I was going to do a little reformatting on this journal and delete all previous entries to this one.. but I can't find a function that deletes all entries at once.  I have quite a few and it'd be kind of a pain in the ass to go through and delete them one by one, so I guess they'll remain.  I'm talking about my LIVE JOURNAL, because I cross post all of these to CAFÉ RHODES too, and on that I did manage to delete all previous entries.  I haven't decided yet whether to just post these to the general section of the Café or recreate a personal blog section on there, but by the time I go to post this I'll have decided.  So whatever section it's in is where you'll find it henceforth.

 

I was also going to cut back on some of the friends I have linked on LJ (the people who I don't actually KNOW, and have just come across online), but I figure that I don't have many to begin with, so I'll just keep them on there.  They make for interesting reading at times.  If you're not familiar with how Live Journal works, and that's where you're reading this, click on the "friends" link in the upper right hand corner.

 

Here's where things will be a little different- I'm going back to a four night work week (exhausting, because it's 13 hour long shifts all night long) so I'm just going to post a weekly update on one of my days off each week.  I'm going to treat this a little more like a chronological journal and not so much as a syndicated column.  Mainly it'll just be about what Dorian and I have been up to lately, and not much more.  No political and social commentary, or at least very little.  There may be a bit of musing here and there, and a few posts more often than once per week, but mainly it'll just be an accounting of things that have happened during the week prior to the post.

 

I'm tired and not sure I'm making sense.  SO, coming up in a couple of days will be my first weekly update, but for right now I need to collapse.

 

Cheers!

It's possible that I just may have to return to working four nights a week.  Damn, it's such a burnout because it's 13 hours a night, from 6:00 pm to 7:00 am.  Even with three nights off, it just doesn't seem there's ample time to recover when I'm on that schedule.  But we're just not making it, even with Dorian working close to Fulltime at Hollywood Video.  Last week THE ONION ran an article on "The museum of the middle class", which paid tribute to such since they're all basically extinct now.  How true that seems to be.  We seem to have upper middle class to rich, and lower middle class to poverty, with no true middle class left.  Dorian and I are definitely close to poverty, by American standards anyway.  We have a few things that are kind of nice, such as this DSL broadband connection, but for the most part we're always behind on bills and we don't even answer the house phone anymore.  We have caller ID so we'll glance at it if the house phone rings, but 99% of the time it's a "private number" or "number not available".. in which case they can leave a voicemail.  If they manage to do that (usually they don't), it'll generally be something like, "this is Kenneth and it's imperative that you call us at 800-222-6666 immediately, thank you".  Call WHO?  If you're not going to tell us what it's ABOUT, Kenneth, and WHO YOU'RE WITH, then fuggedabouddit.

 

Maybe I'll just stay with the three nights per week and try to find some kind of interesting weekend gig, like delivering flowers or something.  Wow, tips and I'd get to make people smile!

 

I recently found a website that lists Orange County theatrical auditions..   hmm, am I ready to consider acting again?  Well, now that I can HEAR, it helps.  Just not sure I have the energy.  And it's seems like it'd be kind of silly to pursue that, given our monthly debts.

 

But I have to do SOMETHING.

I'm Dave Rhodes, and.. I'm REPORTING FOR DUTY!!! **salutes**  Anyone catch Kerry's speech at the DNC the other night? (besides my friend rm in NYC who not only caught it, but wrote a commentary worthy of the New York Times)  I did.  I have no comment on it.  I avoid discussions on politics, religion, the weather and Britney Spears.  I prefer to remain an enigma wrapped in a mystery based on a riddle made into stage production adapted into a screenplay starring Tom Hanks as me.  Alanis Morrisette could play Dorian (if she wants to venture into acting).

 

Okay, is it just me or do YOU find this to be darn funny too?    (Warning- "Pony Porn")

 

One more LONG night shift and then two nights off and then three night shifts and then four nights off which will continue to be my schedule.  Does that make sense?  I've been doing four nights on, three off for about the past six months.  The boss hired a new guy to work opposite me and I requested to get cut back a day because I'm SO burned out on this excruciatingly boring job that I'm ready to just shuck it all and join a monastery or something, so the new guy gets trained by me Tuesday and Wednesday night and starts by himself on Friday.  So as of then, I'll have Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday nights off.  Which rocks.

 

I'm killing time until Dorian is ready for her ride to Hollywood Video this morning, which is about an hour away.  Then after I get back I can go to BED.  Yippee.

