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 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!

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?

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

I Actually Have Something To Write About

My new task is to find some interesting things to write about since I can no longer write about all of the interesting sets that I've been on. I haven't found interesting things yet, but I think I can muster up a few things. For starters, I think working at the gym is going to provide me with enough "crazies" to write about, so that shouldn't be a problem, haha. For instance, last week the manager at one of our other gyms called me and asked me if I could work the overnight shift for a few days because the regular person got the pink slip and she needed a temporary fill in until she trained her new person. I reluctantly agreed. I needed the money, but I wasn't too thrilled about working from 10pm-6am, being the only person working and basically being bored out of my mind! For anyone who doesn't know me, I have a very short attention span. (My biggest fear before moving to LA had nothing to do with money. I was afraid of being bored to death since I didn't know anyone). Anyways, I worked 3 overnight shifts last week, and I loved it! It surprised the hell out of me. I liked it for a few reasons. First, there isn't much to do, but enough that I wasn't bored all night. Second, this is LA, so people come in all through the night and they talk to me and stuff. Third, since I'm the only one working, I can eat whenever I want and do whatever I want. Not to mention, on the first night, some young guy high on some kind of drug was starting fights in the basketball court and he got punched in the face and I had to call security and the police and he was escorted out. So, I was certainly entertained all through the night!

I'm also looking for another job because obviously the gym isn't going to cut it here in LA. It's really hard to find a good paying job as an actor. You need your days free (or a job that will let you out for auditions), you need flexibility and you need more than minimum wage. I've filled out so many applications that I don't ever want to see another one again. I haven't really found anything worthwhile until I saw a posting on the internet for a really good paying job that actually said "actors and artists welcome". That's pretty much unheard of. Most jobs other than restaurants (which I'm so desperately trying NOT to work at) don't like hiring actors because of auditions and stuff. So, I submitted for this job, but I knew that a thousand other people probably did too. Here's a sample of the message I got today:

Kris,

Your name has helped you with this interview. I have received an overwhelming response and would not have opened your email, had it not been for your name. I like your name.

LOLOL. Isn't that cool? I never would have expected a message like that. I guess I have to thank my parents for that one, huh? Thanks Mom and Dad. Now, this is just for the interview. I haven't gotten the job yet, but we'll see. Funny how things happen though.

Lastly, I have to mention a thing or two about the power of the mind. I'm sure everyone has heard about "The Secret". The thought that if you think positive things, good things will happen to you? I haven't read that book, but I have read 2 that are similar. Some of my positive quotes come from them. One is called The Dynamic Laws of Prosperity and the other is Think and Grow Rich. I'm mentioning these because they all talk about the Law of Attraction. I believe it and I have proven. If you think positive, then you will attract positive people and positive things (although I still attract the crazies, but that's how it's always going to be. I'm not complaining...I need to laugh). I moved here in July, and basically from July to December, NOTHING happened for me. As you can see from my very first blog entry in 2007, I wrote about how I was only going to think positive, use what I learned in 2006 and go from there. In January I was contacted by 5 talent agencies and I signed with one. In February I was booked in my first 2 film roles. In March I became SAG eligible. Today is April 1st and I just got an e-mail that I am being called back for another independent film (wish me luck and think positive for me!). I did have a bad week last week in terms of being a bit down, but today I got 2 e-mails: 1 about the job, the other about the call back. Is that not proof??? How could I not believe? I believe in pre-destiny, but I think it has to start with the mind. It's more powerful than we think. And if something is working for you, I think you should share it with others, so I'm sharing. That's just my two sense (or is it cents? hell, I don't know, you get what I'm saying).

Positive quote of the day:

"Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections, but instantly set about remedying them – every day begin the task anew."

~Saint Frances De Sales

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

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

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

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

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

--Deya Direct!, EURweb.com

Now It All Makes Sense

Remember how on my last post I said that there was all kinds of chaos on the Grey's Anatomy set? Well, I clearly see why now. If anyone watched this past Thursday's episode, the very last scene of the night was the first part of what we filmed just one week prior, with Meredith in the emergency room. Usually, when an episode is taped, it airs 4-6 weeks later. This means that production on Grey's was waaaaaaaaay behind. Everyone was stressed. And when I went in that day, I noticed they were moving at lightening speed. Usually, it takes a few hours and many takes just to do one scene. I've been in scenes where the director did 19 takes!! On this day on Grey's, they were doing 2-3 takes maximum and moving right along. Crazy crazy day. We are approaching the end of the season anyway, with most shows finishing up in April or so, so things do get behind and get hectic. Let me also say here that Ellen Pompeo was nice on this day too. It was funny though, because I remember when she walked onto the set and I though to myself, "Man, is she late or something and not have time for hair or makeup?". But, she didn't need hair and makeup because she was just rescued from the water.

So I guess this is where I'll talk about my token "crazy". On Valentine's Day, I was back on Rush Hour 3. We did an explosion scene and I played a paramedic. There really wasn't much to the day at all. We only worked for about 10 hours. I went through the whole day looking for my crazy, but I was unsuccessful. It made the whole day pretty boring, but then he popped up at the end of the day. It was this older man, he had to be at least 55 years old. I think he played an FBI agent, and so I wasn't near any of them all day, which is why I didn't run into him sooner. Anyways, it's the end of the day and everyone is changing out of their costumes into their regular clothes. Our changing rooms are in these trailers that they have. They are small, and only fit 2 people at most. It was cold since the sun went down, so they had the heat on in the trailer, but it was at maximum. It was burning up in there. So, I'm in there changing, and this man comes in to change too. He starts talking, A LOT, and I have no clue what he's saying because I really didn't care! I mean, I can't even remember what he was saying, I just remember a lot of cuss words, expecially the F word. He was pissed about something. So, I'm minding my own business, changing my clothes, when he FARTS.....loud! Now, I'm a guy, and normally farting is funny. Come on, we all do it!! But when you're in a small trailer, that's literally 12 feet by 5 feet, and it is hot and stuffy in there....it's just GROSS!!! Luckily, I was just about done changing, and I got out of there before my gag reflex went into action! Ugh. Where's the respect people!?!?!? And this guy looked like he just sits around all day and eats hot dogs and farts all day. Seriously!

