And Another Week Zips By

Welcome to my life...another day on the Boardwalk on Monday, more transcription on Tuesday, another rehearsal on Wednesday, and a true day from hell on the Boardwalk on Friday, the 14th.

We had a late bus (8:30 am), so we got out there about 9. Then the usual breakfast, hair, makeup, costumes, and we stepped out onto the Boardwalk. From there on in, we did not leave the Boardwalk until 8:30 at night, when they finally called lunch. We had a few 10 minute breaks (primarily used for mad dashes to the john), but that was IT. We were one exhausted and disgruntled bunch of people, even though when we finally did get to "lunch" - well, it was our official lunch, even if it was at 8:30 at night - we found that Crafty had completely outdone itself...sushi bar, raw bar which included raw clams, lobster, crab legs, and shrimp (I was delighted...did I mention that it was 80 and deeply humid and we were shooting November? In fur coats?), and a taco bar. Also, we got either 4 or 5 meal penalties, which is wonderful. God bless the SAG rulebook, which states that if you aren't fed a full hot meal 6 hours after your call time (9 am, in this case), you get a monetary penalty ($42.50) for each hour or fraction thereof that the meal is delayed. So, because we got a 15 minute breakfast, as usual, we should have been fed lunch at 2:15 pm. The result is that there will be either an extra $170 or an extra $212.50 in my paycheck from this shoot (there was some conversation about exactly when lunch was called)...this, of course, not counting straight time, overtime, double time and all the rest of the neat little things like that.

So that was Friday. Saturday I got up still exhausted and trotted over to the best street fair in the world, the Bedford, Barrow, Commerce Fair (known to us neighborhood types as the BBC, but actually named Ye Olde Village Fair). I'm sure I wrote about it last year...suffice it to say that you see everybody you've ever known in the Village, and it's huge fun. It's also my one planned roaring drunk of the year...I mean, I get those days every now and then, but they're usually accidental. This one I KNOW is going to be drunk city. By the time you know you're too drunk to get up from your table by the bandstand, it's way too late...

Anyway, after the afterparty at my house (of course there's ALWAYS an afterparty at my house), I sort of fell asleep with my head on the kitchen table until 5 am, at which point I crawled upstairs on my hands and knees and went back to sleep (in my actual bed in my actual pajamas...I managed to find both the bed AND the pajamas).

Unfortunately, I had a rehearsal on Sunday at 2 pm. Do not, if you value your sanity, ever do this to yourself. Why on earth I let THAT particular piece of truly horrible scheduling slip under my radar I don't know. I mean, it's not like I didn't know perfectly well that I'd be in no condition to rehearse for Mrs. Jones' 3rd grade Thanksgiving pageant, let alone a serious piece requiring a huge amount of actual acting on my part. I must have somehow deluded myself into thinking that I was still 25, when a little hangover was nothing, a mere bagatelle, to be shooed away with a nice strong Bloody Mary. Sheesh. THOSE days are gone forever.

I got through the rehearsal, but I totally bagged the thing I was supposed to do on Monday or which, rather, that I had planned to do on Monday, which was a transcription job. I knew I didn't have to worry about it because it isn't due until tomorrow, so I figured I'd do it today, and I did. Unfortunately, maybe, Grant Wilfley called late yesterday afternoon to try to get me for Boardwalk today, damn it. But since Tiger (the agency where I transcribe) has always been very good to me, and I was committed to do the job for them, AND I knew they couldn't find anyone else to do it in the time, I had to turn down the Boardwalk. The "unfortunately, maybe" is because if you're in New York, you know that today was a hideous day...cold and raining. So if they wanted me outdoors on the set, I'm kind of glad I couldn't do it. Naturally I'm now totally paranoid about this...I'm convinced that they're never going to call me again, even though I reminded Melissa that I'm on call for tomorrow and Friday. I know that isn't true, but I've sort of come to depend on Boardwalk as a nice little money earner. This is pretty silly, since they're casting for the last episode and using a whole new crew (at least that's what the calls say...do not submit if you've already worked) and then going on hiatus until January while the first season actually appears. So except for the last bits of this episode we're doing now, I won't be on it anyway...until next season. Probably in January. Probably in summer clothes. Yay, movies!

Meanwhile, I seem to have TWO buyers for the house, and if I'm lucky, we could get into a nice little bidding war here, which is always excellent for the seller. I think I mentioned that the nice gay couple have already been back for a third look, this time with a positive army of electricians and architects and for all I know carpenters...there were a LOT of people...and the backup buyer (a pregnant lady who's SUPPOSED to be on total bed rest) is coming again on Thursday. Let us pray. Joshua has sent another email mentioning staying with me...

So, since Grant Wilfley hasn't called yet about tomorrow, I will spend the day alternately cleaning the house and learning those damn lines...and getting some more rest. With the script under my pillow, which is a time-honored superstitious actor's method of making sure the lines stay in the head. I'll try anything.

Love, Wendy