 

Recently I've added two actresses to my friends list on LJ.. one is in San Francisco and the other in NYC, which makes their daily accounts all that much more interesting.  The thing about these ladies is.. BOTH seem to find time despite work schedules and the fact that they both are performing and auditioning to write long ass journal entries on a daily basis.  I don't know how they do it, but it does inspire me to write at least a little something each day, just to keep the creative juices flowing and stuff like that.  Check them out by clicking "friends" on my LJ and looking at the posts from "rm" and "nnp".  You'll also see some random posts from theater people.. that's a group of actors on LJ that I subscribe to.  Anything anyone posts on that group shows up in my "friends" section.

 

I have to go pee.. be right back..

 

Okay, that's better.  I'm back just in time to sign off.  Really.  I just have nothing left to say, I'm too darn tired to type.  I feel like it's this massive effort and the keys all have little wads of gum under them so I have to press really hard for each letter, and my head is swimming and I'm starting to drool.  I hope I can make it to Hollywood Video and back.

 

We completely missed the 4th of July.  It just blew right by us.. I was asleep and Dorian was puttering around the house, taking it easy and catching up on email and stuff.  I had gotten home Sunday morning after a fifteen hour shift and I was EXHAUSTED.. so I collapsed, intending to only sleep for a few hours but of course it turned into about twelve.  She won't wake me when I'm catching up on sleep like that, so the day just went on by without much regard for us.  I'm just about ready to look for something with a bit of an easier schedule.. this morning I was sitting in the company van singing along with Frank Sinatra at the top of my lungs in order to stay awake.

I normally drive a security vehicle, complete with a light bar on the roof, spotlights and all of that crap, but it's in the shop.  So this week I've been using a company passenger van which has a nice CD player and a VERY decent stereo system, so I've been bringing my CD's in.  All this week I've had everyone from Frank to Alanis Morissette to Fatboy Slim keeping me company.  Last night it was "The Drop" on KCRW 89.9 with Liza Richardson for a few hours.. I love good house and techno on a decent sound system.  Rock me, baby!  The security car has an awesome sound system but it's am/fm with cassette and NO CD player.  My reunion with that car next week will be a bittersweet one.

 

Every morning except for Sunday, I can take off at seven because these employees show up who work in the parts, service and detail departments of the dealership.  But on Sundays they don't come in and I have to wait a few extra hours for the sales staff to show up at nine, which makes it a fifteen hour shift.  At eight thirty I was singing "Night And Day" right along with Frank when an older couple pulled up in an SUV and the gentleman inquired as to when the dealership would be open for business.  To the tune of "Night and Day", on the part where Frank sings, "Night and DAAAAAY.. YOU are the ONE.."  I sang, "Ten O'clock, is wheeeen weeee OPEEENNNN.."  By the look on his face as he drove away, I think he and the missus might have thought I was a little nuts.

 

It's almost three in the morning on Monday and I'm UP.  WAY UP.  Not much to do but write stuff like this and peruse the internet.  No wonder Dorian took away my credit card.  It's the first of my three nights off and if I were to engage in any *legitimate* activities that need to be done, such as laundry, taking trash out, etc, I'd risk waking up Dorian.  So, here I am, sailing through cyberspace on wings of boredom.  My schedule SUCKS.  Whaaaaa!!!!

 

The evening wasn't a total loss.  I had gotten up too late to do anything 4th of July-ish, but we watched a movie that I had mentioned in this blog earlier.. "Pieces of April".  I had wanted Dorian to see it because the lead character, April (played by Katie Holmes), reminds me SO MUCH of Dorian at twenty one, I just knew she'd relate to it.  So she brought it home from the video store Saturday night and we watched it together a few hours ago.  It's one of those character driven indie films that manages to do a lot without much of a budget (sorry, no car chases or action heroes in this one). 

 

Tonight is my weekly acting class, and yes, I intend to get a few hours sleep before I go in.  Considering that it's over fifteen hours away as I'm writing this, I think I'll be able to squeeze in a nap somewhere.  Before I do, I need to get up some information on background acting that I promised to a young lady in the class last week.. she's the one who hopes to be standing at the podium someday holding an Oscar and thanking everyone (including me), but since she's never been on an actual set for a film or TV show I recommended to her that she book some work as an EXTRA just so that she can hang out and see how it's done.  I told her I'd print out all of the "how to" information from my now defunct website that explains how to go about doing all of that.

She shouldn't have too much of a problem getting anywhere in Hollywood.. she's 23 and gorgeous, plus she seems to have the drive to succeed.  I just hope she doesn't get too disillusioned when she sees how extras are treated on set.  I already told her that she'd be there strictly to do reconnaissance on the entertainment industry and NOT to look for a big break.  I'll reiterate the point when I see her tonight.

