Tuesday, March 20, 2012

A Green Weekend!

Little did I know that St. Patrick's Day was being celebrated early at Gabe's on Friday Night!  I totally forgot to wear green, and while it wasn't St. Patrick's Day till Saturday, I still had to worry about getting pinched after midnight without some sort of green on me.  Mike saved the day by cutting down some green garland for me, and I made a little bracelet!  Whew...that was a close one!

It was a very busy night with lots of new people coming in for Karaoke.  I didn't realize how excited people got for St. Patrick's Day, so many people were drinking and getting tipsy, and I thought they would save it for Saturday, but was really surprised!  That's hardcore :)  Because the night was so busy, I only sang a couple of times, but was able to do Heart's 'What About Love' and thought it would be my new song of the night, until realizing half-way through that it sounded familiar and I think I sang it at Lucky Strike years ago!  I ended up closing the night with 'Crazy' by Britney Spears, never sang it before, although I did Choreograph a Cheerleading Routine to the song in High School!  Blast from the past, but very fun!  Overall, it was a really great night, everyone was very generous, and seemed to be having a good time, with all the alcohol that was flowing!

Since it was a busy night, I didn't get home until later, and I had my Casting Workshop the next day so I wanted to get as much sleep as possible.  Five hours later I was getting ready for the Workshop to the pouring rain outside!  That made me even more nervous, because I wanted to make sure I could be on time and prepared.  I talked to Neil once I got to the theater, and we went through my scene over the phone, and he gave me some advice and support before the Workshop.  There were about 20 people there and we got started promptly at 10:30 am.  The Casting Director started with a Q&A which was interesting, and I learned a little information, and then we got started on our scenes.  When it was my turn, I handed in my headshot to the CD and then performed my scene with a Reader.  The Reader was better than I had expected, so that made it so much easier to perform the scene, be organic, and really listen to what he was saying, so I could react.  I felt really confident and proud of my work, and took my seat after a thank you.  When everyone had finished, someone asked the CD for his feedback, to which he responded that not everyone committed or understood their scene, and that people need to speak more clearly.  There was no individualized feedback, and no positivity at all.  I was told we would be able to perform our scenes twice, thus making it a Workshop so I could work.  It was so disappointing after working at my scene all week long.  I came completely prepared, and most of the students in the class didn't even have their scenes memorized.  I know I'll take another Workshop, but I'm really going to research to make sure that I'm benefiting from taking it.  This is my career and unless something is going to help me grow, it's not worthwhile.  The good thing from all this was the rehearsing I did with Neil earlier in the week, the scene really grew with our practice, and I'm so glad I was as prepared as I was, so I could take it wherever it needed to go with what the Reader was going to give me.  So kudos to Neil for helping me rock my performance!

*Side Note.  I did call the Company that booked the Workshop, and the owner said he was completely frustrated and disappointed with the CD as well, and that they would never have him back again.  He told me that's now how they run their workshops and even offered me a 50% discount on my next workshop.  The owner used a few choice words which made me laugh, but I was glad to find out the other students were disappointed as well, and it wasn't just me.  Onto the next one...

After my Workshop I was on my way to Irish Times to Bartend for St. Patrick's Day!  It was almost a 15 hour shift at the end of the day, so I was prepared with a change of clothes and had a bite to eat before I got there.  The bar was full when I got there, and they had just started charging a Cover Charge.  They had traditional Irish Food (I later got the Beef Stew and some Fish), and even had Corned Beef & Cabbage.  There was an Irish Band that played all day long, and a new Irish Band that started later at night as well.  I only drank a couple of beers throughout the night, and never any hard alcohol.  So proud I'm keeping up with my Lent agreement!  It was a steady stream of people through the whole shift, and with 6 of us Bartending, we were never slammed, just moving all day long.  It's so nice to be in a Bar environment that's actually positive.  Everyone's helpful, and there's teamwork.  We can all joke around and have fun, and if someone's being rude, we stand our ground, and protect our fellow Bartenders.  Such a change from my last Bartending job which was what I believe Hell is like.  We made great money and all had a great time, but I was exhausted by the time I got home, so excited for my bed, and getting some sleep after a long and crazy day!

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