Monday, May 30, 2011

Stuff You Don't Care About

It's late and I have to make this brief so I can sleep, so I'm just going to list everything about today that has happened.

1. Having to replace all my tires on my car, spending $360 altogether for those and my alignment. This came out of my savings. I am now putting myself on money lockdown so I can build my nest egg back up before school starts and I have to job search.
2. Panicking about what will happen if I can't find a job and what other shit I'm going to have to pay for and deal with back at school, and whether or not I really will have my life under control accordingly.
3. Having to tell my poor mother that I can't stay at her house with her because her smoking in the house is too much for me, when I really just want to go back to my mommy's.
4. Finding out that my schedule clashes with the filming schedule of the short I was supposed to be in, and now I can't be in it. I guess getting my first screen cred is still not happening.
5. Being told by the producer that the director and production team really want to work with me in future projects because I was in the top 3 people they chose for the role I was supposed to play. They liked me a lot.
6. Being called by another student production team and asked to be an extra for a film. I can't do it because I can't afford to keep driving up to Tally and back (before the other short fell through).
7. Getting into the residence hall I wanted for the fall. It's a two-story townhouse with two bedrooms and one bath, a kitchen and living room with a study area upstairs. I get three roommates. I'm bound to become good friends with one of them!
8. Spending the day with the love of my life and a lovely other couple today mini golfing, eating Olive Garden, and looking for hermit crabs at Pine Island.
9. Having my evening made by a group of little kids behind us watching the sunset and yelling:
Little Kid #1: Bye, Sun! Have a good time in China!
Little Kid #2: Bye, Sun! Have a good time in New Jersey!

Ok, so maybe there were more positives than negatives happening today, but so much has gone on that I don't know what to make the day at all. I still have an exam to study for, too...

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Short Film Gig!

 So, to post an update on the short film (my third post today!), I will be filming in Panacea, FL next week! I have a bit role, and the first line of the film (it's also my only line). I can't post anything else on the film because I don't want to give away too much. As soon as it's finished I will post it everywhere for everyone to see and such... maybe.

Good Things Are Coming For Me. Who's Waiting.

 Ahhhhhhh!! I just got a call for a thesis film that's shooting in the beginning of June! Unfortunately I'm not available for most of the dates they're filming. Gahh!

 The director will call me if the days I am available will work out. Fingers crossed. I feel like I'm getting closer.

 Will Lexi eventually get her screen creds? Keep tuning in periodically to find out stuff.

The Music Man

I made the ensemble! Wheeeeeeeeeeee! I've already posted this on Facebook 7,894,865,766 times!!! The first rehearsal is tomorrow from 2-9. 7 hours! 7 hours to do what I love the best!

In other news, I figured out why I end up broke so quickly. Apparently they charge me $10 overdraft protection fees when I have insufficient funds in my checking account. Now, I thought I was avoiding that by setting my account to take money out of my savings and automatically transferring it to my checking, which they do. But they are charging me an overdraft protection fee. I'm $10 short of what I got paid this week because I didn't transfer funds in time. I'm an idiot. An idiot who needs to pay more attention to her bank account.

You don't care! Wheeeeeeeeeee!!!

Someone save me from studying, please.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Update on Stuff

  I know I said I was going to post on my "diet" (in parentheses because it's not technically a diet, per se) and I haven't. I said I was going to post daily for the first two weeks, and then weekly for however long I feel like it. I'm sorry, but that's way too much work. I posted one day, and I was about to finish Day 2, but I didn't have time. Let's face it, I have a life. I really don't want to take the time to write everything I eat and write all the calories down and my qualitative feelings and crap on this blog for three or four people to read. I can't do it. But I will tell you it is going really well. I've been eating a lot of veggies, and drinking only water and tea. I don't typically drink soda, and I gave up coffee because it's too acidic for my voice. As a singer/actor, I need to take care of my instrument.

  It's sad and a bunch of crap. I really want to see a study that specifically shows any long-run damages to the throat done from drinking coffee every day. But I digress...