I want to ask everyone.....have you ever questioned your own normalcy? I mean, think about it. Crazy, weird, or strange people, don't know that they're crazy, strange, or weird. If they did, they wouldn't do or say the things that they do, right? Sometimes I meet so many weirdos, I think to myself, "Am I the crazy one? Am I normal?'. Because there certainly can't be this many crazies in the world. I mean, what if other people think I'm crazy? haha I am not!! But I did have an embarrassing moment the other day. I can't believe I'm about to tell this to the world. Anyways, we have a window in our bathroom (I just know everyone is jumping to conclusions with just that sentence, lol). The back of our apartment, where the bathroom is, faces another apartment building, so there is a little walk way between the 2 buildings. Our aparment, is just a few feet above ground level since we live on an incline. So I went to go take a leak, and the window was open, but I didn't think anything of it. So I'm peeing, and u know the sound it makes, tinkle tinkle whatever. Well, it was kind of loud, and as I'm MID-STREAM, some lady walks by, and as a reflex to hearing the sound, turns her head toward the window and we make eye contact!! AHHHH She could only see me from the chest up, but still!! NEVER AGAIN!! I hope she doesn't live around here. Geez!!

So that's all I have to say for this post.

Positive quote of the day:

"A good example of the power of persistence is show business. From all over the world, people have come to Hollywood seeking fame, fortune, power, love or whatever it is that human beings call success. Once in a great while someone steps out from the long procession of seekers, and the world hears that another person has mastered Hollywood. But Hollywood is not easily nor quickly conquered. It acknowledges talent, recognizes genius, and pays off in money only after one has refused to quit. The secret is always inseparably attached to one word, persistence!"

--Napolean Hill once again. I can't help it, the book is so good I think everyone should read it!

This quote is one that is important for me to read very frequently. I'm such an impatient person, so that is one of my personal obstacles. One thing that I do know I have, though, is persistence. I'm a fighter, and honestly, I have accomplished everything that I've put an effort into, so I don't know why I worry so much. Oh yeah, it's that damn loan debt that I have!!!

My Neighbor Is A Crazy!!

Just when I started to go through "crazy" withdrawal, I got my fix from my neighbor and from some girl at work. I'll infuse those stories into my discussion on work, as always. Monday I was on the show Girlfriends. It was a regular, boring day, but the cast members were interesting. Tracee Ellis Ross (daughter of Diana Ross) seemed really nice. She has a lot of energy, that's for sure. She was just all smiley and nice. The girl who plays Lynn on the show basically pissed everyone off. We were all ready to shoot a scene, but the crew was just sitting around not doing anything. We're all like, "what's the hold up"? The director came over to us and said, "We're waiting on an actress. This is not good. Don't ever do this". It was funny. I mean, you hear about this all the time, but I had never seen it happen since I've been doing background. Then again, I haven't worked with Lindsay Lohan yet, haha. The guy who plays William on the show is s-t-r-a-n-g-e! He would walk around inbetween takes staring off into space. And there were other times where he would just stand there, making the weirdest faces. It was so weird. I mean, I've caught myself making faces if I'm in deep thought, but his weren't like that. But it didn't look like he had Huntington's chorea either (if you don't know what that is, google it). He was just weird!

Tuesday I was on Scrubs again. Now, this day would have been a total crapshoot if I hadn't met a crazy toward the end of the day. It was this girl who was 29, but she looked and acted like a 16 year old. Her hair was a mess, but she had beautiful skin and teeth. Anyways, she kept whining all day long, so we finally asked her what her problem was. It was that kind of whining that people do over and over again when they want to tell you something, but they want you to ask first. You know what I mean. So, she promptly tells us that she can't stop thinking about this guy she had sex with. She also made the decision to tell us how great it was. Ugh. So, she tells us they did it first 4 months ago, then she lost his number. It was so good she had to see him again. So, what does she do? She writes him a letter and then goes to his house and slips it under the door! Isn't that a little stalkerish? Why couldn't she just mail it? I thought it was weird, but apparently it worked. Dude called her and they hooked up a second time, but now he hasn't called her since. Then she asked us if we thought it was weird, or freaky that she had a fantasy that involved her, and two gay guys (use your imagination). The purpose of me telling this story is to prove the point that people share TMI!!!! The whole time she was talking, I just kept looking at her and wanting to call hair and make-up over to help her out with her hair! Oh, this was the first time I was on Scrubs that Zach Braff and Donald Faizon were there as well. Both are cool.

So as I'm heading out my door this morning to go work on All of Us, I see my neighbor (an older lady) peeping in the front window of one of my other neighbors. I mean, she was all upin their bushes, right up at the window. It reminded me exactly of Mrs. Kravitz from Bewitched. I said "hi" to her and almost scared her half to death. She explained that she heard the neighbor's dog whimpering and she was trying to see if it wass ok. Keep in mind this is at 7 am. I was trying to hold my laughter in. I talked to her for a few seconds, and as I was leaving, I assumed she would have went back to her apartment (or at least acted like she was until I was out of sight), but she went right back to their window! I was laughing all the way to my car.

It's been a busy week, but I'm just glad to be back to working everyday. I'm still getting things together for my agent, and hopefuly in the weeks to come I'll have more and more great things to tell!

Quote for the day:

"The only way to build confidence is to achieve, with no more but no fewer challenges to doing so than one's peers"

~John McWhorter

And For The Rest of My Story......

All right, I'm going to try to attempt to tell you guys about my encounters with the crazies last week. Interestingly, they all happened on the set of Without A Trace. The first one, her name was Ming and she is from Hong Kong. Ming is about 5'1" and 100 pounds. She was such a busy body and cracking me up all day. This girl could not sit still!!! One minute I look up and she is on her knees on the floor, putting lip gloss on. The next time I look up she is eating a plate of food. Seconds later she is knitting a scarf!! I literally turned to get something out of my bag, and when I turned back around she was hemming a pair of pants she brought, complete with scissors, thread, everything. There was one moment when I was flipping through my folder, and I had some pictures in there. I noticed that Ming saw that I had some pictures, and looked as though she wanted to ask if she could see, but she didn't. I got called to go the set, so I put my folder under my chair and left. An hour or so later, me, another girl and Ming are all talking about the business, acting, etc., etc. The other girl brought up headshots, to which Ming blurted out to me that she had peeked at my pictures when I was gone! She said they were nice, and that was nice, but in my head, I'm thinking, "this little heffer went through my stuff!" I didn't really care, it was just funny to hear her say it in her thick accent and big cheesy smile. I'm not sure how funny this story is on paper. Maybe its one of those things where you just had to be there. Trust me, Ming is F-U-N-N-Y!

