Some Thoughts

The day after the audition was the worst day ever!!! I couldn't move at all without pain.  I was and still am sore all over my body.  It's a bit better today but the day after, I couldn't move at all.  So now I just wait.  Let's see what happens. 

I just got a response from a girl that I asked for advice on youtube and I'm a little sad by it.  She was just being honest and trying to help but it put me down a bit.  She pointed out that I need to work on my dialect which I knew but I was hoping I was getting better.  Sometimes I feel like I'm not going to get anywhere with this.  Like I'm just never going to be good enough.  Am I just wasting my time?  Ugh! I don't know.  Well, I'm going to put off on my auditions for a bit anyway because we are going through some difficult times right now.  My aunt that I talked about on my last blog passed away and we are trying to find a way to make it to Miami.

Audition for Masters in Theatre Arts

Saturday, February 18 I had my audition to get into the school of performing arts for the University of Houston.  I decided that I if I was going to take acting lessons, I might as well try and get financial aid for it.  I figured it wouldn't be too hard to get in because I didn't think there was a huge demand for that masters program.  I was given about two months to prepare, but of course I don't do things until the very last minute.  Just this past week I was actually spending time trying to find good monologues and I picked a song to sing the night before.  To be completely honest, I haven't been doing much since the pilot.  Yes, I've been submitting myself for auditions but I have only attended two auditions and for those who allowed me to send a video submission, I have not done at all.  I'm very disappointed in myself.  I've been totally slacking.  The reason? Nintendo Wii!!! Yes, that's right, Super Mario has been hogging all my time lately.  It's so embarrassing, I know.

Anyway, both the auditions I attended went well.  I went to one last Sunday (Feb. 13) but I have not heard anything back.  The other one, I was supposed to go back there on Monday to drop off my head shot and resume but I ran out of money and I couldn't print a head shot.  I finally got some income this past Friday so I made sure to print several head shots.  This was an important one too but I was being stupid.  I wonder if I can still try and submit it.  I should try.

Well, back to the main subject, I had to pick one comedic and one dramatic monologue for my audition to UH.  After much searching, I finally came across the perfect monologue for someone my age and that I could actually remember.  It's about a girl who is talking to her friend about how guys are dumb for not calling girls back right away.  It was pretty funny.  I'm thinking of taping myself and uploading it as a reel.  The dramatic one was the same one I've used for my acting class, the one from Cruel Intentions (don't think I had mentioned about it here before but my acting coach really likes it).  For the song, I finally narrowed it down to two songs with the help of my sister: One Night Only and Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word.  I also burned one of my belly dance songs in case they asked me to perform something else.

I went to sleep at around 1am and had to be up at 6am.  Bad bad bad me!  In the morning I took a quick shower and got ready surprisingly fast.  I made it to campus early with enough time to register and make a new friend which made me feel so much more comfortable.  Looking around, the people were not as intimidating as I thought they would be.  Some people were so unprepared for the audition.  They obviously skipped through the email because on the email it said to bring clothes that you could dance with but these people came in slacks and button up shirts.  This made me feel so much better! Also, the fact that I have a head shot that's from an actual professional photographer was a plus.  Some people didn't.

The group exercises were so much fun! We did a bunch of stuff, from jumping around, running, stretching, making weird noises to break the ice, balancing, reading out loud together, and so much more.  It really did help take the attention away from the nervousness of auditioning.  If only my audition had been right after all of those exercises!  Well, we finished with these at around 11am and my individual appointment was at noon.  The girl I met there asked me if I wanted to go back with her to her dorm so we could practice and get something to eat, so we did.  As we talked mentioned that someone told her that they were only accepting 5 students.  FIVE STUDENTS!!! I completely freaked! I had the idea that they were pretty much going to accept everyone with a few exceptions! Crap crap crap!  At least now I knew exactly what I was competing for. 

I changed, ate some chicken nuggets, practiced my monologue and my song, and I was on my way.  Oh yeah, when I asked that girl what song she was performing, she said that she wasn't because she couldn't sing.    I told her that everyone was supposed to sing a song but she said she wasn't going to.  Anyway, I went back to the building for my audition and took a few minutes to prepare.  I still had about ten more minutes when they asked me if I wanted to go in.  I just wanted to get it over with before I got nervous so I went for it.  I think I did pretty good.  Throughout my comedic monologue, they were laughing the whole time so that was good.  I saw good responses from everyone.  Then, they asked me to sing and I did and they looked pleased.  They then started asking me different questions like what kind of characters would I like to play and what were my weaknesses and things like that.  It seemed that I was answering everything right.  For my biggest accomplishment I told them that I danced onstage with Shakira and they were so excited.   Now that I think about it I could have come out with like three different answers but oh well.

