Normal Happenings

Ok, I know I have been slacking on posting. I'm not even going to lie, I've just been lazy! Thanks for getting me in line Danni, haha. It's weird because it takes the biggest effort for me to start a post, but when I do actually start, I get really into it and then it ends up being 8 million pages long. I'm slowly phasing out doing background, so who knows what I will talk about in my blog in the future! It's been the "interesting" part of my blog I think. We'll see.

So, I worked on the show ER last week and here is an amusing story. Back in August, I met this girl. She is 18. I don't even know her real name because I have a nickname for her. I call her "mischievous". I started out as a joke, but the name stuck, so that's what I call her. I had seen her a few times on some other sets back in November and December. But, until last week, I hadn' t seen her since then. I think it will be funnier if I post our conversation, rather than describe it:

me: Hey mischievous, it's been a while. Isn't this where I met you?

her: (hugs me) Yeah! Wait a minute, did you just call me "promiscuous"?

me: No, no. I would never call you that. I called you "mischievous", like always.

her: Oh, ok. I don't even know what "promiscuous" means. I just know that song by Nelly Furtado and Timbaland.

me: haha....well, ask one of these ladies around you.

her: I don't know what "mischievous" means either.

me: All this time and you never knew?? It means you're bad, you start trouble, etc.

her: Oh, well what does promiscuous mean?

me: Ask someone.

(I start to walk away)

her: (yelling) CAN SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHAT PROMISCUOUS MEANS?!?!?!

random lady: SLUTTY! IT MEANS SLUTTY!

I have to admit, it was pretty funny. Nothing else terribly exciting happened that day except for one of the PA's telling us to walk briskly through the scene and a guy asked me if that means fast or slow. Hey, you can't know everything all the time, right? lol

Later in this week I was on a new pilot called Supreme Courtships. The only person I recognized there was Shane West, who ironically played a doctor on ER. This was being shot in downtown LA and I had to drive right through skid row to get there. Has anyone heard of "skid row" in Los Angeles? It's an area of downtown that is basically really run down. There are so many homeless people and there is garbage everywhere. I mean EVERYWHERE! Like all over the ground. It's a sad sight to see. I was also on Close to Home again this same week. Typical day except I got to drive my car through a scene. Fun.

Working at the gym has been kind of fun. For the first time since I moved here, I can go to a job, make friends and see the same people everytime I work. Some people that have come into the gym while I've been working there include Hugh Laurie (House), Guy Pearce, Nick Carter (Backstreet Boys) and some others that I can't remember right now, haha.

Positive quote:

"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. To keep our faces toward change and behave like free spirits in the presence of fate is strength undefeatable."

~Helen Keller

And this one is dedicated to Jill, my blog buddy:

"To do something, however small, to make others happier and better, is the highest ambition, the most elevating hope, which can inspire a human being."

--John Lubbock

**Although what Jill has done, and is doing for me, is HUGE! More than I can explain.**

A Little Overdue?

I seemed to have gotten a little busy this week and slacked off on posting on this blog. It happens. Not much happened this week except work, so I'll get to it. My week started of on Grey's Anatomy. What's with me working on this show so much this year? I don't know. Anyways, a few days prior to this day, it was announced that all the stars of Grey's renegotiated their contracts and had all gotten pay raises. It just so happens that the day I was there, they were all in such a great mood. Coincidence? I think not! I would be too. They're getting some hefty checks each week over there. Ellen Pompeo was all smiles and running around and laughing. It was funny. They deserve it though. It's a great show and they've been in the news so much over the past few months that I'm sure that they are glad they have something to smile about now. I went from Grey's to Close To Home the next day. They love me on that show. They always have long days, which means $$$, and their craft service table is exceptional! No complaints there.

