RIP Lance Buesa...I love my friends...

This past weekend was bitter sweet: it was the first time I went back home to Hawai'i for almost two years, but it was to attend the funeral of a good friend of mine from college. Originally from Maui, I met Lance at the University of Washington and he was one of the Hawai'i boys that I kicked it with throughout college. The ceremony was beautiful and it was also the first time in a while that a lot of us were all in the same place together so it was great to see everyone again. We drank, ate, laughed and reminisced about simpler times. In light of the event, it also gave me a lot of time to reflect on a few things: my life, my relationships and what's really important to me.

At first it was kind of weird being back home. Everything was exactly the same but felt completely different. The scenery was as beautiful as I remember it, the food just as delicious, but everything seemed new despite being completely familiar. It took me a while to get into vacation mode and on my first couple of days back, I woke up finding myself antsy and yearning for something productive to do.

I had the same feeling when seeing my friends again; it was the same, but completely different. We were the same, but completely different. Time had changed us and we weren't those same kids drinking in the dorms anymore. We were responsible, working adults and that realization sucked.

With most of my friends, we laughed and spoke as if we never left each others side, while with others, you can tell that with time we had grown apart and when we said goodbye it was almost like saying "Take it easy..I'll see you when I see you" to a stranger and I even wondered if I'd ever see some of them again.

During the funeral service, my friend Makana gave a eulogy. He was Lance's roomate and best friend and as he went on about how amazing of a person Lance was and how simple, caring, and a completely unselfish person he was, I began to realize how close they really were. He really knew Lance well and everything he said was so beautiful. As the eulogy went on, I thought, "If I were to die right now, what would be said at my funeral? Does anyone truly know me well enough, as Makana knows Lance, to really speak about me beyond, 'Oh, Conrad was funny and he loved to laugh and crack jokes'?" I really didn't know. I've been on my own and we've been apart for so long that I felt we were all different people. In fact, when I was reminiscing with friends, recounting story after story from college and high school, I realized that I didn't have that much stories since I moved down to LA.

But as the weekend went on, everything came back and I saw how much I really, truly loved these people and I don't think I ever told them. I knew them when I did the most growing in my life. I knew them when I laughed the hardest, cried the hardest and had the most heartache. My only regret were the times early on when I acted like a jerk and pushed them away from me (sorry guys, a lot of pent up anger during that time haha) because as we sat there and laughed in Gordon Biersch, I saw that these people were my family and despite being grown up and maybe growing apart, we were all like meat in a crock-pot: the main bulk and meat of our personality and of who we are are still there and with time, we change and get better, making our personalities more juicy.

As my plane left airport and I looked down at O'ahu, being able to see practically 3/4 of the island out my window, it really hit me on how small the island was and I remember thinking, "How can everything I've ever truly and completely loved come from a such a small place?"

Now back in LA, laying alone in my bed, this weekend juxtaposed by the last, for the first time in the 9 years since I moved from Hawai'i, I feel homesick. I've been hustling alone in this city for the past year and a half, staying in my cocoon, promising myself that I won't rest or leave until I "made it", and this trip really made me realize what's more important in life. I miss my family. I miss my friends, both in Hawai'i and Seattle and even the few ones that I've met and have here in CA since I never see them. Probably more than they know or than what I let them realize. I guess that's why I'm always joking around with friends about moving to LA because I want and need people around me who I care for, especially in this lonely ass industry that I'm in.

I just reread this post and it seems kinda all over the place and random. But oh well. Just know that I'm really gonna try to tell the people whom I care for that I care for them. I'm gonna cherish every moment with them like it's our last. Life's too short for stupid drama. I'm too old to be worrying about that shit. I'm more worried about cancer.

Headshots, Netflix, and Ghosts....

So this past weekend was pretty productive. I pretty much spent it stapling my resume to the back of my headshots and getting them ready to send out to a number of commercial agents. It was tedious and took a lot longer than I expected! Thank goodness for netflix or I would've hung myself then shot myself in the face. FYI: Those of you with netflix should check out Ghost Hunters. It's hilariously intertaining watching these frat guys stay overnight in haunted places. The whole thing is like "Whoa bro, whoa! Did you hear that bro?! I heard that bro!! Whoa!"

