I flew in EARLY this morning and since it was such an long flight, they upgraded me to business class...which was very nice! A girl could get used to this kind of thing, lol. On my trip to NY earlier this month we ended up getting bumped up to first class. As far as I can tell the biggest difference between "Business" and "First" is a warm chocolate chip cookie, lol. In "business" class they give the tired old pre-packaged sugar cookies. Not that I'm complaining mind you, I'm just very particular about my cookies (as you can tell by the girth of my hips, lol). Plus, I made friends with the flight attendant who ended up sneaking a warm chocolate chip cookie from first for me, lol. I guess the other difference would be that first class is really isolated. They don't really come in contact with anyone who is not in first class. In "business" everyone walks past you going to the regular seats, which I will admit was a little uncomfortable. I guess it just really highlighted this crazy class structure we have in this society. There I was sitting in this big, plush nice leather seat with a constant birage of free food, drinks etc...and I turn around to see people packed in like sardines having to pay $5 for a meal on a 6 hour flight! It's odd, because I was very grateful, but I also felt a little...i don't know guilty I guess. I really don't like that we live in the richest country in the world and so often people without alot of money are treated like second class citizens. Now I've been from first class to Greyhound and trust me, poor peole get a raw deal! Ahhh, the complexities of life...I'm obviously dealing with a lot of conflict on this subject, lol.
But, I digress, lol. So we land in NY and I realize that the girl sitting a few rows in front of me (also ironically the only other black person in business class) was also the girl that I auditioned with. We both booked the commercial, which was very cool! Production had arranged for a car to pick us up from the airport and take us straight to our fitting. We got to the production offices, got our wardrobe, met the director again (who was AWESOME, by the way) and got our per diems.
Next they gave us cab fare and put us in a taxi to our hotel. I get to the hotel, go to check in and realize that I don't have my wallet!!!! I had left it in the cab. Unbelievable, right?? You'd think I never lived in the city before, lol. I was more concerned with not having my ID than anything else. Luckily I had most of my cash on me so I just had to cancel a few cards and try to figure out how to check in at the hotel and get on a flight to go home without an ID. The people at the hotel (Hotel QT)were cool, and they let me check-in since the room was paid for already. I went to my room dropped my bags, met up with Kat (the other girl in the commercial) and we retraced our steps just in case my wallet had fallen out on the street. It's funny though, because for some reason I never really freaked out or got upset. I was annoyed with myself, but not like frentic or paniced or anything. Anyway, we searched for the wallet but we didn't find it, and it was starting to get late (it was like 8pm but we had a 5am call!) so we decided to grab a bite to eat. We were about a half a block away from the hotel when we turned the corner and BAM!! Somebody turned on the lights, lol! We were in the middle of time square with all its bells and whistles. Kat and I just stopped in our tracks and looked at each other. With all the chaos of the flight, the fitting, the hotel, the wallet, etc...we suddenly realized how tremendously blessed we were. Here we were in the middle of New York City on an all expense paid trip, to shoot what is supposed to be a pretty big commercial, and even though I'd lost my wallet, I really hadn't lost that much in terms of money, my beautiful friends in Los Angeles were taking wonderful care of the twins (HUGE thanks to Michelle, Laconya and Adrian...I LOVE you Guys!!!)...I just felt so blessed. All my worries faded and I knew that if God had brought me this far, he would certainly take care of the rest. Both Kat and I decided to call our parents just to share how great everything was. We walked around a bit and then decided to grab a bite to eat before heading back to the hotel. While we were eating at this great little Italian restaurant my phone rings. I answered it and the conversation went something like this....
Guy on the Phone (GOP): Jillian??
Me: Yes
GOP: Is this Jillian?
Me: Yes, who is this??
GOP: This is the guy who has your wallet.
How awesome is that!? He told me where he lived and that I could come get it that evening. He returned it to me with everything in tact...not one dime missing. I offered him $20 as a thank you, but he refused to take it...told me to go buy myself a cup of coffee, lol. I went back to the hotel and prepared for my 5 am call. All was well. Now THAT'S God :)
Times Square right around the corner from my hotel
My Cute Little Hotel room
This is like Ikea meets Courtyard Marriot, LOL
But, I digress, lol. So we land in NY and I realize that the girl sitting a few rows in front of me (also ironically the only other black person in business class) was also the girl that I auditioned with. We both booked the commercial, which was very cool! Production had arranged for a car to pick us up from the airport and take us straight to our fitting. We got to the production offices, got our wardrobe, met the director again (who was AWESOME, by the way) and got our per diems.
Next they gave us cab fare and put us in a taxi to our hotel. I get to the hotel, go to check in and realize that I don't have my wallet!!!! I had left it in the cab. Unbelievable, right?? You'd think I never lived in the city before, lol. I was more concerned with not having my ID than anything else. Luckily I had most of my cash on me so I just had to cancel a few cards and try to figure out how to check in at the hotel and get on a flight to go home without an ID. The people at the hotel (Hotel QT)were cool, and they let me check-in since the room was paid for already. I went to my room dropped my bags, met up with Kat (the other girl in the commercial) and we retraced our steps just in case my wallet had fallen out on the street. It's funny though, because for some reason I never really freaked out or got upset. I was annoyed with myself, but not like frentic or paniced or anything. Anyway, we searched for the wallet but we didn't find it, and it was starting to get late (it was like 8pm but we had a 5am call!) so we decided to grab a bite to eat. We were about a half a block away from the hotel when we turned the corner and BAM!! Somebody turned on the lights, lol! We were in the middle of time square with all its bells and whistles. Kat and I just stopped in our tracks and looked at each other. With all the chaos of the flight, the fitting, the hotel, the wallet, etc...we suddenly realized how tremendously blessed we were. Here we were in the middle of New York City on an all expense paid trip, to shoot what is supposed to be a pretty big commercial, and even though I'd lost my wallet, I really hadn't lost that much in terms of money, my beautiful friends in Los Angeles were taking wonderful care of the twins (HUGE thanks to Michelle, Laconya and Adrian...I LOVE you Guys!!!)...I just felt so blessed. All my worries faded and I knew that if God had brought me this far, he would certainly take care of the rest. Both Kat and I decided to call our parents just to share how great everything was. We walked around a bit and then decided to grab a bite to eat before heading back to the hotel. While we were eating at this great little Italian restaurant my phone rings. I answered it and the conversation went something like this....
Guy on the Phone (GOP): Jillian??
Me: Yes
GOP: Is this Jillian?
Me: Yes, who is this??
GOP: This is the guy who has your wallet.
How awesome is that!? He told me where he lived and that I could come get it that evening. He returned it to me with everything in tact...not one dime missing. I offered him $20 as a thank you, but he refused to take it...told me to go buy myself a cup of coffee, lol. I went back to the hotel and prepared for my 5 am call. All was well. Now THAT'S God :)
Times Square right around the corner from my hotel
My Cute Little Hotel room
This is like Ikea meets Courtyard Marriot, LOL
posted by Jillian at 5:24 AM
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