Why the Long Hiatus?

Another two years have passed since my last blog entry.  I'm going into it this time hoping that my string of bad luck has subsided and I can once again try to keep this blog going.  I've been on a complete roll of major events taking place in life that have made me lose my desire to write.  July 2013 actually started out pretty good.  I was feeling better about things than I had in quite some time.  My summer job was working on the Kris Jenner talk show and it was really fun and a really great experience.  I'm sure there are many differing opinions about Kris, but while working on the talk show I found her to be very sweet, very professional, completely apologetic if she ever held up the crew for anything and a lovely person to be around.  We had a wrap party at the end of the run of the show and Kris gave everyone a beautiful blanket as a thank you gift, with a very sentimental story attached to it.  What a sweet gesture!  It was short term, but a great experience.  The whole year was pretty full, as far as work was concerned.  At the end of summer, I worked on a couple of shows with some people I had not worked with in years and that was great too.  In November I was mid-show when I started feeling really sick and ended up with pneumonia/bronchitis.  I couldn't quit my show since there was no one to replace me.  Working in entertainment comes with many privileges, but the one thing that has always sucked is that you can't call in sick.  The show must go on, as they say.  So...I kept working.  On Nov. 18, 2013 I woke up thinking about my maternal grandmother.  It was the 20th anniversary of her death and I could not believe that much time had passed and yet in some ways seemed so long ago.  I jumped in the shower and came out to a message from my mother to call her.  I thought maybe she too was thinking of grandma and just wanted to talk about her.  When I called her back she sounded worried and said that my aunt had passed out and she wasn't sure what was wrong with her, but that she was concerned.  I let her know that particular day was the only day we were not taping and if there was an emergency, I could come get her.  My mother lives in Orange County and won't drive the freeways and my aunt lived in Victorville.  Not any too convenient.  I finished getting ready for work and told her I would head to the studio and to call me if she needed me.  As I pulled into the studio, my mother called and said that it was more serious than just my aunt fainting.  I told her I was leaving to come down to OC and I would be there in an hour and we would head to Victorville.  An hour later, I arrived at my mom's house, opened the door and was told that my aunt, Brenda was dead.  I dropped to the floor in utter shock.  I could not believe we went from "she passed out" to dead within an hour.  I drove my mom to Victorville so we could be with my uncle and the rest of the day is a blur.  Needless to say, I didn't feel like going to work the next day, but we were taping and I could not find one person to replace me, so I had to go.  I'm not a person who ever shows much emotion in front of people, but that day I found myself heading to the bathroom to cry, because I just couldn't contain myself.  It was a difficult week to get through, but I worked with a group of lovely people whose sentiments and generosity went beyond anything I had experienced before.  I will never forget that.  Later that week I got on offer to work on the Queen Latifah show and I was very excited for the opportunity to work on a long term talk show.  It didn't start for three weeks so I had a two week break in between, which I desperately needed.  As the days went on I kept feeling sicker and weaker and was really starting to think that I had mono.  I had come down with mono 16 years ago and it was the most tired, weak, horrible feeling.  I had stayed home and it took three months for me to recover.  I've never felt that sick since, but remembered that feeling of utter exhaustion, so I went to the doctor and asked if she would run the mono test.  It came back positive.  The doctor suggested I take several weeks off, but I explained to her that this was a huge opportunity and I could not pass it up.  I would get through it if I had to live off coffee, chocolate and excedrins for the entire run of the show!  I'm so glad I pushed through it, because Queen Latifah is one of a kind and I wouldn't have wanted to miss the opportunity to get to know this beautiful woman!  More on that later...