Moving on to the drunk..no...intoxicated girl on the set. This was so crazy. This girl was talking to some dude and she was saying some really erratic stuff, so I'm thinking, this girl is crazy! After she left, the guy goes, "Man, I think that girl is drunk!". I laughed, but then another girl standing next to us said the same thing. It was all starting to make sense. Earlier in the night, I was wondering why she looked like Courntey Love. I'm not kidding. Her hair was a MESS, and she had been putting lipstick on all night and it was all over her mouth. At one point during the night, she walked by me and I got the strongest whiff of alcohol....I actually think I got a light buzz from it, it was so strong. When did this girl go booze it up? She must've brought it with her and drank it all on the lunch break. CRAZY! I knew she had gone off the deep end when she walks up to one of the guys on the set and goes (in front of everybody), "Marcus, why haven't you been returning my voicemails? I've left you plenty and I know you got them!!". It was so funny. The dude didn't know what to do, so he flat out ignored her ass! I was ready to get out the popcorn.

Any lastly, we come to the drag queen. Yes......drag queen. He tried to play like he wasn't one, but here's how I figured it out. He was telling us about how he was in the movie I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry in which two firefighters pretend to be gay and get married, in order to get insurance benefits. So, for this movie they had a lot of scenes dealing with gay issues, including drag queen. So, this guy was telling us about how he was in this movie as a drag queen and that they (the wardrobe department) dressed him up like Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz with a red wig and skirt so short you could basically see his "bits". He also bragged to us that they chose guys with the "best legs" for this scene. Whatever. What he DIDN'T realize, was that I remember when they were casting this movie, they specifically said they needed guys to dress in drag for a scene, but that you needed to have your OWN drag clothes!! HAHAHA So, he basically told us, indirectly, that he is a drag queen. Why I didn't call him out on this in front of everyone, I don't know. That's exactly something I would do. I must've been thinking how CRAZY he sounded. A little later on, someone asked how old I was and he chimed in and said he thought I was 19. I told them I was born in 1982 to which he replied, "Oh, I was smokin weed and having sex by then". Umm....did I really need to know that? But, the one quote that gave it all away was when he was looking at an Us Weekly Magazine and he says, "Mmm.....Mary Kate, blonde is not you color honey!".

And those are my encounters with the crazies this week. I think I've had better stories. Like I said, maybe you just had to be there. In other news, I got chosen to be in a student's short film where I (ironcially) play a young doctor. How crazy is that for my first film role. It's a very short film, a scene rather, that's like a minute long. But, there are 2 doctors discussing a comatose patient, and thus it is called Comatose. When it's done being put together, I'll get a DVD copy, so that should be interesting. At least I have something to add to my resume now!

Same Old Stuff

At least I have a funny story to tell, so I'll start with that. My week started on Wednesday on the movie The Bucket List starring Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson. All I have to say is that Jack Nicholson is the coolest mofo on the planet. Seriously. Morgan Freeman wasn't there that day. Jack was talking with all of us and joking around. He is really funny, amazingly talented and just really cool. He is exactly the way I want to be when I make it to the big time. I want to be cool, approachable and I want people to think I'm a genuinely nice guy. I don't want to be mean and cold in real life and then go on talk shows and be all smiley and phoney like a lot of the actors I've mentioned in previous posts. The day was a short day, but I met a crazy and I'll tell you about that now.

Geez, I swear I don't know where people get their information or why they tell it to STRANGERS! Anyway, I'm sitting there, and there is a lady behind me talking about colon cleansing. Given that I am a medical student, my ears perk up to see what kind of false information she is going to tell these other people. She's telling these people that she stopped eating meat because meat has parasites in it blah blah blah. She then says that its a good idea to have a colon cleanse once a year. She recommends an herbal colon cleanse because certain herbs can kill parasites that live within us, according to her. Up to this point, I'm thinking "whatever". Personally, I think all you need is some fiber, vegetables and a lot of water to clean yourself out. What she said next is what made me turn around and gasp. These are her exact words:

"I know that the herbs work to kill parasites and the illnesses that they cause.
I had a friend who had cancer, and the doctors gave her some pills, but they didn't
do anything. You know those doctors, they give you stuff to keep you sick so you
have to keep coming back and giving them money! So, my friend took some of the
herbal colon cleanse pills. Now, not to be gross, but this is true. After she took the
pills, a spider crawled out of her vagina, and then
her cancer disappeared completely"

WTF????? Spider? Vagina? What does that have to do with cancer? Is this woman nuts? You know I was cracking up so hard, for many reasons. 1). She was probably referring to herself and not her "friend". 2). In order for a spider to crawl out of your vagina, that means it had to crawl in there!! YUCK!! The digestive system and the reproductive system are completely separate and not connected in any way, so her whole lead in to this story was basically BS. Vaginas just don't create spiders. 3). Can you imagine the look on ANYONE'S face if a *BLEEPING* spider crawled out of their vagina??? This is ludicrous!!! You should have seen the look on the other people's faces. It was straight up comedy. I couldn't contain myself. Someone said, "A spider, like a real spider?" Then the lady changed it up again and said it was a "spider-like creature". How does she know all these details? I'm sorry, but if a damn spider really crawled out of someone's vagina, I can't imagine them telling anybody. I mean, how do you tell someone that a freakin spider crawled out of your vagina?!?!?!?!?!?! "Hey Betty, my period was a little weird yesterday. It was extra heavy and there was something moving around in there. Is that normal? Ahhhhh........for the love of God!!! I know I sound all shocked right now, because I really was, but honestly, I thank God for these people. How BORING would my life and blogs be if it were not for my crazies?!

Wow.....I don't even have anything to say after that story. I'm glad it happened or else this blog would be really short because I only worked 2 days this week. There are some changes that will be happening soon I hope, and hopefully next week I'll have some interesting things to say. You know I don't like to say anything until things are set in stone. That way I don't look stupid if things change, ya know what I mean?

Positive quote for the day:

"People who succeed keep open minds and are afraid of nothing"

~Napoleon Hill

Well, I got the open mind part down......I just gotta work on the "afraid of nothing" part!