For the most part, I think everything went well.  I didn't get nervous, surprisingly, and if I did it went with my monologue anyway.  A few hours later I got a call from the girl I met and she said that she thinks she could have done so much better because she got very nervous.  But she said she was able to cry (Ugh!).  That's something I have not mastered yet in acting.  I was so jealous.  I'm sure just for that they'll get her.  I really need to work on that.  I wasn't able to see the other people audition so I really don't know what I'm up against, but we'll just going to have to wait.

On a different subject, we got some bad news on Friday (Of course).  I'm not trying to be selfish or anything like that because this is far more important than any thing that I do.  I'm just pointing out the irony of the things that happen every time I got something going on.  On Friday we were told that one of my aunt's cancer has gotten worse and she's in the hospital dying.  She only has a few days left.  This was a huge shock.  She just found out about the cancer in December and they did surgery on her.  Now all of a sudden she is dying.  It's so sad.  We are trying to go to Miami (that's where she is at) but we are just waiting to see if my sister gets days off from work.  If you read this, please keep her in your prayers.  She is going through a lot of pain. =(

Last Day of Filiming "Single Daddies" (Mon. Jan. 31)

Since every day I had to wait for hours to do my scene and the day before I didn't even get it done and I waited all day long, I thought it wouldn't hurt to be a bit late again.  I got the call sheet and I saw I had to be there at 11am so I took my time.  Every time they said 11am we ended up filming after 2pm.  My wardrobe was ready so I really didn't have anything to do but chill.  I thought I would get there at 11:30am so I decided to leave at 11am.  At 10:45am though, I got a text and voice mail from the producer asking if I was going to be there soon because they were running early on their schedule (Of course, right? The day I decide to be there late)  I was asking myself why were they calling me if I didn't even have to be there until 11am. I checked the call sheet and there it was: 10:30am.  I misread it and saw the rehearsal time instead of the make up time.  CRAP!!!

During the guy's fantasy scene.

I rushed up there and was there at almost 12pm.  Just like they said, they were early.  They rushed through my hair and make up and we changed for our scene.  The scene was pretty fun as well.  We didn't feel uncomfortable with what we were wearing because it was a closed set and they made it pretty fun.  I don't want to go into all the details because I don't want to give it away but it should look pretty funny.  (They did film me on my wrong bad side though...yes I know which one my good side is =) But it was ok, it was either my wrong side or the back of my head).  We did it in like three takes. 

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Then they had to tone down my make up and I had to change for my last scene which was me waiting on the results of my pregnancy test.  This scene was supposed to be in my character's house so my wardrobe had to be simple.  The director wanted me to look completely dumb though.  I requested my hair to be in a half pony tail but he thought it was too princessy looking.  I don't understand, I wear half pony tail in my house, it should have been fine but whatever.  My hair looked stupid in a low pony tail and the make up artist only put a bunch of foundation on top of my make up instead of just removing it.  She even got it on top of my false eyelashes and completely ruined them!  I looked a mess so I decided to again, give myself some final touches.  We did my scene fairly quickly and then we just relaxed at the end. We were finally done.  We exchanged phone numbers and facebook pages and we were on our way =)

Fourth Day of Filming "Single Daddies" (Sun. Jan. 30)

By this day I was completely exhausted.  I don't think I would have been if it hadn't been for the loss of sleep the first morning. So I was late because it was hard for me to wake up that morning.  I was about 1hr late.  I was freaking out, but I would have been late anyway because my sister needed a ride to work and there was no one home to take her. 

The scene we were doing this day was the fantasy scene, meaning I had to look skanky (ugh!)  At first the director was talking about me and the other girl wearing bathing suits and fighting in the bathtub.  Then he changed his mind to the lingerie I wore two days before but at the end he ended up choosing shorts and a cut off blouse.  Of course, I forgot to bring the shorts I wanted to wear and the other shorts I actually brought looked dumb.  The director bought jeans and some blouses for us to cut up but the jeans were super tight and I was not comfortable at all.  I wore them to stretch them out but it was not working. I really didn't want to be on camera with a muffin top!

