WOW, I Had No Idea............

.....that so many of you would go and look at my imdb page. This is nuts. I went to look at my page on Monday (because, yes, I look at it everyday!) and my STARmeter has increased 5,483% since the previous week. 5,483%!!!! That means thousands of people looked at my page. I really have to credit my blog buddy, Jill, though. She posted my picture and the link to my page on her wildly popular Criminal Minds Fanatic blog. It's just crazy. I really appreciate people taking a few minutes to go look at my page because it was something that was REALLY exciting for me. Here's the link if you haven't seen it yet: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2856613/. Each person's page has a STARmeter which tracks traffic on said peron's page. Pages for films have MOVIEmeter, which does them same thing. Whether the meters go up or down doesn't reflect positive or negative interest, it just reflects traffic from week to week on the page.

I hope everyone is having a great holiday season. I'm working straight through it at the hotels. I work 7 days a week now, even through the holidays. I was able to get off work early on Christmas though and spend it witrh friends since I didn't go home again this year. I spent my Christmas in Compton though. How I ended up there, I have no clue, but it was a good time.

I know I had some other things to say for this post but I can't remember. I'm at work and I keep losing my focus here. I can't believe I'm blogging from work. I work so much now that I have to do this at work because I'm too exhausted when I get home. I work so much now that friends are getting pissed at me when I have to cancel plans because I'm too beat. Some of them don't understand the fact that when someone works 7 days a week, they don't get to do much else. I'd much rather work hard now and play later when my acting success comes, because believe me, it's coming. I'm leaving no other option for myself.

This brings me to my positive quote. It's my new favorite quote. I pretty much have a positive quote to look at for every mood that I'm in. When I'm angry, I go look at one, when I'm sad, another. When I'm depressed, another, etc., etc. But, I didn't have one for my impatience, until now. I'm a very impatient person. It's pretty pathetic and it just adds more stress to my life that I don't need. So, I came across this quote on TMZ of all places. I usually post quotes that can pertain to everyone, but this one is just for people in the entertainment industry who have been working long and hard at their goals. Don't give up!

"When someone is lucky enough to catch a big break after being in Los Angeles for fifteen seconds, often times they are not equipped with the professional skills and knowledge required to sustain a long and successful place in the entertainment industry."

~David Todd of Nous Model Management

I'm going to probably look at this every day. I'm all for longevity in my acting so I don't have to work these stupid day jobs anymore! If I have to be patient and diligent in order to have a long and successful career, then so be it. I will be patient. Who's with me??

Another Milestone Achieved

Hollywood isn't full of liars after all!!! Yesterday, I was bored at work with nothing to do. I had checked all my e-mails, been to every website I could think of. So, I decided to peruse through IMDb. I put my name in and noticed they posted my credit from the film I did back in August. I now have my own IMDb page!! There is only one measley credit on there, but it is a start. It's a big deal for a new actor to finally get a credit on IMDb. I originally thought they had lied to us because we shot this back in mid August, and they told us the credit would post within a few weeks. After a month and a half, I assumed they had lied to us just to get some people for the film, but they actually held to their word. So, you can go to http://www.imdb.com/, put in "kris campbell" in the search field, and two entries come up. Mine is the second one, the one that says "Actor" next to it (obviously). The first one is another Kris Campbell who is a sound technician or something. My picture isn't up yet because apprently they have to be put up by the production companies. So, it will probably be a while before a picture of me is on the page. But who cares, I have my own IMDb page!!!

I've been busy with work and helping to support the writers that are striking here in Hollywood. It's getting ugly, but we need to get them back to work. They even gave me a t-shirt that they wear on the picket line. Those glasses that I'm wearing are new. What do you think? I tried to go for something a little trendy and not so "midwestern" if you know aht I mean, haha. In the first picture above, that's me with a rep from the Writer's Guild of America on the picket line a few weeks ago. I've been hitting the gym hard, can you tell? It was hot that day hence my sweaty forehead.

Got to run some errands and head to work thereafter. Seems like I'm always on the move now. Here's the positive quotes:

"Plant the seeds of expectation in your mind; cultivate thoughts that anticipate achievement. Believe in yourself as being capable of overcoming all obstacles and weaknesses."

~Norman Vincent Peale

"Ordinary people believe only in the possible. Extraordinary people visualize not what is possible or probable, but rather what is impossible. And by visualizing the impossible, they begin to see it as possible."

~Cherie Carter-Scott

You get 2 quotes today because I liked them both. These are quotes on achievement because I'm happy about my IMDb page. That's an achievement in itself! I don't know about you, but I want to be extraordinary.

This Christmas

I hadn't realized that it's been almost a month since my last post. Want to know why? Well, simply put, all of my student loans have gone into repayment. I left the gym and started a second hotel job (because it pays a lot more). I now work 7 days a week and never get a day off, all while fitting in auditions when I can. It's tough, but it's the life of an actor and there a re many others doing the same things. Almost everyone I know here has 2 jobs, even people that are NOT actors. I initially was pissed that I had to give up my days off in order to pay these loans, but after pondering it awhile, I'm actually just thankful (I suppose, lol) that these 2 jobs provide me with enough income to pay the loans each month and still have a little bit left over at the end of the month.

Now, everyone knows I stopped doing background work back in March after I got my SAG eligibility, and everyone knows that I no longer tell people when a show I was on is going to air because it's too hard to try and pick someone out of the background. However, there is a movie that was just released called This Christmas that I was able to be a part of back in January. The only reason I'm writing about it is because I actually have some good camera time. I wasn't really planning on seeing the movie right away, but after it was realeased, I got contacted by so many people saying they saw me in it. Not just my friends either. I was contacted by people that I hadn't talked to in years, who had no idea I was even in L.A. (I don't think), and they recognized because the camera was that close to me. If you're going to go see the movie, look for me at the end of the movie in the church scene. I'm in the very front pew in the church wearing a gray suit jacket and glasses. It's kind of cool I guess, but I'm still just an extra, so not a big deal! The movie was pretty good though.

Before i end this post, I have to share a "first" that I experienced this morning. I went to my car to go to work and my windshield was opaque. No biggie I thought. It got really cold last night. I get in the car, switch on my wiper blades, and the opaqueness doesn't budge. It was ICE! I was so mad. I left Ohio to get away from ice and snow. It better have been only a 1 time thing!

Here's the (sort of) positive quote for the day:

"I don't really keep counsel with others. I'm the kind of person who will think about something, and if I know it's right I'm not going to ask anybody. I don't go, 'Boy, what do you think about this?' I've made every decision for myself - in my career, in my life".

~Tom Cruise

I guess I've done this by making my move to LA. You have to live for yourself and not for others. It's just hard when you're a people pleaser and you're looking for some sort of backing from people close to you and you aren't getting it. I wasn't getting it at first, but I am now!

I Work With a Crazy.........

......and I absolutely love it! More on that in a minute. It's been a month now since I started working at my new job, another hotel. I like it so far and it's a big step up from the other hotel I worked at. This one is a luxury hotel and the presidential suite goes for $2000 a night. I've decided not to say the name of this hotel because all you crazies that read my blog might try to stalk me!! Haha, just kidding. Actually, we have a LOT of celebrities that stay with us, and I want to be able to mention who is in house with us sometimes and not worry about confidentiality issues, ya know? For example, Kelly Clarkson will be with us for 4 days next week. Other people I've seen in the hotel so far include, Gabrielle Union, Nia Long, Joy Behar, Soulja Boy and the Dixie Chicks. Now, I don't get excited about celebrities anymore, but those are some people who have come through.

Now for my new best friend. Her name is Rosie and thanks to her, I have not laughed so hard in a looooong time. Rosie is probably in her mid to late forties and she in from Vietnam and has a pretty think accent. I met her in a training course that I had to take for the hotel. We had to do this exercise where everyone had to ask everyone else one question. So, at the end, we each had a list of 9 questions. We then had to go around the room and answer the questions in the form of a story about ourselves. It was a creative little exercise. Well, Rosie got nervous the whole time, and she didn't write down any of the questions she was asked. She was the last one to tell her story, and boy was I in for a laughing fest. Basically, she didn't answer any of the questions people asked her. She told us the story about how she got hired at the hotel. She said that when she finally got hired she was so happy. She said she loved the hotel, all the people, and she is just so happy. The way she was saying it was funny for some reason though. So, I'm not laughing at this point, just kind of chuckling under my breath.........UNTIL..........I look to my right, and one of the housekeepers, a sweet Guatamalan lady, was patting her eyes with a tissue. I asked her what was wrong and she says, "Her story was just so beautiful!" She was CRYING!!! CRYING people.....and at that point I completely lost it! I could NOT hold it in. In fact, I'm cracking up right now just as I'm typing the story here.

