Day 80. My Funny or Die Day

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Today was my day at Funny or Die for my Hollywood modeling debut. I think I can’t say too many specifics about it because it is still in the works, but it is a poster project. I think the best way to explain the day is to do it chronologically.

9:35 I leave my house with the wardrobe items they wanted me to bring. Call time is 10:00, plenty of time to get there, it’s nearby.

9:48. I can’t figure out where the frickin’ place is. It is hidden as well as the LOST island.

9:51. I find it and drive through their small parking lot. There is a sign over one spot saying, “Reserved for W.F.” (Will Ferrell). There is no car there. Later there will be.

9:52. I park in the parking structure across the street. The rate is $2 per 15 minutes, but Funny or Die validates. I’m good.

9:55. I’m leaving the parking structure when I realize I have not parked in the parking garage that Funny or Die validates.

9:58. I’m leaving the correct parking structure further away running to get to Funny or Die on time. No matter what time I leave for places, this always happens.

10:03. I’m sweaty and walk in to the office where we are meeting up. It’s a cool building, by the way. I’m introduced to the other “models.” There is the tall, thin, Weathered Blonde Guy who is loud, an Asian woman named Eugenia, The Buff Black Guy, and the Buff White guy who is talkative.

10:06. They are discussing how much the models look like the parts they are portraying, except me, they don’t think I look like the part. I tell them, “Of course, I’m the guy with the shaved head and the orange goatee.”

10: 29. The Buff Black Guy, and I are eating bananas. I say, “Are you ready to be a badass.” He responds, “Of course. That’s what we do. We’re actors. I’m the nicest guy you can meet, but I can turn it on in a second.” I first take it as actor arrogance and bravado, but later I learn that he served three tours in Iraq, whereas, I’ve gone on vacation to Wisconsin.

10:51. I’m talking to the wardrobe person, Anna. I’m wearing one pair of jeans and brought two others. I have the tight lighter ones, the semi tight dark ones, and the looser light ones.

10:53. Anna has me go downstairs to the bathroom and try on the darker ones.

10:59. Anna has me go downstairs to try on the tighter light ones.

11:07. Anna has me go downstairs to put the darker ones back on.

11:21. The Weathered Blonde Guy and I are on the roof getting makeup dirt put all over our clothes. He’s talking about how much he loves denim.

11:38. It’s my turn for makeup. I’m sitting in the chair while the makeup artists puts alcohol on my goatee area. She then puts spirit gum on, which will bond my skin to the orange goatee. I don’t have orange head hear, but my natural facial hair comes in the exact same color.

11:40. Fake facial hair is falling in my mouth as she trims my goatee

11:42. I close my mouth.

11:43. I’m practicing my bad ass faces as Eugenia, the woman in the shoot gives me feedback. Summary, I’m not intimidating.

12:02. We’re all in our costumes. Mostly black outfits. We’re all dirty. We’re supposed to look like we’re on our way back from a street fight of sorts. I’ve never been in a fight, but my brother kicked me in the shin really hard in second grade. I’m trying to remember that.

12:06. We’re now in the basement where the studio is. There is a black back drop behind us and we’re standing in a group facing the photographer, director, wardrobe designer, and makeup artists.

12:32. Adam McKay, the guy who founded Funny or Die with Will Ferrell walks in to have a look. He seems pleased. The Buff White Guy strikes up an awkward conversation, I just try to intimidate Adam with my stare.

12:48. We’re doing individual shots now. I’m sitting past the photographer with the others. The Buff White Guy is talking about everything he knows about the industry to the Buff Black Guy, who is new to town. Eugenia and I chat.

12:59 My turn for the individual shot. I point my head down below the camera and look up at the camera with just my eyes. I try to open them wide, but not too wide. Too wide would be scared, and I ain’t scared of nothing.

1:03. Makeup is adjusting my goatee as wardrobe is adjusting my hoodie.

1:11. I seem to fool everyone that I can pull off tough.

1:30. I go to the parking lot for my turn getting splattered by “blood” on my face.

1:32. A glob gets in my ear. She says she will get it out. She forgets.

1:38. More individual and group shots. My “intimidating” look is degrading to “concerned father.”

2:10. We wrap.

2:14. I’m getting makeup removed, although my goatee area will still remain sticky for several hours.

2:32. We’re on the roof eating lunch.

2:35-2:53. The Buff White Guy expounds on his knowledge of Hollywood. At one point he says, “There are a lot of things I’m not good at, but I’m an awesome actor.”

