Fri-daze

Friday. Busy day. Kicked off by registering at a local recruitment agency. Aside from the usual skills tests (typing, Word and Excel proficiency), newbies are required to watch a short video illustrating basic safety rules and explaining what is expected of employees, such as calling your account manager if you’re going to be late. Much of it seemed blatantly obvious; don’t place liquids too close to your keyboard, keep drawers closed, adjust your chair to a comfortable height, don’t try to fix a malfunctioning Xerox machine yourself. You’d think anyone with an ounce of common sense would know how to look after their own wellbeing and respect that of others. We were then tested on our comprehension and memory of the safety and behavioural rules outlined in the video! OK, whatever. Rates of pay are absolutely miserable; $15 an hour is the top rate through this agency. I think I’ll keep shopping around, but I’ll also be grateful for any addition to my funds in the meantime.

More fun later in the day when I auditioned for an actor’s showcase. Instructions were to present a 1-2 minute monologue, which could be comic, dramatic or classic. I grabbed the opportunity to bring out the Bard; a feisty monologue from Romeo and Juliet. There were about 25 actors at the audition, which were held in a small, well-kept theatre in Hollywood. Located in a shopping strip, above an ice cream store, it seemed a most unlikely spot for a theatre but like so many places in LA, once you step inside you are transported into another world. We sat together in the theatre and watched each other’s monologues, which was great. The standard was pretty solid, no stinkers, and the guy running the auditions dipped the lights and encouraged everyone to applaud each performance. Lots of love in the room, tempering the competitive atmosphere. I thought I did a good job, better than some, and was certainly the only one to go classic. Was that a mistake or not? I don’t know, but long story short I didn’t picked for the showcase. Bummer. It would have been fantastic to do a showcase in the next couple of months as I’m approaching agents and so forth. Ah well, something else will come along. I’ve got a voiceover audition lined up for next week (unpaid student film), they want a British accent for the narration.

Friday evening I caught up with a theatre friend from Melbourne, Janeen. On a recommendation we headed to a Thai restaurant on Sunset Boulevard. It was called something like Toi Rock’n’Roll Thai; not so much a fusion as a clash of cultures and cuisine. Thai spaghetti, anyone? We ordered a red curry and pad thai with black rice. The rice was delicious, the curry not bad (very mild though) and the pad thai appeared to be ketchup-flavoured. Quite peculiar. American tastes are certainly sweet. The décor was amusingly rock’n’roll grungy, like a truculent teenager’s bedroom.