Happy Monday

I took the blog down temporarily due to a blog snafu but it’s back up now!

I met with MG today and he showed me photos he had taken of his travels in Morocco, Spain, Tusnia, The Netherlands (where we got to meet up last year), Sweden etc. They were beautiful and also laid out by this really cool Flash application he created.

I went to lunch at Cafe Gitane with AS and we ate the yummiest food. She talked about how she has begun interviewing famous Hollywood types and gave really hilarious accounts of doing it We share the same philosophy in life, of creating your own opportunities, of being persistent and going after what you want. Having a conversation with her was invigorating and a lot of fun. I encouraged her to work on this show she wanted to do and she encouraged me to do an online video of finishing a script.

I dropped by SMC’s house and worked on my screenplay, some of the edits that needed work. Psyched! SMC also yelled at me to get the short he acted in done. I needed that.

Then I dropped by BY’s apartment to tape his audition for a casting in LA.

Then I went to SK’s birthday party at The Rusty Knot. It was a lot of fun, I saw a few old friends from my old day job. Headed home, ate and fell asleep.

April 16, 2008

Today I have an audition and a reading of a play with a director I really dig. Later I have a dinner with another director I may work with.

Oh crap, I also remember I have to send my producer storyboards for our title intro of our short. During the first trimester I let things slide because I felt like crap all of the time. Now that I’m back in commission, I want to get back on the ball with the projects. Well, I’m sitting on the ball, or at least kicking the ball around instead of ignoring it.

Yesterday I received a residual check from a show I did last year. THANK GOD.

My belly is sort of showing now. The fact that a baby is coming in a few months is becoming more of a reality. I read on the internet that it’s a good time to bond with the baby and start talking to it. It’s about 4 inches long and shies away from light if you put a flashlight near it.

April 15, 2008 - 15 Weeks

The weather was gorgeous out today. Bright, sunny and glorious.

I had a meeting scheduled a meeting with my coach and a writer/director I might work with.

Then my brother and I went to visit The French Culinary Institute. That place rocks! He’s thinking of enrolling and we had a tour of the facilities. I hate cooking but it temporarily made me want to become a chef.

I met with my buddy, SC and we had coffee at Starbuck’s. We’re planning to meet Thursday to write.

Back from down south…

J and I partied with his friends at Restaurant Eugene in Buckhead, Gerogia. Since I’ve been feeling pretty shitty being pregnant, I haven’t gone out in a while. We stayed out pretty late and since I couldn’t get wasted and STILL had a great time, I knew it was genuine.

The next day I woke up at noon, worked out and ate brunch. Then we went to the aquarium which was amazing. Afterwards we went to what I like to call The Tower Of Babel, or the CNN Center (it is an ugly building). It is the oddest building and had the strangest, bloodthirsty energy because the Hawks were about to play the Celtics.

The primary reason we went to the CNN Center was because J’s friends went on and on about Chic-Filet and he was frothing at the mouth to try it. As he pulled the foil back and excitedly bit into it and chewed, he looked like a kid opening gift at Christmas. His expression went from excitement to disappointment in 2 seconds after the first swallow. I ate a baked potato from Wendy’s.

Later, we ate at an Italian restaurant where apparently a lot of kids were dining for their prom.

I did not write, I suck.

On a cool note, a very nice director I’ve worked with before asked me to be in a reading of his this week, so that was cool. I also received an email from my stealthy, ninja producer who told me he found a good after effects guy for our short which is awesome. Why is my producer stealthy and ninja-like? Because I do not hear from him for weeks and he’s monosyllabic when he talks to me. But then whenever I wonder what is up with him, he does something really cool like this.

First gig of the year…

I booked a job as one of those folks from the Verizon Network.  When I booked the job I wasn’t eager to do it because I had a feeling it would painful.  As it turns out, I was booked as a “principal”, not an extra and the others I met were professional, working actors.  There were some 200 extras, but we got out of there before the poor crew had to coordinate with them.  

I met a lovely woman, who is an actress and also a perfusionist (she operates a machine which helps stabilize heart patients while they get cardiac surgery, no joke!) and her personality was so funny and energetic that it was a real joy to meet her. Her stories about her career were hilarious and she was a really smart woman who knew where she was going. I liked her because she really set her life up so that she could earn a living while pursuing her acting career.

