Thanks To The Academy...

Every year on the morning of the Academy Awards, I look at the clock and imagine where I'd be in my preparations for the evening's events.
10am: light breakfast
11am: soak in the tub
12pm: hair and make-up
1:30pm: get dressed, last checks
2:30pm: waiting for the car
3pm: leave for the Kodak

The Oscars are occurring right now about a mile and half from where I'm sitting typing this. Why am I in sweats and not my Narciso Rodriguez dress? Or was it Calvin Klein? Or did I decide the Valentino was the right one? No, no, it was the Eduardo Lucero. Definitely the Lucero. Love him.

There's always next year.

Sidebar: Why?

Sigh Of Relief...

Well, I heard back from the festival people and our accommodations are set for Paris. I also let my supervisor know that I would be gone for a week in a week and she was totally encouraging...but did let me know more than once that the US Dollar in Europe really sucks right now. Still, she said that I should go...which is the response that I was hoping for.

I think that it's fairly cold across the pond, so I'm kinda sad I've let Patti fall by the wayside while I've been working on gf's Habu sweater. Patti will probably be the project to come with me, but I have no expectation of finishing it while I'm gone. Although, 14 hours on a plane each way is a lot of knitting time.

Speaking of 14 hours on a plane rides, I'm really not looking forward to that wonderful jetlag experience, so starting today, I'm going to try to eliminate excess salt and sugar intake and flood my system with a lot of water. I've read that's how the celebs do it. If you have any jetlag tips, please, please...share!

Did I happen to mention that I finished the body of gf's Habu sweater and will be starting the sleeve tonight? The rounds were getting pretty fast toward the end, so I'm figuring a smaller circumference will be really, really fast. Let's hope. Birthday is a week away!

Focused...On Everything But...

Miss Sassypants wanted me to extend to you her thanks for all the kind words to her first installment of Poppy's Knit Reviews. She's always happy to extend information to the knitting public. She's now busily scouring the next big/interesting knitting thing to review.

As for me, I haven't gotten much done in the past few days. Saturday, gf and I had an informal backyard wedding to attend and Sunday, knitting really didn't fit into my planned activities, which was to do some much needed self organizing and wardrobe purging. Unfortunately, running errands and other delights got in my way. I did manage to spend 20 minutes clearing off my catch-all that is my desk/table. So that's something.

And now we're back to the grind of the work week. Joy. It should actually be fairly easy to get through as my boss is leaving Wednesday on a business trip and won't be back until next week. Regardless, I doubt I'll get much knitting done. Well, maybe tonight during the season premier of Heroes. Maybe I can finally get Patti's back off my back. I have so many projects that I'm looking forward to working on, that it's really hard to stay focused and on task. I'll get through it...eventually.

Oh, I do have some exciting news for you all. One of my directors informed me that a short I was in is going to be showing at a lesbian and gay film festival in PARIS! Yes, France! So, now begins that mad rush to get passport in order and find cheap tickets. If you come across any airline deals, please let me know. Or even if you are an informed Euro-traveler and know of an airport we could fly into, rather than Charles De Gaulle [which seems very expensive]. I've never been to Europe so I'm totally new and almost completely overwhelmed by the fact that I might be going to Paris and that a film I was in will be showing for a French audience. God, I've got to start planning my outfit now!

Tuesday...

Well, I'm finally re-emerging! The second day of shooting went very well. I had a really great time and think that I've made some great connections. I have a few more auditions this week, so I'm going to try really hard to keep my momentum going.

I even had a special co-star on Saturday. I brought Poppy along to set and she was used in the first scene of the day! She was a very generous co-star and think that we really nailed it [actually, she was just set dressing, but don't tell her that. Thank god she doesn't read this blog, huh?].

As for crafting, I didn't have any time to work on anything this weekend. Total bummer! I guess the trade off was being lead actress in a short movie. Hmmm...that's alwasy a hard decision as to what I'd want to be doing more.

I spent a little time working on the Cropped Jacket in Lace pattern this morning and I have a few more lace repeats before I'm done with front #2! Once that's done, I'm going to focus on Walk With Me Lord until it's done.

Now I think a nap is at the top of the queue.

All Cried Out

No, I didn't have another mishap with Walking After Midnight.

I completed my first day of a two day shoot. Thanks to everyone for their kind words, the shoot went fairly easily [from an acting standpoint at least] and I feel that I've done the part some justice.

Now it's time to rip off these fake eyelashes [!!!] and get to bed...I've got an early call time again tomorrow.

ACTING: No Crafting Content

I haven't had much to report as far as acting goes lately. I did have a commercial/theatrical agent for a few months, but was she dropped me and I was fine with it. Before I start sending out more pictures to agencies, I'm continuing to focus on building my resume and perfecting what I can do. That way, when the opportunity for bigger roles comes along, I will be able to showcase my talents with no doubts or fears.

