Psycho Girl

There was a period of time where I was really curious to know what a "psycho girl" was. You know when a man says, "I took her out and realized halfway through the date that she was crazy! I couldn't wait to take her home and never see her again!" I never really knew what that meant because, well, I'd like to think I'm sane. That being said, I'd like to think that all of my girl friends are also sane. So aside from being women (a.k.a. more emotional than men and irrational/hormonal when we're on, say our periods), what exactly is the definition of a "crazy/psycho girl"?

What's the saying? Oh right, be careful what you wish for!!!

=If you want the short version, stop reading here and skip to end.=

Back in July 2010 I discovered this girl on Facebook. At the time she was an acquaintance of Randy's. Over the months she started to bug me. She always knew what Grey Goose event he'd be working at or when he'd be going out of town. I also knew this information, but I was the girlfriend. I think it's kind of expected for a guy to tell his girl where he'll be and generally what he'll be doing. So who the hell was this girl??? In November, out of an irritated curiosity I clicked on this girl's profile and discovered that her privacy settings were set to public - so I could see everything she put up. This lady (I use the term loosely) was born in 1975, is a single mom, and at the time, lived in Florida. I clicked on to her wall to find out more about her and to my horror, found that she was leaving love notes to/about Randy in her status updates. What was even worse was that she was planning on moving to Los Angeles in July 2011! Holy panic and pandemonium, Batman!!!

I happened to be visiting friends in New York when I discovered all of this and of course, my dramatic side surfaced. (I believe that all actors and actresses have a dramatic side. There's a good percentage that are able to keep that side of them in check, I'd like to think that I am one of them, but it will come out at the worst of times.) I was up the whole night, I cried, I panicked, I ranted, I raved, I made Randy call me at 6 o'clock in the morning ... it was definitely an unpleasant mess! I look back and I think I did a decent job of not falling apart too much on the outside, but I definitely feel a little bad that Derrick and his family had to deal with me. (I hope I wasn't that much of a handful Joanne! I know this happened almost a year ago, but I'm still sorry!!!) Inwardly, the best way to describe my feelings was to compare it to the activity of an electron. (Nerd reference!) I was bouncing all over the place!

Needless to say, Randy and I had a huge fight about it. Randy denied anything was happening. He was good friends with this girl's brother and as a favor to his friend, took this girl and her daughter out to lunch while she visited LA back in July 2010. That was the first and only time he had met her. He would occasionally have a texting conversation with her, initiated by her each time, and that is how she knew about things he would be doing. For example, he would be at the airport to fly to to Maryland to visit his mother. She would text, "What's up?" and because he is a nice guy, he would respond with "Can't really talk, boarding plane to Maryland." This chick would then post on his Facebook wall, "Hope you had a safe flight!" and I would see it. Add on domino effect reaction.

He had no idea this girl was leaving love notes for him and was mostly upset about the way I reacted and handled the situation. I was angry because I thought there was an affair going on, and how could he not know that this girl was leaving notes for him???, and how could he not understand the way I was reacting??? So starting in December we started to fix things. I will say that we didn't get 100% past this until April 2011. Randy and I have always had issues with time. We're both busy and we don't get to spend as much time together like the average couple would. I can't say that I felt like I could 100% trust him at that point, even though Randy sent her a message saying that he was in a relationship, deleted her information, and then defriended her on Facebook. There was a lot of hurt on both sides but by April I will say that a lot of our issues, this one included got ironed out.

