handlin' my business

Settled into my next place - a two week sublet in Brooklyn. (I can tell you that I'm in Brooklyn because there's about 2 million people here - I'm probably pretty safe.) I've never lived in BK before, and, much to my surprise, I like it. The place is nice - it's actually my ex-g'friend's, which is a story in itself - and the roommates are cool. I haven't had roommates in three-plus years, so that's going to be a little bit of an adjustment. No more late night booty calls, I suppose.

I've also been doing the New York actor things while I've been here - meeting with agents, going on auditions. It's kind of like exercising after a long layoff - you know what you're doing, but the skills are a bit rusty. Had a good meeting and audition on Friday, and I've got another audition set up for Monday, so at least I'm keeping busy.

I have more stuff to write about, but I haven't called Voice & Sandwich in almost a week, so I better check in before they think I'm dead.

The eagle has landed

That's right, peeps, I'm back on the East Coast. As Tony! Toni! Tone! would say, it feels good. Yeah.

I walked around a lot today - my plans ended up getting all messed up and I didn't want to have to to take the commuter train multiple times (I'm staying with my brother for a few days before moving into my Brooklyn sublet). Ended up going uptown to see some old peeps - ran into three grad school professors. Made phone calls to agents. Ate an "eggwich". Had coffee with a blogger. Had chai with a dear friend.

It was a good day.

And yet, I feel a little strange being back. Maybe it's because, for the first time in 3 1/2 years, I'm actually going to be here for a while. I don't have to rush to get everything done. And, furthermore, I have to kick a little acting game while I'm here. I'm working on securing representation, going on auditions, making connections. I haven't worked this hard on the "business" aspect in years. But I think it will be good for me.

I'm still on West Coast time, but I'm getting sleepy. More t'm'row - I've decided that since I've been running around like a crazy person for the last week or so, I'm just going to take it easy...

quick post

Sorry no Sleepy Hamlet weekend post. I was running around nonstop. More details about that later in the week. Right now I've got to finish packing so that I can fly to NY in the morning. Um, thanks, Cowtown, for...um...the memories? Do Jamba Juice and In-N-Out Burger count as memories?

Big news upcoming. I know I said that I didn't want to talk too much about future events, but this one, if it comes through, is pretty exciting, at least for some of you.

Oh, you want a hint? OK. I'll give you one word:

Brooklyn.

time to go...

I had all these great plans to write daily in a different coffee shop - look how well that turned out. In a Starbucks again, albeit a different one - one that has a bathroom on the premises. (Cue "The Jeffersons" theme song.)

Leaving tonight - late nite flight back to Cowtown, and then driving in the morning up to Sleepy Hamlet. I've really enjoyed my time out here - went to the beach, saw my cousin, hung out with some of my best friends in the world. The weather here is gorgeous, pretty girls everywhere (including Giss). I know that I can live here. But it's still not NY. It'll be interesting to see what happens.

One thing that's really stood out to me is how big this place is. Obviously traffic has something to do with this, but it amazes me how you can agree to meet someone in a place an hour away, and it's no big deal! I've lived in walking distance towns for way too long, I suppose.

Coming up on two hours on the internet here at the 'bucks, which means it's time for me to do something else. In this case, it means a trip to see my union representatives to deal with a situation way too complicated for me to explain here. I'll see if I can finagle a blog from Sleepy Hamlet this weekend - if not, you'll probably hear from me next when I hit the Big Apple.

LA!

Writing from a Starbucks in West Hollywood. So far, so good (except that I had to run across the street to go to the bathroom, because this store doesn't have a public restroom - won't be writing from here t'm'row). I've got a bunch of errands to run today, the most important of which involves a trip to the Apple store. Let's just say that I think I need a new iPod. And you all know how important my iPod is to me.

I got here yesterday - it was raining when I left Cowtown. The ending of the show was surprisingly normal. No emotions, no grand send-offs - it just felt like a normal show. I'm glad it's over. I really needed a break - and now I'm getting it. The "business" side of me is kicking myself for not setting up a bunch of auditions and meetings while I'm here. But, realistically, what good does it do to go meet an agent and say, "I'm only here for four days. Hire me!"? It doesn't. So I'm just going to relax, enjoy the weather, hang out at the beach, and enjoy myself. There will be plently of time for hustling when I get back to NYC.

