Day Thirteen - Half Awesome, Half Not

The Awesome half was the first one, which included me getting a massage. It was amazing! The lady (her name was Jet!??!?) did a great job and I felt a ton better afterwards. The second half was not nearly as good. I'm finding more and more that I just can't get anything done at my aunt and uncle's house in Burbank. It's too bad, because it's a really convenient place to stay and much closer to most stuff than my other aunt and uncle's place. But there's just too much going on in terms of noise and distractions. With the baby, the living room, TV and kitchen all being essentially the same room where I'm staying, I just don't get any quality time to write (or do much of anything else). It's tough, because both places have their pros and cons. I have wireless internet in Burbank, while I don't at the other place. I don't have privacy here, while I do at the other house. Really, this is something I had to know coming into a situation where I wouldn't have my own place. I'm just so used to being able to get work done whenever I feel the urge, while in Burbank I have to wait for time during the day when I can go to a coffee shop or some place with internet. I mean, there are plenty worse problems to have in life, this one is just getting frustrating.

Today's friend is one from high school. I was lucky enough to see him a couple of months ago, and during that visit found out something interesting. He's always been one of the smartest people I've known (in addition to being one of the funniest), but now that he's graduated from school, he felt he needed to do something. He doesn't like what he sees going on in Afganistan and Iraq. He doesn't like seeing, as he said, "American Military personnel f%cking things up." So he is joining the army. He's going to officer training school because he wants to have a positive impact over there. He has always been one of the more aware people I've met, but I never realized he felt that much personal responsibility about this stuff. I mean, I'm as outraged as the next person about some of the things going on and I've called my representatives and congress-people, but I'm not about to join the army. I've thought about it, but it's never been much more than that. This guy comes from a very well-to-do family, he went to a good high school and an excellent college, and he could probably get a job doing what ever he wanted. Now he's putting himself into harms way, doing a pretty thankless job (yeah, you know those little ribbons don't do anything besides make you feel better, right?) that is probably a losing battle. I'm incredibly impressed by him, as I have been many times before. I'm not a big letter writer, but I'm definitely going to be writing him a lot.

And my opinion: Why do some people insist upon criticizing everything? Does it give them some sort of sick pleasure to not enjoy anything? It seems pretty backwards to me. I can't imagine how living like this must feel? What do you enjoy? What makes you feel good? If you're so busy finding flaws in everything, when you do appreciate the amazing things that happen in your life? Because guaranteed, there are amazing things happening all around you. Grrr, hehe. Anyway, that's enough, because that was a rant instead of just an opinion.

Really, though, there are amazing things happening all around you. Notice them, appreciate them, and feel good.

-D

Day Twelve - AWESOME

Today (technically yesterday now, as I'm getting home at 2:30 AM) was AWESOME. It really was. I worked out the arc for the additional three episodes of this web series I'm producing, writing and starring in, I interviewed two absolutely awesome, wonderful and interesting people for http://www.CultureSpotLA.com where I am now the resident Theater Reviewer and I went to one of the coolest events I've ever been to. It was a woman's 30th birthday party. I've never met her before tonight, but because of a story too crazy to relate here, she was sharing it with a person who is friends with a friend of mine who invited me. I hope I'm cool enough to do something like this on my 30th birthday! The idea was that she knows some very talented people, so she created a venue where they could perform and she could get all of the people in her 'circle' together to listen/watch them and celebrate with her. The guy that my friend knows adopted a dog she rescued, and it turned out there were turning 30 within a day of each other, so she invited him and his circle of friends into her circle, and she also asked everyone to invite people within their own circles (that's how I got invited) to round out the group. It was a sweet space with a bar and a stage. Things got started slowly, but once the acts started to perform, it was awesome. There were all sorts of kinds of performance, and they were all great. But mostly, the atmosphere was amazing and I can only imagine how great it felt to be the birthday girl having this all happen because of her. It was truly amazing, and I was able to do a little networking, which is never a bad thing!

Anyway, I need me some sleep, but know that today was a good one for me, and so I hope it was a good one for you!

Much love out there, and I hope you're both giving and receiving it!

