Spays Invaydrz!!!1!!!11!1!!

So apparently a meteor burned through the midwest the other day.

No lie. It's on CNN. Check it out.

I'm telling you: Interstellar war willt ake care of our economic problems. We'll be too busy fighting off aliens to worry about trifles like health care and Isalmic terrorists in Iraq. Maybe if we get really lucky, we'll even jank their technology so we can finally colonize the stars! Just like in Firefly! Because who doesn't want to cruise the galaxy speaking random Cantonese instead of curse words? I know I do!

In all seriousness though, I was just amused by the reports of a meteor landing in the midwest. Maybe one of those freaky sci-fi movies about aliens crash landing and taking over our planet will be accurate. Maybe not. Who knows?

Oh. And one more thing: We haz spays invaydrz!!!!1!!!!!111!1!11!!

Lessons in Talent Finding

The last couple of days have been fairly eventful.

It all starts with me finding a talent pool company - because they are not a talent agency, they claim - on the web. after searching for talent agencies, mind you. so I find the company, check out the website, tour around it a little and I decide, on a whim, to give them my name and some basic info, becuase what's the harm, right? I mean, it's a legitimate company and they're based in New York. Maybe they'll pour over their submissions and call me back in a week or so.

Three hours later, I get a phone call asking to set up an interview at their offices in New York. I set up a time, wait for the day, and drive myself into the big city for the first time ever on my lonesome. Bully for me! When I get there - very early, too - I find out that it wasn't an interveiw so much as a cattle call. I am surrounded by dozens of other would-be actors or advertising models who are all looking for the same thing: easy money and a foot in the door to the entertainment industry.

I go through the 5 minute interview - not so much an interview as a snap-shot and glance over - and get a call back. I think, Cool; they like me.

I just got back from this second interview. Let me tell you what i learned:

1. Never park in Manhattan. It's bloody expensive and not worth it. Just take the train and walk or subway wherever you need to go.
2. Peak hours for the train - because it changes the fare - are between 4PM and 7PM Monday thru Friday.
3. No Talent Agency worth your time asks fro $500 up front with a monthly fee of $40 to keep your name current and in the open.

These are all valuable lessons to learn, because i now realize that to really get into acting, I need to actually be in or much closer to NYC for me to be able to get the contacts I'd need to start. The place didn't seem shady at all, but they wanted I cannot and will not provide. I am talent - to a degree - and I should not have to pay any agency for the right to be presented. Granted, if all they wanted was the $40 a month to look for jobs for me, I probably would pay it, because I can afford something like that. Not really, but I could swing it.

What chaps my hide the most is the fact that they wanted $500 to throw together a composite card - like a resume and headshot, but for a model - for me which I could make myself in about an hour. To their credit, they were not pushy or trying to sell me the idea. I applaud them for it. But I still feel like I would have been taken advantage of if I had agreed to their ridiculous terms.

Now, I've learned my lesson. Time to put it into practice!

-S.

Snow Day

Today is a day that shall live in infamy. A day that shall be remembered.

Today was a snow day.

So I wake up at about 7 AM this morning to a phone call from my manager at work and she tells me, "Hey Steve. guess what? We're closed today! Have a nice weekend!"

You can imagine the elation I felt at hearing these words, but mostly it was a kind of relaxed numbing feeling you get when you realize that you can actually sleep for a bit longer and you won't be penalized for it. I put my phone down, leaned back, and collapsedblissfully back into my snuggly warm blankets and pillows and resumed sleep mode.

Then i realized - once I had woken up for real - that I would have to be shoveling out the walkway and the drive way today once the snow tapers off a bit more.

Pros: Extra sleep, still in my pajamas, decent amount of time to relax this morning, no work, excersise.

Cons: Shoveling cold wet piles of snow, physical exertion, home-locked for the rest of the day with my sister.

Price for everything I suppose.

-S.

Update: Progress

First off, I start running/walking next week. About 2 miles five days a week if I can manage it. I'm not looking for stamina so much as activity to help burn the excess calories floating around in my system. Working over the summer forced me to eat less while working more, so I lost a lot of weight that way. Now, I lead a much more sedantary lifestyle. No hard work every day and less of a limitation on my food intake. So, I'm walking. A lot. I've got music and I've got a jacket, so unless the weather really sucks, I'm going for a walk after work.

I started doing push-ups every morning before my shower as well. Not much progress there. I can't do a real push-up so I've been leaning against the edge of my bed. Don't laugh, because it just shows how weak my arms really are, but I started at about ten and now, after a week or so, i can do about fifteen before my arms fold. I'm keeping it simple and I'm not pushing myself too much, but I am making a little progress.

I talked to an Air Force recruiter the other day. He said that apart from my body weight I shouldn't have a problem joining. Just get the weight down and then come back was the gist of what he said. Hence the walking mentioned above.