Off to the Beverly Center. More t'm'row.

packing sucks

The bad part about being a vagabond is packing. Just when you start to get comfortable in a place, and your stuff is spread out all over the apartment, you've got to shove it all in a box and ship it off halfway across the country (or, in my case, all the way across the country).

And this packing adventure is even more complicated, because I've got these mini-trips planned for the next week, but I have to mail some of my stuff by next Friday, and I won't have any time Thursday night to do so...ugh.

I guess I just need to be happy that I'm going on vacation for three months.

another Awkward encounter

I walk backstage to start Act II. Awkward Dude is sitting in a chair. It's dark, so I know that someone's sitting there, but I can't tell who it is or what they are doing.

"Hey Rover."

Hello, Awkward Dude.

(pause)

"I was just making shadow puppets with my hands. You know, birds, stuff like that."

Um, great. I was just getting ready for the rest of the show.

"Well, that's what I was just doing. Making shadow puppets."

Great. I couldn't really see what you were doing there.


Aren't you going to miss him when I leave this place?

change

I feel like my blog world is changing.

A-List Celebrity shut her blog down a few weeks ago.

Infinite Monkeys disappeared last month.

Sweet Aphrodite announced that she's closing up shop yesterday.

Things change. I've accepted that fact. I mean, look at my life - seems like I can't be in the same state for more than two months at a time. However, maybe the ever-shifting nature of my life means that I cling even more strongly to my routines. Starting my day with green tea and oatmeal. Reading the paper online in the morning. Watching Pardon The Interruption. Reading my blogs. So when something in that routine changes - when I run out of oatmeal, or I don't have time to get online, or PTI is pre-empted by golf, or a blog disappears - I feel out of sorts.

So I'll miss the above blogs. Stay in touch, y'all.

Thank You For Smoking

Saw this movie yesterday with a friend of mine - pretty good. Directed by Jason Reitman (son of Ivan, who directed, among other things, Ghostbusters) and based on a book by Christopher Buckley (son of William F.). Two kids of famous folks making good.

I think it goes into wide release in the next week or two, and if you're in the mood for something refreshing, you should check it out. It's not often when you see a film like this. It's satirical, and the bad guys are the good guys and vice versa. I know that those things don't sound unusual...but wait until you see the film. And Aaron Eckhart is irrestible in the lead role...he'll charm the pants right off you. But not in a sexual way. Unless you want it to be like that.

Maybe I should start a second career as a movie critic...Rover's Critiques...

why schedule anything?

I'm starting to think that I should never "announce" what my future plans are. Every time I think I've got everything worked out, something else pops up.

Now there's a development which may potentially keep me out of LA until fall 2007.

(It could also increase the duration of my stay in New York, allowing me some time there in winter and spring '07.)

So, until I start signing contracts - or resolve to take some time off - I'm only going to address the future as speculation. Because, obviously, life can and will happen.

What I do know for sure, though, is that I don't have all that much time left in Cowtown. Sunday night I'm off to LA to visit GISS (Girl I'm Sorta Seeing) and some other friends for a few days. Trips to Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles and the beach are in order. Then, next weekend, I head up to Sleepy Hamlet. I'm going to be doing some teaching there for a couple of weeks this summer, so I'm going up to sign the contract and see some plays and attend some meetings. (I was actually planning on visiting there to see plays and friends anyway; wrapping the job stuff into it allows them to pay me for being there, which is a-ok in my book.)

And, two weeks from today, I go back to NYC. Couch hopping for a week, Brooklyn for the next two. Should be loads of fun.

Time for me to watch yesterday's episode of 24 on the TiVo - boy, am I going to miss that thing when I'm gone.

race relations

Thanks for all of your support, public and private. The post below was in response to a dialogue I've been having (with several others) with Miss Fire on her blog. You can check out her posts here and here. It's her blog, so I suppose that she eventually gets to have the last word.

