Mini Photoshoot With Bugaboo

She's so darn cute.  I'm very lucky to have her as a roommate.

Celebrating Cancer Survival With Susan

On Friday the 7th, Susan invited me to be her guest at an annual luncheon held by Cedar-Sinai for cancer survivors. 

It was very touching, humbling, and invoked a lot of gratitude. 

 There's Susan laughing at me being a photo journalist. 

An "In Memory Of..." Billboard. It was almost full by the time they took it down. 

Another booth showed examples of how big tumors could be. Susan pointed out the one size that was closest to hers. 

 What we were slated for. The special guest speaker Susan Schnell has survived 5 different cancers since 1966. 

Our fancy salad and bread. We ate at the Sofitel hotel. Food was delicious, especially the sorbet we had for dessert! 

Susan, taking a pic of her lucky little talisman, Pogo. He's been on every appointment with her since he was gifted to her by one of her art students.  

Here is Susan Schnell. Quite a remarkable woman. There wasn't a dry eye in the room. We gave her a standing ovation by the end of her speech. 

This is one of Susan's doctors, Dr. William Audeh. He shared stories of other patients and their survival. A very warm, sweet man. Susan says he listens to her, takes his time, and really cares about what she's going through. From what I've learned that isn't always the case for cancer patients. 

We sat a table with survivors, their companions, and it was wonderful to see them support each other in their same but different journeys. The closing speech was very moving as the last doctor told us what Cedars is up to, and their plans for cancer research. It's quite amazing, really. 

It was especially poignant as I sat there with Susan. It's even more so as I hung out with my friend Jen last night, who I haven't seen in awhile. She recently lost her mother to breast cancer. 

The numbers of those affected by cancer is astounding. All I can say to you, if you or a loved one is diagnosed, is to go out and gather as much information and research as possible. Make sure you ask questions. Make sure you find support, it's a scary time, but truly, you are not alone. 

New pictures of Pogo, before and after lunch. Hee. These are from Susan's phone. 

Delicious sorbet!

A New Adventure-Background Acting

I'm sitting in the lobby for Central Casting. I've stood in line for an hour. I've sat through about 90 minutes of paperwork orientation. Soon I'll stand in line to get my pic on file. The look I've chosen? Average White Chick. 

I'm in a room full of certain 'looks' or 'types'. My little Voice of Paranoia is at full speed. "You don't have a specific enough look. You only have one costume. You can't start looking for work yet. You might get called in and your day job might fire you and you're a big disappointment and you should just stay at your day job that makes you grumpy and never leave a comfort of a small paycheck cuz it's better than nothing andit'll  never work and you'll never move forward and blah blah blah blah blah" 

AGH!!!!!

Weeeee!

Yeah, I'm starting down a path that many an actor and Los Angeles Weirdo has gone down before. I feel almost sheepish to be starting now after almost 8 years if being here. In reality though, it's smarter to be making $8 an hour in an environment I want to be in, than $12 where I start to hate all of humanity. Right? You have to make those first steps forward. These are often the hardest steps. These are the steps that seem to weigh the heaviest as you don't know what to expect and all the scary options pop up first. 

I know this isn't consistent work. That scares the practical side of me. Will my day job let me do this? Should I tell them? Will it make that much difference? 

Sigh. 

There are other places to sign up with. That's gonna happen, too. I feel like I should just collect as much info as possible before I dive in. 

I also want to share in this adventure, cuz The Internet can hold your hand and tell you it's okay. I might as well make this as fun as possible, right? Those of you out there who don't know much about this might find this interesting. 

Really Should Blog More Often

I keep having great ideas for things to write about. I never write them. I always keep saying to myself I don't have time. 

That's just silly. Might as well use the app that's on the phone, right?

So here's me with minutes to go before I work on a massage client. Writing. Feed the muse. 

Currently, I'm contemplating the day job, the other day job, and I'm comparing where the happiness is compared to other jobs, other possibilities. 

Then I'm thinking about an article I read in Ms. In The Biz about, (roughly),  staying put vs moving forward, because it would just hurt more to not move forward in your life. 

That's a lot of thinking. I shall keep doing so and go work on my next client. 

Fundraising to Compete in a Demolition Derby, or PART THE SECOND of 2013, The Most Exciting Year Yet

Yeah, you read that right.

I'm working on several projects this year that have me really excited. In a prior post, I talk about how wonderful and new it is for me to look at the year ahead and to be able to plan what's going on. SO MUCH.

This next project both excites me and scares the heck out of me. I think it's because I'm expecting backlash for wanting to do something for myself. In all the books I've read, the lectures I've watched/listened to, fear is what happens when you're the most vulnerable, when you have something to lose, and when you should push yourself forward no matter what.

My crazy idea? To host a fundrasier through IndieGoGo so I can get a car to compete in the 40th Annual Hangtown Destruction Derby being held August 18th, 2013 in Placerville, CA.

Translation: I want to raise enough money to build a derby car so I can drive around, bang it up, and act a crazy fool.