Wednesday and Thursday (today) I worked on How I Met Your Mother. What a hectic 2 days. They were doing a big wedding scene, and that means sitting at a table all day long. It was cool though because there were some really funny people at my table including an older lady who reapplied her lipstick no less than twice an hour each time saying gleefully, "Ok, it's lipstick time!". You all know how much I NEED to laugh! The most interesting part about these 2 days, however, was a conversation I overheard. There were 2 kids on the show and their mother was backstage with them, talking to two other people. I'm minding my own business (as always, lol) when she tells these people that she and her husband have a farm with many animals, including 47 horses, some bison, etc., etc. Then she said that a few years ago, she and her husband brought in the pet psychic to talk to her animals!!! Do you guys remember that show on Animal Planet?!?!?! My mom loved that show and used to make me watch it all the time (or maybe it was the other way around, lol). The pet psychic.......Sonya Fitzpatrick was her name. This lady said that Sonya was the real deal and she was blown away. She said her husband was a major skeptic but he was a true believer by the end of the day. Apparently Sonya was on the money with a lot of things that she could not have known, including a story where the bison told Sonya to ask her owners when they were going to build the new pen they had been planning to build for her! The lady said she was blown away because just a few weeks prior, they talked about building a new $5000 pen for the bison!

Hey, I am in no position to judge someone's personal story here. I wasn't sold on Sonya when her show was on. I watched it just to see what kinds of animals she was going to talk to next. And I certainly can't knock psychics either because 2 years ago, I went to see one myself, just for fun, ya know? Little did I know that this psychic was going to be so accurate. Accurate enough to predict details that I have certainly seen come true, including the prediction that I would meet Jill, who you all know as my blogger friend who runs the Criminal Minds Fanatic blog. I am going to end this post here, because a good storyteller is supposed to leave his audience wanting more, right?? hahaha On my next post I'll finally discuss my time on the Criminal Minds set 2 weeks ago!

Positive quote of the day:

"Everything that is created begins in the form of a thought impulse."

--Napolean Hill, Think and Grow Rich

Everyone should really sit and think about this quote, because it's not just talking about material things. It's talking about success, happiness, wealth, health, etc.

It Was Oscar Weekend.........

............and I was majorly annoyed! They shut down a bunch of streets in Hollywood and West Hollywood and the traffic was crazy. There were so many celebrity parties all over town last night. Yesterday morning I had a job interview over in Hollywood, and on Sunset Blvd, the tow trucks were out in full force. I have never seen so many tow trucks in my entire life! Sunset had to be clear of cars, yet there were about 10 cars parked on the street right in front of where my interview was, and there were 10 tow trucks there hooking up to them ready to take them away. It was insane. In the meantime, I could have cared less about all the Oscar stuff because I had rehearsal for my film that I will be shooting in about a week. It was fun, and we found out that we will be shooting on the beach in Malibu! Not bad huh? I think it will be really fun and I can't wait for it to be put together so I can watch it, and then show everyone else.

As for work this week, I was on CSI: NY on Wednesday. It was pretty much a very long and boring day. Nothing to say there. Thursday I was back on Grey's Anatomy. Yeah I know, I have been on there a lot lately. This day was pretty uneventful as well. However, Friday I was on Close To Home and this is where I met my crazy. First of all, let me start by saying that I still have not met anyone that has ever seen Close to Home. Out of all of us background people, no one had ever seen the show. Does anybody watch it? I don't know how it is still on the air. I mean, you would think at least a few people would say they watch it. Anyway, back to my crazy. It was this guy, he looked like he was 16, but he had to be at least 18 to be working on the set. I was originally going to have to you all that I met a crazy, but that I didn't have a story to go along because he didn't talk, or do anything for that matter. He would just sit there, the whole entire day staring into space. He didn't talk to anybody. At one point, he would look up at the ceiling with his mouth open going "ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh", and everyone was looking at him all confused. Then, he started gargling with his own spit. How nasty is that?? Then, we were shooting a scene, and inbetween takes, he started doing this dance that looked a lot like Irish River Dancing!! LOL No joke. He obviously didn't care about looking stupid. Then, later on, he revealed his voice to me. It was really late. By the way, we were there that day from 7 am to 11 pm, so this was around 10. I got up to go get some soup and hot chocolate because it was freezing. As I was leaving, this kid goes, "If you're going to get soup, I'm going with you". How did he know that? So, he followed me there, not saying anything. We got our soup, but then they started filming, so we couldn't go back to the stage the same way we came. I said to him, "Oh, I think we can go this way back to the stage". Well, this crazy flat out ignored me! Didn't even acknowledge what I said. What the hell?? Where do these people come from?

