far away (from the north country) 2

wayward daughter signing on.

it's been a rough day.
we haven't even started shooting yet, and the production office is trying to kill us, pull rank, and drive us to drink (as if they needed much effort to do that!)

we cannot order the needed uniforms for reasons unbeknownst to this earth. i think that the production office has severe schizophrenia because they give us a different person to talk to each time we call to try and resolve the same fuckin' issue. so, we're standing in the middle of a god-forsaken walmart calling california and begging them to hold our uniforms, and then we're on the phone right back to production having to argue with them and help them organize their own production office. it's not MY fault they don't have a fax machine!!! wait, who the hell works in a production office without a fax machine???

i just wish people were more competent. and like i said, it's not even the first day of shooting, and i'm having to relay information between a producer who has been run out of the production office and refuses to work with them at this point. a-mazing.


so, abby and i did a little shopping therapy. i bought a cute anchor key-chain, some cheapo earrings, a candle for our hotel room, and beef jerky. abby purchased a very cute jacket and a sweater. we almost bought two of the same denim short skirt jumpers. we wanted to wear them on set together with red lipstick and big fat snow boots, to boot. obnoxious? ...

the best way to combat production mayhem is to:
1. drink whenever possible; that's a given
2. hone the art of being subtly, yet overtly obnoxious; ergo the WARDROBE TWINS
3. refer to completely fictional staff, and take on their persona when production can't get their shit together. thus, abby and i have hired a slew of gay-boy unpaid interns, as well as a few pa's to run errands for us. (note: these people don't actually exist. but if the production office can have a bevy of people working and get absolutely nothing accomplished, then we can have imaginary an staff and be totally on top of our shit.)


on a side note: it's totally white up here. i miss my boroughs.

we head out to plattsburgh tomorrow... check in to the hotel. do some damage control. drink.

far away (from the north country) 1

wayward daughter signing on.
far away (from the north country).
burlington, vermont.

gorgeous snow drifts out here. up to my hips.
i'm sure they are a pain in the ass for all who live and toil here.
but, for a southern cali girl, man-oh-man! it's an unreal winter wonderland!

thanks to my sorel caribous (heretofore referred to as "the caribous"), i am saved. one cannot f-around with cowboy boots, uggs, or any leather sort of uninsulated shoe. you gotta go hardcore, my friend. and i am oh so hard core.

abby (costumer) and i drove for about, oh, eight hours from manhattan to burlington, vermont. swapping stories- you know typical loves gone awry, bad bad choices, people we almost killed, cute boys, family sagas. anything that could help explain the person that the other one was sitting next to. abby and i will be sharing a room for an entire month, but our friendship has been very easy and natural, it seems.

really, abby is an amazing gal. we are stayed in her family home the first night. we arrived to celebrate her grandmother's 94th birthday. abby's aunt and mother prepared dinner and had wine waiting for us when we walked in the door and shook the snow off our boots.

the food was wonderful. home-made crabcakes, wheat pasta, and an amazing apple pie.

abby's grams told stories about growing up in manhattan and the dog and cat fought ruthelessly under the table whilst we drank and laughed.



pretty good deal so far...

until...

streetly goings on

wanted to update you with a little story that is new york through and through.

so, i step outside to trot along to the healthfood store (which is sooo la), but as soon as i step alligator shoe out my front door, there is a man passed out if front of our building's garbaj cans. he's all slumped over and has one shoe and sock off to reveal a nasty infected toe. eeeew! a young woman was on her cell phone already talking to the ambulance. i waited to see what i could do since the young lady seemed to be the caretaker of a much older woman who kept nagging, "come on! let's go!" as our street sustains much foot traffic, about 6-8 other people passed by in the span of 4 minutes, but none stopped, nor said anything, save for one guy who hurried by, but not too fast that we couldn't hear him say, "great! fucking great!" and shake his head in harsh dissaproval.

the young woman was still talking to 911 and they told her to lay the guy down on his back. "fuck that," i thought. and at that moment a nice old man walking a dog said, "no, if you wake him up, he might get mad at you." this did make sense; who knows what terrors he was dreaming of and liable to mistake us for.

so, we just decided to hang around and wait for the ambulance. a cop car turned the corner and we flagged them down. as they rolled up on us, they immediately saw homeboy crashed out on the sidewalk and said, "oh, yeah, we know 'm." relieved, but kinda worried, i stepped aside and walked to a sunny spot to watch the drama. then the firemen, i mean, the firetruck came, and i sat a bit closer. then the ambulance came, and the instance seemed to unravel quite smoothly. but the big cop was smoking a cigarrette, which i found very telling...

as i sat from my vantage point with tony, the old man who told us not to move him, and tony's dog, we saw homeboy get up and exchange some mild words with the law/fire/emergency crews. in an instant, he was on his way down the street, wheeling is cart behind him. tony and i chatted about the neighborhood and watched the aforementioned crews disperse and drive away. two minutes later, homeboy comes Running back with his cart, but had his hoodie pulled down over his face. as he swooshes passed tony and i, tony yells at him, "whatsamattah? you foget sometin'?!" homeboy kinda smirks and mutters, "stoopid cops!" and continues running back to the garbage.

i guess he did forget something, right before he fell asleep on the sidewalk.




ah, well.

maxin-relaxin

i was inspired just this hour by a friend of mine. i mean, he sent me his blog last night, and i thoroughly enjoyed his musings, if they can be called such a thing. so this afternoon, he said that today's blog would make my eyes bleed. they did, just a little.

and then he asked me what was new. i began a diatribe that was pretty decent blog material, and i thought, "hey, why not. sure, i'll try this thing." the following is most of the e-mail i'd written to him... but it stands as my rant for the day. a much needed venting of stupidness that made me feel a whole lot better, as you can see by the end. and i knew thanks were in order, 'cause he has mostly always made me feel better. so thank you, fool.
***************

anywho, i'm taking a big ass break from the non-profit stink-hole i go to everyday, save for saturdays and sundays. i am so pissed. gotta try and get a job that pays more for my time and energy.
nothin' works in this crap bucket, and they 'spect me to git the job done, no matter how long it takes. well i'm sorry, but i have books to read, nice food to cook, music to listen to, a bike to ride, and a man to be with, so i do what i can and then go home and try to forget about it.
like last night. it was good. i got home, changed clothes immediately (a little somethin' i learned from my mom... and celi can attest to this: "eilaina was always maxin' and relaxin' in jeans and a sweatshirt!") so anyway, then i pop open a bottle o wine, and do some e-bay browsing, ok, more like bidding. i think i got myself into a spot of trouble. but oh, well, i never had internet connection at home, nor a laptop, but that's a different story, digression ends here. so i shopped and drank. and then i retired to my bed and continued on in minas tirith and then i read and drank.

and that was my night last eve.

and this is my first blog entry.

ah, so

i've got to go...

...you'll never get out of this world alive