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September 29, 2004

First Day of the Rest of my Sight

Please send all the healthy eye vibes you have over in my direction on Friday morning. I will be having flaps cut, lasers pointed at them, and scary "seal up" juice applied.

Ack!

When it's all over (well, 12-24 hours later), I should be seeing 20/20 to 20/15 for the first time since 1985.

Mainly send good vibes to the surgeon and his pointy tools. Yes, there will be Valium involved. Phew!

No computer allowed for 24 hours after, but phone calls to check on me are welcomed after 3pm (as I'll be up from my post-op nap by then, they say).

I'll try to post again before Friday morning. Ack! Ack! Ack! Must get next week's column done (early) in case there's weekend-residual no-see-dom.

Posted by bonnie at 5:24 PM

September 28, 2004

Thwok Loves...

...sliced almonds.

And she believes the sound of the printer starting up is "calling" her. Send a page to the printer and, from anywhere in the apartment, Thwok goes RUNNING toward it. We got our new printer yesterday and she's learned that there is a button she can step on (on the printer) that prints a test page.

Oh, we are in trouble with this one! I love her sooooooo.

Keith's Google interview went very well. VERY well. Tomorrow's eye meeting should be good. I'm trying to stay relaxed about it all. And tomorrow evening, we meet with the biggest "name" actor so far, to discuss the book. Awesome connection set up through one of Keith's contacts. Very very very cool. And Thursday and Friday, we conduct two more interviews for the book. Woo hoo! This rocks so hard. It's going to come together much sooner than I'd thought. That's awesome.

I hate to lose Keith for a week (he's headed up to NoCal again to deal with family stuff next Tuesday). I may need some company... anyone up for hanging out? But he has to go. It'll be good. He'll do good stuff. He always does. I'll just miss him like crazy.

Posted by bonnie at 8:26 PM

September 27, 2004

Three Entries in One

Easy Bake Oven

Ooh, I'm oh-so-happy. I had bought some dried cranberries from the produce section at the market the other day. When I had a handful today, I decided they'd taste REALLY good in some biscuits. Hey! We have a bag of Bisquik! Let's see if I can NOT burn down the house (seeing as I burn water).

Holy yumminess! I looooove my hot, fresh, buttered, cranberry biscuits. Yum!

Two-Day Blind

I have an appointment on Wednesday morning that requires I not wear my contacts 'til then. I took them out six hours or so ago (should've had 'em out sooner, but needed to see some important stuff first). Send healthy, ready-for-anything eye vibes to Santa Monica early Wednesday, okay?

Details after the initial consult.

Google Goes Keith

So, on 11 September, at lovely Ashley's birthday party, Rose told Keith about a freelance/work-from-home Google job. On that Monday, he applied, and they hired him. Done.

Today, he got a call asking if he'd like to come on full-time/in-house, which, considering the goodies like 24 Hour Fitness membership (for both of us), health insurance (for both of us), and regular pay at computer-genius level, he said he'd happily consider. He interviews with the bigger-up guy tomorrow.

Vibes toward Santa Monica (again) in the afternoon-ish tomorrow.

Oh, and one more...

Not really another entry, just an update: the book is moving along nicely. Today we got our highest-profile YES so far. Ooh, it's a good one. Looking forward to our interview next month, you lovely, lovely hunk of NYPD Blue man. Yowza! Yup... you ask... they say yes. It's ah-may-zing!

Posted by bonnie at 7:42 PM

Kitty Link

Well, Thwok decided to take a nap on the Chicklet and this is what was in the browser window when she got up:

ddddddd8frc n kbvb7uhcjnn

Therefore, the above will be the official webpage name for kittiness.

It will be active after the human (me) has had a chance to obey the munkey's wishes and code appropriately.

Why must I have "real world" stuff to do while there is clearly Thwok-mandated work?

Posted by bonnie at 11:44 AM

September 25, 2004

This morning...

...they have added a petting zoo and pony rides! Oh, I am sooo loving this!!

Posted by bonnie at 10:50 AM

September 24, 2004

Neighborhood Kid Stuff

So, on Wednesday afternoon before the (AMAZING, KICK-ASS, OMG, I-LOVED-IT) Pixies concert, Keith and I were taking a little nap, just to be sure we could keep up with the "kids" (and, yes, Keith was *close* to being the oldest one there... band members excluded, of course). While trying to sleep, we started hearing the banging of pipes across the street or down the street or somewhere within earshot in our otherwise quiet neighborhood.

