Trouble Sleeping

Ever since moving into my apartment, it takes me at least 30 minutes to fall asleep each night. My usual schedule is working at Hollywood Video 4 or 5 days a week from late afternoon to 1:30 am. I get home, catch up on a few websites, then head to bed around 2 or 2:30. I think the reason I can't fall asleep each night is because I have so much on my mind. I fall asleep thinking about the past, present and future. The reality sets in that I live in Los Angeles, California and there's so much up in the air about my future including getting a car, a possible job at Universal Studios, getting an agent, and my career as an actor. I know it sounds cliche, but it's a bit puzzling that every single night it's the same. On to the details...

The most troubling stresser on my mind is money. I need a second job really bad, and more importantly, I need a car of my own. In good news, my brother Seth is hoping to get a job in the next week. However, that means he will now be using his car for work and I'll need a car of my own. Since I'm tight on money right now, I asked my brother Noah if I could borrow money from him and he graciously obliged. So, I'll be on the search for a car of my own in the next week and hopefully I'll find a decent one soon.

Next, my friend Kelly got information on Universal Studios and the interview/audition is this coming Friday. If it goes well, I'll get a second audition, and if all goes as planned, I'll be hired and have 3 weeks of training and work there half the week and Hollywood Video the other half. I think it would be a good fit for me and most importantly I'd be working full time between the two jobs.

Also thanks to Kelly, she has spoken to her current agent about possibly getting me an interview with her and she said yes! Tentatively, the interview is this coming Wednesday and in a perfect world I'll get signed. She's mostly a commercial agent so I'd be auditioning for commercials and hopefully work myself up to tv and film. I'm really excited about getting the opportunity to have an interview with an agent. Out here, you can't land many auditions without one, so it would be a huge blessing if I could get signed with her. I'll have a monologue ready to perform and also my resume, head shots, and other pertinent information. I realize that nothing is for sure out here, so if I don't get signed, I'll just count my losses and move on to finding another one.

Other than that, I spend most of my days surfing the net, reading, blogging, watching movies from Hollywood Video, going out to an occasional movie, and writing movie reviews of my own. One book in particular that is a great read and I think a must have for actors in LA is "Acting is Everything: An Actor's Guidebook For A Successful Career In Los Angeles". It's basically an advanced "how-to" acting book for actors in LA. It has everything and anything one would want to know from agents, resumes, headshots, resources, etc. and I highly recommend it to any aspiring actor.

A lot is going to happen in the next week.

Movie Reviews of the Day:

What's Eating Gilbert Grape - 3.5 stars

Pride and Prejudice - 4.5 stars

Don Juan DeMarco - 3 stars

...And Justice For All - 4 stars

There Will Be Blood - 4.5 stars

LA - The Search for a Job

Right away, Seth and I realized we had to get jobs as soon as possible. So, we spent tons of time driving around, scouting the area for possible jobs. Seth is a writer and would preferably like to get a journalism job or something along those lines, considering he spent years as an editor for a newspaper in North St. Paul. Myself, I would prefer to get a serving job and some kind of job with movies like at a movie theatre or a movie rental store. So, I applied everywhere I could: Blockbuster, Hollywood Video, 2 Movie Theatres, 3 restaurants, Best Buy, Borders, Gamestop, Starbucks, 2 sandwhich shops, Sears, Target, and a store called Toy Mandala.

Unfortunately, Seth and I realized that we moved here at a very inopportune time: right around Christmas. None of the places that Seth and I applied to were hiring because they had just done their holiday hiring, and the ones that were hiring wouldn't call us back. I tried calling every place and being persistent with them, but nothing came of it. Finally, Blockbuster said they were hiring at a different location so I called them, and they told me they would call me back after reviewing my application... but never did. I had this happen at many other places and unfortunately nothing came of it.


Finally, after calling Hollywood Video, I was granted an interview with the store manager. The interview was very simple and I was hired on the spot. The pay wasn't great, but at least it was a job and something that I would be interested in doing. So, I went to their Hollywood location for training, then started working a couple days after that. I've been working at Hollywood Video for about a month now. It's a decent enough job. I love being able to rent movies for free and talking movies with people. My co-workers for the most part are ok. It gets tedious however having people younger than me as shift leaders and bossing me around. But... so is life. It's also an interesting environment because only 3 people that work at the store (including me) are white. It's very diverse and I like the change from being in the majority. Also, the customers that rent from Hollywood Video are mostly low-income hispanic families and with that comes a lot of difficulty/hassle/theft (no racism intended, just observation). It's a very high stress job, but I love working with people and movies, so it's not that bad. The big drawback to the job however is that Hollywood Video filed for Chapter 11 (which basically means they could go bankrupt any moment). Many locations have been closing down across the U.S. and I'm hoping that ours isn't anytime soon.