My friend Jackie also took me to this place on Melrose to get these really helpful envelopes that's clear on one side so that you can see your headshots without having to open the envelope. Extremely useful I must say and I definitely recommend the usage of these by my fellow actors when doing your mass mailings. So even if the agent throws your envelope to the side without opening it, they'll still see your beautiful mug through the clear plastic! Brilliant! And Jackie even printed out my address and the addresses of the top 40 commercial agencies on labels, saving me even more time and pain in having to hand write all of that crap! Thanks Jackie! Oh, and congrats to her for signing with a commercial/theatrical agency! I'll be on your level soon enough....

Martin Luther King Jr. was a swell guy..and Lull Mengesha

Yessir. Talk about dreams coming true, this guy had one hell of a vision. I know it's a day late but I'm still on my MLK vacation (at least until 11pm tonight) and figured I might wish you guys a wonderful MLK weekend...even though it's past already. Here's a question: if MLK was all about equality, would he want his special day celebrated just like every other day thus making it a regular weekday? Oh well, I ain't complaining..

And be sure to check out my boy Lull Mengesha's book, The Only Black Student! It's a great read on minorities in America's college education system. Click below to purchase a copy now!

www.lullmengesha.com

"Hawai'ians" in Hollywood

So there was another casting call for "Hawai'ians" and I haven't gotten a call back for an audition yet. I'm really starting to think that Hollywood doesn't know what they mean when they ask for "Hawai'ians" because at the last two auditions I went on with this description I was the only Hawai'ian and everyone else were just a bunch of tan Vietnamese guys. Really?!

I guess I can't be completely mad since Hollywood does that with everyone. Asians play all Asians, black people can play any type of African role, and it goes the same with white people. But then again, if that's the case, shouldn't I be in a room full of Samoans and Tongans instead of Viets and tan Koreans? I met over ten people in this city who doesn't even know what a Polynesian is? It's sad that people know that little about a dying race. Someones gotta teach them. I guess that's why I'm here. Bastards...

My Upsetting Feature Film Debut

So I'm scrolling through my netflix instant queue when I come across a movie that I shot in late 2008 that was the very first speaking role that I ever had! I'm debating on whether or not to tell you guys the name of this movie because it's one of those terrible, embarrassing made-for-SciFi Channel flicks and I can totally imagine this clip resurfacing years down the line only to haunt me.

So, I'm watching the movie, looking for my scene, and sure enough, 56:30 minutes into it, there I am, delivering my glorious TWO whole lines to one of the main characters. "My goodness this is awesomely bad!", I think to myself. Then it hits me as to how much bigger this movie turned out than I had originally expected and I got kind of upset.

At the time, I had thought it was a really small independent flick shot by a really small production company. Of course at the time I didn't think of how relevant the words "really small" would be when you realize that any movie with a budget under $10 million is considered "really small". Hell, I worked on student films that looked like they had a bigger budget than this fricken movie! So stupid me, thinking that this was a "really small", non union, low budget film (like how me and my boy Lull used to do for fun in college), I thought nothing when the Assistant Director approached me while I was in makeup and wardrobe to ask me if it was alright if they threw me some lines. I even asked him if this movie was a SAG production and he replied with, "Well, we have some SAG actors in it." Which, stupid me, I didn't second guess his weak attempt to avoid my question and that was somehow a good enough answer for me.

Now I'm sure that many of you reading this is probably thinking, "I don't get it. What's the matter? Why would you be upset?" This is why.

Right now, my status as an actor is non union and it is extremely hard to get into the union, or SAG (Screen Actors Guild) and is continually getting increasingly difficult. First you have to qualify for SAG eligibility (which is fricken hard) and once you qualify, you have to pay a $2500 enrollment fee! How does one become SAG eligible? You ask great questions.