At this point, I definitely thought Rosie was funny, but not a crazy. If you can make me laugh, I will be your best friend. I LOVE to laugh. I knew she was a crazy the next day she told us why God created men. The ladies in the room had been complaining all day that it was too cold in the room, but none of the guys were cold at all. Our instructor, who was male, told them it was because we have more testosterone, so we stay warmer. (Side note: that of course was a BS explanation. Remember, I was in med school, and it has nothing to do with testosterone, haha). So, he finishes his explanation and says that's why all the ladies are cold. Then Rosie says, (in her accent) "That's why God make man...to keep woman warm". Everyone laughed at that one. Rosie's "craziness" just went up a few notches.

I knew Rosie and I would talk a lot from then on, because I need my daily laughter. The next incident happened in the cafeteria. There was an employee eating a banana. Rosie sees him and calls him a monkey, and starts doing some kind of monkey dance. You had to see it, it was hilarious. So when he was done, there were no more bananas and as he was leaving he asked Rosie where all the bananas were, and without missing a beat, Rosie goes, "The banana's between ya legs baby!"

And with that, Rosie's "crazy" meter skyrocketed and now she is competing with Pam from Transformers! I'm ending this post on that note because I need to go to the gym and my abs just got a workout from laughing! Hopefully my blog can be a little more entertaining now that Rosie has entered my life!

Positive quote:

Regret is useless in life. It's in the past. All we have is now.

~Marlon Brando

This is the reason why I am enjoying Life in L.A. I want no regrets!

Mother Came to Visit (Part 2)

And the story continues. After not having had the chance to spot Britney Spears or Paris Hilton around town, my mom was feeling kind of down. So, I figured that going to The Price Is Right would cheer her up! The show wasn't going to begin taping until 1 pm, but we had to be at the studio before 7 am to get priority tickets. They go on a first come, first serve basis. I had gotten 4 days off from work to spend time with my mom and I wasn't exactly happy about having to wake up at 5:30 am to go to CBS and then wait around for hours and hours. Anyone who knows me, knows that my attention span is virtually non-existant. It's really bad actually. I dread airplane rides for this reason. I'm not worried about going down, it's the sheer boredom of sitting in the same seat for hours. But, I digress..........

Somehow the universe could sense my boredom, and so they sent us a crazy to entertain us. Bright and early that morning, Marilyn walked into our lives. Now, you have to picture what she looks like to get the full effect. She looked almost identical to Rhea Pearlman in that tv show Cheers. Here's a picture below to refresh your memory. Yes, I remember this show even though it came out the year I was born! Now, Marilyn was a very sweet woman who could talk, A LOT! She latched onto us like a barnacle on the side of a boat! But I didn't care that day, she was making me laugh, and if you can make me laugh, I'll be your best friend. Pam (the Transformers fanatic) has this down pat! Anyways, Marilyn is telling us about how beautiful her grandchildren are, what she had for dinner last night and how she'd been begging people to come to The Price is Right with her, but no one would, so she decided to come by herself. I wonder why no one would come with her? haha I have to say, upon telling her that I left med school to come to Hollywood to pursue acting, she said that was great and I should pursue my dreams. That was good, because if I hear one more person tell me to just go back to school, I'm going to explode! We ended up finding out the Marilyn lived right around the corner from the hotel my mom was staying at, to which she told us, "Well, gee, if I knew you were going to come, I would've picked you up!" LOL, funny Marilyn.

Just before the taping, we had to go through security and wait some more. We noticed Marilyn disappear. Then all of a sudden she re-appeared with some food and somehow gotten back to the line, having bypassed security! Never underestimate the power of a crazy! We finally got to go into the studio and we could sit wherever we wanted. I knew Marilyn had officially reached crazy status when my mom says to me, "Look, there's 2 seats left on the end of that row. Let's get them so Marilyn won't be by us". HAHA It was funny, but in my mom's defense, she wasn't trying to be mean, she just thought that Marilyn would distract her during the taping of the show by talking.

The show was entertaining, and Drew Carey is a good host in my opinion. He entertained us on commercial breaks. We had our fingers crossed that we would get called up on the stage, but it didn't happen. It was still fun though. We saw people win cars, and a funny thing happend at the end. After some lady won her showcase at the end, after the cameras had stopped rolling, we noticed Drew Carey laughing hystrtically. I mean, he was laughing so hard he was turning red and he had to take his glasses off to wipe his eyes. Everyone is like, "What's going on up there?" Well, he finally told us that the lady who won, was so excited and jumping up and down that her teeth fell out! I wish I could have seen it!

That concludes my mother's trip to Los Angeles. It was fun and she said she's coming back real soon.

Also, a lot of people have contacted me to see if the fires out here are affecting me in anyway. I appreciate all the concern. The fires are no where near me, but the sky is starting to get a little hazy from the smoke blowing over this way. Let's just pray that they get them under control soon and that everyone that is affected by them in anyway are ok.

Here's the positive quote:

I refuse to give up. I shall continue firmly, steadily, and insistently until my good appears.

Catherine Ponder, The Dynamic Laws of Prosperity

This quote is another one of those mantras that you are supposed to say to yourself multiple times a day if you get down about things. This one can be applied to anything, big or small.

Hollywood Is Full of Liars!

I got duped! A few posts ago I talked about a low budget feature I did that promised us IMDB credit. Well, doesn't look like it's going to happen. If so, it would have happened already. I should have know. Part of me did. But these people are so slick. I've heard stories of this happening before, but you get to a point as an actor when you get a little desperate. These people know this. They know that a person pursuing acting professionally does not like to be an extra. Low budget films don't pay extras anyway, so how do they get extras for their movies? They lie and tell actors that they'll get IMDB credit for it. As I said before, IMDB credit is a BIG thing, and when you're even a little desperate, you'll fall for these stupid lies. It's stupid, but a low budget movie doesn't have to follow the same set of SAG rules that a regular feature film would have to follow. Well, as they say, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." You can bet I won't fall for that again!

Now, a funny coincidence happend the other day. So, I've been getting a lot better at dealing with my enormous student loans and not being depressed about them. I started paying one off in July, and it's going well so far. One day I was thinking to myself how much I have to be thankful for in life, and how things COULD be a lot worse. I mean, both my parents are still alive and well, I'm healthy, I have friends and family who support my endeavors, and I am able to work. So, I told myself, I'm done with being stressed about my student loans (even though it is such a burden on my shoulders). There is nothing I can do about my debt, I just have to deal with it. I felt a lot better. The very next day I'm reading a magazine article about debt and tips on how to save money. It said things like, save a little each paycheck, have a money market account instead of a regular savings account, pay off credit cards first, etc. Every tip this article listed, I had already done, so I thought, "Wow, I'm really ahead of the game". Then I read a sentence that says, "In an Ohio State University survey, 25 percent of people admitted to losing sleep over debt-related stress." I had to laugh. It was so ironic that just the day before, I told myself I wasn't going to stress out about my debt, and more ironic that this came from Ohio State, the same place most of my debt comes from! Weird huh? I have to admit that, while I'm getting better at dealing with it, I do relapse sometimes. To the point where I get so scared or frustrated I start shaking. $80,000 is a big number for a 25 year old.

Positive quote:

"Money, money, money, manifest thyself here and now in rich abundance."

~Catherine Ponder, The Dynamic Laws of Prosperity

The idea behind this quote is that the mind is a powerful thing (which I fully believe). The book is filled with these little phrases, and the philosophy is that the mind can create whatever it wants, if it truly believes in something. So, you're supposed to take a quote, like the one above for example, and say it, silently or aloud, everyday, multiple times a day. This may seem kind of silly, but I thought to myself, what do I have to lose? It doesn't cost anything, there is almost no effort involved, I can do it anywhere, and no one has to know that I'm doing it or when I'm doing. Doesn't hurt to try, right?

Mother Came to Visit (Part 1)

I realized I only did one post in September. I'm such a lazy ass. As I said before, it's a combination of me being lazy and thinking people wouldn't be reading anyway, but I checked my counter and my numbers are still up. So, because of that, I'm going to try and post at least once a week. Keyword: TRY.