2:54. The producer, Rachel, mentions that most people, even celebrities, don’t get paid for doing Funny or Die videos, but we are. I store that away for my resume.

3:11. I’ve arrived at home and I’m in my bathroom noticing the big piece of white fuzz hanging from my chin, stuck to the glue on my face, that must have been there for all of lunch.

3:11. I’m taking a nap.

4:32. I wake up to notice that I have gotten “blood” on the white pillowcase.

7:41. I’m bowling at a birthday party for my friend, Jeremiah.

12:30. I’m falling asleep appreciating a day that begins with makeup and ends with bowling.

Day 77. A Modeling Job? Been There Done That

Monday, May 9, 2011

In college, I worked at a place called the Iowa Hawk Shop, the athletic department store for the University of Iowa. They did a lot of business in the store, but a lot of it was done at football games and through a mail order catalog. Officially, my title was the Receiving/Warehouse Coordinator, unofficially my role was to try my hardest to be a model for the catalog. I had gotten wind that in the past they had used employees as models, but they had gone away from that in recent years. I would have none of that, so I started actively campaigning to be a model.

Eventually, it worked (picture to the right). My boss relented and I ended up a model in the catalog. For one shoot I modeled the 3/4 length parka available in sizes up to XX. The next year it was a sweat suit and pajama pants.

Since I had now decided it was safe to call myself a male model I would freely give copies away to anyone who remotely feigned interest. The most embarrassing instance was when I gave one to a girl I met on the plane on the way to England. She didn’t keep in touch.

So, you can imagine my lack of surprise when I got booked to be a model for this coming Thursday. The 11 years between modeling opportunities seem like a mere day. Models age the opposite of dogs.

I’m not exactly sure what the project is, the woman called me yesterday while I was in the Beautiful Starbucks and it was kind of hard to hear. I know it is for a Funny or Die project because I will be going to their studios. I also know it has something to do with superheroes.

The great reminder that I have yet to arrive as a sex symbol lies in the posting for what they were looking for.

“Simon Pegg look-alike ideal. Blonde, facial hair, thin.”

Simon Pegg is not all that sexy. I’ve actually always thought he looked like my friend, Drew, who is nice, but I don’t consider a sex symbol. I don’t think I look that much like Simon Pegg, but they are going to pay me a hefty $50. It will be my official first paycheck in Los Angeles.

The wardrobe and makeup people are to be contacting me soon.

If you’re wanting to look at me as a sex symbol, you’re going to have to really work at it. If you want to look at me as the look a like for the lead in Run Fat Boy Run, it will be easy.

Day 59. The Distance Shrinks

Thursday, April 21, 2011

I woke up this morning with the immediate knowledge that I had overslept. You know the feeling. There is no grogginess, no wiping of the eyes, only a glance to the alarm clock to have a third party confirmation of what you already know. 

I was indeed late picking Michelle up from the airport, so I couldn’t get any cool shot of her coming down the escalator this time.

One thing I learned dating long distance before is that every visit is not going to be magical, and that’s okay. It’s good now, but we had some things to talk out. I’ve wanted to be honest in this blog, so I am.

This is difficult for us. It’s difficult in both similar and different ways.

Here’s the deal. We don’t really have much of a plan. We’re not planning on her moving out here at a certain time and we’re not planning on me coming home at a certain point. It is as open ended as can be. As a result, we both struggle with the uncertainty and the loneliness. I’m realizing the baseline of stress this gives us at most times.

At times we have a tough time relating to the differences of our other struggles. I tend to struggle a lot thinking about the money. This is why I eat very little and am losing weight. Talking to Michelle made me realize just how much I think about it in the back of my mind. Michelle tends to struggle more with the uncertainty and the emptiness of the house when she comes home. At times, we fail to appreciate and understand the other’s struggles. At times we feel distant.

That’s why you talk things out. It doesn’t change the circumstances, but it makes the distance shrink and the understanding grow.

Things are good. We had an amazing nap (I also sleep better with her around). We made dinner last night and watched TV. This felt great and ordinary, except the part where I helped to cook. Long distance makes you do strange things.

Tomorrow I’m going to film the deleted High Fidelity scene I mentioned yesterday. I got the part. This is a student project for a class that will be seen by tens of people in a class. It pays nothing. It may be silly to be excited for such a thing, but I am. Most everything I’ve done before is something I’ve been a part of creating, or something where someone has seen me performing improv before. This one, I just auditioned well. Hopefully, I will be able to add it to my reel (video acting resume), which needs to be beefed up.