The two main ways are:
1) Do extra/background work and collect three SAG vouchers. I know, only three, sounds easy.

What's a SAG voucher and how do you get one? Again you ask great questions.

When you go to set and check in, you get a non union work voucher with your name on it. It's kind of like your punch in-punch out card. You give it to wardrobe, they give you your clothes, and at the end of the day, they give you back your voucher when you give them back their clothes. This assures that you don't steal any of the wardrobe. Then you fill out your voucher with your mailing info and the production assistant collects them and you get your paycheck in the mail a week later.

So what do you do to get them to give you union (SAG) work voucher instead of a non union one? So many great questions!

Unless you're booked on a show for something out of ordinary (ie tattoos, special props that you can provide like music instruments or skateboards/bikes) there's NOTHING you can do. There's no rhyme or reason for them to give you one. You may get one if they have extra, which they rarely have. I've seen so many girls flirt with the production assistants in hopes that they get one. Frick, I only have one and I got it because I worked as a production assistant on The Office so when I did background for the show, my friend gave me the voucher of someone who didn't show up. But in any case, it's extremely hard to even get three SAG vouchers and I've met people who have been doing background for SIX YEARS and haven't even gotten one! So as far as getting one, you have to be really really lucky.

Which leads me to the second main way to become SAG eligable: Taft Hartley.

Taft Hartley is the term they use for when you automatically bypass the rat race of voucher hunting and jump right up to SAG eligible. And how do you do that? I'll tell you how, YOU HAVE DIALOGUE IN A SAG PRODUCTION!! And that's why I started to get upset when I saw the movie and I thought of how the production assistant avoided my question about me having lines and if the production was a SAG production. They totally screwed me over and paid me as fricken non union background when I had lines with one of the main characters! I should've been Taft Hartleyed and there was no fricken wonder why that guy avoided my question!

You're probably thinking, can they do that? Technically no, but this whole business could be shady like that especially when dealing with people who don't know. So as long as I didn't know, then they could get away with it.

You're also probably thinking, "'Boohoo, they paid me non union when I'm supposed to be union!' Fricken Conrad, getting all Hollywood on us already!"

No, it's not that. It's just that if you realized and experienced how hard it is to get SAG vouchers and how much harder it is to get Taft Hartleyed, you'd be pissed too if you were screwed out of either opportunity. AND, not that it's about the money (anyone who knows me knows I'm not a materialistic guy), but I got screwed out of a little bit of change in this deal too. To give you an idea, as non union background you get paid minimum, which is $64/8hr (which is what I got paid for this movie and I only worked it for one day) versus minimum for a SAG speaking role which is $800 a day (which is what I should've gotten!) Yeah, just a little bit of change I got screwed out of. Bastards.

So needless to say, while it's cool and all to see myself in this awesomely horrible B-level sci-fi flick, I'll be bringing this to SAG and hopefully my scene is good enough and I have a good case in getting my status upgraded to SAG eligable.

Whew! That was a long one. Wish me luck!

And for those of you who took the time to read this long ass post, I got a thank you gift for you. The movie I'm talking about is called "Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus" and my scene is 56:30min into it. Netflix it and enjoy!

Let's Go, it's 2010!!

2010…Two thousand fricken ten! As I write those numbers, I struggle to recall what the hell I did in 2009. How did it pass by so quickly? Where was I and what exactly was I doing?

Then it hits me. Ahhh, I remember now, 2009 kicked my ass and like a grown woman who was touched by her uncle in her early youth, I completely blocked it out, in which I immediately ran to the bathroom in shame and tears, only to throw things at the mirror yelling “You’re a whore!”

OK, maybe not the last couple of things, but you get the idea. I told some of you guys my crazy 2009 story and if you haven’t heard it yet, let’s have a drink and chat. It’s guaranteed to be one of the craziest stories you’ve ever heard in your life. Crazy like a straw…but that’s for another time.

And alas, 2009 has come and gone, leaving us all a little internal and external scarring, much like the $2 hooker that steals your wallet, after giving you herpes and taking your virginity.

