Down By The Water

I guess part of the goal of our new blog was to showcase the awesomeness of various parts of the United States. I think all members of the Coastal Brothers and Sisters clan have serious desires to see (and possibly take over) the world but the truth is we're doing a pretty good job of valiantly exploring various areas in our own homeland. Side note: I plan on attending the Norwegian Festival on Sunday. Something tells me that I won't stick out as much as I did during the Cherry Blossom Festival in Japantown. Plus, I might get to meet the curling team from Norway. Totally worth the $12 entry fee.

But I digress. Now that it is light outside for a few hours after work, I've been taking advantage of the incredible location of my apartment to hit the trails with Pax after work. A typical trail is one in the Presidio called Mountain Lake. I usually pick it up about a mile from my house and run/walk/rulk until I get to Inspiration Point. These pictures aren't mine (thank you Google Images) but I thought you deserved to see what I get to see anytime I choose. This first one is the one from Inspiration Point. That's Alcatraz over in the Bay. Pax loves this spot too. He jumps over that concrete wall and then expects me to come save him and lift him back over. He is so demanding. He is also getting a little old - but more on that in future posts.

I hope that I don't get in trouble for including these pictures. You all know that I do not have the patience to learn the nuances of a camera. I am looking toward putting a canvas back in my apartment so that I can start painting again. Right. That one will come along the same time as my book of short stories. How cool is this image though? How crazy is it that I get to view spaces as cool as this whenever I want? I mean, technically I have to wait until the fog clears, which is pretty rare, but still. Unbelievable. Every Day this is available to me. I live a blessed life.

Don't Do It

From the desk of: Things I don't recommend doing....

Driving to Atlanta and back from Orlando within a 18 hour span.

Now, why would I do such a thing? The pursuit of the dream, I guess you could say. Not too long ago, I submitted a taped audition for a film that is shooting in LA through my agent up in Charlotte. So, when I checked my phone in between raining 3s and dropping dimes on the Rollins Basketball hardwood (reliving my basketball camp days with Coach K and Coach Kyle), and saw a VM from my agent up there, I was excited. "Could it be? Is this my big break?" These are the thoughts that were going through my head as I listened to the message. Turns out the message had nothing to do with that. But, it did contain some exciting news. The casting director for Tyler Perry Studios wanted to see me for an audition for "House of Payne." So, I was pumped about that. The audition was in Atlanta, and on Thursday at 11 am. I got the message Tuesday night at 9 pm. And was scheduled to work for a friends cleaning business Wednesday afternoon/night.

Any parents may want to read this next part with your eyes closed.

After I finally put the mop up(after 6 hours of vacuuming/mopping) and got showered up to hit the road, it was roundabout 9:30. Only 6+ hours(and miles and miles) to go before I sleep. Of course the parental units wanted me to stop along the way for a good nights sleep, and safety or something like that. But I was too amped up on adrenaline(and/or 5 hr energy) to do any sleeping anyway. I arrived at my cousins place around 330 and settled in for a "good nights rest." Well, that didn't really happen. I slept for a couple hours, then woke up for a while. That happened a couple times. When I have to wake up for something I want to do, but think I may sleep through it, I always wake up in a panic that I have indeed slept through it. Which doesn't really help the sleeping process.

Ok, you can open your eyes now.

Anywho, I then ventured out to find the studio for my audition, and ran through about one million different scenarios of how it would go down. I do this often in my head. It's exhausting. I get there, go into the security place, sign in, sign a non-disclosure agreement and am informed that if I wander around the studio, I'll be escorted out. Noted. The waiting area had very comfortable chairs, which was nice. And there was only a few other guys there, which makes you feel like you have better odds. Numbers and things. As a general rule, I try not to listen to the people that audition in front of me, cause it can throw what you have prepared off. But, I couldn't not listen to the guy that went first(I was second). He was terrible. That's probably mean and unfair, but, he was. I felt kinda good about that, which obviously makes me a bad person.

I then went in to meet the casting director and we chatted about this and that, and she was a very pleasant person, which, believe it or not, most casting directors are not. Probably because they have to deal with people all day everyday, most of whom are weird. So we do the read, and I was pretty happy with it, which is always nice, because who wants to drive 6 hours for a 5 minute audition and have it suck? Not this guy. She said it was great and she loved me, which you really don't get that often. She went on to say even if I don't get this role, she'd have me back to read in the future. Pretty much the best audition I've been to yet. Bonus. Back in the car. 6 hours back to the O.

Well, now two days have passed and I haven't heard anything, which means I didn't get it. I know, you're all devastated. Thank you. Hopefully she meant the whole thing about having me back in the future. I'm pretty sure she did. She seemed pretty genuine about it.

Regardless, it was a great experience, and I think I made a good contact there, which could pay dividends in the future. Head up, on to the next one.

Faithful readers, good news is coming soon. I feel it. Also sort of thinking about a coast switch in the semi-near future. Not next week or anything, but not years away either. Go big or go home, right?

Till next time...