Well, The Weather is Great

Not much has happened this week. I had a few auditions for some student films, so we'll see if I hear back from them. I worked on Sunday, super early at 5 am on location at UCLA. It was for a new pilot called Greek. It's about a dorky kid's first year in college. He's new, he's nerdy and he wants to join a frat. And let me tell you, they sure did find the dorkiest lookin kid in L.A.! Skinny, hair all messed up. He must be a pretty experienced actor though to get a lead role on a pilot. I know one thing, in between takes, he was lighting up his cancer sticks and puffing away. I bet you he's like 30 and playing an 18 year old. When I first saw him bust out his cigarette, I was shocked, because he looks like he could be 16. Like teenagers don't smoke anyway. I knew that. I just played a college student walking across the courtyard as they filmed. BORING!! However, of course it never fails for me to meet some weird person. This day it was a girl who had to be about 21 years old I would say. We were on a lunch break and she was sitting right across from me at the table. She had eaten her food and I guess she was bored. Most people will get out a book to read, crossword puzzles, gameboys, etc. etc. You know what she broke out?? A MY LITTLE PONY COLORING BOOK! WTF?!? I'm not kidding folks. She broke it out, flipped through some pages that were elaborately colored to perfection until she got to a blank page. She then got out her multitude of colored pencils and went to town! Is that weird/funny to anyone else? It sure was to me.




Monday I was back on the show Shark. Long day which means a lot of money, but it was hella boring. The crazy person I met that day was this old lady. Remember Joey from Friends? Remember his agent, Estelle? That is who this lady reminded me of. Ok, the picutre on the left is a wee bit extreme, but you get my drift. We were sitting there on the set, and someone asked her to borrow a pen, and this lady went off!! She got so mad. She was going on about how it is ridiculous to not have a pen with you, blah blah blah. She said she has been doing background for 5 years and never forgotten her pen. She then said, "It's not like it's brain surgery!". Sheesh. She must have some deep down issues. I guess I don't blame her. If I had been doing background for 5 years, I'd probably be a little on edge too! This incident must have stressed her out, because she then got out a cigarette and lighter and went go pump a few more ounces of tar into her lungs. Oh well.





I took yesterday and today off for auditions. Yesterday I hung out with Afrah at her place. We watched Oprah since that was the only option because they only get 2 channels over there, and we sat on two hard wood chairs since their place isn't furnished yet. Lovely. haha Later that night, we decided to go to the movies in Century City. We ended up not seeing a movie because this stupid theater like to show movies every 3 hours. But, as we were going up an escalator, there was a couple in front of us. The guy turned his head to talk to the girl, and we realized it was Ludacris! Just him and his girl. No paparazzi, no body guards, none of that stuff. They didn't want to wait around for a movie either, so they left as well. He is shorter than I thought (as most celebs are) at about 5'7" I'd say. There was hardly anyone at the mall/theater, so he didn't have to deal with any crowds. I didn't say anything to him, cause I'm just not that person.

That's it, I have a headache. I'm going to watch some t.v.

Trying to Be Patient

I didn't realize it had been a week since my last post. I didn't do much this week at all. So, all I have to talk about is a crazy, I need to vent on one thing, and then the movie I did this week.

First off, the work week. Last Tuesday I was on ER again, but that of course was boring. Thursday and Friday, however, I was on the new Die Hard 4: Live Free or Die Hard movie with Bruce Willis. We shot on location downtown, and it was pretty fun except for the fact that we had to be on the set at 4 am!!! Bruce is actually really cool, and he just got his star on the Walk of Fame here in Hollywood a few weeks ago. He talked to us and joked with us. It was a fun 2 days. The scene we were shooting took place in Washington, D.C. and there wass an anthrax scare. So, all the FBI, SWAT and army people were called in of course. I played a National Guard as you can see from the two pictures. A lady that I met a few weeks ago told me I shoukd take pictures when I'm on a set in costume. I don't know why I never thought about that before. Well, I thought I had more to say about these 2 days, but I guess I don't.

Now, the crazy. I was in the grocery store last week, minding my own business, looking at some cheese or something, when this person comes around the corner. Actually, I heard them before I saw them. They were singing.......loudly. This person comes around the corner, and it is a flamboyantly gay, fat black guy. He has headphones on, is carrying a walkman in one hand and pushing his cart with his other hand. He is singing at the top of his lungs AND dancing as he is grocery shopping. I was clearly agitated, but I was laughing at the same time (is that even possible?) No one else in the store so much as batted an eyelash. I guess that means I'm still pretty new here. Anyways, this guy is singing and carrying on, hitting high notes and everything, doing dance moves as he drops stuff into his cart. I go on about my business as he skips off down an isle. So I'm in the checkout line and here he comes. And when I say he is singing loud, I'm talking about the way someone would sing at a concert. Gosh, I was so annoyed, because it's not like he sounded good or anything. I actually thought my right eardrum was malfunctioning, because nobody could sound this bad. In any case, he did not care what people thought. Then it made start thinking. As annoying as this guy was, maybe more of us should actually start being ourselves more and not care so much what other people think. I mean, I do the whole singing and dancing thing in front of the mirror in my room, just like we ALL do. But then, most of us put on a mask as we step outside of our homes and enter society. I'm not saying we should all go out acting like this guy, because after so long I'd probably end up punching someone, but we should not layer on the mask so thick.

Now, a brief venting process. I hope this doesn't make Andy G. mad because I swore I wouldn't really do this on my blog, but I just need to say this. I HATE SMOKERS! I was so glad to hear that Ohio went Smoke Free after the elections. Can anyone tell me one, just one benefit of smoking?? Can anyone tell me how smokers benefit society?? Let me explain why I brought this up. I was on the set the other day, and it seemed like every smoker in L.A. was there that day. I was highly agitated by them. Here's why I hate them (yes, I'm using the word hate, get over it!). 1). They are rude. It just baffles me that there is a group of us standing there talking, NOT smoking, and one of THEM decides to light up right next to us, filling the surrounding area with that toxic smoke. Did they ever even think that just because they want to smoke, not everyone else does? I was ready to cuss this one guy out for doing it, but someone beat me to it. Someone needs to make the law more specific, and make it so that there is a designated area for smokers on every street block. It should be something like a 12' by 12' box in a back alley somewhere. 2). They stink, simple as that. 3). All they are going to do with the butt when they are done is throw it on the ground, step on it, and leave it there. Is that much of a freaking hassle to just walk over to an ash tray or garbage can? 4). They are STUPID! There are so many people in this world who try to be healthy and take care of themselves, and unfortunately fall ill to some kind of cancer, whether it be a brain tumor, pancreatic cancer, etc. The smokers, however, are deliberately doing this to themselves. I wish every type of cancer could just somehow be transferred to the smokers of the world, because they're literally asking for it anyway. Lung cancer is the #1 most preventable type of cancer, period! Meaning, if you don't smoke, you probably won't get it, but if you do, you most likely will. Not only that, lung cancer is a slow and painful death! Why on God's green Earth would anyone do that to themselves?!!? I want to ask the smokers, would you purposely have unprotected sex with a person infected with HIV? I'm sure most people would say "No". So, why smoke??? Sorry to be so blunt, but everyone knows that's how I am, especially when I feel strongly about something.

