Saturday, November 25, 2017

My First Annual Skippage of Gluttony Day Parade (?)

Yeah, I realize it's Saturday night and I should have created this post on Thursday. Next year, maybe I'll land on the actual "holiday". Ya know, when it's my SECOND Annual SoGDP.

If you've been reading me for awhile at all, you probably realize that I bitch about plenty of shit, but that I also express Gratitude in sufficient quantities, as well. Here are a few examples, in no particular order:

Bitching:


Gratitude:
Amazingly, I have only one #depression hashtag but multiple #gratitude "types" of positive hashtags, without an actual #GRATITUDE one (before today's post). Ennyhoo, I may not blog my gratitude daily, but I express gratitude just about daily, so I really don't feel a need to spend the American average of SIXTY-FOUR dollars on one meal that takes HOURS to prepare and then you sit down to stuff your belly long past full, just to have to spend even more hours cleaning up, just to say out loud what I'm grateful for.

So this year, I rebelled. In my responses to texts, emails, and Twitter/Facebook posts wishing me a "Happy Thanksgiving", I indicated that I would be skipping Gluttony Day. I hope that I didn't offend any of my true friends or family. I didn't mean to be judgmental about your plans for the holiday that I'm boycotting. If you like the meal and the camaraderie, etc., then please accept my apology. I know there are plenty of people out there, including my own siblings, who love and look forward to the annual feast. I just don't, and frankly, I never really have.

I Never Really Have loved or looked forward to Turkey Day. Growing up, it was always agonizing to wait for the big meal. Once I had a house and potential guests, I decided to be the hostess for both sides of the family, and it was still just an awful lot of work that wasn't really worth the time or expense. I'll eat leftovers like anybody who likes leftovers, but I Just. Don't. Want. Turkey / Stuffing / Mashed Potatoes / Cranberry Sauce leftovers for a full week. I just don't.

So this year, I rebelled. For reals. I started a crock pot of wonton soup a day or two beforehand. As I consumed my soup, I also continued tweaking it. So I've been eating homemade wonton soup for several days. Stephen had some, too. Wonton's not his favorite, but he still had more than one serving. My boss at the pet supply store had some, too. She'd forgotten to pack a lunch yesterday, and I forced her to have some... but she didn't have "some", she had almost all of my leftovers from my lunch break!

I'm #GRATEFUL to have not spent the time or money to "celebrate" this day that I've always wanted to rebel against. After we got back from our movie screening (we saw "Molly's Game" at the DGA, and yes, I plan to review it for you) and we ate wonton soup, Stephen suggested we take a walk. So that was our First Annual Skippage of Gluttony Day Parade (?)... to Ralph's (grocery chain), where we picked up a couple of quarts of ice cream, which we ate plenty of, without eating ALL of.

I still have some to eat tomorrow, and Stephen only finished his tonight. I think our First Annual Skippage of Gluttony Day Parade (?) was successful, and I intend to potentially repeat it next year, and for years to come.

Will you join me, next year?

Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Wasted days and wasted nights

I haven't booked any work at all this week (on set), and I know that's probably 100% due to the upcoming Gluttony Day "holiday", but I really waste a lot of time with nothingness when I'm not booked or scheduled or working or moving forward with productivity.

I was scheduled to go to a screening of "Grace and Frankie", followed by a Q&A with the actresses, Monday night. But I never left the apartment, beyond the mailbox. And then it got dark. And then I said fuck it. It was probably a good episode and Q&A, but it's not a show I'm devoted to, like Stranger Things or GLOW or This Is Us.

*I was pretty bummed that I didn't make it to the Stranger Things episode/Q&A on Friday night, because I am devoted to that show. But I was working on set that day, so I probably should have canceled my reservation anyway. I was early for the screening, but not early enough, since they always overbook these things. Oh well. C'est la vie. "Lah vee." (say the French phrase out loud and you'll get it - Good night, Gracie)

Ennyhoo. No work on Monday. No leaving for the screening. No work Tuesday. No leaving the apartment except to check mail. No work Wednesday. What'm I gonna do?

I'm hoping that the chick I bookkeep for will be expecting me, and I'll get to visit her. If not, I'll visit her bills. Working weekends at the pet supply store has thrown a tiny wrench into our previously-perfect schedule of keeping her books.