  So, I've been eating a lot of veggies and fruit, and I've been letting myself indulge in something sweet or junkie every so often. I am never as ravenous as I used to get because of all the fiber and stuff. I don't feel full after I eat, nor am I sluggish. The only thing I need to work on is bringing food with me when I go to work or somewhere for a long period of time. I had auditions for "The Music Man" Sunday. I ate at 12, got to the audition at 2, and didn't get home till 9 (I would have gotten home sooner, but had to pick up a prescription, which involved calling my insurance company to override them not covering it at retail level and other crap. I'm going off on a parenthetical tangent...). I stopped at Jason's Deli and got a huge sandwich because I was starving. If I had just brought food to munch on during the audition, I would not have spent $7 on that sandwich. Just sayin'...

  Oh, and today I think I realized how little I really need sweets. I ate a chocolate creme doughnut that I'd been craving for about two months now. I never thought I would see the day when doughnuts would become too sweet for me. It's bittersweet, really.

  I'll be doing myself and my body a favor though...

  In other news, I kicked ass at "The Music Man" auditions. It's about freakin' time I had a productive audition. Normally I don't consider myself a good dancer, in the event that I have a disappoiting audition and people know not to get their hopes up. But I did really well at the dance audition. Like, REALLY well. I was one of four people in our group that was asked to stay so they could see what else we are capable of. And my singing audition was phenomenal as well. I don't really like to toot my own horn, but I haven't had a good audition like this in months, so I think a good self horn-tooting is in order. I got a callback, and I go back tomorrow. I really wanna be cast as Marion the librarian. It would be a change from all the whorish characters I've played in the last two years or so. Even if I don't get the role, being in the chorus will be fun, too. I will get to play a bunch of different characters and dance! I haven't done that since my sophomore year when our high school did a production of "Anything Goes." Either way, I'm in a win-win situation :)

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

To put this out in the open...

  Remember how I said I was auditioning for student films in April? Well, I did. Since then I haven't said a word about it.

  I haven't really posted anything in here about my acting other than mentioning in one entry that I was auditioning for a bunch of things. I guess I haven't posted anything because there's really nothing to post. I'm going through a huge dry spell and sad to admit it. Well, I did. Right there. I skipped out on auditioning for plays at school because it was my first semester and I wanted to get acclimated to the campus and not get into too much too soon. Pretty simple, right?

  I auditioned for student films. It's easy. You get to pick from a bunch of sides they had on a table in a room and then you go upstairs and read from the side on camera. They keep your audition clip in their database and student directors call you back based on your audition, if they like you.

  A while ago I posted on Facebook that I had all these awesome summer plans, all of which fell through, by the way. I specifically said that there was something awesome possibly lined up for me, but I didn't say anything further because I didn't want to disappoint anyone if it didn't happen. And it didn't. So I said nothing further. But I feel like I should put it out in the open because it was quite exciting, even if it did fall through.

I got called back for a student film. A callback! ME!

  I got a callback for a student film. I didn't even think I did well enough at my general audition to even get anything. Apparently I did something right. I read from the side for the director, who was an MFA director, and that was it for my callback. It didn't happen for me. He said "We'll be in touch within the next few days." That was in April. He was supposed to be filming last week. Yeah, it fell through. I had a feeling it would.

  I was a bit down about it. Not about the film specifically, but because everything else fell through and on top of it I had no money or job and not a lot of people to turn to up there. I think I thought by telling people, they would think something was wrong with me and that I wasn't much of an actor if I couldn't get the part. It was my own problem within myself.

  I was viewing this rejection as the glass being half-empty instead of half-full. Instead of being happy that I got a callback, I was pissed cause I didn't have anything going for me. I felt inadequate because everything fell through. But I know I'm not. That's just the business. There's more rejection than job opportunities. It sucks. Realistically I'm going to have to work for a living to pay the bills. Most actors and models do. That's just the way it is. Time to shake it off and keep trying.

Besides, getting a callback is freaking awesome in itself! I'm that much closer :D

Monday, May 16, 2011

Operation Thrive: Day 1

Day 1 of my new diet
Breakfast: Bowl of shredded wheat, unfrosted with skim milk, and a cup of coffee with creamer and about 2 tsp sugar. Calories: 320

Midmorning, Pre-class "lunch," if you will: Veggie omelet with only 1 egg, diced peppers, onions, and tomatoes, and cheese. Calories: Roughly 200-250, counting the skim milk, veggies and cheese.

