11:20 pm - Thurs 11.18.2010
Surgery Eve

Had the majority of the day to do this...so of course, here we are.

Anyway...

Guess the big news is that I'm going in for my septoplasty/"tongue reduction" tomorrow.

While I'm not looking forward to the coming unpleasantness, breathing clearly is a good thing...clearly (And if it leads to me sleeping better, that would clearly be a very good thing).

Cary is picking me up at 7:30 am, to sign in at 8:00.

I'm not sure exactly how long it'll take to get from signing in to the OR, but the procedure's supposed to take about an hour, then I'll be an hour or two in recovery.

And in a change of plans, instead of Cary taking me back home afterward, I'm going to his place, where I'll spend the night, then go back to my place on Saturday.

I feel silly about it, and embarrassed that I'm putting Cary to the trouble, but Paul (the surgical consultant/advisor/whatever-his-title is) seemed really concerned that I didn't have someone to stay with me, to the point he made me feel even more anxious and sad than I'd normally be at a time like this.

("Anxious" because it's not fun to contemplate the possibility of something going wrong with no one around to help. "Sad" because...well, because there's no one around to help, or just pat you on the head and say "Poor baby...".)

Assuming healing proceeds as it should, I guess the "issues" are "You have to eat and drink, even if you may not want to eat and drink", and "The painkiller may make you loopy, and you've gotta watch that you don't fall over or make bad decisions".

(I'm such a tv guy that when Paul told me they were giving me a prescription for Darvocet, which was stronger than Vicodin, the first thing I thought was "Vicodin? That's 'House's' addictive drug of choice...".)

So anyway, that's a thing that's happening.

And that's about it for the big "happenings" right now.

I did have an audition for Criminal Minds on Wednesday.

It would be a fun little bit - five lines as "Store Clerk" in the "cold open" of the episode - and I think I did it well.

Like the role in Castle, there's potential for a real character there, enough so that you could have an actual "moment" onscreen. Enough that you can believe someone might actually "sit up and take notice".

That's what I'm looking for these days. I make no bones about it - I want scenes that do something (Or more accurately, I want to look at the scene and go, "Yeah - I can do something with this...").

But there's a bit of a "dilemma" when you start actually getting called in for those scenes - You start having to make actual decisions about your character.

Like in this case, I thought at least three different "takes" on the scene were about equally legitimate, so which "take" to do?

And you have to assume you're only going to get one shot at it.

I opted for the "lightest" take, because I thought fewer actors would go that way, and I thought it would make it more startling when things turn deadly serious in a hurry.

Was I right? Was I wrong?

Who knows?

But I will say that I was not dull.

When I read, I did something right at the end that surprised them, and got a very big laugh.

There's a part of me that wasn't sure going for a laugh when auditioning for Criminal Minds was the best idea...but the way I saw it, in the moment, is that the scene was actually over, and it was "Jim the actor" showing he has a sense of humor.

And it was just fun to do.

I told Cary that I'm starting to feel like I really need to do that if/when I have the opportunity - I don't mean just "do something funny at the end if something presents itself" (Cause that may or may not be "the thing to do" in a given circumstance), but look harder for the interesting reading, figure out something in the scene that not every actor walking through the door is going to think of.

But it's late - considering I have to get up at 6:30 am tomorrow - and I should be in bed.

Wish me luck...!

previous - next