If I do get outta the house, I'll probably also swing by the store to snag my paystub and the official schedule for post Gluttony Day. Then I might decide to do a small Costco run. Or not. A lot depends on if my friend is expecting me to keep her books.

Stephen went to a screening of "Darkest Hour" tonight (Tuesday night - I realize it's already Wednesday while I'm typing this). His friend's girlfriend opted out, so Stephen was the +1. He found the movie to be in line with what he already knew from other movies/shows, like The King's Speech, The Crown, and Dunkirk. He says I should see it. I'll probably get to; I've certainly seen enough invitations for screenings.

I reserved us a coupla seats at the Gluttony Day screening of Molly's Game. We're looking forward to that. I unloaded/reloaded the dishwasher, and I made a crock pot of wonton soup; it turned out okay. Needs something. Probably less rice. Oh, well. And I also discovered that a favorite teacher had died last month, so I wept a good bit. Then, before Stephen went to bed, I placed an online order for some cleaning supplies.

Here's the thing: even when I'm not particularly "productive", I still get some shit done. I just don't go to bed at a reasonable hour anymore. I mean, I had no idea it was already today, by the time Stephen was going to bed. Last night and the night before, I think I've made it to bed by 1? 1:30? It's already 1:10 as I'm typing, and yeah, I'd like to publish before I shut down, so...

My sleep schedule is fucked because my work schedule is so wonky. I love my industry, but I really need to find a way to maintain a stable (-ish) schedule. Or else, I just stay wasted... wasting time... wasting away into a depressive spiral that only work repairs. Oy.

I guess I should just #BeGrateful that I have downtime at all, huh? What do you think?

Monday, November 20, 2017

There is DEFINITELY sumthin' goin' on...

I dunno what, tho. Here's a pictorial view of my blog:
"Now"
 Slow news day in Ukraine and Poland?
"Day"
"Week"
 More hits from Ukraine than from Canada! BIG news week/month in Canada?
"Month"

"Forever"
I mean, wow. Just wow. What could it possibly mean?

Friday, November 17, 2017

#PettyAF

Yup, I'ma goin' on a rant. You been warned.

I'm on set again today (YAY!)... on the show that I've been trying to be a "regular" (recurring) "hipster tech employee" (what? HIPSTER? me?) in the background, ever since before the first day of shooting, when they told us they'd be looking for a "core group" (i.e. recurring).

I can't talk about the show yet. It hasn't aired yet; I don't have any idea what the promos do or will look like. Suffice it to say that the cast are recognizable and generally very friendly people; the writing seems strong; the concept looks good; the set is awesome; the crew are, for the most part, easy to work with (once you {I} know what their expectations are).

But I'm here, on a Friday. For the past several weeks, I've been getting text messages from Casting regarding my Friday availability, and for the past several weeks, I've been scheduled at the pet supply retail store on Fridays. When I went adventuring the other day, I let my boss know that I need to adjust my schedule to just Saturdays and Sundays, with maybe the possibility of "on call" for one day after that weekend, each week? She IMMEDIATELY put that into effect, as of this week! And I thankfully booked work for this first Friday off the retail schedule! YAY!

So here I am. In "background holding", waiting to get used on set. We've been seen by the vanities, that is the hair/makeup and wardrobe departments. We're all ready to go to work. But we all also know that this business is a lot of "hurry up and wait", so we're in holding.

They've got us sitting fairly close together in a large open space. We're pretty quiet, as a rule, but it's not a library. If anyone wanted to have a conversation, there would be conversation. Everyone in the room can hear everything in the room, as well as everything just outside in the hall.

So while we wait, we all look at the casting notifications. If there's something appropriate that requires a phone call, someone will start calling. There was a fairly big notice that was appropriate for just about everyone in the room, so three of us (that I'm aware of) were all dialing.

*Smartphones are smart, for a reason. If we still had to manually "dial" phone numbers, we'd probably all hear the busy signal significantly less than we do. Manually "dialing" numbers takes TIME.*

So, dude down the way hits "send" and "hang up" repeatedly, because he's used auto-redialers in the past that would constantly hang up on him. Girly next to him is doing the same, probably for similar reasons. I'm using an auto-redialer in one phone and doing it "by hand" on my other, because I have two phones. NONE of us are getting anything other than busy signals.