An Update

I can't believe it's been 5 years since I wrote the previous blog entries.  I had every intention of keeping up with a blog, but sometimes no matter how well you intend to do something…life gets in the way.  It's almost difficult to describe how hard the last few years have been.  I lost my father on October 6, 2011 after years of illnesses and several near death experiences. Prior to that both my grandfathers passed away within one year of each other and my mother had bladder cancer and had to have her bladder completely removed.  At the end of last summer, I quit my job of 10 years (due to an unbelievably deceptive person who was trying to get rid of me because she felt like I was a threat) and my sister decided to remove herself from my family.  It was hard, but I was actually keeping it together pretty well up until last summer’s phone call that caused me to leave my job.  Even before my father died, I was trying to make some changes in my life to make myself happier since I felt like I had so little control over all that was going on.   I woke up one morning feeling horrible about the weight I had gained from the stress eating I had done and I made a decision to get help with my weight loss.  I’m a person who is very strong willed and it was hard for me to admit to myself that I needed help with this as I pride myself on being able to do anything I put my mind to.  I realized that no matter how I tried…this weight was not coming off and I needed to put my mind in the right state to be able to accept help and follow through.  I woke up one morning, knowing I was ready mentally and I made an appointment at a Jenny Craig clinic.  That was the best decision I had made in years.  I signed up, stuck to the plan and in 25 weeks I had lost 50 pounds!  What a great feeling!  I ended up losing 8 more pounds after that and I felt great!  I bought an entirely new wardrobe and I felt in control of SOMETHING.  After my Dad passed away, the grief was worse than I thought it would be.  I felt as though I had so much time to prepare for his passing, that my mind would have grasped that once it happened.  I was wrong.  The first six months were so difficult…I woke up crying and went to bed crying every day.  The days did get a bit easier as time went on and it was the following summer that I finally started to feel somewhat normal again when a woman whom I’ve worked with over the past 16 years told me a bunch of lies regarding my position at one of the two shows I was working on…and I decided to quit.  It was a horrible experience being there for the last decade anyway…but I had a rough time getting over the deception of all that happened, especially when this person knew what I had been through the last several years.  I guess awful people do strike you when you’re already down.  Other than the fantastic money I was making working these two consecutive shows…there was no other reason for me to stay, as I hated working there anyway and had already felt like I wasted the last 10 years being there.  I put the word out to everyone I’ve ever known in the entertainment industry and was getting calls within a week.  My first show was a game show with a woman I loved working with many years ago.  It was fun to do something new for a change and work with people who were nice and appreciative.  The exact opposite of what I was used to at my old show. I did a couple more short term shows and then come November…there was no work.  I had November, December, January and February off.  It was rough!  I had already had the entire summer off not knowing I would be leaving at the end of it.  It was mentally and financially draining.  Work picked up again in March and things are really looking up now.  My only worry at this point is that my medical insurance expires at the end of this month and Cobra is pretty darn expensive.  I haven’t had to pay for my own insurance in over 14 years…another disadvantage of not being at the last job, but again..how long CAN you be miserable?  I gave myself permission after my dad died to not be so constrictive with my eating and the result a year and a half later…I’ve gained half my weight back.  I finally got my mind back to where it needed to be and went back to Jenny Craig this week.  I remember thinking last time how EASY it was and I just keep telling myself that now…and it really is!  By the end of summer I’ll be back to my skinny self!  The last 5 years weren’t ALL bad.  I still stuck to taking my annual vacation and had some wonderful times.  More on that next time….

I've Done Something I've Never Done Before

My sister (the flight attendant) calls me and tells me she has a 30 hour layover in New York City and asks me if I'd like to come along to see a broadway show. Well...New York is my favorite city I've ever been to and broadway shows are just about my favorite thing in life, so really, how could I refuse. I hadn't been to NY in about 5 years, so 30 hours wasn't going to give me enough of a fix, so I booked a hotel to stay an extra two nights and do something I've NEVER done before...been alone outside of my hometown. I had to fly stand by again (free trip and all) and as luck would have it, I made it on both flights. This time the flight was a lot more fun! For the first time I was flying while my sister was working the flight AND she was in first class AND there were two empty seats so she bumped me up there (I hope she never leaves that job!). We flew on a red eye and I got to ride in the shuttle with the flight crew (saving me money) and got to stay my first night in my sister's room (saving me more money). How lucky she is to visit all these great cities and stay for free while sightseeing. We had decided that we would see "Gypsy" together, because it's our favorite musical of all time and frankly after seeing Patti LuPone's performance on The Tony's, I was left speechless. We ended up with great seats for that night's performance so we headed to the hotel for a nap and then dinner in Little Italy. Well, the performance was even better than I had imagined. Of all the times I've ever seen this show, this was, by far, the best. I was really bummed when my sister had to go back to work the next day and a little nervous about being alone for 2 days. I love living alone and spending time alone, but travelling alone..I was a little hesitant. Well, being alone can really come in handy. I was planning on seeing Mary Poppins and The Little Mermaid the next day and they are pretty much sold out each evening, but since I only needed one ticket, they had some great seats available. I'm a complete snob when it comes to theater, because my rule is that I won't see a show unless I get the first 10 rows of the orchestra or the first 5 rows of the mezzanine. Sorry, but I was a theater major and have seen about 90 plays and I know that any further back becomes an issue. I ended up with third row center mezzanine for Mary Poppins at 2:00PM and
13th row (broke my rule a bit) center orchestra for The Little Mermaid that night. The shows were GREAT and so were the seats. I spent the day roaming around the Time Square area going to all my favorite stores I never get to spend any time in because I'm always with people who have never been there before and want to do the touristy things. I love NY, but there are only so many times one can see the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Ground Zero, Empire State Building, etc. I took full advantage of my aloneness and went to all my favorite broadway memorabilia stores and any place else that caught my eye. My favorite cupcakes in all the world are at Magnolia Bakery and as luck would have it they opened a new store around the corner from my hotel so I didn't have to head all the way down to Greenwich Village. I took my sister there before she left and...made a couple more stops there myself! Thursday I woke up to some rain so I decided to go to my favorite museum-The Museum of Natural History. I'm sure most people would say that the Met is their fave, but not me. I walked around there for hours, loving the fact that no one was rushing me like the last time I was there and got to see things I've never seen before. It was great! When I left the museum, the sun had come out so I headed down to Canal Street to shop for all the knock off Dolce & Gabanna purses and see what all the fuss is about. Well, I don't care what label they put on these purses-they were all adorable and it took me HOURS to decide on my three faves and get out of there. I headed down to Dunkin' Donuts, got a coffee and a pound to go (it is the BEST)and headed to Central Park. Oh, how I love Central Park! I sat there eating a hot dog thinking about how lucky I was to be there in my favorite city in the world doing all my favorite things. The best part is that all the plays I saw were free because my boss (who shall remain anonymous since he is very famous) gave each one of us for Christmas a $500 AMEX gift card and I used it at every box office on Broadway. I had the most difficult time deciding what show I wanted to see on Thursday night, because I knew it was my last night in NY and the last show I would be able to see for awhile. After talking to my sister and a few very gay men with strong opinions (just what I was looking for), I took their advice and decided on Xanadu. It was hilarious! I'm so glad I was able to see it. I went to bed sad that I was leaving, but grateful that I got to experience the most perfect 3 days in my favorite city. I arrived yesterday afternoon and woke up hoping I was still in my hotel room! Well...maybe I'll go back at Christmas and see the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular.

