Today I left my house at 5am to meet the crew of "The Comet Chronicles" for our day on location filming near the gorge.

It was a very windy day, with clouds of dust being kicked up with each step. Within minutes our dust filled hair was matted, our faces dirty, and our teeth gritty. After a day of shooting here in the rain last year, and a pickup day with a snowstorm, wind and sunshine was the better combination.

We had a lot of fun today, getting every shot we wanted even as the light faded on us. My costumes held up for the most part, except for a split seam up the leading lady's left leg, that I sewed back in on set four times (we didn't have time to take the costume back up to the base camp where my machine was set up) Eventually even the basting between takes was given up, and she was stuck together with double-stick wall mount tape for the final long shots.

The lady working hair and makeup was the extra who saved my butt by helping me sew the cape for the snow shoot on the first day of the "November" set. We may get to collaborate in the future - which would be great! She's very determined, and wants us to submit ourselves as a team for some big budget feature films coming up.

Tomorrow we're greenscreening in town. Hopefully there will be less dirt. Except on the costumes which have to maintain the dust level for continuity.

Giving

Elizabeth, to do her justice, had, in the first ardour of female alarm, set seriously to think what could be done, and had finally proposed these two branches of economy: to cut off some unnecessary charities, and to refrain from new-furnishing the drawing room; to which expedients she afterwards added the happy thought of their taking no present down to Anne. ~Jane Austen~

Let's talk financial crisis. We're all aware that there is one, and a lot of the last political debate focused on it. In a time where the costs of commodities are rising worldwide, and the masses are panicking over the stock market, what are we to do?

I think, as a whole, this time can be a good one for our nation. For far too long we have been using up far more than our share of the world's resources; convinced daily by the media that every want and desire should be instantly satisfied. We live in bigger houses and drive more cars than our ancestors, and consume so much more than our share of food that we have a national obesity problem.

This could be a very good time to re-evaluate the difference between wants and needs. A time to make smarter choices about how to spend money, how to eat, how to save, and how to sell off the excess. (I've been weeding through my possessions to find anything I can eBay to supplement my income, and found a surprising amount of extra)

But there is a danger in this time. As people tighten their belts, one of the first things that people give up is their giving. Food banks are going to be tighter this winter. Homeless shelters less funded. I haven't heard anything from Compassion, but I can imagine that many people are giving up their sponsor children because they can't keep up with the payments. One place that hasn't fallen off is KIVA - which has so many donations being made that it's almost impossible to lend. By the time the page loads, the individual is already fully funded. (One personally relevant sidenote - please continue to support the arts as well. Your actors already starve regularly. We're worried about our live theatre ticket sales)

In a time when the rest of the community is panicking, and battening down the hatches, we who believe that God knows our needs should have a response of continuing generosity. Giving, especially when one doesn't know exactly where the next bit is coming from helps to develop a basic faith that God can provide. It also gives us a chance to loosen our grip on our things and having control of them.

If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs...~Rudyard Kipling~

If we use this time to learn to let go of possessions, let go of excess, and find that we can do with less, we'll enjoy simple things and moments more than we'd expected. Use things up, wear them out, melt them down (wait, I think someone already said that)...Give as much as you are able, and even more. Be generous when every nerve is telling you to hoard. Learn to find joy in things that don't cost much. Borrow from the Library instead of buying. Eat staples instead of fast food. Walk as much as you can. (You'll lose a SURPRISING amount of weight this way, too!)
Dance socially. And give even beyond your ability!

One who cannot cast away a treasure at need is in fetters." ~J.R.R. Tolkien~

Lots of theater happening. (Speaking of which, why have all the theaters, even the community theater I acted at growing up switched over to "theatre." I've had to change everything on my resume to look snootier.) Last night I went with three people to the preview of "The Drowsy Chaperone" and "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" at the 5th. Pinocchio runs with costumes this week, and my script and contract for Elves should be showing up soon.

My film shoots in Vantage on Saturday. It's getting really cold. Going to need the Wookie Coat. We've had our leading actress drop out of the film, so I have to go to the rehearsal tomorrow to fit the new actress into the costume.

I put in three resumes for waitressing jobs, but nothings come of them. Instead, Craigs list has furnished some sewing jobs to bring in extra cash. Hurrah! Maybe I'll be able to take dance classes after all! My corset is coming along nicely.

It's an odd thing living with a boy. Oh. Wait. My roommate's boyfriend moved into our empty room. Things are very even keel, and they're always cooking and offering me interesting healthy dishes (I mostly live on carbs, myself) to try.

But there's a plastic model of Russian Superman planting a flag on our perishables tray, next to my French cookbook and our Linen's N Things cake plate.

We have some sort of game-station thing in our living room.

There are very large shoes by the door.

