Fish Threat and More

I just gave Hootenanny (my fish) a huge scare!

Everyone (one person (Saralyn)) told me that I shouldn't keep my fish on the floor in case I trip on the bowl. Hootenanny sleeps at the top of the water and even though barely any water splashed out (I'm not exactly sure of the physics as it was dark), he flew right out. I rescued him pretty quickly but... he's acting a little stunned, although visibly alive. I contend that a life of getting to see the sun and the outdoors, even if it comes with a little risk, is better than a life of darkness on my dresser.

We'll see how I feel if he's dead tomorrow....

Money situation is still rotten. Superfresh Blythe is much more difficult, although thankfully not impossible, to maintain on a diet of bread and bananas and severe reduction of caffeine. At about 7pm today, I felt a Hulk-like change approaching and had to bolt ASAP, lest a more tyrannical Blythe make an appearance.

Part 2 of the money situation is that I've obviously been spending a lot more time on craigslist than usual. I find it hard not to get distracted by all the kittens people are giving away. I'm DEFINITELY not getting a kitten... but... it's distracting. (Double paws!)

I think I'm going to look at a new place this week. $500 a month at the Park La Brea (where I used to live) with a young lesbian couple. I'm not getting my hopes up though, because if there is a deposit involved, it's a no-go. Samesies with any sort of lease situation.

Davida procured another roommate. Her name is Katheria (Kah-thee-ria (I ran to get a piece of paper and spell it phonetically minutes after I met her so I wouldn't forget)). I've seen her twice. She has a chihuahua that actually looks like a chihuahua, unlike any of the other 3 half-breeds that live with us. I met her twice. Her boyfriend is objectively hot. This is all I know.

Hung out with my longest-known peer friend Cassidy the other day which, as always, cemented the knowledge that our lives are completely parallel. Both raised by single teenage milf nurses, with step-fathers later on. Both moved a jillion times and weren't in the same school for more than 2 years until middle school. Both have a much younger brother and sister (I have an additional sister, but as I never lived with her, that doesn't change my similarities to Cassidy). Both majored in film and moved to LA after college. We're both pretty easy going. We both own a JILLION movies (he might even have more than me... but only by about 40). We both watch the same movies over and over and OVER again. We both have a tendency to stay up until 4am if our life-styles are at all permitting. We're the same.

Cassidy and Kim (his mom)

Me and my mom.

It's too bad I don't know where my favorite picture of him and me is. We were cute as hell, if I may be so immodest for the both of us.

Finished The Lovely Bones. I'm sure no one is keeping track, but I never got to finish No One Gets Out of Here Alive, the Doors biography, because I lost my bag that contained it a while ago. Thankfully that was essentially the only thing in there, but the real tragedy is that the main reason I got that book was because I wanted to know how they interpreted Jim Morrison's death and I never got to that part. The rest of the book was... not boring, but not really great or enlightening so I don't really want to buy it again (not that I could right now... but hypothetically speaking). I guess I'll have to get a library card. Maybe it'll be a blessing in disguise.

Regardless, The Lovely Bones was pretty great. Although I would be interested to see how they made the movie since it seemed like it would be far too anti-climactic for cinema. Now I'm reading American On Purpose, Craig Ferguson's autobiography. Love it. Love Ferguson. Plus interestingly enough, Craig Ferguson and Barack Obama make me feel more proud of being American than... anyone or anything else in the world.

That's all.

A Moment to Whine... It's Been a While

Need a job bad. I'm on the VERGE! ... but I need to be closer than that.

The funny thing about running out of money, for me at least, is that the symptoms are so funny and familiar. For instance, I watch the ground as though there is money for the taking if only I looked for it. I don't try to do this-- it just happens. Also, the wish list gets sadder and sadder-- "When I have the money, I'm going to replace my face wash and buy a hanger for my pants." Also, it becomes more of a task to remember that the past is unchanging. "If only I didn't get that parking ticket etc etc." But it's in the past.

If I didn't have to pay my rent, I'd be so golden. But... that's close enough to being in the past.

And to emphasize, (if only to myself) it could be so so much worse. It's going to be fine. It's going to be fine.

Bad Ass

JOB SITUATION:

Doing good. I feel VERY good about the prospect of working as a (talent) manager's assistant. I've been interning for a bit, I know they like me, all good things. Also, they're nice and encouraging and I've already learned so much! Plus, one of the many awesome things about this job is that I can read basically any script ever, a bonus that I started taking advantage of last night.