What? Pipes? That's odd.

When I got up, I looked out our window and saw the beginnings of what turned out to be (one of my favorite things on the planet) a parking lot carnival! Problem is, it's for kids (rides too small for this big kid to play, though I'm sure I could get my face painted, if I really wanted to).

Anyway, click the pic if you want more info on what they're calling "Octoberfair." It looks pretty neat, and it (along with Taste of Santa Monica, which is going on this weekend too) is one of the things that makes me loooooove where I live.

It's quaint. And "quaint" is hard to come by in Los Angeles sometimes.

Posted by bonnie at 4:42 PM

September 22, 2004

OMG, Happy Just Got Happier

So, I go to the Greek website and read something that just totally blows my mind (b/c I did NOT know about the little tidbit that happened on June 15th, just three weeks before I got--and named--our new kitty). OMG!! This is so very very cool!

The Pixies will headline two Los Angeles concert dates at the newly renovated Greek Theatre on Wednesday, September 22 and Thursday, September 23 as part of their Fall North American concert tour. These will be the Pixies' first L.A. concerts since their performance in 1991, more than a dozen years ago.

Since it kicked off last April, the Pixies' reunion has experienced overwhelming worldwide success. In May, the Pixies co-headlined the first day at the Coachella Valley Festival, and created pure magic in the hot desert for 50,000 fans. On June 15, the band's first new song in more than a dozen years – "Bam Thwok" - was released as an exclusive download via iTunes , becoming the #1 seller on the site's USA, UK, and French charts.

OMG!!!!!!!!!

You're named after a Pixies song, Thwok! OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by bonnie at 11:58 AM

Happy Dance

In just a few hours, I get to go see my FAVORITE band at the Greek. My fiancé bought the tickets for my birthday. I don't think he'd know a Pixies song if he heard one, and he certainly couldn't name one. That's love.

I'm sooooooo excited!!

Posted by bonnie at 11:41 AM

September 19, 2004

Avoidance

I am an hour and a half into my three hour AVOID ALL NEWS session. You see, ABC is cruel and has decided to tape delay my precious Emmy Awards, keeping me from seeing the goods 'til 8pm PDT. Grr.

Of course, local news (and the Internet, which lives in a world without place and time) likes to tease coverage of after parties (with clips of stars holding their trophies and smiling) during this period of time while those of us without a live East Coast Feed of ABC that isn't blacked out by the local affiliate must look for something else to do. Chapagne is chilling. I've watched all the pre-show whatnot on E! And y'know what? I DON'T WANT TO SEE THAT YOU GOT EXCLUSIVE COVERAGE OF THE "SEX AND THE CITY" GALS WHILE I'M STILL WONDERING WHO WILL WIN THEIR CATEGORY!!

So... I'm avoiding media. It's hard.

Posted by bonnie at 6:38 PM

September 18, 2004

Must Be Excited

I keep not sleeping despite the fact that I'm a zombie by now. So so so so much work going on and getting an hour of sleep at noon today was my one "thing" to get ready for the big afternoon meeting.

Why is it so hard to put the brakes on something (for the purpose of SLEEPING) when you're so dang excited? You KNOW you need the sleep... but it's just so frickin' awesome to keep working you don't want to stop doing so.

Or is that just me?

Man, I'm wiped out. And in such a delicious way!

Thanks for all of the book suggestions, everyone. Blake and I have already gotten a handful of YESSES for our book, so it's a "go." One interview already "in the can" and being edited (hence the all-nighters). It's really amazing how we set our sights way high, asked, and were told, "Sure! I'll do it! Sounds great!" by people we were calling our long-shots.

Is this Excuse Me, Your Life is Waiting living or what?!? Yeeeeeeeehaaaaaw!

Oh, one more update: Keith's quick trip to Sacramento was uneventful, which is EXACTLY what we were hoping for. Court went well and everything is in motion now for the best outcome possible. It'll be a few weeks before there's more news. Thanks, everyone, for keeping those amazing good vibes coming! They really help!

Okay, now bed. Really!

Crap... one more thing. Keith got a new job at Google. THANKS, ROSE!!!

Posted by bonnie at 3:55 AM

September 15, 2004

Wish List?

Okay, gang...

