You take the good, you take the bad...

I will, however, begin with the bad. After returning to my car, I found a parking ticket on the windshield, since I stayed over two hours in a "two hour only" parking spot. It's not really a lot of money, about as much as a full tank of gas. But it's still money that I'd rather not pay the city of Philadelphia if I had the choice. But I don't have the choice... Oh well...

But that was only a minor problem at the end of a great day. I left the house early to get into town in time for my audition, and I ended up being about an hour too early. But it worked out, because as I was trying to find the place, I met Jasmine, another actor on her way to the open call. We killed some time together in the local Starbucks, and then we went to the audition. Sitting in the waiting room, I was very nervous about the audition. I was running over my monologue and choices much more than I do for a normal theatre audition, until I was called into the room. After they set up the camera and I slated my name, I did my piece. I was working hard to focus on making small choices for the camera, as well as geting the ideas to come alive in my eyes. As I was doing it, though, I felt forced and a little stiff. But luckily for me, the casting director gave me an adjustment to the monologue and asked me to do it again for him with that change in mind. Part of his note was to "have fun" with the opening bits, which really loosened up the focus as I did it the next time. I was more relaxed, it felt more natural, and I even discovered little mini-beats that I hadn't ever found before. He complimented me on my adjustment, and I walked out of the room feeling pretty damn good about the work I'd done.

Afterwards, Jasmine and I went to some bookstores in Old City and then spent a while talking in that local Starbucks again. We talked mostly about acting stuff, sharing websites and resources that we use to find potential jobs. After a coffee, we left with plenty of time to beat the rush hour out of the city, although the local Ikea no longer had the discount CD tower I was hoping to buy on the way home... I'm just about to sit down to dinner before I head north to rehearsal for "Grill," and I realize that I'm living a pretty cool life at the moment!