Week of January 24th 2011: Movie Set Casting Call

So this adventure has been my little secret. I honestly still am not sure why I did it. My good friends know that I am terrified of video cameras. I am a ham for photos and I obviously love hearing myself speak but I hate being video taped. It's a long story and I'm sure enough googling will give you the answer but yea, I hate being video taped.

Yet - when I saw a posting for an open casting call to be in an upcoming Matt Damon movie, I was intrigued. I figured I would at least go wait in line and see what happened. You never know if you're a wait in line from being a movie star or a waiter in any restaurant in Los Angeles.

The casting call was at Fort Mason and a short drive and a creative interpretation of some parking rules led me right to the site. I walked past several waiting people to the site of the casting call only to find that the location had been moved and the line I had passed was the one I was meant to stand in. Luckily, I had been located in a group of interesting characters. Between the over aged San Francisco punk and the overly eager couple, I heard enough to keep me occupied.

I was also able to share my own experience with show business. No, that's not the experience mentioned above, but I did have a dream of being in pictures once. My parents were very supportive of it and helped me get headshots taken. While I got a role as an extra from those, I wasn't able to follow through with it because of school and I'd always wondered what would have happened if I could have made it.

But cest la vie - the filming of this movie also interfered with my work schedule. I put that on my casting card and then ducked out of the audition early. I never heard from them and that's ok with me. Like I said, I hate being video taped anyways.

Week of November 1st 2010: Giant's World Series Parade

The Wednesday after the World Series victory, the city coordinated a parade through the city. Luckily for me, it the start for the parade was only a couple of blocks away from my office and my boss sent out an email saying that we could all take a long lunch to go see it.

Once I got to work, I was pleased to look out my office window and see that although the parade actually started a couple blocks away, the staging area was just outside my office window. Once we saw that the crowd starting to grow, my coworker Alex and I went downstairs to anxiously await the players arrival.

Cable cars were lined up all along Washington St. and as we got there, we saw workers taping up signs with players names. Alex and I decided to wait in front of the car for Brian Wilson since we both maybe sort of had a crush on him. Plus, we realized that when the parade started, the next cars to pass us would be for Buster Posey, Aubrey Huff, Pat Burrell, and of course, Tim Lincecum.

Soon, the players started arriving. Buster Posey got to his cable car first. We waiting anxiously while someone talked to him about the logistics of the parade and when he was done, the crowded cheered for him and asked him to smile and wave for pictures. He seemed a little uncomfortable with his obvious fame and popularity but eventually he gave a little pose(y) for the camera.

Eventually, Brian Wilson got to his cable car. He had the same little talking to but sadly he never really got into posing for pictures. We were really disappointed since we'd seen his internet videos and were  quite aware that he didn't have that same shyness that Buster clearly exhibited. It was kind of a let down. I know he's famous for his eccentricity and doing pretty much whatever he wants but it always grinds my gears when an athlete or celebrity blows off their fans. I was able to get an almost half decent picture but it would have been nice if he went with it a little more.

Contrarily, his cable car sharing teammate and fellow bearded pitcher, Sergio Romo, was as outgoing and friendly as you could imagine. He stopped to sign everything and posed for a ton of pictures. He definitely just had fun with it and really enjoyed to upbeat atmosphere of the parade. The guy even stopped to sign a baby (which Posey and other players eventually signed as well).

Soon after we got our pictures, the parade started and the cable cars sped past us. We got to see Aubrey Huff and Pat the Bat enjoying a couple of Bud Lights on their car and Lincecum try to wave to all of his fans. It was nice to see the rest of the players return some of the love to their many supporters.

I just want to apologize in advance for the lack of pictures in this post. I took a ton that day and was really excited to post them all (part of the reason it's taken me over a month to put this is up is because I knew it would take a little while to upload everything). Unfortunately, I lost my camera last week. I am desperately hoping that it turns up soon but the more I ask around about the night of its disappearance, the less confident I get. I give it until Friday before I give up completely and buy a new one, but that won't bring back the last month's worth of pictures. Luckily, I have used my cell phone for a lot of pictures for this blog (and luckily had used to send a couple picture messages from the parade, hence the two photos I was able to upload).

Happy Tur-Duckin-Rab-Pig-Cow-Cow-Horse-ish-GameHen Day!

Hello Readers - I want to branch out for about 5 minutes and wish you Happy Thanksgiving! I would have loved to grace you with my next post about my new and exciting adventures but I have to blackmail a friend for some pictures so it may be a couple of days.

Anyways, I hope you all are having a fabulous day and that you get to spend it with people you love. As for me? Well, I'm in Arizona like I said and I have been having a wonderful couple of days with my adorable niece. Have I mentioned that it's been a wonderful excuse to watch lots of Disney movies?

And if your family hates each other and you managed to duck into your room for five minutes to get away, this should cheer you up:
http://video.tvguide.com/Saturday+Night+Live/Update--3a+Guy+Fieri/6684884