Back Underground.

It's been a while since I took some very old or at least old looking stone steps down into a dark and  evil looking cellar to.. well, for any reason, but I did that today.

I kind of miss the ole Underground.. that which is underneath the Old Town Hall, with the dungeons and torture chambers, but you know, don't do that anymore.. not er.. you know, the tours. Anyway...

today as I was walking down some similar stone steps to a pub beer cellar.. yeah, not as exotic, it felt familiar. That is because it is not entirely unlike those that I used to walk down 2 to 5 times a week for a tour.. in case  you needed it spelled out.

It was dressed up as a crypt, in this instance.. And I gotta say, as far as I know crypts, which is pretty much nil, it looked and seemed pretty crypty. For the film, of course. We were shooting there all day, and once again, the air was not the best, and a lot of hacking and coughing going on.. just a day after the director wanted us to line up to get our photos taken for a magic doctor who can tell what's wrong with you from our face.. after being int he filthy attic for 3 days. I seem to have escaped the worst, but I did need to cough loudly after the cut more than once.

We started early, and finished late, and tomorrow will be the same, at least the start early part.. and I'm very hungry and very tired, so I should go and do something about at least one of those things.

Air..

it's kind of necessary. I mean, everyone knows, and it's obvious.. but you don't really realize it, or at least I never realized it in a particularly specific way until I was forced to spend hours in a hotel lobby in a place that literally has no air. Ok so it obviously doesn't have no air because I wouldn't breathe in there and I'd die, and I wouldn't be able to write this, but.. it has no air! I don't know if it's a hotel thing but thee other place we were int he other day was similar.

It might be the weather, been very hot, very humid, which made this morning's, and by this morning I mean the first part of shooting today which took until 4pm.. kind of uncomfortable. It was a kind of nice hotel though.

Going outside to the park I thought it would be cooler, more refreshing.. but though it was overcast with the threat of rain if not thunderstorms.. it was still really sticky and hot, not helped by the fact that I hadn't showered since yesterday afternoon..

and after some beers and some other strange things across town, with barely 6 hours to sleep if I want to get up in time to get ready for tomorrow's shoot.. out in the country..

I think that sentence was going somewhere, maybe, or perhaps that's all there is to it. It's late, and I need to get up early tomorrow. About it. And I still haven't showed.

Just another day..

on set.

Before the red curtain.

It's weird, this movie making stuff. I can't even remember the morning, it seems so long ago. I'm sure something happened of note, but I can't recall what it was.

I remember the place. It was notable for being a lot more elegant than what we're used to, not saying a lot, considering we've been located in what pretty much amounts to a squat for a week, but this place is pretty nice, though it has a rather unimpressive entrance. I know some of what happened, shooting, waiting, listening, talking, being ignored, being in a small room with many people and lights on a very hot day. Sweaty. A lot of arguing and taking too much time for everything. I know that at one point the voices, the many voices, arguing, and talking at the same time became too numerous and loud that I had to leave the room.

Did a few scenes, not as many as were written down on the schedule, but did them. Lunch.. another scene and then I got roped into being in the midst of it all again. Just sitting, watching the performance, pretending I liked the song and the execution of. before a very Lynch esque red curtain. Many times. I had beer, so it was doable.. and I did a pretty good job, put some details and shit in there.. I kinda rocked this extra role, way more than my sucky job as a nurse last night.

It was quite fun overall.. one of the more enjoyable long stints of repeated takes of a scene in this whole gig.. though I already can't quite remember it clearly...

My moment in the spotlight.

Yeah. I got it. It was fleeting. Actually, I would say it wasn't even a moment, or rather, not really the spotlight.. let's just say, my split second in the background of a spotlight on someone else. A fuzzy blip in the background, if you like.

I mean I'm not complaining. Not exactly about that.. well yes I am but more that I was shit at it. Not necessarily the acting though that was cheesy and terrible, but my inability to act on cue and deal with props.

I don't know if it was that bad, and in fact it doesn't even matter, no one cares.