Well, the day passed and they kept pushing our scene later and later.  It was about 3:30pm when they said we might not do the scene at all until the next day, so I wanted to go home but I decided to stay in case there was time.  I decided to work on cutting the shirts while I waited.  The thing was that there were about three locations we had to go to and each takes time to a long time to create the set.  I ended up riding with the make up artist so that I didn't have to use my car and I didn't want to stay by myself in the house.  We went to the local middle school and shot a scene of one of the guys dropping off the kids at school.  It took about three takes, it was pretty quick.  Then we went all the way from the north side to Sugar Land which is about 30 minutes on the tollway.  This scene was the piano recital scene and there were different angles that had to be shot and about three different scenes.  By the time they were done with everything it was already about 8pm.  They decided were were not shooting our scene after all until the following day.  I went back to the house with someone else and they went off to shoot the final scene of the day which included a friend of mine that I referred to them.

I drove home and prepared for the next day.

Third Day of Filming "Single Daddies" (Sat. Jan. 29)

This had to be the funnest day of all =)  I woke up refreshed, and they called me and told me I didn't have to be there until 3pm but I could get there at 2pm to have lunch.  I got there and stuffed my face, then make up and hair again.  This time I made sure to bring a foundation that I actually like and looks natural because the one she was putting on my face was horrible! I fixed my make up a bit again, and I waited until it was time to change.  We ended up leaving for the location we were shooting at until 4:30pm or so.  I wore my favorite pink dress and loved it!

During the scene in the restaurant

We made it to the restaurant and it took a while until they finally decided how they wanted to do the shot.  This scene was supposed to be super easy because it's the one I auditioned with, but they cut almost the whole scene out because of time =( Oh well!  While they prepared we ended up ordering some chicken fajitas and of course, I had to drop some on my dress leaving a stain...ugh! I'm super clumsy! Thankfully they didn't do a pan up of me so I was off the hook.

Right about the time I dropped chicken on my dress =)

The scene we did was hilarious! We had a blast!  When we finally finished the indoor scenes we continued outside.  In this scene I'm arguing with another girl and while we were shooting her wig moved LOL.  We didn't know weather to continue or stop.  I tried to continue but we couldn't help and and we all burst out laughing.  We went back to the house, I changed and relaxed there for a bit to see what else they were going to shoot.  The girls in the coming scenes were just adorable.  I ended up going home with glitter all over my face.  =)

I got home and got me a Thai Tea Tapioca with my sister and just relaxed.

Second Day of Filming "Single Daddies" (Fri. Jan 28)

So yes, I got the call sheet that morning and it said I had to wear lingerie.  I rushed to Wal-Mart with my sister and we chose a little black camisole that was just below my thighs.  I wasn't going to show any more than that.  I rushed to the set and got there about 15 min late.  But it was ok because they were running late again.  When getting my make up done I made sure she put the lashes I brought on me.  At first she tried to tell me not to wear any false lashes because it was the morning after and blah blah blah, but I kept pushing and when she saw how they looked she loved them and decided I was right (duh!).

My hair came out really nice that day.  I was more specific to what I wanted this time.  What I was freaking out about was showing my legs.  I had not had time to go tanning and I was afraid of how I would look.  We didn't do my scene until after lunch so I had plenty of time to freak out.

Right before my scene the director asked to speak to me alone because he wanted to make sure what I was comfortable with.  They wanted me to kiss that guy in the scene.  I didn't know what to say at first because as an actress I'm going to have to do it eventually and I didn't want that to be a setback or to make them think I was not professional.  The thing is that I had not talked to my boyfriend about that and I can make my own decisions but it's out of respect.  I decided to tell them that I would kiss him on the cheek.  It's not like they are paying me anyway.  They said it was fine.  Also, that scene was to be shot in bed which was another awkward situation.  But it was not that bad.  They let me keep my pants on since I was going to be covered by the sheets anyway.

On the set of the morning after scene

When shooting the scene the guy I was shooting with started to get a little too comfortable (I don't know if that's how it usually is).  He took his shorts off and kept only his boxers which was pointless since he was also covered up.  I only touched him when it was absolutely necessary and followed directions.  Now making out.  We finished fairly quickly.  Then it was time for the scene where I walk down stairs into their conversation.  They also let me keep my pants on which was weird but since there were kids in the house they thought it was the best thing to do. 

This scene got really tricky.  They switched around the order big time.  I was so confused for a while.  Also, we were supposed to shoot this scene in like three parts so I was trying to memorize the first part too but at the last minute they decided that we were going to do the whole thing in one shot.  So I practiced with the other actors for a few minutes.  As we rehearsed suddenly two of the guys got upset because one of them didn't know his lines and was totally unprepared.  It was a shock to me because they looked like they all got along really well but I guess there's going to be drama everywhere.  One of them told on him to the director, the director was pissed and went to get the actor (he was trying to record himself and play it back on his headset during the filing which was a big no no).  They all argued for a while until they came to the agreement that they would allow him to film his part separately.

