down to Portland for two days of shooting. Saturday was kind of slow, and lacking direction --so looking at the filming we'd done after the fact, I wasn't so thrilled with my performance. For one thing I looked in the shot about a foot taller than my costar, and my features looked HUGE next to her delicate bone structure.

It's all a learning experience. After the 2 hour shoot I went to the Fabric depot to stock up on 1930's prints for my quilt, then to Powell's to kill a few hours until my friend got home. So there I was stuck on my favorite block in Portland with hours to kill. It's a good thing I really don't have money to spare right now, or I'd have been in trouble. I went for a quick browse through Anthropologie for inspiration on winter fashions, then, to mecca, or rather, the world's largest independent bookseller. I found part three of a book I bought a few weeks ago, and went to the coffee shop to read. I hoped I'd be able to get through the whole thing and spare myself the $14.

the coffeeshop was crowded. Every table had someone in it, and strangers were starting to pair up. I grabbed a recently vacated table with a basket full of books next to it. After I'd settled down into the first few chapters, a male voice asked if I would mind if he sat with me. He promptly pulled out a very well used book, read for a few minutes, and fell asleep over it. He had on a hoodie, dirt in his fingernails, and an insulated cup sitting next to a can of orange generic soda. I think his book was Grisham. I had nowhere else to go, and wasn't really keen to give up my table, and thought I may as well stay in the shop reading, and keep this guy from having his nap disturbed.

Hours later I was nearly through, and he was still asleep. It was getting dark downtown and cold seeped through the glass window. The guy across from me started stirring, and I told him I was cold, and was going to get a cup of coffee, and would he like one as well. He would, after some hesitation. So he kept our table while I went for a caffe au lait and a black coffee. And then, we talked. For an hour at least. He, it turns out, was son of an army chaplain, and traveled around Europe as a kid. Since then he's lived in every contiguous state except Maine. He recently left New York and moved back to the Northwest -- and has a job in landscaping, which explains the fingernails. He told me that his ADD makes him impulsive (I couldn't help but laugh) and sometimes does things like decides to go to Mexico for a couple of weeks, or leave his home without packing anything. I made him stop for a bit in our conversation so I could finish my last chapter -- I told him I'd have to kill myself if I had to fork over that much money for one chapter. Eventually I had to leave to meet my friend, and our conversation ended. Sometimes, no often, the best things in life are unplanned.

Sunday I got up early and filmed another long scene, involving an interview, and housebreak, and finding a secret door into a room where the hostages left behind a dead body. It was a long morning, and I realized the truth of all those movie commentaries that say that the act of filming is quite boring. There's a lot of standing around involved, and some mimosas that day.

That afternoon I drove to Seattle and helped put together Christmas cards with Becky. Today I prepared for my audition this evening, which felt dreadful -- but probably wasn't. It's really hard to tell. I hope I get a callback at least. I do much better once we get to line readthroughs than in a 5 minute monologue situation. I really really want to be in this show...

Tomorrow a bit of costuming, then home to finish tearing out a bathroom.

Stranger than Fiction

Quote of the Day

Harold: So, are you a frequenter of the metropolitan transit authority, too?
Anna: Uh...no, I'm just late.
Harold: Big flag burning to get to?
Anna: Actually, it's my weekly evil conspiracy and needlepoint group, wanna come?
Harold: I-I left my thimble and socialist reading material at home.