Michelle has approved the content of this post.

Day 49. Punch Doubt in the Ear

Monday, April 11, 2011

I was once a waiter before. I worked at Mikayla’s in Millwood Golf and Racquet Club. It was my first job waiting tables and my ticket out of living in Michelle’s parents’ basement. It was also what propelled me into the status of a “guy who knows how to tie a tie.” I was surprised to get the job since I didn’t have any experience and this place was kind of fancy.

Everything went pretty well, I got acclimated pretty quickly. I learned about how to make a table side Caesar salad, how to serve wine, and that the chef would get angry at you if you called him by his name and not “Chef.” It reminded me of the “Maestro” episode of Seinfeld. What if other professions did this? “My name’s not Todd, it’s Sandwich Artist.”

One time, I was waiting on a proper well to do couple and I was sauntering back to their table to give them their check, confident in a job well done. A few steps away, I realized I did not have their credit card in the black leather folder. I went to the back, nothing. I looked around the cash register, nothing. I whispered to some of the other servers to look around, nothing. I frantically told the cooks to start looking, nothing. Panicked, I got our hostess involved, nothing. The frickin’ credit card had disappeared off the face of the earth. My face started feeling flush and I was sweating. I knew they had more money on that credit card than my life was worth.

There was a couple out there stewing in the ineptitude of their server, and I was their server. I looked through the glass and I could see them looking around. It had been awhile now. Before this I had often wondered why we put so much faith in servers. They take our credit cards back to a secret room and have 5-10 minutes alone with them, which is plenty of time to write down the numbers, expiration date, and secret code on the back. Now, I was that server, on accident.

Eventually, the hostess went out and explained the situation. They opted to stay for a bit while we looked. In the end, they got up, screamed at the hostess and left.

Less than 5 minutes later I found the God forsaken card.

“Hello folks, my name is Jeff and I’ll be taking care of you tonight” never sounded like more of a lie.

Fast forward to today. I’m at a table in the living room looking up YouTube videos on proper serving etiquette because it’s been eight years since I’ve done it, and I’m not sure I ever really did it right. I’m cramming for a job that most anyone could do. Tomorrow, I take the “Skills Assessment” test at this catering company that may have hired me.

I’m still not sure if they did. The sheet of paper they gave me after my interview is extremely vague. I guess I’ll find out today.

The truth is, I was actually a fine server before, but I really remember the ways that I screwed up. Doubt has a strange way of always hanging around just in case it’s needed.

Tonight, I took part in an Improv Jam at UCB, where I’m taking classes. A Jam is where anyone taking classes can get up and perform. Well, you have to be randomly picked from a bucket. They were selecting the names for the last round and I was one of the last picked. I couldn’t decide if I was happy I had put my name in the bucket or not. The show was all right. I got a couple of lines in. There were 13 people doing my segment of the show, so not a lot of space to get up there.

It was interesting that I’ve done hundreds of improv shows, but doing one on a different stage, with different people, in a little different form, made me question if I knew what I was doing. Once you get in your head in improv you can’t really do it well. It made me miss doing it with my friends at the Skinny, who are probably chuckling to themselves right now that I just said “doing it.”

Doubt does just kind of hang around. You walk around a corner and he just appears trying to hand you a flier about your inadequacies. The key is to treat him like you would normally treat a person handing out fliers, ignore him, or pretend you’re on the phone, or take the flier but throw it away immediately, or punch him in the ear and run away.

Day 45. A Job Writing Trivia?

Thursday, April 7, 2011

I am endlessly fascinated in just about everything. Michelle can attest to this. She has had to endure me trying to get her to read certain articles, or watch something on TV that I have found fascinating, or put up with me stopping at every single historical marker .

So, today, when I was going through my routine of looking for jobs on Craigslist, I was wonderfully surprised to see this posting:

Writer / Editor needed for Trivia game content in Genre’s of:
Science
Sports
History
Science
Entertainment (currently filled)

(There’s more to the ad, but I have shortened it for the sake of brevity.)

Writing trivia questions?! I’ve always wondered who wrote those questions. I’ve wanted to know the trivia behind the trivia. You can imagine my excitement as I replied to the posting immediately.

I will share it with you now.

