party and party movie...
Mood:  celebratory
Topic: Artistic endeavors
Turns out that I had nothing to fear about throwing my party on Friday. I found that no matter what group of people you have together, you just add alcohol and mix thoroughly! lol! There ended up being more people there than I'd anticipated, but all in all, it was good. We even got to drive someone home that night, haha! I do have to say that it wouldn't have been nearly as good without Kurtis taking up the role of bartender... he was excellent! During the party, a case and a half of Corona, a 12 pack of Coors Light, around 6 bottles of Sam Adams, 1/2 a bucket of mixed frozen margaritas, 1 whole bottle of Cabo Wabo (expensive top-shelf tequila), and 1/3 of a bottle of Captain Morgan were consumed. Quite a bit of water was consumed, too, but it didn't really make the list. When all was said and done, we probably had 30 different people in and out of our house by the end of the night. Pretty crazy! The TS consultant got $500 worth of orders and 3 party bookings out of it, too.

Ahh... on to the photos... I haven't looked through all of them yet, but if you click here you can see photos from the filming... I believe there are some pretty bad ones of me in there, too... particularly this one... I think I was blinking or making a stupid face... from left to right is Kate (Ariel), Karen (Jessica), me (Katy), and a really nice girl who was an extra but had a bad habit of letting her jaw hang open... I'm not sure which day this was, but I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that it was late Saturday night, because we look pretty tired. Anyway, check those out, because I'm still looking through them.

That's it for now... Kari and the kids (Jon and Chris) are here, so we've been spending time with them... they'll be here through the end of the month.

welcome, lovely blog readers!
Mood:  amorous
Now Playing: Enya -- may it be
Topic: Friends and Family
I've discovered that more and more people are reading my blog -- can I just say how tickled I am that people are intrigued by my life?

I LOVE YOU GUYS!!

To Col Mustard & Lilnugget -- I've been checking out your blogs, but I can't seem to post a comment on them... maybe you have it set up so that only friends can post or something?

I just got an email from someone else today who said that she is 'addicted' to my blog. How cool is that? That would be Christina, you can find her blog here. I haven't had much of a chance to look at it, and I actually have to get out of here.

I also got an email today from the people who want me to read for the part of Mercedes...
Thank you for your interest in Snowden Crossing. We would love for you to read for the part of Mercedes Tyler. She is the mother of one of our teen characters.

We have attached the audition script. If you can make it we will send you the address. Our apologies for the short notice but it is Saturday the 17th from 10am until 1pm.

Snowden Crossing

Umm, yeah. Sorry, don't think I'm going to make THAT one. I need a little more notice. :-P~ Especially since I'm going to have a kick-ass party tonight, hehe. Well, speaking of kick-ass parties, I have to go 'get this party started'.

There's a new show on the food network called "Party Starters"... unfortunately, it premieres in 4 days. That's 4 days too late. Hopefully my party won't suck too badly.

I'll check in over the weekend. Hope everyone has a good one! :)

My predictions on celebrity marriages
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: Hey ya! Outkast
Topic: Introspection
I'm sure that some of you have read this story..
Simpson, Lachey May Start Family
Jul 15, 6:30 AM EST

The Associated Press

NEW YORK -- Pop star couple Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey want to go from "Newlyweds" to "Parenthood."

The married stars of the MTV reality series "Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica" tell Us Weekly magazine they plan to start a family in the not-too-distant future.

"I don't think it will be in six months or a year, but after that, Nick's getting old," the 24-year-old Simpson told the magazine.

The 30-year-old Lachey told Us at a Big Brothers Big Sisters event in New York City: "We'd love to have our own children, but we have a heart for kids, and we'd love to adopt."

The couple are considering adopting a teenage child from an underdeveloped country.

As a teen, Simpson and her family regularly visited an orphanage in Mexico.

However, cameras likely won't be invited into family life. The couple say this may be the last season for their MTV show.