There's also a lot of painting happening upstairs which is spreading down the stairs. Things look nice.

And, on an unrelated to boy but related to house projects, we've begun taping clear plastic to all the windows to save energy for the winter. It's not pretty, but we're covering them all with sheer curtains so we don't look QUITE as "under construction" as last winter.

Today I went to the filming to be an extra. When I got there, a little early, they put me in a trailer and had me fill out paperwork. Then they said, "Alright, let's get you to wardrobe and makeup. Oh. Here are some sides for you."

Sides. What do I need sides for. I'm just in the background. Oh, holy crap - I'm a featured extra! I don't have lines, but we have a whole SCENE with the lead.

I went to wardrobe, and got put into a beautiful pink blouse with a ruffled high neck collar treatment, and promptly got lip gloss on it when it was pulled over my head. "You're a costumer. You should know better. Next time put your lips together." I felt so bad - they had to go a different direction.

I spent half an hour in makeup, and 20 minutes of that was on my eyeshadow. Quote of the day: "Oh, we've got to make her look younger!" Quite the shock after getting told all summer how young I looked. But the guy playing the other half of my "young couple" is in college. They used my ring for my engagement ring.

We blocked the scene before lunch, ate, then the filming itself took about an hour for three setups. Six takes. And the lead actress was Cambodian - so we had a few sentence conversation in Khmer.

What a great way to spend a day! And craft services was excellent...I had red vines.

I have internet again at my house! And a new-to-me laptop! I can check my email from home now, and print out resumes to attach to my headshots, and OOHHH I'm so excited!

Today was a lovely day for a walk, so I walked to church (about 20 minutes), then to my costuming meeting (another half an hour), then to the library (40 minutes), then home. All in all, an hour and forty minutes - about 6 miles up and down hill. I felt justified in driving to the Miles and Beckys this evening. My legs hurt.

I've got a day job as an extra in a film tomorrow. I'm playing half of the "young couple" in a cafe scene. It pays cash - hurrah! Another day job! I'm going to bike to nannying, come home, and then head to Bellevue for the afternoon.

LST Pictures

With Miles and Becky at Kiss Me Kate


Doing Erin's hair for Sugar

Wow...my dashboard says this is my 1502nd post. That's a lot of typing of nonsense. Thanks, all, for letting me stay in touch with you like this.

Last night was my Forbidden Broadway style gig. It was actually a lot of fun. And I remembered all of the parody lyrics on my solo number ("I'm in Love with a Man Named Dan Guy"). And, even better, we had about 2 1/2 hours off between the mike check and the performance, AND WE HAD A GREEN ROOM! So I got to sit and listen to stories from people who have been in the business a LOOONG time. I even got to share a few stories of my own. It was fun to hear the ups and downs, and encouraging to know that persistance can pay off. There was a funny outdoor theatre 'possum story, too.

Today I've paid some bills, and come out just about even. The nice thing about this time around in Seattle is, I'm able to make it (almost - I'm still behind on my sponsor kids) on just nannying and my shows, with a few corporate gigs and events thrown in. This is a far cry better than last year with eight part-time jobs and a few days a week of acting. I feel I'm making some, albeit slow, progress here. This is encouraging.

I'm trying to take two dance classes and a corset making class this fall, as well as doing some monologue coaching. I've been working for a while on finding some good audition monologues, and also reading as many plays as I can - so next year I won't elicit gasps from the serious theatre junkies in Leavenworth when I say I've never read, say, The Glass Menagerie. Which I have now. I read it last week. And yesterday I read Cat on a Hot Tin Roof on the bus. So there. And Relative Values the day before. I think I need to read some farces, because modern theatre is very depressing. (At least the stuff I've been reading)

I have a few days off, and rehearsals start tuesday. I've got a script to memorize in the next few days, but that's about it for me this weekend!

So I was standing in line to buy tickets to see Shrek: The Musical, and the guy behind me goes, "excuse me, haven't I seen you in a show here?" "Oh no," I said, "I've never worked for the 5th." "Yes, but I've seen you in something." "Well, I've just got back from being out of town for a few months."

We went back to purchasing our tickets when suddenly he has an "aha" moment and says, "That's it. Leavenworth!" I whirled around and said, "What did you see there?"

"I saw you in The Sound of Music. You were fantastic. Here. Take my tickets. My wife fell asleep in the restaurant and we were just going to turn them in."

So that's how Phil and I got to see Shrek. Row G. For free one night.

Doing a Forbidden Broadway style parody gig this week, which is turning out to be a lot of fun! Good lyrics, fun cast and director, and good pay.

Nannying all week, and starting to costume (or rather, recostume) a film I did last fall which is being refilmed. I've got to fit my old costumes to the new actresses and add some new accessories.