I think that the fact that a few states are smoke free now, more people are getting the picture. I'd appreciate comments on this topic from anyone who reads this. I want to know other people's opinions.

I'm in Pain!!!

I'm going to do a quick post right now so I won't have so much to write this weekend. Basically, right now I'm sitting here in pain because I did a Tae-Bo workout with Billy Blanks yesterday. I got paid $100 to work out; I wasn't going to pass that up. Unfortunately, since I haven't been working out as often as I should, I pay the price by being sore for the next few days. The workout was intense, but good. His new routine is called Tae-Bo: Amped. I've never done Tae-Bo before, but it obviously is really good seeing how much pain I'm in, so I may actually get the video when it comes out. Yes, there were some people there who had no business being there. This includes a lady who looked just like Whitney Houston. Unfortunately, she looked like the drugged up Whitney at her darkest hour. Really, it was bad. I bet she was like 35, yet she looked over 50. She had on a poop brown wig, she was missing a few teeth in the back and she was doing Tae-Bo in boots....with heels!! Visualize with me here people...I'm NOT exaggerating. She looked almost identical to the picture to the left, and everyone yesterday was joking that Whitney Houston was doing Tae-Bo with us. I felt kind of bad for her because she looked so bad! Of course I forgot my camera....just when I needed it most!
There was also a man there who I think may have been a little slow mentally. I say that only because of the way he interacted with people and the way he communicated. In any case, during the Tae-Bo taping, he was just there flailing his arms around, not doing ANYTHING that looked like what the rest of us were doing. Guess where he stood?? Yep, right next to me. It was messing me up because I was laughing so damn hard! And that reminds me of one more thing, Tae-Bo is done in counts of 8, just like dancing........meaning.......rhythm is involved. I can't describe the number of people there who can not hold a beat. You know what I mean. You've seen these people in clubs "dancing like nobody's watching". I guess that's how you gotta do it. The whole day was just a big laugh fest for me. Extra ab workout for me!!!!

So the other day, actually about a week ago, I got locked out of my apartment again. It wasn't my fault this time. There is a deadbolt lock on our front door that we don't use. I've never even touched it. Well, this one time it decided to lock when I left. I came back, and Afrah was with me, and I couldn't get in. Not to worry, I thought. It's the middle of the day this time (as opposed to the middle if the night like last time), so I can go to the apartment manager and see if they have a spare key. We don't even have a key for the deadbolt!! Do you think he had the key? Not with my luck. I told him we don't use the deadbolt and this had never happened before, yet he kept asking me over and over if me and my roommate were having problems. I laughed because we get along great and my roommate was out of town anyway. Yet John (manager), kept inquiring whether my roommate was a "cool guy" or not. To make a long story short, I had to climb through my window again, with John giving me a boost this time. I should make a note here that this has only happened to me twice in my 4 months in L.A. so far, and BOTH times Afrah was with me! Do you see the connection??

I think that's all I wanted to say now, other than that it got to 94 degrees in Los Angeles yesterday, which broke the record of 92 degrees set 108 years ago. I am loving the heat. It's rainy and in the 50's in Ohio. I don't miss that crap at all!!!!

That's More Like It!

Back to a busy work week, and I love it. I love being busy. Makes me feel like I'm actually doing something with my life. It's been a week since I've posted because I've been so busy and I have a lot to share here. I'll try to keep it short.

Starting with last Friday, I worked on the show Las Vegas, and I was recalled to work on it this past Tuesday and Wednesday. This show has long days, so in those 3 days alone, I worked a total of 45 hours! It was grueling, but the money will be nice indeed. As for who is on the show...........Josh Duhamel is of course, and remember I worked with him on the set of Transformers. He actually remembered me too. Josh is by far the coolest person I've met so far. He talks to everyone, laughs and jokes with people. He is an all around cool guy. Nikki Cox is also on the show. You may remember her from Unhappily Ever After. I just need to say that Nikki is TINY! She is so small I couldn't believe it. I could actually see her ribs through her chest. She is just so skinny. She is on a billboard here in Hollywood and they totally photoshopped some curves on her, because she doesn't have any in person. However, her face is very pretty. She's beautiful in the face. In my opinion, she is prettier than Molly Sims, who is also on the show. Again, Molly is so petite it's scary. Nikki and Molly don't look anorexic, but if either of them lost just 5 more ounces, they would. I guess that really is Hollywood though.

I felt comforted by the fact that I met some crazies on this set. I thought I had lost them all. First, were two girls that I was talking to. I can't get into details here though. Let's just say that after finding out that I was a med student, they started asking me questions. You know, those "questions", lol. And they conversation turned extremely explicit! haha The other girl I met was named Stephanie. I called her "spunky" because she is 5'1", 28 years old but looks 15, and full of energy. She was constantly bouncing off the walls. She's really nice, but I was caught off guard when I asked her how her weekend was, and she informed me that she had great sex with her husband. Now, that doesn't seem odd right? I mean she is married. The "crazy" part is that she and her husband live in separate apartments. I've never heard of this before. They aren't separated. He isn't in the service. He lives right here in L.A. She talked about how much she loved him, but when I asked why they lived apart, she told me it's because "he gets on her nerves". WTF?? They came to some agreement to live apart?? He's a chef, she has 5 degrees because she "loves school", yet she is acting. Does this seem odd to anyone else? Please let me know if I'm the crazy one!

Today I was on the new show How I Met Your Mother. This show stars Neil Patrick Harris aka Doogie Hauser and Alyson Hannigan from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the American Pie movies. I don't have much to say about Neil except that he is cool. Alyson is SMALL. Geez, do you see a trend here?? She is so skinny, yet her face is pretty. She is prettier in person I think. Guest starring on the show today was Wayne Brady from Who's Line is it Anyway. Cool guy and really funny. He had us cracking up in between takes.

That pretty much sums things up. I guess it was shorter than I thought. I'm taking some pics that I will post on my next one for my old time friend Katie W. Oh yeah, Halloween night was a DISASTER, but I'm not getting into that right now. It will just make me angry again if I talk about it. I'm probably forgetting some stuff, but hopefully I'll remember by the weekend.

This Is What I Have To Deal With!