"Done!" insists Simpson. "We're not newlyweds anymore. We've had our share of the cameras. We're at a point where we'll want everything for ourselves and our family."


My opinion? They're heading for divorce. I think that a lot of couples feel there's something missing after the first year or whatever and automatically think, "Okay, that means it's time for kids!" They think that kids will fix the marriage. *buzzer* Ooh, no, sorry... we were looking for marriage counseling! Either way, kids or not, I predict a divorce in 2 years or less.


As far as Britney Spears goes, I doubt she'll even get down the aisle... that girl definitely has some issues. If she DOES get down the aisle, I give her marriage 1 year or less.

Any takers? I think some bookies actually have odds on this, I'll have to find it this weekend.

so tired.........
Mood:  lazy
Now Playing: Junkies
Topic: Weekend happenings
Last night was pretty busy (Mr. Annoying-thinks-he's-God's-gift-to-women is being obnoxious as usual).... went shopping after work for party stuff... decided that I should probably just go ahead and buy everything that I needed ahead of time so that I didn't have to rush around as much this afternoon.

So I went to Dawson's and bought all the alcohol--there's no way we're running out (knock on wood). I was mortified to find out the total... next time everyone's getting Coors Light! Can't beat $16 for a 30 pack. Then I went to Food Lion and bought the ingredients that I needed to make all the dips and stuff... I used almost an entire jar of mayo making everything. Ugh! Almost makes me not want to eat it... but it tastes SO good, hehe.

Hmm... I just checked my bank account and it appears that my paycheck wasn't deposited?! It went in to one of my accounts, though. I don't get it. I guess I'll have to call my bank to check.

I'm hoping that Tariq (from U films) posts those pictures (from the film) on the net today... I'd really like to see them. Well. back to work.

Looks like this might not be my last year!
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: Junkies
Topic: Artistic endeavors
They just released more information on american idol auditions, and now it looks like I'll only miss 2 days of work instead of 3. Still not ideal, but this thing is sounding better... they haven't announced where they're going to be held in the city yet, though. The 'Skins don't have a preseason game during that time, so Fedex field should be open. Anyway, the age limit has been changed from 16-24 to 16-28. I'm happy about that, but I think they should have raised the minimum age to 18.

I'm huuuuuungry, so I'm going to get some breakfast. Have to clean the house tonight for my TS party... I'm going to run out to Party City at lunch to get some lei's and other decorations... I think I might get some kind of lights to put on the deck outside, too. I still have to make a cake for Kurtis, so it's going to be a busy two days.

AI4 audition dates have been announced!
Mood:  celebratory
Topic: Artistic endeavors
This showed up on their site in the last few hours:

SEASON 4 AUDITIONS! (dates tentative)

Cleveland, Ohio - August 4, 2004
Washington, D.C. - August 18, 2004
Orlando, Florida - August 26, 2004
St. Louis, Missouri - TBD
New Orleans, Louisiana - August 31, 2004
Las Vegas, Nevada - September 12, 2004
Anchorage, Alaska - September 28, 2004
San Francisco, California - October 5, 2004


That really sucks that the auditions are in the middle of the week. I was hoping they'd be on a Monday, or Tuesday even... now I'm going to miss at least 3 days of work. *sigh* And I'm already in the red with leave, so I'm going to have to take unpaid leave. Well, this is all rather early, so they might change the dates anyway... might not be able to line up until the night before, even! Then I'd only miss one day. We'll see.

It also seems to me that they're doing auditions backwards a bit; they should start with Alaska and leave DC and Florida for the later dates... DC in August isn't the greatest place to be.

The other thing that is worrying me is if the 'premiere' of the party movie is around the same time as the auditions... that would really suck. I'd have to choose the movie, I think. I dunno. Maybe I'll take my chances and show up late to the auditions, just show up the night before or something. I'll be curious to find out more info.


We're supposed to be having some nasty weather today... I hope that the power goes out so that I can go home to enjoy the storm. We already have a tornado watch... well, I hear thunder so I'd better post this now just in case the power goes out. That would be just my luck! I'll post more later.