Everything else is as it was, it sucks, it's fun, it pisses me off, it isn't all that bad and there's a lot of good in it. I still want my life back, and to move on to something that fits me better. And to get more rest. That's saying something, after 2 days off and one albeit long and frustrating day on. Mishaps and fuckups of today included a minor problem with props that turned into a major drama, the usual taking way too long for every fucking thing, a location where we weren't exactly welcome and blowing the circuits of said location, time limits.. (which is ever present) and of course, my debut on screen for this film which was less than stellar.

But otherwise it was great. A bit hot though.

You know.. I like it warm and stuff..

but there's only so much of it  you really need... jeez.. today it got up to 37 degrees.. 37! That's really hot for those of you who use some non celsius form of measuring temperature.. figure it out yourself.

Fortunately, due to whatever we had another day off.. no filming today, a good thing as I imagine anywhere we might have gone would have been too bloody hot.. to point out something that should be obvious due to the content already present in the beginning of the post.

I've done very little today. I totally meant to do stuff, at least 4 different kinds of stuff at various times of the day, none of which worked out. Just wasn't feeling it.

Anyway back on tomorrow.. I think it should be a bit cooler.

Enough weekend for one day.

Well I had to work all day yesterday, Saturday, and it was an early start, and it wen ton long, and there were dramas and incidents and long waiting periods and all of that.. as usual. Up and down, what have yous.. scrans.. you know how it goes.

Today I was off! Which meant that last night I could go out until whatever time I liked.. so the minute we were finished.. actually after carrying some heavy shit down 3 flights of stairs without light.. I was off.

A new place. Well, a new business, in the space that had previously been another place, where I'd visited about a month before, on their closing night. It was the same place but a new place. I'll let you parse that one. I'm not sure if I used the correct word there, but it's after a few beers plus.. so I'll forgive myself for that.

Nice place. I found my friends in the garden, up some uneven stairs in the dark. Particularly fund walking down them with glasses and shit.. immediately had a feeling of deja vu there. A friend is working there so we went over, invited a few other friends to this opening/birthday party... quite a pleasant night.. although I got my toenail fucked up on the walk home.. not my fault.. I was just walking and a bigass motherfucking foot kicked into it.

And if we shouldn't already be getting a fee for promotion and advertising.. we went there again today.. inviting more people although they didn't come. I finally got to see the garden in daylight.. very pretty, and it was quite nice out there, although it's the hottest day I've experience since the day trip to Konopiste.

The best bit was the Scrabble.. no, the cook (who I've known very well for many years) and his drama.. his drunkenness, and his quip.. well not so much quips but just him saying things in all earnestness which was totaly fucking hilarious. Or playing scrabble stoned, or being amused by the cook stoned.. or being stoned. Might have got a bit stoned.

Anyway.. it was simultaneously relaxing and exhilarating.. well not exhilarating... er.. just fun. Enough weekend stuff to make a real weekend so I'm bright and ready to be back to work tomorrow.. shooting, wherever it is we'll be at. Yeah I didn't get the call sheet yet and we're not even sure about some location.. so.. whatever, I'll be ready when it's time to be ready.

Alone in a crowd.

This is the story of my life. I find myself in this position again and again. At this point in my life it's ridiculous, and kind of embarrassing, but every time I join something... do something, new job, new play, new class.. something I do every month it seems.. another thing that's ridiculous in my should be mature state, but whatever.. I find myself alone.

I don't know what it is. I know it's my fault. I don't care enough about people in the beginning, or don't work enough to keep up the whole friendship this, or I'm boring, or unlikeable or uncool.. but I just don't make friends easily.

Yeah, obvs it's something I do.. be standoffish or whatever.. because the others.. blatantly ridiculous. I know.

It also shouldn't matter so much, but if I'm going to spend so many hours a day and so many days a week in one place, where the majority of the hours I'm not actually doing something, int he company of people I can socialize properly with.. bit diff when there are about 3 of them in the whole world, but it could be solved by say, having stuff to do, or more normal hours, or even just not having to be around people so fucking much.. cos I mean, seriously, people suck, for the most part. You might have noticed yourself.