8:48 am - Fri 6.07.2013
A Good Start

Saw the new, Joss Whedon-directed Much Ado About Nothing Monday night...

Went with Howard, Nathaniel, and Josh (Howard's new roommate, who we both worked with at ArcLight), and met Janet there, "there" being the Aero theater in Santa Monica.

I liked it a great deal, and was happy that Janet did as well; I went in expecting to be satisfied (Between the source material and the director, why wouldn't I be?), and I think I would have been disappointed if she hadn't.

I don't have a lot of friends, and maybe because of that, it always makes me nervous when my friends who don't know each other meet - I guess I just want everyone to like each other.

I was particularly nervous in this situation, since it was just the second time I was seeing Janet (Which is one more time than I've seen just about anyone since my last serious "relationship" ended, in '90 or '91).

So it was disappointing when we weren't able to do anything beforehand - Janet was running late, and because the event was overbooked (It was a free screening for the American Cinemateque), they didn't want us leaving once we checked in.

After the movie was a little disappointing as well, in terms of the "friends getting to know each other" factor - Janet suggested doing something, but nobody was into it (Cause we're all old men), Howard barely talked, and Josh never stopped texting (Josh and I aren't really "friends", per se, but I still was disappointed with his behavior - I know he's kind of the "shy and retiring" sort, but still, that was just rude).

She and Nathaniel talked a great deal however, so I'm assuming they ended up having a good opinion of each other (They both like to talk...a lot. And that's from a guy who considers himself a "talker").

So I don't know...I guess it's not the end of the world if my friends aren't all crazy about each other, just so long as I like them.

But I was a little disappointed.

I was very happy, toward the end of last month, to get three commercial auditions, because things had gotten so slow I thought we'd hit the point where nothing was going to happen till the end of summer.

(Always nice to be proven wrong on that particular point.)

Had an audition for some ESPN promos, where I felt I did a disappointingly mediocre job, so I wasn't surprised when nothing happened (That was a straight-to-callback deal).

Ditto for a Wendy's commercial - It was a relatively "straight" commercial (Not a particular "wacky" character or funny scenario) and I just didn't feel like I did anything that would have distinguished me from anyone else.

But I did have a good feeling about a Footlocker commercial...and sure enough, I had a callback for it yesterday in Santa Monica.

I'd have a hard time explaining it, but while I don't feel like I did anything wrong, and I thought I took the little direction I was given well, my time in the room during the callback felt kind of perfunctory - Not on my part, but on theirs. I just didn't feel like they really gave me that much of a look, for whatever reason.

I didn't leave feeling terribly positive about my chances, and as of this writing, I have not gotten a call, which in all likelihood means it didn't happen.

(As always, I'd love to be wrong here...but I'm probably not.)

She picked me up at the callback - I'd walked there from WW - and we had dinner at a vegan Thai place she likes, then we parked at her place, and walked on the beach with her dog Haley (She is very attached to the dog. And in her defense, the dog is very cute).

Then she dropped me off back at WW, where I realized, minutes after she'd pulled away, that I left my backpack in her car (So I met up with her at the nearby Trader Joes, where she was doing some shopping, to pick it up).

So, for anyone wondering, this is apparently a "thing" now.

It's been a very long time since I've been in a relationship with a woman where there's clearly "mutual liking" going on, and - you can probably guess where I'm going with this if you're a friend/longtime reader - it's making me a little anxious.

But not that anxious; nothing has emerged as a clear deal-breaker (So far, I haven't discovered she's a fundamentalist Christian/Tea Party member/serial killer or anything like that), and some things that have "given me pause" (She lives in Santa Monica, she makes a lot more than I do, and she's really close with her dog - as in, the dog is her "baby", and she never wants to be separated from her for more than a few hours) really have "up-sides" as well (The distance will probably "slow things down" more than if she lived right down the block, and I'm good with "slow" right now, She doesn't need my hit-and-miss income, and it'll be a long time till she's exposed to my dirty apartment, where no dogs are allowed).

But "pauses" aside, she's smart and funny, I find her attractive, and she seems to have a similarly positive view of me thus far.

And, anxieties to the contrary, if that's not "a good start", I don't know what is.

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