So in celebration of the new year and starting anew, I have created this new blog (clihi.blogspot.com) which all of one person will be reading besides me, irregularly and by accident. I'll be cataloging all my Hollywood adventures in this baby so should be fun...theoretically. I also thought I’d include some tangible new years resolutions. Feel free to share yours as well…yes I’m talking to both of you. And by “both of you”, I’m counting myself as well.

2010 Resolutions:
1. I feel so cliche in saying “Workout more consistently”..get down to around 170-180lbs
2. Take care of this damn debt! Damn yous!
3. Sign with a top 10 commercial agency.
4. Book at least 2 national commercials.
5. Finish this script.
6. Complete three chapters of my book.
7. Blog at least three times a week. (this should increase as I get more used to it)
8. Sign with a top 20 theatrical agency.
9. Book at least 4 guest appearances on tv/film.

That’s all I can think of right now. I tried to keep my goals specific so I can gauge my progress and at least I got them written down this year so I can hold myself accountable.

So that’s it people! I’m really excited about this year because I’m finally in a position where I feel like I’m moving forward….somewhat. And SO MUCH has happened and I’ve come so far this past year that I’m eager to see what another year could bring me.

“Let’s go, 2010!! We steady hustlin’ in the AM!! It’s not about IF, it’s about WHEN!!”
- Jadakhash

In Adoration of the Obama Inauguration

...Tuesday, January 20, 2009...

So it goes without saying that today is a day to remember in American history. President elect, Barack Obama, officially makes his move into the White House as this lovely broken nation.

As I sat on my couch to watch my very first Inauguration Day special, a couple of things went through my mind as America's first black president got out of his pimped out Obamabile to parade around the streets of DC and wave at the 2 million plus people lucky enough to have witnessed this event first hand: First of which was, "Are you serious?! Get back in your bullet proof car! We can't have anything happen to you on your first day up!" This first thought then birthed the second one that then came to mind: fear, which, come to think of it, is more of a feeling than an actual thought. But, it was kinda weird to me because I've never cared enough to fear for the life of our president and given how obviously historical this president is, I'm sure that a hit put on Obama isn't far from the minds of some crazy Republicans and American Nazis (I just so happened to watch a documentary on American Nazis on youtube which is probably why I thought of them first).

The event went on and, thoughtfully, DirectTV has this "Inaugural Day Mix" station which is an interactive station that displayed the video of all the channels covering the inauguration. All you had to do was highlight the video box of your choice and the corresponding audio would play. Twas very helpful and saved a lot of time channel surfing.

So despite spending most of my time switching between CBS and CNN's coverage, I decided to check out Fox News' pabulum..I mean coverage. As soon as I highlighted the Fox display, moments after my moment of fear for Obama, the audio starts playing in time for me to catch a Fox reporter say how Obama is the first Senator since JFK to be elected president....beautiful. Could you be any more smug and eerie with your statement, Mr. Fox News reporter? Maybe it was just me but I sensed some foreshadowing in his voice.

Then I sat there in awe at how different the coverage was on Fox News. I've heard nothing but great things about Obama's speech and up until switching to Fox's hogwash. The other channels spoke about how inspiring it was and how it contained a number of great quotables, namely the part with the clenched fist/open hand metaphor. But on Fox, they were just kicking the speech swiftly in the esophagus with a steel toe boot. "He was too hard and unfair towards George Bush" to which the guy who wrote speeches for George Bush replied, "It's not that he was too hard on George Bush, it just wasn't a good speech." Seriously? The dude who worked for George Bush had the audacity to say that it was a terrible speech. But, oh well.

Another thing popped into mind, which is probably one of the most important, I think, for our generation, and for generations to come, to understand: we as minorities could no longer blame "the man" for any of our short comings. Having a minority, one with an immigrant father no less, hold the highest position of office, the President of the United States of America proves, in multitudes, the lengths that we can accomplish if we work hard. On another and more personal level, people from Hawai'i can never blame haoles as being the reason why we can't get ahead in life. I'll miss it, but I don't wanna hear that shit no more. However, of course there's still gonna be racism and discrimination in the world in specific situations, which we can't help, but there's no reason why we can't succeed overall in life.

