10:11 AM - Thursday 10.31.19
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Well, Shameless is over for the season, and the documentary is basically on-hold till the trip to West Virginia in January.

So what's a boy to do with himself in the interim?

(My preferred answer would be, "Book a national commercial, a sweet guest-star role on a great TV show, and a small-but-memorable role in a hit movie". But that's a pretty tall order at the best of times, let alone when auditions have become increasingly rare and precious things, so I'll probably have to content myself with stuff like this.)

Well, it took the entire season to make it happen, but we finally did the shoot in my trailer on Friday.

It was initially set for episode 11 - the penultimate episode - but they switched up the schedule relatively last-minute and we couldn't do it.

But aside from the fact that Jane had to pay our union DP almost $1000 for the cancellation - which, granted, is a pretty big "aside" - it worked out much better this way (#11 was a 12-hour shoot day and there was a table read during lunch, so it would have been tough-bordering-on-impossible to get what we got on Friday, when I was in just one scene and everyone was quite agreeable to staying around to help me out -"everyone" being Steve Howey and Shanola Hampton, and of course, my buddy Mike).

Even though Michael Hissrich (The Producer) had basically told me where we'd end up the very first time I spoke to him about the documentary - with us shooting me in my trailer - I'd harbored some hope that we'd be able to do a lot more so long as we didn't hang up production or spoil any plot points.

(I sometimes have these strange bursts of optimism.)

So, that said, I was frustrated when we waited so long and got so little. For a time, It kinda took the wind out of my sails regarding doing it at all.

But I have to say, when it came down to it, it was fun having "worlds collide" that way (And of course we had a little on-camera fun with how little we were getting to do, because how could you not?).

And again, having just one quick scene to do for the show made doing our thing much less arduous and actually kind of a lark (The only real stress I felt was right as we wrapped our scene, and I temporarily lost track of Steve and Shanola - I was very concerned about respecting their time and not trying their patience, so wanted their thing to happen as quickly and painlessly as possible).

But more than how I felt about it, I was happy Jane had a good time and seemed quite delighted with what she got (Shanola and Steve together talking about me, me and Mike together, and me doing a "tour" of the trailer and silliness of that ilk) - She laid out a lot of cash making that shoot happen, so I'm glad she felt she got her money's worth.

Friday was the wrap party, this year at the Stanley Social Club.

Jane was my plus-one and apparently she'd had some anxiety going in, to the effect of not wanting to "let me down", which I didn't really understand - She's attractive, personable, funny, and can dance (And she'd already met the cast at the pre-season cast party), so I certainly wasn't harboring any "I hope she doesn't embarrass me in front of the cool kids" fears.

But unlike Yours Truly - I find wrap parties trying until the dancing breaks out - Jane told me afterward that she'd had fun from the get-go.

And she was happily surprised that she "had it in her" to really cut loose on the dance floor (Which we did for the better part of two hours) - Dick doesn't like to dance, and apparently neither did her first husband.

(I'd told Jane I have something of a "reputation" at these things - which, come to think of it, is probably what made her anxious - so it was fun when we went in, and one of the women checking my name on the list immediately said, "So, are you going to dance?")

I think we both felt like "Mission Accomplished" - She'd wanted to spread the word about the documentary (And not "let me down"), and I wanted to have fun/show off a bit...though "showing off" now comes at a price (I felt pretty "beat up" for the next couple days).

We'd planned to get together with Cary and Kay on Sunday, but Cary had to back out for family reasons, so we ended up going to a curry place we'd wanted to check out not far from her hotel (We also went to the H.M.S. Bounty on...Friday, I think? Which we both enjoyed a great deal. And of course, we had to hit Bottega Louie before she left, since that's kind of "our place").

On Monday - her last full day in town - we hit MOCA, which I have never visited (I liked it and was glad we went, but LACMA and the Getty - and of course, the Museum of Death - are more my jam, museum-wise).

All-in-all, while we got "work stuff" done, with the Shameless trailer shoot, this visit seemed more about just having fun.

I like hanging out with her (And people clearly see our connection - with both of us, when we tell people we're not an "item", they basically ask "Why not?"). And she's taken an interest in me in a way that no one ever has, which is sometimes disconcerting, but also quite appealing for a guy who likes attention the way I do.

So I'm feeling like one of my "tasks" is to appreciate all this while it's happening, and not fast-forward to worrying about what happens after, when the documentary has done whatever it's going to do and she's moved on to the next documentary subject and I've moved on to...whatever (I'm certain we're going to remain good friends after this collaboration, but clearly, things will change. That's just the way of things).

But for now, the holidays are upon us - She wants me to come to Sante Fe over Xmas, which I am very lukewarm about but will try to make happen - then hopefully, in early January, we'll be doing West Virginia, which feels like the last big thing to "get" for the documentary (Beyond that, it seems like it'll be down to David - her editor - telling her what "pickups" he needs and perhaps some random burst of inspiration on her part).

In the meantime, it'll be up to me to keep myself entertained and engaged in things (I did go to a pop-up dance class Tuesday night, where we spent the first 15 or 20 minutes doing these deep knee-bends - which for me were just "knee bends" - that I'm still feeling today).

Till next time...

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