FORMER JOB SITUATION:

One of the last jobs I got to do was for a company called Sword Fights INC. Please look at the link and understand how incredible it was! Long, awesome days outside climbing hills from sun up to sun down LITERALLY. It was a blast and I drank about 15 bottles of water per day. At the end, the company offered me free screen sword fighting lessons. Awesome!!!

PROGRESS REPORT ON THE NEW PLAN A: IMPORTING MY LOVED ONES TO CALIFORNIA

Positive. VERY positive. I believe Natalya just landed in San Francisco on Saturday and I just talked to Wolf and she seems to be staying in California for at least a year to learn about permaculture farms! I'm pretty sure avocados give you powers and I'm using them to suck my favorite people towards me.

IN OTHER NEWS:

-Made a new besty named Charlene. She's the other manager's assistant and we've become fast friends. Yesterday she took me out for my very first frozen yogurt, which was heavenly.

-I've been on a movie kick. Fight Club, Little Miss Sunshine, Lucas, Someone Like You. I also saw Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World. I was about 20 minutes in before I really felt attached to the film. However in retrospect I think it was amazing start to finish. Also, it was for our EXACT age group. It's highly stylized to look and sound like early 90s video games and the characters are 22. The movie was also a gold mine for amazing lines. One of my favorite was "Your BF's about to get F-ed in the B!"

-My friend Cassidy and his girlfriend Elena went to an audience test of The Perfect Family!! They said they loved it, although I hazard to guess they wouldn't tell me if they didn't.

-My sister turned 16 which... is unreal. Mostly because the last time I lived with her she was 12! That's CRAZY!! She told me that in her mind I am in a perpetual state of being 18, but really 18 to 22 isn't that much of a leap. 12 to 16-- that's HUGE. I bought her a shirt that my friend designed. His company is called HOLLYWOOD ARSON. I got her this one:

She said it was the most bad-ass shirt she owns, although she could have been kissing my ass. It is mighty bad-ass though, I think.

-I lost one of my favorite earrings-- the Berkeley tree ones. I also lost one of the OTHER pair of earrings I own... so basically I don't have any complete earring sets except my hoops which I wouldn't wear daily. Lame. As soon as I have a paying job and save some money, I'm buying another pair. Doing it. Nothing can stop me.

Regular

Regular

by Kevin and Blythe

(to the tune of "Ironic")

An old man who was 98
sat in his rocking chair
and watched TV all day
It's a black fly
on something decayed
It's a Saturday night
and you're staying up late
And isn't it regular? Don't ya think?

It's like rain on cloudy day
It's like finding out Ricky Martin is gay
It's a potter making pots out of clay
It's all so fucking regular

A librarian liked to read books
She hated loud noise
and gave people mean looks
She went out to lunch
then she came right back
She went home at 5
and took a bath
And isn't it regular? Don't ya think?

It's like rain on cloudy day
It's like finding out Ricky Martin is gay
It's a potter making pots out of clay
It's all so fucking regular

Life has a way of being the same everyday everyday everyday and everything's okay-ay

When you think something's out of place, it's actually not, it's right there where you left it last and everything's okay-ay

Traffic jam
when you're in LA
A "no smoking" sign
in your office space
It's like 10,000 spoons
in a store just for spoons
It's like meeting the man of your dreams...
and he really likes poon

And isn't it regular? Don't ya think?
It's so fucking regular. Yeah I really do think

It's like rain on cloudy day
It's like finding out Ricky Martin is gay
It's a potter making pots out of clay
It's all so fucking regular

Life has a normal way of being the saaaame
ooooo
Life has a normal, normal way
of being the same
Being. the. same.

Lucky--Even on Friday the 13th

I apologize for constantly talking about how lucky I am, but this was the luckiest Friday the 13th for me!! Actually, all the luck came in like... a 2 hour span.

1. I got my license back! I left my license at this gas station and when I returned the next day to get it, the woman at the register, with whom I originally left my license, told me that she remembered me leaving it there but she had no idea where it was. She told me to come back the next morning because her manager would know its location.

So the next day I returned and asked the manager and he told me that this other girl would know where it was and that I should come back AGAIN after 3pm. Well I couldn't make it back the that day, but the day AFTER (today) I went back and ANOTHER girl, who ALSO remembered seeing it, told me that I should come back when her manager was there. SOOO frustrating! Not only can I not afford to go and get a new license-- I can't afford the money OR the time-- but I don't really want California to know that I'm here yet. I'm not ready to open that can of worms, especially when I'm so low on funds.