There are just some lines that I don't think that people should cross. And using that word, with that much venom behind it, is a deal breaker for me. I mean, hey, if that's what you feel in your heart, that's on you. And if that's how you think, and you truly try to make amends for it, and work on it, and change your line of thinking, that's great. But I don't see any evidence of that in these conversations. Please point it out to me if you think I missed something.

I just finished reading a book called Founding Brothers, and in it the point was raised that one of the reasons that early American leaders allowed slavery to continue was that they had no idea to do with all of these black people once they were free, because there had never been a truly biracial society before. That thought just blew me away. And I suppose that's why it's so hard - we're doing something that's never been done before. And we didn't exactly start off on the right foot.

I get really frustrated, because just when I feel good about race relations, something always comes along to destroy my hopeful thoughts. A character in Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun says that so many of the problems in this world occur because people just don't sit down and talk to each other. I try to live my life as the conduit between worlds, exposing people to a way of life that they may not have understood before. This experience isn't going to dissuade me from doing what I'm doing. It just motivates me to work harder.

Good God, it's almost 4am. I've got to go to bed.

disappointment

It's always heart-breaking to me, even when you don't know a person very well, when you find out how they really feel about you. I think it's even worse when you've stood up for them, when you've defended them in front of other people. It's like getting stabbed in the back. It makes me want to retreat to a deep, dark hole in the wilderness, or retire to a remote island. Sometimes it makes me want to give up on humanity all together.

I'll be ok t'm'row. I usually am. But tonight...let's just say that my feelings are hurt.

BK

So I found a place to crash in NYC - for two weeks.

Brooklyn, baby!

I'm actually going to be living in the old room of my ex-g'friend (who we'll affectionally call X). X is out of the country right now - she thought it was going to be for three and a half months, but she recently decided to extend her stay for another couple of weeks. Hence, the vacancy. I'm pretty excited, because one of her roommates is a really close friend of mine, so it will be exciting to hang out with her on a daily basis, even if it is for a couple of weeks.

Still looking for a place to land after my cross-country adventure. If you hear of anything, holla at your boy...

X Country

It's official - I'll be driving across this great nation of ours - practically from sea to shining sea. If you're good, I'll take pictures and let you all take the trip with me! Wouldn't that be fun? I'm going with a fellow blogger, too - more on that as the trip gets closer. I'll also post an itinerary - anyone who wants to let a couple of people crash on their floor, or take us out for a drink, would be the winner in my eyes.

Got to get a quick workout in before my early evening show.

he did it again

Conversation with Awkward Dude (you may remember a prior conversation we had) at a castmate's birthday party on Friday night:

Yeah, so it's really great that you're playing (character name). I mean, I never thought of a black guy playing that part before.

Well, it's Shakespeare, and most of the parts aren't race-specific...

Yeah, it's just so amazing. Like, I never thought of that. But then I saw you in rehearsal, and I was like, wow, a black guy can play that part. It's awesome.

Mmmm...


Such a special guy, right?

a nice "weekend" (because MY weekend is Monday)

I've been up since 4am - my "friend" came back into town this weekend (we'll call her G.I.S.S - see if you can figure that one out) and I had to take her to the airport so that she could catch her 6am flight. I made good use of my time, though - got caught up on most of my TV shows; made myself an omelette...well, I attempted to make one, that is; and watched a documentary that I've been meaning to catch for a while.

It was a very good weekend. Not only did Giss come into town, but a friend of mine from Sleepy Hamlet drove down for the day to catch my show. He probably ended up spending at least half of his waking hours in transit alone, so he went through a lot of effort to get here. I was quite moved, actually. Nice to have friends who are willing to go the extra mile for you.

Plans for the cross country trip are developing nicely. I'm leaning heavily towards doing it. Another vote in favor for it - apparently, that summer theater festival that I auditioned for a couple of weeks ago is in the middle of casting, so I'm assuming that they don't have a spot for me. That's totally fine with me; this way I get my vacation, I get to spend most of my summer in New York, and I won't feel like I'm missing my friends if I go drive around the country.

Off to shower and then catch the late morning showing of Inside Man. I'll report back later...