What Have I Been Up To In the World of Acting?

Well, not a whole lot, but that is about to change! I've been wanting to write this entry for a long time now, but I just hadn't got the nerve to do it, until now. Basically, I was a bit foolish this year and pretty much wasted the year of 2008, and I'm going to tell you why.


It all started in November of 2007. Does everyone remember the Writer's Strike in Hollywood? Well, I was pretty involved in it. It is a long story as to why, but it really isn't important. The point is, is that I was on the picket lines at Disney Studios in Burbank to help support the writers. The writers of a particular top 10 show on CBS. I was basically the liaison between the writers and the large number of worldwide fans from a popular internet blog. The fans are very loyal to this show and wanted to show their support. It was great for me because I got to meet these writers and producers personally. They are a great group of people and I felt very privileged. I was determined NOT to be "that actor" that bugged these people to get me on the show. I was not ever going to bring it up. Of course I wanted to, but it wasn't the time, nor the place. It didn't matter, because after spending a few days with them, they started throwing around the idea of getting me some lines on the show. That is like more than music to an actor's ears. I mean, this is what people dream of! Just one line on a show is a big thing for us. To make a long story short........the strike ended in early February, I believe, and they said that they would try to get me on the show the next season, as in this season. I was elated!


Now, being the moron that I am, I pretty much stopped everything I was doing in terms of acting. Stupid, I know. I thought I was going to get my break through them, then that would lead to something else, then I would be on my way. Not so much. I am not mad at the writers/producers. It takes a lot of effort to get an actor on a show and it has to be ok'd by many people. I am more mad at myself. Even if it was a guaranteed 100% surefire thing that I was going to be on the show, I shouldn't have halted all my other efforts. It would have only been a 1 time thing anyways. Not to mention, I have been approached by 3 other people (completely unrelated to this show) who have said to me that they were working on projects that they would put me in. Did I ever hear from them? Even after THEY gave me their business cards, e-mails, telephone numbers? NO!! I guess that is the nature of this business, and after all of the exhaustive research that I did BEFORE I moved to Los Angeles, I just didn't think about all of the broken promises that this town has to offer. I guess it wouldn't be natural to think of something like that when you are so excited about something.


All in all, it was a learning experience for me. I certainly see why people here get into porn, prostitution, etc. They are naive (and broke) and most likely promised a dream by someone. Thank God I got a good education before coming out here and thank God I never got mixed up in drugs or anything like that that might impair my ability to think right.

Anyway, I've got a new energy, a new outlook on the biz and a new and re-organized plan for 2009, and I'm going to tell you what it is in my next post. I must say, all of the friendly comments I get on the blog and the nice e-mails really do help. I may have been down in 2008 but I am not out!

I have 2 positive quotes for this blog. This first one was my original one:

"I believe, therefore I am" (I don't know who originally said this)

Then, at work tonight, I happened to come across this similar one in a newspaper:

"If you can believe in your power to do great things, you will" --Michael Berg

I don't know who the hell Michael Berg is, but this quote fits this blog entry.

Ciao!

I'm Not Very Good At This Anymore!

Yes, I was supposed to update this thing every week. Do I have an excuse as to why I haven't? NO! But you all love me so it's okay! Now, the purpose of this entry is to give the contact information for the doctor that performed my ICL procedure. His name is Dr. Paul Dougherty and he has been a pioneer with Visian ICL procedure. Click here to read his biography on his office website! As I mentioned before, Dr. Dougherty was one of the FIRST eye surgeons in the U.S.A. to learn the procedure, and has gone on to teach many other doctors how to do it as well.

I told Dr. Dougherty that I had this blog and that (sometimes) a lot of people read it! I said I would give everyone his contact information and he specifically told me that he does treat people from all over the country, so he would be glad to hear from any and all of you. If/when you do call, just mention that you were referred by Kris Campbell! There is absolutely no incentive for me whatsoever, but I'm sure the staff would be happy to hear that one of their patients was spreading the word after having such a great experience with them!

If you are seriously considering the ICL procedure, you can call Dr. Dougherty's office and schedule an appointment for a completely free consultation. What that means, is that you will go in and the eye technician will do an eye exam to make sure you are a good candidate for the procedure (not everyone is of course). And then Dr. Dougherty will sit with you and answer any and all questions you may have. They are all very nice and the office has a great team of optometrists that will take care of you after the procedure.

