May 23, 2003

Hola Diario,

¡Feliz Dia de Madres para todas las madres en todo el mundo! ¡Y Buen Cinco de Mayo! For those of you unfamiliar with Spanish, no I did NOT just say hello to a dairy. That would be "Hola lecheria". Trust me I checked. Well, Diary, it has again been a good long time since I wrote in you. That either means I have been a really busy boy, OR that I have no life and have been saving up stories until I had enough to slap together and call a journal entry. I'll just finish writing and let you decide.

Guess who has a job, Diary!? I mean, besides every industrious, responsible person in the world. That's right, ME! So much for reckless, unpredictable, and completely unemployable! I guess the parole board doesn't know EVERYTHING! HAH! Well, Mr. Smarty Pants Warden, I just started working at Urban Outfitters. Among the perks to working there are the 40% discount and the many beautiful ladies of Melrose Ave. Since starting work there about 4 weeks ago I have learned 3 things. 1. Unless you are a woman, every article of women's clothing looks EXACTLY the same as every other article of women's clothing. 2. The women is Los Angeles must have extremely warm jackets because the shirts they wear are little more than pieces of tissue paper sewn to even smaller pieces of gauze. Curiously, I have no problem with this trend. 3. No matter how heterosexual you are, if you stand next to a table of frilly lace tank tops long enough you WILL want to buy one. Learn these pearls of wisdom well Diary because there may come a day when you lose your job as a keeper of my thoughts and you too must take a job in retail.

But cleaning up after messy, messy hot chicks all day isn't the only position I have landed. For two weeks I got to intern for a casting director. I heard through the Actors' Network that Lonnie Hamerman needed some help casting an independent film. Who is Lonnie Hamerman you say? Oh, she only casts a little show I like to call Buffy, Vampire Slayer. (R.I.P. Buffy. And by that I mean Run In Pajamas. Please. But seriously, we will miss you. Sniff, sniff...) I learned sooooo much working for her. It was really neato seeing the other side of the biz. That's right. The biz. You can say that when you work in Casting. By far, the coolest thing in the world was calling up major agencies like CAA, Gersh, and William Morris and ACTUALLY HAVING THEM TAKE YOUR CALLS! I predict that it will only be a matter of months before I am a major player in the Hollywood casting scene.

All is going well and according to plan for my upcoming sketch show at the LA Connection, Steve's Garage. All the costumes are ready, my lines memorized…kinda…, and all the tech cues are done. Thank god for sketch shows. When else can I go buy the condoms and Preparation H I so sorely need, AND get to write it off as a business expense! If any of you reading this want to get some tickets or simply want to know what I could ever need condoms for (I figure you expect me to need Preparation H, but COMDOMS?!) feel free to email me and I will see what I can do.

So it seems as if being Asian finally came in handy for something besides excelling at Math and knowing how to use chopsticks. Turns out that CBS is having an Asian American Actors Showcase and they invited me to audition. I was a little worried that as soon as I showed up that I would immediately be asked to leave because I wasn't Asian enough. I was afraid they would say something like, "Only half Asian eh? You think you can be up to 75% Asian by mid June?" I not exactly sure how I would go about accomplishing that, but if they asked me to I would sure as hell try. I'll keep you informed, Diary, if I manage to get this. If I don't, expect me to quietly sweep it under the rug and act as if I never mentioned it.=)

So I guess in addition to Casting Director Intern, and Women's Clothing Peon we can add Film Editor to my resume. My friend and "writing buddy" Dave Matos and I have just finished shooting the footage for our instructional video we co-wrote titled, Casting Director Dos and Don'ts. Dave's girlfriend Tara Waugh, who is a USC Grad Student in Film, directed it and is teaching us to edit. When the 3 of us finish editing it I will be sure to post it on the website. Also if anyone wants a copy, email me. If I think you are important or sexy enough, I will send you one. Special thanks also to Amir Talai, Susie Landers, and David Graham who all in some way contributed to it and who we could in no way have done it all without. Except maybe Amir. We could have done it without Amir…Definitely didn't need Amir. Well, Diary it is again that time where we must part ways. Don't worry though. I will soon be back to talk to you again. I'm sure about how we don't really need Amir, but maybe about other stuff too. Love and pickles!

MN