-D

Day Eleven - Tangible Progress (Part Two)

Yeah, those rumblings are getting even louder! Not only do I have a project in the works that will be a huge plus for my acting career (getting into SAG), I also am reconnecting with my contact that has offered to help me out a ton with my writing career!! As far as I can tell, the biggest thing for an actor is to get into SAG (soon that will be me!!!). The biggest thing for a writer is to get a literary agent. My connection is a woman who has been writing in TV for decades and who has offered me a pretty sweet deal. I get her a spec script, and she will make her agent read it. This is big because he works at one of the big agencies, and can either bring me in to meet me if he likes it, or pass it along to somebody else who works in his office. This is my big chance as a writer. It really could be huge for me. Not only that, but she's incredibly helpful and has great advice and is willing to help me out in other ways if she can.

OK, phew. I need to take a deep breath.

Anyway, that stuff is all great, but I have to stick to what I promised I would do and talk about a friend of mine. Since I missed a day, I'm going to talk about two of them. I was conferencing with them on Skype earlier today and they are amazing. Seriously, they are at the same time witty and quick and funny as all get out, but they are also so sincere and supportive and make me feel so good about myself. I only hope that I can reciprocate as a friend. They are quick to make cracks when I let my guard down, but even faster to offer their support and their congratulations when I make progress or attain even the slightest success. They make me want to better myself, and I think that's something the three of us share. We three have been through a lot together, failed relationships, great successes, ridiculous shenanigans and all sorts of things in between. They aren't afraid to criticize my choices when they think I'm doing something wrong, while also offering solutions. They are great sounding boards because they aren't the kinds of friends that are blind to flaws, mistakes or poor quality in something I've written or made. They are the perfect balance of skeptical and supportive, which I will eternally value them for. Also, they're effing awesome.

Todays opinion is not earth shattering, but really an observation: I really like driving in the rain. Today was a very rainy day here in Los Angeles (and still is), and goodness did I enjoy driving in it! People are a little less crazy on the roads, which is nice, and there's something about the sound of pouring rain that is both so soothing and interesting. I don't know what it is about it, but I really enjoy the feeling of driving in the rain. Also, windshield wipers are nice.

I hope you have someone in your life that makes you as happy as the people in mine make me! And if not, go out and find one. Or two! Or even more!!!

And if you find me, I've got a hug waiting for you (that's soon to be a SAG-Eligible hug)

-D

Day Eleven - Tangible Progress

You hear that sounds? That's the sound of rumblings. Positive rumblings...for me! I've made some good connections that are paying off. I've got a project in the works that will give me a chance to get my writing out into the world, my acting out into the world, some experience producing and possibly directing and editing, and will get me SAG-Eligible, WHICH IS AMAZING. The old catch-22 out here in LA is you can't get work unless you're in an acting union and you can't get into a union unless you're getting work. Well I'm about to break into that cycle, and I should learn a lot about the business while doing it. Also, I think with the people I'm getting involved I will be able to get a ton of people to see this. It's going to be a five episode web series. I've written the first episode and I'm working on cranking out the other four right now. I'm going to star in it alongside one of my new friends, and some other people I know (and don't know) will be appearing in each episode. It's going to be very small budget, but it should look and sound very good. Also, the people who have signed on thus far have really liked my script, which is exciting!

This post won't be a full one, so I'll add a second post today later. I've just got stuff I need to be working on!

Day Nine - My Rapidly Receding Wallet Line

I GOT MY CAR BACK!!! Unfortunately, I owed nearly $800 after all the repairs. Balls. That's a lot. Anyway, to counter my frustrations about my car, I had an awesome conversation with a new friend over coffee at a pretty snazzy Coffee Shop in Toluca Lake. He was really helpful and gave me some great advice and ideas about how to progress in my career as an actor. He also volunteered to show me around to some cool places around LA, to help me out with a little project I'm going to do, and to answer any other questions I have for him. What a nice guy!

Anyway, today I'm going to quickly mention a friend of mine who I'm not super close to, but is a true inspiration. I've even written a character based off of him in one of my screenplays! Anyway, he is doing what he loves, and trying to change the world while he does it. I envy his drive and determination. He is producing a series of videos about some of the people he has encountered in his life who are amazing in various ways, trying to change the world, or just really interesting. He has managed to make some awesome discoveries as a part of this series, and I really hope he continues to do it forever. He will eventually be moving out to LA, and I'm excited to get to know him better once he does. He is one of the most amazing people I've ever met. Today he came out with the fifth installment of this series and it was inspirational once again. He really is the man. And this is one of those times where not mentioning peoples names is really tough, because I want every single one of you to go out and watch his videos. Oy, sticking to my own guidelines is tough!

