Randomness

Its 10:30 pm


    Nice crisp night,the last two days have felt more like Fall then summer...overcast skies and temps in the high 60s.
  I like to thank Tyler Beltz for providing such a great interview,it was a interesting peek through the eyes of the next generation and get a idea on how someone his age sees the world. I really hope more of my readers and a few of his friends come by to take a peek at the interview.
  Already hard at work at the next as well....singer/guitarist Ken Helwig of the band The Emptys will be the next guest answering 8 Questions....looking forward to that very much. Also will be talking with poet/small business owner Brad Beneke and Detroit politician Aaron R. Brown in the upcoming weeks.
  The week has been a rollercoaster so far for me but what else is new,right? Sunday was one of the roughest days in a quite a while as I really was fighting my emotions all day at work. Its so weird how one second I can be interacting with a co-worker or guest and all is well and then in a split second I am back with Lori during her first chemotherapy session...its easy to remember as it was the day of the royal wedding with Kate and Harry. The thought sits in my head and I start hearing the whole day all over again. More often or not,I am back here during the last 3 months and recalling feeling so helpless and looking for answers that just weren't coming. Its then I start getting wound up and choked up...I go outside to compose myself,to breathe in and out....generally that works,sometimes not so much. And on Sunday,it didn't work so well...after I settled down,I continued to work. My shift ended and I dropped by the restroom to wash my hands before meeting my buddy Jerome to see "The Wolverine". Suddenly I just lost it....alone in the bathroom,my tears came pouring out silently. I miss Lori so much...the pain and loneliness and grief get so bad and I have no release point at the worst possible time.
  I compose myself and head out to kill 90 minutes before the movie. I go by Sonic for lunch and then to the parking lot of the show to have my lunch and read my book called "Farlander" which is excellent. I know I'm going to have trouble with "Farlander" as its the first book of a trilogy...and I got the first book at Dollar Tree! Going to be tough hoping for the next two books to land there as well.
  Soon it was time to go in and hook up with my fellow fanboy Jerome. He is the same one who saw "Pacific Rim" with me in July.
  Thought "The Wolverine" was pretty good,much better then the mainstream critics gave it credit for. It was action packed with some very tender moments including one where Logan is talking to Jean Grey who died in "X-Men: Last Stand". It hit far too close to home for me and I had to bail...like I said,Sunday was a rough day. 15 minutes later I came in to catch the final credits. Jerome,who had already seen the movie,was very concerned and said he was sorry he didn't warn me about that part of the film...hey,who knew I was going to be in such a state?
   We chilled afterwards for a hour talking fanboy....we are not fans of the new Guardians of the Galaxy movie coming out next year and we bantered back and forth about some other stuff before we went our separate ways.
  Monday was much better....I had a day off and I caught up on my sleep. Woke up refreshed and in much better shape. Of course being Monday,it decided to rain and rain all day. I sat down and clipped coupons and put them in my book. I saw on my local Meijer ad that they are no longer doing double coupons after 25 August. That sort of sucks because of the great deals you could get,especially on the 10 for 10 sales they do once every 3 months. People commented it was the extreme coupon people who ruined it for everyone,I don't know about that...I never saw any extreme couponing at all since the show came on the air.
 Anywho,I went shopping and got a few deals that I could use. The lady who has been dropping off cookies was shopping and she walked up and said "hello".
   After shopping and putting the food away,I killed a little time before going to a new yogurt place in Canton called Menchies. I met up with a former co-worker of mine,Anna,had been bragging about this place. While the weather had cleared up,right after Anna and I started eating our yogurt,it decided to thunderstorm but good. While Anna said she was scared of lightening,she held tough and stayed outside with me while we talked for a while. She had a lot of funny stories to share and the time flew by quickly.
  It seems like small outings are the ones that feel most comfortable to me at the moment. I don't read anything profound in this,just that in a small way,it doesn't surprise me as that is what Lori and I enjoyed the most.

Its Saturday and its 9 pm

Ahhh,another rolling blog entry.

 Looking at where I ended the first entry.....

Back on 19 July,I wrote about a actress friend of mine who had been booked at a fan convention in California. The promoter turned out to be completely shady and a cheat and my friend took a bath financially and a hit to her good will.
   I have known her for quite a while and think she is in a Debbie Rochon class of being sweet and easy to talk with. This is rare in Hollywood as each year you're in the limelight,you start to lose a little something in the way you are as a person. Be it no jobs,low paying ones,bad roles,personal relationships,substance abuse (hello again,Cory)...Hollywood is not a nice town,it eventually will turn on you.
  So when you are a veteran of several film roles and TV spots but still retain your inner value system,you are pretty amazing,at least to me.
  My friend shared even more details of what happened to her and I promised I won't reveal any names or specifics.
I do know that after this mess,she will be a lot wiser in the future and insist on contracts and riders in place before venturing out. And after reading the below,can you really blame her?

1) the promoter promised me a guarantee then backed out in the 11th hour. 

I can only relate to how we did business at the EDGE and Agenda...but any signed act,we generally had to send half the guarantee to the agent/manager with a signed contract. This protects both the artist and venue in case something happens. If a artist skips a show,often we got a make up date,another good package or the up-front money back.

2) I had already done some publicity around it so I decided it's best to put the fans first and show up regardless of politics.

This is what I mean by staying a class act. My friend could have said "no money,no appearance" and be well within her right to go home. But she stayed and was the professional she is. Many fans who were looking forward to meeting her,would never know what was going on behind the scenes.

3) On Saturday night, we found out we were locked out of our rooms and that we were going to have to pay for our accommodations. So I left the hotel at 1am to go and stay with a local friend. Came back on Sunday to collect my belongings.

Can you even imagine this? I mean,really? You drive all the way up,check in,hit the convention floor and then come back to this mess? She was fortunate enough to have a friend put her up,many convention guests would have been hosed.

4) We were told by the promoter that he was robbed ...but he didn't call the police to report it. So one of the actors did.

Pretty much says it all,doesn't it? Like I said,a liar and a cheat. I wish I could have Rob Wolchek put this loser in the Hall of Shame where he belongs.

5) We were not given gas money as promised for driving up there.

This is pretty major as it was a pretty hefty round trip of about 500 miles and with gas prices in California being pretty high,it would have been nice to know at least your gas was paid for.

6) The event was slow and most likely took a loss. As did all the actors. We were not paid promised monies.

So the only person who made anything was the loser of a promoter. But my friend,as I wrote,is much wiser and will be only appearing at conventions with a solid history of being run professionally.

I decided to try and tackle the basement again. The last time didn't go very well and I just walked away.But I ventured once again and actually made some head way. Cleaned out a cabinet,tossed a old computer and gave away my Christmas wrapping paper. It doesn't sound like much but I did it with no tears and being focused.
   I know there will not be much a of Christmas spirit in the house this year so it makes the decluttering a bit easier. I will be heading back down there on my day off and hopefully will get it cleaned by the end of the week.