 

My first acting class at South Coast Repertory Theater (known henceforth as "SCR") was fantabulous!  I'm really happy to be in a program that will finally provide some tools for me and that will enable me to FOCUS on my goals after all these years and quit floundering around, wondering what in the heck I'm going to do next.  Some of you helped me get into the class so I owe you a brief summary of how it went..

 

The instructor, Laurie Woolery, has been with SCR for thirteen years and is a class act all on her own!  We've only had one session but she seems to be quite knowledgeable.  A friend recently asked me what METHOD they teach.. Laurie made it clear that in the basic class she will touch on various methods but the idea is to find what works best for the individual.  That was good news for me, since my last acting class was with a guy in Hollywood who taught a particular method (acting without agony) that I didn't care for and that didn't really work for me.  The first class at SCR consisted of introductions and little "testimonials" from everyone, followed by some exercises designed to open everyone up.  I expected this and I enjoy such exercises.. I think they're really beneficial.  It's a three hour course on Monday nights and Laurie said that down the line we'll each have a monologue to work on and a scene with another partner, all assigned by her.  I found it interesting that she's going to assign the monologues to us rather than let us choose our own.  She said that she wanted to get to know each of us at the first class and then she'll assign the monologues accordingly.  Okay, that rocks!  I'm glad I don't have to pick the damn thing.  She also said that we're not just going to take the monologues home and memorize them and then perform them with a critique.. rather, we'll perform them over and over throughout the course and tweak them as we go along.

 

There are about thirty students in the class and about two thirds seem to be there just for the experience, whereas the rest, such as myself, want to make a career out of it and are very serious.  I don't mind at all sharing the class with people who have no intention of acting.. who knows, maybe they'll discover something they didn't know they had and subsequently change their minds after this?  It's also a good character study for me and I know that once I get into the intermediate and advanced classes I'll be working with students who are serious about the craft itself.  One young lady, when stating her goals during her testimonial, said that she hopes to one day be standing at the podium holding an Oscar and thanking everyone.. WOW!  That's a pretty lofty goal and I hope she gets there someday.  I don't think she has a clue how tough it is just to be a working Actor in the entertainment biz, but she'll find out.

 

Bottom line- the class ROCKS, and right now it's the most important thing in my life next to Dorian.  So once again, thanks to all who helped me get into it.  You're definitely at the front of the line for comps to my first show.

 

I'm at the tail end of my weekly three days off and go back in tonight.. blah.  Dorian is still in Sedona sucking up energy vortexes (I'm not kidding when I say that) and she's due back tomorrow evening sometime.  It's been a lonely few days, and I haven't done much other than sleep and take the class.  I DID rent a movie, which actually was free, haha!  They didn't charge me at Hollywood Video since Dorian works there.  I'm so glad she took that Job!  The movie is "Pieces of April" with Katie Holmes, Oliver Platt, Patricia Clarkson and Sean Hayes.  It's a very moving film and I definitely recommend it to anyone who comes from a dysfunctional family.  So.. that's most of you (US!).  If you want to check up on it before renting it, click here-->  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0311648/

 

By the way, there's one review of the film there by someone called "The Unemployed Critic", and he totally dissed the film.  I don't agree with most of what he say's in the review, having liked the film very much myself, so it's up to you whether you want to read it or not.  But I can see why he's the UNEMPLOYED Critic.

 

Those energy vortexes I mentioned?  Dorian's retreat center and "healing school" that she's attending is purposely located in Sedona, Arizona because there are supposed to be some kind of energy emanations there which are quite a mystery, but it's been proven that people are affected by them and experience better health.  Now, I'm as skeptical as anybody, but she's been there a few days now and swears by it.  Her health has improved dramatically and she has experienced a few occasions where she is void of ANY pain whatsoever.  For those of you who know her.. you're aware that's never happened to her before.  On a note worthy of the X-files, her cell phone SOMETIMES works and SOMETIMES doesn't there.. she was told that that would happen, and man.. it's weird!  On the first night there she didn't have a signal at all and borrowed a friend's cell phone to call me.  Today she called me from her own phone because she had a full signal, but it faded out towards the end of the conversation.  Who's ever known cell phones to behave this way when they're not moving?  Also, the signal sounded kind of strange.. her voice seemed as though it was being run through a voice synth and she said I sounded the same way.  She's told that's common there with all of the different cell carriers, along with the signals fading in and out even though cell towers are nearby (cue "Twilight Zone" theme).

 

Okay, I'm off to work in a few hours and stuff has to be done before I leave..