Watching the Democratic Debate...

And wondering if "change" is to the Democrats what 9/11 was to the Republicans...it's been uttered about five times in the last five minutes.

UPDATE:

And what is with the random shots of celebrities? I've seen Ugly Betty and recently Isiah Washington, who was looking very serious and thoughtful as he contemplated what was being said. I laughed out loud.

"What's Up, Half-Day?"

That's actually a snarky comment I've heard in the writers room from writers who are pissy/jealous that another writer is leaving early for the day, or, in some cases on time. It's not always used in a bitchy, backhanded way, it can be a joke but more often than not It's employed in the former.

Today I had a half day. Yesterday was a half day, but it was the end of the day which feels totally different than leaving work at 12:30 and sitting at home for the rest of the day. I hope I can get a full day tomorrow and from now on, but I'll just have to take it one working day at a time. What I do like is that my first check will be coming either Saturday or Monday and everyone likes to get paid.

Though I will say that it's better to be getting 12 bucks an hour to play Spider Solitaire and surf the net, than to do it at home for free.

Temp Me

As of right now I am pleased with the temp agency I am with. Unlike the one I originally joined, there is no calling in to an answering machine leaving your free days in a message and then hoping they get back to you. I actually talk to people. I've got two great coordinators who have kept me either in half day or full day work ever since I signed up with them. What I do is call in on Mondays and Fridays and talk with them directly about possibilities for the day or week. Usually an hour after that initial talk they'll call me with a lead. Today, I thought I wasn't going to do anything and I went to the gym (after talking to them and them going, "yeah, nothing will probably happen today) but low and behold a last minute thing came up and they called me.

I worked five hours today on probably the easiest job ever, in a downtown office where they just needed a temp receptionist just in case someone should need something or someone should call. No one needed anything and I got exactly one phone call to transfer. So for five hours I surfed the net (and yes, I know to delete my history before I leave) and twiddled my thumbs (literally). What sucked was that this computer didn't have games for some reason, not pinball, not solitaire, not even mindsweeper, but I guess that just kept me honest.

I will be working at least half a day tomorrow and then my coordinators will work with me from there. While I'm not making much right now, because I keep bouncing from job to job I've still made enough in the last five days to pay my bills for next month. Not even close to paying rent, but hey, at least those are taken care of.

A Video for the Day: F*ck You Monkey Squirel

Seth McFarlane gets in on the funny video against the AMPTP game. I get in on that a day late. But here it is.

Regarding Nip/Tuck

Dropping in from my wonderful (so far) world of temping.

Nip/Tuck has lost it's damn mind and I am DONE. I should have kicked it to the curb long ago but the advertising and move to L.A. gave me hopes that the show could revive itself.

It has not.

If anything it has fallen so far below the line it's not even worth pissing on. The shark didn't even bother to jump, it took one look at the show and went "fuck it," and swam back out to see, leaving the jumper looking like a jackass, much like Nip/tuck leaves it's audience looking.

Is It Just Me...

Or does the SAG awards have the worst clips EVER. I've only been watching it for about twelve minutes but damn, these clips are terrible and as far as the comedy categories, not representative of anything resembling funny.

Temping, Day Two

I got called to a job on Friday as well, bringing my temping experience up to a total of two days. I got in a good seven hours, with one hour for lunch and these people were so nice they let me take a 15 minute break in the afternoon.

Again, it was everything I wanted a temp job to be: boring. I answered phones and the biggest thing I did was organize checks in numerical order and later I was asked to help put the clean dishes away. That's it. That's all I did for six hours of actual "work".

Later, at a mutual friend's birthday party, I discovered why I'd been called on that particular job. My coordinator was at the party and he told me he was happy I took the assignment because no one really likes to drive in the rain. That's right, there are jobless people who will turn down work because it means they'd have to drive in the rain. I stood there, slightly stunned, because it was something that never even occurred to me. I just got up and went.

Then again, I was not born and raised in Los Angeles, so I don't have their aversion to the wetness that falls from the sky.

Weird...

My word spell check knows how to correct for Bruckheimer. As in "Jerry". Wow.

A Video for the Day: News Anchor Gets Bird Poop in His Mouth

I had a friend in college tell me that when a bird shits on you, it's considered good luck. You see, we'd been walking through campus and I had a bird, flying overhead, manage to hit me square in the head with it's missile-like poop. Lucky for me I was wearing a head scarf, so none of that shit got in my hair. But I didn't believe her about the luck then, and I sure as hell don't think this news anchor would believe her now.

What I want to know is why the moron thought it would be a good idea to LOOK UP and OPEN HIS MOUTH after he'd already been hit with shit not a second before.

A Video for the Day: Homosexuwhales

Big Temping

So I enjoyed my first day of temp work and it went well. It was the mindless endeavor I'd hoped it would be. Nothing but answering phones and greeting guests. They probably won't need me tomorrow but I'm looking forward to making some more pocket change. And I say pocket change because it wasn't much an hour (though well above minimum wage) and once they take out taxes and fees it'll probably be much less than it should be, but hey, perhaps I can finally start spending money on food from Ralphs instead of Food 4 Less.

