Once upon a time...

Today, boys and girls, I am going to tell you a story, rather part of a story. It all started a long, long time ago, back in August of 2007. There was this Princess, or at least that's what everyone called her. Her mother, her father, her brothers, and even her coworkers referred to her as Princess. Who could blame them though, with her charisma, drive, ability to dream big but live practically, efficiency, and ultimately her cuteness. She brought new meaning to the word Princess.

Now, prior to August of 2007 this Princess lived and worked in a dying city. It was her choice to go there, to try and change the world through Art and Entertainment. She lived in the smallest room of a turn of the century house with two other women, a Beautiful Dancer turned teacher and an Old Hag turned social worker, also looking to change the world. To add character to her living situation, her room was the former servant's quarters and had no heat, and one of her roommates was an evil witch driven to make the Princess and the Beautiful Dancer suffer through her own pain and agony. It was a regular Cinderella story.

As much as the Princess loved her work at the Theatre, bringing joy through art to low income areas while bringing to light social issues of the community, both she and the Beautiful Dancer knew that they had to escape this peril and ultimately follow their dreams. For, no matter how hard they tried, at this point in their lives they were incapable of reviving the dying city. They needed life experience first. So, come August, the two quietly packed their things up and secretly escaped the prison that had become their house.

The two, through all the pain they suffered, would remain close; after all, when you go through hell with someone, you will always love them for the support they gave and they will love you the same in return. They bid farewell and parted ways, the Beautiful Dancer to follow heart's desire being a doctor, and the Princess to live her dreams making movies in the city of lights.

Thus is the end of one story, but only the beginning of something much, much more grand...

Settling on life...

Don't take offers you really don't want. I have applied for at least 50 jobs (at least) this week alone. Some of them I was excited about, but many I could care less about. I had 4 job interviews from things I applied for last week. None of them I was interested in. One even asked me, "why did you apply for this when you talk like you want something else?"
The simple answer to her question is that I didn't know that it wasn't what I wanted.

When you know what you want, when you finally have a clear vision of what you want, why should you settle for something less than that? If you do you will only get stuck in some downward spiral on a roller coaster taking you away from where you want to be.

Same thing goes for relationships. If you have a clear vision of what you want in someone else, search until you find that person. Don't settle for the one who is right there, just because he is right there. At least, I could never do that.

You should hold out for what you want, because inevitably there is something out there that is exactly what you want and looking for exactly you... be it job, or relationship.

Mouse Attack

Sunday night I go over to Tom and Amy's place since Lauren (who is house/puppy sitting) has been having a difficult time with Cooper. Its cool... Lauren is a cool girl and I miss Cooper, so I go over to keep them company.

Lauren and I catch up, she debriefs me on whats been going on. Apparently she has already had to deal with Cooper being sick and out of his element, and mice attacks. We decide that sushi and wine are a perfect remedy for this. We order the sushi and go in quest for wine. Once we have accomplished our goals, we head home and dig in.

We get half way through our dinner and Lucy (the cat) walks out of the kitchen with something hanging out of her mouth. EEEEK!!! Its a mouse tail... Lauren runs to get the broom and dustpan, and we yell at Lucy to drop it. She does... and its still alive. The mouse scurries around the floor and we both jump on to furniture. Some mouse catchers we are.

The mouse runs behind the chair and we try and scare it out, but apparently its good at hiding. We forget about it temporarily and just drink more wine. Then the mouse decides to come out and play again. This is no good: two drunk girls, a mouse on the loose, a sick dog and a cat cowering under a bench. Stupid cat. Lauren yells "Maura, if I have to stay here with the mouse, youre staying with me."

So we both eventually turn in after we are satisfied that the mouse is well hidden until morning...

Life as We Know It

The longer I work in film (well the dramatic arts, since worked in theatre first), the more I realize the stories I help bring to life are less fiction than I was originally taught. Sure, the stories are all made up, but the situations are more realistic than we could ever imagine them to be. It would seem that film is life with all the boring parts cut out.