Austria & Germany

What a fantastic time I had in Austria & Germany! It started out a little stressful, as I had to fly stand by with my sister in order to get her fantastic airline discount rate. (Round trip to Germany ended up being $50!). We did make it on the second flight to Philadelphia, although my sister had to sit in the jump seat since I got the last empty seat on the plane. We had quite a long layover then made it on the flight to Austria and were able to get seats together, so it was perfect. Twenty seven hours after getting up and getting ready and flying and all, we landed in Munich, Germany. It was 9:00AM there and we were able to check in to our hotel early and take a nap, after which we roamed the city and went to dinner, came back to our hotel and decided what tours we would be taking when we arrived in Austria. We took the train the next day to Salzburg, went to our hotel and proceeded to look up the tour company which offered the Sound of Music tour we were so looking forward to going on. We ended up booking an Ice Cave tour through them that left at 2:00PM that day. What an adventure that was! We took a bus about an hour out of the city, up to the Alps, got off and had to hike up into the mountains for about a mile, then get on the steepest aerial tram in Europe, just to get off and hike up yet another mile. Whew! I would have trained for that if I had known it was going to be that hard! It was also 91 degrees instead of the 68 degrees it was suppose to be. Once we made it to the 5,000 feet elevation level, we approached the entrance of the 1500 year old ice cave. Wow--it was amazing! Every three people in the group had a lantern and when we approached a really large ice formation, our tour guide would back light it so it would glow and we could really see the beauty of the ice formations. It was quite a long trip into the caves and consisted of walking up 750 steps, including 75 steps which were at a 45 degree angle! It was quite a workout, but well worth it! Halfway down the mountain on the way back we stopped at a cafe and had our first apple strudel--delicious! We walked the city for the rest of the evening and I quickly decided it was the most beautiful city I had ever seen. The next day consisted of touring on foot. We visited a castle, many Sound of Music shooting locations, took lots of pictures and did some shopping. Our third day was the official Sound of Music tour! We got on a bus with a lot of other Americans obsessed with the Sound of Music (something the Austrians just don't understand, nor have any of them seen the movie) and proceeded to drive by many locations, stopping at the Von Trapp patio where the children fell into the water, the "sixteen going on seventeen" gazebo and traveled 50 miles to the church where they shot Maria and Captain Von Trapp's wedding. It was a great trip, in a comfy, beautiful bus, all while listening to the Sound of Music soundtrack--a cute touch! Upon leaving the bus, the tour guide passed out a booklet to everyone with the locations of every scene shot in Salzburg so we could visit the rest of them on foot. What a great time we had and nothing had changed at all since the movie was filmed in 1965--amazing! The following day we took a tour to the salt mines. What fun that was! We had to wear a miner's uniform (basically a jumpsuit), got on a small train which whipped you through the salt mine tunnels, then got off and had to slide down a huge banister to get to the bottom of the mines--oh so fun! We had many great meals in Salzburg and saw every inch of that town--it was truly memorable. After being there for almost five days, we took the train back to Munich, checked in to our hotel and decided we would go to the Dachau Concentration Camp, because we knew it would be terribly depressing and we wanted to see it, but didn't want it to be the last thing we did before coming home. It was actually harder than I even imagined to walk around this terrible place. It's something you can't even describe to someone, it's so painful to see. The next day we went to the Neuschwanstein Castle. It was beautiful! This castle is in Bavaria and was used in the movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and it was also the castle that Walt Disney had his imagineers design Sleeping Beauty's castle after. It was a great day trip and I'm glad we made the last minute decision to see it. We spent our last day in Munich walking around the city, visiting a 15th century monestary where the monks still brew their own beer and eating and shopping. It was a trip I never imagined I would be taking and SO glad I did!

