Working Girl

Mixers, socials, gatherings, and reunions nowadays bring about a slight headache for me. Why? Because of the unavoidable, "so what are you doing now?" question.

Immediate answers that pop into my head range from smart alecky ("I'm breathing, I'm holding this glass of wine, I'm wondering why your breath smells so bad.") to honest ("I am trying to find a job. Can you help me? Offer me one! Please please please! But only if it's a good one because I'm picky! And sensitive! And I want a job that will help me "find myself" and "nurture me" and it has to be fun! And it can't be 9-5! And... and...and...")

But I have found the best and most truthful answer is, "I am between projects."

It's the truth.

If I'm talking to you at a dinner party, most likely I'm not preparing questions for an interview with a famous director, or reading up on how to transfer from Blogger to Wordpress (which is coming soon!) or memorizing lines for an audition, or studying for my real estate exam. Most likely I am in between all those things. "Projects" because I get paid for some, some may lead to future employment, some are just for fun but all are for my personal growth and development.

One of these projects I had busied myself with the last two weeks have been auditions. It was surreal going back to the craft I had spent most of my childhood perfecting; headshot in hand, energetic smile, the hopes of making an immediate good first impression, the toleration of waiting, so so much waiting. During these auditions, many with kids younger than me, watching the stage moms busying themselves with making sure their (often miserable-looking) offspring look their best, act their best, fussing with makeup or hair, I thought to myself, "whoa, that was me a couple of years ago."

But it paid off! I booked my first audition and landed a role in a 2010 US Census commercial. Fame, glory, privilege, luxury, and (most importantly) riches, you are all mine for the taking! (Jk, I'm just happy to be making a little cash).

Here is how shoot day went down:

Woke up before the crack of dawn. 4:30 AM to be exact.

Arrived at the pitch dark set.
Got hair and makeup did and changed into wardrobe.
Then arrived at the actual shoot location and waited. Aspiring actors, you must know that a big part of the job is waiting. Waiting for your big break, waiting during auditions, waiting for callbacks, waiting on set. Why else do you think the biggest side job for actors are as... waiters?
A most amazing thing happened. When I was at the fitting a couple days before, I stepped out of the bathroom and spotted the backside of a girl who looked oddly like my very close high school friend, Debster. "Debbie?" I timidly called out. The girl turned around and it was indeed her! It turns out she would be a part of the commercial too! She and I are respectively playing the Korean and Chinese versions of the same character! When Debs and I were younger, we always joked that we would be famous and work on projects together. I guess the day has finally come! Hopefully, there will be more projects looming ahead.
Fancy shmancy shooting equipment.
After having filmed half of our scenes. Lunchtime rolled around. The entire day was horrible for my weight-watching (I have an upcoming photo shoot), craft food service table, you are the bane of my existence!

Lunch was especially delicious. I've had lunch on big budget blockbuster sets, cable television sets, indie film sets, but this set was the most delicious of all! Especially the bread pudding topped with vanilla bean ice cream.
We blew off all the extra sugar we inhaled during lunch by posing for silly pictures with each other. Here I am with one of the sweetest girls ever, Karen. I met Karen at the callbacks for this audition, where we both waited four hours before auditioning (I guess it paid off for the both of us?) Anyway, this girl is super-cute and has my dream job; as a Disney Channel movie surfer. I can't even be jealous of her because she is so humble and just gosh darned cool about it!
Here I am jumping for joy with my co-star, Grace. I'm so glad I got to work with such a professional, gregarious, talented chick! She is working so hard to get to where she needs to be and seems to be enjoying every moment of it. Watching her interact on set motivates me to up my ante. Plus, she's got awesome taste in music! (Jason Mraz FTW!)

Grace and I on-camera. Scary place to be.

Especially when all these people are watching you, making sure you don't screw up.

Watching very closely...

This is why they pay us the big bucks. Before the cameras started rolling...

...and Action! We're good, right? Agency information available upon request.

After an exhausting 10 hour day, I joined the rest of the working world stuck in 6PM traffic.
It felt nice to be a productive member of society again, if only for one day. :)