Seth's job search hasn't gone as well. He's been searching vigorously every day for the past month, had a few interviews, but nothing has come from it. In fairness, he's searching for a more prestigous job that than the crappy one's I was looking for. Hopefully something will come soon. The only nice thing that comes from him not having a job right now is that I can use his car to get to and from work, since I don't have a car yet myself. I only get around 22-24 hours a week at Hollywood Video, so I've been searching for a second job but there has been no luck yet. I had an interview with Starbucks, but nothing came from it. I would really like to serve on the side because it would make me the most money, but no one is hiring. Alternatively I'd love to work at a movie theatre, and one is actually hiring, but they require that I work at both their locations, with one of them being in Hollywood (way too far to drive for a part-time job).

Finally, my friend Kelly told me recently that Universal Studio is hiring in about 2 weeks for tour guides. Kelly is a tour guide herself and she says I should definitely go for it. It includes rigorous training where you have to memorize a lot of information and a script for your tours, but includes nice benefits like private screenings for Universal releases, and an actor's showcase each year where agents and managers attend. The pay isn't great, but it sounds like a job that I would be good at, so here's hoping.

Reviews of the Day:
La Vie en Rose - 4 stars
The Fountain - 4 stars

LA - The Search for an Apartment

Seth and I took off for Los Angeles early in the morning knowing that we had another 340 miles to cover. The drive south was rather unenventful, but reality slowly settled in the closer we got. It was fun driving by all the wine vineyards and it instantly reminded me of the film Sideways. Using our mapquest directions, we had little difficulty finding Van Nuys, one of the cities within Los Angeles that one of my friends, Maggie had already found an apartment. One of the things that my uncle explained to me about Los Angeles is that it is HUGE. Everything is called the Greater Los Angeles Area and is very spread out, consisting of many cities within the area, unlike most big cities that is more centrally located.

Prior to driving down to LA, Seth and I had done a ton of research on apartments available in the central area of LA and we had many apartments to look at. We spent the entire day trying to look at apartments and one thing became instantly clear: people in LA are very lazy and do not return your calls. Out of all the places that we wanted to look at, we only ended up looking at like 2 the entire day. Unfortunately the rest of search yielded the same results. After the first day not bringing much luck, Seth and I stayed with my friend Alicia in Santa Clarita, a suburb north of LA. We awoke refreshed the next day and continued our search. After scouting the area some more, and meeting up with another close friend of mine, Kelly, Seth and I became more frustrated with our lack of results. We also came to the realization that we would probably save more money by looking at one bedroom apartments instead of 2 bedroom ones. Again, we stayed with Alicia and set out the next day.

While finally being able to find some more apartments within our price range and in the area we wanted, we faced a wall. Not a single place would let us sign a lease because we were both unemployed. On one side of the fench, I can understand a landlord's perspective, but I thought to my self, "why can't they understand our point of view?" Of course Seth and I were unemployed, we just moved there from the Midwest. Also, how could we find jobs without a residence of our own in the area? It was a paradox to us and seemed like the last straw for Seth and I. We spent the next 5 days looking at apartments, staying with Alicia and Maggie, and getting turned away at each place. We really weren't sure what to do, and I can honestly say it was one of the most stressful situations I've ever been in: no job, no home, living out of our car, and staying with friends.

Right before we were going to head back to Palo Alto dejected and unsure of what to do next, we were given the opportunity to have a co-signer at one of the apartment complexes instead of having to provide proof of having jobs. The catch was that the cosigner had to be someone close to us and who lived in the state. After much debate, we decided to ask our uncle for the favor. Luckily he agreed but the problem was that we needed his signature on the lease. So, we decided to fax it to him, but he was out of town on business. We tried faxing it to him out of town, but it just so happened that the fax machine wasn't working in the hotel he was staying at and we had to wait yet another couple days for him to return home. After anxiously waiting, we were able to get his signature and get the keys to our apartment.