So everything was hunky dory until this past Monday. (Is your head spinning? Because mine is! Kudos to you if you're still following along!) Randy had an evening business meeting this past Monday with Grey Goose. Crazy Pants had an early birthday dinner party going on at Flemings Steakhouse to which Randy (and all her other crazy friends) had an invitation to. My man, who despite this drama was still friends with Nutcase's brother, stopped by the restaurant because a) he wanted to catch up with his friend, b) the restaurant was on the way to his meeting, and c) he thought enough time had passed and that things would be "normal". He brought along a bottle of Grey Goose (which is free for him, as he is a Goose employee) as a gift because he didn't want to show up empty handed. He stayed for 10 minutes, spoke solely to Crazy's brother, and promptly left. Why Randy thought this would be a good idea, God knows. So then I start seeing status updates like these:

"Just got home from work and received everyone's birthday wishes!! THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH!! You are all soo special to me!! XOXO!!..Getting ready to go eat with Randy and then out with the girls later tonight!! ;) Loving my birthday so far!! ;)"

And then:

"Just had the most amazing birthday dinner with Randy at Flemings..And my birthday presents were amazing as well..Flowers, a day at the spa, Express and Nordstroms gift cards, a bottle of Cabernet and 2 bottles of Grey Goose ;)..Thank you Randy for an amazing birthday!! xoxo"

*sigh* My head hurts.

Then tonight, she decides to show up at Houston's where he also works as a bartender. Already annoyed and slightly stressed out by this situation, he tells another bartender to take care of her. And yes, she posted a note about how she visited him and blah blah blah.

=For the short version, resume here=

So I guess, speaking from personal experience, a psycho girl is a female who pursues a man who is not attracted to her and/or already has a girlfriend. Despite the fact that she is made aware of this, she decides to pursue him anyway, making her presence known, and constantly contacting him to a point of harassment.

Why on earth would a woman want to pursue a man who does not want her??? Oh right, only a crazy woman would do that.

Here is what's going on in my head:
1. I refuse to ask of Randy anything that I would not want him to ask of me. He is a big boy and he has proven to me that our relationship is very important to him. I believe that I am overstepping my boundaries if I ask him to stop being friends with psycho's brother. However, I do believe that Randy will step back from that relationship if Koo Koo keeps pursuit.
2. I trust Randy. Absolutely 100%. I trust his judgment (although he clearly made a lapse in judgment this time).

Randy said to me that he told Crazy's brother that he thought she was bananas. The brother's response was, "Oh, she's harmless!".

I beg to differ! She's not harmless to me or my relationship. She's poisonous! Words can hurt and do great harm. She's like herpes! We got rid of her in December, she disappeared for a while, then months later she suddenly flared up and now she's back!

As far as her mother and friends are concerned, Randy is something wonderful and couldn't be a better boyfriend to her. Thankfully, I am aware of what's going on and I definitely take ANYTHING this girl says with a grain of salt. As of now, she hasn't made any physical threats and I'm letting Randy handle this. But I am ready to spring into action if Randy gives me the green light. What am I planning to do? I have no idea yet. She is 6ft tall so it might prove to be a bit of a challenge for my 5ft frame. I am feeling so territorial, though! I don't know if I should laugh at this girl because it's so ridiculous or to grab a cudgel and prepare for battle!

Gah!!!!

Happy Hallmark Day!!!

I just got home from working an 8 hour shift at Bubba Gump's. In the spirit of Valentine's Day, I would like to share a story about what happened tonight:

My co-worker, Elyse and I are assigned the two sections that are located in what the restaurant calls "The Gump House". This is the private/VIP room. However, when it gets really busy the restaurant will open the room to everyone. Sometime around 7pm, our manager comes rushing in and tells us about this couple where the man is going to propose. She gives us explicit instructions that we are supposed to do a Bubba Gump birthday song and then right after the song, the man is going to ask his girlfriend to marry him. Immediately, Elyse and I get excited and we discreetly start spreading the news so that we can get a big crowd to do the birthday song with us. Now everyone is excited! The couple gets to the end of their meal, Elyse gets the complimentary birthday sundae we usually give out, I get everyone to come into The Gump House, we do the song, the song ends, and ... nothing. No proposal, just the normal behavior of someone who is slightly humiliated by having a group of people embarrass him/her in a public setting. Everyone exits The Gump House with a perplexed air and a "What the hell is going on?!?" expression. The room has this huge bay window that opens the room to the rest of the restaurant. Because everyone wants to know what's going on, everyone lingers outside of The Gump House directly in front of this window, looking in. Since no one else really has any business being in The Gump House aside from me and Elyse, the two of us have the fortunate and hilarious experience of seeing all the servers staring into the room, gawking at this poor couple. Apparently my co-workers do not know the definition of the word "inconspicuous".