The Next Adventure

Well the show I was working on has offically wrapped. It wasn't the most fun I've ever had, but not the least either. James Cameron (THE James Cameron as in writer/director of Titanic) was supposed to be on yesterday's episode, but cancelled. I knew it was too good to be true. :( We only did 13 episodes and yet they had a wrap party and gave us a going away present--very nice. So, now I have time to concentrate on the next adventure! I'm leaving for Munich, Germany on Thursday and I'm totally excited. My sister is a flight attendant and I get a fantastic discount through her airline. We are flying into Munich, taking a train to Salzberg, Austria, staying for a few days and then heading back to Munich by train and spending a few days there. I am paying a total of $67.00 for the round trip ticket and the hotels will be a total of $500 for the 7 nights we are staying-a fantastic deal! I'm travelling with my sister or I would not be entitled to the hotel discount at all--the plane fare still stands whether I'm with her or alone. I've only been out of the country once before, so I'm really looking forward to this trip. Last year for my 40th birthday I went to Paris and had a fabulous time. We were able to do everything I've ever wanted to do there, including Disneyland Paris. Most Americans wouldn't even consider going, but since we both worked at Disneyland years ago, we wanted to see it and compare. I'm glad we did, because we had more fun than we ever imagined. Germany & Austria would not have been my first choice, but since my sister has seen many popular cities in Europe and it's practically a free trip, I wasn't going to be that picky about it. I'm just going to go, enjoy and report back. Speaking of getting back--when I return I will have 7 weeks till I have to head back to my regular show---a lot of time to hang out and watch all these fantastic movies that are coming out this summer, ie: Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Sex & the City and Mamma Mia--I can't wait. Speaking of Mamma Mia--I'm thinking I may take a little trip to New York to see a few shows before heading back to work.

A Surreal Moment

I am a script supervisor in the entertainment industry. I have been working on the same show for the past 6 years and during our 4 month hiatus, I ususally find work elsewhere. Currently I am working on a brand new show which will air on a new network created by Discovery Channel. It's difficult to explain what it's like to work in entertainment. You get so used to being around "celebrities" that you don't usually give it a second thought...and then...sometimes you do. Take the other day for instance--we finished taping one of two shows and broke for dinner. We are shooting on location at a house, so "dinner" was set up a few doors down in someone's front yard which resembles something you'd see on "Cops". Let's just say it isn't the classiest of places. Anyway, we're all sitting at long tables and Nell Newman (Paul Newman/Joanne Woodward's daughter) sits down as does Martin Mull (a comedian who was a regular on Hollywood Squares). At first of course I think nothing of it, then as I'm listening to Nell and Martin talk--Nell telling us her parents are in New York right now..Martin telling stories of his good friend Steve Martin and the banjo playing gatherings at his house, I'm thinking--wow--I really don't lead a normal life. I mean, this is strange if you really sit and think about it (which I usually don't, since I've been working in this business for 19 years). I looked across the table and thought about how Nell looks just like her father--same eyes, same features and what it must be like to be raised by two of the most famous people in the world. The truth is, she's completely normal and so was Martin, but they lead very interesting lives and sometimes, so do I. I don't take my life for granted, I'm just used to it after all these years. I thought if I started to write these moments down and share them with other people, it would keep my life in perspective, so if I ever did take it for granted, it would bring me back to reality, because as an ex-boyfriend recently pointed out--there's nothing about my life that is normal. Did I mention I was single?