We ended up picking a pretty affordable, well-kept apartment complex called Sunset Pointe. It's a gated community of about 200 people including laundry facilities, a pool, jacuzzi, rec room, and an exercise room. They pay all utilities except electricity, which is pretty nice. We pay $950 a month (very reasonable for the area) and it's a year long lease. It's a one bedroom, Seth stays in the bedroom and I sleep in the living room. It's not ideal, but I'm defintely willing to sleep in the living room if it saves us money. Hey, a bed's a bed. The week after moving in, Seth and I spent driving around the area, buying things for apartment. Walmart and Goodwill became our best friends. Another thing about apartments in LA is that the majority of them don't include refrigerators. I don't even try to understand it, but it sure is a hassle having to provide one on your own. Seth and I searched around for one, but the cheapest we could find was $350 and we certainly couldn't afford that much right away. So, instead we settled on getting a mini-fridge from Best Buy for about $150 and we decided to make due with that instead. After getting the main things we needed to live in the apartment, Seth and I could finally breath a sigh of relief having finally found an apartment of our own. We were finally residents of Los Angeles, California. And we could finally call Arnold our "Governator".

:-)

Reviews of the Day:
Heat - 4 stars
Atonement - 4.5 stars
Taxi Driver - 4 stars
Million Dollar Baby - 4 stars

Ding! Ding! Ding! went the trolley...

It felt great to finally be in California. My brother and I woke up the next day at my uncle's house to be greeted by 70 degree sunny skies. Rather odd for the end of January, no? Anyway, over the course of the next week my uncle gave us oppurtunity to see the bay area. First we drove around in the Palo Alto area, which is south of San Francisco and part of Silicon Valley. Little did we know that Stanford University was in Palo Alto so it was cool to drive by. Boy, are the people rich there... We then drove around some more and the first thing we noticed (besides the warm weather) was that people were very rich in the area. We were also able to drive by the place that our uncle works (he started a computer company 30 years ago). Right by there is Microsoft and Google's headquarters. Pretty cool, huh? Apparently Google provides free bus shuttles to there workers and the interns that work there. Our uncle also took us out to eat multiple times and I noticed that the fruits and vegetables are like nothing you've ever eaten. They're the most fresh and juicy produce I've eaten before. It makes sense because so many of them come from California. Very nice.

A couple days later Seth and I drove into San Francisco. It was a blast. We were able to see all the big sights. We first drove along the west coast and saw the ocean for the first time. It is ginormous and very beautiful. Next we drove over the Golden Gate Bridge, which is a lot smaller in person for some reason. It looks a lot bigger from the distance. It's cool that they offer bike rides along the bridge for those who so desire. When we got to the other side, we were able to drive up the hills and get some absolutely beautiful views. The great thing about San Francisco is that it's very contained and surrounded by water so it's got it's own unique, artsy, hidden feel to it. We next drove down to Fisherman's Wharf on the bay and had lunch at a diner and walked along the bay seeing the various artists, beggars, vendors, etc. Also in the distance was Alcatraz, but we didn't have the money or time to take a ship out there. However, it's not that expensive ($10 a person) and it takes roughly 2 hours. Afterward, we rode the trolley (very loud and jerky) through town and got off in Chinatown. I had always wanted to go there, so it was fun to finally arrive. We walked around seeing the various shops filled with Chinese movies, books, and LOTS of imported food from China. We finally got back to our car, and met up with our cousin, Jessica who is public defender lawyer in San Francisco. She drove us around town some more and then we ate at a nice pizza place. After our goodbyes we drove back to our Uncle's.

A few days later, our Uncle was kind enough to drive us down to Monterray Bay, which is about an hour and a half south of Palo Alto along the coast. When we arrived we went to the famous Monterray Bay Aquarium and saw many unique ocean life creatures. On the way out, our uncle was pointing out to us that California loves to "tell you what to do, or how to live". Sure enough, as we left, we were handed a small pamphlet that has a red, green and yellow list of what types of seafood we should order or stay away from for various reasons. Weird, I know. Next, we drove down to the famous Pebble Beach golfcourse. Surprisingly, they charge $7 just to drive through it. It was stunningly beautiful driving along the coast with the ocean on one side and the golf course and million dollar mansions on the other side. Half way through, we stopped at the mini-mall shopping center on the golf course, and I'll just say this: there are some very rich people that golf there. Next, we drove down to the first basilica catholic church in California founded by the first Missionary in California. We payed a fee and walked around soaking in the stories and memories held in the church. Afterward, we went down to the beach, walked around for a bit and then drove by a small hotel. Our uncle proceeds to tell us that Clint Eastwood apparently lives in Monterray Bay and used to be mayor of the town. Pretty cool. Next we ate dinner in town, I bought a cool egyptian-looking ring (i heart jewelry), and we headed back to Palo Alto.