This past Friday was the first night shift I've ever done doing background. My call time was 9 pm at 20th Century Fox Studios for a show called Standoff. It's a new show, I've never heard of it, I know nothing about it. In any case, we started at 10 pm and wrapped at 4:30 am!!!!! Do you think my night was boring?? Of course not, because once again, I met a crazy person. I've often wondered if there is something about me that draws weird people to me because I attract them like magnets. Even after my mom read about the crazy lady on the Transformers set, she called me to say she thought I was making it all up. I told her no, and she asked me how on earth I attract these people. Afrah has pondered the same thing. I have no clue, because honestly, I sit there and mind my own business if I don't feel like talking, but they somehow migrate over to me and start chatting away.

Anyway, I meet this guy who I'll call Gadston, and he is about 57 years old. He has a southern accent and talks like a wise old, grandparent that loves to tell stories. I'm sitting across from him, and there is a guy sitting next to him. He is talking this guy's ear off and I'm just glad it isn't me for once. But then the guy gets up and Gadston turns his attention to me. Here is a transcript of our conversation at 2 in the morning (notice how one sided it is):

Gadston: Ya know, I do this background work a few times a week to get away from my wife.

Me: Oh really

Gadston: Oh yeah, that woman annoys me sometimes. I gotta get away from her! Actually,
she saw me on t.v. the other day on Without A Trace.

Me: For real

Gadston: Yeah, I played a night clubber at a strip club and I had to put money in the thongs of
all these pretty ladies.

Me: Wow, that's interesting.

Gadston: Oh yeah, them ladies were fine. And when my wife saw me on that episode, it got her
horny as hell.

Me: Really?

Gadston: Oh yeah, seein me with all those pretty ladies, my wife got sexy as hell after that!

Me: Musta been nice.

Gadston: Yeah, and on the set that day there was this really F-I-N-E woman. She was so sexy
and she caught me staring at her snatch!!

Me: ooohhhh

Gadston: All I could do was look at her and say, "I'm sorry". She looked at me and
said, "That's all right!"

At this point, all I could do was laugh, because he was being so serious. It was funny, but then one of the assistant directors rescued me and called us all into the set. This guy just kept talking and talking and talking. Who will I meet next? I can only imagine.


I don't have anything else to say right now, but I just want to leave you with a short video clip. If you've ever watched Flavor of Love, then you know who New York is. She cracks me up!! I can sit and laugh at her all day. I found this video clip that someone put together on Youtube and it's hilarious. At least I think so. Oh and a little DISCLAIMER here: All black people DO NOT act like this, obviously. These people are picked specifically for television and ratings and all that stuff. I know most of you know this, but with what I've experienced in the last year, you'd be surprised at the ignorance of some people!

The Most Fun Weekend So Far!

So, as you know from my last blog, I've been working on the set of the movie Transformers for the last 2 days. And as you can see on the left, it's set to be released on Independence Day 2007. It's directed by Michael Bay (The Island, The Rock) and executive produced by Steven Spielberg! This is going to be a huge movie with a lot of action and special effects. They have a $150 million budget.

In this movie I played a police officer. I don't even know where to start. There was so much action and I met the craziest lady in the world. More on her in a second. Tyrese and Josh Duhamel are both in this movie. I met and talked to them both and they were really cool, especially Josh. They just talked as if we were regular people, which we are. Ellen Pompeo needs to realize that!

There was a lot of action. They were blowin trucks up and bringin choppers in. It was really cool. I was right in the middle of the action. I got to drive the cop care right up to the scene of destruction where the robots are battling, jump out of the car with two of my deputies and control the frantic crowd. We were really acting too because there were obviously no 40 foot robots in front of us. They're all going to be added in during editing. But the scene was set up with burnt up cars and a big hole in the ground (which was made by a big pile of foam asphalt. And there was more smoke than anyone needs to encounter, as if Los Angeles needs that crap added to the already gag inducing smog.

Now for the crazy lady. I think she is the weirdest one yet! First of all, she is a sci-fi trekky. She's African-American and from about an inch above her ear down, her head is shaved. Above that she has these long dread locks that go half way down her back, pulled into a pony tail. And she has these wire rim glasses on that looks like they're straight from 1750, like something Benjamin Franklin would wear. She looks like Whoopi Goldberg basically, like the pic on the right, just skinnier. She tells me that she's in fact not an actress, but she is in LOVE with Transformers. She has a friend who knows one of the producers of the movie and got her on. So, we're about to go to set and somone says they see a model of one of the robots, and Pam (crazy lady) starts hyperventilating! I'm so not joking right now. By the way, she's like 30 years old. And of course I'm cracking up. She jokingly told me not to laugh and that she can't help it that she was a 9 year old geek with no friends that loved Transformers. You know I hung around her all day for kicks!!!

So then, as were on the set, they are using these tall skinny poles to simulate where the robots will be when they digitally add them in. They asked Pam to be one of the people crawling on the ground near the scene of destruction, and on her way over there, she had to make sure she touched one of the poles. And on her way back, she stole one of the smaller pieces of foam asphalt as a souvenier!!! Stuffed it right in her purse. Then, they bring out a white semi truck. One of the robots name's is Optimus, and he turns into the semi truck. No joke, she went over and kissed the truck! My stomach hurts at this point she is crackin me up so much.

Next, we have a scene with Bumblebee. Bumblebee is a yellow robot that transforms into a 2006 Camaro. They bring a smaller model of Bumblebee out and Pam starts singing "HALELLUJAH!!" She has no shame and I can see other people looking at her now and laughing. After that scene we break for lunch and she says, "This is the best weekend of my life,

other than the first time I got laid". I laugh and say, "That's good, most people's first time is not a good experience", to which she yells, "I got lucky!!!!" She was crazy for the whole 2 days and I was lovin it. So I told her we would have to see the movie together so we exchanged e-mails. I did this only for my own entertainment. She's going to be an absolute mess during that movie and I can't wait!

It's weird because my roommate made me go see Jackass 2 on Friday, and we saw a preview for Transformers already. I was like, "Whoa, I'm going to be in that movie tomorrow". And can I just say that the Jackass movie was one of the most disturbing things I've seen in a long time. It was entertaining, but disturbing. They did some things in that movie that humans just shouldn't do. I mean, I was literally gagging at certain parts it was so nasty. To the right, that is Steve-O letting a leech chomp on his eyeball. That wasn't one of the gagging incidents in the movie. I can't repeat those here because my mom reads this blog, lol.

That's it for now.

Crazy Week So Far

I didn't realize how easy it was to post pictures on here. I thought it would have been a hassle. So, now I can start putting some pics on here to liven up my blog I guess. I'll post some right after I speak about some of the crazy stuff that happened this week.

