I love my life!

At the beginning of the summer, I worked a day in the BG of "Masters of Sex" and got upgraded with 11 others to principal contract(s).

Then I interviewed for the temporary summer tour guide position at Warner Bros. and spent the bulk of the summer driving golf carts and divulging the rich history of the studio to our guests. As many of my friends there were being forced to look for their next gig, I got "extended" to the end of this month. 

But my hours got cut, and I found myself with more days off per week. That meant greater availability for BG work, of course! 

So, earlier this week, I had a good day on "Jane the Virgin". Today, I had a fantastic day hanging out with the Swedish Chef and Sweetums and Rowlf, et al.

《Oh Em Gee, I can't EVEN right now. I just can't.》

Next week, I'm already booked for a couple of days on "2 Broke Girls" in addition to my full week of tours. And no, I can't tell you about my day on "Jane" nor my days on "2BG". I just can't. Trust me when I say, though, I LOVE MY LIFE!

Things are picking up, kids! Things are definitely picking up! I love my life. 

Welcome, Sweden!

This is the first time you've joined me, or at least, so far as I can tell, it's the first time. I have given you a shout-out once before, but that was when I'd had tour guests on my cart when I first started my gig at Warner Bros.

I'm still enjoying blogging, and I'm still enjoying my gig at Warner Bros., and the summer is pseudo-officially ending, so that means I'll get to enjoy a few more days on set each week, as we get closer to the "official" end of my tour guiding (if we ever reach that official end).

Who knows what the future holds? I'm full of excitement lately, even on days like today, where I stayed home and accomplished at-home shit.

So now that you've joined me here, will you be sticking around? I'm really getting a kick out of the "old" blog posts that people who are visiting here (of late) seem to be visiting "on purpose". Please let me know if any of these "old" posts create any kind of reactions, positive or negative or neither but still visceral.

How can it POSSIBLY get any better than this?

My schedule at Warner Bros. is now officially "reduced". I still get to work weekends, and working yesterday was a bit weird, considering so many of my friends aren't there anymore (temps, by definition, have an "end date", and all of the people I trained with, plus quite a few of the kids that were already there, were hired as temps). I'm only on an extension, through the end of September, give or take whatever period of time traffic will allow, so I'm also a temp. It's just that, now I'm a temp with fewer days, and fewer hours per day, at least this week.

I say all of that as a good thing. I discovered Friday evening that I was booked on "Jane the Virgin" today, as a detective, in the background. I've worked this show once before, as a maid in the Miami boutique hotel where Jane works. Last time, I fit into the costume perfectly, so I assumed they'd have me back all the time. I never got on camera that day. They shoot pretty tightly, so they realized they'd never see me in the background with my housekeeping cart, so I got kinda close to the actual set once or twice but never really got placed on camera. Also never got recalled as a maid. Cést la vie. Say "la vee". La Vee. :)

Today, I was there as one of four detectives, with four uniformed police officers. I found the wardrobe truck early enough to not be late, thankfully, considering I had to drive 22 miles to get to set but without anything that resembled traffic (arrival at 6:30 in the a.m. will do that). I showed the wardrobe ladies what I'd brought; they sent me to the trailer to change; I got semi-approved and then had to change my shirt again: "PERFECT". If I wore my skirt suit, I had planned to shave my legs (with my electric) while I waited. No one mentioned that I might need some hosiery, even though the skirt suit was the approved outfit, so I guess I'm very happy to be a blonde. I stood in a line with the other seven so we could get approved by hair and makeup. I'd showered last night, so my hair was combed but not "styled". I threw on some lip gloss while waiting, with the intention of adding more makeup once I got to "holding". Makeup guy looked at me and said "PERFECT". Hair lady came over and spritzed my part with some hairspray and said "PERFECT". So no shaving, no makeup, and not much product in my hair. How can it possibly get any better than this?

We were walked over to set, shown where we'd be "holding", and informed that we'd have a non-deductible breakfast on our pay vouchers but would likely get wrapped before the one-hour walkaway lunch. Got settled in; grabbed a bite; got "propped" (cops need lots of little stuff all over their uniforms; detectives just need a badge); went to holding and waited. First scene was shot, moving on. Second scene was shot, moving on. They pulled me and another detective and three of the four cops for scene three. The others stayed in holding.