And finally, my opinion today is about soup. SOUP IS AWESOME! It really is. You can put just about anything in it, you can make a billion different varieties, and it's not too hard to make. I mean both canned soup, and making your own from scratch (or buying a broth, which definitely saves some time). It's delicious, it lasts and it is great in the winter months when it gets chilly after the sun sets.

You, YES YOU! You are awesome. Probably...

-D

Day Eight - Handling Frustration

Today has been a very frustrating day! Gah! OK, I got that out. Now I think most people who know me would say that I'm generally pretty even keeled and that I handle frustration and sticky situations well, but I'm finally giving in to a little frustration. I'm allowed to do that, right? And I figure who better than to vent to than all of my very sympathetic imaginary readers (except for the one really cynical and unsympathetic one that I imagine commenting on each post...)?

So over the weekend the 'check engine' light came on in the car that I purchased from my Aunt and Uncle on the first of the month. They had it looked at by the dealership they bought it from before they sold it to me and it came back clean. Now for the record, I take excellent care of my vehicles. The one I've been driving for the past year and a half never needed a single bit of service beyond annual maintenance. So when the check engine light came on, I was already a little frustrated. See, because I bought the car from my Aunt and Uncle--people that I trust quite a bit--I didn't have it inspected myself, which I absolutely would have done if I was buying it from someone I didn't know. So I take it in very early this morning and drop it off for them to do diagnostics. Now, I'm told it'll be a couple of hours before they can fit it in (despite calling the day before to make an appointment), so I go walk the 7 or 8 blocks to my gym. I do an intense workout, hit the Glendale Galleria, have a healthy-ish breakfast, buy some stuff I need (including some very manly soaps) and then head back. By this time, it's 11, so I sit down...for an hour. I finally talk to the guy who has been helping me (and he's a nice guy who has now comp-ed me things twice, so I don't blame him) and it turns out the light came on because of a faulty gas cap, which is an easy and inexpensive fix...then he gives me the bad news: There are two other things that they found while inspecting the car that are costly and necessary. OY! OK, one of them is covered under the warrantee that is still on the car, but the more expensive of the two isn't. The estimate came to more than $500. Balls. OK, now I'm frustrated, especially because I had already worked out, which would have easily eased my frustration! Doubly frustrating!

So now, the guy tells me he's very sorry and comps me the rental car so I can get home, get showered, eat some lunch and not waste the rest of my day walking around Glendale in my workout clothes, so that was nice. And the guy who helped me at Enterprise was nice has a girlfriend who is an acting coach out here that I'm going to look up. So maybe it wasn't a total waste. And I get to put a few miles on a car that isn't mine, which feels good (yeah, I have no problem gunning a rental car, hehe!). Also, I tried to spend the time with cell-phone service well and I'm getting coffee with a new friend tomorrow, I'm hanging out with another friend of mine on Thursday, and I'm finally getting back in touch with my Indie-director friend who I met over Twitter who is awesome (http://www.AngeloBell.com). That'll be nice, and a good chance for me to spend a little more time on the South-side of things.

Anyway, today ended up probably ending up for the best (except, of course, for my cashflow). I'm trying to put myself out there a little bit more, and I'm starting to get extra-serious about figuring out what I'm going to do about money once my savings (not my whole savings, just the money I saved up to come out here) runs out. That's definitely a good thing.

And now for todays opinion (it's themed): Don't do business with family. Not because they're untrustworthy, seedy, deceptive or deceitful--though or course they can be--but because business needs to be done without emotion or feelings, and it's tough to eliminate those from dealings with your family members. For example, I should have taken the car to get inspected myself, which is exactly what I did the last time I bought a used car. Not that my Aunt and Uncle deceived me, they definitely didn't. But I would have been much more uptight about the state of the car before buying it if it hadn't been from them. I trusted them and still do, but personal-trust and business-trust (or lack thereof) are two very different beasts.