So, Dr. Dougherty has like 4 locations and I'm not going to type them all on this post. So CLICK HERE for a listing of all the locations on the website. I had my procedure done at the Los Angeles location. When I was doing research before my procedure, I found this really good aritcle that had a comprehensive list of questions that you should ask your ophthalmologist while interviewing them. But now I can't find it! It was really good and I swear it was a CNN article. It listed the questions, and then it told you what a "good" answer from the doctor would be and what a "bad" answer would be. I'll have to look for it.

In the meantime, if you have any questions, feel free to contact me!

The Update On My ICL Surgery

I can't believe it has been 6 months since I had my Visian ICL procedure. If you haven't read my first post about the procedure, click here. Yesterday I had my 6 month follow up visit with the Ophthalmologist and I'm going to talk about my results and everything that's happened with my eyes over the last half year. It's crazy because, I've gotten so many e-mails from people inquiring about my procedure, what it is exactly, how well I see, and was it worth it. First off, I had no idea how many people didn't know what this procedure was or had never heard of it. This was put more into perspective for me when my doctor informed me that I was his ONLY patient that had come to him specifically requesting the ICLs........and he's done this procedure on thousands of people!

So, how is my vision? How well can I see? Let me start off by reminding everyone that whatever I talk about in this post is solely based on MY perception of the results of the procedure. I can only speak for me. Of course, results vary for each individual that has this done and there are many factors that contribute to those results. I happen to be young and very healthy because I'm a health nut. Anyways, according to experts, after having the ICL procedure, perfect vision is not guaranteed. Of course, because they can't guarantee anything. They say that vision anywhere from 20/20 to 20/30 is acceptable after a procedure like this. So, what is my vision. Well, needless to say the doctor and his assistant were a bit baffled when I read the eye chart. My left eye read the chart on the 20/15 line, and my right eye read on the 20/10 line. 20/10!!! I got 3 out of 4 letters right on the 20/10 line. All they could do was laugh. They were speechless. The assistant even said that I may have a bionic eye, haha. Clearly, I have no complaints there.



I should note here that witin these last 6 months, I did make 2 appointments with the doctor because I had some minor problems. The first one was in June and it was because my eyes were severely red and very uncomfortable. This was due to a pre-existing condition I had before my procedure and completely unrelated to it. They gave me some steroid drops and sent me on my way. The second time I went was because my right eye went blurry and stayed that way for a few days. Of course I freaked, because that's what you do when you were once in medical school. You start thinking of all the worst possible outcomes. I just knew that I was either developing cataracts or my eye pressure was rising. I went in to see the doc and basically we figured out that it was because I had stopped using my lubricant eye drops. When the human eye is punctured, there is always a greater risk for dry eye afterwards. In addition to my ICLs, the doctor did also did what are called "limbal relaxing incisions" or "LRIs" on both of my eyes to correct my astigmatism. According to emedicine from WebMD (http://www.emedicine.com/oph/topic656.htm), here is some info on astigmatism and LRIs:


Astigmatism is present when the cornea is not spherical; that is, it is steeper in one meridian than in the meridian 90° away. The cornea with astigmatism may be thought of as being shaped like a football rather than being shaped like a basketball.
Limbal relaxing incisions (LRIs) are a modification of astigmatic keratotomy (AK), a procedure to treat astigmatism. LRIs are placed on the far peripheral aspect of the cornea (the limbus), resulting in a more rounded cornea (see Image 1). Astigmatism is reduced, and uncorrected vision is improved. LRIs can correct astigmatism up to 8 diopters (D); however, the use of LRIs is routinely reserved for 0.5-4 D of astigmatism. LRIs can be performed either at the time of cataract surgery or as an independent procedure.
Although LRIs are a weaker corrective procedure compared to corneal relaxing incisions (CRIs), LRIs produce less postoperative glare and less patient discomfort. In addition, these incisions heal faster. Unlike CRIs, making the incision at the limbus preserves the perfect optical qualities of the cornea. LRIs are also a more forgiving procedure, and surgeons often get excellent results, even with early cases.

Severe astigmatism can be corrected by lasik surgery, which thankfully wasn't my case. Well, apprently it can take up to a few months for this small incisions to heal. A few weeks after my surgery, I thought I didn't need my lubricant drops anymore. I mean, they weren't even medicated drops, just artificial tears. Turns out my right eye went blurry about the same time I stopped using the drops. I went back on the drops twice a day and my sight returned to normal. So, it goes to say that this little problem was corneal, and had nothing to do with the ICL's as well!