A Video for the Day: Mr. Ray's Hair Weave Commercial

I miss the 80s sometimes. This being one of them for some reason..

And the Temping is Already Paying Off...

I got my first temp assignment literally an hour after I left the new temp agency. Right now it's only for one day but if I'm lucky it'll turn into two!!

Sweet! Back to the work force:) And this comes just as I'm finishing major changes to all my writing specs. Good timing.

Job Update

Going in to another temp agency today. Hopefully this will lead to something. The other temp agency I'm currently with is one where you have to call in every day and leave a message on an answering machine. This agency doesn't do that, they really focus on getting people jobs so I'm hopeful.

I have yet to hear back from the other job and I probably won't until Friday. I'm hoping I get something with this 1) so I don't have to take that other job and 2) so I can start making money again. Yeesh, being poor sucks. And I'm not even "poor" I just have to be smarter about how I spend my money, which means I've cut out a lot of unnecessary things and I no longer have what could be considered a "disposable" income. I want my income to be disposable again, damn it!

Wow, Canada. Wow.

Their PSA's have got to be the equivalent to the drug PSA's we have hear, where the government thinks they're being cool and effective, when really people are just laughing their asses off.

Job Update

So, I'm sure you've noticed that my interview was last week and I said I'd keep you updated but I wanted to wait a while and get my feelings on the matter in order.

I had a great interview. It went really well and they seemed to like me. But, there was that pink elephant in the room and this time it wasn't ignored. "So, realistically," one interviewer asked me. "How long would you be with us?"

It's a loaded question. On one hand they picked me because I had so much "experience" on my resume (read: I worked a lot of different jobs) but on the other they knew there was a strike going on. When I'd applied for the job I thought it would be some mindless receptionist work, answer a phone here, send out a memo there, get someone coffee yander. But, as it turns out, it wasn't that simple. They wanted me to be a part of their team. Really. It wasn't just bullshit they were spouting so that you didn't feel like the bitch of the office they seriously wanted me to be promoted in six months and what have you. Needless to say I was shocked.

Needless to say I can't do that. There's a good possibility that the strike will end before March 1st and if that happens there *might* be some kind of pilot season, which I'd been looking forward to taking another crack at. If that happens then I'd at least be there for 5-6 months. Or, if the show I was on got an early start on production I could be called back there even sooner, making my stay 2-3 months. One of the interviewers said they would hate to hire me and have me leave after two months and I politely smiled and reassured them in a roundabout way that that wouldn't happen.

To make a long and painful story short, it was in the interview that I realized I didn't want this job. It wasn't for me. I'm a writer who's had a modicum of success and I don't want to be in a job that could take that away from me for at most a whole year. I don't want to spend a year out of my life in a non-industry job, even though I know that's what I could end up doing with my temp work.

Speaking of which. I've decided that temping is probably what's best for me at this time. It offers me a clean way to up and quit any job I had at the time (seeing as I'd be replaced fairly easily) and it would offer me the means of going on interviews I'd need to for the industry jobs (unlike the non industry job, which would have me calling in sick quite often).

I have no idea if I've even gotten the non-industry job. I'm sure there will be better candidates for them that they're still interviewing and my hope is that I'm not offered the job, as opposed to me having to turn it down, which, given my situation I don't think I could do unless I had something else.

So, now what I'd like you to keep your fingers crossed for me is that I can land a good temp job. I've already got a good lead from a friend of a friend which I will be calling tomorrow so let's hope that goes well for me.

Seen in L.A.

They're cutting down a tree in the little parking lot for our apartment building, and since my car was on the side of the tree my landord told me it would probably best to move it until they're finished. I put it in a two hour spot and I just went to move it and what do I see as I'm walking down the sidewalk, keys in hand?

Some guy taking a piss on a tree, which just happens to be right beside my car. Since he wasn't actually pissing on my car I just stopped a few feet away, looking every where but at the guy pissing on the tree, in public, in broad daylight, by a busy street.

But holy crap was it awkward walking past them to get to my car. One guy said, "Hola" and I just gave him a grimace in return.

I Will Get This Job Today

Remember American Beauty? Remember that scene where Annette Benning was getting ready to try and unload her house and she was cleaning like crazy repeating, "I will sell this house today,"? Yeah. That's me.

I had my phone interview today and it went so well they're asking me to come in to the office tomorrow for the formal meeting, dress to be "business casual."

While I'm worried about taking a job while the strike could be "ending" at any moment, I realize that if there's still a pilot season (and that's a BIG if) then I'll *might* have at least until May to leave the job, 'cause that's when all the pilots are announced and staffs are put together. There are also some other factors at work that we'll just have to wait and see how they go.

What I found interesting was that I kept thinking I was going to be overlooked because of the credits on my resume, when these people chose me because of it. They also seem to understand that I have loftier goals besides being a receptionist, which was refreshing.

As always I will keep you updated.