So, I had this audition for a short film last Saturday morning. I had submitted myself for two of the roles and wasn't sure which one the director would want me for specifically, so I was pretty much open for any and every thing. One of the parts was for a mentally ill woman and the other for her sister who is saddled with taking care of her.

When I got to the audition, I read over the script and it was pretty good. That's always a good sign. They call me in and I read for the mentally ill sister, but not the care-taker sister. I did the best I could, but I had other stuff on my mind and wasn't fully present during the reading. I left the audition thinking that I totally sucked...I knew I could do better. So I blew it off, figuring I'd never hear from them.

You know what happens next.

The producer calls me and offers me the part of the mentally ill sister. Hmmm. Now in creeps my self-doubt. I know my audition sucked. It was a long weekend, maybe there weren't that many auditioners. So maybe even though I sucked, I was what they had to settle for, since they're shooting this weekend. Maybe the person that they really wanted wasn't available. Thoughts and thoughts roll through my head about how I'm not worthy of getting that part.

Isn't that sad?

I'm writing this in an attempt to purge myself of self doubt and am now taking that energy to focus on the character and getting to know her better. I know I can do her justice. I know I'm capable. I'm just wondering how I got here.

Roscoe Lee Browne

Roscoe Lee Browne died yesterday. You may not know his name, but I'm sure you recognize his face, and definitely his voice. I had the honor of meeting Mr. Browne twice. The first time was after a performance of August Wilson's 2 Trains Running on Broadway. To this day, it is the best piece of theatre I have ever seen. He was gracious and signed my playbook and took a picture with me. The second time was a few years ago at a bar in Burbank. I had gone for a drink after work and there he was, sitting alone in the corner. I rounded up some courage to approach him, told him how much I loved the play and he was kind enough to engage in conversation with me.

I'm glad that he has found relief from any suffering he was experiencing with his cancer battle, but at the same time, I am saddened by the loss of another of our great actors.

Note: 2 Trains Running will be opening this month at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego. Another of the original cast members and a friend of mine, Al White, will be performing.

AH, SWEET COMPLETION!

Well, I have a sense of completion! I finally finished the Rowan Cloud! It's awaiting a wash, some blocking and buttons, but it's one thing of my WIP list! I pulled out the Clapotis, I love the pattern, but unfortunately the yarn I was using was disappointing. ***sigh*** Definitely one to revisit. I'm now in the process of looking for some new projects...well picking a project from those on my Works in Planning column. Digging through yarn and finding a compatible pattern to make can be tiring!

On the acting front, nothing new for me. Last night, however, I was treated to some inspiration and a good dose of reality when I saw Hotel Rwanda. I will be sure to recommend it to everyone I speak to. It's incredible to me that the Rwanda Genocide occured only 11 years ago and how unaware most people are about what happened...myself included. It makes me sad that most people in our country are so ignorant to what's happening in the world right now, much less in our own backyard! After seeing this movie and in rememberance of all that Dr. King has done to advance the rights for all people, I am going to make an attempt this year to do what I can to ease the suffering of the less fortunate around me. So many little things...giving blood on a regular basis, volunteering for a worthy cause...even knitting hats and scarves for cancer patients. I'm going to put some good out into the world this year.

"We Gonna Blow UP!"

And no, that's not me kissing THAT girl...


"We gonna blow up"...that's the catch-phrase my last director and friend, Amber, uses ALL the time. She cracks me up...she says it with such sincerity and positivity...it's hard to doubt that won't happen. I was fortunate enough to be cast in her USC thesis project, Triple Minority. It is a truly sweet and heart-felt short film about the rift that occurs between a young lesbian woman and her religious parents. It was an incredible acting experience for me, everyone was so great. I just hope all my future film sets are equally supportive.

Well, tonight I had the opportunity to see a rough cut of the film. I was scared at first, but my fears have been quelled. Of course, I think that I look fat, my voice is super annoying, my arms flail around unnecessarily, my hair is retarded [although I like the color]...a ton of personal criticisms...but overall, it looks really, really good. I'm happy with my performance..and I almost made myself cry! That was a strange experience, needless to say. There's more editing to be done, but I can finally rest my doubts about how I did. WHEW! 2005, baby, WE GONNA BLOW UP!!!

On the knitting side, I pulled aside some items from the stash to get rid of...eBAY, here I come!...and looked over the remainder for projects ideas. I'm also toying with the idea of starting in on some tank tops so that i can actually have something new to wear when the weather finally clears up. Ugh...decisions, decisions...it's never a matter of finding a project to start...it's a matter of WHICH project to start.

Well, it's time for bed, tomorrow's the first day of school and I can't be crabby in front of the Children of America...although I have been known to be on more than one occasion. At least I can blame it on the rain and not sleep deprivation.