Halloween Past!

Halloween thru the Years

Happy Halloween!!!

I got a call for an audition from Pemrick/Fronk Casting today. Jennifer the associate in the office called me directly. She said she'd called ACME and they told her I was no longer there....hmmmm...guess it's really time to do a mass mailing. The audition is Wed. for Aftershock which is, I think, some type of military industrial. Me in the military?? Maybe, I did do a year of ROTC...Left Flank, MARCH!! Anyway, it'll be cool do get into this office...they always have ALOT going on.

I called my Manager for the first time today (that still sounds odd to me). I saw a few roles on CSI:NY that fit me. I submitted myself, of course, but wanted to let them (my Manager & his staff)know that I was in that office about a month ago with pretty good results. They said they'd already submitted me, but would also put a call in. Hopefully, I'll be getting some appointments through them soon!

Ahhh, Halloween. You know it's funny, I took the kids trick or treating tonight for like the first time ever! We usually do something fun that involves getting alot of candy, but I think this is our first time going door to door. I must be getting spoiled living in Santa Monica...lol. We met up with some of their school friends and went to the really nice part of Santa Monica. You know it was a rich area b/c the houses were like mansions. Plus, they were giving out Full-sized bags of Skittles instead of the little individual packs!!! Now That's wealth...lol. Anyway it was a bunch of fun, totally impromptu...in fact, our entire costumes consisted of stuff we already had. Hmmm...what does that say about me...scary! Almost a perfect night....my family and I missed you. Hope you're well.


Gabe & Gabriela Halloween 05


Ella & Me


Gabe & I


Halloween 05


Halloween 05 All


Us and Luca


BIG House


All of Us


Kids Halloween 05

Callback at Johanna Ray's casting. This went really well...although it started out kinda rocky. When I arrived, this actor who goes only by the name of Daz was there, and he informed me that no one was in the office. "Huh...strange", I thought. I went in and did a little looking around and I didn't see anyone either...so I assumed he was correct. I went back outside the office where Daz was and we began to chat a bit while I fixed my hair in the window, which I was using as a mirror. After a few moments of my fixing my hair and checking my lipstick in this mirror/window, I heard a tap coming from the inside. Sure enough, Johanna, Jenny and the director of the film were in the middle of a Session inside the room of the very window I was using for my mirror. Oh, and not to mention the poor actor who I'm sure I created a ridiculous distraction for! I was soooo utterly embarrassed!! I mean, you have NO idea!
Anyway, I read for them twice...and I think it went pretty well. The director asked me if I did choreographed dance, and I told her yes. I was about to leave when Johanna nudged Rachel (the director) and asked her about me singing. Rachel asked if I sang and I told her yes. Then she asked me if I wanted to sing a little for them. I sang a little of St. Louis Blues, a song I'd done back at USC in a production of Blues for an Alabama Sky, by Pearl Cleage. That went over really, really well. They LOVED it! In fact, I think they liked the song more than my read...which is funny b/c I SO don't consider myself to be anybody's singer. But it was very cool nonetheless, and I got to leave on a very positive note...which is awsome since I started on such a terrible one...lol. This is such a cool project...I'm keeping my fingers crossed on this one!

Was supposed to have a photo shoot today to get some new commercial shots, but alas, the weather did not cooperate. You know LA headshots and the natural lighting thing. Rescheduled for next week.

Today was a big day...I think I'm gonna post each thing separately to make it easier to read...here's the first one...

Booked! KSwiss Commercial. Very cool, shoots this week. Hopefully, they'll like the spot and reshoot it for the national!!

Callback! Friday for the feature film Johanna Rey is casting. Awesome!! The audition went really well. It's funny I'm so used to going to Commercial, Sitcom and Episodic auditions (ok, that's funny...not SO used to, like I do it every day...but still that's what I'm most familiar with) that I was totally taken off guard by this, my first real feature audition in LA. Most all of my other auditions have been rush, rush... do your thing, possible redirect...thank you goodbye. This one was soooooo laid back that it caught me off guard! I really had to re-adjust, I thought my audition was finished and I was ready to leave, but really, we were just getting started...lol. Johanna was really cool, we talked alot about the role...and other random things...like, how crazy surveillence has gotten in the world..lol Anyway, at one point during our talk she said, "now, when you come back, I think you should read for the role of Madeline." What?! Cool, I'm coming back!! And she wants me to read a different role b/c the original one I had was kind of "one dimensional". Cool! She thinks I'm capable of multi-dimensions! LOL. She also suggested I see an old Lauren Bacall movie so I'd have a better idea of the tone. Done, and done! I hope I do well on the callback. It's a great script and I'd love to be a part of this project!