For the last 2 days I have been on a movie set and it has been BORING!!! The scene was shot in a theatre and we were watching John Malkovich do magic tricks all day. Fourteen hours of sitting in a chair clapping all day is freakin torture. I wanted to drink acid by the days end! However, it never fails that I meet some weirdos!

First was this man sitting at the same table as me at lunch. Luckily, this time he wasn't talking to me, because he was one of those people that are uncomfotable with silence, so they start volunteering information that nobody wants to hear about. Example: He says out loud, "I didn't work yesterday". Somebody else asked "Why?", to which he replied, "I was at a nudist camp!" Ahhhh.....WHYYYYYY??? This man was like 50 years old, scraggly, and his skin looked like genuine rawhide leather. Why would anyone want to picture that? So, no one says anything, and he decides he's going to tell some jokes. I can't remember the first one, but his second joke was (and I'm NOT kidding), "Why did the monkey fall out of the tree?" Somebody says they don't know. His answer is, "Because he was dead". WTF!!! Nobody even smiled at that dumb ass joke. And the the guy goes, "I'm thinking my jokes aren't funny!" YA THINK!!! Then he starts making comments about how he needs a massage and he's gonna take off his pants and get up on the table. I wasn't lying when I said ANYONE off the streets can sign up to do background work!!

Then there was this lovely old lady who sat next to me in the theatre who grossed me the hell out. AFTER lunch when we were back on the set, in the theatre, is when she decides to break out her floss!! She flosses a few teeth, then lays the floss down on her lap, on her dress. Then she flosses some more, and lays it back down, then flosses some more. I'm already kind of grossed out, but next thing I know, she's picking up a tissue to blow her nose, and the now multi-colored piece of floss is hanging from her tissue! YUCK!!! Then she did something that cracked me up. We're in a theatre, but it's a restaurant setting, so we're sitting at tables, maybe 6 to a table. We all have drinks to make the scene look real. Some people have wine glasses filled with sparkling grape juice, some people have other kinds of drinks. They are props for us, and we're not supposed to drink out of the (probably dirty) cups. But she's been drinking hers all morning. So, she decides she wants to pour her water into her cup. While the man on the other side of her wasn't looking, she poured her half drunk grape juice into his cup! I swear I could not make up these stories! This is L.A.

Two other crazy things happened on set. This morning a lady collapsed and the ambulance had to be called. It was scary, but she was ok. Then later in the afternoon, an over head light exploded and the glass came crashing down to the ground. Luckily no one was hurt. but the reminds about something about these lights. Have you ever heard of actors complaining of working under hot light all day? I used to think they were being dramatic, but it's true. Those suckers get HOT. That's why they keep the air on in the studios right around 55 degrees. I mean, one day on set, I walked in front of one of the big lights on set. You know how you watch tv and the scene may be in someone's living room and you see the skyline of a city through a window in the house? Well, of course its not real. It's a huge backdrop in the studio lit up by huge lights on the ground. The lighta are maybe 5 feet in diameter. Well, when I walked in front of one, I thought the side of my face was going to melt off! Seriously, I at least thought my shirt was going to catch on fire. It was that hot.

Last crazy thing of the week. Monday I was on CSI: New York and we were shooting on location in an apartment building in downtown L.A. I read an article today that said a real mummified body was found in the building yesterday (Tuesday) one floor below where they were still shooting. Someone went to check on the tenant who hadn't paid rent in a while. Isn't that kinda freaky?

Ok, a few pics because I'm tired of typing!














St. Louis Arch on my way to L.A.

This is the tram that takes you up to the Getty

Center, a huge museum that contains authentic

paintings, artwork, and artifacts dating back to

the Middle Ages. The Getty Center is in the

background .

View from the Getty Center looking

southeast. That little city is either

Brentwood or Westwood, I'm not

sure. Can you see the band of

smog?

**Once again my pictures and captions are distorted. I'll figure this out one day!**

Beware of the Great and Powerful Claudine!!!!

Does everyone know CLAUDINE?? She's such a wondeful person, and she scolded me the other day for not posting blogs frequently enough. So, this is why I'm posting mid-week. I definitely DON'T wanna feel the WRATH OF CLAUDINE!! LOL That sounds like a good movie title. Anyways, CLAUDINE says I have to write at least 2 blogs per week, and that was reduced from 4!!!! ALL because she loves to read blogs. Sounds like someone trying real hard not to study if you ask me.

Now, onto what I've been up to the last few days. I've decided that most of my blogs are going to be about all the interesting (crazy) people I meet out here since I'm just doing background work and you guys know the deal with that. Different show almost everyday, blah blah blah.

Today I met 2 funny people. Everyone should know by now that I LOVE to laugh. Anyone could see it in class, lol. Anyone that makes me laugh will definitely get my attention, whether I'm laughing at them, or with them. So, I'm on the set today waiting to start work and this man comes and sits next to me. Now, I don't know if I just give off some vibe that says, "Tell me your life story", but people seem to like to do that around me. I mean, ever since I can remember, I will meet someone, and in our first conversation they're telling me their whole life story. I guess it's a compliment in some sorts, but sometimes i hear the most boring crap when I'm not in the mood for it. So this man (who looked weird anyway) starts tellin me about all the background work he's done over the last year and how Rebecca Romijn is mean and so is the lead actress on Gilmore Girls, etc., etc. Then he switches topics and starts talking about Miss Teen USA. Yes, Teen USA. I knew he looked like a chester. He tells me he's shocked that Miss Montana won and Miss South Dakota was runner up because it's usually between Miss Florida, California and Texas, or some crap like that. But in his opinion Miss Virginia was the hottest. Whatever. THEN, he proceeds to tell me that ALL the girls on there are dumb, and he doesn't even know why they ask them questions. Here are his words: "I don't even know why they ask those girls questions. They're all dumb. They don't need to waste their time asking those girls about world peace. They don't know anything about that. They asked one girl about young girls and anorexics. She doesn't know anything about that." Then he imitated her answer in a girlie voice that sounded ridiculous. Keep in mind that this is a completely one sided conversation with me just nodding my head, looking away, dying for the assistant director to come get us. And he just kept talking, and talking, and talking.

Jump ahead a few hours and I hear this same guy talking to some other people about Star Trek. Do you know what this man said?? He said that Star Trek Voyager was HIS idea!!! WTF?!?!?! Seriously, he said he had an idea of a space ship coming back or something like that, but someone came up with the same idea he had and beat him to it as far as making a movie out of it. PSYCHO, is all I have to say. That guy was loony.

