and now i'm employed

My dad is actually the one who reminded me of this. Before I moved to Los Angeles, I talked about the job I would have to support me while I began to pursue my career. At various times, I said different things that would be nice to have in a future job. I wanted something I could do early in the morning so I would have my afternoons free for auditioning and my nights free for events and class. After a not so great experience at an extremely corporate restaurant, I craved something small. And, in a sort of pipe dream, I talked about how nice it would be if I found a job where I could speak French.

Never once did I think that I would find a job that I did. It's funny, and I didn't even realize it until my dad pointed it out, but it fits everything I had talked about. The things I talked about were not things I had hoped to find all in one job. I thought maybe I'd find a job that fulfilled one of the things I wanted, maybe two. Right now I work as a sort of cashier/hostess/server at a French cafe/crêperie in a town called Sierra Madre. I go to work at 6:30 and am home before noon five days a week. I get to speak French everyday with the multiple French people who work there, including the Parisian owner. It's small, and there aren't many people who work there. I'm so content.

Of course, it's not perfect. It does, however, have the potential to be wonderful. This job alone is not going to be enough, and I'll be looking again for a second job come the new year until I am getting enough auditions that turn into jobs. For now, I'm feeling much happier. I've got a job I don't dread going to everyday. It allows me the freedom to pursue what I came here for, while still getting to work on my love of languages and be immersed in the culture I miss. 

I'm still getting used to things here, but much less surprises me. Last friday was my monthiversary with LA! It's not as terrifying to drive into Hollywood anymore. (Nobody's lying to you when they say the traffic is awful or the people are ridiculous drivers. It's all true, and my least favorite part so far!) It's fun that on my way back home from the bible study I go to I get to see the Hollywood sign. My apartment is almost finished and soon I'm going to put up Christmas decorations! Things are clicking. Things are great.

Thanks for reading! Sorry for the hiatus, these past couple of weeks have been a bit tumultuous. Sometime this week I'll have a post full of pictures so you can really see what I've been up to. 

instructions not included

My goal right now is not to let myself become depressed/angry by the fact that I have sent in AT LEAST 35 applications and have received two responses. One of which was an interview that then got canceled because they filled the position (thanks a lot JERK WHO GOT INTERVIEWED BEFORE ME) and the other is Craigslist related and thus potentially sketchy. Not that everything related to the ol' craig is sketch city, but yes it is. So there's that.

In trying to stay in line with my goal, (I mean what's a gal to do? I feel so useless but until someone gives me an interview I just have to keep filling out applications which is just the worst) today's blog is going to be a list of all the reasons why whoever gave out the adulthood certificate should be fired. I haven't earned mine yet.

1. Even though I already ate some ice cream today, I just made myself a milkshake. Gosh it was so good and also now my tummy is a little hurt.

2. I've been wearing the same paint covered shorts for probably the past five days. Sometimes I change shorts when I leave my house. But generally not. 

3. I've been working out steadily for the first time since 8th grade I'm pretty sure! But the only way I can get myself to go is to sign up later than 12 hours before. The cancellation policy is if you don't cancel 12 hours before the class, you have to pay the full price. I'm too cheap (and unemployed) to pay twice fore something I don't show up for, so this little lass has gotten up at 5:30 four mornings in a row and worked out! 

4. Actually number three might be okay as an adulthood qualification.

4. The other number four didn't count. If I am having any sort of problem at all I call my parents. If I am having any sort of achievement at all I call my parents. If something random happens or I completed five more applications or I stubbed my toe I call my parents. Today I left my mom a Skype message showing her how sweaty I got after my work out this morning. Because she didn't answer. And I wanted her to see how sweaty I was. Too much. I'm just too much to handle.

But I was exceptionally sweaty.

5. I'm tired of coming up with things for this list so I'm stopping here.

Ugh. See guys?! I'm totally unqualified to be an adult. Someone should take care of this. I think my mom needs to call all these places I've been applying and let them know that I'm a special snowflake who deserves an interview! 

What's great and also kind of weird is that I'm pretty sure she would. 

This blog is going to be extra successful mostly because I never just start writing without any sort of plan as to what I'm going to write about. My posts are always concise and sensible. This is going really well for me. 

a few days ago in an apartment far far away...

Wow. It is really hard to come up with things to write for a blog! But I really want this to be a thing, so I'm working to actually write something that might be interesting to more than just my mom.

So. This blog is going to be about an online submission I sent in a few days ago!

About a week ago a link was posted to the Baylor Theatre facebook page that had to do with an open casting call for Disney. This sounded très sketch, but I checked it out anyway. Lo and behold, it seemed to be a legitimate open casting call for the new Star Wars movie! Completely random, but as my unemployed butt didn't have anything better to do my roommate and I decided we would film each other's auditions and send them in. Thankfully he has a tripod and a camera or it could have been a little more interesting. The description of the character I was reading for is as follows:

Seeking: Young woman to play 17-18 Years old. Must be beautiful, smart and athletic. Open to all ethnicities (including bi- and multi-racial).

Yikes. Hey Hollywood, great to see ya. Beautiful, smart, and athletic? Really? Okay, no fatties or uglies or dumbies allowed. The heck? It was kind of sad for me to see that but it also reminded me of where I am and what I'm doing. This is Los Angeles. This is Hollywood. Only the beautiful need apply.

Beautiful? Thankfully I have great self esteem, so I slopped on some maquillage to make myself a convincing 17. Which is funny because without makeup I look about 15, so I didn't really need it to look young. However, I did want to be able to fulfill the beautiful requirement. And as long as my mama says I'm beautiful that's what I'm going with.

