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9:38 AM - Mon 6.22.20
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Baby's First Mammogram


Where to start...?

Getting mail from Unemployment today.

Getting a lot of mail from them - Started the process on paper, since I'd earned money out-of-state last year and they told me I had to. But thinking I need to switch to getting everything online, cause it's turning into a lot of paper when I'm trying to cut back on clutter - but in any case, hoping today's mail is the mail I've been waiting for, the debit card they actually put the payments on.

(Where I'm currently at is, I didn't get benefits for the two weeks after I was fired because I earned too much. But while I did for the next two weeks...I still have no debit card, so five weeks after losing my job, I still haven't seen any money. And now I'm wondering if, when I received food stamp benefits maybe 15 years ago for two months, I was supposed to hang onto that card forever, in case I ever needed any kind of government assistance again. Who knows? I'm just "spit-balling" here.)

Anyway, when all that works out, I think I'm going to do pretty well on Unemployment. Even when the extra $600-a-week Covid-19 benefit expires (July 25th), I'll still be getting about twice as much as I made from Weight Watchers - Which sounds "scammy" until you realize that Weight Watchers was a fraction of my income last year (For many years now, I've made the lion's share of my money from acting).

In less happy email news than maybe getting my Unemployment benefits card today, received an email on Saturday from my commercial agent that Ocean Park Casting in Santa Monica has shut down, another casualty of COVID-19.

Every actor in Hollywood - this actor included - has bitched about having a late-afternoon audition at Ocean Park, then having to schlep home in rush-hour traffic.
But it was a busy commercial casting hub, I had a lot of auditions there...and now it's gone.

Which makes me feel both nostalgic and panic-stricken - It's sad to see it go because it's been part of my life as an actor out here, and it's alarming because that was one of the two casting places I went to most often, and...now what?

(Made the mistake of replying back to my commercial agent, saying I'd thought the Ocean Park email was going to be about the Covid-19 precautions that would in place when they started up again, like the email he'd sent about 200 South LaBrea, another casting place, a week or so before. That's when he said he expected South LaBrea to quickly go the way of Ocean Park. Which is fine - They're only the two casting places I've gone to most often over the past 19 years, so it's not like I'm screwed or anything...)

_______________________

Mid-entry, my commercial agent called, in response to an email query I made a short time ago (Not the one I was just writing about).

We had a very pleasant conversation as he was driving to wherever - We've known each other a long time now and share a mutual respect for each other as professionals, - but it wasn't "pleasant' in an "Everything is going to snap back and eventually be better than ever" way.

At all

He's actually got a side-hustle now and is considering "making some changes" with his stable of actors, changes that are gonna make a lot of actors very unhappy (But, in this instance - Unlike with Weight Watchers - I'm gonna fall on the "good" side of those "changes")

Hopefully, when everything shakes out, there will still be auditions to go to and jobs to book...but I guess we'll see.

_________________________

Well, if things had gone the way they were supposed to last week, I would have some medical news at this point.

But...

On Thursday, went to the radiology place I'd been referred to in Beverly Hills, so they could check out my right breast (At my recent physical, I had complained of pain under my right nipple, adding worries about "breast cancer" to concerns about the blood clot in my leg, a potential heart issue, and diabetes. Yes, it was quite a physical).

But when I went in, they said I was in the wrong place, my referral was written wrong, and I needed to go to this other place (A "women's health center" a couple blocks away, Because, for maximum discomfort, of course that's where I'd have to go).

So I go to the other place, and they say "Your referral is written wrong" - Before the...whatever-it-was-the-doctor-had-ordered, they needed to do a mammogram, and I didn't have a referral for that.

So I left, called my Dr's office, eventually spoke to him, had him tell me he'd okay the referral, then went back to the place...where they told me, "Oh, we canceled the appointment. The Dr is gone. You need to reschedule".

I was unhappy.

But my next appointment is this Thursday at 1:30.

Wish me luck (Might see if I can get a pap smear as long as I'm there. You know, just get it all done at once...)

Beyond that, I'm taking my blood thinner, working on changing my habits (I've got four months to "move the needle" - so to speak - on the diabetes diagnosis), and just "putting one foot in front of the other" ("Putting one foot in front of the other" literally being something I need to do more often to keep the diabetes at bay).

Well, I could definitely write more, but I told myself I'd do a Podcast today (Have I mentioned that's a thing now?).

Besides, I think while it's good to journal more often, I should probably strive to not go on too long.

Till next time...


 

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