In the past two weeks, I’ve done a lot of sketching,drawing, and coloring, which is something I haven’t done in years… and it felt great.
Besides being another outlet of creativity, there’s a lot to be appreciated about the simplicity of just putting pencil to paper and bringing images to life in a way you want them to portrayed. For me, a person whose brain is constantly running a million miles an hour, it felt good to kind of decompress in that manner.
I also got a chance to check out my first L.A. Improv Show (though I forgot to take pictures) and spent a good 2 hours holding back tears of laughter as 3 different teams took to the stage to present some quality on the spot comedy.
One of the more interesting things that happened to me was dealing with my first L.A. scam. I’d seen an ad on Craigslist about a radio company that was looking for new talent to host radio weekly shows and after sending an email, I was able to get a walk in interview time for the weekend.
I show up to the location, and nothing about the whole process felt right. A lot of the buildings in Los Angeles are old, but this building was old and rundown, definitely not a place that I would think to find a radio station worth its merit. Then I’m guided to a room with other applicants to watch a video about the history of radio, which, to me, seemed meaningless as far as the reason to why we were all there in the first place.
We filled out a general application in pencil (Hmmm) and then we were all given a sample script for our audition. While this is happening, the “Director” of the station is telling us more about the positions in the company, rate of pay, etc. but while this is all happening we’re being called one by one into a side room to do our audition (Hmmm Hmm) so if you’re in the other room, you’re missing out on information that’s supposed to be important.
The thing that completely failed to appease my skeptical side was when I called later on that evening to find out if I’d gotten the job. I “passed my audition” but I was told I would have to bring in $40 for my “orientation fees” once I attended orientation, ( HMM HMM HMM!) something that wasn’t mentioned not once during the “Director’s” presentation. I’ve heard of companies requiring you to pay for your own background check, but I’d never heard of paying for fees dealing with orientation. So a few days later, I hopped on Google for some answers and sure enough, the whole thing is a scam.
I had to thank God that I didn’t provide any information (Like my social security number) that the could use to steal my identity or anything crazy like that but it’s crazy that a company that’s been called a scam since 2008 can continue to be in business.
Lastly, I finally got a chance to check out another church. Due to my work schedule, I’ve only been able to attend a church service once since I’ve been here, so this past Sunday I was finally able to check out the church that’s down the street from where I’m staying.
It was a little awkward, mostly because I was the only person of color in the entire congregation, but the church members were genuinely friendly and welcoming and I could see myself visiting them again in the future.
Oh and lastly, I had a couple of meetings with an acting management company and they want to take me on as a client 😉 More on that and my journey through the book “The Alchemist” in my next installment!
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