Best quote of the night: "You guys, we are not at a pet shop!!!"

For the next 5 minutes (which felt like an eternity!), the man presented his fianceé-to-be with gift after gift, and card after card. Then he pulled out a small wine bottle with a note inside, to which our manager exclaimed, "The ring's in there!!!" Luckily, the woman had her back to us so only her fiance could see us blatantly watching them. It must've been incredibly awkward for him. He managed to keep a straight face, though. Finally she opened the bottle, read the note inside, and they embraced. At this point we were all asking each other, "Did he just propose? Did she just say yes? Should we go in there and shout congratulations???" Right then, the woman turns around and surprise, we're there! How would you feel if you were experiencing an incredibly happy/intimate moment, and then to turn around and see 50 faces squished up against the window behind you? Well, I would laugh, which thankfully, is what she did.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Work Overload

Warning: Long post with potentially disgusting content, hilarity, and not many pictures

I had a traumatizing day. Remember in a previous post that I had said that I got a new job as a logger? The job consists of me watching footage of unedited reality tv and writing down anything "interesting" at two minute increments. I can only divulge a certain amount of information because I am bound by a confidentiality contract, hence the following cryptic descriptions.

The show that I am currently working on is a dating show. The star of the show is a celebrity who's had a show like this before and he's a real jerk. I guess if you're a millionaire who's got a famous sister, a mom who is a real narc when it comes to negotiating, and a major record deal, you don't have to work hard to get women to flock to you. That being the case, it's probably safe to assume that as a horny, young man in the hip-hop community, you're probably going to take advantage of these girls if they're willing to put out. The network will never be able to air footage of any sexual encounters, aside from kissing, so most pornographic content is automatically removed. Me, being the lucky devil that I am, unwittingly began logging a file that somehow slipped through 51 Minds' "sexual content" radar. Something happened in the bathtub in the master bathroom ... use your imagination. I think the following conversation with my co-worker will basically explain the whole scenario.

Me: Hey Lawren ... why would the camera be zooming in on the soap suds?

*Pause*

Me: Is that ... ???

Lawren: Yep. Goo in the tub.

Me: Ewwwww!!!!!!!!

And of course, the rest of the office laughed at my expense.

I hate my co-workers.

Actually, I love my co-workers. Logging this reality tv show is one of the most fun jobs I've ever had. Unfortunately, I might get laid off because of this unfortunate incident. This guy starred on two shows that were produced by 51 Minds and since those shows have now been officially cancelled, the company has lost a lot of money. So we'll see what happens.

In the acting world, I got a gig! I booked a role on a show titled, Operation Repo which is aired on TruTV. The show basically shows scenarios of people getting their cars repossessed. It was first aired on Telemundo and became a huge hit. So TruTV picked up the English version of the show. The scenarios are portrayed with people who actually do these repossessions as a living. The actors are called in because it would be kinda dangerous if they had the actual people who had their cars taken from them. So hence, Simmone (or "Simmin") was cast. My skit was with 3 other Asian girls who, after a night of clubbing and drinking, discover their car being repossessed. "Drunken" chaos then ensues - all improvised, I might add.

I think the funniest part of this whole experience was when the director sat down with the 4 of us girls, all of whom are small and petite, and says:

"The woman who is repossessing the car actually does this for a living. She will not touch you unless you touch her first. If you push her, she will push you back and will do it with the same amount of force you use. She is a big woman. I don't recommend that you touch her."

The director didn't want us to meet the lady before we did the scene because he wanted to keep the circumstances as "real" as possible. So the first time any of us saw this lady was when we started filming. The minute we saw this woman, NONE of us wanted to touch her. This lady was BIG. She's the blonde lady on the right side below:

Note: In my skit, she has a tattoo on her face!!!! Yeah, she was scary. She could've easily punched any of us out with a flick of her wrist! If you want to see how bad-ass she is, check out this video. She's intimidating, right?!? (I will admit, the lack of make-up kinda makes her look a little more frightening ...) Yeah, I wanna be on her good side in a dark alley.