So my mom came to visit me 2 weeks ago. She was really excited to come and I was excited to have her. It was her first time to Los Angeles. To the left you will see a picture of my mom standing on top of the Hollywood Hills with the San Fernando Valley (where I live) behind her. I have to say, after her four days here were up, I was exhausted. We were ALL OVER the city doing all the touristy stuff and still didn't even get to half of the things there are to do here.

We started the day she got here by going to dinner. After it got dark, I drive her through Hollywood and the Sunset Strip so she could see all the lights and what everything looked like at night, since we were going to be doing most of our activites during the day. The next day I took her to the hotel that I worked at and then we went to Rodeo Drive. There was A LOT of walking included in this trip and Rodeo Drive was no exception. For those of you that don't know, Rodeo Drive is the name of the famous street with all th expensive shops, but the whole area is made up of more streets with more shops and we walked all of them. A funny thing happened in one of them. We went into a store called St. John (I think), and like many of the other stores, they have huge tv screens in there with fashion shows showing, with models walking on the catwalk. This is what happened next:

Me: "Mom, do you think you could walk the catwalk like that?"

Mom: (laughs) "Of course I can."

Mom walks down the aisle shaking her hips.

Store Clerk: (out of nowhere) "Ohhhhhh, very good! I saw you shaking it!"

Much laughter ensues

Maybe you had to be there, but it was really funny. We saw some sweaters in this store for $1200. I kind of felt bad for my mom because I'm such a bad shopping partner. I can't help it, I just really hate shopping. Maybe it's because I'm a guy, I don't know. I tried to stay enthused for her sake though, haha. She finished up on Rodeo Drive by buying a multitude of things at a store where everything was $15.00!! Now that's funny.

Next we went to Hollywood Blvd to see the Walk of Fame, Kodak Theater, Grauman's Chinese Theater and all that good stuff. There wasn't much going on here because it was Sunday I think. At some point during this day, I took my mom to the apartment that I lived in last year. (Yeah, the one that was on the Sunset Strip that I'm pissed I don't live in anymore). She met my old apartment managers and they told us all of the old Hollywood stars that used to live in this building, including Marilyn Monroe at one point. He took us underneath the building and showed us all these trap doors and bathrooms down there where the celeb's assistants used to stay. I lived there for a while year and they never told me any of that stuff!! When I'm famous, I can be added to that list now!

The next day we went to Venice Beach (Muscle Beach) where all the weirdos and street performers are, and then we went to Santa Monica and the Pier. This was my mom's first time seeing the Pacific Ocean. Mom loves the ocean but is scared of water. Sounds like a crazy if you ask me!

Since this is getting long, I'm going to break it up into 2 parts. Next time, I'll tell you about our time on The Price is Right and the crazy my mom made friends with. Yes, we met a crazy at the The Price is Right. Did you really think I could make it through this trip without attracting one of them?!?!? lol

Here's the positive quote of the day since I get yelled at by people if I don't post one:

"A kindred soul is the friend who loves you for the total summation of whatever you will do, whatever you are, and whatever you are becoming, with no qualifications."

--Sylvia Browne

I'm looking for kindred souls. I posted this quote because I think "true friends" are very far and few between. There are NOT many out there for most of us. It gets depressing sometimes when you're going through things and you feel like you have no one to talk to for fear of being judged. I'm sure we've all felt like that before. Hey, just being honest here.

I Always Freak Out Too Soon!

Ok, things have been a little hectic, but let me fill everyone in on why I was freaking out. Basically, the hotel that I work at is closing down for renovation, and we're all being laid off. They expect the renovation to take more than a year, so we all have to find new jobs. I initally started to get nervous because I remembered how long it took me to get a job back in march when I quit doing background work. I refuse to work in a restaurant, and I was really lucky to find this hotel job that would let me go on auditions any time they came up. I thought there was no way that I was going to find another nice hotel to work at, with equal or better pay that would give me the flexibility to go on my auditions. It was also difficult for me to find this job because I hadn't had any previous hotel experience.

Well, our hotel held a job fair for us last week, and some local hotels sent reps to come interview us. These weren't hotels like Days Inn or Best Western. They were other hotels like the Sofitel, The W Los Angeles, The Hyatt, etc. I had already applied and been hired at the Beverly Hilton (where they hold they Golden Globe Awards) at the beginning of August, but they wanted for the overnight shift and I wasn't going to do it. My fear was not that I wasn't going to get hired somewhere, but that I wasn't going to get hired somewhere that was actor friendly.

Lo and behold, the first hotel I interview with hires me on the spot. The director of human resources asked if I was in the entertainment business at all. I half way lied and said I thought about it, but not really. He then said to me that they believe in having a balance in life there and actually encourage people to pursue things like that. He even said that he just finished shooting a short film for a friend!! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH OF A RELIEF THAT WAS TO HEAR?!?! Not having to be nervous to ask to go to an audition or feel bad for leaving for an hour or so. Relief!! I was really excited. There is another hotel that I interviewed at and am waiting to hear back from. It's a really nice one and I heard there are a lot of actors that work there too and they aren't too bad with it.

So, you see, everything worked out just fine. Why do I worry so much??? It's so stressful. I think it is the downside to being a perfectionist and a Type A personality. I have to have things go my way. Also, I think that by worrying a little (or being concerned about the future if you will), helps a person to better plan for the future and to think about everything thoroughly. I'd love to have a care in the world and let life take just take me, but I think I'd forget things and end up in some financial bind or something. Some worry is good, but I tend to overdo it, just like my mother!

Speaking of which, my mom is coming to visit this weekend for 4 days. It's her first time to L.A. so she wants to do all the tourtisty stuff. We'll take lots of pictures and post some on here and then everyone can meet my mom!

Life Is Boring, But.........

I am excited to say that I am getting my first IMDB credit. Cool huh? For those of you (like my mother) who have no idea what IMDB is, check it out at http://www.imdb.com/. It is the Internet Movie Data Base. It's actually a pretty big deal to for an actor, or anyone in the entertainment biz to get credit on this site, at least I think it is. Everyone always talks about it. When you go to the website, you can put in any actor's name (not just celebrities) into the search field, and it will pull up the profile for that actor, and every film or television project that that actor has worked on. All SAG franchised projects get listed on this site, and also non-union projects that qualify. For example, if you recall, I acted in an independent short film back in March. It's still in post-production. When it is finished it will be submitted to a number of film festivals. If accepted to any of the festivals, all of us actors will get IMDB credit for it. Hopefully it will and then my resume will grow from there! Having an IMDB credit also means that I will be google-able. Hey, I'm moving up in the world.

The film that I got this first credit for was some low budget feature. I think it is going to be titled Jelly, but that could change. There aren't any big names in the film and I don't know if it will get a theatrical release or not. I was part of a club scene, and actually, there was a girl there that was also in the short film that I shot back in March.

I wish I could post more often, but there just aren't THAT many exciting things happening right now. I work at one job, then go to the other job, then sleep for a few hours, and do it all over again the next day. Fun fun. I'm still trying to stay positive, so here's the quote:

Be a Do-er Not a Critic
A non-doer is very often a critic-that is, someone who sits back and watches doers, and then waxes philosophically about how the doers are doing. It's easy to be a critic, but being a doer requires effort, risk, and change.

--Dr. Wayner Dyer

Britney Stopped By To say "Hi"

Early Thursday morning at 4am, Britney Spears graced my hotel with her presence, and she brought all sorts of madness with her. She was visiting Criss Angel "the mind freak" for whatever reason. He stays with us a lot. Click the link below to see Britney arriving at our hotel and the masses of papparazzi with her. Unfortunately this wasn't one of the nights that I worked overnight, so I wasn't there. I was actually out partying myself! You can, however, see my co-worker, JJ, yelling at the paparazzi to get out of the building. And she means business!! haha

http://www.accesshollywood.com/news/ah6501.shtml

(If the video doesn't start automatically playing, just click on the picture of Brit and Criss, and it should re-direct you to a page that will play the vid).

Criminal Minds Casting

It's been half a century since my last post, but I've been really busy working and umm..err.....partying! Yes partying. I spent most of my first year in Los Angeles focused on my goals. It was all work and no play. I hardly went out at all. Now, I'm still focused, it's just time for me to get out and meet people and things like that. I'm having fun.

Last Wednesday I had the honor and privelege of working in the casting office of the show Criminal Minds. A HUGE thanks to April and Scott, the 2 casting directors in the office and Erica the casting assistant for letting me spend a day with them even though things are hectic over there. It was so much fun and it really opened my eyes to a lot of things and put my mind at ease for others. I'll try to go briefly through the day.