I need your help. If you were going to read a book of interviews with "name" (see def. #5) actors that would inspire you (pretend you are a starting-out actor, looking for inspiration from working actors), what would the table of contents on that book look like? Who would be your TOP FIVE actors to read about (their path to working-actor-dom, their advice to starting-out actors, their tips and clever ideas, their favorite thing about pursuing this crazy lifestyle)... IN THEIR OWN WORDS?

Yes, this is like Casting Qs, but with working actors. Actor Qs, perhaps? We'll see.

Blake Robbins (my co-author) and I have already started making contact with working actors to check interest and availability and it looks like we weren't just dreaming when we came up with OUR wish list yesterday. We can actually GET some of these people to sit down with us for an hour, talk openly with us, and then have their stories in our little book (which I'll write up and Cricket Feet will publish).

[Insert a moment when I realize how happy my mother must be that "her daughter, the writer" is starting her third and FOURTH books, simultaneously, and that she has the "cred" to get these folks interested and her national distributor way wired about the level at which this book will sell, vs. "specialized" titles like li'l ol' Casting Qs and Self-Management for Actors.]

[Insert another moment when I realize I switched from referring to myself in first person to third person in the above bracketed segment and laugh defiantly, "Muwahahahahaha! I am a WRITER! I can change the rules on a whim! Muwahahahahaha!"]

Okay. I'm over myself on that now. ;)

List away, BonBlogs readers far and wide! Now's your chance. We start the official interviews later this week!!!!!!! Ack!!!!!!!

[Have I mentioned how much I love my life lately?]

Oh, and the meetings today were rockstar. Onward with new, lucrative relationships with both MXAT and LMU, among other, more hush-hush ones.

ROCK!!

Posted by bonnie at 1:37 AM

September 14, 2004

Follow-up

You know if a meeting lasts THREE hours and then you spend the next TEN hours on a major workaholic blitz of focused attention to the project that it is going to be a gooooooood thing.

Oh, man... I am so frickin' excited about this new joint venture. Holy crap, it just keeps getting betterer and betterer.

Next up, meeting with the head of a college drama department hiring me to both consult on a spring showcase for students currently in the Moscow/Harvard (MXAT) program and come to the campus in the spring to teach Self-Management for Actors to their graduating class.

And then a staged reading tomorrow night.

Shouldn't I sleep?

Yes... but then how can I keep doing happy-dances if I'm unconscious? Hm. This is too dang cool!!

Posted by bonnie at 4:19 AM

September 13, 2004

So so so so much...

...going on.

Tons of meetings over the next few days and lots of happy new collaborations, joint ventures, exciting relationships and developments.

It's on, baby!

Posted by bonnie at 2:01 PM

September 8, 2004

Big Brother

Kenneth came through town on a transport run yesterday. We got to hang out for most of the day (him watching me try to schedule actors for callbacks and going nuts juggling all the different schedules) and then went to Naked Angels' Tuesdays @9, which was very cool. From there, Kenneth left for NY. Great seeing you, big brother!

While at St. Nicks, I was approached about writing a new book with a working actor who had been thinking about putting something pretty special together, but knew he'd need me and Keith to help it actually come to life. Within a half-hour, we had a handshake deal for what will be my third book; a co-authored piece on working actors and their tips for navigating the business. We'll have a meeting this weekend and then the writing begins.

My life rocks. I really do love that, while entertaining my big brother for a few hours, I can work a business deal into the mix. This town suits me fine.

Off to the valley for a pet-sitting gig. Wish for cool weather or powerful AC. Either one will be fine.

Posted by bonnie at 9:38 AM

September 6, 2004

This Is One of the Things We'll Remember

I said that to Keith yesterday, as we were lying on the floor of the kitchen with the AC on the counter, a handtowel in place to direct the air as downward on us as possible, pillows propping our heads up a little bit. We were holding hands (more like stroking one another's fingers, as it was far too hot for hand-holding) and laughing that the temperature going over 100 even here by the beach had actually put our cats in comas. They were all spread out on the floor too, panting listlessly.

"This is one of the things we'll remember," I said. "You know, when we're old and thinking about when we weren't?" "Yeah," Keith agreed. It was nice.

