Confessions of a Struggling Actor

Well, my good intentions didn't quite come off this week.  I'm not going to be too harsh on myself, as I've been working pretty damn hard this year so far and a few days without being incredibly constructive or progressive isn't the end of the world.

That said, I haven't done much at all since my admin frenzy last week - including exercise, though I have tried to walk more and get into the sunshine over this weekend.  I slept terribly because of the heat this weekend and I ended up jogging for the first time in a while at 5.30 this morning.  If I can only make myself a morning person every day of the week!

Monday was fairly standard - work, home, chores, smoke, bed.  Tuesday night, Laura Main and I went along to an evening that Sue's work had set up as they were auditioning comperes for their travelling game show format.  Despite initial reservations, it turned out to be quite a fun evening and our team won!!  Laura brought it home by knowing the correct words to 'Always look on the bright side of life' and we left with a bottle of white (wine, not lightning) for our trouble.  Weirdly, one of the potential comperes was at Mountview at the same time as me.  Bless, but he wasn't that great...

Wednesday followed as similar vein to Monday's excitement, but Thursday I went to a friend's stand up gig at a pub near work.  The Big Boss came and treated us to dinner and a couple of pints - I wonder what he's after - and we settled down for an evening of female comedians.  These ranged from two or three very good ones, a couple with potential and some really awful attempts that even the sisters in the audience couldn't laugh supportively at.  The comperes (at short notice) were pretty crud too.  Still it was an interesting night and Jen was very good.  I laughed anyway...  I also got picked on quite a lot as we were sitting near the front and there weren't many men there, including by the 'world's foremost dog psychic' who got me up on stage.  Strange...

Friday night was mental - we had organised drinks at work to celebrate the new book being hot off the press.  I didn't end up drinking as much as I'd have liked, but I was photographer for the first part of the night, then broke the record for doughnut eating and was the karaoke DJ.  Curry afterwards with some current and former colleagues and a cab home thanks to one of the Management team. (For those who are interested, yes I did sing and the main tunes were Common People - which is helluva long and high - and My Generation by the Who - storming!)

Saturday, I went round to a safe haven to watch the Paraguay game with some of the football team and Mark.  Boring game and the hype is unbearable now.  Still, enjoyed Trinidad and Tobago and Angola's efforts, but there's not really been an out-and-out shock.  Met a friend for his birthday and only had a couple of pints (of lager - I'm not drinking that again unless I'm in someone's house) and rocked home around 11.  Lie in and working on my script for Friday was all I got up to on Sunday.  That and losing pints of fluid as I tried to sleep that is...

Pretty busy week coming up. I've only got Wed night completely free as I'm meeting Mikey B and mark (maybe Sue) for the Italy game tonight, seeing a friend's play (for free!) tomorrow, dinner with work colleagues on Thursday (not looking forward to that) and then my reading at RADA on Friday.  Oh, and the annual awards/race night for the Rob Roys on Saturday night, followed by an early morning start on Sunday as I present a certificate for the Largest simultaneous sleepover to some children. 

Finally, as I'm writing this, I just been told I'm definitely play Friar Laurence in Romeo & Juliet over summer, with rehearsals starting a week tonight!!  Terrified and excited in equal measure...