It was the first day casting for a new episode: Espisode #4. The cast and crew were on location filming episode #3. The day started off with a meeting in which the casting directors, writers and producers get together to discuss exactly what they want the characters to be like. This was the first thing we did and I'm so glad they let me go to this meeting, because I was originally scheduled to come in after the meeting. This meeting really made me feel better about myself as an actor for one reason. They talked about what the characters were supposed to be like in such detail. They already have a preconceived image in their head about what kind of look they want. I hate to say this, but in Hollywood, it really is more about looks than "talent", whatever your definition of talent is. I'll explain more about this as I continue my story. My point here is that, as an actor, you go on so many auditions, yet rarely hear back from any of them. It really is a hit or miss thing. I had read in books that said that when you don't hear back from an audition, to never take it personally and to not get down about it. I never really believed it, but it is true. You still can't help thinking every now and again, "Am I really meant for this?"

After the meeting, I got to do something really fun. I got to audition 4 actresses that they wanted to see for a small role in this episode. I can't explain how relieving this was!! To be in an audition room and NOT be the one auditioning! It was great! In the room were the 2 casting directors, one of the producers, and me working the camera. The first actress came in and read the scene which was about 4 lines. It took a few seconds and she was done. The producer did not ask her to do the scene again. Now see, this is something that it took me a while to catch on to. When an actor goes on an audition, and they ask you to do the scene multiple times, they're at least interested, or see you as a potential candidate for the role. If they don't ask you to re-read, it's probably a no go. This may seem like common sense, but it took me a while to figure out. This is another reason why I really wanted to shadow in the casting office. In any other profession (i.e. -medical school), part of your training is shadowing a professional to get some hands on experience. In acting, you can't just go shadow another actor and watch them audition. You're just thrust out there to fend for yourself and learn everything on your own pretty much. I'm speaking of auditioning in particular, not acting technique or anything. So, for me it was essential to have this experience. They ended up choosing the 4th actress that auditioned for this part. The overall mood for this scene is going to be kind of dark, I think, so they wanted someone who fit that look. The first actress was bubbly and blonde. See, so they were all "talented", but they needed to go with someone who fit the look of the scene.

The rest of the day consisted of me helping Erica around the office. I got to read the whole script and check it against the updated version and make note of any changes. This episode is going to be really good by the way. I helped Erica call actors to bring them in for auditions the next day. How great they must've felt to get a call and hear: "Hi, this is Kris from Criminal Minds. We want to audition you tomorrow". Exciting! At some point in the day, Scott received a delivery from an actor. It was an elaborate fruit basket from a company that can do some amazing things with fruit. They make flower bouquets and stuff all made from fruit. It was good, and I know that casting directors and agents get gifts like this all the time. Honestly, it is SO cheesy and I'd never do it. Thanks to all the books I read before I moved to Hollywood, they said that doing things like this is a waste of time and money. It's true, and besides, it just makes you look desperate!

So, that was my day in the Criminal Minds Casting office (in a nutshell). Great experience and I definitely took a lot from it that hopefully I can put to good use for myself. I wanted to meet Ed Bernero the executive producer (and writer) and also Simon Mirren (also a producer/writer), but I wasn't able to. They know my blog buddy Jill very well and I wanted to say hi to them for her. Oh well, maybe next time.

Two People I Have Met

Everyone knows much of Hollywood has a drug problem, and I'm about to tell you one of the reasons why. There is a girl I work with at the gym and she blew me away the other day with her ignorance and stupidity. We were at work, and she asked me a question. It was a question that she had asked me twice before, and I told her that we had talked about it before. So, she apologizes and says that she used to do drugs and it messed up her memory or something like that. I asked her what drugs she has done, and she basically said she has tried everything. And guess what? She is only 21. She is an actress here, but she doesn't seem very focused on it. Anyways, so we started talking about drugs, and when I told her that I had never done drugs before, not even tried any (and I was telling the absolute truth), she gave me this look as if I was the only person in America to have never done drugs. So, she asks me haven't I ever been curious to try and I tell her no, there is no point, it's stupid. Then, this is what she said that blew me away. She asks me what would happen if I got a role in a movie sometime in the future and I had to play a drug addict or something. I told her that I would do my research like any other actor and just play the role. She has the nerve to tell me that that is not possible. In order for me to play that part effectively, I have to actually experience the effect of drugs!!! My mouth dropped. How idiotic can you be?? Now keep in mind, this is a girl who has no education and most likely dropped out of college BECAUSE the drugs she was on made her stupid enough to do something like that. I told her that acting is just that......acting. It is pretend, and a large part of acting is being able to imitate. She wasn't hearing it and still tried to convince me that I had to try drugs in order to play that role convincingly. At this point, I decided I was wasting my time talking to someone who had obviously killed millions of her brain cells and really wasn't on my level intellectually. I find myself thinking that a lot.

The point of me telling this story is that I believe things happen for a reason. And when you're a good person and have good karma, good things happen to you. I wanted to come to Hollywood right after high school, but due to circumstances out of my control, I just couldn't do it. So, I went to college, and while I was there, I was planning my move to Hollywood the whole time. I am so glad it happned that way. I did so much mental maturing during my 4 years in college, that I was a completely different person when I graduated from when I started. COMPLETELY different, in my eyes at least. What if I had moved out here at 18, and heard this bullsh*t from someone at that age? I hate to sound like an educational snob, but I just don't understand how people can be so stupid, especially when they tell you they grew up in a functional family with good parents. I don't want to walk around thinking I'm too good to talk to certain people, but I'm sorry, I like to have stimulating conversations. It's just frustrating to try and have a conversation with stupid, ignorant people. Don't get me wrong, this really isn't about education as much as it is about common sense. There are plenty of people out there who didn't go to college that are very smart, and there are plenty of people who did go to college who are just plain stupid. To sum it all up.....I just can't talk to people who spew garbage out of their mouth like this chick from my job.....end of story.

On the opposite end, I met a wonderful lady at my other job, the hotel that I work at. Her nameis Kate and she is into doing meditations, guided relaxations, and astrological chart readings. She stayed at my hotel for about 2 weeks and she said as soon as she saw me, she knew she needed to help me. She said something about my aura being really bright and she was just drawn to me. So, one night while I was working overnight, she brought her computer down to the front desk. She has this program on there where you enter someone's name, birthdate and city they were born in, and pulls up their astrological chart on the day they were born, and there is also a progress chart, that shows how that chart moves as the person moves through life. She was reading my chart and telling my why I was so stressed out, why I am very impatient, why I am a go getter, what I need to do to feel better, and some stuff about the future. Now, the interesting thing is this. I said in one of m earlier posts, that back in 2005 I went to see a psychic back in Ohio. The things she told me matched exactly to what the psychic had said. So, now I'm hearing the same things from 2 totally separate sources. Coincidence? Not even possible. I wass really amazed. She said that in the next few months I was going to have some really good opportunities present themselves to me.

She also kept mentioning how she felt the need to help me. As we were talking, I told her about Jill and her Criminal Minds Blog and Jill was this complete stranger, who happened to come into contact with me through the blogs, and just wanted to help me, for no apparent reason. Kate explained to me that people, including herself, just want to help me. She made me write down on a piece of paper, "People want to help me" so I can look at it everyday and realize that it is ok to accept help from peolple. See, my problem is that I am such an independent person, that I don't really like it when I need help. I mean, my mom sends me money every so often and I tell her to stop because I feel like I should be doing this on my own. Even Jill who runs the Criminal Minds Fanatic Blog will tell you that when she helped me to get my 3rd SAG voucher on the show, I kept thanking her over and over and telling her I owe her everything. And she would tell me, "you don't owe me anything". And I would say, "why are so adamant on helping me? I'm a complete stranger". And she said, "Because I had the opportunuty to. What kind of person would I be if I didn't do that for you?". And I'd thank her some more, and it got ot a point where I think I started to irritate her and she stopped me and said, "Look, this is something I wanted to do. You've thanked me enough, now this is the last time, and let's just go on with what we're doing". I realize that it must have been annoying for me to be thanking her EVERY TIME I talked to her, but from my perspective, I just kept asking myself, "how on earth do I deserve this?" I almost felt guilty. But I have now realized that it is ok to accept the help, and that one day when I have the resources to help someone, I will eagerly do so. All I wanted Jill to know was that she picked the right person to help and that I would not take it lightly or for granted. This is serious for me and I'm determined to be successful. I hope she realizes that.

