It's hard to believe that this time a year ago a film crew was following us around the hotel I am quietly sitting in right now. The whole family, Mami and Titus included, were here. And everything we did from ordering a pizza to walking downstairs to get our bags was scrutinized by cameras and microphones and a very kind director/producer overseeing it all. We made some friends and learned a lot about reality TV those three days.
Today it is quiet. Same hotel. But with ghosts of last year popping up as a familiar spot where we were interviewed or where a memorable scene played out. The ghosts are quiet and have no cameras. After our long day today I am glad for the quiet. Right now the kids are bathing and getting ready for bed. No need to tell them what to do. Even the five year, Olivia, is a veteran. Don't bother daddy, just get ready for bed. Hotel voices, remember to use hotel your hotel voices.
As you can figure out for yourself the sizzle reel (that's what they call a test reel) didn't bear out any kind of show for us. I learned from the top guy at Discovery Studios that the reel never was even edited. He gave me a few excuses; we are too nice a family, not New York Enough, too Milk toast. I think that was true but I think the tons of technical things that went wrong (lost audio and video due to a crashed hard drive being one) and the fact that not all of us effervesced had more to do with it. After this long 4 month tour that included some really exciting stuff including strange foods, neat people and historic or weird places, not to mention the troubles that popped up and the interested assortment of personalities that joined us for a month, two weeks, a day, I think Discovery Missed out on a great opportunity with us....but, hey, that's just me saying, you know!
Our hotel stay in Temecula (there are no hotels in Anza) was OK. Check in was tough as the clerk wanted the credit card holder to sign in (our client booked it and had her card on the rooms). I played tough guy and convinced him it was well worth him just using the card she gave him as I wasn't going to give him mine. He would've charged her card had we not taken the rooms so why couldn't he charge her card when we did take the rooms? Dumb dumb dumb.....not him, the rules! Anyways it worked out fine.
The only problem after that was lack of sleep. I woke up every single hour on the hour all night long...I seriously saw every hour from 11PM to 7AM! I functioned fine today but around 6pm I was irritable.
We found a BBQ joint near our hotel and ate there from brunch, " A Touch of Soul". On their sign they even had a Biblical reference, MATT 6.33 "First seek the Kingdom of God..." The food was great and the two folks working there were really nice. I highly recommend the Brisket.
We then drove into Anza, a small sandy desert town. And set up the show. This year the high school wanted to overcharge the city to use the theater so they used the town hall. It was 10 foot ceilinged and tiny so our tightrope and some stunts had to be cut. Still a good crowd showed up and we nailed the show. I must say due to my lack of sleep there were a couple of times I felt like I was phoning the show in. I don't think anyone noticed. High compliments were paid all around after the show and we loaded up. We then drove down to Beuna Park (about 2 hours away) and found our hotel. The one I opened this blog with.
Last year while we were here there was a group of college kids here. They are back! We are on the opposite side of the hotel this year and there are not complimentary bottles of water like last year, but otherwise all is the same.
No comments:
Post a Comment