Now, as fas as drops go, I am only using the artificial tears. These are the only drops I have had to use since my procedure. Having the ICL procedure can stimulate a temporary spike in intraocular pressure, and anti-glaucoma drops may be needed. Normal eye pressure is between 11 and 18 mmHg (give or take a few). I know someone whose pressure spiked to 34 mmHg 24 hours after the procedure. He was put on the anti-glaucoma drops and then he was fine. My eye pressure is currently 13 mmHg in on eye and 10 mmHg in the other. Also, there is a risk of seeing halos around lights at night, and if they are bad enough, drops may be needed to lessen this effect as well. I think halos are the most common side effect of eye surgery. I must say though, that for the most part, I DO NOT see halos around lights. Only if my eyes are extremely tired. Other than that, my night vision is perfect. I was worried just after my procedure though because I did see very intense halos around light, especially in my left eye. They were so bad that I thought, "if this is what I have to deal with for the rest of my life, then it wasn't worth it". Of course, I was jumping to conclusions again. Those halos were just caused by corneal swelling, and they disappeared after 2 weeks or so.

All is not 100% perfect though. The only problem I have, is that I see ghost images, sometimes. Ghost images are a form of double vision. Basically, I only see ghost images with traffic lights and certain text on road signs. What I see is a partial shadow of the object I am looking at, just underneath it. Have you seen those fonts on Microsoft Word, that have the shadow of a letter under the real letter? Kind of like that. I certainly don't have true double vision. For example, if I look at a car, I don't see 2 cars. As I am typing now, I'm not even seeing ghost images with the words I'm typing. I don't know how else to describe it, but it is so minimal. It is not nearly enough to interefere with my daily activities.
So, that is pretty much my experience. I hope this info is helpful for anyone considering corrective eye surgery. I recommend it 2 thhumbs up to anyone who is a good candidate. Even my doctor now only does lasik on patients who are NOT good candidates for the ICLs because the results are so good. Because this post is getting rather lengthy, in a post in a few days or so, I am going to give all of the information about my doctor, his background and how to contact him if you are considering corrective eye surgery. He is the leading doctor in the ICL procedure, was one of the first to learn it, and actually teaches other doctors how to do it. AND, his fees are very affordable.

As always, feel free to contact me with any questions I may be able to answer!

***UPDATE***

One of the commenters reminded me of something that I forgot to explain. The intermittent ghost imaging that I see is due to me still having a slight astigmatism. The LRIs cannot 100% cure the astigmatism. Also, I forgot to mention something about the ICLs moving around or shifting position in the eye. My doctor's office is one of the only in the U.S. to have the latest technology for fitting the lenses to a person's eye. They use ultrasound to get a 3D image of the eye in order to get the perfect size lense. My doctor has had to actually go in and re-fit a few patients lenses who were not properly fitted by the doctors that did their procedures. Remember, these are your eyes. It is VERY important not to get lazy when doing research on doctors. I'll give all of my doctor's info in a later post.

It's Been So Long.......

..........I almost forgot how to post on this thing. No, I haven't fallen off the face of the Earth. A LOT of people have contacted me asking me to update my blog, so I am going to this week. I have a lot to say now.

I'm going to talk about my acting and all the hardships that comes with, my job, living in L.A. and also about how my eyes are doing. It's been a whole 6 months since I had my ICL procedure!!! I can't believe it.

So, for anyone who still has checked my blog to no avail for the last 6 months, I'm here and I'm going to try and keep it updated.

Check back in a few days.

I Got My "Procedure" Done............

...........3 weeks ago now, and I must say, it was money VERY well spent. It has made my life so much better. I actually feel like a diffent person. So, what did I have done?? Well, If you can't tell from the picture on the left, I had corrective eye surgery. But I DID NOT have Lasik. I got the Visian ICL procedure. "ICL" stands for "implantable contact lens". Yes, you read that right. I got contact lenses implanted inside my eyes. Upon telling my friends and co-workers that I was going to get this done, I was surprised at just how many people have never heard of this procedure. It was FDA approved in 1999!! That's almost 10 years ago. Actually, now that I think about it, I might not know about now either, however one of my very good friends from medical school, RB....his dad is an opthalmologist that performs this procedure, and that's how I found out about it over 2 years ago. Thanks RB.

