8:36 p.m. - MON 5/14/01
My first LA \"gig\"
I'm almost afraid to bring this up before it's all over and done, but this is too fun to hold back on--I have my FIRST extra gig tomorrow!

I worked at the bookstore from 8 to 4:30 today.

At lunchtime, I ate quickly, then went to a phone to call Cenex, not really expecting much of anything. But after hearing something I sounded right for on the recorded line, and calling over and over and over and over--I started feeling like I was calling in for one of those radio station giveaways--I finally got through to one of the casting directors ( The call was for guys who could be "white trash types" for racetrack scenes in a movie called "Frank McCluskey". That's all I really know about it, except that it's a comedy ).

He got my social security number--that's how they look you up on their computer--and after asking if I still had long hair--I do--it was just a matter of getting the number to call, after 7 pm, for call times and details ( Call is 6 am tomorrow, though I have to doublecheck that before I go to bed. It's a period piece--the mid-80s are now "period"--and I'm doing a load of laundry right now, so I have a clean pair of jeans ( The gig is tomorrow and Wednesday ).

My big anxiety is NOT about the actual JOB; It's about GETTING to the actual job ( I think the job probably itself just calls for you to be quiet and well-behaved and attentive to what they want you to do in the scene. And I can do that ).

But I've got the directions from Mapquest, and they seem pretty simple. And even though the call is at 6 am (!), I'm going to give myself a LOT of time to get there, and I'm going to be FINE ( That doesn't mean I'm not hoping I'm going to doublecheck the info line and find the call changed to 9 o'clock! ).

This is a good thing. I keep referring to it as a really nice "birthday present", and the timing is VERY good; If I'd had to work on my birthday tomorrow, I think I would have felt awkward and uncomfortable, but spending the whole day by myself might have been depressing. But now, I'll be too excited, then later too TIRED, to really think much about it ( And how cool, that it's a two-day gig that falls on my "weekend". And that's going to be a nice little addition to my finances! ).

And I needed something. Just this little TASTE. Just something to tell me that I am in Hollywood, where they make MOVIES.

Like the one I'm getting my start in tomorrow...

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