Today was easily five degrees cooler, which really made a difference. I was actually able to get some work done today. Not as much as I needed to do, having lost yesterday to a morning in a tub filled with cool water and an afternoon on the kitchen floor, after having begged Keith to come home and bring the AC that has been living in the trunk of his car for six weeks. (He's at Nelson's while I'm here, babysitting sweet animals. Since it's hotter there, I have to stay here until this heat wave breaks or risk a major migraine. Again.)

Today I was also able to run the dishwasher. The joy I received from doing so reminded me of the epsiode of "Roseanne" in which she receives a dishwasher for the first time in her life. She's sitting on the counter, filled with glee, as she runs the dishwasher for the first time. Dan asks if she'd like a beer. "Yeah! But pour it into a glass and bring it to me on a plate!" That's how I felt, at not having to hand-wash a damn thing. It's been a long time since I've had a dishwasher. I forget how much I enjoy that luxury.

Keith and I have made a shift in our lives, the type of work we are doing, and the number of relationships we are developing to the extent that we are beginning to rethink accepting "side gigs" like pet-sitting. It's sad, in a way. A part of my life is now looking like my past and nothing else. I used to live in a studio apartment and LIVE for pet-sitting gigs, when I could stay in the home of someone with more money than I could ever dream to have and enjoy luxuries like ROOMS (plural), a bathTUB (rather than a shower stall), AC, cable TV (rather than rabbit-ears and a 13" TV from Sears)... all while enjoying animal affection (so in need of emotional contact) and a paycheck I sorely needed. Now I look around my world and I see ROOMS, a bathTUB and one of those really cool "rainfall" showerheads, AC, DirecTV with TiVo to boot on Keith's 27" TV with surround sound that I finally let him set up (too loud for neighbors at the old place)... and I have three wonderful kitties scurrying around and a fiancé who will stop the world to take care of me, if I ask (and even sometimes when I don't).

I'd say I have my drink in a glass on a plate now.

Posted by bonnie at 8:19 PM

September 5, 2004

Friend Over

Just had many hours of a good friend over... a good friend who is not a fan of Keith. That's the weird part. But, I guess not everyone you love can love everyone you love, right?

Still fun.

Just weird. Wow... it's so beyond bedtime.

Posted by bonnie at 4:28 AM

September 2, 2004

Lots To Share...

...but I gotta be quick about it.

Took Thwok on her first errand run today. It was a hoot. She pretty much stayed on my shoulders, around my neck, or on my head the whole time. Hee hee.

Got Keith's headshots back. You can see MY favorite 27 here. And here's a really solid new one:

Great work from Mitch Burmeister. Very cool.

What is the mindset of animals when they look in a mirror? Do they think it's another animal or do they know it's their own reflection? Any pet psychologists out there who care to let me in on that one?

Oh, and I keep forgetting to share that Keith and I are both living on our first Boulevard. I thought I had lived on a Blvd. in the past, but it turns out I've lived on a Road, a Drive, a Parkway, a Street, an Avenue, and now a Boulevard. So, I still have a Court, a Circle, a Place, and a Lane to go at the very least. LOL

Joni, I still haven't gotten whatever you mailed me. :( Boo, hiss!

Here's something: Rachel and I spent no less than 11 hours straight sorting headshots on Sunday and I still have another two days (at least) to put into that task. Ack! Rachel, are you still feeling ill at the site of headshots or are you ready for more? Hee hee hee. This has to get finished before the next breakdown goes out. Ack!

Okay, must focus on anything else. Oh, look. I can see neighbor Steve's 50" plasma screen TV from here. Nah... I'm not jealous. Just shopping. Hee hee.

Posted by bonnie at 9:58 PM

September 1, 2004

Brown Bread

Did any of you use the term "brown bread" to refer to whole wheat bread, growing up?

Keith bought white bread the other day and I was telling him that I preferred wheat, but instead said the words, "I like brown bread better."

And suddenly I was eight-years-old or something. I don't think I've called wheat bread "brown bread" since I was a kid, but I can't recall whether that's a real memory or something I've heard or what. Memories are so weird and disconnected since my mom passed away. Very odd.

Anyone have a childhood memory of "brown bread" to share that might help me connect the dots?

Meanwhile...

Today is the day I paid off my final credit card put into consolidation four years ago (when I was over $75,000 in debt). September 15th will be the first 15th in over four years that an automatic payment will not go from my checking account to the Debt Consolidation program. I am freeeeeeeee. *phew* Feels good. REALLY good.

Posted by bonnie at 10:58 AM