This week’s travel started just like last week’s, through Austin again. Upon arrival in LA, I headed straight to Sherman Oaks for a lunch meeting with Paul Ryan. I met Paul a couple of years ago at a workshop and we’ve stayed in touch since. I’m going to help him with a redesign of his …
Category Archives: The Book
Week 33: Job Opening
What started over a year ago last July is now heading into the home stretch. The final 12 weeks of The Second City Conservatory started this weekend and it started Saturday with this note on my suitcase: Dearest Actor, When I learned that you’re going to be taking the red eye back from Level 5 …
The 2 ends of the auditioning spectrum
On Monday evening I auditioned for a national print ad for a skin care drink. This audition required women to be in a bathing suit for the picture and men in a speedo or briefs. Models would go in one at a time and be photographed in a secured, closed off area. So I waited …
Week 32: When one door closes…
I decided for this week’s trip to take Southwest to LA, and thanks to the genius Wright Amendment here in Dallas, I had to go through San Antonio. As luck would have it, San Antonio was experiencing severe thunderstorms and flooding so I got to land and take off in that weather. Thank you, Congressman …
Week 31: Vested Interest
Saturday night was spent playing a “friendly” game of poker with my friends Drew and his wife heather, Jim, Esteban, Josh, and Drew’s neighbor, Jerry. I was the big winner of the evening and we all decided that we should make this a bi-weekly event. I always love getting to see those guys individually, but …
Week 30: One and done
This weekend was low stress, but high creativity. Yesterday, I spent the afternoon running errands with my driver in the afternoon and enjoying the rare sunshine after several straight days of Noah’s Ark type rain. The evening was saved for the Dallas Desperados arena football playoff game against the Columbus Destroyers. Let me set it …
Week 29: The lady is a champ
(I thought I had published this last week, sorry it’s a week late.) Friday, my driver took us to Austin with my mom, sister and grandmother. We were on our way down for her cousin Jim’s wedding and my mom and sister were going to catch up with an old friend. We had a short …
Hell no, I won’t go
I packed my bag and headed off to the airport with my driver yesterday. Halfway there I told my driver I didn’t feel like getting on a plane and that a weekend break would be nice as I headed into the final stretch of level 4 and the pending pressure cooker of level 5. We …
Week 28: The Mysterious Staricase; I’m #1
Friday I was off to Santa Fe with my friend Dave to be ushers in our good friend’s John’s wedding. We flew on passes from Southwest so we had to stop briefly in Albuquerque thanks to the Wright Amendment. I must add a hello to Jen and Christina who sat next to me on the …
Week 27: Guitar Heroes, Desperados, Sopranos
This week’s trip was a one day turnaround so I got spend some time Saturday afternoon running errands and having lunch with my driver. We had some time between our errands and that night’s Desperados game so I did the most productive thing – I played Guitar Hero for 2 hours. We’re huge arena football …
Week 26: Knocked Up, held over…and the return of my driver
Be warned, this is going to be a long one. This is the longest travelogue yet. Longest to write, longest time to write (a span of a couple days) and longest in length. So grab the beverage of your choice or maybe even bring a light snack if you’re a slow reader. The weekend started …
Week 25: Flap spackle
(Editor’s note: I didn’t publish this when I got home like I originally thought. Sorry it’s late.) We’re starting early for this one as I spent Friday night in Ft. Worth at Funimation doing voiceovers for “Hell Girl” and “Suzuka”. I was in a sound booth with 3 other guys to do “walla”, or background …
Week 24: 2 to go
For the last week of Level 3 I decided to go stand-by on an early afternoon flight so I could run some errands and catch up with some friends. A few days before I took off, my friend Jason Dilks emailed me to let me know he would be in LA on a lengthy layover …
Week 23: Jokes & Chokes
Greeting from the Chili’s bar in LAX’s gate 42B. I’m writing this on my Blackberry as I watch the Mavericks try to even their series with the Warriors, so please forgive any typos. I will admit right away that I am pretty po’d due to my return flight being delayed nearly 4 hours and the …
Hot off the presses
The following email just hit my inbox: “Congratulations on your acceptance into Level 4 of the Conservatory at The Second City Training Center!” What does it mean? 16 more weeks for Level 4 and 5, plus 4 weeks of graduate shows….and that I’m doing what I need to do.