Unfortunately, the busy signal I'm getting in the auto-redialing phone is a set volume. Nothing I try will affect the volume of the busy signal. Not that it's particularly loud, mind you. It's just loud enough for everyone in the room to know that I'm trying to get through.

#PettyAF #RudeChick sitting behind me turns around to say, "what is that?" (like she doesn't know) "can you turn that down?" (like I haven't noticed) "you adjust the volume while you're hearing it" (my first experience ever, using a smartphone, #TYVM)...

Everyone in the room could hear the busy signal. Everyone in the room knows that the worst part of this job is LOOKING for work. Almost everyone in the room was probably also looking for work. My phone wasn't disturbing anyone else in the room. Nor was it any louder than any of the noises that have come from the table where #PettyAF #RudeChick is sitting (including from her, specifically).

We'd just had a conversation about "treating people like people", so one of the primary participants in that convo decided he needed some coffee. I went with him to refresh my tea, which removed my offending noisemaker from the room. Of course, while we were outside, he confirmed that yes, we're all looking for work, so maybe she could have been a little less rude about it? Or just ignored it, like everyone else? Ya know, acknowledge that I'm a people too?

Ennyhoo. #EndRant. That's enough. I'm chill now. Transpo's been broken for lunch; possibly some other crew is eating, too. We'll "break" for lunch in the next half-hour or so, and then hopefully, they'll need us on set shortly after that ends (it's possible they haven't yet finished what they were doing without us, though, so...).

I'm looking forward to getting to work! And then, when we wrap here, I'm RSVP'd to attend a screening and Q&A of Stranger Things 2 tonight, if we don't wrap too late. Wanna be my +1?

Wednesday, November 15, 2017

RT if you ... :(

The news these days SUX. The headlines SUCK. We're being bombarded by a fucking moron in the White House, whose tweets are absolutely ridonkulous, and to call that man-child a toddler is an insult to toddlers. We've got "mentally unstable" "lone wolf" White Male Terrorists committing mass murders in malls, clubs, houses of worship, and schools.

And we've got Powerful Men In Hollywood and Government being "accused" of Rape, Sexual Assault, and Sexual Harassment. We've got accusers stepping forward after long silences, and not being believed in their accusations because of the length of their silences. For the record, #MeToo and #I BelieveYou.

I'm news-phobic. I can't live in all the negativity that is being proclaimed in the news. I spend almost no time on Facebook anymore, because I just don't have much interest in it, although it's hanging on to me with the promise that I will somehow book work through it. So I kinda live in Twitter these days. I have a large group of people I'm friends with there, even though I've never met any of them #IRL (in real life). I try not to click on articles associated with bad news headlines, but I'm human, and sometimes I will. I was on set yesterday, which was actually a lovely respite from all the negativity, although there was another mass shooting in an elementary school yesterday, in Northern California.

*My #ThoughtsAndPrayers for the victims and their families won't help get the guns out of the hands of the #ExtremeRightwingCrazyMen. I do hope they'll find some peace, but I know they'll never find justice.*

This post was supposed to focus on the rape culture we've been living in, not the gun culture. But the title still applies. I'm tired of retweeting my experiences.

  • RT if you've seen one or more penises you didn't ask to see - walking to kindergarten
  • RT if you've ever been groped without consent - on the junior high school bus
  • RT if, as a child, an adult male harassed you in a sexual manner - Grandpa
  • RT if you're a gun owner who has never shot another human - military/police folk get a "pass"
  • RT if you've ever had your field of expertise mansplained to you - probably? I mean, I think I blow it off, but yeah, probably... something numbers or entertainment related
  • RT if you've ever worked in a hostile environment - mostly temp jobs, thankfully, that I could just fucking quit
  • RT if you ... :(
To keep my own Twitter feed positive, I do a lot of retweeting of cute animal photos and videos. I won't retweet articles, if I can help it. I find them all to be clickbait, even if the message is about cute animals. So I think I want to start some new Twitter chains. I think I may need your help. I'll start here, but please comment below (HERE, in my blog, not in Twitter) with your ideas. If you like this idea (RT if you ... :D ), and we follow each other on Twitter, you can totally just start your own chains, and I'll retweet them there, so you'll get the "credit" as the creator of the chain.