Well, I thought I had more to say, but I guess I don't. So, here is the positive quote of the day:

"At some point we have to stop allowing life to happen to us, instead, we must happen to life - living our lives by design, with deliberate purpose."

--Deya Direct!, EURweb.com

Here I Come Columbus!

First, I just want to say that I really appreciate everyone who left a comment on my last post. Any of my friends will tell you that every now and then my head fills up with many thoughts and ideas on various issues, and eventually it has to come out somewhere. I certainly love having face to face discussions on issues such as race, but I kind of like the way it went here on blogger. Face to face, people tend not to say everything on their mind for fear of looking or sounding stupid, myself included. But as you can see, people left some very loooooong comments, which I loved. Just the fact that they took time to really dig down deep and say what they felt. I think some of those comments were even longer than my post!! Also, no one posted as anonymous, which I thought was cool too. By the way, I googled the word "thanks", and that pic is what popped up.

Now, on to better things. Well, I guess I'll talk about Thanksgiving here because it's been an entire week since I've worked. NOT FUN!!! I'm not going to rant about my boredom this time....just know that it is mind numbing!! Last Tuesday, the 21st, was the last time I worked and it was on the show Close to Home. It was a really long day, but I'm not going to complain about those anymore. With things slowing down because of the holidays, I will gladly work long days. Starting in December, the television industry goes on its winter hiatus, and that lasts for about 6 weeks. So, one of 2 things can happen. The scenario is that I won't be working at all. That means I can either get another job or apply for unemployment (which everyone here does) just to have some money coming in. I kind of like aspects of both, so I can't decide. Getting another job means looking, applying, interviewing, and probably end up doing something I'll hate anyways. Ahhh...decisions. The second scenario is that there could be a possibility that a few feature films will be shooting in town throughout December that need to use background, and so the television hiatus won't affect me at all. Obviously the second scenario is the one I'd prefer. But in actuality, I would REALLY just like to book a few commercials or get some roles in some movies so that I can be done with background altogether! I really am getting sick of it. Thank God that tv shows and movies need extras, because it's provided an easy income for me, but it's not what I came to California for, and I am so completely ready to move on it's not even funny! Sigh.........the life of an actor. I'm positive I'm not the only one feeling this way, I'm just whining right now. I've met people who have been doing this for 3 years!!! I don't want to even think about it!

So, Thanksgiving was really fun. A lady that I met on one of the sets invited me to her place for dinner. We met because I overheard her talking to someone one day, and she had an accent. I asked where she was from and she said, "Jamaica!". I'm a full 50% Jamaican in case anyone didn't know. My dad is from Kingston. We won't talk about the other half of me right now. It would be too confusing thanks to my beautiful mother. Remember a long time ago when I said the lady at the casting agceny looked at me, and then marked me down as "mixed" on the paper? Yeah, I'll just leave it at that! Anyways, after finding out I was Jamaican too, me and Ms. Jennifer talked about Jamaica all day long, and our families and the food, etc. I saw her 2 more times on some different sets, and then she invited me over to her place. She had some other people over as well, there was tons of food and dessert. So, we ate and watched movies. It was nice. Afrah had to work on Thanksgiving, poor thing. I guess that's part of being young. You work hard now so that later on you don't have to. That's what my dad always said. Afrah said her job catered in food and it was actually really good though, so that was good.

That's all I pretty much have to say since the rest of the last week just consisted of me watching A LOT of tv in my room.

OHHHHHH......duh. How could I forget to tie in the title of this post! I'm coming home for a visit yall. I'll be flying in on Thursday 12/7, hanging out with everyone hopefully, and then coming back to L.A. on Tuesday 12/12. I'm excited to see everyone and I hope to be partying on the weekend if I can get some friends to drive me around since I won't have a car.

See everyone then!