Take any day of my life, cut out the nonsense boring moments of sitting around doing nothing or playing on the Internet, compress all the interesting moments from several days or weeks, add a nice little twist to spice things up a bit, and voila you have yourself a movie.

Of course its not that simple. Good screen plays take careful planning, crafting, working and reworking to make it what one would consider quality. Complicated matter scripting is.

Then again, life is complicated. We spend half our time planning how we want things to end up, and the rest of the time cleaning up messes when things don't go our way... which they never do. Life sneaks up on you and it would seem that the best movies reflect those moments where life takes you by surprise... in any shape or form... with any outcome, good or bad... in any situation or time...

Film is life with all the boring moments cut out...

A Continuing Adventure

So I have been in the city now 3 months, though it seems like so much longer. Time really begins to escape you here. Half the time I dont even know what day of the week it is. That, though, is a hazard of my industry. When you're working 5-6 days a week, super long hour and not really on a consistent sleep schedule, its easy for time to get away.

Life is a grand adventure though, and I wouldn't change it for the world. The time has come for me to really think through things a little here. As much as I love being able to go back and forth between costumes and production I feel like there comes a time when I need to pick some sort of direction and use the other path as a fall back and or break from day to day work.

I love costuming, its is amazing, fun, I have a talent for it and with the right people it is an amazing environment. The only problem is that its only one focus. I really like to be able to play in different areas an have a broader idea of what is going on.

This is why I am even considering production end. Production has to know what is going on in all different departments, not to mention the amount of creative problem solving that has to be done in order to make things happen. Its an ADD kids dream job.

Which path do I want... I guess I have to think more on this one.

The Glamoous Life

The glamorous life... Film, entertainment, television. How many times have I been told "You're so lucky, you work in film," or "I'd be happy to work Sundays if I worked on a film set."

I reply every time with the same thing that was said to me when I first started looking into film and television as a career: "It's not as glamorous as it may seem."

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love what I do. I love being on a film set. I love being in a Production office. I love dressing actors. I love making the impossible possible. I love making magic happen. This is my perception on my job though. Very few look at it in such an idealistic and fantastical light. I suppose if everyone heard how I talk about it they might think its glamorous...

In any case, if you find yourself longing to do some fantastical career, then maybe you're in the wrong profession. Your career should be about finding what makes you happy and finding a job that allows you to do it. I have changed my mind a thousand times at least, and probably will again; the difference between me and the rest of the world is that I chase the dreams I have. I was never the type to sit back while idly dreaming about working in film. I am the type that decides she wants to do something and then does it.

I talked to a guy in a bar on Friday night who's a lawyer. I sincerely wanted to hear more about what he did, because its Law and I wanted to be a lawyer for a brief moment in time. And he tells me its not that interesting and speaks nothing more about it. Followed later in the night by commenting on how he'd gladly work weekends if he was on a film set.

Maybe hes not happy and maybe hes just exasperated.... I donno. I do know though that where I may bitch about what I do, I still love it and I will still entertain conversation about it.

Trust me, when it comes down to it, my world is not all about Hollywood parties, meeting actors, and living a glittered shiny life 24/7. No, my life is anything but. I often get no sleep, and not for partying... for working. I work long hours for little pay. I do a lot of physical labor. I often get no thanks for anything I do.

All in all I love what I do, and I wouldn't change it for the world

Connections

Everything, it seems, is about connections. If you don't make the right connections at the right times your whole universe is thrown off. You make a wrong one and it throws you off track. And, sometimes the connection time is so slim that if you're not careful you might miss them.

You could try forget that connections impact your world, just don't worry about them. Ultimately it doesn't work, whether we admit it or not our lives depend on these connections.

Buses, trains, work, networking, movies, dinner, love... its all about timing, its all about making those connections.

I spend much of my time trying my best to sort out the connections that don't quite work out... trying to make sense of them. The ones that have just worked, they have changed my life forever.

As for everything else, you just gotta learn from it and know that at some point it will all make sense.