So I asked the girl what she would recommend me do. Is there a number I can call? She told me she could give me the number to the gas station chain, but I don't know how they would find my ID. So I asked her if she would take my number and then hopefully whoever moved it would see and give me a call. After I left, I made a call and expressed my frustration to a friend. Just as I'm getting into the story, I miss a call. Turns out it was the gas station lady. She found it! Crisis averted.

2. (This is NOT in chronological order, by the way.) So I'm working for these post people and it has been REALLY amazing! A few of the days, in particular, were REALLY enlightening in terms of the post production process. However, I had no idea when this job was going to end and I was getting quite nervous. Then at 6pm I get a call from a woman from a (talent) management company saying that they were looking for a new assistant for one of the managers and a friend of mine, Liz, highly recommended me. The conversation was much longer and more cheerful than this, but basically on Tuesday I'm going to go in and ... see if we all take to each other. PUUUUUMPED. Actually, I'm WAAAAY more pumped than I'm describing, but I already talked and talked and TALKED about this with my grandparents and Kevin, so I'm a little talked out.

3. Just minutes after I got this call and explained the situation to my post people (they are VERY supportive and told me that I can come back on Wednesday if I'm not into the management thing), I went to say goodbye to my Present Pictures ladies since I don't know when I'm coming back in the office. WELL, one of them told me that the agent she was getting me in touch with before wanted my updated resume so that she can personally walk it down to HR!!

So basically, this Friday the 13th, I got 2 job prospects and my license back. AWESOME!!

DREAM NEWS.

I haven't been remembering my dreams lately, but two nights ago I had one that I got a speeding ticket, which seems to reflect my anxiety about money. I'm just really frightened that something really stupid will happen that will break my bank. So I was going 40mph on the road and I saw a cop ahead and I thought "this is okay because the speed limit is probably 35mph," but then I see the speed limit sign right as I'm passing the cop and it reads 25mph. Just as I see the cop starting to pull out to follow me, I wake up.

Side note: I DID reflect on the lameness of spending so many waking hours driving only to keep doing it whilst sleeping.

THEEEN last night I had a dream that my sister Meredith was swimming in a lake and all of these walruses popped up. Neither of us were afraid, but then one came from right underneath her and grabbed her in its mouth. It didn't seem like it was TRYING to be vicious, but Mere started bleeding extravagantly from her stomach and arms. I got her out of the water and as we were waiting for an ambulance (I don't recall calling one, but we assumed it was coming I guess), we talked about how the walrus probably thought she was drowning and was trying to save her. I don't really know what that one was about.

MOVIE NEWS.

Last night I got out of work early and Kevin and I seemed to mutually and wordlessly agree that we weren't talking last night-- our first night in weeks and weeks. I ended up watching 3 movies back to back: Love Me If You Dare, Wayne's World, and Little Children. It's not really news I guess, but my grandpa pointed out how lucky I am since most people don't leave their jobs and crave to do more job-related activities. I AM lucky!! Plus, Little Children MIIIIIGHT be my #7 top movie. I haven't officially decided, but I do LOVE that film!

LASTLY

Tomorrow is my only weekend day because I'm doing a shoot on Sunday and Monday. I'm pretty pumped for it, especially since if I get this manager's assistant job, it might be my last on-set work for a while. Sunday I'm being picked up at 4:45am! Which means that I have to cram everything in before 8pm tomorrow so that I can get enough sleep.

This is what needs to happen:

1. Laundry. Always.

2. Deposit check.

3. Pay damn parking ticket

4. Update my resume and send it to my Present Pictures producer and the management company girl.

5. A while ago, I wrote about the lovely story this man told me when he was towing my car. I told it to my friend Liz and she casually suggested we write a screenplay. I agreed, although I agree to a lot of screenplays. I FORGOT that here, when you have an idea for a screenplay you fucking WRITE IT. She's already thought of names and talked to a writer friend about it. So tomorrow she's going to come over so we can try and make an outline.

WTF!? AWWWESOME!!

Life IS a Game

So, I'm not doing BAD... but I need to make money. I THOUGHT I got a $125/day gig from Tuesday through Saturday, but that fell through-- budget cut. I ALMOST asked if I could do it for free anyway because it sounded like a fucking BLAST, but... I'm not sure that would have been the best monetary choice. Luckily, my post people want to keep me through the week at least, but... I thought I was going to make a month's rent this week and... now I'm going to make 1/4 of my rent. Lame.