My skit is supposed to be episode 4 of Season 6. Season 5 is currently being aired. So when I have any information, I will let you know!

In the meantime, gotta put my nose back to the grind and hopefully working my two jobs won't kill me - I'm tired all the time. Gah!

I'm Freaking Out!!!!

My neighbor is creeping me out! The dude lives in the building next to mine. He's unemployed and really doesn't do too much except, apparently watch his neighbors live. He and his cousin  were up late last night drinking and were sitting outside on his porch by the time I got home from work, which was about 1 am. Actually, his cousin was totally sober. I think he was keeping an eye on my neighbor, who was totally drunk. The cousin is actually a very nice man. My neighbor on the other hand ... eeesh! There is something really off-putting about a man in his 30's - 40's who says, "I just want to get a whole bunch of people together to hang out and get fucked up!" When I stated that these days I feel a bit too old to get "fucked up", he responded, "Oh please!" Don't get me wrong, I am on my guard with this guy, even though I truly believe that he's quite harmless. He's just a teenager trapped in a grown man's body. But it really bothers me that he has observed me enough to know my living patterns. He knows when I usually leave my apartment to run errands, and has seen Noel come and go. I'm freaking out. I don't honestly believe that this guy is going to do anything to me, and legally I can't really do anything to stop him from watching me, but I'm kinda scared. I don't know what to do ...

Exhausted ... Again!

Exhaustion seems to be a recurring theme with me having been back to LA. Sorry, I'll try to come up with more of a variety of emotions to write about.

By the way, does anyone know how to upload photos from a cell phone? My friends like to think they're funny when they take pictures of me in compromising positions. And I have a masochistic sense of humor that makes me want to post this picture. I went rock climbing this past weekend and was struggling with this particular wall when my friend took his camera phone out and snapped away. Rock climbing is awesome!!! Can't wait to do it again!

Lately I've been training to become a server at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company. They've broken training down into four levels. Currently I've been stuck on the 3rd level. I'll be repeating it for a 4th time tomorrow. I think the main reason for all of this repetition is that no one really explained to me exactly what level my performance had to be in order to pass. So now that I've gotten a better idea, I've realized that if you come to Bubba's and ask to sit in my section, you'll basically be signing up for The Simmone Improve Show Dinner Theater!!!!!! Holy cow ... I mean, most of you guys know that I'm pretty perky most of the time ... but this is gonna be like watching Simmone on crack. Jesus ... What's funny, though, is that if you talk to the other servers in the restaurant, you'll see that my personality fits right in. I actually like the job, even though I don't particularly like waiting tables - mostly because everyone is laid back and easy to get along with. And basically you're trying to have fun with all your customers so time passes by really quickly. By the end of the night, my inner dialogue is "Man, why does my back hurt?!? Oh ... maybe because I've been here for 6 hours ..."

So if you're in the LA area, stop on by to Bubba Gump! Except not yet! I'm not done with training yet!

Eharmony ... and Other Tid Bits

I know it's been a while since I've written anything up here. I kind of feel like life has been boring, but then I remember that I've only been back in LA for 2 months - I suppose that in actuality, a lot has happened. I literally just rambled ... you still with me???

So the above little bit was a little bit of a lie. A lot has happened to me emotionally. Noel and I are doing well and the boy from NY is now completely out of my life - yes ... the thing with the NY guy from back in Dec just dragged on and it's now finally over and done with. *rolls eyes* Yes, I do have my own "kill brain cells" moments. I guess I'm one of those people who doesn't like to air my dirty laundry out in the open. Suffice it to say, I had allowed myself to feel emotionally beaten up for about a week and a half and now a week and a half later, I'm feeling significantly better! I will say that break ups definitely become easier after the first one. (What would you say I'm on ... #2 1/2??? Well, I've definitely gone through 2 significant ones.)