Athletic? Ehhhhhhhno. Do I want to be? Yes! In fact I went to my first spin class today (it was heated like hot yoga) and it was awesome and kicked my butt and I can't wait to be back. But at this point I've had a few too many croissants to be considered Athletic. How did I solve this problem? Well, for the full body shot I stood up straight and maybe took a really deep breath and held it. Worked out okay for me.

Smart. This is the one that made me laugh because SERIOUSLY YOU GUYS I could be the dumbest person in the room but as long as I can read the script in front of the camera you have no way of knowing my level of thinkingness. I could be the next Stephen Hawking. Plus, it's ACTING. Acting is pretending to be something. It may be something you are and it may be something you're not. THAT'S THE POINT.

Anyway. John and I recorded our auditions and sent them in! Woo! Do I expect anything to come of it? Certainly not. But I did get to audition for Star Wars and that's extra fun. I'll include some pictures of my make up transformation just because I'm not that good at it and it might be funny for someone to look at. Also it was fun for me to do and that's the whole reason I did it.

Disclaimer: I am not a beautiful, smart, and athletic 17 or 18 year old. My race is if the light hits me wrong the reflection of my paleness could blind you. Nor am I a make up artist. I'm an actor. I'm a girl who likes to have fun by auditioning for things that might be slightly ridiculous and experimenting with my makeup because someone gave me a reason to.

...So don't judge these pictures too harshly!

no makeup

highlighting/contouring

blending! also one eyebrow.

finished! one eyebrow looks darker because of the light from the window.

So? Did I look like a beautiful 17-18 year old?

Here's the website if you want to audition! http://opencastingcall2013.com

the noho hobo

The hobo is me, in case you were wondering. I'm not making fun of an actual hobo.

So far I have applied at six different places, three of which are currently hiring. I haven't heard back from any, and thankfully am only experiencing some light heart palpitations. I really don't enjoy being unemployed and not knowing how long it will take for me to become employed. On Monday if I haven't heard anything I'm just going to walk down the streets where I live and apply at every place I pass. Seeing as this will likely take the majority of the day, I'll feel extra hobo-ish on Monday. So I'm really looking forward to that.

All in all, my time so far in LA has been really great. I finished the majority of my unpacking on Monday and Tuesday, all that there is left is to finish hanging all of my decorations up. I also decided that I'm not doing this big of a move again. Either I won't ever move again, I'll sell all my stuff, I'll make some super buff friends, or I'll be extra rich, but I really don't want to be in this situation again. Let's be real, moving is exhausting.

This first week has been a good one because I've had something planned just about every day of the week, so I haven't had too much time to just sit in my apartment waiting to hear back about jobs. Tuesday I went to a bible study and met some other girls who are currently working in the industry. Wednesday I had coffee with a lovely lady who's been living out here for a few years and shared some of her Hollywood wisdom with me. That was also the day I was stopped in the street and asked if I wanted to participate in the filming of a new MTV reality show. And today was the day that my alma mater was just wonderful and awesome! My roommate and I went to a watch party in Hollywood and met some other Baylor alums and really enjoyed watching the game. The new uniforms are snazzy, y'all. I really like them. We also got lunch with a friend from BUT (Baylor University Theatre) and got to catch up with her.

I'm really satisfied with my time here so far. Granted, I'll have been here a week tomorrow, but I'm still grateful that I've had a good transition time and things are running smoothly with me. Hopefully soon I'll get a job and won't have to feel like such a hobo. Till then I'll keep having coffee with friends and soaking up what it means to be living here. It's an exciting time.

welcome to [north]hollywood!

Dang. I'm here! I actually made it here with all of my limbs and some money in the bank. I'm fairly impressed with myself.

I decided I really want to try to update this blog on a regular basis, at the very least for my family to be able to sort of keep up with the shenanigans I'm getting into. So today's post is going to be about the move, and on Thursday I'll write about what it's actually like a resident of Los Angeles (in my limited experience) and what I've been up to since Friday!

So, the trip! My parents and I left my (practically) childhood home of Haslet, Texas at the lovely hour of 5 on Wednesday morning. My dear old dad drove our moving van and mama was stuck driving my little Insight. The first day we made it all the way to the edge of New Mexico and stayed in a town whose name I can't remember. But it was nice because I love NM. There was a wonderful surprise waiting for us the next morning in the form of snow! And ice! Which we had to defrost off of our cars! Seeing as I moved from extra hot Texas to just regular hot Los Angeles, that might be the only bit of winter I experience this year. And I would be okay with that.

Thursday we drove from that one town in New Mexico to Los Angeles. The whole drive was just great and simple right up until we hit the outskirts of LA. Typically we slowed immediately down to about 20 mph and enjoyed the wonderful gift of driving with crazy LA drivers in rush hour. We did make it to our hotel in North Hollywood, (where some parking hijinks ensued) and collapsed gratefully into our beds at the end of that night. Friday morning after a bit of scary will-we-fit-in-these-narrow-lanes-or-not tomfoolery with the Budget, we arrived at my little apartment. And happily began to unload my and my roommates things for the next FIVE HOURS. Let's have a hooray for extra fantastic parents. If yours suck you can just add a hooray in for mine.

Yikes. This is likely the most boring blog post ever, but I really wanted to get going and before I did an actual LOOK AT ME HERE I AM HOLLYWOOD YAHOO post I wanted to do a OH THIS IS SAD BUT ALSO AWESOME AND STRANGE AND OH MY HEAVENS LOOK SHE MADE IT post. I'll add some pictures to spice it up.

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Okay. So there's that update. Get ready for the equally thrilling Thursday update where I talk about applying to work at the 24 hour Subway. Oh, but I get ahead of myself.