Man, Hawai'i must be having a state-wide luau right now. I'm not gonna lie, I was a bit jealous and I kinda wish I went to Punahou when the Punahou marching band came walking through the parade and the camera showed the Obama family throwing up the shaka as they passed by. To top it off, the on-site news anchor for CBS was talking about how she went to Punahou too! You guys are everywhere! The only situation I could think of where a bunch of guys from my high school (Damien) would be in the same work place like that is in an auto body shop, let alone the President and the frickin CBS news anchor. I sat there in self pity as I recalled a conversation a couple weeks ago with a Punahou alum as he tried to think of the most famous person to hail from my alma mater. "Is Kealoha Pilares (RB for UH's football team) the most famous person to come out of Damien?" What an asshole! But I don't know what was worst, him saying that a mediocre RB for a mediocre WAC team was our pride and joy or the fact that I replied with a sharp, "No! Frank DeLima is!"

Damnit, Damien....damnit.

But, nonetheless, today was a great historic day. A day that I'll be happy to tell my children about, and my children's children and their children after that, as long as I live. I'm really excited and happy for this country and I'm anxious to see what Obama does with our current situation. Things could only go up right?

But good luck, Obama, and in the words of his daughter Malia, "First black president, huh...better be good."

P.S. - While typing this blog, I noticed that every instance of Obama is highlighted by my spell corrector. I wonder how long it's gonna take for them to correct this so that "Barrack Obama" doesn't shot up as misspelled cause God knows that "Nixon" wouldn't be an actual word if it weren't for the ex-president.

Very Superstitious

I think I would consider myself a little superstitious. I believe in God, ghosts, and life after death. However, some are stupid to me. I'm not into the whole idea of bad luck when you break mirrors or when you walk under ladders (although you'd have incredible bad luck if you cut yourself on your broken mirror and said ladder collapsed on your head). It just seems odd to me, maybe even scary, to depend so much on chance.

So I found it kinda weird when I went out of my way to make sure I had change in my pocket on the turn of New Year's. For those of you who haven't heard of that one, supposedly if you're jingling money during New Year's, money flow should be good that year. I've never done that before so I figured it wouldn't hurt to give it a try. Shit, if this works the I'll be jingling change and doing sit ups come next New Year's Eve!

Then there's fortune cookies. I've never really given those a second glance, only to blurt the usual adolescent "in bed" at the end of each fortune. Majority of the "fortunes" that I've received were buffoonery at best, often informing me that "You like Chinese food."....In bed! It's so hard not to do it!

As a result of eating a robust amount of Chinese food with my friend Jerlyn, who would constantly insist on completely eating the fortune cookie before reading your fortune, I subconsciously became a regular practitioner of said tradition. So, oddly enough, I'd say that I'm more superstitious on the way I eat the fortune cookie than in the fortune itself. But something happened the other night that changed my outlook on the whole fortune cookie tradition.

I head over to Panda Express, pick up my usual orange chicken and beijing beef and head back to the pad for another low key night. As I finished my meal and was chewing on my fortune cookie with my fortune facing down, I couldn't help but feel excited as I always got a kick out of adding "in bed" to every fortune I get. I'm easily amused.

When the mastication was over, I flipped the fortune, revealing the suffix to my proverbial pre pubescent joke and just stared at it. And stared at it some more. Call it superstition but never has a fortune cookie's fortune ever hit home and felt so relative in my life than this one. So much so that adding "in bed" to the end of it had completely slipped my mind.

"The world will soon be ready to receive your talents."

Even though I know I'm more than likely one of thousands who've received this fortune, being someone in pursuit of a career in acting and filmmaking, you could only imagine how eerie it was to read those words. And given that there's a lot of people in Hollywood pursuing the same thing, I guess it would be appropriate for Panda Express to include said statement in the plethora of possible fortunes. But still, it was amazing to me.