I think I'm going to end up going overboard...
Mood:  suave
Now Playing: Evanescence
Topic: Artistic endeavors
on all this audition stuff.

Now that I've shot this film, I'm probably going to overdo it and submit for too many things. I looked at actornews today and saw two projects to submit for, one is for a comedy horror film (to be shot in Jan 2005) and another is for a group out of Howard county that is doing a soap series and various other small projects. They've already emailed me back (with an audition script) and said that they want me to read for the part of Mercedes.

From their website:
"Snowden Crossing" is a show meant to...
1. Increase positive black images on television.
2. Provide quality television for a diverse audience base.
3. Expose the world to the talent that the DC metropolitan area has to offer.
4. Speak to a number of social and political issues
5. Showcase versions of African-American values and images.

Yes, I know I'm not black, but of course there are roles for other ethnicities! This seems like a socially conscious project, so I can make the world a better place, haha. The show is being aired on the Howard County Public Access Channel... hey, TV is TV!!

We'll see what happens... I need all the experience I can get.

home computer
Mood:  lazy
Now Playing: Junkies
Topic: Friends and Family
It turned out there was something wrong with the router... that's why I couldn't get on the net. Actually, I couldn't get on the net on Sunday. Still haven't tried my home account yet, but whatever is going on with those parental controls, it wasn't done on purpose.

Today is Kurt's birthday... I ordered him a Fender guitar stool, but of course it hasn't come in yet. I ordered it last week, too! Argh. 3-5 days shipping, my ass. Bastards.

Tired today... went out to breakfast this morning and drank coffee, now I just feel weird.

Untouchable Films project -- I want a new job!
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: Jack Johnson
Topic: Artistic endeavors
Yes, please! Give me 12 hour days!! It's fantastic!!!! I can't imagine working a 12 hour day at Harms; I'd be miserable! But give me a 12 hour day on a film *ANYDAY*. I got to the house a little late, traffic on the beltway was a pain - should have expected that, but there was an accident on route 100 that slowed me down even more. Anyway, I got there around 12:15 or so, Will signed me in on a sheet... he was the main organizer of people, he'd keep track of where people were, yell, "Quiet on the set!" and all that. I have no idea how he didn't lose his voice. I can't really go through all the people who make up Untouchable Films - it's a big group, 10 people and they all pitched in at different times doing different jobs... but the main production crew that I talked to would be Phil, Andy Andrew, Will, and Adam... they were all incredibly nice and it was obvious that they really cared about what they were doing. When I was doing auditions and everything, I was worried that they were just a bunch of kids who were just screwing around, but it turned out that my fears were completely unfounded. I shouldn't really say that they're kids; they're all about 2 and 3 years younger than me. Anyway, I'll get back to my story... you'll have to forgive me, I'm a little tired... not to mention perturbed that I'm now back to the "real world" (and the damn phone keeps ringing, I'm sitting at the front desk because I switched Bonnie days). You know, I would probably be happy just doing little independent films or whatever on the weekends... it's so much fun! (ARGH FREAKING PHONE!!! It's all telemarketers, too, which pisses me off even more... you think you get telemarketing calls at home, try answering phones at a business... "May I speak to the person who handles...blah blah blah" or even better "Is John Harms available?")
Ahh, back upstairs, thank GOD.

