I Hope You Have A Smile

Those little details, they add up after a while.

• I've been getting up early. I've always been a morning person, but lately I've been getting up at 6am. I think this is mostly related to the fact that I have an east-facing bedroom and the sun floods the room with light. It's not a problem -- it's helped with the old exercise routine -- but it is odd.
• I think I found a good place to shoot trap. Triple B Clays in El Monte. They have trap, a five stand, AND sporting clays. Oddly enough, this place was recommended to me by my acting coach.
• My acting coach shot clays for the first time ever last week.
• I'm by no means complacent or satisfied, but relative to most people who've been in LA for 16 months, my career is going remarkably well. It's important to keep that in mind. See the things you have, not just the things you don't have.
• In a town marked by obsessive opulence, that last point is especially important. As my friend Liz noted: LA is home to some of the richest people IN. THE. WORLD. Don't expect to be an astronaut when you're still getting your pilot's license.
• Sometimes they put scientists on the space shuttle who have no experience flying a plane. But those people are very highly trained specialists. Or boy-band millionaires.
• I need to write. I'm easy to cast as the goofy guy but that's a particular breed of part. I need to create something for myself to showcase my smaller, more charming, sarcastic side. Also, I'm tired of saying I'm just an actor when I feel like I can bring more to the table.
• Maybe I'm wrong, and I can't write. There's one way to find out.
• Maybe what I'm really wrong about is the notion that my sarcasm is charming.
• My buddies and I have been watching Band of Brothers. We're almost done with it. It's been really engrossing. But since so many video games have been set in WWII, it's hard not to dismiss the earnest brutality of what you're watching as entertainment. And that's not just the fault of video games. I feel like our society has drowned the true horror of that time beneath a thick veneer of mythology.
• I was on my way to Samy's Camera to pick up a presentation book when I drove past a Dick Blick art store. Not only did they have the size I wanted, they had them 20% cheaper. Plus I got free parking at the failed meter. F U, Samy's Camera!
• I just can't bear to walk past a nice notebook with quadrille lines without picking it up. Some people buy Coach purses or fancy watches. I'm a D&D nerd who collects notebooks of graph paper. Geek OUT.
• I'm pretty sure my air conditioner was made in 1982, because 82 is the average temperature in my apartment when it's on.
• At least it's a dry heat. Right?
• Everyone who visits my building asks if anyone has ever jumped into the pool from the second-story railing that overlooks the deep end. So far, no. I guess the temptation is obvious, but not overwhelming.
• This is a situation I'm sure liquor can fix, but not in a way that does not call for an ambulance run.
• The rules for the pool state: "LADIES MUST WEAR CAPS." Apparently the pool in my building was imported directly from Victorian England.
• I have never been in the pool, despite all my complaints about the heat.
• The charger for my hair clipper died. I have a perfectly good hair clipper, and no way to power it. I predict a fruitless trip to Radio Shack is in my future, followed by an annoyingly excessive purchase at Target.
• If you are considering shaving your ears with a straight razor, I would strongly advise against it.
• If you complain to your buddy that you haven't had an audition all week, you'll have an audition every day for the next three days.
• It helps if you offer to take your agents to lunch.
• At one of my auditions, I met David Burke, an actor I admired for his work in The Tick. We did the audition together and then had a nice chat on our way to our cars.
• Last night on the way to my car (after seeing a show which featured Paget Brewster from Criminal Minds) my buddy Brad and I passed a homeless guy. "Got anything to spare?" he said. "No, sorry," said Brad. "How about a smile? I hope you have a smile..." he said as we tromped off into the night.
• Maybe it was ultimately manipulative, but that didn't make it less poignant.
• Gen Con is coming up. I think it's going to be a good time. We are putting together a nice line-up of sponsors for NASCRAG, I'll get to see some online friends I never visit otherwise, and I get to hang out with Erik and Elee which is always a good visit.
• NASCRAG was featured in the July issue of Dragon magazine and as part of the article they ran a picture of me marshaling the players in my NASCRAG Bishop outfit. It was very flattering to be included.
• Just to keep you up to date, I only need 10,000 more Experience Points to gain another level in Nerd.