Why? Because I have never known a greater thrill, a higher high, than to drive in a demolition derby. It's where I can turn into The Fearless Gladiator, look The Big Bad straight in the eye and yell, "COME ON YOU BITCH! COME ON!!!" (That's exactly what I did in 2009).

Why? Because last year, when I watched friends compete, my heartbeat quickened, my adrenaline shot up, and I wanted to be in the arena so bad I could taste it. 

Why? Because it's the 40th anniversary of this particular derby. To me, it's like the Superbowl. 

Why? Because oftentimes, women don't compete more than once, or if they do, it's even more rare to come back to the same event. Dad was telling me he hasn't seen a woman return to Hangtown's derby.

Why? Because I never knew how f-ing expensive it is to build a car. 

In years past, my dad has had connections in getting a car, in borrowing equipment, and friends to call in favors to help him build a car. As Dad has retired, he gave back what he borrowed, and whatever was leftover, he passed it on to friends. If I need Dad to build me a car, we need the cash to get it all. Basically, it's gonna cost anywhere from $4,000 to $6,000.

$4.000 to $6.000. 

Crap. 

So I'm going to be asking friends, family, and strangers alike to help me face a fear and reach a goal all at once. It's as terrifying and thrilling as driving in a derby. 

What if I fail? 

I really don't like that phrase. It plagues me all the time. It's held me back more often than not. I'm really tired of living in fear of WHAT IF. 

Here's me declaring my intentions to raise $4000-$6000. To build a car to drive in a destruction derby. (You can say demolition derby, but I really like the destruction aspect of it all. Like HULKSMASH with wheels). 

While Dad is helping with the car, my brother Rocky is helping me with the videos and the outreach. He's gonna make it look way cooler than I ever could. I figure with our combined forces, it's very likely that we could kick some major ass. 

In the next couple of weeks, keep your eye out for the launch of the campaign. I'll be asking for your help in spreading the word and appealing to the masses. 

If you want to see my first ever derby, where I won 2nd place and did the robot in celebration, check it out. It's on MySpace still. HA! And Rocky really made it look cool. 

RAWR.

Taking On Something For Lent

So, this may come as a shock to you, but I'm not Catholic. So it may be an even bigger surprise to admit that occasionally, I participate in Lent.

Brian and I usually take it up as a opportunity to break a habit, and it's been completely weird or to even mundane as giving up soda. I completely let Lent slip my mind this year. Brian called me the night of Ash Wednesday and asked me what I was giving up. I didn't even think of it. I had been contemplating the act of giving up sugar, or beginning of a juice fast, something to help my health. But my mind always goes to the extreme first. And so I could never truly commit to the idea.

Brian and I chewed up ideas. He and I have done enough reading and researching about habits and nutrition, and health. We knew we wanted to do something positive instead of something negative, we also knew that if we were going to build a habit, you start small. I told Brian I wanted to get more active. (especially as I just signed up for my 2nd zombie run). How do I build myself back up after having not done a damn thing for months? So we came up with me actually using my gym membership - 20 minutes at the gym everyday. I have it, might as well use it right?

Brian wants to work on his writing - so he's going to write for 15 minutes everyday.

What I'm most tickled with is how we check in with each other. We're not going to text each other, no, we're going to send pics to each other. Since Brian recently got himself a smartphone, we've been having nerdy fun sending pics to each other and playing with the voice dictation in our texts. So every morning I'm going to send him a pic of me at the gym. And every day he's going to send me a pic of him writing.

Unbeknownst to him, I'm going to share our first pictures and then check in throughout the 40 days. I'm really looking forward to how we do.

So yeah, cheers! Here we go on a new adventure!

Adventure! Fight Night, or, Shooting My First Fight Scene

Last night I shot my first fight scene. I had a fabulous time! I was with my Fight Class friends and family.

The challenges: my asthma acted up. It's been awhile since it's done so and I think I it was just due to being out of shape, yet another reason to get back into running. Usually in class, you do a couple rounds of practicing a fight, but you get enough time in between tries. So it was a whole new experience for me. Sometimes, even in "straight acting" you have to do several takes of a scene, or a particular moment. It's the same thing for a fight scene. I am totally in awe of stunt performers and what they go through. I felt bad to be out of breath, but whaddya gonna do? YOU KEEP HAVING FUN - and I did!

It's great to be part of something so different. I got to fight! In costume! With a quarterstaff! Weeeeee! Luckily, I was first in the line up, so after my fight was done, I just got to sit back and enjoy watching my friends in their work and play on both sides of the camera.
Let's see if I can share some pics.

My favorite shot of the night fighting Bernadett.

Dead, dead, deadski.

Getting notes for the next take. I'm sitting cuz I'm catching my breath. Bernadett's sitting cuz she's keeping me company. She's a great fight partner.

"I dare you to cross this line."

My fellow captives. Lyssa, hiding, Anne with the attitude, Olivia, all sad looking.

Kim Turney, en guard!

Eric taking on Ralph with double cutlass.

Anne in the middle of the rapier and dagger melee.

Bernadett taking on Adam with the broadsword.

Me behind bars, right where I need to be.