Afternoon, Post-class Lunch: Bowl of plain oatmeal sweetened with a tsp of peanut butter (gimme a break here, my dad had NO food in the house. I had little to work with), and a spoonful of hot fudge found in the fridge (I was craving chocolate really badly). Calories: 228

Dinner: Fage Greek yogurt, unsweetened and VERY bitter, with a handful of baby carrots, a sliced apple, two tsp of peanut butter and a cup of green tea with milk and sugar. Calories: 370

Progress: Feeling hungry, craving a cheeseburger and sushi, wondering how anybody can eat like this every day AND exercise. I was tempted to go out to eat and order like, everything on the menu.
Total calories: 1118-1168
Fortunately, that's only about half of what I need to get through the day. No wonder I feel hungry. In my defense though, I didn't have much to work with that also appealed to me. But my dad went grocery shopping, so I'll have more to work with and I'll eat more tomorrow.
Goal: Get myself to maintain this healthier way of eating while getting enough calories.

You're probably thinking, "Lexi on a diet?? This is unreal!"

But, let me explain.

So, everyone who knows me knows that I am a huge foodie who is hungry a lot. I have a large apetite and this ability to consume large quantities of food in one sitting. It's become a running joke with my best friend and her family, who in high school would invite me over for dinner because they knew I would inhale anything and everything they put on my plate. Yep, that's me! Proud foodie!

Let's get to the point, here. I'm a proud foodie who does not feel well lately. I've been pretty much eating whatever I want whenever I want, and it's starting to take a toll on me. I'm tired after I eat if I eat too much. I'm also just plain old tired, period. I have no energy to get out and exercise, or even face the day sometimes. My face is breaking out and my skin looks dull and pallid. I also suffer from bloating and other gastrointestinal things you don't need to know about. It's quite disgusting.

I named this new diet "Operation Thrive" because I'm modifying my diet to reach my full potential. I was eating really healthy last summer and exercising almot every day. I remember feeling so good and on top of the world, and I didn't look half-bad either! I was getting great muscle tone and my skin glowed. I didn't need foundation, or even makeup, at all. I slept really well at night, and I had all this energy that I was able to put towards my productivity. I could climb stairs without getting winded! I am trying to replicate that so I can accomplish my everyday routine without stopping to nap for two hours (or taking Beano ;P). So here is my plan: eat a predominantly plant-based diet that's high in fiber and protein (surprise!), and low in junk. By junk, I mean fried foods, excessive amounts of sweets, and anything greasy or processed. My grain intake will mostly be whole-grain bread. Pasta intake will be sparing or in really small portions because it's filling and makes me sleepy. I will also allow myself to eat potatoes because I love them so darn much, but not too often because they are really filling and make me sleepy. I will also allow myself to eat a big greasy cheeseburger or dessert if I want to as well. This isn't about deprivation or making food an enemy or anything like that. It's about doing my body some good by feeding it properly. I will be tracking my progress qualitatively as far as energy, any weaknesses or slip-ups, and goals. I will post daily blogs for the first two weeks, then I will only post weekly.

I feel like there is a huge disclaimer that needs to go with this blog, because there will be that one person who criticizes me and tells me I'm too skinny while ranting off on a tangent about how I'm young and I should enjoy eating what I want when I want while my metabolism is still fast and stop hating my body because I'll miss it when I get old and decrepit and all that and a bag of chips. *long breath* So, let me make this clear right now. And put it in bold, bright red, underlined letters. I'm NOT in this to deprive myself or lose weight! I do NOT hate my body, either; this is for my health. Then there are those few cynics, who I can just picture in my head right now, that will read this and think, "Yeah, right. I'll give her about a week. Then she'll go back to eating everything in sight." I really don't care what you have to say. This isn't about you. Please keep your negative comments to yourself. They really don't phase me because this isn't about impressing anyone or trying to prove anything. I just want to feel better.