so. hmm. where to begin?
  • RT if you've ever paid a compliment to a stranger - all the time. This is one of my faves
  • RT if you've ever received unsolicited praise - of course, because I'm not alone in ^
  • RT if you got to name your childhood pet - Kitty. Shut up, I was a child.
  • RT if you've ever passed a difficult test on your first attempt - probably
  • RT if you're learned how to be really good at a thing you used to fail doing - managing money
  • RT if any of your loved ones are still alive - most of them
  • RT if you're happy with at least one part of your body - yes, but I'm not telling you which
  • RT if you've had a relaxing weekend - I relax by working
  • RT if your work is both challenging and satisfying - yesterday was absolutely both
  • RT if you've ever recovered from a major illness or injury - I'm grateful to have missed both, so far
  • RT if you woke up this morning - I did! And if you're reading this, so did YOU!
What else? Will you play this game with me? RT to spread positivity! (Please comment below)

Tuesday, November 7, 2017

Adventure Time!

A little backstory: my boss at the pet supply store was my friend before she was my boss. She lives a good drive away from the hustle and bustle of Hollyweird, so I typically only see her at work, on weekends. But we've decided that we should still be able to "hang out" on days off, if possible, so maybe a month ago (?), she picked me up from my apartment and we went to Costco together for the #WalkingSamplingLunch. It was fun. She wasn't planning to buy anything that day. She didn't want a membership. She just needed to hang out.

I HATE shopping for things like clothing. I don't really mind shopping for groceries, because ... well, I dunno why I don't mind it. I just don't mind it. I know there are folks out there who don't do well in the big-box warehouse environments of IKEA or Costco, because #crowds or #SensoryOverload or whatever. I respect that. I also kinda LOVE the big-box warehouse environments of IKEA or Costco because #inspiration or #WalkingSamplingLunch or whatever.

Apparently, my boss enjoys those environments too, as long as she's there with a guide. On our first Costco Adventure, we took our #SweetDamnTime, ya know? She was a kid in a candy store! Literally! Well, literally a candy-electronics-clothing-grocery-vitamins-liquor-housewares-automotive-pet-books-and-movies store, at least. Every aisle was perused. Prices were compared. Foods were sampled. She made a little mental shopping list, and by the time we'd finished our first pass (I always make two passes at Costco: first one unencumbered to sample, second with a shopping cart to load whilst sampling), she'd decided to get a membership, if it wouldn't take too long.

The process of signing up included an upsell to applying for the store credit card. She opted for the Executive Membership, which includes rebates, and was approved for a decent credit line, which also includes rebates. Sweet! So we made our second pass, and I taught her how to load the cart so that the cashier can scan all the barcodes & you don't hafta unload anything onto the conveyor (*that is one of at least a few Costco "secret" tricks). Successful first adventure!

Like I said earlier, we don't often get to hang out. So when we do, we include at least a Costco trip, and then if there's time, we also do some other fun shit. Like today. I needed to get gas anyway, so we took my car. I drive a 6-speed manual transmission TARDIS. On the way home, we started talking about driving manual versus automatics, and she "outed" herself as not knowing how to drive a stick. So after we got the groceries sorted, we headed back out... for a driving lesson!

I wanted to find a big parking lot, so I originally thought of the mall parking garages. Then I thought of the lot at the new IKEA! Since it's the largest US IKEA in existence and has both a garage and a lot, the lot would probably be perfect! But before we even got there, I found a side street in a neighborhood that had nice long straight stretches with occasional stop signs and very little traffic. Since I wasn't teaching her how to drive, per se, it didn't matter if there were cars parked at the curbs. She just needed space to travel forward and learn to shift.

So I parked at the "beginning" and we swapped seats. She adjusted her seat and the mirrors, and I walked her through the gears while still parked. I used my hands to show her the "timing" of what the feet should be doing. She put the car in 1st gear and proceeded to bounce it a few feet before fully engaging (as one does on one's first time driving a stick). She kept apologizing for "killing my car"; I kept reassuring her, and telling her when to shift (up or down). We'd get to a good "stopping" point and switch seats again so she didn't have to reverse (to turn around), and then we'd switch seats again, and she drove back up the stretch she'd just been down.