If you've never heard of Visian ICL, then the concept of it probably sounds complicated. But in reality, it is actually a very simple procedure. It's takes less time than Lasik (only 15 minutes per eye), it is less invasive than Lasik and it is also less risky. And most of all, it is completely reversible, unlike Lasik. Let me explain. During Lasik, the doctor basically cuts the cornea (the clear front part of your eye) off, peels it back, and then uses a laser to BURN tissue off of your eye to reshape it. Years down the road, if your vision changes, you either need a laser to burn more tissue off of your eye, or you have to wear glasses or contacts again. With the Visian procedure, the doctor makes a very small incision (3 mm) in your cornea, inserts the rolled up contact lens, and then tucks it behind the iris (the colored part of your eye) and in front of the eye's natural lens, as seen on the right. So, the lens is hidden and no one can see it. If your vision changes in the future, you can choose to wear glasses/contacts again, or the ICL can be removed, and replaced with another ICL with your new prescription. So, you see, the choice was clear for me. Lasik was not an option. I can see prefectly and I have 20/15 vision in BOTH eyes!

Now, why did I decide to get this procedure done? Two main reasons. Yes, one is vanity! I think I look better without my glasses. There is nothing wrong with that, right? But the main reason is that I could no longer wear my regular contact lenses. I've worn contacts for over 10 years and I guess with the normal wear and tear they put on your eyes, my eyes had had enough. I was only able to wear my contacts for a few hours at a time, and never for more than 1 consecutive day. So, you can imagine how frustrating it was to have to go to auditions with my glasses on. The casting directors almost always asked me to remove them because they want to see everyone natural. Makes sense. Well, that created a problem, because without my glasses, I couldn't see my script without holding it 5 inches from my face. Not only that, when it comes to things like clothes, glasses, and other accessories, people should be able to wear them by choice, not be 100% dependent on them.

So, it goes to say that I had a great experience. I even went to the beach the very next day with my friends. If you'd like more information on this procedure, click here.

By the way, this is my 100th post!! I can't believe it took this long.

Positive quote:

"Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish."

- John Quincy Adams

There goes that word patience again. Something I STILL need to work on!

Just an Update

I tried really hard to update 3 times in March, but my laziness got the best of me, so you just have to get over it! I want to start of by saying something that I wanted to say a year ago. Basically, I don't understand people. People, who specifically, call themselves your friends. What is the definition of a friend? Is the definition changing? I thought I knew, but apparently I don't. I've never had a lot of friends. I always thought that I carefully selected those people that would be close to me because you never know who is on their own agenda. Turns out, I can't shoose friends worth crap! Why am I rambling about this you might ask? Here's the reason, plain and simple. Over the course of the last 6 years or so, I have had 5 friends completely cut ties with me. All of them (at different points in time, not all at once) just stopped talking to me for NO REASON. And I mean, these are people who were pretty much BEST friends. With each of these individuals, there was no argument, no falling out, NOTHING. Now, I am the type of person that will take full responsibility for my actions, but how can I when I haven't been given ONE reason by any of these people? Most people will probably say that if I'm being dropped by so many friends, there must be something I'm doing wrong. Maybe Im mean, maybe I'm difficult, maybe I'm insensitive? Well, I say MAYBE I AM, but how in the hell can I know if I'm not told? I'm certainly not perfect, but when there is no argument, no yelling, no fights, I'm kind of left standing there dumbfounded each time as to what went wrong? I can tell it's affecting me a little bit too. I have walls up. I'm starting to not let people get too close. I mean would any of you want to constantly deal with this? So many people that I know now tell me that I'm cool and fun to be around, but when they first met me they thought I was a snob and could tell I had walls up. Well, now you know why. Thoughts?

Ok, enough of my rant. Things are going well at work. By that I mean that I've been offered a promotion. It's flattering, but I couldn't accept. I'm not ready to give up on Hollywood just yet. I can't commit to being a supervisor. I have to have my flexibility to go on auditions, etc., etc. I'm just waiting to see what SAG is going to do in June. We may have another strike on our hands, but lets hope not!

Now, there is something I'm really excited about. Next week, I'm having a cosmetic procedure done. I guess you would call it a cosmetic procedure anyway. Have I gone completely Hollywood?? I'd say no, but I am not going to say what it is until AFTER I get it done, haha.

That's it for now.

P.S. -- I'm still trying to find Na Young a boyfriend, while trying to fend off a stalker of my own!

Random Things

As I said, I'm going to try to get on here every week and update, even if I don't have much to say. And other than me going on a few auditions and completely blowing them, I don't have much to say. However, even though I've been absent from this blog in the last 2 months, the crazies still keep finagling their way into my life. I can't get away from them!