Here it is:

I am writing to find out information regarding the writer/editor position interviews. I have a lot of experience writing blogs, as well as work published by magazines. I was an active freelancer for 417 Magazine for years, and freelanced for other publications as well. I am endlessly curious, especially in history and sports. I like to listen to podcasts (This American Life, Radiolab, How Stuff Works, Fresh Air), exercise, and explore. I’m writing a blog that I update everyday at http://www.themysteryyear.com. I also have a humor blog that I have had for two years, http://www.themysteryhour.com. Here is a link on that website to my professional writing work, http://jeffhoughton.wordpress.com/press/articles-written-by-jeff/

1. Who would be a perfect candidate for a job writing trivia?

a) Chicago Cubs reliever Kerry Wood

b) Former First Lady Barbara Bush

c) Jeff Houghton

d) Pop artist will.i.am

 

Answer: C. The others are too busy.

 

2. Who has proven himself to be a reliable employee for many years?

a) Charlie Sheen

b) Jeff Houghton

c) Lindsay Lohan

d) Tony the Tiger

 

Answer: B. The only one without a history of drug addiction

 

3. In 1987, what did 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Farraj, say about her student, Jeff Houghton?

a) “Jeff is officially suspended for punching a girl in the throat.”

b) “Since we have completed Sex Ed, Jeff has not spoken for 2 weeks.”

c) “Jeff ate an entire box of crayons and pooped Skittles.”

d) “Jeff plays well with others.”

 

Answer: D. The other events happened in 3rd grade.

 

4. What time would Jeff arrive for work everyday?

a) A few minutes early, greeting everyone pleasantly.

b) Late, calling everyone “Chief” as he goes by.

c) Tomorrow

d) “A Time to Kill,” by John Grisham

 

Answer: A.

 

5. Who is actually more professional than this e-mail makes him appear?

a) Geoffrey Chaucer

b) Jeff Houghton

c) Jeffrey Dahmer

d) Jeff Goldblum

 

Answer B. The others haven’t had real jobs before.

Day 35. The Dreaded Other Route

Monday, March 28th

I have bad sinuses. There’s no way around it. They’ve been bad for years. It’s a combination of allergies and physical obstruction. I had surgery five years ago, and it was amazing (not the surgery,the result). However, if I get stuffed up due to a cold or allergies, it is guaranteed to turn into a sinus infection and overtake the inside of my face.

Apparently, I’m allergic to something out here, so I’ve gone down the path of the sinus infection. If sinus infections are the villain, then there is only one hero available: The Neti Pot.

I use the Neti Pot every morning and I swear it does more than any medicine. Now, like any super hero, it does have its one Achilles Heel. For the Neti Pot it is clearly, grossness. Rather than describe the process for you, I will show you. Here is a video of a robotic woman and I demonstrating the Neti Pot.

This style is not quite conquering my raging sinus infection, so today, I had to go to another, more advanced route. I knew that there was another way, I was just scared to do it. As gross as the standard technique is, this is worse.

Here it are the step by step instructions I learned from the internet and my attempt:

-Enter the shower

-Pour water in nose, same as the standard technique

-While you’re pouring the water in your nose breathe deeply through the nose, sending the stream of water to other sinus cavities

-Allow the water and waste to exit through your mouth

-Cough a hacking cough

-Appreciate the sensation of vomiting because it has triggered your gag reflex

-Gargle the phrase, “Lord help me”

-Cough a hacking cough

-Bend over screaming, “Why would anybody do this?”

-Spit the kind of spit where it dangles

-Whimper a defeated whimper

-Without meaning to, enjoy your accidental grunting impersonation of Sloth from Goonies

-Fall to the cold wet floor of the shower instinctively repenting of your sins

-Arise and repeat with other nostril

I went to a different coffee shop today so Starbucks wouldn’t think I was a loser. When I left I had a flat tire on my bike and had to run it back to my house so I could make it to improv class on time. Class was great, definitely a highlight of my week.  Then I hung out with people from my class before we went to a show at UCB. I was just hanging out socially like normal people. I think I played it off cool, like I was used to that sort of thing.

Day 15. A Tutorial

March 8, 2011

Did you know that you can subscribe to this blog by e-mail? It’s true, look on the sidebar.———————–>

I have not heard back from Community. That is fine, it went well, but I didn’t have big expectations either. I think they are filming this week. It was good to get in front of those casting directors so they can remember me.

Today was fairly mundane, and nothing much to expand upon. I went on an unsuccessful bike ride, finished up my professional website, and had dinner with my friend Jen and her family. Jen lives in Springfield, and was out to visit her parents that live here. It was nice to see a familiar face, and to dominate at ping pong.