She became very adept at the higher gears pretty quickly. I advised her to speed up to catch that green light, and now we were on a new stretch. Speed up to catch that green light, and again, new stretch. First gear is the hard part. So, just enough stop signs in that neighborhood to stay ~35 mph, or top out at 4th gear, and constantly practice the rolling from a dead stop.

For most of the lesson, we kept the hazard lights on, so if other traffic pulled up behind us, they'd know to pass. We let a bunch of drivers take the right-of-way at four-way stops. We weren't in a hurry, and I wasn't going to let anyone stress us out. We had one asshole behind us, who thankfully turned away before we had stressed HIM too much. We passed a school that was letting out, so once she got through that, I took us around and up the block to make one last return trip, but starting well beyond all of that foot-and-vehicular traffic.

On her last long stretch, I turned the hazards off. She stopped at all of the stop signs, as well as one traffic light (all the other lights had been green). She saw a busy street ahead that didn't have a signal, so she parked before we reached it and said "that's enough training for today". I didn't blame her; she was right. She did great!

Next time, maybe IKEA. For both the store and the parking lot. ;)

What adventures have YOU been up to lately?

Thursday, November 2, 2017

Busy Bizzy Boozy buzzy

Yeah, I've been a *wee bit* busy of late. I Am NOT Complaining! In the month of October, I had SIX days of "nothing productive". Of the remaining 25 days, only 3 days were "productive" but not "lucrative". That's a lot of lucrative productivity, y'all! #IAmA$Magnet

Also, I've blogged a little bit more this month than the last, and I feel good about that. I also feel good about having Caught Up on my READING! I haven't picked up any new blogs other than these I've linked here ==>,   but I did manage to backtrack to where I'd left off on all of those I follow, including leaving commentary when I've felt it's appropriate. FYI, if you read blogs but don't have a blog of your own, in my experience, the bloggers that you read appreciate it when you comment on the posts that move you to do so. If you respond out loud, as you do to shows on television, the blogger will never know what you needed to say, much like the writers of the shows on tv will never know when you're telling their characters to Don't Do It! Don't Do That Thing I KNOW You're About To Do!  #crosstalk  #HesYellingAtTheBoobTubeAgainShirley #StopYellingAtTheTVHarry #WhenWillMyFavoriteCharactersStopBeingDumbasses?

So, yeah. If I ever say anything that you respond to viscerally, won't you please also comment below? I really love interacting with my readers!

... and back to my busy life. I've been sitting in audiences at talk shows and game shows, volunteering at union foundation events, taking workshops, working my retail gig at the pet supply store, and working On Set. After attending my first ComiCon this weekend, I worked another day at the pet supply store, one day in an audience, and THREE DAYS on set on the new tv show coming soon to an NBC channel near you (I'll let you know when the show starts airing, where to look for me). I also recorded a "dummy" podcast with a friend. We'll probably try to make time to record "for real" in the nearish future, once I figure out the SAG-AFTRA Signatory paperwork we need to file.

Halloween has come and gone, and since we got no trick-or-treaters last year, we bought no candy this year. Also, I was on set anyway. Stephen was home, though, and our lack of candy was not an issue in any way. The World Series happened, and Stephen and I watched all of the second game and part of the final game. I'm okay with the Astros taking it. I like baseball, but there's no way I'm enough of a fan of any team to want to pay the steep ticket price of even a single game of the Series.

Today: I've checked in with the DGA Trainee and the lovely wardrobe chick so far today, and it looks like I'll have time to complete this post looooong before they need me on set. At 3:30, the Transpo Dept. (Teamsters) had broken for lunch, but the rest of the cast and crew who've been here since 9:30 this morning have just done so (4-ish), so we've got awhile to go before we work. If I were as exhausted from staying up late to finish bingeing Stranger Things 2 as I was the other day, when we did just that, I would take a little nap. Gonna finish this blog post, read the most recent posts listed here ==>, and get to work when they ask for me. Maybe I'll even try to complete some Signatory paperwork. #LifeIsGood #IAmBlessed #MakinFriendsAndMoney #UnionProud #SAGAFTRA






Have I mentioned I'm blessed? ;)