Anyway... the place we were shooting at was this guy's house... his name was either Joe or Mike. I thought that his name was Mike, but now I'm thinking it might have been Joe. Anyway, it wasn't really his house; it was his parent's. The first night of filming was Friday, of which I missed. They're filming this scene in Joe/Mike's kitchen and one of the characters ("Doug") is doing a "keg stand"... as the other cast are putting him back down on the ground, this one guy Edgar SLAMS into the oven, shattering the glass door. This was NOT part of the script, and I imagine the parents will not be happy. Mind you, no alcohol had been consumed during this! I'm sorry that I missed it, but I did see a replay of it on Saturday while waiting for my scenes to be filmed. They're going to try to include the oven smashing in the film, but everyone's reactions were pretty severe, so they don't know if they can do it.
I showed up at 12:15 on Saturday and immediately bonded with Karen, a fellow cast mate who just happened to be the girl who was playing "Jessica", my fellow cheerleading ho. Hehe. A few minutes later, I met Kate who is playing "Ariel" who is the cheerleader that gets a bad rep for hanging out with us loose women. Anyway, the 3 of us are hanging out and find out that the girl who is playing "Michelle" isn't going to be there until 9:30 pm!! And our first scene is with her. So that kind of pisses all of us off, because you know, we're like - so dedicated! (you were supposed to read that in a valley girl cheerleaderish voice) Hehe. So we wait. And we wait. I talk to a bunch of other people, other actors, the production crew, extras... And we have reaction shots and are standing around in a few scenes. And we wait some more. Then Jessica and I shoot the beer pong scene... Farhad (sp), the guy playing Blake succeeds in getting me AND Karen wet while filming his beer pong scene. He plays a very convincing drunk guy. He's absolutely hilarious and I'm sure that most people have seen the obnoxious drunk guy at every party. That's Farhad. And we've talked about pretty much everything. We've run the gamut - pets, significant others, places we've lived, tattoos, places we've vacationed, work, school, TV, food, and then all we had left to talk about was how irritated we were that "Michelle" wasn't going to be there until 9:30. After all, when we went for the audition, we were to tell them then if we had any schedule conflicts. All of a sudden little "Michelle" can't come until 9:30.
Pizzas were brought in around 6 to everyone's delight... I forgot to mention that we were fed; there was a fruit tray, cookies, rolls, all sorts of stuff. We also had plenty of bottled water and soda. Around 9pm, we had a wave of extras come in. And some of them started drinking beer. Mind you, nobody knew these people, none of the cast was drinking, and nobody on the production crew was drinking. They proceeded to be a pain in the ass until they'd apparently gotten yelled at enough that they went away. It's pretty hard to keep 50 people quiet.
So "Michelle" finally shows up and we're thinking, "Wow, if she wasn't type cast I don't know who is." Karen overheard her saying, "Omigod, I can't believe they're wearing the same thing they wore YESTERDAY." It apparently didn't occur to her that the movie is about a party that is happening during the course of several hours. This person also hadn't even opened her script until she showed up. She had no clue about her character or even that she's supposed to make out with a guy. She said, "Do I REALLY have to do that?" Hmm. Let's see. It's in the script so, no, you really don't have to do it. (roll eyes) What a retard. She also kept saying, "I am SO not like that, I am not a cheerleader AT ALL!" And of course all day we've been working on our lines, on different ways of saying them, etc. When it's finally our turn to film our scene, it's 11:45 p.m. Had to give her a chance to read her script, of course. So at the very end of the day we're finally shooting our character's entrance into the party. We're all exhausted, quite possibly fragrant (due to the various odors in the house), shiny-faced, red eyed, and generally unkempt from our 12 hour day where Miss Michelle has been there for a mere 2 hours. And of course, we're supposed to be energetic and bubbly, since we're just walking in and are ready to party. I was just upset that I may not have been at peak performing form for the first time my character is appearing - not to mention the first time that I've appeared in any film. :-P~ Even if it is independent! So we're standing there, rehearsing the scene and "Michelle" (I can't remember her name, so I'm just sticking to her character name) goes, "So how much are we playing up the cheerleader thing?" Well, gee... that would vary with each character, would it not? After all, we have "Ariel", who is the normal one of our group, there is "Katy" and "Jessica" who are the girls trying to get with everyone but nobody wants, who we play to be complete ditz's, and then there is "Michelle", who is supposed to be the alpha female, looking for the alpha male. But I'll be easy on her, after all, she just opened the script tonight. Of course, me, Karen and Kate (Katy, Jessica and Ariel) are nailing our lines and our delivery. Michelle, however, is requiring quite a bit of direction. Argh. By this time, my face is twitching because I've been smiling so much and I'm ready to fall over. Finally, they say that me, Karen and Michelle are done for the day. Kate had to stay later to do more scenes, though... poor thing. She was there until 2 a.m., I think. I survey the wreckage of the day's shoot - empty pizza boxes, red cups EVERYWHERE, sodas - some empty, some half consumed littering every counter, table... abandoned scripts, empty plastic water bottles on the floor. Glad that I didn't have to clean the place up! So I leave at 12:15 a.m. Just moving right along, traffic is nice and light, I'm thinking, "Wow, I'm making great time!" Next thing you know, "BAM!" Traffic is stopped. Construction on the beltway. Goes from 3 lanes down to 1... talk about bottleneck. I didn't get through it all until about 1:20 a.m... it was awful. Got home around 2 a.m., fed the cats (they were quite angry) threw my clothes in the wash (complete with lip gloss in the jeans), jumped in the shower, and went to bed. Took me a while to actually fall asleep, so I read a few pages of my book.