After a couple more days, my brother and I decided we had stayed long enough and decided to finally make our final journey down to Los Angeles.

Reviews of the Day:

The English Patient - 5 stars
Black Book - 4 stars

Paprika - 3 stars

Elf - 2.5 stars

Rush Hour 3 - 2.5 stars

2,118 Miles and 30 hours later...

On Monday, November 27, 2007 my brother and I started the trek from Belvidere, IL to Palo Alto, CA. If there's one thing I can say I learned from this trip, it's that I have no desire to ever live in Iowa or Nebraska. They have to be the most boring states to drive in and I can't imagine they would be any more exciting to live in. Well, now that I've gotten that out of the way, I continue with my story.

We decided to split our drive into 2 days so that we wouldn't get too burnt out. Originally I was going to take my ginormous white cargo van, but decided that it probably wouldn't pass the smog test in California. Smog test you ask? Well, in California there is a law that your vehicle has to be able to pass the smog test to be driven there. If it doesn't pass the emission standard, you can't drive it. As simple as that. So, we loaded up my brothers Saturn and were out like a fat kid in dodgeball. After driving through the painful states of Iowa and Nebraska, we got to Wyoming. Wyoming was much more scenic with the Rockies in the distance to attact our eyes to. We stopped in the little town called Rawlins and arrived just as flurries started to fall from the sky. After an uneventful stay in our motel, we left the following morning at 6 am.

It was fun driving through the Rockies, even if Seth's car didn't handle the incline that well. The Rockies are beautifully scenic and never get old. Wyoming would have been enevenful if it wasn't for that one cop. Ok, so I was driving on the freeway and two semis were going slow in the right lane, so I switched lanes sped up a bit to pass them and then like a bat out of hell there was a cop in my rearview mirror. Trust me, this guy appeared out of thin air. I couldn't believe that I didn't notice him considering I'm a very conscious driver. Anyway, I realize I'm going 5-7 over, slow down a bit, and switch to the right lane once I passed the semis in case the cop needed to pass me. The second I got into the right lane the cops put on his lights, switched lanes and pulled me over. He comes to the door and proceeds to tell me that he pulled me over for two reasons, and I quote "First of all... you were going a little fast back there... and secondly, you merged too quickly in front of that semi. If you would have slammed the breaks or something, there could have been an accident". I keep my laughter inside as I realize this guy obviously needs to fill his monthtly quota of pulling people over or something like that. This is where being an actor comes into handy. I played dumb and apologetic and got off with a warning. The funny part is that, right after that he started shooting the shit with us and asking where we were heading and our job outlook and everything. Thank you random Wyoming officer.

Next, we drove into Utah, and all I can say is that it was simply stunning. Driving through the mountains and the valleys reminded me of The Great Valley in The Land Before Time. The entire state of Utah has such unique and contrasting geography: on the East side, there is great mountains and valleys, then you get to the metropolis that is Salt Lake City that hugs the Rocky Mountains, and finally drive through the dessert accompanied by the Great Salt Lake. Next, we drove through Nevada, which was more or less uneventful. Finally we reach the border to California and we see the toll in front of us that reads: Agricultural Check. Seth and I look at each other like "wtf mate?" We pull up to the toll and a kind, middle-aged woman asks us, "are you guys carrying any apples, oranges, or anything like that?" I respond no. She says, "just pants then?" I again say "yeah" in my confusion and she lets us pass. I found out later that the reason they do this is to make sure no bad produce crosses the border and affects their crops. I continue.

Northeastern California was covered in forests with a steady incline downard full or winding roads. After a few more hours, we reached our Uncle's home in Palo Alto. All in all the drive wasn't that bad. We experienced every weather imaginable: sunny, overcast, fog, rain, snow, and sleet. We switched off driving every tank of gas and all in all I'd say we spent roughly $300 combined on gas, which wasn't too bad. All I knew was that it felt great to be done driving and finally in California.

