I joined AFTRA today. I'm a little scared about it, but it was advice that I got from my manager. My manager said that by joining it might be easier for me to get seen by soap operas than it would be if I were completely non-union. So I took a leap of faith and joined. AFTRA is also increasing it's initiation fee by $300 on November 1st, so that was also an incentive to join. So much damn money ... eesh.
So where have I been for the past couple of months? Buried in work. There hasn't been much acting work out here. I think it's because of the economy. So for the most part, I've been working at Bubba Gump's and doing extra work for cash. The extra work is mind numbing and just painful because people who are regular extras don't understand why I don't like doing background work. They don't seem to understand that I have bigger goals and I also don't see background work as "real" acting work. Walking from Point A in a room to Point B - totally need a degree from NYU for that bullshit!
On the plus side, snowboarding season is coming!!! I've been working my butt off this month because I want to buy a snowboard. I'm excited about this new hobby, especially since this is something I couldn't do in New York. I didn't have a car out there to drive out of Manhattan to get to the slopes, and I didn't have $50 to consistently buy bus tickets to get me out there. I will hopefully have a new board by the end of this week. So keep your eyes peeled! I will probably have a picture of my new baby up here. ;0)
Anyhoo, that's all for now. I will do my best to update more often.