The one I'm going to tell you about now is my new co-worker. Her name is Na Young and she is on the fast track to becoming my favorite! Na Young is Korean and she speaks with a thick accent, so keep that in mind during this story. It all started one day when we were working together at the front desk of the hotel. Just to make conversation, I asked her old she was. Simple question, right? Well, she paused for a second and looked up at the ceiling as though she was really thinking hard about it. I was confused and thought to myself, "What is with this chick?" Then, as soon as she looked at me and said, "I'm 24 in America, but I'm 26 in Korea!", I knew I had a crazy on my hands. I busted out laughing, but that crap sounded funny the way she said. Turns out, however, that in Korea, they start your age at the moment of conception, NOT birth. So, when you're born, you're already almost a year old. Ok, that makes sense, but it sounded funny when that way it came from her. So, a couple of days later (February 12 to be exact) we had another meaningful conversation. Keep in mind this is happening 2 days before Valentine's Day, which is Tuesday the 12th. It went something like this:

Me: So Na Young, do you have a boyfriend?

Na Young: (eyes get big) Nooooooooo! I want boyfriend! Do you know someone?

Me: (laughing of course) Umm......yeah I have some single friends.

Na Young: They have to be Korean.

Me: Why?

Na Young: So we can communicate better.

Me: Okay.

Na Young: Okay!! I need boyfriend by Thursday!

Me: (Laughing so hard at the front desk that I had to step away) Umm......wow.......ok

The nex day.........

Na Young: So did you find me a boyfriend?

Me: No, I wasn't able to. What are you gonna do?

Na Young: (looking down) Ooohhhhh. Well, tomorrow I will just take sleeping pill and sleep all
day!!

And then I lost it! This girl is too funny and she doesn't even know it. Actually she does, because most of the time she starts laughing after she says something too. I mean, the other day I was teasing her because she is afraid of everything. Literally everything. She asked me if I was afraid of anything, and I said no. She says, "Not even a lion, or a shark?" And of course I'm being all manly ands saying "No". So, she says she saw something on tv, and she starts to tell me. She says, "If you see shark..............If you see shark......" But she stops and starts laughing hysterically. This goes on for 20 minutes. And her laughing is making me laugh like crazy. She covering up her face and being all silly. We were in the cafeteria and I know the other employess thought we were BOTH crazy. I mean, it looked like we were both laughing for no reason! I finally mustered up the words, "Na Young......just........say.......it". She says, "I can't, I will e-mail you", with her face all red. So, I go to put my dishes away, and she's able to stop laughing and finally get it out. All she wanted to say was that she saw on the Discovery channel that if you're swimming in th ocean and you see a shark, to hit it on the nose to get it to go away. What on Earth was so hard aobut that to say? I have no clue, but I can't even describe how hard I was laughing that day!

So, that is my crazy story for this month. There is more where that comes from. Positive quotes and pictures will be back in future posts!

P.S. -- Do you think Britney Spears would get her act together if Tyra Banks really did this to her???

I'm Here, I'm Here!!!!!

Ok, I realize my last post was in December, and apparently so has everyone else. I haven't even had a post yet in 2008. That is atrocious!! So......I've decided that no matter how I feel, I'm going to start doing my posts again AT LEAST once a week. The truth is, my part time job has been asking me to do all these extra shifts because they are short staffed. So between both jobs, I have been working somwhere around 75 hours a week! There are some days where I work from 7 am to 11 pm, and then have to go back to work at 7 am again the next morning. One time I did this for 3 days in a row! Not only that, I went from November 21st, 2007 all the way to somewhere around mid January 2008 without having a single day off!! No joke! I mean, the money is nice because I'm paying off all my loans (double the amount each month) and I still have some extra money left over at the end of each month. But I'm wondering if it is even worth it. I've been thinking about quitting my part time job to free up some time for me to get back into some acting classes and things of that nature. It would mean one of my loans would probably have to go back into deferment, but I have to remember what I came out here for. It sure as hell wasn't to work at some stupid hotel. All my loans are paid at least 8 months in adavance anyway.

Ok, almost time for my lunch break. By the way, that little paragraph above. I worked on it for 2 days. That's how much time I don't have. Anyways, topics for next time so I don't forget:

-the new "crazy" at work
-gifts from my hotel guests
-future goals
-my time on the picket lines with the writers that were on strike

Hopefully I'll have a post in a day or two!