Headshot update!

I bounced through work. And let me tell you, that was trying. So far I haven't told anyone at work except Beth, who I sit next to all day every day, and I finally told Craig. And you know, a lot of people don't understand. They just kind of look at me funny when I tell them what I'm doing. I've kind of just decided I'm not dealing with the rest of the world's problem with my path in life, though, so tough.

So I get off work, and go home to grab my stuff. My appointment was at 6, so I was just gonna leave at 5, cuz it's not that far. And yes, I got stuck in traffic several times. And from the time that I was driving there and the time I was coming back, I heard two songs three times on the radio: That Phantom Planet song about "California, here we come", which I found really funny, and then I'd flip channels and hear "It's the End of the World as We Know It." Oh-kay.

I got there fifteen minutes late, which was fine. Then I had to get my makeup done by Lillian, who I really liked. Larry's not a fan of the shape of my face, so he had her do some countouring and stuff. They did nothing with my hair, cuz apparently that dark stuff attached to my head is actually an asset today. Meanwhile, Larry's having a phone crisis with his mother, who is like 83, very deaf, and so he'd repeat the same question four times, and then get into a fight with her, then finally hang up in a huff. It was kind of amusing to listen to, while Lillian and I tried to ignore it. The makeup I kinda like. I look pretty, but I don't like much like me. Although I love my eyes and I paid very close attention to what she did. I paid Lillian, she left, and Larry and I got to work on the pictures. What he does is give suggestions based on questions he asked at the consultation. It took me a while to warm up, but he came up with questions about "How would you break the law if you could?" and I immediately started thinking of Scapers. Larry loved my reaction to that, so he kept bringing it up. We did two rolls in three different outfits, and apparently I do "ice princess bitch" real well. He meant it as a compliment. (Although the more he told me to be "emotionally available" and tell me to stop being an ice princess I realized that one of my original characters and I seem to have become the same person, which scares the hell out of me.)

I was out by 8. An hour of shooting film, and I paid Larry. I'm going there on Wednesday to get the proofs. I'm figuring I'm going to upload them to a site or something and let my friends help me choose which ones I use. According to Larry, my smiles are basically the same (because I was trying to keep my eyes from disappearing), but the serious ones will give me a *lot* to choose from. So woo hoo!

And the next day, I am still trying to get rid of my eye makeup...

Today was the consultation for headshots. Can we have both a yay and a Gah. (And btw, I consider myself a city girl. Grew up in Chicago for thirteen years before moving to the suburbs. I also learned to drive in the suburbs, and damn if I don't prefer it. I drive into Chicago and I become a Chicago driver.)

I got to the loft and met with Larry, who is a very nice guy. He started off asking a lot of really loaded questions about myself, which I hate because I never know how to answer them. It was all "what should your pictures say about you" and everything. Let me tell you, it's kind of like getting ripped apart, but you don't really mind it. The first thing Larry told me was that these would probably be character shots, because he didn't see me playing the girl next door. But then he started listing off qualities he thought of when he looked at me, so I didn't take it as an insult or anything. He asked if I was going to do my own makeup, and I asked if there was anything wrong with the way I had it today. He said no, but then started giving me tips. Which I will really be using, but I told him to sign me up for the stylist.

Then he put me in front of the background and started kind of moving my head, looking for angles. He'd stand behind the camera and say things like "Tell me something with your eyes that most people don't know about you," and I'd have to nonverbally express it. He got what he wanted right away, and I got complimented on that. I used to get yelled at in acting class in high school because I was "the great stone face" who never let any emotions across, so I'm very proud of myself for getting past that. But again it's a bit of a tear-down, because I also get to hear stuff like how my eyes turn into slits when I smile, and my cheeks are "chubby". They are not, by the way. But Larry says he will have no problem getting good pictures out of me. Then he said something about Michelle Pfeiffer always looking beautiful, but it's the people who aren't gorgeous who take the best pictures. Hm. Well, he's just taking the pictures. It's the casting people I really need to worry about, right?

It wasn't exactly what I expected. I expected it to be worse, I think. I went there completely expecting to get torn apart. So I go on Thursday and have the pictures done. Come Wednesday I'll be a nervous wreck.

Well, since I have to wear something darker than my skin tone with texture to it, I had to do some shopping. So I called my friend Tammy, who I have not talked to since September. I met Tammy in high school, and since then she's been the only one from that group that I still talk to regularly. I had made up my mind that I wasn't going to call them unless they called me, and they never called. But lately I've been thinking about Tammy a lot for some reason, and since all my friends live more than 45 minutes away from me, I decided to call her. Turns out they all got together last night and were asking what happened to me. (I told Tammy the phone works both ways, and I got a very guilty "I know, I'm sorry".) So Tammy and I went out shopping at the mall, catching up on each other, our old friends (well, my old friends, her current ones) and what we've been up to. It was pretty cool. And Tammy really doesn't know much about me, which I want to fix. She's invited me to go camping with them in June, and if any of them give a damn, I'll go. I've also been invited to Vegas when they all go, which I'd sure as hell go if I thought I could get time off work. But that's always how it goes, though. Last time I saw everyone I used to hang out with was at the wake of a girl we went to school with. They all spent the whole night inviting me to do a bunch of stuff that never panned out because I didn't care. I don't know. We have a phone date for Thursday or Friday, so we'll see how it goes.

Interesting weekend. And it's not over. Take that as you wish.

I love warm weather. It's hard for me to have bad days in bad weather. The sun is shining, it's pretty out, I am doing pretty well at work, and all is well. Even though I did my taxes. Can I just say GAH? An hour and a half of asking my dad tax questions and having my brother check my math, only to find that after my cheap ass refund from the government, I have to pay the state a third of it. Damn capitalism.

I have a consultation for my headshots on Saturday. You should have seen me when I called. I was having a horrible day, and I called the photographer, Larry, on lunch. I hung up with him and was so excited I immediately called my mom to spaz. So at 10:00 Saturday I go to his studio and we plot out my headshots. I'm kind of nervous, actually. I'm finally freaking doing this. Good for me, dammit.