And finally, I'm going to impart a little technique I learned about happiness to you. It works for me, and I learned it from the brilliant Stephen Fry. Every morning, I look in the morning and say, 'I am beautiful.' So tomorrow morning, I want you to wake up (PLEASE WAKE UP!?!?!?!), look at yourself in the mirror and say, 'David is beautiful.'

-D

Day Seven - Back On Track?

Could this be it? Could my late night push have gotten me back on track writing-wise? I certainly hope so. I stayed up last night and finally gave what I hope will be the final push on my Spec Script that has been difficult for me to finish for a while now. I may need to add a page to it still because all my editing ended up shortening it a little bit, but I think it's still about right proper length. Also, I finally like it, which is an improvement! And not only that, but I feel like writing for the rest of the day! While I love writing and I like doing it, I haven't felt the urge to spend an entire day writing for a while, so this is an excellent development! But first, I have to babysit.

The friend that I will be talking about today is currently in Germany being awesome. She is a funny, talented lady who is fulfilling some of her major goals by going to Europe alone and figuring out what she's doing and traveling all by herself. It's her plan to help her become a very self-sufficient and independent woman. Well, she already was that, so it's good that she's finding that out for herself. But more importantly is a lesson she is learning that I understand completely: That being independent is great, but it is also important to surround yourself with people that encourage you, challenge you and support you in the best ways possible. In her blog (and also in conversation) she has said that being away from her friends and being independent has made her realize just how much she loves her friends and enjoys depending on them. Well I'm feeling the same way, and that is a big step for me. Hearing her say that she has realized that she is OK with needing her friends has made me realize it too. For a long time I had an aversion to depending on other people, but I'm beginning to see it the way she does. I do need my friends, and I'm just fine with saying that now. The both of us have come a long way, and I'm very proud to say that she is my friend, and I'm very excited for her to come back to the States. And to me! I miss my friends.

Snacking is wonderful. I love snacking so much. I'm very good at it, you see. I can just snack and snack and snack to no end. But of course, I shouldn't. I should eat less and smaller portions and healthier foods. But that's no fun! Where's the fun in eating sweet potato fries, when normal fries are SO MUCH BETTER?!? I mean, I do it. I've been trying to be healthier, but I seem to constantly be craving the most terrible-but-delicious foods that I can think of. Gaaahhh. Why can't the healthy foods taste better? And why can't the delicious foods taste worse? And no, bacon flavored tofu tastes nothing like real bacon. Really, any flavoring added to tofu isn't as good as the real thing. Pain in my ass, if you ask me. But then again, I just did get a compliment on looking like I was in better shape, so I guess I have to keep at it...feh.

I hope your day is splendid and that you get a chance to smile a lot!

-D

Day Six - Living Situation

I cannot wait for June. In June, I will finally be moving into a place of my own (with people, but my own place). The current plan of couch hopping is beginning to become difficult for me. I have been living it other peoples houses since August, and really even longer than that. I am finally getting very ready for my own place. A place where I can control when there's noise and when there isn't. A place where I have some say in how things are organized and where things go. I need a little of that in my life. But for now, I'll have to be satisfied with controlling my schedule and sticking to my workout and writing plan. I got back to the gym today, after not going for a week, so that's good news!

Speaking of couch hopping, I've got a friend who has been doing that for a while now. He is really impressive. I don't think of myself as a very materialistic person, but he makes me realize just how much stuff I have. He doesn't have a car, and yet he has been able to figure out how to bounce around from friends house to friends house with all or nearly all his belongings. I can't even comprehend doing that and I do have a car. He has figured out exactly what he needs and doesn't accumulate things that don't fit in with his plan. I need to learn to live more like that. I think it would help me with my couch hopping and maybe make me feel a little better about the next couple of months.

Basketball isn't fun for me to watch any more. You know why? It's all the dunking. Weird, right? That's what most people like to see. But it doesn't do it for me. It makes the game less interesting and less team-based, which is why I watch it. It's the reason I now prefer watching women's college basketball to men's. Unless it's my team playing (Go Buffs!), I don't really care about the men's college game. Unless I have the opportunity to see a game in "The Pit" in Albuquerque again. That place is AWESOME! It's the arena that the UNM Lobos play in and it is one of the loudest places I've ever seen a sporting event. Crazy! Anyway, the thing that might fix the sport for me would be raising the basket. That would cut down on the dunking and make people play good fundamentally sound basketball again. That would make me very happy.