A little later on I'm walking to the cafeteria from lunch, and I see something moving toward me out of the corner of my eye. I look up, and its a lady (she had to be at least 40), with some headphones on really getting into her music. I mean, think about how crazy you look when you dance in the mirror at home. Everybody does it so stop frontin!! She was doing that AND playing her air guitar at the same time, lol!!! And this is all happening outside in broad daylight in front of everyone. She did NOT care. So, I caught eyes with her, and she gives me this cheesy smile that says, "I know, I'm crazy, and I love it". Strange, strange people here in L.A., which brings me to another point that I've noticed. MAKE-UP artists. It's so funny how these make-up artists are there to make the actors look perfect, yet 90% of them (the make-up artists) look atrocious. I'm talkin about lookin like they rolled straight outta bed and came to work. Hair not brushed, etc. It's just ironic to me. Maybe its just me though, I dunno.

That's pretty much it for the last 5 minutes CLAUDINE. Haha. Here's what I've done this week.

Monday: New Ted Danson show called "Help Me Help You". You may have seen previews.
The mom from "Malcolm in the Middle" is on this show as well. I played a coffee shop
worker. Woopty doo, lol.
Tuesday: A show called "Heartland". Don't worry, you've never heard of it and you'll never
watch it! It's a medical show, however, and I played an EMT.
Wednesday: "Close to Home". Don't know what this show is about other than the fact that it's a cop show and the lady from "Diary of A Mad Black Woman" was there today. I'm
not sure if she is a regular or if she was just doing a guest appearance. But, you
know, the mad black woman in the movie, the main character. That's her.

Celeb encounters this week:

• Essence Atkins from the tv show "Half & Half" and the film "How High"
• The big, blonde shaggy haired guy from Celebrity Fit Club and "Hairspray"
• Orlando Jones from MAD TV

Is There A Doctor In The House?

Man, have I been busy this week! I had no idea doing background work was going to be so grueling. I got called again to work on "ER" and that's where I've been the last 3 days. The days on ER average 14 hours on set. I guess I should be used to it. Not much different from med school, lol. It was fun though.

The first day I worked on ER was Tuesday the 8th, and lucky me. When I was done with school last year, I honestly thought to myself that I was really going to miss all the free food that I got from all the interest groups at school. I couldn't have been more wrong. I don't miss that stuff at all!! The stuff they feed you on these Hollywood sets makes the pizza and subs from med school seem like rubbish. My first day on ER (they're second day of filming for the season) they had a "welcome back lunch" celebrating the start of the 13th season of ER (which start October 5th by the way). Man oh man, they had a live Mariachi band playing and all the food you could think of. They had salad, shrimp, chicken, steak, salmon, brownies, cake, apple pie, ice cream and it was all FREE and all you could eat. I was in heaven!!! I lucked out in another way by working on ER too. I've heard some horror stories from some of the other people about how rude and mean some of the crew members and even the actors can be on some of the other shows. Everyone on ER was pretty nice. It was a good experience.

Anyways, my call time for that day was 6:45 am and we didn't wrap until 10 pm that night. Looooong day, but it was fun. I played a hospital visitor in the background, yet I got to work right next to the actors. Mekhi Pfeifer is on the show as you know, so is Shane West and John Stamos. There are some other people, but I don't them because I've never watched ER before, EVER!!! Haha. I guess I'll start now. So, me and a bunch of other people had to walk up and don the halls and in the waiting room to make the hospital look busy. I was amazed at how real everything looks. I mean, I thought it would look really fake and stuff, but with lighting and camera angles it would look real on tv, but it looks really real in person. They even have all the WelchAllyn tools and instruments and everything. They have X-rays up on the wall, which I was of course analyzing, and they were all healthy x-rays, lol. There is one scene we shot where in the background you can see a kis getting yelled at by a cop through a glass door. I am that kid, and it should be in the first episode, lol. There isn't much to doing background work, and anyone off the street can sign up to do it, but all the people you see in the background in movies and tv shows aren't people just waling around. It's actually really choreographed. I hadn't realized that.

My 3rd day on ER was the most fun, for 2 reasons. 1). I had seen some of the same people for 3 days now and gotten to know some of them, and 2). I was asked to be a stand-in for one of the actors and thus got paid double what I was getting. By this time I was telling some of the people that I was a med student. I LOVE doing this. Not because it makes me feel all important or for any other egotistical reasons, but because I just plain love grossing people it. I'm sure most of my classmates know what I'm talking about. I was talking to one of the other extras, this lady, and I was telling her I can't be grossed out and that I've literally seen everything, including STD's and even STD's of the mouth and throat. And she thought that you could only get herpes in your mouth and nothing else. Isn't that amazing??? That people don't realize that you can get anything in your mouth!! So, I told her that I'd seen gonorrhea of the throat, etc., etc., and she got so grossed out and started grabbing her throat and almost gagging as if STD's were just floating through the air waiting to get her. It was sooooo funny. I was cracking up. Then that starts a whole chain of questions about bodily functions and what not. Then a few hours later while we were waiting for filming to start again, there was a extra piece of polyurethane skin laying next to us on a tray. (They made a fake chest for one of the scenes where they had a bunch of electrodes hooked up to the patient). Some girls picks it up and is playing with it, and touches it to the face of the STD lady. Now, earlier I had noticed that the STD lady had like 4 fanny packs on and this why. She freaks out and starts pullin stuff out of her fanny packs. She sprayed her face with disinfectant, broke out some lip disinfectant stuff, etc. I mean, talk about a germaphobe. Then she comes and says to the girl, "Ever since he told me about STD's, I'm afraid of germs now". WTF!!!!!!!! She tried to blame her obsessive compulsiveness on me?!?!?! LOL She brought all that damn stuff way before I told her about some STD's. I just knew she was a little weird.

So, that was my week on ER. I may or may not go back. It's fun, but in terms of just being a background worker for right now, I need some variety. It gets too monotonous going to the same studio every day doing the same thing for 14 hours. Plus, there is so much waiting around between takes and stuff that it gets boring. So, for Monday I'm going to work on a show at Paramount Studios. I've never heard of it though, so we'll see how that goes. I had to take yesterday (Friday) off and the rest of the weekend because I couldn't get anything done. Being on set from 6 am to 10 pm, I get get to places like the photo lab and the post office because they're closed before and after I leave the set. That's the good thing about background work. They book jobs day to day, not for days or weeks at a time. So, I determine my own schedule. If I want to take a day or 2 or 14 off, I can. So yesterday I finally got all my pictures put together, packaged and mailed out to some agencies. Now I can relax a little and wait for some agents to call. Wish me luck!!