THE CHICAGO WHITE SOX SWEEP THE WORLD SERIES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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My heart just about stopped. How great is that!! It was truly, truly heart wrenching. I don't know if I'm using that term correctly but that's exactly how I felt. My heart was so full. IS so full. I'm so happy. I'm so sad. But one thing I know... E is THRILLED!!! I can totally imagine his reaction!!! I just wish I didn't have to. Congrats CHICAGO WHITE SOX!! You really handled your business. The Underdogs are now on Top!!

Ok, so the ink isn't even dry on my Acme letter and I have 2 auditions! I got one from a friend of mine at Actorsite, Kimberly Crandall. She invited me to come to callbacks for a K-Swiss commercial that she's casting. It's a non-union spot but it pays which is cool. From what she told me, they are going to shoot like 5 commercials then pick one or two to reshoot for the national run. I also heard that they are very loyal to the actors that work in the non-union spots and use many of them for the national union spot. So, that's cool...the more irons in the fire the better!

The second audition is for a feature fim at Johanna Ray's Casting (Kill Bill V1 & V2, Mullholand Drive, Hollywood Confidental..etc). I'm not sure if I previously wrote about this but here's the story on how I got this audition. I went to a inde film wrap/birthday party as a +1 with a friend of mine about a month ago. The party was at this little club in Hollywood, off Sunset I think. Anyway, we're at this dimly lit club standing around the bar...I'm layin low, cause that's how +1's do it :), when this young, pretty, asian woman approaches me. She asked me if I was an actor and I told her yes. She said I looked SO familiar and she wanted to know what show or commercial she'd seen me on. Of course, I assumed it was FFF so I pretended not to know where she'd seen me...lol. She told me that she was the assistant in Johanna Rey's casting office and that they were doing a feature that she wanted me to submit for. She asked me to send them my headshot and reel. "Cool!", I said. I took my materials to the office the following Tuesday. Now, several weeks later, I've recieved and email asking me to come in and read for one of the lead roles!! Is that right? Am I really reading for one of the leads, or does everyone just read the same sides? Either way, it's cool with me!

Ok, it's official, I broke up with Acme. I mailed the Dear John letter today so they should recieve it on Monday. I'm sure there are those who think it's CRAZY to leave one agent without another one lined up, but I say you have to make room for your new blessings. I don't subscribe to the "something is better than nothing" theory. I think I deserve better and I'm going after it. Am I crazy?? Could be, could be not...time will tell.

Aaargh!! Ok, this is just annoying. This is an email I got today from my friend in casting... Are You Kiddin Me?!?

How're things going? Are you in SAG yet? You almost got a straight offer on Will & Grace last night from your headshot, but since you weren't in the union we couldn't do it. Tracy saw your headshot and loved it.

You know..., Sag is just so...., This really suck.....What are the chance......Oh, nevermind... You understand.

Sox won the pennant!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! First time since 1959!! I know E is tearing heaven up!!! A few weeks before he died he got the opportunity to go to Sox stadium and meet the players and the coach. He was even interviewed on TV and when he passed away, they announced it. When he was being interviewed the reporter asked him what his one wish was...he replied, "for the Sox to win the pennant and for them to find a cure for my cancer." You got one wish, Honey...I'll keep praying for the second one to come true.
He was at the stadium for HOURS and no sooner than he stepped in the house he was throwing up. He said he over did it. When I asked him if it was worth it, he looked at me...he was too tired to smile and his voice was just a whisper, but his eyes sparkled as he said "It was awesome." Go Sox! Win that World Series for my husband :)


E's Sox Trip May 16, 2005

Met with Phil Brock over at Studio Talent Group today. They are a mgmt company, but Phil is also a lisenced agent so he can do contracts. The meeting went very well and he offered me representation. I holding off on making any decisions until next week when my 4 months is up with Acme, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to sign with them. Wish me luck!

Ok, today was offically "No Acting Stuff" day. I took the kids to school and then rode up the PCH with a friend of mine. I think we ended up in Ventura county which was pretty cool since I had never been farther than Malibu. It was such a pretty drive and I just loooove the beach. Just being near the beach and seeing the water somehow brings me peace and contentment. Looking over the vast Pacific gives me such perspective. On one side of the highway there is this huge, amazing, beautiful ocean, on the other side there's huge mountains as far as the eye can see. God is so amazing. I mean really, really amazing...We tend to think of Picasso or Da Vinci as the masters of art, but I say that God is the true Master of art and composition. He can make the most unlikely combinations a thing of radiant beauty. Like the rocks next to the ocean or that blue and black lizard I used to see growing up. Or me and E...lol. I thought about E as I rode down the coast. My very first trip to LA was with him in 2003, and we had driven this same stretch of highway. We'd heard of this "great" restaurant called Neptune's and we were determined to find it. We had no idea that it was sooo far down the PCH..lol. When we finally found it...it was like this little dive with like 7 picnic tables on a porch outside, we were like "Are you kidding me!" LOL. But, as we all know, looks can be decieving. That place was definitely no frills, but it had like the best, freshest seafood ever!