Jill and all of you who have left such positive comments on my blog have taught me a lot about the importance of just being nice and helping people when you can. It makes the world a better place!

I'm done ranting for now, time for work!

The Beginning of the Rest of My Life

So, one of my student loans has gone into repayment and I just sent my first payment today! Crazy! I'm having a real problem with it because it feels like I'm just giving away my hard earned money and not getting anything in return. Of course, my education is what I "received", and I know that, but it still feels like I'm just giving up $300 a month just because. There is no way around it though. I'll just have to come to terms with it sooner or later. On my current plan, I'll have this loan paid off in the year 2022, haha. And that is only one of my loans which amounts to only half of my debt! Anyone jealous???? I just have to laugh about it now. There is no sense in sitting around being mad about it. I am just going to visualize my acting success coming to me and my loans to be paid off immediately. Remember, the mind is a powerful thing!

On that note, the casting office for the show Criminal Minds has agreed to let me come into their office to shadow the casting directors for a day or two. It's really exciting. I think it will be a great opportunity for me to see what goes on in a casting office and to see and hear the casting directors say what actors do right and wrong during their audition. Maybe it can help me be a stronger auditioner. So, thank you to Scott David, the head of casting, who agreed to let me do this and an extra special thanks to Jill, who runs the Criminal Minds Fanatic Blog for helping to set this up for me.

Positive quote:

“You can never think too big. Dare to affirm big ideas. Dare to expect big results. Such attitudes are the difference between a prince and a pauper”

--Catherine Ponder, The Dynamic Laws of Prosperity

My Day with Pam

Everyone remembers Pam, right? She is my favorite crazy that I met on the set of Transformers back in September. Well, we've kept in contact through e-mail ever since and we finally met up again, last week to see the movie. THE movie of all movies according to Pam. We went to see the movie on July 4th with a few of her friends. Let me tell you how the day went. It started off at Pam's house where she had some good food for everyone to eat. The topic of conversation was, of course, Transformers as Pam and I were recounting our time on the set. Pam is truly crazy! If you look at the picture on the left, someone has CLEARLY stated an incorrect fact about the Transformers and Pam is putting them in their place. I mean, look at the shock and disgust on her face! Haha....it wasn't me. I wouldn't dare! Also notice Pam's shirt. It was no coincidence. Pam wore that shirt on purpose and proudly. Pam has come completely to terms with her nerdiness and obsession with not only Transformers, but with sci-fi stuff in general. Whether she accomplished this with the help of a therapist, I'm not sure, lol.

I'm really trying to paint a clear picture of how addicted Pam is. Here is another example. When we were at her house, I noticed she had a red, white and blue hair clip in her hair. I thought to myself how patriotic it was of Pam to wear an American flag in her hair on July 4th to celebrate our country's independence. So, I mentioned it to her, BUT, I really should have known better! It was no flag......it was a freakin mini Optimus Prime hair clip!! Where on earth did she find that thing?? Look, when I first wrote about Pam back in September, my mom read the post and literally thought I was making it all up. I explained to her that I am not that creative. I just don't have the imagination to say that a lady on the set kissed the Optimus Prime truck on the set if it didn't really happen. Need another example? Click on the link on this sentence to take a look at Pam's blog. If you don't have time to read it, just hop over there to look at the sheer length of one of her posts about the Transformers set, and there are multiple posts about our time on the set. That is a TRUE fan! Here are 2 snippets from her blog, in her own words, about the movie:

I LOVED IT SO MUCH that it's quite possible I'm not going to go see any other movie the rest of summer but this one!

I LOVED IT SO MUCH that I'm going to buy every single version of the dvd when it comes out, and I will not bitch like I usually do when different versions of the same movie come out on dvd!

Do you all understand why Pam is the greatest crazy of them all?!?!?!

Now, for the actual movie. We went to see it at the Arclight Cinema because Pam got us her preferred seating, high up, right in the middle of the theater. In the courtyard of the cinema, they had brought in the cars and trucks that the robots transform into. Of course we couldn't get by them without taking some pictures. I have to admit, I felt kind of cheesy, like a tourist or something, but I did it for Pam!!

So, we went in and sat in the theater and Pam is jittery and genuinely excited like a giddy little school girl. It was pretty funny. During the movie when the robots make their debut, Pam is grabbing my arm and writhing in her seat with excitement. She was squealing throughout the movie, but she tried her hardest to keep it in. The Arclight Theater has strict rules when it comes to noise and they will not hesitate to kick your ass out. If this were to happen to Pam, armageddon would have been upon us!

Anyways, we get to the end of the movie and the scenes that Pam and I are in are coming up. We're both excited at this point, our adrenaline is up and we're seeing the things on the screen that we saw on the set. Unfortunately, we were both let down. We weren't necessarily cut from the movie, it's just that once they digitally added in the robots and fighting, it covered up a lot of the people. This isn't to say that when the DVD comes out, we might be able to be spotted in some of the deleted scenes or something. We just won't know until it comes out. Why does it look like I have no arms in the picture to the right??

All in all, the movie was great and there was a lot of action. Rumor has ithey are already in pre-production for a sequel. So, that concludes my day with Pam. It was fun and I wouldn't have wanted to see the movie with anyone else. Now, doesn't Pam really look like Whoopi Goldberg?

Oh yeah........

How could I forget to mention this? Last week, I sent Ohio State my official notification of withdrawal from the school. Let me just say that the letter was only a few sentences long, yet it took my an hour to write. I was shaking the whole time. It was so nerve-wracking. I couldn't even hit the send button myself. I had to have someone else do it for me. I felt light headed and as if I was going to break down any second. My safety net is no longer there. I'm out here to do this for real! I am no longer a medical student. I couldn't help but ask myself over and over again if I had just ruined my life. Sometimes, I still don't know. I guess only time will tell. Although, if I followed my heart and desires, which I believe I did, then everything will be all right, right??

It's Been A Whole Year!

I was hoping to post this on the actual day, but I guess that didn't happen. Anyways, Sunday July 1st was my one year anniversary of arriving in Los Angeles. Where did the time go??? I can't believe it. It doesn't seem like anywhere near a year ago when I was leaving Ohio (teary eyed) to start my trek across the country. Yes, I got teary eyes leaving Ohio. Not because I was sad. Well, I was sad to leave all my family and friends, but it was more nerves than anything. I have never lived anywhere else in my life besides Columbus, Ohio. I think that is why I've been stressed so much lately. I love LA, but I thought I would just move here and adjust just fine and be on my merry way. Not so fast. I didn't even realize it until I was watching one of the news stations one morning a few weeks ago, and one of the newscasters said that when she moved to LA, it took her 4 years to fully adjust and feel like this was her "home". I get so anxious and I'm constantly worrying about my well-being and my finances. I think I just need to sit back and take a breather and realize that I can't do everything at once! I like the fact that I am a go-getter and that I can stay focused on the things I want to achieve. I think it's what helped me to get my SAG eligibility, my agent and the 2 films that I have done this year. But the disadvantage is that I tend to take on too much at one time. I've had a few, what shall I call them......"emotional releases" over the last year. Some of them out of sheer anger and frustration, some out of fear of the unknown. Why I'm admitting this to the whole world.....I have no idea. In any case, looking back on my first year here, I can't really complain. I've accomplished a good deal and met some great people, including Jill who runs the Criminal Minds Fanatic Blog. She has been a MAJOR help to me, in more ways than one. I've made some good friends (and lost a few, which I'll talk about in my next post).

As far as the acting goes, I'm hoping things pick up a little bit. My new pictures have been getting a lot of repsonses from casting directors of various projects, etc. I really think they are the best ones yet, and I'm just glad to be at least auditioning again. I had 4 this past weekend. I'm not sure I had that many for the whole months of April and May combined! I'm just working on being a better auditioner and I'm really ready to do some serious projects. Wish me luck!! Now if I could just get my agent to call me a little more often as well..............

I hope everyone has a great 4th of July. I'll be going to see Transformers with Pam. This should be interesting, but I'm excited. Here's the positive quote:

"If the mountain were smooth, you wouldn't be able to climb it."

--Unknown

I just heard this the other day on tv and I've already forgotten who said it, but I LOVE this quote. It means a lot to me especially. I say it to myself everytime I feel myself getting impatient or frustrated. I don't think that necessarily EVERYTHING we really want in life has to be hard to achieve, but when it is, and we finally get it, what a great feeling! It's validation that we are capable of achieving our goals if we stay focused. I'm taping this one to my wall so that I see it every morning when I wake up!

