Wowee Wowee!

Disneyland and California adventure were AMAZING!!!

Kiki, Jaime and I managed to get on 12 rides in a short 9 hour span of time. We were totally efficient! Both Kiki and Jaime kept everything in check and we had THE best time. Here's what we rode:

California Adventure -
Mulholland Drive
Maliboom
Tower Of Terror (Um, fantastic ride. Boom.)
California Screamin' (Fast Pass - this rollercoaster is flipping AMAZING!)
Maliboom (AGAIN!)

Disneyland -
Pirates of The Caribbean
Thunder Mountain
Matterhorn Mountain
Autopia
Roger Rabbit's Taxi Spin
Splash Mountain (No Fast Pass - We went during the fireworks show, hardly any line)
The Haunted Mansion

I have a couple reaction videos on the rides - they're pretty fun, except for the ones that put you in darkness for like 2 minutes... then it's boring. ;-) I'll put a couple up soon.

And now the moment you've been waiting for -

My first LA audition was AWESOME!

I get to my audition and I go through my sides (I've started writing down my lines, it helps me memorize them so much faster) and my songs. I hop out of the car and cross the street to the studios. Screenland Studios to be exact, I seem to be in the middle of a bunch of entertainment related businesses. I enter and there are two guys sitting in what looks like a mini kitchen area - on the walls are autographed headshots of celebrities like Charlie Sheen and Ben Vereen and everyone in between (boom). The guys are talking about how they may have met before, like at an audition. I sit down and begin to review my notes. They kind of hush up and move out of the kitchen into the waiting area. Typical. haha. A beautiful girl walks in and asks me my name (she's totally LA) and I tell her, she returns with a stats sheet. I fill it out and while I'm doing so, one of the guys returns, I break the ice:

"So, are you from LA?" I ask.
"No, I'm from Vegas." He smirks. "If I get this gig, the trip will be worth it. Haha, if not - I'll just write it off."
"Haha. Right?... I'm from Seattle."
"Oh really!? That's cool!"
"Who are you reading for?"
"Captain Hook." He pauses. "I'm Zack."
"I'm Don - nice to meet you. I'm reading for Pain."
"Haha, that's great."
"So, these are the final call backs right?"
"Yep."

In comes the beautiful girl and she grabs my stats from me. She tells me to follow her, cause I'm up next. I follow her down a quick hallway and stop at a giant door. She tells me to wait as she sneaks into the room. I wait for what seems 20 minutes but was probably like 3 minutes, I steal a quick sip of water from the water fountain next to me... I quietly go through my songs. My heart begins to race and I can feel it beating especially in my hands. The door latch clicks open and the door is open to reveal a panel of some familiar and not so familiar faces - and what seems to be my face too... My headshot to be more exact. Allison Narver is waving it at a woman seated in front of the panel's table. We all say our hellos, Allison actually gets up from the table and gives me a hug. I meet everyone (the musical director, another casting agent, Allison of course and Ron.) Ron asks me to sing a song I prepared. So I go over to the pianist and give him my music - I point out the double flats and notes that are waaay off the staff (I marked everything out for him), he looks at me and says: what an odd arrangement. I smile. I walk to a spot far enough from the panel so that I don't blow their eardrums when I start belting. I sing and they find it a little funny - A little asian man, singing a black woman's song. I belt my face off. After the song, they smile. During the song my hands had gone numb - So I began shaking them profusely after I finished singing, I giggled and said - "I can't feel my hands, all the blood is rushing to my head." They laugh, I shake out my hands. Ron looks at me and says: "So, did we send you the Pain and Panic sides?" I tell him yes, and Ron looks at me - wondering if I have a paper copy to read from. I just smile back and he gets up from the table and begins to read. Little did the panel know I'd memorized my sides and went balls to the wall without even carrying a paper copy - just in case. I did my sides. They seemed very happy about my performance. So they sit and chat for a second, then the music director asks me if I have anything to sing in contrast to Dreamgirls. I pull out You Were There from Rocket Science. I put it in front of the pianist and smile, I say it's from a new musical - he smiles. Tempo? I give him one. Excellent. Ron asks: "What song are you singing?" I tell him You Were There from Rocket Science, A new musical. They tell me to go ahead, I sing quietly and act my face off. Once I was done, Allison and the music director said: "That was so beautiful - who wrote that?" And with a smile on my face I proclaimed Stephen Weiner, Jason Rhyne and Patricia Cotter! They gush on "that is a really beautiful song." The music director then turns to Ron and says: "I'd like to have that on camera." Ron instructs said beautiful girl to record my singing, she does. Allison follows suit: "I'd love to put him on camera too." Ron and I perform the sides again. Boom.

Many thanks are thrown around the room, I thank them for inviting me down to LA to see them again and Allison asks me what I'm working on next, I tell her - If You Give A Mouse A Cookie at SCT and she says, "Ah, Rita's directing right?" I nod. She smiles and says "See you back in Seattle!" I laugh and say my 'nice to meet you's' etc etc, I smile and leave the room.

I gather my belongings from the kitchen area, it now seems there are a bunch more guys at the call backs - they're all wearing solid color polos with jeans and dress shoes, I'm wearing a very Seattle outfit, black v-neck tee, boot cut dark wash denim, gray chuck taylors and a big blue, gray, black and white checkered long sleeve polo with the sleeves rolled up and the front unbuttoned. I smile and at everyone and tell them to break a leg, they smile back - they're all skinny and tall. Surprise. hahah ;-)

Time for a quick nap and then another rendezvous with Joel, Annika, Brian and Jaime.