No blog yesterday but I was working all day long!

Let me tell you about my weekend.  You know the saying, when it rains it pours?  I do find that to be the case. I could sit at home for 3 weeks and not have a single soul need me for work or otherwise but if I have one thing, I have 5 on one day.  It's just the way it goes.  Murphy's Law I guess.  Who is that darn Murphy anyway?  So, Friday night was the night I was to meet Jenny my sister and Nancy and my friend Jeannie and Chip to get a bite to eat at The Vine n Bean and listen to Jonny and His Dad, the band that Jimmy and his son Jonathan have formed.  This would have been wonderful except I had to go to Detroit Saturday morning and be there by 10, meaning I would need to be in Westlake for my carpool at 7 am!  Yikes, are you doing the sleep math?  I was already starting to on Friday morning.  The gig ended at 10 PM and I wasn't in bed until about 11:30 after the drive.  My night's sleep was crap.  I woke up at 3 am for two reasons.  One, I always sleep with one eye closed when I have an early morning gig, for fear I won't awaken in time and two, because I had a couple of things on my mind.  So when I woke up, what came racing to my head?  Those two things bugging me ... DAMN!  This kept me awake until it was time to really get up and get ready for my gig.


I got up, showered, ironed clothes, picked out jewelry choices, did my hair and packed everything I could possibly need for my shoot.  Got on the road to Westlake and was a few minutes behind schedule due to road conditions and an accident on the highway.  I was already tired.  By the time we got to Detroit, it was our call time, 10 AM.  Are you calculating?  This means I was up for 7 hours ALREADY and hadn't even begun my work.  Then the client asked the other talent to do the first shoot.   To this I was thinking , shoot ... darn... crap... I'm not that fresh but I'd rather get started.  Still, I just went to the waiting room and played with the cutest dog while I waited.  The heat had to be turned off because it would cause ambient noise for the shoot that was undesirable.  I sat there frozen solid.  Then it was my turn to be on camera.  I stood next to the other talent, who is pretty tall and although my heels were 3 inches, that was not enough.  Luckily I had brought some ... wait here, I'm going to measure the shoe so I'm completely accurate.  On second thought, I just sent the picture to my Terri Godmother who will wave her magic wand and show you what I mean.

So, I brought the higher shoes to go with the suit I bought as a second choice for the client.  Let's get this straight.  They are not walking shoes.  They are barely standing shoes.  Truly they are meant for sitting.  They are perfect for crossed legs under a table ... and that's about it.  I love them but OUCH.  What was I thinking?  I offered them to be accommodating and OUCH.  And did I mention, OUCH?  Sure they hiked me up there but my performance suffered due to some major pain.  I have shoes as high as those that are platforms but these are straight, stand on your tippy toes and feel the burn.  I KNOW that I could have handled it a lot longer and better had I not been on hour 9 of my day ... but I was.  So we did the shoot.  I would squat down or sit between set ups but it really effected me.  Then we decided to put me in the lower shoes and have me stand on some planks of wood.  Ah, the comfort ... well, that's partly true and partly sarcasm because the damage was already done.  I was actually just a tad dizzy from the lack of sleep, the hour and a half of freezing to the point of shaking and the pain from the shoes.  This was not my typical performance.  Eventually, they offered to let me stand there in bare feet on higher planks of wood.  Other than the dizzy factor, this was fine and I think I finally hit my stride.  Now, keep in mind that this program was 8 modules long with about 500 segments in each module.  OK, 500 is an exaggeration but they were very long as even the other talent who works for them all the time would attest.  Top that off with a script that was filled with run on sentences and some grammar issues plus the bonus typos on the teleprompter and WOW ... what a challenge.  Now normally, typos and grammar couldn't stop me.  Nope ... I could do it all in one or two takes maximum fixing all of those things on the fly but not yesterday.  I just wasn't sharp enough.  I did my best with what I had to work with and did better than most under those same circumstances or maybe better than anyone in the same situation but unfortunately no one else was in my situation.  I didn't bother with excuses.  It was no one's fault but my own.  I didn't get enough sleep.  I should have gotten more layers to put on me while I waited.  I should NEVER have offered those shoes.  BUT, I did those things ... all of those things.  YIKES.  Bottom line, I did my best and no one was mad at me in the end and that's all I had to give.  Now let me be super clear here.  I do NOT blame the client for the script or the temperature or the typos even.  That comes with the territory of my job and everyone was doing their best.  I just didn't bring it.

So last night I got home and was never happier to be on my couch.  I sat there and I'm pretty sure there was some open mouth breathing for a bit.  What can I say?  These things will happen. I can only hope that the client once again hires me and doesn't let this be a bad mark on my record. 

You know what I really wonder?  I wonder if Meryl Streep had to read a teleprompter in the same exact situation with THOSE shoes how she would have done.  Hmm, probably another Oscar ... damn that Meryl!