12:30 pm - Sat 1.10.2009
Marking Up The Calendar

As I begin this entry, I'm looking at my calendar, on the wall right above my computer.

Typically, I kind of like when I look at my calendar, and the month is all "marked up" with appointments and engagements.

So far this month, I've noted on my calendar that Wendy and Lucy was opening at the Regency (On Beverly and Fairfax) on the 2nd, that Pat's birthday celebration at Saint Felix is tonite (I think he's 38...but I'm not really sure), that I have sessions with Javier - my therapist - on the 14th and the 28th...and that, so far, I'm scheduled to work at least 21, and possibly (depending on attendance/staffing levels) as many as 25 Weight Watchers meetings.

What isn't on my calendar so far this month is anything having to do with acting; no auditions, no callbacks, no bookings, not even any workshops.

Gotta be honest - I'd really prefer, at any given time, having acting stuff to write about in here.

But I don't. Not right now, anyway.

(I gave you everything I've got on that front when I wrote about checking out the IO West website - for a beginning improv class - and getting new headshots printed up.)

So here we are - the dominant thing in my life right now...is Weight Watchers.

When writing about Weight Watchers, I'm afraid it could be confusing, since sometimes I'm writing about WW as a member - trying to lose weight, having lost weight, and now trying to maintain my weight loss - and sometimes I'm writing about WW as an employee.

Though I realized, pretty early on, that I wasn't going to have a lot of "wacky anecdotes" about working at Weight Watchers to share with you in here; as a receptionist, I take people's weight measurements, sell them products and 10-wk coupons and monthly passes, register new memberships, then close up the meeting when the members leave.

There isn't - at least so far - a lot of high drama or outrageous comedy involved in the process (I could gripe about this or that or the other thing - and I'm sure I'll get around to that at some point - but it's all pretty minor, forgettable stuff).

And that's how I like it.

I'd rather not have to have a "subsistence" job, be it Borders or ArcLight or Weight Watchers or In-and-Out Burger - I think I've made that fairly clear at this point.

But if/when I do, I don't want it to be physically/emotionally/spiritually taxing; I want it to be something that falls mostly in the "neutral-to-pleasant" range, something I can just go and do, and then stop doing, none the worse for wear.

I don't want to have to invest a lot of energy in it. Basically, I don't want it to take a toll - I want as much of my physical/psychic energies as possible to be invested in things I want to do (i.e. acting and leisure pursuits like this), not things I have to do.

I've often said, regarding hot peppers, that "I don't like food that hurts", and basically, the same thing applies to jobs.

And so far, I'm happy to report that, more than Borders, more than ArcLight, and I'm guessing more than In-and-Out Burger, working at Weight Watchers fits the bill; the work is rarely difficult, the people (Coworkers and members alike) are almost unfailingly pleasant (And as a result, so far I've been "almost unfailingly pleasant"), and I rarely if ever worry about job-related stuff as I go in to work a meeting, or as I leave from having worked a meeting.

That's, in part, why I'm kind of fading on the idea of being a meeting Leader (One of the main reasons I signed up for the gig initially).

What I don't want at this point, when people ask me what I do, is to say, embarrassed, "Well, I work at Weight Watchers, but I'm really an actor", and I kind of feel like becoming a Leader would, in many ways, take me further down that road.

So I'm ambivalent, to say the least, about those Weight Watchers meetings on my calendar; In one sense, I'm glad they're there, and I could use more, because Jimmy needs to have some money coming in if/when nothing's happening on the acting front. And as I've already suggested, it's not a tough gig, by and large - I want my "challenges" coming from acting, not from having to deal with my crappy, low-paying job.

On the other hand, you look at your calendar, and you see it full of Weight Watchers shifts, and you hear yourself saying, embarrassed, when people ask you what you do for a living, "Well, I work at Weight Watchers, but I'm really an actor".

Long story short, I need to start "marking my calendar up" with acting stuff.

I'm tired of wanting to be an actor "when I grow up".

I want to be an actor now

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