I wake up the next morning at around 8, think it's too early, my throat is scratchy and sore, my eyes feel like sandpaper, and my head is all foggy. So I try to get back to sleep... sleep on and off for an hour, feed the cats, then get up and wet a washcloth to put over my eyelids in hopes that they will de-puff...lay down for a while, then James comes over and lays on my chest (all 20 pounds of him)... so I'm relaxing and petting James... and then the phone rings. I let it... it stops, then it starts ringing again. So I figure it must be Kurtis... push James off of me (after he was finally comfortable), answer the phone. Talk to Kurt, give him a recap of the previous day, listen to what he's been doing. Get off the phone, decide I'd better get moving... throw the clothes in the dryer. Try rehabbing my skin with all sorts of different lotions... use an awful lot of concealer while applying my make-up. Curl my eyelashes as much as possible to make it look like my eyes are actually open. Gather up my script, get my clothes out of the dryer... my lip gloss has survived, although it is near the boiling point. At around 11:45 a.m., I stumble out the door. Didn't have to show up until 1pm on Sunday, since we were there so late and I had a long drive. Mine and Karen's first scene came fairly quickly... it was a little confusing because we were shooting it in the hallway, which was fairly narrow and there are a lot of people in the shot. There was an extra and another girl standing in the back of the hallway, the girl was playing "Laura" who has about 3 lines. She impressed me as stuck-up and bitchy. When she came in the room, she was looking at the 3 of us and says, "Hi! So... you guys are extras?" No, honey. If you would have been here yesterday like you were supposed to be, you would know that. "Oh." So she and this other girl are standing in the background while we're doing the scene. Now, when you're doing a background/extra part, you aren't actually supposed to talk. They didn't shut their yaps the whole friggin' time?! Finally somebody said something to them. Man they were annoying. Shortly after Karen and I did our scene, "Michelle" and "Jordan" got to do their make-out scene... which was hilarious. On one of their rehearsals, they're going at it and Andrew goes, "Uh... we're not rolling!" It was great... everyone was watching them, it was just funny. I was glad she had to do it and not me! After they were finished that scene, it was a "wrap" for the two of them. And then she was gone! We were very happy when she left. :-P~ I'm so catty, I know.
Food was brought in around 4:30 by the production crew's girlfriends and other people somehow related to Ufilms. There was fried chicken from Popeye's (money!), and some kind of rice noodle/veggie/chicken dish that was incredible! Just as we started chowing down, Will came in the room and asked the three of us (me, Karen and Kate) if we wanted to shoot the bathroom scene so that we could get out of there (that was the last thing we had to do)... so we agreed and at 5 we were on our way down the road to Phil's house, because the bathrooms at Mike/Joe's house were 1) too small and 2) disgusting. Phil's house was REALLY nice (or shall I say Phil's PARENT'S house)... we walked in and we were all like, "Wow, it smells so GOOD in here!!" lol... much better than cat and dog pee! Yuck! Filming in the bathroom was one of the best parts of the whole experience, it was just funny fitting 5 people in there and not having 2 of them (plus equipment involved) showing in either of the two mirrors. I'll be really interested to see how that comes out visually... it was probably one of the most difficult shots... Andrew and Phil were standing in the bathtub for the first shots, then they got some shots from the mirror, it was all pretty cool. After each take or two, we'd have to go out for air, because it was getting so hot in there, haha... Karen and I left at one point for them to get some better shots of Kate in there... it was really funny listening to the guys reading our lines with Kate... "guys throw up on me all the time!" hehe... I swear, I had the best lines. While we were at the other house waiting to film that scene, Karen and I made up a great ad-lib... when we said it during the shoot, Phil and Andrew were both like, "Was that in the script?!? That's GREAT!!"