I felt like crap because I hadn't memorized my scenes my self.  Well, we did it and I messed up a few times forgetting what I was suppose to say but at the last two or three takes we nailed it.  I stayed for a bit longer to meet the kids that arrived in the evening.  I went home and took the much needed rest I needed.

First Day of Filming "Single Daddies" (Thurs, Jan. 27)

As you can see...way too much make up!

First day of filming I arrive about ten minutes early. No make up on and hair undone since in the call sheet it mentioned that make up would be done there.  My call time was 11am.  I get to the house and I find people scattered around outside, upstairs, and some downstairs covering the carpet with plastic.  They guided me to the make up artist who had such a bubbly personality and I felt very comfortable with.  I took everything I could possibly imagine that I could need only to find out that she had everything as well.  The director was very specific with her telling her I had to look super hot.  I guess at the moment he thought it would not be possible because he kept repeating it and since I looked so simple with no make up on.  Well, because of his persistence the make up artist ended up putting a bunch of make up on, that I did not like.  She put a bunch of black eyeshadow and lots of foundation that did not look natural.  I felt like I had a mask on.  I saw her looking at false eye lashes and I recommended the ones that I had with me but she refused and put some that were so thin you could not see any difference.  I was so frustrated! I officially hate other people doing my make up.  To this day only one person has done my make up and I actually liked it.  Well, she said that since the camera's were HD she didn't want some thing too fake.  RRGGGHHHH!!!

The scene I had to do that day was an interview scene and according to the director, my character only used her looks to get what she wanted and the way that she did my make up I just didn't feel into character.  So after wards I went into the bathroom and gave my self some touch ups.  My hair was not great either.  I can do my hair so much better.  She didn't give me enough volume on the top and it looked a bit weird. 

First thing I had to do was a recording of my voice that was supposed to be my voice mail.  We went upstairs and and recorded a few times until I got it.  It was a bit difficult at first because I had absolutely no idea how they wanted me to play the character.  When I submitted myself the only description was "latina or asian preferred, she auditions to be baby sitter but is lazy and doesn't get hired.  She ends up dating one of the dads." Then on the script it was hard to comprehend since it didn't fully describe wardrobe and things like that.  The director was very good at describing what he wanted though and I quickly got it.  We had lunch at around 2:30pm and they did a few other scenes that needed to be done during the daytime.  Then we finally did my scene.  I was very happy that I took the outfit I took even though it didn't as for it in the call sheet.  It was perfect for my character: pencil skirt with a low cut blouse and plenty of jewelry. 

During the first scene my back was toward the cameras.  They were filming the reactions of the three dads when my character comes in.  To make me feel comfortable the director told me to close my eyes so I wouldn't feel uncomfortable.  It worked perfectly because the faces I could them making every now and then that I glanced were pretty dirty lol.  After about ten takes they got it and it was my turn.  They did a pan up of me and then we started my scene.  It only took about 4 takes for me to get it which was very exciting for me.  They loved how they only had to tell me once I what they wanted and I pretty much did it exactly.  After we were done we took pictures of us for continuity and I was wrapped for the day. 

The girl who was there to play the other character that they actually got hired got there and to be honest with you all, she looked a bit old for her role.  And I could spot that her boobs were fake.  Not trying to hate on her or anything.  Just pointing it out.  I was very nice to her though.  Well, after that I got my stuff ready and went on home to reality. 

That day my sister said she was going to call SPCA so they could pick up my dog.  I was so sad but I got home and found out that she called and told them that our dog bit our other dog and they told her they would just put her to sleep.  I was not going to allow that.  It was just too much for me to handle at the time and I told them that we could discuss what we were going to do with the dogs whenever I finished filming and that was that.  But since then my nerves have been at their peak always scared that the incident will repeat. 

I tried not to think about it.  I wanted to go to sleep since I got home given that I only had 1.5 hours of sleep the night before but I was waiting on the call sheet for the next day since I didn't know what time I had to be there, what scene we were doing or what I had to wear.  I wanted to make sure I didn't have to be there at like 8am or something.  So I waited and waited and ended up going to sleep at almost 11pm and still no call sheet.  The next day I kept texting them and emailing them but no response.  She finally told me to I didn't have to be there until 1pm and that I had to wear some lingerie for the scene we were filming that day. (I was not very comfortable with that!)

So I Did Get the Part!!!