They looked at our shoes and determined we'd all be too noisy, so they threw carpets down in the hallway. We practiced the crosses they needed; I was asked to "walk lighter" and then by the time we got to the filming, they just had me cross barefoot. We shot the scene a few times and returned to holding. Moving on. Wait - that's it? Yeah, get yourselves unpropped, one at a time, and then we'll return to the wardrobe trailer to wrap out.

We were signed out approximately three hours after our calltime (sign-in). It took about an hour to get there, and a little longer than that to get home. We'll get paid for eight hours at AFTRA wages. I have time to get my laundry done today! And maybe I'll book more background work on my two other days off this week!

How can it possibly get any better than this?

Last Day for a lotta my peeps at work :(

... So there were plenty of hugs and digit exchanges and thankfully, no tears! It did make for an interesting day of trying to give extraordinary tours, while simultaneously trying not to leave any of my friends feeling jealous or hurt that I'd been offered an extension, while also simultaneously being grateful for having been offered said extension! Actually, just a bit exhausting, but in all, a good kind of exhaustion. The friends who were leaving today had good plans for what they would do next, and there was quite a bit of last-minute networking happening, in all directions.

Yesterday evening, I was notified by my calling service that on my first day off of this coming week (Monday), I am booked for some background work (background acting gig). Yay! It's an early call time, and it's the greatest distance I will have had to travel in a long time for a bg gig, but I'm absolutely grateful for it. Got a call today that my call time has actually changed to earlier on Monday, from 7 a.m. to 6:30! Yowza! Still, any day on set is a good day, so I'm happy.

Also got a phone call in the middle of my day that my friends needed a backup babysitter so they wouldn't have to cancel their anniversary date plans. I don't have to be in too early tomorrow, so I said that if they'd bring their kid to me, I'd be happy to watch him. So when I got home from work, Brendan and I went down to the pool and spent a long time swimming and playing and visiting with every neighbor who walked by. "Who's that? Why is she pushing her stroller all alone? Is that guy coming swimming? Are those girls coming swimming? Who's that? Why is he doing that?" ad infinitum. I'd forgotten about the questioning phase of four-year-olds.

Then we came upstairs to eat hot dogs and tater tots, and we watched Wall-E. I had only seen this movie once before in my life, and I remembered liking it, but I also remembered not remembering every single event that happened. "Where's Wall-E? What did that say? Where's Wall-E? Why did he say that? Why is he scared? Is the rocket ship here? Where's the rocket ship? It's the rocket ship! Why is he scared? What is he doing? What did he say?" ad infinitum, from a kid who has seen this movie so many times in recent history that he knows exactly what's going to happen, and why, but he still has to ask the questions.

At least he's polite. "May I please have another strawberry? When this movie's over, can we play Minion Trouble? May I please have another strawberry? When we finish this game, can we watch a short movie? May I please have another strawberry? I have to go potty again - will you please come help me? When are the kitties going to come out? Look who's here! (one of the cats) When are Mommy and Daddy coming back?" ... and he swims like a fish. So impressed with his swimming skills. So pleased that Mommy and Daddy are teaching him manners. He's a joy, and when he started playing the games on his tablet, it gave me time to sit here to blog.

So Stephen got home from work, and opted to not play Minion Trouble with us, but had a chance to observe the two of us at play on the floor while he did whatever he needed to do online, and now he's lying on the floor in the open doorway just trying to cool off while preventing the cats from escaping. Oh, well. Cocoa made an attempt, and now the door is closed again.

It's been a good day here. How can it possibly get even better?

How's your day been? Why do you say that? What do you mean? When you've answered all of my questions, can we watch a short movie? Do you have any crackers? May I please have one? etc. ;)

Welcome, Philippines!

I saw a dark green splotch on my map today and had to check it out - YAY! A new visitor from a new-for-my-map country! Welcome!

Things are afoot... more details to come (I promise).

Ups and Downs; Pros and Cons; Good Days and Bad Days

I had every intention of posting nothin' but good news today, but before I posted, I HAD to visit my emails and my Facebooks and all the other pages I HAD to visit, so I got a little bummed out by some of the things I discovered.

