It’s October 10th 2012 and I’ve decided to break my year and a half long no blogging streak. The last 18 months have been so inexplicably wonderful. In that time, I’ve fallen in and out of love about 100 times, as true as ever to my Aries nature, I have been known to do... I completed my short film “Retardian Angel” (which is available for purchase online TODAY!! on http://flicku.me ) I wrote and performed my solo show, the “HBO Special” that I promised Tony Robbins. And I drove my busted up Subaru across the country to Los angeles, where I’m currently writing from my West Hollywood condo... Okay, technically the condo belongs to my roommate Stephanie.. But I live here!
When I made the plan to move here, I’d intended to stay with a man I’d been dating long distance for the last few months. The relationship wasn’t particularly serious, but he’d been in the rotation for years and during my last six months or so in New York we’d become decently close. Long story short, right before I moved it became apparent that we suffered from fatal incompatibility, to put it mildly. I found myself halfway across the country, dad’s ipad in hand, resorting to craigslist for an apartment. After the fifth add in a row with a heading to the effect of “Send me your photo, rent negotiable...” I eventually came across one that led me to Stephanie.
Stephanie lives in a million dollar condo on the boarder of West Hollywood and Beverly Hills that she inherited five years ago from her late spinster aunt, Aimee. For $1,000 a month she rents the second bedroom fully furnished with a bed so small that if I ever do decide to bring a date home he’ll have to pack a sleeping bag like we’re 6. It’s a trundle bed, almost exactly the same size and model as the one I had when was a little kid. It even has the same missing front, right-side bed-knob that I broke off and carried in my pocket after seeing Bed-knobs & Broomsticks. Now that I think about it, it is entirely possible that it’s the same bed. With that bedroom comes a newly renovated marble bathroom and half of one shelf in a refrigerator. She really could give me more space if she wanted to but I’ve decided not to make an issue out of it; partially because she’s a diabetic so she’s touchy about food, and and partially because my rent, which includes utilities, valet parking and 24 hour access to the building’s pool is so incredibly cheap, that even the slightest complaint would render me deserving of a serious kick to the head.
Soooo... How can I describe Stephanie? Well, considering this is my first experience with a roommate since college, (Not counting the squatters I used to accumulate back in New York) I’d say it’s going pretty well. Her vices include compulsive coupon collector and an addiction to bad reality television. Which I suppose I can deal with.. I don’t love the coupons all over the house, but I’m saving money! She doesn’t drink, which makes for some awkwardness when I come home bombed to her judging me across her TV dinner tray with Intervention playing on the TV. And she refuses to get rid of ANYTHING that belonged to her late aunt, which is unfortunate because her late aunt was very old when she passed and from the looks of the place, a bit of a hoarder. If you didn’t know, one might guess that this was the home of the Golden Girls after they all died and no one came to clean the place up or dispose of the corpses.
She is great in that she stays out of my way in the mornings and tries not to make too big a fuss over the lightening speed at which I go through towels even though I can tell it annoys her. We still have yet to agree on a television selection, and so far the only movies we have in common are Beaches and Katy Perry’s Part of me... but it’s a start.
Anyway, enough about my living situation... there IS a reason why today is the day I’ve decided to get off my ass (metaphorically speaking, of course I’m sitting at the moment) and start blogging again. This is a particularly important morning for me on many fronts. First of all, my aforementioned movie being available for download is pretty exciting. The official launch-date for that was actually yesterday, but due to some negligence on the technical end of things, the launch ended up coinciding with the opening preview date of “I Ought to be in Pictures,” The play that I’m starring in at the Falcon Theatre in Burbank, California. Yup! After four INCREDIBLE weeks in the practice room, the rehearsal stage of the process is now behind us, and tonight the show goes up for actual paying customers... yikes! To be perfectly honest, though, I’m not even that nervous. The only customer there who I really care about is D. She’s here from New York for the opening. I’m not sure what I’m more excited about; performing or seeing her. Everything about this first month in LA has been, for lack of a better word, Magical... Everything from the day I drove up and met Stephanie this moment right now, sitting on my tiny bed, thinking about tonight. Being cast in ‘I Ought to be in Pictures’ is nothing short of a dream come true.
Everyone, and I mean everyone, involved with this project in any way, shape, or form has been a dream to be around. Garry Marshall, who owns the theatre alongside his daughter, Kathleen, is the coolest guy on the planet. In six short weeks of knowing him he has essentially become the beloved grandfather I never had. For all the crap you hear about Hollywood and the people here being self-centered pieces of shit, I have experienced the polar opposite. I don’t know if that means the rumors are untrue or that I have managed to find an oasis at the Falcon theatre... but either way, I’m beyond grateful for the amount of love and support that has been shown me by the community. Gregg, the director of this AWESOME production, is a wonderful guy who knows everything about theatre. Robert Wuhl, who plays Herb in the production, knows everything about everything. I thought I was a talker.. I have nothing on this guy. The difference, is that he’s actually fascinating to listen to. I think I can safely say that my costars, Kelly Hare and Robert Wuhl are the two second coolest (second to Garry Marshall) people on the planet. The fact that so quickly upon my arrival in Hollywood I’m working beside such accomplished professionals is an honor in and of itself; the degree to which they have inspired and helped me grow throughout this process is above and beyond the call of duty.
I’m so excited for tonight and the rest of the run... I know it’s gonna be incredible!!
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