Monday, March 25, 2013

#NotInMyHouse

Today was the second day of shooting the as-yet-untitled film by Ms. F. The work wasn't long, but the day was long. The production can't seem to stick to the schedule, so everything runs behind. I guess that's something I need to get used to. This is my second film (to date) and it happened on the previous film too.
But I have nothing to complain about, not even running behind. I love what I do (FINALLY!) and the only thing I would change is making more money. But I've answered an age-old question for myself that has truly set the tone for how I plan to spend the rest of my life. I've found what I'd do if money were no object and I was free to do what I want.

I love acting. I'm good at makeup. I ADORE storytelling. My job incorporates all of these things, and I'm happier than every example I've seen in every Geico commercial. Happier than a witch in a broom factory. Happier than Mutumbo blocking EVERYGAHTDAMNTHING, including that little boy's cereal. #NotinMyHouse

The hours are long, the conditions are sometimes odd because we shoot outside in the cold or the extreme heat, or in the rain, or we have to CREATE rain then PRETEND to stand outside in it. I don't do special FX makeup but twice now i've been called upon to create scars or wounds or use fake blood. I might wanna take a class on that....O_o. But, i'm the professional, and they defer to my judgment, AND they love my work so I must be doing something right. Right? I love it.

Yesterday we filmed an office scene which took place in the lobby of a mortgage company out in Short Pump. It's AMAZING that they can build sets anywhere to make them look like a completely different place. I knew they did it, but being there and seeing it made from scratch is a whole 'nutha thang. Last night, set moved to another location around 9pm -- a restaurant just across the bridge --and I did makeup and hair in the men's room on a stool under a fluorescent light. O_o Today, I was pleasantly surprised to arrive on set and discover that we were filming on location at a STOOPIT BIG ass house out in Bon Air, VA. The driveway was longer than my credit report, and it was riverside so the view was just insane. I'm beyond proud to say that I spent my morning painting faces on the deck of a beautiful mansion, enjoying the late morning breeze and listening to the soft rush of the river just a few feet away. I can't believe they pay  me to do this shit. Fa real. LOL!

I took pics, of course, but I'm too lazy to browse and choose them right at this very moment. I will later, Scout's honor. (Wait...was I ever a girl scout? I went to that one meeting when i was 9, and then...ugh. Never mind.)Today's scenes incorporated guns, flashy cars, and killer wearing a bear head (my phone died by the time we did her scenes so I didn't get that one. Sorry!) and slinging a shotgun. Niiiice!! I'm so super excited, I can barely contain all my thoughts. I'm sure I'll have more to say later, but for right now, I'm fried. Plus, I gotta get ready for tomorrow.

Love ya Hon!


BeautifulDae

Sunday, March 24, 2013




Thursday, August 16, 2012


Necessity: The Mother of Invention

For years, I've hated buying and wearing shoes. Y'all know I grew up on a farm in rural North Carolina so, most of the time, I didn't wear shoes. Or a shirt. One more than the other, but I almost never wore shoes. There are theories that suggest that not wearing shoes (consistently) during your formative years causes arches in the foot to form oddly or, in my case, not at all. My feet have absolutely no arch (well, it's there, but it's been fallen my entire life so it may as well not be there for all the damn good it's doing me), they're wide and thick like Luke Dancers, and while my toes are long (like my dad's) they're fat (like my mom's) so it's hard to squeeze my feet into wrong-sized shoes and still make it through the day like every other normal warm-blooded American woman.

This led to a lifetime of shopping at Payless where almost all the medium sizes come in a corresponding Wide size. And that was fine until I decided I was too good to buy every single pair of my adult shoes from the same store where they sell fake Timberlands with, instead of the little timberland tree in the logo, the little branch in the logo. Just the...one...branch....*looks around*. Payless was no longer the move. Insert a lot of shoe shopping with my girlfriends, already understanding that I would only be sitting idly by while they revel in strappy sandals and I'll-Kill-a-Ni**a-For-These peep toe pumps. Yep. My friends with their stupid ass "oooh GURL!!"s and "aaaawww"s and "yaaaaassssss, I'm gettin' these for TONIGHT!''s. There was a lot of that.

But wasn't nobody jealous, though. That was fine. Whatever. *eye roll*

Here began my search for wide width shoes. And this was also where that search promptly ended. Even though I was able to find WW shoes, somehow, some way, they still didn't fit properly. Google became my friend. I googled everything I could possibly find on beautiful, sexy shoes for wide feet. I found all kindsa shit: wide, double wide, triple wide. Every size up to 15. I even found a site for people with two disproportionately sized feet who had to buy one shoe in, say, a size 6 and the other in a 6 1/2 or a 7. I PROMISE you I had no idea this shit existed; I'm glad I found it though. It sort of set off a train of thought in my mind that has led me to a really great hobby. I decided to have my feet measured professionally. I'd always assumed my shoe size, based on my mother's since we'd always worn the same or the same sized shoes, was a 9.5. When I could no longer fit hers, I knew it was time to talk to a professional.

Imagine my surprise when, during my measuring 'session', the shoe salesman looks up at me in shock and says "Wow. Um, I've never seen this before. This foot is a size 9.5D" (WTF??!!) "but this other one is a 9 3/4EE. I wouldn't even know where to tell you to go and find shoes. Sorry."

I'm sorry, sir. A What? A size WUTT?

-_________________________-

You wanna see somebody MADDD??? I couldn't believe it! It explained why NO SHOES ever fit my feet properly, why even the wide widths were either too tight or too loose. It certainly made me relieved that my actual shoe size isn't 11, which is what I've been wearing, albeit uncomfortably. No offense to those who wear a size 11, but the kinda shoes I like to wear look HORRIBLE in size 11, on my feet. Sorry. They do.

What was I supposed to do?? I couldn't knowingly continue to buy the wrong sizes but I don't think I need to tell you what my efforts in Googling "women's shoes size 9 3/4EE" returned. I was pissed. I looked at Torrid, Lane Bryant, and Ashley Stewart (which is, by the way, my go to for beautiful dresses that fit perfectly because they actually carry a size 12W that fits my body perfectly) and it seemed that, yet again, Mother Nature (#thathorridbitch) had given me the finger in yet another very important area of my life.

*sigh*

WTF would I do now? I'd run outta options.

 I think you'll be surprised to find out....