Self-Improvement is coming slowly. I'm working on my vices and putting them in check. It's tough, tougher than I think most people realize, but I can say that I feel empathy for quitting smokers. I feel your pain, people!

Girlfriends are merely fanciful imaginings for me. I'm too shy to actually ask a girl out. But I am undaunted. I will make an effort as I'm making an effort in everything I'm doing right now.

Each day I try to take a little more thought into my decisions when they really matter. I mean, I can't just barrel through life like I used to. I have to wait and plan and be patient and all of that hinges on thinking before I act. Living wisely is about the same as it was before, but I'm not quite as rash as I used to be, I think. Could be wrong though.

Well, I've got to do things my own way, even that means doing them the hard way. What can I say? I'm a glutton for punishment.

Here I am in 2010.

-S.

Ring Out, Crazy Bells!

In lieu of an actual Merry Christmas message to y'all, my dear friends and readers that I might not actually know, I'm combining a late cheer with an early wish.

First off, I hope everyone had a nice Christmas with family and friends all around and good food on your table. Even if you didn't what you wanted, it doesn't matter because it's who gave it to you that's really important. People talk about the giving and receiving of gifts like it's the gift that's important. It's really the people that are important. Who you give the gift to and who gives you a gift. The gift matters little. So I hope you got from whom you wanted and gave to whom you needed. To all of you, a very Merry Christmas!

Now for New Years'...

This past year has been crazy! For one thing, I started blogging. I mean, how crazy is that? I've grown up, grown apart and grown closer in a whole variety of ways. Those in the know, know, and those not in the know are going to stay that way. Discretion is, after all, the better part of valor. I've started a career in theatre that seems to have fizzled a little, but is not without promise, I hope. I've lost touch with some of my good friends from SVU and I've reunited with a couple of friends from high school. I've missed three weddings, attended no funerals - thank God! - seen one birth, heard of at least six engagements in as many months, loved, laughed, wept and danced.

I've tried new things, ended old things, tossed out the garbage of my life, and shuffled things around to see if the new arrangement is to my liking. For the most part, it's not, but it's livable for the moment.

The biggest thing I can say is that I have grown some. Maybe not much, maybe not even enough, but I've grown. I'm getting better at identifying who my friends are and who's just there when it works. And always, my family has been at my back, giving me an anchor to the ground.

New Year's Resolutions:

1. Lose weight. I don't want to be a twig, but I do want to lose my gut.
2. Get in shape. I want to be better and improving my body is one way to do it.
3. Find a girlfriend. I know what love is like for me now. Sort of. I just need to find the right girl for it now.
4. Improve my vices. Everyone has them and mine need a lot of work.
5. Live wisely. Each year should be a little better than the last one I think.

We'll see if I can't get all these accomplished before the end of next year.

For the first two, I plan - if something else doesn't crop up soon - on joining one of the branches of the Armed Forces. I was thinking Air Force or Navy, but I went through Army JROTC, so we shall have to see. Basic will take care of the first two resolutions naturally and hopefully the third will happen with little help from me. The fourth will be a work in progress. I have good days and bad days and I'm going to try and make all of them good. The last resolution is something I'm going to be continuously working on. We're here to learn and to prove ourselves, so I'm going to do the best I can.

I hope to see you all on the Journey with me! Any trip is better with friends, just on general principal. And the greatest trip of all should be made surrounded by friends and family. You need to know where you've been, even if you don't know precisely where you're going or why.

Ring Out, Crazy Bells! Let the Old Year pass and the New Year arrive!

Cheers to all of you!

-S.

Departing Soon

I'm sick of boredom. I need to do something more exciting with my life. I'm young. I'm relatively smart. I have a bachelor's degree. I've got to do something.

So pay attention fellow passengers, because I'm going to be heading out again, and this time, there won't be any going back!

-S.

Me & A Mouse

I love Disney World. As a kid, I remember my whole family piling into our sweet Starcraft van and traveling down to Disney World in 20 hours or less. I think our family record is 18 hours one way.

Granted, fmaily vacations usually end with everyone on slightly terse terms with everyone else and some kind of new drama to keep things interesting and lesser feuds going. yes, there is a scale for feuds. Greater Feud is accesible only after the 6th spellcaster level and affects 9HD Humanoids, while Lesser Feud is accessible at the 3rd spellcaster level and affects only two Humanoids. Yes, I tottally just created a spell from DnD for my blog. Does that make me pathetic?

Well, yes, but pathetic is such a strong word...

Anyway, I haven't been to the World in years and as it turns out, the family and I are going down for Thanksgiving this year. Can I say excited as hell?? I think I can! And complete the emotion with a happy dance of joy. Look out for the happy dance. It is contagious like Swine Flu.

Come Friday, I will be on the road. Come Saturday, I will be in Florida and ejoying the Holidays with my Family in the Happiest Place on Earth!

So, because I won't have access to a computer until after the Vacation is over, Happy Thanksgiving to all you readers out there!

-S.