I was telling my grandpa that my life feels like this high intensity game. And it's amazing. I'll do ANYTHING for as many hours as long as I'm not doing anything else. I try to charm the pants off of everyone I know at said gig, praying that someone thinks of me for a job later. It's KIND OF working. And the reason it's so high intensity is that I'm throwing myself into all of these positions in which I know no one, or I only know one person vaguely. You'd think (or at least III'D think) it would be super scary, but... I kind of feel like I'm getting good at it (if I may be so immodest). It's more thrilling than scary, which is a relief because if it wasn't, I picked the wrong position to be in.

As far as this post job goes, I REALLY need to make sure that I learn a lot. If I'm just doing it for the $50/day, then I should just work at Baskin Robins or something.

So here is the question. What kind of side job can I get to make sure I don't die? I know one friend does event stuff, but I think it's with friends or something because how does he make it so flexible?

I just don't want to go to an agency yet. I can't even explain how much I love being on set. 13 hour days are cake and... when am I ever going to find that again? And I wasn't even paid on the last one so... it was really just pure pleasure.

Anyway anyway, finished the True Blood. I'm absolutely hooked. Last night, Kevin and I got home around the same time (after 9pm my time) and we decided to watch True Blood online and then discuss it afterwards. HE watched it, while I spent an HOUR looking for it online to no avail. I was PISSED!/I almost shed real tears. After Kevin finished, he called me and talked me off the ledge for an hour before I tried again at 11:30pm. Thank god it was there. It would have been tragic if I died-- couldn't even make it my first 2 days of waiting. Completely un-evolved.

Went to a camera rehearsal of this shoot I'm doing on Sunday and Monday. It was AWESOME because it's these huge choreographed fight scenes with swords. I won't go into too much detail (although I kind of doubt it's that confidential, but just to be safe), but... it was great!

Saw The Kids Are Alright. Right after I first watched it, I applauded the subtlety of the film. I liked the characters, particularly Julianne Moore whom I don't usually LOVE but never really hate. However, as I reflected more, I kind of felt like it was pretty anti-climactic. There were no make or break moments. There was obviously some drama, but the solution was pretty streamlined. Although... maybe they were just trying to make it really real. But... if I want real, I'll just live. Plus, the kids in particular, had zero dramatic or life-changing moments, which is a little unacceptable when they're the namesake of the film.

I DID like the way the lesbian relationship was portrayed. I like that we're getting into a time when a movie featuring lesbians doesn't have to REVOLVE around them being lesbians... and they can be real individuals without them having to define lesbian culture as a whole. Ruffalo was satisfactory and Benning was genius. And like I said, Moore was particularly great! Definitely my favorite part.

I think I'm going to have to wait on Inception until I find a way to make some moneys. Budgeting is the name of the game right now.

Lucky Lady pt. 1 Jillion... Approx

I'm the luckiest lady in the world. Seriously. Here's why:

1. I GOT A JOB! Well... kind of. The producers of my last film offered me $50 a day to help them out for a week, although I'm not sure what a week means when I started today (Thursday). BUUUUT there are many best parts of this tale.

a. They do primarily post production work, which is AWESOME because now I'll get to learn more about that side of the biz. I have to build up some questions.

b. I am no longer draining my account which is... very key.

c. They are in the same office as Present Pictures (a piece of the same lucky that allowed me to work on their project in the first place)! It feels like home. Plus, and most importantly, I get to see all of my Present Pictures people! AND Clyde (the dog (who was ill today, unfortunately))!

d. I'm so happy that they wanted me! SO happy!

e. Now I can call my grandpa. I don't like calling him when I'm not making myself proud. I also don't like waiting weeks between calls. It is a regular problem for me. Especially because when I'm making myself proud, I don't often have the time to call. Plus the time difference... ugh.

2. WEEDS!! August 16! I saw the billboard today and almost wet my pants!

3. TRUE BLOOD!! I blasted through season 2 in ... perhaps 36 hours. So good. So good it's amazing that I'm writing this when I could be watching True Blood. If I had a TV with channels, Sunday and Monday night would be AWESOME.

4. Found a dollar. I gave it to a homeless person today because... gotta regulate my karma. Very important in these lucky times.

5. Found my glasses! I lost them a while ago and while I lamented, I don't really want to wear my glasses on set anyway (too much shit on your head-- headset and sunglasses is enough of a juggle). Thus, I decided to postpone my concern until I was back at a desk. Miraculously, although somewhat reasonably, I found them in my computer bag. It's the first time I've used the bag since I was at a desk.