Hey you. Yeah you! You are awesome. Thanks for taking the time to read this.

-D

Day Five - Mind The Gap

Is today Day five or is it day three? It's entry number three, but I skipped a couple of days...oops!

First comes the opinion: If aliens existed and decided to come to Earth, do you really think they'd be trying to colonize it for resources? There aren't all that many resources left. At no point in history were there fewer resources than there are now.

So, I spent all yesterday evening looking at pictures of myself (before you ask what makes me that vain, I was looking at headshots and trying to choose the best few) and it started to freak me out a little bit. Now, nobody's face is perfectly symmetrical, but after staring at photos of mine, the asymmetrical-ness of it appeared to get worse and worse. By the end of the night, I felt like I was looking at a portrait of myself painted by Dali or Picasso. It was more than a little unnerving! The rest of the day will be spent cutting down the 35 that I've chosen to between 5 and 8 to send back to the photographer. He'll then fix them up and I can start printing headshots! That means I'll be able to start submitting myself for auditions and to agents! WooHoo!!!

Today's person is my Sister. She's a badass. She doesn't know exactly what she wants to do in life, but she's kicking butt at figuring it out. She keeps finding things she loves without meaning to. She now works with primates in a Brain and Cognitive Sciences lab, which is not at all what she thought she'd be doing. She has discovered that she loves it and while she doesn't know where it will lead, she is excited to find out. Before I knew what I was doing with my life, I floundered for a while, but she never seemed to run into that problem. She was able to just seamlessly slide into a different life path without any consternation or confusion. That's impressive!

Today, we'll see if I can get the energy up to work out. I've been having issues with that, but I need to get over it and just do it! Hopefully you are having a splendid day filled with sunshine (unless you're in LA with me...) and awesomeness!

Day Two - Late In The Day

Hello imaginary readers! I got a bit of a late start to my day today. People less than five months old like waking up and making lots of noise early in the mornings, so yours truly didn't sleep particularly well. But I need to be an adult and not let that ruin my day. So, I'm just going to have to be extra-productive this afternoon and tonight. I was invited to see a movie that I really want to see, but I think I'm going to be responsible and try to finish up this pesky script instead. Also, I need to get to the post office and work out. I think I'll do an evening or nighttime trip to the gym instead.

I was just talking to one of my good friends who is currently in England. She is the person who's virtues and awesomeness I'll extoll in the post today. She is sick right now, which is too bad because she's a very active person. But she managed to find the silver lining of being ill. I'm not sure how, but she did and hearing her talk about it actually made me feel better. There are theories that forcing yourself to smile will make you happier and that forcing laughter will cheer you up. Perhaps finding the silver linings of bad situations is what makes them easier to handle and overcome? And by 'perhaps', I mean she is a shining example of this. People like her make me try to be more positive and happier about things. Which is good, because it's something I always need to work on!

And my opinion today comes from the movies. What's with the "action hero voice" for male actors nowadays? The most ridiculous example I've seen recently of this was Adrian Brody in Predators (a mistake, but I was certainly hoping it would be good). He had an absolutely silly and preposterous deep, scratchy voice that you could tell was very difficult for him to keep up for the whole film (and I use the word 'film' quite wrongly). It was awful. As someone who is trying to be an actor, I of course can do the ridiculous, scratchy, faux action-star voice (because lets face it, you get good money for playing those parts), but it isn't something I pride myself on being able to do. Because what's the point? It's not intimidating, it's comical, and frankly that's the reason I worked on the voice, because it's effing hilarious! And the best part is using to say incredibly mundane or non-badass things like, "I need three loaves of bread and some margarine," or "I've got a rash behind my ear that won't go away." Think Christian Bale's Batman voice. Just silly and ridiculous. But I guess people need some way of distinguishing the hero/badass from just another guy. But isn't figuring it out half the fun? I guess not...

I hope your night goes well, imaginary readers, and I hope that you have love abounding in your life!

