12:14 AM - FRI 3.11.16
Just A Dancing Fool

I don't get auditions where I have to dance that often, but they do happen from time to time.

And when they happen (Like on Wednesday), I feel I have a dilemma - I'm actually a pretty good (amateur) dancer, so do I dance to the best of my ability, and hope that will be impressive enough to get me the job?

Cause that's what me and my ego want to do.

Or do I assume they're looking for the old "It's 'funny' because he's a middle-aged white guy trying to dance, so of course he's terrible", age-ist/sexist/racist comedy cliche, and dance as badly/goofily as I can?

Cause me and my ego never want to do that...but I sometimes suspect it would lead to booking more work.

(Some context for this rant: I've been in LA for 15 years now, but booked my first "dancing gig" only last year, as a singing-and-dancing banker - A gig, by the way, where I ended up doing the least dancing of the three of us who were hired. But before that, to my recollection, and in spite of always dancing my little heart out, I'd never booked a gig where dancing was called for - And not only did I not book the gigs, sometimes I wouldn't even get a damned callback. Which, in my mind at least, created the "dilemma" of whether or not to "hide my dancing light under a bushel".)

Okay, so here's the deal - I wrote what I wrote earlier thinking the callback for Wednesday's commercial was today and I hadn't gotten it.

Which made me sad.

And mad.

(For the record, it's not the first time I've jumped the gun, assuming a callback didn't happen. And what's funny about that is they actually tell you when callbacks are supposed to happen - I just never write it down for some reason. But anyway...)

I'm happy to have gotten the callback, because I wanted my dancing ability to be noted & appreciated (It's one of the few things in my life I actually worked for).

But even more important than having my ego stroked (Which I really don't get enough of)?

This is the first commercial I was submitted for with my current "look" (i.e. the gray hair, beard and mustache), so I feel tremendous relief - perhaps more than is strictly warranted - that "The Look" might just be commercially viable after all.

(Which, if you remember, was the point of changing my "look" in the first place...though I also just kind of wanted to.)

Was supposed to "spring forward" today, and set my clock ahead an hour for Daylight Savings Time.

Instead, I subconsciously opted not to do that, which made my morning more "exciting" than normal (Happily, the three of us who work the WW meeting at Culver are chronically late, so all I had to do to get there about as late as always, along with everyone else, was to just forego showering, shaving, brushing my teeth, etc. - I just slapped on some deodorant, changed my underwear, and "called it good").

Anyway...

So the dance audition - for a national commercial - is tomorrow afternoon.

I expect it will be fun - hoping there will be music this time (I felt a little stupid dancing without any music last time, though it clearly worked out) - because I like showing off, it's a comparatively rare chance to "perform", and there'll actually be people to "perform" to.

And I don't feel nervous about it - at least not as of this writing - since I'm just going to have fun and "do what I do" (and if they say, "That was great Jim...now can you do it like you're a totally uncoordinated spazz who thinks he's really cool?", I'll be the best "totally uncoordinated spazz who thinks he's really cool" they've ever seen).

Had another commercial audition on Thursday, but it wasn't nearly as fun (Though in monetary terms, it would likely be a much bigger deal).

It was, like a lot of commercial auditions, a thing where you do a bit that feels like nothing, against a lot of other actors who are doing the same nothing bit pretty much the same way (Because we were all instructed to do the same nothing bit pretty much the same way), and there's not much to do but hope your face is the one that wins "The Face Lottery"

(But I don't think my face won "The Face Lottery" this time - I actually took note of callbacks, which were supposed to be either Friday or tomorrow - though, holding on to a little hope, they were seeing a lot of people for a lot of roles, and it was late Thursday afternoon when I went in, which means it wouldn't be totally unbelievable if they had to push their callbacks to Tuesday or Wednesday. But I'm not counting on it - I think it just "didn't go my way".)

I have to say, however "fun" the two auditions were (or were not), it was just nice to have them - In spite of my best efforts to not be this guy, my mood is mightily effected by lack-of-auditions (I'm frustratingly predictable that way). Things can go pretty "dark" pretty quickly, so it felt good this past week to have a couple days centered around acting, or at least kind-of-acting, and to allow myself to hope for a happy ending (i.e. booking a national commercial).

There was a non-acting "happy ending" earlier this week, when I finally received the replacement "Jambox" Bluetooth speaker I'd been promised from the company (After the one I'd received as a Christmas present crapped out on me in less than a month's time).

I'd been very impressed with the customer service at Jawbone - they were very courteous, and followed up every phone interaction with an equally courteous email - until I actually sent out the defective speaker.

Things went a little "wonky" after that - UPS delivered it (It had gotten to its destination within a week of my sending it), but the Jawbone folks acted like I'd never sent it, telling me finally that they were "making an exception" in my case by sending me a replacement when they hadn't gotten the defective device (Which I found very annoying - Why insist on me getting a tracking number for the package if you're then not going to believe the tracking?) - but the takeaway here is I got the replacement, it's actually even better than what I originally had (A "refurbished" first-generation speaker they no longer sell), and all is as it should be.

And in what I hope is a "happy-ending-in-progress", I'm working on switching masks for my CPAP (From what they call "nasal pillows" to a full-face mask).

I've been doing CPAP for months now, and am getting absolutely nothing from it - I feel as tired and shitty as ever - so week-before-last, I think it was, I finally went back to my Doctor, who has a CPAP tech guy on staff.

We determined I needed to switch to the full-face mask, which I'd been resistant to (partly because of past experience, and partly because I just didn't think it looked "cool").

Doesn't seem it should be that complicated, right? I mean, in the history of people with Sleep Apnea, I can't be the first person who's needed to switch the type of CPAP mask they're using.

But SleepMed, the supplier of the CPAP stuff...well let's just say they're no Jawbone in terms of customer service - I've been frustrated enough by my interactions with them over this issue that I'm on the verge of seeing if I can change suppliers (My only fear being that starting up with a new place might just delay things further).

But they now have a prescription from my Doctor for the new mask, I'm sending back the latest "nasal pillows" I've received (For a return), and I wrote a note explaining what I need to have happen, with all the info they could possibly need - My account #, my Doctor's #, and the number for AFTRA H&R (There's been some confusion about my insurance - I'm covered under AFTRA, but AFTRA uses the CIGNA network of providers, which has left some people thinking I'm covered under CIGNA).

I worry that this is really boring stuff to be writing about...but in point-of-fact, this CPAP stuff is actually way more important than whether or not I book this or that commercial (Strictly speaking, while I want to book tomorrow's job, and it would make life a lot nicer, I need to work this CPAP stuff out - My physical and emotional well-being are on-the-line here).

Well, there's lots more to write about, and I feel like I have a more interesting entry languishing inside, but I've got other tasks to accomplish before the night is through, and the "lots more to write about" will have to wait - I'm continuing to fret about my demise, but I'm going to be optimistic and assume I'll have time to get at least another entry or two out before that happens...

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