When we got back to the house and they said, "That's a wrap for the girls!" everyone was applauding for us, it was really cool. Will came up to us and goes, "Who came up with that line?? That was genius!!" The funny thing was that it came out of a real conversation that Jessica and I were having... we were discussing how that when we entered we weren't carrying our purses, so we didn't have much room for make-up and it wouldn't make sense that we have all of this stuff all of a sudden... and I told her that she could be borrowing mine or something. Then I looked at her and we were both like, "YES!" I'm not going to give it away, though. Hehe... I could use all the lines I could get! After we were done, Jessica and Kate left right away, but I stayed a little bit longer to stuff my face... they'd brought more food - some lasagna, baked ziti and brownies. I had to try the baked ziti and brownies, of course. I felt really weird after it was all done... I'd been getting so into my character and bonding with my fellow cheerleaders that being me again was strange. I said goodbye to everyone around 6:15 and walked out to my car. It was kind of sad, really... because you know that you'll never work with all of those exact people again. I exchanged information with my girls, of course and one other person that I was telling about Kurtis's photography.

We're supposed to know in a few weeks about the DVD and everything. They're talking about having a premiere - it will either be at a theatre in NoVA or maybe in Baltimore. Well, I have to get back to work....... Got an email from Adam today, too... I'll post that and my response.

>From: "Untouchable Films"
>To: undisclosed recipients
>Subject: That's a wrap
>Date: Mon, 12 Jul 2004 01:42:56 -0400

>Hey Everybody
>
>We just wanted to thank the cast and everyone for coming out one
>more time. While it was tough, and we can't believe we pulled off so
>much in 2 1/2 days, we had a lot of fun and hope everyone did too.
>We've already gone over some of the footage, and I have to say, its
>really good. This film is going to be really funny I think, not to
>mention well made and well acted. Since we completed everything, no
>one has to worry about reshoots. We hope everyone had a good
>experience and we'll definitely let you all know about future
>projects (which we've already got a few in mind) as well as film
>festival information in the coming year. Also, I'll email everyone
>in a couple weeks once we get this beast cut and cleaned up and on
>DVD. Thank you again and everyone keep in touch.
>
>From Adam and everyone at Untouchable Films
>

Thanks for the update, Adam! I had so much fun meeting everyone on this project... I was really sad when I got home, haha. Can't wait to see the film... I think that you guys did a great job given people's schedules and all of the unexpected extras! Hope that I'll be able to work with you in the future. Tell everyone I said hello! :)

Lauren aka Katy the cheerleading slut!

BTW, here is Untouchable Film's website. They're supposed to be redesigning it soon... I'll be interested to see the new site.

posted by a cautiously optimistic Redskins fan at 3:46 PM EDT

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argh
Mood:  irritated
Topic: Rants
I can't even check the weather right now because there is some kind of stupid parental control set on this damn computer. I guess that I'm going to have to log off and check the weather from Kurtis's account. I wonder if he did that on purpose just to play a trick on me or if it was an accident.

Getting ready now to go to Herndon. The cats are being crazy, I think they're mad because Kurt isn't here.