I have just been plugging away writing this little blog, but I haven’t acknowledged that there are people out there reading it. In fact, there are more of you than I would have expected. Thanks for sharing this experience with Michelle and I. It really does mean a lot. The support we have gotten on this is greater than I would have anticipated. While I am out here trying this mostly on my own it means a great deal to know there is support out there.

Before I left I had a lot of people ask me what my plan is out here. As I said the other day, it is hard to have a set plan, it works differently for everybody, so my ‘plan’ is entirely open ended. I’ve also had a lot of people ask (including myself), “So, what do you do when you get out there? How does it work?”

Here is my understanding of how it works. Sorry if this part is dry, it’s the tutorial, so you can know what we’re dealing with. Keep in mind, this is coming from a guy who has two more weeks experience than you, but has also done a ton of research.

Basically, you want to get an agent, who will then get you auditions. Then, you do well in the auditions and you get hired as an actor for a job.

Simple, right?

The first things you need as an actor are a headshot, an acting resume, and a reel. A headshot is the picture of your head, from the front, meaning your face. An acting resume is a listing of all the pertinent things you’ve been in. A reel is like a video resume that showcases your best acting on video. I have these.

The first trick is getting an agent. This is not easy because the agents don’t know you and haven’t seen you do anything. There are different ways to go about getting an agent when starting from scratch. You can send out your headshot and resume to a bunch of agencies, hoping that you stick out in their pile of potential clients. You can also get a referral from an actor who is already one of their clients so your headshot and reel look more appealing. Or, an agent can see you performing in a play, in an improv show, or doing stand up. Or maybe, you know the right people who can get you connected.

Often, actors will have a commercial agent and a theatrical agent. A commercial agent will just look for commercial work, and a theatrical agent will look for film and television work. Then, writers will have a different agent for writing as well.

Some projects will have an open casting call, meaning anyone can show up. But, most of the good ones require an agent to hook you up with it. As you can tell, it is just like most jobs, you can’t get a job without experience, and you can’t get experience without a job. Agents are licensed to do their job and get a 10% cut of what they book for you. I have had a friend tell me that you can get by without an agent if you get on stage and know the right people. I do not have one of these.

Now, there is the whole deal with the Screen Actor’s Guild. They are a union, and like a union, they have rules meant to protect the interests of their members. So, the best auditions out there are for the members of SAG. You can only become a member of SAG by doing enough work recognized by SAG. How do you get SAG work if you aren’t a member of SAG? Exactly. I do not have a this.

In the meantime, you try to get noticed by an agent and you try to get into SAG. This is difficult and anything but straightforward, and is why when people asked me about my plan I said, “Ummmmm…” For now, I am still setting up meetings to get to know people, because it really is a lot about knowing people. I have gotten a profile on a site called, LAcasting.com, which alerts you to auditioning opportunities for non-union work, I will start taking improv classes, and I will continue to do stand up. I have also heard that working on your own projects, with your own ideas helps a lot, so I’m going to look into that as well.

That is the extent of my understanding of things.

That is my plan-ish.

Bonus Post. Cool Book

Monday, March 7, 2011

Bonus post! There is a book I was in the middle of reading when I left for my journey to Los Angeles called A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller. It was perfect timing as the book is about telling stories and being an active part in the story of your life, and taking risks, and sacrificing for your story. I found it very inspiring.

You know what else is inspiring? The paperback version of the book is coming out and as a promotion Donald Miller is giving away free copies of the book if you embed the promotional video in your blog. That’s what I’m doing now. You can get the book at Amazon if you click here.

<p><a href=”http://vimeo.com/20593341″>What story are you telling?</a> from <a href=”http://vimeo.com/rhetorikcreative”>Rhetorik Creative</a> on <a href=”http://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a&gt;.</p>

One part heartfelt, two parts trying to get something for free, that sums me up.

Day 13. My Dad

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Back in Springfield I used to get recognized a few times a week by people who had been to the Skinny Improv. Usually, they would say, “You look familiar,” and I would say, “I’m your cousin.” I would not expect that sort of thing to happen once out here. But, this morning I went to a church on Hollywood Boulevard. As I was walking out a guy tapped me on the shoulder and said, “Are you from Springfield?” I carry around a Skinny Improv bag with me most of the time here when I ride my bike. He is an Evangel University student and he saw my bag. He is here for a semester who had seen the Skinny a few times. So, I guess I’m just another celebrity in Hollywood.