Back in LA

I wanted to do a posting right when I got back, but both my jobs had me scheduled to work every single day for 6 days in a row! That means I've been doing 16 hours days ever since I got back to California on June 14th. I'm defintely exhausted, but I am in a good mood right now for a few reasons. One is that I got my car back a few days ago. I must say, it looks almost brand new. It was so clean and shiny. I mean, cleaner and shinier than I have ever had it. It looks really good which is great because I can take some pictures of it before it gets dusty. I'm going to try and sell my car and get a smaller car with much better gas mileage. The Explorer was great in getting me out to LA, but I really don't need it anymore. In addition to that, I had to get my car smogged so I can finally register it in California. I've been bummed the last few days because one of my co-workers told me how his friend got a smog check on his car and it failed, and he had to pay like $500 to get it repaired up to California's emission standards. So, I went on the website for the smog test sites and it talked about all these tests they do and how California's standards are higher than the federal standards. I just KNEW that my car was going to fail the test. My car is from Ohio and we don't have smog tests there, and I haven't had any maintenance done on my car since I bought in 2005. So, I go to the smog test center all depressed, but somehow it PASSED!! Every test! It out me in the best mood. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that perhaps this was a result of my car accident. The accident cost me know money out of my pocket, but there was some internal damage in my engine. Maybe whatever they fixed in there cleaned up my engine a bit and caused my car to pass the smog check? I guess we'll never know, but I'll pretend that's why it happened. If so, then it was worth it in my opinion. $500 is one month's rent!!!

In other news, Transformers comes out July 4th. Don't bother trying to look for me though. All of the scenes I was in were pretty wide shots. I'm only mentioning it here because I am going to see the movie with my favorite crazy of all time. The one and only Pam!! If you need a refresher on who she is and why she cracks me up, click here. She was in the movie with me and I CAN NOT wait to see it with her. I'm going to be laughing so hard. Here is an exerpt from an e-mail she sent me last night:

If you are getting this note that's because I have a ticket for theTransformers movie with your name on it! I can't believe this day is almost here!!!!!! We are in my Arclight member preferred seating row O, seats 20-24. Right now, this is the attendee list: Me, Kris, Joe, Nicole, Cole, with Douglas on reserve.

[Three long paragraphs left out by me]

Pam,

Beloved of Optimus

Yes, that is how she signed her E-mail. It was not made up by me. This is going to be so hard. The Arclight theater is this movie theater here where they have movie premiere's all the time. There are absolutely no lights in the theater. It is completely black when the movie starts. Also, there is no noise or cell phones. If the light from your cell phone screen is seen, even if you're just text messaging, they will kick your ass out. They don't play at the Arclight. You will get kicked out for talking to. Yall know I can't control my laughter. I hope Pam only makes me laugh at funny parts in the movie, but I know that's just not going to happen. Also, I'm going to take my camera this time so you all can see what this woman looks like!

Here's the positive quote before I go to work (of course):

"Through persistence, you can be one of those happy, victorious people who not only chases dreams, but who catches them! The persistent person also persevers long enough for their dreams to catch up with them!"

Catherine Ponder, The Dynamic Laws of Prosperity

Home Sweet Home

I am posting this entry from home in Columbus. I am so excited to be home and I have really felt the love from all my family and friends. It feels good to be back. I've been all over town non-stop since my plane landed. I'm a little tired, but it is definitely worth it. I'm actually not wanting to go back to Los Angeles in a few days. It's not that I don't want to go back to L.A., it's more that I don't want to go back to my jobs because I hate them so much and it's really getting to me! I work SOOOO much, and for what? I'm able to pay my bills and everything, but I have no extra money (yet), to do anything else. And I'm going to start (trying) to pay back one of my student loans starting next month! I swear, if it isn't one thing, it's another. I'm going to be praying so hard, and when I get back to L.A., I'm going to be working so hard to really book some commercials, and work on getting a theatrical agent and getting auditions for some television shows and movies. I refuse to be broke for much longer. I'm going to be rich and be able to do and go anywhere I want, and I plan to work for every bit of it. Not looking for any free passes here.

Anyways, I digressed a little bit. I just wanted to leave a brief message that I was at home and having fun. And Lin, if you're reading this, what great weather we are having in Ohio! It is supposed to be sunny and mid 80's every day that I am here....just like in Southern California. Although, I kind of was hoping for a thunderstorm or two. I have not physically heard thunder or seen lightening in over a year! I kind of miss it.

Well, I'm going to continue enjoying my last couple of days here and "pretend" that I love my jobs back in LA, because that is the only way I'm going to have the energy to get up in the morning and go. All I know is that I've actually made a lot of progress here in my first year and I really hope things just keep moving forward!

Wish me luck!

Today Is My Birthday!

I made it through another year and I'm certainly thankful for that. I've accomplished a fair amount of things over the last year, and I just want to keep moving forward, not looking back. Today I am a quarter of a century old. I know there are some crazies reading this right now, so in other words, I'm 25, lol. I guess this is considered a milestone age, but I'm not sure. All I know is that my car insurance should be going down now! I thought I was going to make it to 25 without having been in a car accident, but I guess it wasn't meant to be. Hey, at least it wasn't my fault, right?

I'm woking later today, and I'm working every day up until I fly back to Ohio for my long awaited vacation. I'm going to celebrate my birthday in Columbus because, right now, I'm just busy with work and I'm exhausted. I'm hoping that when I'm in Ohio, I can get relaxed, re-energized, de-stressed and be able to come back to LA and really pursue the acting with fire in my eye! I can't explain how much it excites me to think of all the opportunities and possibilities that will come along with me being able to make a living doing this, most notably the travel opportunities. It's what I really want to do. I know I'm right where I'm supposed to be right now. I just need to be patient a little longer because some great things are about to happen. I can feel it!

Along with this birthday post, I'm posting my new headshots. Yes, I got headshots re-done again for the last time for a while. I put them on some other websites and they've gotten a good response from my friends, so hopefully they will get a good repsonse from casting directors as well. Wish me luck! I was never really too thrilled with my last set of pictures, and neither was my agent. I'm glad she suggested I re-shoot. I actually feel good about these pictures, at the gut level, so I know I got it right this time. We'll see.

Going to be bed now, but not without the positive quote first:

"Everything you want is out there waiting for you to ask. Everything you want also wants you. But you have to take action to get it."

- Jack Canfield: Author, Chicken Soup for the Soul.

I wholeheartedly believe this now. I've heard it from too many separate sources. I asked to be in Hollywood, even when I thought there was no way possible for me to do it. And a way was made for me. You have to be pro-active!

I'm Going Home!!

This is attempt #2 at going home and I'm going to make sure it happens, no matter what this time. I think it was meant to be. I'm flying on the new airline, Skybus. Skybus made Columbus, Ohio (where I'm from) their home base, and as of right now, all of their flights only fly to or from Columbus. In addition to that, they do not fly into LAX (or any other major airport, but into the Burbank airport (and other smaller airports). My new apartment is 5 miles from the Burbank Airport and almost 30 miles from LAX. It's like it was created just for me!

I'm uber excited. I really love Los Angeles, but I NEED to get away from the hustle and bustle of this city, just for a few days. With everything that's gone on in the last month, it's just been stress, stress and more stress. Plus, I haven't seen any family or friends from Ohio since I moved here. It will be a whole year as of June 29th. That's too long!! No one should go that loing without seeing their mother!! Can't wait to see my mom and everyone else and eat, eat, eat good food the whole time I'm there!

Skybus is a brand new airline and all their planes are brand new as well. The use full size Airbus A319 jets and all of their flights are non-stop!! I really like that part. No connecting flights, no long layovers in airports. It's great. Also, there is no business or first class on this airline. The entire cabin is full of leather seats and the aisles are wider than on most other airplanes. The inside of the plane looks like the picture on the right, I think. One of my co-workers has a friend that flew on the very first Skybus flight on May 23rd, and she said she really liked it. I'll be sure to let everyone know how it goes!

Transition 2: Complete

I'm FINALLY moved into my new apartment! I couldn't wait for this day to get here because I absolutely hate everything about moving. It's so stressful. I will still be somewhat stressed out until I get all my stuff put away because I hate clutter. I hate when my room is a mess and I get stressed until it is clean. Anyways, my roommates are really cool and I live in a good area as well. It certainly isn't West Hollywood where I could walk anywhere, but it's a good safe area. I am, however, going to miss living on the Sunset Strip. It really spoiled me being so close to everything, but oh well. I will NOT miss the stupid alien transportation and parking people though. I had gone so long without getting a parking ticket, and then I got one on my very last night in West Hollywood, as if the city just had to get me one last time. At least the ticket got put on my rental car and not my real car. My car is in my mom's name and she gets mad when I get parking tickets, haha.