For the most part, I've been just working, submitting myself to what ever acting projects that are going on, and auditioning. I have been temping with this non-profit, KYDS (Keep Youth Doing Something). They basically fund after school programs for low-income kids and work with schools in the LA Unified School District and the valley. It's been keeping me occupied but the biggest surprise was that they asked me if I was interested in teaching acting classes to middle school/high school kids. I thought about it and realized, I need money ... and I need something to do because with this economy, nothing is going on!!!! So I said yes, I was interested. And then I realized, "I don't know how to teach!!!! I've never taught an acting class before!!!! What the hell am I gonna do?!?!?!" So if anyone has any suggestions, please give me a heads up!!!! I haven't gotten the job yet, but I know that my boss is actually looking for a school in their jurisdiction that has an opening.

On the lighter side of things, I did something impulsive. One of the things that I tend to do when recuperating from a break up is do to something that's just out of character. This time, I joined Eharmony. Hahahaha! Well, I was curious!!!! Let me tell you, I was officially over the whole experience after 2 days. I am by no means judging others who use Eharmony because it has actually worked for people. What ever comments I make are a reflection from my own personal experience. It quickly became very clear that Eharmony was not for me. The website claims to match you to people based on "compatibility". I'm not really sure what that means, but the website has matched me up with really nerdy guys. I haven't decided if I've been matched with these guys because personality-wise I am nerdy myself, or if it's because most of the men on Eharmony are nerds. I mean, I will be the first person to tell you that I am a self-proclaimed nerd. I am totally content geeking it up for hours on the internet and I love Spike and the Sci-Fi Channel because they feed my closeted "Star Trek: The Next Generation" addiction. But those aren't quite the qualities I'm looking for in the other person. One good thing that Eharmony does is force you to look at yourself (and it's not like I don't do that enough already - I'm an actor and my world evolves around me. I kid, I kid!) in the context of how you view potential romantic partners. I've come to the realization that when it comes to men, I'm pretty arrogant. I know that I will demand a lot and I think I know what I want in my partner (give me a guy with a nice face and broad shoulders ;0P ). So basically I've concluded that assholes are good for me. It is a double-edged sword though because assholes will have the guts to be able to deal with me, but at the same time ... they're assholes! Hahaha!

All my joking and shenanigans aside, I am quite content to be single right now. I guess technically, I've been completely single for a little under a month. I'm not really in a rush to be with anyone and I'm content to wait until I meet someone who meets my standards (arrogance kicking in now!). So life is ... well I'm not going to lie, it's kinda ... meh ... I'm not really feeling content or fulfilled, but c'est la vie! I guess things can only go up from here!

Vacation Highlights!

I like to steal pictures from my friends. Mwahahaha!

Home - for now. 

One of my friends took this bird's-eye view of Queens, the Bronx, & Rikers Island at night.

So I'm back in NYC. I can't say that I'm exactly thrilled, but at least I don't feel like I want to slit my wrists now. Right now the city certainly doesn't look like the picture above. It's raining, no thanks to the stupid hurricanes.

I think as a rule, when I take vacations I should plan on being gone for 2 - 3 weeks because this is the first vacation I've taken in a while where I've come back feeling rested and relaxed. Highlights were definitely times spent with childhood friends. It seems that everyone has stayed the same (which thrills me), it's their circumstances that have changed - which is the way life goes, I guess. One of the best times I had was with one of my girl friends, Margaret (photo on right). She was having some portraits taken a while ago and decided

 to have fun with them. I think it's hilarious, as I'm sure she does too! Little do many know, that all us Chinese American gals look like this under our clothes. Seriously! Every night at midnight, "Poof!", we transform. All make-up and costume is done without lifting a finger. It gets a little awkward sometimes, especially when we're out in public and then all of a sudden "Poof!". It's just really inconvenient to have to re-dress to today's modern period and avoid people's stares. So yes, I look like this inside, too - except my costume is blue and I'm holding a lucky red envelope. Yesh, we're all exotic on the inside! ;0P (I love you, Mag!) But moving on to our bonding experience ...