I also got my haircut after seeing Missouri State lose the MVC championship game while eating an overpriced quesadilla.

Here is the extent of the conversation I had with the hair stylist:

Jeff: I’d like some off the side and top, but nothing too drastic.

(25 minutes later)

Jeff: Looks good, I’m glad you used the thinning shears.

Sheila (I’m guessing): Yeah, your hair is pretty thick

And scene

This process of blogging is fairly narcissistic for me, so I want to also talk about some other people periodically. My dad is the tennis coach at the University of Iowa, as he has been since 1981, and today his team played #4 in the nation, Illinois, losing a heartbreaker 4-3. Iowa has had many good teams over the years, but this would have been the biggest team win in the program’s history. Many, many times the team has come close, but has never quite gotten over the hump in those really huge upset situations. I was getting updates from my mom as the meet went on and I thought, “This is the one!” Well, it didn’t happen.

I’m a big sports fan generally, but I don’t cheer for anything as much as I do for my dad. After pouting for awhile, eventually I saw the loss through a different lens, admiring the way my dad has managed to take setbacks like that, only to charge forward for the next meet, and more importantly, over the course of so over many years. It is inspiring for me at this time as I am attempting a big upset out here. I imagine I’ll have many, many setbacks before I pull an upset and I hope I have the fortitude, integrity, and outlook of my father. We may just get our upsets.

Day 12. Da Bomb

Saturday, March 5th

A few years ago during my blood center donor recruiter days I got the opportunity I would always strive for as a recruiter of blood donors. I got the chance to speak in front of a lot of people to tell them how great blood donation is and that they should donate at their drive coming up. It was at Ozark High School and the student council president had managed to get an all school assembly for me to speak at for a half hour. Two red flags. One, a half hour is way too long even if I was just speaking to five people. Two, I was in fact speaking to over one thousand students in the high school gym.

I just started in powered my way through it while an estimated 40 out of 1,000 students heard anything I said. Those who were listening could hear me laughing through my words as I enjoyed the absurdity of the situation.

I had the same experience today.

I was auditioning for a stand up club in Pasadena to get a spot in their Sunday night lineup. As with the open mic I did Friday night, I was performing to ten other standups who were also auditioning. It was fun to watch, many of them were really good. I honestly thought, I’m going to do really well still. Not the case. I got up there doing my nervous speech thing and they didn’t like it from the get go. I strive for awkward as a character and they gave it back to me tenfold. At one point the only audible sound after one of my jokes was a loud sigh. I found myself laughing out loud at the situation.

I was hoping that my awkward story for the experience was that I sat for ten minutes thinking I was in the right room at the club only to find out that I was sitting in the room waiting for traffic school to commence.

Here was the conversation I had with the women sitting next to me.

Me: “Um, excuse me, I parked in a two hour limit spot, do you think they check that a lot?”

Woman #1: Oh, I don’t know, I don’t live in Pasadena

Woman #2: Are you supposed to be in here?

Me (starting to dawn): I don’t know

Woman #1: This is traffic school

Me (dawned): Oh

Woman #2: Do we look like we would be doing stand up?

Me: I don’t know

Woman #2: There are a lot of rooms here

Me: The funny thing is that I’m doing traffic school online right now. Isn’t that weird?

Women sit in silence

Me: Well, I hope I’m funnier in there…gulp

Here’s the great thing. It really didn’t bother me to have a bad audition. One, I know that I’ve done the exact same jokes before and they’ve gone over well. Two, I really do cherish awkward situations that I’m in. Three, all my eggs are not in the stand up basket. I’ll try it some more places and if it doesn’t work I’ll adapt, or focus on other endeavors. It was really nice to feel okay with doing poorly actually. The worst that it is going to feel like is indifference. I won’t see those people much or at all after this. So, I might as well cherish it and blog about it. It would be remiss of me to not include that it is disappointing and on my mind a bit, but I’m still choosing to move forward. The truth is I haven’t auditioned very much for things, so it is nice to experience that bombing isn’t all that bad.

Yesterday, I talked about getting affirmation points. I think when things go bad, I will call them, “crapfirmation points.” Today, I received 3 crapfirmation points at the stand up and 1 at the traffic school. I think I’m still ahead though.

After that I had a good talk with my friend, Andy, and went to a party where there were a couple people that I knew. That was nice.