10:18 am - Weds 11/3/04
Big News...And I Guess There Was An Election As Well

Weds 11/3/04 (6:57 p.m.)

Well, in keeping with my recent idea to start each entry with something positive, my happy things to start out this entry are:

1) Yesterday, I had a callback for Jack-In-The-Box!

2) And when I got the call from JS Monday afternoon, I got absolutely no static from David: When I told him what was up, he simply brought up the schedule, changed my start time yesterday to 6:00, and wished me luck (When am I going to learn that there's really no point in worrying about something until and unless it's actually a problem...?).

The callback was at a place I've never been before called Radical Media, in Santa Monica.

I had a few "anxious moments" once I found it: There was no parking anywhere nearby, then when I finally found a spot, some distance away, I couldn't find my way back�turns out 12th street basically skips a block, then continues on the other side, which threw me. And all the while, I had a very full bladder (To avoid peeing in my nice blue dress pants, I finally had to duck into a corner of this parking lot and "do my thing", which was weird�I felt like a bum, peeing in a semi-public place, but a very presentable bum, in my nice double-breasted suit).

But "anxious moments" and full bladders aside, I did get there on time...and of course, then had to wait for 30 or 40 minutes before I got in the room (A nice African-American woman I'd auditioned with the first time, who reminded me of Robin Quivers from "Howard Stern", was there as well; I joked that after our great acting last time�a few seconds of improvised chit-chat as the "scene" began� I knew we'd both end up at the callback).

When it was finally my turn to go in the room, with three other people, the callback was pretty simple�We slated, then did four "takes" of saying "Hi Gary" in unison ("Jennifer" in the original audition had turned into "Gary" this time), as the camera did close ups, in turn, on each of us looking appropriately serious and concerned.

(The premise of the spot is that "Jennifer"�Now "Gary"�is a "salad dodger". And we're all there�parents, a friend from work, the family minister, and of course, "Jack"�to perform an "intervention".)

I left feeling like it was anyone's guess what was going to happen, but assumed that was as far as it was going to get.

But as I was driving back, I checked my voicemail, and there was a message from JS�I'm "on avail" (To review: Being "on avail" basically means that it's down to two or three people. It's the ad agency saying, "You don't have the job yet, but keep your schedule open, just in case").

It's been awhile since I've had a callback, and longer still since I've had an "avail", so when I got the call from JS, I felt myself start to get a little giddy, and took pains to "talk myself down"; they'll be time enough to be "giddy" if and when I actually book the gig.

I'd very much like to get this�Getting my first union gig was a goal of mine as the year began�but if I don't get this one, I'll get the next one.

Or the one after that.

Or the one after that.

Just turned on the tv: John Kerry has officially conceded the election (Oh yeah, I forgot to mention�There was an election yesterday).

I'm a little bummed, to be sure�Maybe even moderately bummed--but not as much as I thought I'd be.

I would much rather my guy have won, to be sure, and I'm now afraid the next four ugly, divisive years will make the last four ugly, divisive years look like Shangri-La in comparison, but for all extents and purposes, my life will likely go on much as it did before...I hope.

I voted early yesterday morning, at a polling place on 4th street, a little further from my apartment than my last two polling places (Though not a hardship, by any stretch of the imagination�Maybe five blocks away, instead of three).

I was concerned with a certain low-level chaos at the polling place�At one point I wanted to say "If my vote ends up getting discounted because of you guys, I will hunt you down"-- but they found my name on the registration list, I got through the line, and was able to vote probably within a half-hour, which was faster than I was expecting (I'd brought a book to read�Friday Night Lights�in anticipation of a long wait).

I would like to have had the day off yesterday--Just voted, then gone to my audition, then gone home, to write in here and watch the election results, but I had to work.

As you might imagine, between Jack-In-The-Box and the election, I found moving piles of books from here to there even less stimulating then usual (And the carpet cleaners were coming after we closed, which meant moving every pile of books onto higher ground. And there are lots of piles of books at our craptacular bookstore). But Katie and Aysia were there�my two favorite women at the bookstore�and Tim G. was managing, so things could have been worse. It was just a very long evening (I took a shot at driving home, after my audition, so I could ride my bike to work, but of course there was no parking anywhere in K-town at that point, so I had to turn around and drive to the bookstore anyway, opting to take the bus home afterwards. Which meant waiting for an hour at the bus stop on 3rd, making a long evening that much longer).

I wish Jason had been at work last night (Jason is my bright young Jewish friend from the east coast). He was very "invested" in this election�More so than I was, and I think I was more "into it" than any election in my adult life�and it would have been fun to have him there, so we could sneak into the back room and fret over the returns together.

After being a bit uncertain about Jason at first, I've grown to like him a great deal. He's bright, funny, loves movies (He wants to be a film editor), and he's become one of the people I'm always particularly happy to see on the schedule on a given day.
What bothered me about him when he first started at the store�Has it been a year now?�is that he came off as a tad condescending; it seemed very important to him that you know just how smart he was (And I think he thought "just how smart he was" was basically "smarter than you"; a number of times early on, I wanted to say "Dude, you're working at a bookstore. Smart people are a dime-a-dozen here!"). But he calmed down over time, and when I realized I was exactly the same way when I was his age, I calmed down too.

Thinking about leaving Borders (And I decided yesterday that I want to be out of Borders by this time next year), I know I really will miss the people. Not everyone, of course�a lot of people at the bookstore are basically just people I see in passing, and could really care less about�but a select few that I feel a real "connection" with.

Like Katie.

Katie is too young, and too "in-a-committed relationship" for anything to happen between us, but I'm kinda "crushing" on her anyway; I think she's really cool, and we seem to get along like gangbusters, with the same sense of humor, and even similar mental defects (And its tough to find people who are at just the right level of "crazy" I can be comfortable with).

Aysia is this little slip of a girl, who weighs about 50 lbs, and would be perfect casting for a female "Artful Dodger" in an updated Oliver. And because of the way she dresses, and the lip ring, and the multiple ear piercings, I think everyone at the store was slow to realize how smart she is, and how funny, and what an altogether cool person we've got in our midst.

And unlike with Katie, who I find myself wishing was ten years older and single, I find myself feeling somewhat fatherly towards Aysia. Not like I want to tell her what to do or anything�What the fuck do I know about anything?�but in the sense that I think it would be cool if she were my kid (And that is an altogether novel feeling for me).

Well...it's shaping up to be a nice week here. The Jack-In-The-Box callback/ "avail" was a nice pick-me-up, and while the election results are pretty disappointing (Hard to cope with the fact that over half my fellow citizens are morons), I have a movie date with John O. later today, and the Chinatown outing with Tim G. and some of the other guys from work tomorrow, so at the moment, life is good.

Good enough, anyway.

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