After living in Los Angeles for nearly two months, I finally broke down today and caved in.
I bought a trashcan and an iron.
I was attempting to offset these purchases for as long as possible, due to the fact that I am just scraping by in terms of money out here. But since I have a job that requires me to wear black button downs, I decided that an iron made more sense than buying lots and lots of black shirts.
I purchased the trashcan because it was a full-out war between me and the fruit flies. I hate fruit flies more than almost anything. They make me feel like my skin is crawling, and they breed insanely quickly. I have nightmares about the Pre-College summer when I sat on my dorm room floor, trying to make ten loaves of banana bread with bananas that had been left over from an event. I stirred ferociously, covered in flour, in 90-degree heat, with fruit flies swarming around my room. That is pretty close to my idea of hell.
Anyways. So, I marched over to Target tonight and bought those two essential items (I also bought trash bags for said garbage can, gummy vitamins, blister band-aids for my post-promotion feet, an air freshener, a black t-shirt bra, and a simple black shirt without a collar, because I'm feeling rebellious). While my bank account is frustrating and depressing, life will go on.
Today was my third day of training at Zeke's smokehouse, which is going well. I am exhausted at the end of every shift, but I am learning quickly and haven't sabotaged my chances at staying there yet. My mom pointed out to me that the unemployment rate in California is currently around 12.3%. The restaurant was hesitant to hire me, but I desperately waved my college degree in their faces, said I would be willing to do anything (give me a mop, brother!), and told them I could bartend (as luck would have it, if they make it through the next few months, the restaurant wants to put in a bar. Hallelujah). Working for $8 an hour right now may be lousy, but it's a certain type of secure-lousy, so I'll take it.
Life as a struggling artist/ adult is becoming monotonous. I get up, go to work, run some errands, drop headshots and resumes off at the post office, come home, scarf down a salad while I check my email and apply to random Craigslist jobs, return phone calls, call (and subsequently curse) Central Casting (in hopes of getting my SAG card through extra work), fall asleep (because I couldn't sleep the night before), wake up, work out for an hour or so, shower, eat dinner, do dishes, check email and CL one more time, submit myself for roles on Actors Access, look up what's filming in LA on IMDBpro, try to watch an episode of one of the 25 or so shows I'm trying to watch this summer, and try to sleep (read: stare at the ceiling). Sometimes, my day is made less monotonous by a phone call, or perhaps by getting snail mail (a good day) or even better, a package (an incredible day). But most days - like today - I just wind up feeling frustrated that my manager hasn't sent me out on any auditions yet, and wondering when I'll have a chance to act and to do what I love again. After spending four years of hell and enough money to live here for several years on a college degree, I want my turn to say, "allright world, listen up!"
Cross your fingers, say a prayer to your higher power, wish some good chi or karma my way. I want to go!
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