The Korean bath house was not exactly the most conventional spa experience we've had. We walked in to have a relaxing morning and the woman behind the desk asked us, "You been to Korean bath house before?" When we said, "No." she then said, "Ohhh!!! Culture shock! Follow me!" Er, okie, um... what did she mean by culture shock?!? By the way, when a middled-aged Asian woman goes "Ohhh! Culture shock!" with a smirk on her face, you know you're in trouble. Before we knew it, we were hustled into the locker room and were told that clothes were not allowed. Dress code: NAKED. Holy crap! Wait! What?!?! Um ... okay ... Now, I'm alright with being naked with other women, but they're usually women I don't know. I've never been naked in front of any of my friends ... AWKWARD!!!!! But hey, you only live once right? So we stripped down and entered the bathing area. If anyone has ever been to a Japanese bath house, a Korean bath house isn't much different. There were two jacuzzis, one with hot water and one with cold, a steam room, a sauna, a mud and tea sauna, and a whole lot of naked middle-aged Korean women. We tried everything - although I had to stay out of the cold water jacuzzi because the scented water was making me dizzy, which led Mag to exclaim, "My God! We're being drugged!" After about half an hour, we were basically ambushed by two masseuses who were two middle-aged Korean ladies dressed in black bras and what looked like black granny-panties with girdles attached. Body scrub and deep tissue massage then ensued. It was odd ... I've never had my boobs scrubbed before. It was truly a bizarre sight: Naked girl on table being massaged and scrubbed by lady in bra and girdle. At least Margaret wasn't on the massage table next to me or else neither one of us would've gotten through the whole ordeal without laughing. I suppose we've crossed a certain level of intimacy and now there is no going back. Hahahaha! 

Highlight #2: The Beach!

Manhattan Beach

I loooooovvvve this beach! Well, I love other beaches in CA too, but out of all my favorites, this one is the closest to my house. I think this is what I miss most about home - the smell, the sound, the sun, and the breeze. There's nothing like it!

The Rude Boy, a.k.a. Rudy lookin' at the horizon.

The second stolen picture.

The same friend that took the picture of NYC earlier, took this while traveling north on the I-5.

Tranquility and open air - no one can convince me that NY is better!

When ever I'd be on the road like this as a kid, usually traveling to or from a vacation, I always used to pretend that I was on a trucking adventure. Hahaha! I will also miss the feeling of open air. Everything is so close together in NYC that it's really claustrophobic, which stresses me out because I feel trapped. *sigh* Ah well, hopefully I'll get a lot of work this year so that I can move back next year. For now, I can look forward to January, because I will be out there for all of that month.

My First Print Ad Audition

So I had my first print ad audition, and it was bizarre. For those of you who don't know what a print ad is, it's an ad in a magazine, billboard, poster, etc. that's usually a photo of people doing things related to the project. This ad was for a SONY Walkman (pictured) and being that this was for print, I just expected my picture to be taken. In addition to taking my picture with the walkman, they made me sing. No one knew we had to sing "Love in this Club" by Usher, which was the song linked with this campaign, least of all know the words. Yeah ... talk about everyone having an awkward audition. Why they had us sing for a PRINT audition is beyond me, but it was pretty awesome -  in a really embarrassing way! 

Mental note: Simmone can't sing R&B.

In regards to the acting intensive that some of you knew I had enrolled in, it was highly successful. I got to work/audition for 21 casting directors and agents for 3 days, 12 hours each day. It was quite a grueling weekend and sort of felt like I was back in school. I got some insight as to what it's like to work with a camera, what it's like to work on a soap opera, and a taste of what a commercial audition is like. I did not know that an actor basically improvises an entire commercial. Apparently, you go in to the audition, improv an activity with the lines you were given the night before, and if you're chosen for the job, the writers of the commercial will write the commercial based on what you did. It kind of makes sense when you think about it. So I was very enlightened by the end of the weekend and I will definitely say, that in regards to representation ... hee hee! I don't want to say too much yet because I don't want to jinx myself. ;0)