The second part of Jerlyn's crazy "eat before you read" tradition, a part that I've never even bothered to do up until this point, was that in order for it to come true, you have to keep it. And so I guess I am a bit superstitious because now, in my wallet, like a missive from a loved one, lies that fortune. And even though I wouldn't leave something like my career up to chance, I guess it couldn't hurt to have a little help.

We Jammin'!!

With the emergence of youtube, we've all been thrust into a world where all of us have the opportunity to share our own videos and become our own directors and producers. I've had many a discussion with friends on how crazy it would've been if youtube (or even facebook and myspace) were around when we were Freshman and Sophomores in college. Maaaaan, if you only knew about some of the stuff that we did!

My God, are we that old to where we were in college PRE-myspace?! Shit, I remember what it was like before internet and how I had to write term papers with a typewriter with the good ol' Encyclopedia Brittanica! Or maybe that's just me.

But now, with more and more people taking part in the phenomena that is youtube, I've found it much easier to find some good (and many bad) kanikapila sessions online. That's probably by far my favorite thing to look up on youtube and I can spend hours online watching them.

And so, by inspiration of my boy Will's Faikava entry, I present to you my favorite online jam sessions in a little piece that I think I'm gonna call, Connie-Kapila. Get it? Get it? OK, I know...Title pending...bastards...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALGFo-pRS28

So whenever this guy gets played on the radio back home, my sister never fails to tell me how she went to Moanalua with him and how he had a huge crush on her throughout highschool. Because of her preadolescent rambling, I've never really taken him seriously, seeing him as just some artist geared toward mid pubescent girls who finally have someone to goggle over besides the Opihi Pickers. But after viewing this video of an unreleased original song, I've come to appreciate it him more as an artist and, like Jamie Foxx, have become a bigger fan of his live jam sessions than his actual album music. So check it out!

And shot out to braddah in the hard hat...

2008: A Year in Review

Maaaaan. I can't believe how fast this year has gone! I guess it's true: the older you get the faster time travels. It seems like it was only yesterday that my cousin and I were kickin it in New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl during last year's festivities. I found myself then trying to pick up the blank pieces that was 2008. What the hell happened this year? Where did it go? Why can't I remember?

As I began to piece it together, I came to realize how far I traveled this year alone and all the ups and downs I experienced. Here is my 2008 in a nutshell:

Jan 2008:
Kicked the new year off in style as my cousin, Josh, an I hit up New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl. Unfortunately, Hawai'i got their ass handed to them on a southern platter. But we didn't care! Booze and boobs more than made up for it as New Orleans definitely goes on my list of places to revisit!

Feb 2008:
My contract with Microsoft ends and I'm off venturing once again in the land known as the "real world". Not to be confused or mistaken for MTV's Real World, a program that depresses me more and more everytime I watch it and realize that I am now older than every one of these drunken, spoiled off their daddy's incomes, sheltered from life so much to the point where they have to "find themselves" in a multi-million dollar mansion, too beautiful and detached from anything "real" to remotely represent anything or anyone in the actual "real world", drunken whores. But enough about these whores. I'm off to find a job.

March - May 2008:
These three months sucked for me and for those of you who were lucky enough to catch me away from the prison that was my new "job", you can remember how much it consumed my life...like a plague. This was, by far, the lowest point in the year and, come to think of it, maybe my life. I was working a job that was %100 commission based and made about $300 the whole time I was there. I'm not gonna bad mouth the company or anything, despite some people calling it a "scam" and comparing it to one of those "pyramid schemes". It wasn't. It simply was one of those commission based jobs where you get thrown into and you either sink or swim. Needless to say, I sank faster than a naked fat guy with weights tied around his ankles in a fresh water pond...with Superman holding onto the weights pulling him into the depths of the abyss. I fell behind so much so on all my bills that I'm still trying to pay them back. Thank goodness I'm not there anymore!

However, I did get to go back home to Hawai'i in May for my sister's graduation. Class of 2008, Moanalua! Woot woot!