Haven't written anything for a while because my computer decided to break down on the 26th.  Last time I wrote I hadn't gotten an email with the script of Single Daddies.  Well, Tuesday passed and still nothing.  I was going to call but I got busy with my brother's doctor appointment and got home kind of late.  Wednesday morning I called.  No answer.  I left a voice mail and was completely sad.  A few minutes later I got a call from a different phone number and it was them =) The girl said that I should have gotten the script since Sunday and was freaking out because I was supposed to know my lines.  It was such a relief to me.  They had the wrong email.

So yeah, my computer decided to break down that day, meaning I had no where to read the script.  My sister's computer is very glitchy so I wanted to go get it printed out.  I have no printer and the script was about 40 pages, I couldn't just call my friend and have her print it.  I called another friend of mine that lives close to me to see if he could print it from school and get it to me before my acting class so that I could prepare for it there but he was not answering.  I didn't want to ask my boyfriend because he lives far.  Well, I decided to go to the library. By that time it was about 4pm.  It took time to get a library card and the wait time for a computer was long.  It was around 5:15 when my sister calls me telling me my mom hasn't made it home and she has no ride to get to work. UGH!!!!!! I had to leave without getting anything printed to take my sister to work and the library closed at 6pm so I couldn't go back.  Then my friend calls me and tells me that yes he can print it out so I emailed him the stuff.  By the time I dropped off my sister he calls me telling me that he won't be home until midnight...UGGHH!!! Back to square one.  I called my boyfriend and he gladly did it but I had to go pick it up...so I had to cancel on my acting class and just concentrate on getting ready for the next day.  I really wanted to get everything set early and get my good night sleep.

As I read the script though, I realized that the character that I was playing was a bit different from what I had imagined.  She was a bit more on the slutty side.  When I read the call sheet it only asked me to bring a suit, but no description.  I decided to take some variety just in case (Skirts) because the suit just didn't seem right.  Well, I got all my stuff ready, reviewed my scene and went to bed thinking I actually did it...I actually got everything ready on time and was actually going to bed early (which is something that doesn't happen to me often, I'm a rushing-at-the-last-minute kind of girl).  I was wrong.

My dogs before in 2009

I went to sleep at midnight, 30 minutes later I hear my dogs barking, crying and growling (I have a bunch of dogs since one had puppies last year)  I thought it was the little ones playing around but it sounded horrible! I jumped out of bed and so did my aunt and sister, opened the door and it was not the little ones.  The big one had gotten inside and had the other smaller dog by the neck whipping her back and forth (not the first time this happens, but it is quite a long story).  This was something we had been avoiding and we had been so careful. I didn't understand how the big one got inside.  Last time this happened we thought she was going to kill her.  Well, she wouldn't let go of her and the little ones were scared.  We were hitting her and my aunt was throwing stuff at her but she wouldn't budge.  She dragged her down the stairs and we were all so scared screaming and crying.  The little one wasn't moving any more and her eyes were wide open.  I thought she was dead and cried out even louder.  My aunt opened the door because the big dog usually gets distracted and runs outside, but this time it didn't work and she just dragged the little one outside with her still biting her by the neck.  I had already dropped to the floor crying and screaming "She killed her!" (My dogs are very important to me, they are part of our family).  My aunt ran outside after her with my sister and finally pulled the little one away.  With the door open my other puppies ran outside as well and all of them disappeared.  Only one little one stayed because he was in the back yard the whole time.  When I saw my aunt bringing the little carrying the little one back inside I was sure she was dead.  She wasn't moving, not even blinking.  Then she moved a little bit so we decided to take her to the emergency vet.  I asked my sister to call around and find a vet near by while she was taking care of the little one.  In the mean while my aunt and I got in the car and circled around the neighborhood looking for the other dogs.  They never ran off. They knew this was their house but they were scared. We couldn't find them so we went back home to check on our other dog.  The puppy that had stayed in the back yard didn't even see what happened and he was scared.  He didn't want us touching him.  He thought we were the bad ones.

My sister kept calling around but it was going to be ridiculously expensive.  I didn't care because I didn't want our dog to die but then as my mom cleaned up her wounds we realized they were not actually that bad so we decided to take care of it ourselves.  We drove around one more time looking for the other dogs and we found them but they were running away from us.  They thought we were trying to hurt them.  We took them back home and by the time we all calmed down and our hurt dog was out of danger it was almost 4am.  I only slept until 5:30am that night because what had happened was in my head the whole time. You see the big dog is my baby, and that night we realized we had to get rid of her and it hurt so bad.  I was trying not to think about it because I knew I would start crying and I didn't want to go to the filming with my eyes all puffy.

In the AM I woke up and tried to relax but it was so hard.  I just wanted to cry and sleep. But I went to my filming because of course I couldn't cancel and it was very important to me...