Reviews of the Day:
R.O.D. - Read or Die - 4 stars
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street - 4 stars
White Christmas - 5 stars
The Lives of Others - 4.5 stars
Paris Je T'aime - 4 stars

Go West, young man.

My entire life I wanted to be a singer. Ever since I can remember, I've been singing: in school, church, the shower, annoying my family and friends, etc. I listened to all types of music (still do), but I remember at one point, I wanted to be the next Michael Jackson. (pause for laughter)

At age 14 I moved to Brookfield, WI and attended Brookfield East High School and was given the first oppurtunity to experience theatre my sophomore year. I heard of an audition for the musical Little Shop of Horrors and decided I wanted to audition. I bought the video, the soundtrack, and studied the show before the auditions. While watching the movie and listening to the music, I noticed a small part called Skip Snip who had a single singing line in the show and I knew that I wanted to play that part. When auditions came around, I auditioned (putting Skip Snip) under "desired role", and went home for the weekend to see what would happen. The following Monday, I came to school, and a boy from my choir came up to me and said "Hey Seymour." I paused for a second, realizing what he had said and thought to myself "I couldn't possibly be playing the lead role in this show". So I thought what other alternative he could be speaking of. Then I remembered that in theatre there was understudies and I thought I must've been cast as the understudy for Seymour. I walked to the cast list and sure enough my name was listed for the part of Seymour. I was speechless and looked up to see the director towering over the cast list. I said to her "But, I've never acted before..." and she replied "well, from what I saw I think you'll be just fine... you don't HAVE to sign the cast list if you don't think you can do it." Without a moment's hesitation, I signed.

Performing in Little Shop of Horrors was one of the greatest experiences of my life and one I will never forget. It introduced me to the world of theatre and acting. Growing up I had always watched old movie musical movies from the past (and let's not forget Disney movies), so musicals were nothing new to me, but I never really thought about acting IN them. This show and experience gave me the old "acting bug". I was bitten. I learned so much in a short period of time and when it was all said and done, one thing was clear: acting came naturally to me. I felt comfortable performing and it gave me a rush like no other. It was certain, THIS is what I wanted to do with my life.

From there on out, my family continued to move to Highland Park in St. Paul, MN, and then to Rosemount, MN. Along the way, (like singing) I continued to act as much as possible and did many more shows. When the end of high school approached, I considered my options. At that point, I just wanted to get more experience as an actor, and experience college like a normal person my age. After much thought and narrowing my options, I chose to attend the University of Wisconsin: Eau Claire.

I attended UWEC for 5 years, had a few speed bumps along the way, while immersing myself in acting as much as I could. As graduation once again drew near, I planned on pursuing acting in theatre. But then things took a slight detour. Two classes had a profound effect on me: Directing and American Cinema. I was introduced to viewing films as an artform and not just from an audience's perspective. The more I learned and studied film, the greater my appreciation and fascination with film grew. I graduated college, and performed at a local dinner theatre for two productions and one phone call made everything certain.

My brother Seth had been meaning to have a change of scenery and take a different route from his job as an editor for a local newspaper in North St. Paul, MN. We toyed around with the idea of moving together somewhere and when asked where he wanted to go he said, "I dunno, maybe somewhere South, or West". I replied, "how about California". He said, "OK". As simple as that, we decided to move to Los Angeles, California. At first it was just an idea, but the more I thought about it, I realized that it was what I needed to do. When thinking about my strengths, weakness, and preferences as an actor, I realized that I wanted to pursue film acting. Also, I am young, single, and have no real tie-downs in life to hold me back. Moving with a family member and having friends who lived in the area was a bonus for me. When looking back at my childhood, I think that everything I have experienced and have been through had prepared me for this move.

I have moved 12 times in my life . I have lived in Mississippi, Guam, Arkansas, Illinois, England, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Of all the moves, this is the biggest one of my life. I'm on my own, away from most of my family, and pursuing what I love. This journal is an outlet for me to express my thoughts and feelings into words on this journey and living in Los Angeles, California as an aspiring actor.

Reviews of the day:
No Country For Old Men - 4.5 stars
The Golden Compass - 4.5 stars
Sleepy Hollow - 4 stars
Down With Love - 4 stars
Enchanted -4.5 stars