Day One - The New Plan

Today is a Tuesday. Since moving to LA, my Tuesdays have included working out in the mornings, as have my Thursdays and Sundays. Well I missed this past Sunday and I'm not going to work out today. Instead, I'm going to work on creating a schedule that includes working out at least 5 days/week, plus writing goals and mini personal deadlines. Also, I really, really need to finish a Spec Script I've been working on for a while. It needs to be done and I'm not quite there yet, which has been frustrating. It has to be perfect, and I feel like I'm no longer a good judge of that with this script. But I have to be, so today will be spent finishing it and making it amazing!

Person of the day: There is a person in my life who just interviewed to be a Weight Watchers Guide. She has been a member for some time and has enjoyed the organization and their ideals and methods. This job would mean she leads meetings, gives advice, counsels and...well, guides people in their quest for healthy and happy weight loss. It's a job she's perfect for, as she has been through the process, and because she has been doing the same for me. I have very unhealthy eating habits and she has done wonders in changing the way I think about eating, snacking and how I feel about myself. She's a big part of the reason why I am now exercising regularly, among other things. I am hoping that she hears back from them soon and they've got space for her! She is quite an inspiration.

OK, now for an opinion. WHY THE HELL ARE PAINTINGS OF FRUIT SO DAMN POPULAR!?!?!? I understand landscapes, portraits, abstract stuff, flowers, cityscapes, blank canvases, really short people, dogs, paintings of paintings, religious imagery, non-religious imagery, imaginary imagery, things that are way over there, very large objects, paintings that look like maps, doorways, walkways, sideways, billiards, balls, billiard balls, me, you (imaginary readers...), that one guy, Queen Elizabeth, any other Queen, Princes, Kings, Princesses, children of rich people, ugly children of rich people, beautiful children of not-so-rich people, Italy, most anywhere else, just about anything...but FRUIT?!?!

This must be a plot by fruit-growers everywhere to get people thinking about consuming their (delicious, yes) products. Why do I want to look at a painting of apples, when I could just go look in the fruit bowl in the kitchen?!? And pears? You know what? I think they look WAY better in person! I guess I appreciate the ability to capture the essence of fruit on canvas...wait, the essence of fruit? What the HELL does that mean? The essence of fruit would just be sugary fruit juice! And frankly, paintings of fruit are nothing more than tree-porn. Yes. You heard it here first, folks. All you collectors of fruit paintings are contributing to the pornography problem that our fruit-bearing trees have. Not only are they spilling their seed EVERYWHERE, but we collect it and then paint it?!? If we did that to human "seed" you would all be mortified! Why is it any different with the trees? I say it isn't. So, who's with me in protesting fruit-paintings...

Anyway, I hope this post finds you well, my lovely imaginary readers. It is a dreary day here in Los Angeles, the first since I arrived. I hope if the sun isn't shining down upon you, your heart is shining brightly enough to light your way.

-David

Lets Start Over, Shall We?

Hello everyone! I know I'm not speaking to anyone because it's been a very long time since my last post. But I want to tell you--the imaginary reader of this blog--what my new plan for it will be.

I'm going to post something on here everyday. Not only will I post something EVERY DAY, I will post something that includes the following elements:

• Something about my plans for the day. CAVEAT: I don't want any imaginary readers following me around so it won't be specific locations and times (yeah...read that again and tell me I don't have some issues...). It will be goals that relate to writing/acting/self-improvement/changing the world/etc...
• I will share an opinion I have. It may be a strong one, or just a simple statement that I feel I need to make. I'm not always great at expressing my opinions, so this should help.
• I will be positive. I was once given good advice (and through research I've found it to be quite true): People won't like or continue to read what you've written if you don't give them hope. I like that.
• I have some spectacularly AWESOME people in my life, so I will share one cool/interesting/inspirational thing about one of them (anonymously) each day.
• Make you, the imaginary reader, laugh. "This should be easy", you say (or I imagine you say...). Well, my imagination is incredibly underdeveloped, so making my imaginary readers laugh is actually quite a task! (Again, I fear this all may end up in a case file in some Sanitarium...do they still have Sanitariums...? Imagine not having to cook or clean ever again...)

So this is the beginning, once again. Hello there! Nice to meet you! I'm David and tomorrow I will be adding my first post that fits all of those criteria. Get ready, because this is going to be...bloggish? I don't know. It will certainly be something! ...I hope