June - Dec 2008:
For months, I've been keeping in contact with the sister of a friend I made while working at Microsoft. Our conversations mainly consisted of the film industry and my expressed interested in it. She finally insisted that if I were truly serious in a career in show business and if there were no incredibly huge reason for me to remain in Seattle (ie. career or girlfriend), that I save up some money and make the move down to Hollywood ASAP. "Cool! Yeah, that's the plan," I told her, "but what about once I'm there? How do I get a job? How do I get my foot in the door?"

"Don't worry about it," she replies. "I'll help you out. Just save up as much money as you can and let me know when you get to Hollywood!"

And that's what I did. I did some work at a fruit stand and with the help of my family, I made the trip down to the land of stars and celebrities. The land where people are just as fake as their boob jobs and face lifts.

Within a couple of days of my arrival I was already working on my first set. How, you ask? My most helpful contact just so happened to be the Assistant Director for NBC's The Office and she helped me out a lot in a town where you can get swallowed just as fast as you can get lost in the midst of everyone and their momma with the same hopes and dreams as the next guy.

Nov 2008:
Obama gets elected. At first I wasn't going to include this since this was gonna be a summary of my year, but this election was too huge to go unmentioned. I'm excited. I really hope he lives up to the hype. A lot of people criticized him of just being a walking publicity stunt who sold hope and change over what he can actually bring to the table. And I say to them: So? True or not, that's exactly what this country needs right now. These past years with the Bush administration, we've become a nation ashamed of their own nation. It was like Bush sold us a brand new pair of shoes and when we went home and opened the box, there were holes in the bottom. Enter this election, which, to me, felt like we were at the customer service counter with the bullshit shoes Bush Jr. sold us, trying to get our money back. Obama's at one side of the counter telling us "not to worry, it'll be OK, if you're not satisfied with your shoes, I will change it for you myself..and here, you can even have your money back", all the while McCain's over there like "come on! Let's go stomp out those motherfuckers who put holes in your shoes! I heard Iraq did it!"

But I've digressed. I'm glad the man won and I'm looking forward to how things are going to unfold in the next couple of terms. And honestly, I don't think Bush Jr. is a bad guy. He actually looks like a pretty cool and fun guy to hang out with. But definitely NOT someone you want managing anything, let alone running the country. I wouldn't even let the guy operate the controls on a ferris wheel! Cool guy though.

And that's what I've been doing ever since. I've worked a number of times on The Office, some independent movies, and some student films; and in between that production stuff I've been doing some background work. Interestingly enough, doing background work has recently reawakened an interest that I've had since I was younger and have never really shared with anyone until recently: acting. I know surprise, surprise, I'm pursuing acting.

Don't get me wrong, I'm still gonna pursue making my own stuff, but the way I see it, especially since I'm here, I don't want to limit myself to just one facet of the industry. I wanna keep my hands in both pockets and see which one takes off.

And I guess here's where things lead into 2009. I'm in a new city, pursuing a new career path, one that I'm actually interested in and passionate about. It kinda sucks that it took me so long to finally bite the bullet and commit to this career talking so much about it, (not many people know that Freshman year at UW I was in the process of transferring to an SC school to pursue film but opted not to cause my dad wanted me to study CSE since I was already at UW..go figure) but I wouldn't change anything because everything I experienced on this journey made me a better person (or so I'd like to think).

So here I am, playing chicken with 2009. I got 2008 behind me coughing up the dirt made by the car that is my life. Next month I'll be taking my headshots, which will lead to auditions, which will lead to who knows. On the production side, I'm in the early stages with some people I met on trying to get some stuff that I wrote shot. So I don't think I'll be veering off the path anytime soon, so 2009, I'm just gonna have to bowl right through you.

I'd say things are looking good. Especially relative to eight months ago when I was eating a couple scoops of peanut butter for dinner. If my life was a represented by a line graph I'd say that it would steadily be going up. I don't know what's in store for me for 2009, but I can honestly say that I've never been more excited for an upcoming year than this one.

Happy New Years everyone! Let's do it big for 2009!