As far as my jobs, they are boring and I hate them. They are just for money. One day very soon I will be able to quit these jobs and support myself acting. I can feel it. I just got some new pictures done (my last set for a while) and my agent really liked them. I'll post them in the next few days. So, once they get retouched and printed and I get settled in my apartment, I think I can really get into high gear as far as the acting is concerned. With everything that's been going on, it's been sort of slow because I've had to skip auditions and stuff like that.

That's it. I am 100% determined to keep a positive mind frame no matter what. Sometimes I have to read positive quotes over and over again, sometimes I have to really just sit (and almost meditate) and visualize in my mind the things that I want. Don't underestimate the power of the mind. Here is the positive quote:

"If you don't like something, change it; if you can't change it, change the way you think about it."

- Mary Engelbreit: Innovative artist, illustrator, publisher

Many Changes Are Coming

It's really late right now, but I'm writing here because I've gotten so lazy it's kind of ridiculous. Yes, I've had a lot on my plate for the last month, but there really isn't a reason why I can't get on my computer and type if people want me to. I think it's great that people are asking me to post. I guess when I do write, it is still somewhat interesting.

Ok, first things first. A lot of changes are happening rigtht now and as soon as I move into my new apartment, hopefully everything will return to normal. I'm moving next week. I'm excited. I found some really cool roommates after a long and exhausting search. So nice to know there are normal people out there. Secondly, my car is still being repaired but it is completely being paid for, so that's good. They can take as long as they need though. I have saved SOOOO much freakin money in the last month on gas it's crazy. I mean, I know I have a gas guzzling Explorer, but I didn't realize it ate SO much gas. The Toyota Camry I'm driving now gets such great gas mileage. I mean, I have saved nearly $200 in the last month!!!! You know what that means. When my car is done being repaired, I am immediately going car shopping. Do you know what I could do with an extra $200 a month????? A bunch of new clothes first, and then paying back some student loans!!!

Another change that will be happening has to do with the people I call friends. Friends have been a rocky subject in my life for as long as I can remember, mainly being that I can't seem to keep them! I have no idea why either. I just go through them every couple of years and the way that these friendships end is the same way every time........they just stop talking to me. It's so weird. Of all the friends that I no longer am in contact with, I have not fallen out with a single one of them. Never a fight, argument, etc. etc. I know they say that some people are only meant to be in your life a short time, blah blah blah, but I don't think I have one friend that I can say, "we've been friends since we were kids". Honestly, it's something I take seriously because I've also never had a set group of friends that I hung out with on a regular basis. The friends that I have usually can't stand each other. Will I ever get this right? I don't like losing friends (I don't think anyone does), but I have friends right now who are doing the same things. For instance, I am busy. Very busy. I work 2 jobs, go on auditions and have been dealing with a lot of stuff over the last month. Yet, I find time to call my (few) friends to ask if they want to hang out for a bit or something. One just never responds, the other constantly has other plans with friends from work, etc. It's just really annoying and inconsiderate if you ask me. I mean, if one of my friends called to hang out and I had plans with other friends, I'd ask them if they wanted to come or try and make time for them, but that's just me. I thought that's what you're supposed to do. Don't get me wrong, I have new friends from my jobs, but that doesn't mean I want to lose the old ones. Obviously this topic angers me and I'm venting now, so I'll stop. Just had to get some thoughts out.

In other news, the dark clouds that have been hanging over me are starting to part, as I said before. I just can't wait for things to get back to normal. I get up, go to work, hang out maybe, go home. No more looking at apartments, no more meeting CRAZIES, no more having to deal with insurance companies. I just want get back to having fun. In the meantime, I am going to get into personal training at the gym I work at. I figure, why not put my medical knowledge to use, get paid a lot more, and NOT have to deal with the jackasses who like to cuss the front desk people out! haha I think it'll be fun to be a personal trainer because I am a bit of a health freak anyway, plus I'll have the potential to make enough money doing that, to where I won't have to have 2 jobs. But.......of course I would just love for the acting to take off, then I won't need a regular job period!

Well, I think I've gotten all the stuff I need off my chest for now. Here's the positive quote:

"The key to regaining your wonderful feeling of personal empowerment and control is to decide, right now, no matter how good or bad you are feeling, that you are going to do your best to make the best of it. Reach for the best feeling thought that you have access to right now, and as you do that again and again, in a short period of time you will find yourself in a very good-feeling place. That is just the way it works!"

--Esther and Jerry Hicks, Ask and it is Given

Oh, one more thing I forgot. For those of you that watch American Idol........you know the guy that Simon Cowell said looked like a bush baby??? Yeah, he and his friend checked into my hotel today, lol. I guess they are in town for the Idol finale!

I Am Still Here!!!

I'm probably losing tons of readers by not posting in a million years, but I'm here and I'm doing ok! Things have just been so hectic. Dealing with my car issue, looking for a place to live and working 70+ hours on top of all that, I'm exhausted when I come home and don't feel like typing. By the time June rolls around, my car should be done, I will (hopefully) be settled into my new apartment and I'm praying everything will just return to normal. This is crazy. At least I got a rental car and they gave me a 2007 Toyota Camry. I love it for one simple reason. I've had it for 2 weeks now and I've inly used a half tank of gas!!! In my Explorer, I would have already been using a second tank of gas in a 2 week period. That's really bad and as soon as I can, I'm going to try and get another car with better gas mileage. In addition to that, regular unleaded gas is about $3.45/gallon and the highest I've seen is $3.95. I'm just glad my car doesn't take premium!!!

Anyways, let's talk about some crazies because my stories are backing up. I'll start with 2 stories from the hotel. The first is about a lady we'll call Ms. K. This woman baffles me. I've never worked in the hotel industry before, so I had no idea people did this. Ms K. LIVES at our hotel! Nope, not for an extended business stay, not for any other reason than she just like to be waited on hand and foot. I checked out her file, and she has been living there since November '06. I looked at her bill, and it was upwards of $12,000!!!! I don't know what this woman's career is (I heard she is a writer), but I want to get into it, lol. She does get a special rate on her room since she is a "long term stay". Now, on top of all of this, she is a very demanding woman. She claims to be very sensitive to even the slightest noise, and demands that the hotel NOT put anyone in the room next to hers! Of course, the hotel tries to accomodate this and they use the room next to hers as the very last room to fill on a sold out night. If we aren't fully booked, the room next to hers doesn't get used. On the nights when we do have to use that room, if she hears even the slightest noise, she does not hesitate to show us her anger. The last thing about this lady is that she is addicted to the magazine "Us Weekly". Now, I'm not going to lie. If I am in a store, I may pick up one of the tabloids and flip throught it. Most of us do. But this woman, Ms. K., she goes nuts if her Us Weekly gets delivered late. She will ask us everyday, "Is my Us Weekly here yet?" She obviously seems to be one of those people that lives life vicariously through celebrities, hence her wanting to live at a hotel and be waited on hand and foot. I know a lot of people are addicted to celebrity lifestyles, but it's on a whole different level with Ms. K.

Now, for the other story. I was working the evening shift one night when around 8 pm, a nice looking Korean lady walked in and asked if we had any available rooms that night. As we were checking our system, she was constantly in the mirror checking herself. I thought it was weird, but didn't pay it any attention. I also noticed a guy hanging around the elevator area. We found a room for her, booked it for her, and gave her the keys. She and the guy went up to the room. Seems normal so far, right? Well, about an hour and a half later, she comes back down and says, "I would like to check out". My co-worker told her that would be fine, and that her credit card would be charged $229 for the room. I thought the woman was going to be mad and say the room was terrible or something and that she was going to find another hotel. Instead she said, "Ok". As my co-worker was checking her out, she is once again in the mirror fixing her hair and checking her make-up. At this point, I turn my back to them because I am, of course, laughing!! (I really need to get that under control!). The woman then leaves. Does anyone know what just happened here??? I didn't, I was totally oblivious. I asked my co-worker, "Wasn't that the lady that JUST checked in an hour ago?" My co-worker responds, "Yes, she sure isn't shameful about her booty call". Holy Sh*t!!! I totally didn't see it, and then I bust out laughing again. It made perfect sense. Her constantly in the mirror, the guy hanging out in the background, the hour long stay. What made it more funny was that, as many of you know, you don't need to go to the front desk to check out. You can just vacate your room and they will close the reservation. If she would have done that, we would have never known she was there for a booty call. Damn! $229 for an hour of passion! Hey, it is Beverly Hills.