6. Lastly, because of the accidental-throwing-away-of-all-shoes fiasco (back in May), I bought these shoes for $7 a few weeks ago. They are my FAVORITE shoes! I'm obsessed. They are pointed, gray, suede-ish flats. Corina actually already owned them and I would admire them all the time. So lucky!! Also, I'm such a poseur...

END OF LUCKY (braggy...) LIST

Goals:

1. Pay parking ticket. Laaaaame! It sucks because on Tuesdays they street clean so I have to park on the other side of the street. However it's almost impossible for me to remember, particularly because I work MOST Tuesdays. I'm going to have to come up with a system, I guess. Or always work on Tuesdays. I'm liking the latter.

2. Clean out my car. I had a blizzard-in-vehicle situation during my struggle to take the snow machine back to the special effects place. It was kind of hilarious though.

I was truly driving down the highway for 30 minutes at 11am on a bright, sunny day (aren't they all) while my car was trailing snow. Lucky they disintegrate in liquid. Unluckily, I was a little sweaty and they were working their magic on my body.

And while it has nothing to do with my goals (but... I don't care because it's my blog and structure is overrated), let's just re-emphasize the feather extravaganza of last week.

Get it?! Except that room was WAAAAAAY bigger than this picture let's on. WAY bigger. And covered in feathers.

Back to goals-->

3. Clean room... and/or have someone over as a motivator to clean the room. This goes hand-in-hand with laundry. I think I'll go for Saturday.

4. See both Inception and The Kids Are Alright. This is important. Everyone is talking about Inception, which is particularly hard to deal with when everyone I know is WAY more into movies than your average sampling. The Kids Are Alright is important because it was an independent picked up from Sundance. Gotta support. Plus it's a lesbian comedy with Annette Benning. Pure gold, I'm sure.

5. Continue job hunt. In fact I need to update the resume. I don't think I've ever had to update my resume so much in such a short span of time. Awesome. This could've been in my lucky list.

Enough chatter. It's True Blood time!!

(By the way, Kevin's side of the deal has been just as successful as mine. In just a couple of weeks, Kevin is 3/4 finished with the 4th Harry Potter book. HUGE. We're so good at deals!)

Sorry I've Been Lame!

I've been SUPER lame about updating!!

Let's just sum up, if only for posterity.

-Chords came to California!! It was magical. Especially since I got to spend more time with them than I thought. I found out at 1am that I didn't have to work for one of the days they were here.

-Wrapped my second feature film!!! On the last day, I had to be on set at 6:30am (which you know was 6:10am for me) and I didn't leave to go home until MIDNIGHT! That's 17.5 hours, guys! And it was a feather-filled extravaganza. I re-learned a time-old lesson-- making a mess is WAY more fun than cleaning it. Crazy.

Part two is that I was way less beside myself with sadness over the ending of this production. I just have so much more faith that I'll get to see these people again. Thank god.

-Wrap party was also super awesome. It was a pool party and, as I have no swimsuit, I had no intention of actually swimming. However, as I watched all of the fun happening in the pool with my legs draped in the wonderful, warm water, I couldn't handle it and ended up just going in in my dress. My decision was well-received.

-I worked on another show for a day with my friend Liz. It's a very low-budget cooking show. I did get to taste the food though, and it was terrific. Plus I learned that Burbank has a farmer's market, which is huge!

-I also made $100 driving the DP and gaffer around to pick up equipment for the last day of the shoot. It was actually pretty great because I got to see where they rent all of the lighting equipment and what goes into checking it out. Plus everyone was so kind, as always. Although sometimes it's difficult to watch because things are too heavy for me to carry and I hate not being able to help.

-I went to Saralyn's birthday (a while ago-- this list is in neither chronological, nor reverse chronological order. It's an as-it-comes sort of list). We went to Malibu to a wine testing place. It was lovely because we had a little picnic as we watched the band. They covered Johnny Cash and Tom Petty songs and called themselves Petty Cash. Cute!

-Two of my favorite people from PERFECT FAMILY, Sarah and Mitch, joined the crew of the production for the last two weeks. It was heavenly! Plus I learned that Mitch also did a cappella at BU. Treblemakers. It's a small-ass world, ya'll.

Lastly, I changed my blog name (as you may have noticed) to Blythe Blog! I've been wanting to do it for a while, but I finally had some inspiration when I saw a picture that Spiegs took. Perfect.