I felt very nostalgic as we passed Neptune's today. It was bittersweet, but more sweet than bitter. I pointed the restuarant out to my friend, but then had no words to explain why. As I looked at my friend, Bryan (he doesn't like to be called that, but his mama named him Bryan, so I'mma call him Bryan), words again failed me. Life is so crazy!! I met him shortly after I moved to LA, but we've really gotten close since I returned from Chicago in June. He'd also lost a loved one to cancer not too long ago and has been an amazing source of support and strength. And when I say amazing...I mean absolutely amazing. His presence in my life has been nothing short of a gift. I am in constant AWE of how God works in my life...or uses me to work in the lives of others. Especially when I see the vastness of the oceans and the mountains and I get a glimpse to how Big the world is...yet God still takes time to be the Master of Composition for my little life.

Had rehearsal for the short film I'm doing this morning. I don't quite know what I was thinking when I agreed to do this film. I think I was kinda bored at the time and just wanted to work on a project. Mistake! But, it's through mistakes that we learn, right? Anyway...it's not much time commitment and it shoots this coming weekend, so I guess it's fine....anyway, I've given my word, so it has to be.

This is my second day helping out at Weber Casting. I'd been wanting to volunteer in a casting office for quite sometime, so I'm pretty happy about it. I met Ivy, the casting assoicate, at a workshop on Wednesday. During the workshop she talked about how busy her office was and mentioned that they didn't have an intern, so afterwards I told her to feel free to call me if they needed any help. She called me yesterday and I went it...and I'm back today. So far it's been a good learning experience...plus it's nice to be helping out a busy casting director....lol.

Met with Tony Martinez from GVA. I performed a monologue that I had not done in like 8 months or more! I pulled it together and it went pretty well. We had a good talk, and he told me that I did a really good job. He also seemed ultra enamored with my hair...lol. All in all he was a pretty cool guy. It'd be GREAT to hear from him next week!

Audition for "Joey" Greenstein/Daniel Casting. I did a workshop with Brett Greenstein recently...think I probably got called from their files. This was a co-star audition with one line. I did a good job, but seriously doubt I'll get a callback, due to the union thing...but maybe...

Auditions for Vista View an Inde film. This goes well...real cool people!

Ok, I called and I'm officially off avail for Quilted Northern. It's cool, it's definitley a signal to up my hussle. I did a bunch of drops today. Hopefully I can get something brewing again soon.

We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give. -Sir Winston Churchill

Just found out that one of my favorite playwrights August Wilson passed away today from liver cancer. Crazy, 4 months to the day after E passed away from kidney cancer. I hear that some scientists have figured out to grow an onion that doesn't make you cry. I submit to those scientists that it's much less tramatic to cry from an onion than to cry from losing a loved one to cancer...just a thought. I ain't judgin'..I'm just sayin...

Efren knew August Wilson was one of my favorite playwrights and that Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (which Mr. Wilson wrote) was like my favorite play. So being the amazing man he was, he surprised me one April (2003, I think) with 2 tickets to New York and 2 tickets to Ma Rainey, which was on Broadway at the time. Boy how that man would spoil me! He could plan the most amazing events...a skill which I am sorely lacking in. Unfortuately we didn't get to go b/c my grandmother passed away and I had to go home to South Carolina. Shortly after that, the play got cancelled b/c, well from what I hear it just wasn't good.... Whoopi Goldberg was playing Ma Rainey (a character based on Bessie Smith the late, great blues singer from the 20's), so I can't say I was too surprised...again...I'm ain't judgin'..I'm just sayin...

August also wrote Fences which was is the play that I did my very first monologue from. "I've been standing WITH you, Troy!" LOL!! I love that play, but I'm sure I did that monologue no justice at the time. It did however get me cast in my first play. He wrote so many other great plays.... Fences, Piano Lesson, Ma Rainey, Joe Turner's Come & Gone "You Shining Like New Money!" LOL ... Two Trains Runnin' "He gonna Gimme my Ham!" LOL...Great stuff! I'm reading King Headly and Jitney now.

Rest in peace August Wilson, your work touched my life and the world is truly better because you were in it. My prayers are with your family.

4 months and 23 minutes since you left me. Rest well.

I have tried and I cannot find, either in Scripture or in history, a strong-willed individual whom God used greatly until He allowed them to be hurt deeply. -Charles Swindoll

I like the sound of that. Maybe I'm being prepared to be used greatly...