Ok, I had something else to say, but I can't remember what it was, so here is the positive quote:

Take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something!"

--Franklin D. Roosevelt

4/21/2007 -- The Accident

As everyone knows, I've been crazy busy working 2 jobs and now I have this car accident to deal with. Let me just tell you the events of my day on April 21st, because the whole day was a complete disaster! So, my morning starts off at 5:30 am because I had to get up and be at work at 7 am. Everything is going as usual, I get in my car, turn on my CD. In order to get to my job, I have to drive through the famous Rodeo Drive Shopping District. I pass through there, and by this point I'm less that a half mile from the hotel, with one more traffic light to go through. Beyonce's "Crazy In Love" is playing on the stereo. I'm approaching the intersection; my light is green. It's about 6:50 am now and there are hardly any cars on the roads because it is Saturday morning. I get to the intersection and start to go through it, when out of the corner of my eye I see a huge white pick up truck barreling at me. I slam on my brakes, tires screeching, and the truck hits my left front bumper, spins my car 90 degrees, and then he swerves and hits a 3rd car. Has anyone seen those car insurance commercials where 2 people are driving in the car and they are hit by another car? It was just like that. It happened so fast. I couldn't believe it. I'd never experienced anything like it before. At this intersection was a gas station, so we all pulled in there.

The man in the truck jumps out and immediately starts apologizing saying he can't believe he just did that. I mean, he was nice and offered all his information, but I was pissed as you can imagine. I have never been in a car accident before. Luckily, I wasn't injured whatsoever thanks to my hefty Explorer. I noticed that this guy's truck was a company vehicle for a Termite Extermination company, and I said a silent, "Thank GOD!", because I knew the vehicle would be properly insured. So, we call the lazy ass Beverly Hills Police and they refuse to come to the scene because "there are no injuries". Now, does that make any sense at all??? Shouldn't the police come out regardless to determine who was at fault, and more importantly if anyone was drinking or driving under the influence?!?! I just couldn't believe they would not come out.

Anyways, we all exhange information and I find out 2 important things happened. The guy driving the truck told me that when he got to the intersection and saw me, he actually hit his accelerator because if he had hit his brakes, he would have collided right into my driver door and me! So, it was a combination of him accelerating and me braking, that prevented a much, much worse accident. After the info exhange, I head to work, late of course. My car was actually drivable, but it is really messed up. I'm an hour late for work, in a terrible mood, and then I find out that the hotel's boiler failed and the entire hotel is without hot water!! This means that for the remainder of my work day, I have to deal with angry hotel guests yelling at us at the front desk. I'm antsy and anxious all day, thinking about a million things including the fact that this guy could try and say that he was not at fault, since no police came out to make a report. I really prepared for the worst possible outcome, especially since he provided an expired insurance card when we exhange information.

After I get off work that very same day, I find out that my landlord is putting my apartment up for rent since I apparently have been subletting this whole time, even though I thought I was on the lease. In order to stay, I'd have to sign up as a new tenant (which means he would raise the rent) and find a good responsible roommate. I had one potential roommate submit and application, but the landlord didn't like the guy's credit history, so I think it is just easier if I move. Another headache I have to deal with. So, you would think that was it for my day. Not so fast. Later on that evening, I went to IHOP by myself because it is so good and I wanted to eat something that would bring up my spirits. After eating, I'm walking homes. I come to an intersection and patiently wait for the "Walk" sign to cross the street. After the signal changes, I begin to cross the street, and there are no cars needing to turn. All of a sudden some dumbass cab driver speeds around the corner and almost hits me. Like, he had to swerve to miss me!

That was my Saturday. Did I do some evil thing to deserve some bad karma or something? Did I defy death twice in one day?? This better not be some Final Destination type stuff. Defying death once is one thing, but constantly having to run from it, I don't need to deal with that. So, to end this blog on a good note........The Termite Company's insurance company just called me an hour ago and told me that the guy driving the truck accepted responsibility and that I am clear to make an appointment with a body shop to get my vehicle fixed and to get a rental car, all paid for by them. Now, of course I don't wish that anyone would get in a car accident, but I'm kinda glad he hit that other lady, because with our 2 stories, there is no way he could have tried to say it wasn't his fault. My car was much more damaged than hers anyway. So, that news put me in a good enough mood to finally type up this blog post before I go to work at the gym of course. I just can't wait until my car is totally fixed and I get my roommate/apartment situation all straightened out so everything can return to normal (which really means I can get back to dealing with my crazies because I have a lot of those stories building up, just waiting to be told, lol). Why does all the bad stuff have to happen all at once??? Geez.

I can't leave without the positive quote:

"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat."

--Theodore Roosevelt

I chose this quote because, on top of everything that I just mentioned above, I seem to be going through a little dry spell in terms of my agent calling me and me getting auditions period. I'm just not getting as much as I was a few months ago. But I'm not giving up. I've come far enough, and accomplished enough in less than a year, that I think actually have a chance. I just need to be patient and persistent!

Transition 1: Complete

Damn, I'm glad I've got some good work ethic! I've finally secured and started my new job, so in terms of income, I'm good. I now have 3 jobs technically. I'm still registered to do background, I work at the gym and I now work at a hotel in Beverly Hills at the front desk. Easy jobs, but long days. In the next 7 days, I will be working 60 hours between the gym and the hotel. That means, I have 2 full days completely off. Most people would use those days to rest. I might, I might not. It depends on how I feel. That's the ONE good thing about doing background. You book yourself the day before. Now, seeing that the average day on the set is 10 hours (sometimes 12-14), if I did background on my 2 off days, I would easily hit 80 hours this week! That's pretty hectic, huh?? It's really not surprising to me. I mean, I was in medical school last year. I had long days like this all the time, and doctors do it regularly. I think I am built for this stuff. I look at it this way. I'm young. I'm single (for now). I have no kids. I'm healthy. Why the heck not work? I like to have money to buy the things that I want. If I took the days off, it would always be in the back of my mind that I could have made an extra $200 on those days. The trick, now, is to juggle doing auditions with all these jobs! Ahh.....the life of an aspiring actor. You gotta love it! Somehow, some way, it all has to work out. I've invested too much of my time and money into this for it not to! I'm claiming my success now! haha

In other news (for anyone who cares), my next transition is the roommate search. It is stressful, hectic, and I absolutely hate it, but that's life I guess. I put out an ad on a roommates website specifically stating what I was looking for. It included things like, someone my age, no druggies, no smokers, cool people, laidback people, people looking to stay for at least a year, no drama, etc. The responses so far:

• a guy my age that lives around the corner
• a guy my age also from ohio
• another guy a few years older than me that lives around the corner
• a 42 year old man (yes, 42) and his WIFE of 17 years
• a recently divorced 38 year old man with one kid
• a girl from (and currently living in) Russia!!
• a guy from India who needs a place in the US for 8 weeks!!!
• a guy who needs a place for the summer

Now, as you can see I listed the cool, normal people first, the first three. I saved the crazies for last. I just don't get it! For one, I specifically stated in my ad (in capital letters): DO NOT CONTACT ME IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR TEMPORARY HOUSING. I explicitly stated that I was looking for someone my age. The only people I would want to live with over the age of 35 are family members. It would just be too weird, wouldn't it?? I clearly stated this was a one bedroom apartment and that I was only looking for one other roommate. Why is a married couple even contacting me??? Can somebody out there explain this to me?!?! Am I missing something??? AHHHHHHHH

Enough of that, I have a headache all over again. So, I basically typed up this blog in about 15 minutes. I'm dead tired, but I know everyone is just dying for me to update (kidding!). It usually takes me a good hour to do a blog post, think about what I'm going to talk about and how I'm going to set it up, look for pics, etc. Well, you don't get pictures this time, but I won't leave out the positive quote.

"Do not waste your time holding grudges, even toward those who have treated you unjustly. You will meet such people along the way, as you rise toward success. Others who are not making the grade will try to hold you down to their mediocre level, but they can't if you refuse to be bothered by what they say or do. Nobody can keep your success and prosperity from you but yourself."

--Catherine Ponder, "The Dynamic Laws of Prosperity"

This quote is kind of random, but I think everyone can take something from it.