Positive Thinking

On long or Holiday Weekends, there's usually a different crowd of people in the bar.  I noticed that years ago when I was working at Saint's & Sinner's, and it would either be empty because all the regulars and LA Locals were out of town, or it was crazy busy because there were tourists visiting, or the interesting folk were coming out of hiding to check out the bar.  I've noticed at Karaoke it definitely empties out.  It could be the fact that Amy is out of town at Kayt's Wedding this weekend, so her regulars weren't in, or that people were taking Friday and Saturday off to party hard on Sunday or Monday for Labor Day.

I was Hosting Karaoke on Friday for the Labor Day weekend and while it was a little quiet when I came in, aside for the people watching the Dodger Game (so excited to go to the Dodger game on Monday for $1 Dodger Dogs), it picked up around 10 pm.  I got Karaoke started at 9:30 with a fairly short rotation and even though the night picked up, people were added to the rotation and others left so it was never much longer than 30 or 35 minutes.  Because my allergies have been acting up, my voice was kind of shot, and just announcing the singers was difficult, so I wasn't going to sing a whole lot.  I let Lee open the night for me, and he ended up singing one of my favorite Tim McGraw song's, 'Something Like That' just for me and later sang The Archies 'Sugar Sugar' which the crowd loved!  We had a couple singers singing Bob Seger songs throughout the night, and there were appearances by Manthony and John, who sang 'You Can Call Me Al' and "She Drives Me Crazy,' getting the crowd involved and dancing.  Jamie & Judy came in just before midnight and while Judy was doing some of her favorite songs, Jamie was trying new songs.  She started with Alanis Morisette and closed out the night for me with Bonnie Raitt's 'Can't Make You Love Me' which was absolutely incredible.  I can't wait to hear her sing it again!  I needed to sing a new song so I decided on The Romantic's 'What I Like About You' which actually went really well, even with my scratchy voice.  I put my own little spin on it and want to do it again when the bar is busier and people can sing along.  It went a whole lot better than the fiasco of a song I sang on Wednesday called 'Ray of Light.'  The night ended just before 1 am and I was content with a solid Karaoke night!

Today I played catch-up with all the things that I've been pushing back for a week or two so I can keep up with auditions, shoots, and work.  I was reading some of my e-mails and came across The Casting Networks Newsletter that I get at the first of every month.  As I was reading through each of the articles, I found some really interesting information from this specific article written by Bonnie Katz: Obstacles are Opportunities.  She gave some information about Dianne Wiest and having trouble with a Woody Allen film and feeling as if she was mis-cast, but she ended up going on to win an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in that role!  And then there was Meryl Streep who questioned her existence based on a comment made by a dialect coach.  Both of these women have achieved great success even though they've encountered obstacles along their path to greatness.

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You may ask, what am I taking from the article?  Or better yet, why should you care?  Because everyone has obstacles to overcome.  And these are things I'm going to remember and work on in my daily life to overcome them and hopefully achieve my greatness.
*Things happen, good and bad, it's how you react to it.  So be patient and a brightness will come.
*Approach things in a positive matter, be kind to others even if they're rude or unkind to you.  You never know what has happened to them before they have approached you.  Be curious, it will open you up.  Judgement will shut you down.
*Don't feel sorry for yourself, learn from it and move on.  When you stop learning, you stop living. <==(And that's my own personal quote!)  If growth is your goal, you will never lose.

*Have fun.  Bonnie is quoted: "Be yourself, everyone else is taken."

*Quit thinking in purposes of right and wrong.  Think outside of the box.  When it's ready to happen for you it will.

As actors we all know the obstacles and know that there's someone out there feeling just like you do, whether it's positive or negative, so be the optimistic friend or support in their life because you never know when you're going to need that positivity in yours :)