Let the Pages Run Red With Ink

When I was in college I would hate to get my essays and term papers back with red ink marked all over it. It was like the professor and gutted my very thoughts and intentions as opposed to my typos and bad grammar. And what made it worse was when there was red ink not spilled over typos and bad grammar, but over the very idea that I was trying to convey, or a smart quip that wasn't "appropriate" for the material. I probably got away with quippy material maybe once or twice, and what I mean by that is that I got an A instead of a B.

But as I grow older and I find myself in charge of my own material, I have come to embrace the red ink pen. I won't use any other color when proofing and editing my scripts and prose. The redder the ink the better. I actually like to cut material down and remove unnecessary dialog or description. I like getting a script from 68 to 63 pages (63 has become my magic number for spec scripts for some reason). More importantly, editing for me is FUN. It means I'm finished with all the hard work and now I'm making my writing BETTER.

The red pen has become my friend, even though it was never really my enemy.

Here's Video: WTF

Seriously, WTF?

NEWS FLASH

Nip/Tuck is terrible. That is all.

Job Search Update Tuesday Edition

Well, if all else fails then I've joined a temping agency so hopefully something will come out of that.

I've still got my call on Thursday that I'm looking forward to.

Job Search Update Monday Edition

I got a call back!

Or rather, an email back, with a call back to come later this week. I guess the call will be part of the interview process and the job seems very interesting so I'm looking forward to it. There are no guarantees, but still, I'm excited about the possibility.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Job Search Update- Friday Edition

So, after one week and now 25 resumes sent out where are we on the job scale?

0.

One big fat goose egg as I've heard expressed. I know it can take a while for people to get back to you, hell, it took that first rejection five days, but even still. I signed up for frakkin' TELEMARKETING!

TELEMARKETING people! sheesh.

Here's hoping the weekend is better than my week.

Here's A Video: Ratatoing A Brazil Ripoff of Ratatouille

It's like that episode of the Simpsons where they couldn't legally say, "The Shining" when they were spoofing The Shining. Only then it was intentionally funny.

Job Search Update

Well, I had my first official "no" today, coming from a pen factory no less. I'm tempted to email the guy back and go, "It's because I'm a writer on strike, isn't it?" Oh well. That's one down, 19 more to go. I guess since I haven't heard from anyone else I can assume (look at me, the ass) that I'm still in the running.

Fingers crossed.

Me Versus Unemployment

As a few of you may or may not know, I am beginning my quest to find gainful employment in the new year, as the writer's strike seems to have no end in sight and even if it ends in the next three months, there will *probably* not be a big fall TV season.

Having to face that reality, I have begun trolling craigs listings, sending out my resume to various places that are in dire need of someone capable of answering a phone or typing an email, or doing any other kind of menial office work. Thus far, within the last four days I have sent out a total of 20 resumes, some accompanied by cover letters and salary histories and/or requests. The number of responses thus far? 0.

While it is still early in the game I fear that because the last two listings on my resume contain TV show employment then non-industry employers are less likely to take me seriously as anyone working in Los Angeles knows there's a strike going on and will figure that once it's over they may never see me again.

I will try to keep a daily journal of my "progress" on this job front, to keep you, dear readers, entertained and to keep a sense of humor about this myself, because it's kind of disheartening.

Any tips or advice is welcome.

WTF? Movie Trailer Edition

I think I have just witnessed the most mentally deficient movie promo ever. In the BCS Championship commercial for the film, "Jumper" (in which Samuel L. Jackson sports white hair for no reason and I'm sure there's a scene of him chasing a paycheck) we have Hayden Christiansen teleporting into the Serena Williams HP commercial and just popping up at random intervals. Mind you, this is an EXTENDED commercial so it goes on for fucking ever, and apparently Serena Williams is in this? I'm too lazy to check IMDB. Once that utterly pointless commercial ends, Hayden teleports back out into the "movie" world and the trailer continues and I realize that the advertisers are double dipping, getting a two for one commercial, both of them lame, neither of them interesting.

Needless to say I will not be seeing "Jumper" when it comes out in theaters, and I might not bother on DVD.

Video of the Day: The AMPTP: Cowards, Cutthroats and Weasels

Wurkin' Pa Nub...

That really should be, "Looking for love," but as many 80s SNL fans know, Buckwheat can't really sing.

And instead of "love" for me it's work. As in a J-O-B, which I am having a hellova time finding, though I've only been sending out resumes for a day now. Already I'm frustrated by CA's job market. We'll see how it goes.

Post Partum Holiday

It's been a while since I've posted, and that's because I'd been shivering my timbers back home in MO for the holidays. The lowest temperature it got down to while home? 6 degrees. And I've got those frivolous parents who don't like to shell out the money to run the heaters all night, and they weren't none to happy that gas hit 100 dollars a barrel, making their decision not to run the gas powered furnace all the easier, despite me begging.

Now I'm back in LA and while it was a nice warm temp when I touched down at LAX last night, this morning I woke up to gray skies and chilly, wet weather, which I'd thought I'd left behind. All I have to say is, "WTF L.A.? Really, WTF?"