We all dressed up as Verizon workers and we ALL had to wear Dickies pants. My pants were not fitting me because of my growing belly, but the wardrobe guy said to use them because they fit length-wise and he would split the back to make them fit. He had to split them quit a bit and it was then I decided that I would tell my commercial print agent I was going to go away for a little while. Sitting around, uncomfortable for hours isn’t like it was when I was not pregnant. It feels terrible. And I’ve learned that’s what a lot of acting/modeling is: sitting around in uncomfortable rooms for hours, waiting for your shot.

After the eight hour work day, I got home and fell asleep at 7:00. J asked if I could cook vegetables but I refused to get out of bed.

April 9, 2008

Today I woke up very early and went straight to my computer to write seven pages. I’ll admit the 7th page I pulled out of my ass but I wanted to get it done. Folks in class are up to page 27 and I didn’t want to be behind. Also, according to Israel, around page 45 things start to get easier so it encouraged me to write.

I also registered for an editing class and I’m VERY psyched about that. Finally I’ll be able to finish up my films.

I headed to class on the Upper West Side. The classroom temperature-wise was extremely warm and made everyone very sleepy. I had a difficult time paying attention due to the sleep inducing heat.

I totally forgot that I had to do a 16 week prenatal checkup so I scheduled that this Friday. After that J and I are off to Hotlanta! Yay! Change of scenery.

I realize that I need to plan my days with activities instead of chilling out by myself all the time. Being in class I definitely feel productive instead of depressed in our little apartment.

April 8, 2008

Today I was blue. This became apparent when my dearest friend with two children called me up and her children were chattering happily in the background. Every 2 seconds she had to gently reprimand them or address them: “You will get Elmo when we get home. Do you want Elmo? Do you want Elmo? Then please listen to Mommy. (silence) Thank you.” Then she cheerfully said: “See this is what you have to look forward to!” When she said that I felt miserable.

In the morning I wrote a bit but felt very tired. I free-wrote, I worked on a line or two on the one woman show. But I had a very difficult time writing and ended up packing up and heading home after an hour. I even booked a job for Thursday and found some way to make it a negative.

I called my friends who are actors/artist types who don’t have a 9-5 situation. One musician friend, who just came back from a tour, said that downtime can be difficult to deal with. He made me feel better by saying that it was a very real issue and not something to minimize. He said: “I just came back from a tour where crowds of people are cheering for me and now I’m in my apartment by myself and feel like: ‘This sucks.’ “. As artists, we experience the extremes of the joy and exhilaration of performing to mind numbing, soul sucking work or boredom. Striking that happy medium is a challenge.

I spoke to another actress who also agreed that battling boredom was difficult but she had learned to plan her days which helped.

It’s something that I’ve learned that is challenging and I’ll have to find ways to address it instead of being bogged down by it.

Afterwards, I went out for a 30 minute walk in the sunshine. That was helpful.

April 7, 2008

Met up with SC for lunch in K-town and we looked over each other’s monologues. He had two from a Mamet play which were good. It inspired me to get off of my butt to learn my own and audition for that acting class I’ve been meaning to take. We also agreed to meet up on Thursday to write.

After lunch I headed to uptown to meet with the graduate screenwriting students. The BEST piece of advice was from Israel and he said that when you’re writing a play or a screenplay and you want to change the beginning, don’t do it. Just make a note of it and move forward. Don’t go backwards because you risk changing the tone of entire piece. I’ve been guilty of starting from the beginning and I have experienced how it can lead to analysis paralysis.

The students had to have 21 pages done. Even though my work isn’t being read in class, they’ve inspired me to keep up with them pace-wise.

As an actress, the class is very good for me. I’m able to read and keep nimble by reading fresh copy. However, as a writer, this class is excellent. I feel like a sponge that greedily soaks up all the information I can get.

April 6, 2008

Today I’m exhausted. If I were a mac computer, I’d be in “sleep” mode right now.

April 5, 2008

Yesterday I went to see Cai Guo-Qiang’s show at the Guggenheim. I enjoyed it, he has a large body of work that filled the museum. I am not the hoity toity artsy type but I did feel it was a bit accessible. One comment running through my mind was: “This seems like the Disney World type of show.” From the Guggenheim’s point of view, they need to have a show that brings them revenue.