2:15 pm - Tues 5/2/06
\"Yes, Thank You\"

(Note to Gail: I'd love to get together with you for lunch or something on or around the date of my birth this month. For the record, ever since you moved to Cali, I've been hoping you'd have business that would bring you to L.A. before too long.)

Well, while there haven't been any big changes in my situation, a few nice little things have happened that have made me feel better...

For example, there have been some more gifts from the "giveaway area" in the lobby of my building.

A day or two ago, someone apparently moving out left three bags of stuff, from which I grabbed coffee, Coffee-mate a box of tea bags, a bag of Sugar In The Raw packets, two boxes of Healthy Harvest whole wheat pasta, and some Florida's Natural "Fruit Juice Nuggets".

And today, there were two Babylon 5 mass-market paperbacks (Not something I would have sought out on my own, mind you--I've never seen the tv show--but in this post-Borders era, I'll take whatever free reading matter I can get).

There's not much I like better than free stuff.

Another reason I'm feeling a little better is that my last casting workshop (With Matt Kane, from the office that casts Scrubs), and the last week of my comedy class (With Nick Anderson, from the My Name Is Earl casting office) both went very well.

(This is in contrast to the previous week, when I'd hoped a workshop and the comedy class would lift my spirits, but they ended up making me feel a little worse.)

After the Matt Kane workshop, Stacy M., one of the regulars, was very effusive about how great I was in my scene (As a sarcastic homeless guy).

And she said something that really boosted my spirits--"I don't know if I'd want to do a scene with you, cause every time you go up to do a scene with someone, the casting person never takes their eyes off you".

Now, while I took that compliment with a grain of salt--because of my age and appearance, there are a number of really good people I never get paired with at these things (Stacy M, for example)--I was nevertheless pleased to think I still have "that certain something" (An "X Factor", if you will)that makes me compelling to watch.

(And that's the thing that gives me hope--If I'm "compelling to watch" in front of enough casting people, and I can just stick it out, and be the "Yes, Thank You" guy Nick talked about, I'm bound to break through.)

Speaking of Nick, the last week of my comedy class went very well.

He'd given us scenes the previous week, as kind of a "final exam"; we'd have all week to work on them, so he could see how we'd be able to apply what he'd taught.

And while this didn't work out as well as he'd hoped--We ended week four with about half the people we'd started with, so four of us had to be paired up with people who hadn't had the scenes for the previous week--he had nothing but praise for what I did (As a "stiff" out on a date, who tells the restaraunt it's his date's birthday--it isn't--in order to score free dessert).

I enjoyed being praised for what I'd done, and coming off well in front of the group.

That was nice, but what was really important this time out was that I wasn't any happier with this scene than I'd been the previous week. This time, though, I kept my mouth shut, did what I could with it, and made it work.

I didn't complain. I didn't explain.

Yes, thank you.

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