Yesterday, I got my schedule for next week. It had four six-hour shifts on it, plus one eight. Not only does that mean NO OVERTIME, but it also means, well, things have slowed down A LOT before anyone in management was expecting. When my friend Hattie and I were first hired, there were A LOT of "new hires" giving tours or supporting the tour staff, because A LOT of full-time employees had adjusted there lives to a new "attraction" on our lot. Also, we got pretty doggone busy at the beginning of the summer, and A LOT of employees up and quit. This was to be expected, as the summer season's supposed to be a real bear of a season, and not everyone is cut out for this type of work. As you know from reading here, I absolutely love my job as a tour guide. My worst day as a tour guide is about on par with my worst day on set: not so bad, not nearly as bad as my best day in some other jobs I've had.

So I had three tours today, and they were all pretty good, and I got to end my shift with a really good tour, so I was happy. I went to Trader Joe's to pick up some ingredients for key lime pie ice cream, because I was just feeling really good. Stopped at the credit union first to make a deposit, and encountered Wil Wheaton again. This time, rather than telling him what a fan I was, I asked him "any work on Big Bang coming up in your horizon?" And we had a lovely conversation that didn't feel at all like celebrity vs. fan. I mentioned that I give tours at Warner Bros., and that I love pointing out the theater where "Wil Wheaton plays his [celebrity] card" (okay, so there was a little bit of fangirl mushmouth at that point; I said "Wil Wheaton plays his Wil Wheaton card"), and/but he smiled and said with the utmost sincerity, "I love that tour. The Warner Bros. Studio Tour is the best one in town." And I just died to know that, even though he hasn't taken my tour, he essentially thanked me for doing the job I do.

Got home on Cloud Nine and checked the aforementioned stuff. Discovered that my schedule for next week has been adjusted: I now have an additional eight-hour shift, but it's not on tours, it's at the "new" attraction. Not sure how I feel about that. I'll take the hours, but I have a feeling it's going to be  A LOT of standing in one place. That's one of the things that I love about giving tours - I stand, walk, drive, move for the whole shift, so my body doesn't ever tire of being in one place. So, I'm a little something-not-quite-eager about that shift.

Then, in Facebook, I discovered that Hattie's been informed that next Saturday (the 29th) is her last day. Yes, this was always set up as a temp gig, and yes, we all always knew that our "projected" end date was September 12th. But Hattie's end date is now two weeks earlier. What the eff, man? I'm totally bummed, both on her behalf and on my own, just because I know I'll be getting a similar notice any day now, and while the Captain at my local TJ's is possibly ready to bring me in any day now, there are no guarantees that he will, and also, I've really enjoyed being fully employed and being able to make a dent in debt these last few months.

#FirstWorldProblems, I know. #EverythingHappensForAReason, I believe. #ProductionGigsAreTempJobsToo, yeah, I get it. I got to "stay" in my industry this summer, even as everything slowed down to a nearly grinding halt. #IAmBlessed, yes, I surely am. In some moments, I really do feel like I'm the luckiest gal in my corner of the world... and then sometimes, I'm only the luckiest human gal on my futon. ;)

yeah, I know it's dark in here. shut up. we have no light in the living room except what comes from our 'lectronix.

Wouldn't it be cool if Hattie got to give a tour for all our dance pals from Arthur Murray, and I got to give one to the Wheatons? Yeah, that'd be cool. One last hurrah before the temp gig ends. A girl can hope! :D

Another link found via The Bloggess

I sometimes suffer from Depression. I never suffer from Anxiety or any of the other plethora of mental ailments that others suffer with. Jenny and Wil, two of my favorite bloggers (possibly two of my favorite PEOPLE) of all time, both suffer from/with a variety of the mental ailments, and they both frequently publicly post about their issues.

So Jenny recently posted this link, and I find it absolutely appropriate and true to how I feel about my Depression, when it hits.

If you suffer from any of these "fun" things, then I hope you realize that You. Are. Not. Alone.
If you don't suffer from any of this, then please realize that those of us who do aren't trying to piss you off with our suffering. Your compassion doesn't help us in the depth of our despair, but it does help us to see it, so that when we are on an upswing, we can be grateful for it. So please continue to view us with compassion; offer emotional support; don't be offended when we're unable to accept any help in the moment it's offered.

Thank you.