hmatt's blog

“Every child is an artist, the problem is staying an artist when you grow up” – Pablo Picasso

So I’ve decided to try this Epic Win app for the iPhone. The first task I need to compete is to move over things I can actually accomplish. THINGS is great, but it is SUPER bloated right now with about 500 tasks to do. I spend WAY too much time organizing my list there. I want to just do stuff you know?

My wonderful girlfriend patiently listened and then patiently told me that I talk a lot about goals, but don’t seem to do them. She, of course, said this delicately, but is absolutely right.

This past week (or two) I accomplished very little when it comes to my goals. I’ve either been catching up on much needed sleep or ‘relaxing’ or just plain old procrastinating. Well no more. I’m taking my goals and breaking everything down so small that I can’t but help to get things done.

I am going to take the suggestions from Jacqui and catalog what I do with my time every day for a week. Things ARE going to happen.

I think that children need more time to be ‘bored’. The world is fast paced, but when and how are kids supposed to absorb it?
I often see toys that indicate how much ‘Stimulation’ the lights and sounds offer. However, then the kid doesn’t get a chance to use his or her own imagination. Often times too, these same toys aren’t open ended.

When I have kids I want to make sure they know how to think, and can always find a way out of being bored.

🙂

So I tried selling 15 items on ebay. 8 sold and all most of them only sold for the starting price of $1. After paypal took their cut, I had $51.51, then it cost $48.62 to ship and ebay fees $5.29. So not only did I waste an entire morning and several hours taking photos of items and posting them.. I’ve lost a few dollars.

I’ve learned that ebay is not the way.. at least not anymore. There are pro ebay sellers out there that have changed the game. And the ebay fee structure costs more now too. *sigh*

So, I’ve had to come to a realization. I will have to give away a LOT of my stuff because ebay selling isn’t going to happen. Well, maybe with the exception of my patches because they shouldn’t cost so much to sell and I’ll try to do so in batches.. but still.

I’ve been trying to purge my childhood toys and of course I’ve discovered that a lot of my ‘collections’ were not profitable in any way. I should have spent my money buying gold. So now I’m onto other things.

At least this was God showing me that I can’t sell items, so now I can spend my time on other more profitable pursuits.

Here are my goals for the first six months.

DAILY
-Drink WATER 1.5 liters a day (set aside little cups for on the go or markers and drinking them at a specific time)
-Think of 3 Things to be grateful for

——————–
January
——————–
-have my temporary reel done (add the taxi scene, 25 and summer clips)
-Continue Jacqui’s Exercise Regime (once a week)
-research an “Acting for Commercials” class
-1 Segment & 1 episode (tape ep3 Sun Jan 22)
-Audition for 5 projects

——————–
February
——————–
-New headshot (2/11/12)
-Find Small group (2/5/12)
-take an “Acting for Commercials” class
-Continue Jacqui’s Exercise Regime (twice a week)
-Audition for 5 projects
-tape 2 things (segments or sketches)
-tape episode 4 (Sun?)
-Clear out ALL of my childhood toys via gifting, giving away or geocache (2/28/12)

——————–
March
——————–
-Audition for 5 projects
-obtain MONEY for goals
-Continue Jacqui’s Exercise Regime (thrice a week)
-tape 2 things (segments or sketches)
-tape episode 5 (Sun?)
-move vhs tapes to a smaller storage unit
-buy a vhs to dvd recorder and start converting

——————–
April
——————–
-Have an agent (4/30/12)
-Audition for 5 commercial spots
-tape 2 things (segments or sketches)
-tape episode 6 (Sun?)
-see Jacqui in Australia again (or in May)
-finish writing ep 7

——————–
May
——————–
-Tape one spot (5/5/12)
-Audition for 5 commercial spots
-tape 2 things (segments or sketches)
-tape episode 7 (Sun?)
-finish writing ep 8

——————–
June
——————–
-Audition for 30 spots (5 a month – 6/15/12)
*Launch TRKS something
-tape 2 things (segments or sketches)
-tape episode 8 (Sun?)

-Have a costar role in a tv series (due 8/1/12)
-star in a short or feature film (8/15/12)

As many of you may know, I’ve been visiting my girlfriend in Melbourne since December 10. Since then Jacqui and I have been on many adventures. Now that the holidays are over however, she’s back doing her locum social work. Meanwhile, I am working on my kids show, writing scripts and organizing my life so I will be prepared when I return to Los Angeles on January 17.

I’ve made several observations on the Australian lifestyle and here are a few of my thoughts:

Koalas and Kangaroos aren’t everywhere like I pictured. I do see yellow warning signs with kangaroos on them like I would deer signs in the northwest. I’m still optimistic. The only wild animals I’ve seen have been at the wildlife preserve.

Every power outlet (powerpoint in Oz speak) has its own power switch which indicates a painted orange dot when it is on. My guess is that this is to prevent an electric shock from the higher than US voltage coming from the walls. Another benefit is that this would solve the ‘phantom power’ issue of charging cables. Quite handy I think.

There are LOTS of spiders. There are several poisonous spiders in Australia. So far I’ve encountered a Huntsman that Jac has smashed with her shoe. A White-tail (who’s bite apparently often results in amputating an arm or leg as it turns purple) and a Red-back. It’s more the constant presense of webs everywhere that bothers me, however. I see them everywhere. I run into them often. Not so fun.

Jac made a joke in the US about many of the laws and restrictions we have. I replied by saying something about how Australia is just more lawless. I experienced something similar in Spain in 2010, and here it manifests differently. There are cars parked all over the place. A dangerous traffic maneuver called a hook-turn exists for those willing to try (my girlfriend being one of those). Among other things. Not that I’m complaining though. The US is too cautious due to excessive litigation and fear of liability.

Food and clothing here is quite expensive. This is justified I suppose by the higher minimum wage ($18 according to Jacqui). A typical dinner is $30-40 and that is WITH a buy-one-get-one-free coupon or ‘voucher’.

The language varies unexpectedly. Jacqui and I often keep ourselves amused at each other’s accents. As she predicted I am often needing to be corrected in my Aussie-lingo. It isn’t a restroom, but a toilet. It isn’t called candy but ‘lollies’. She doesn’t carry a purse, but a ‘handbag’. I am constantly forgetting these words and I probably won’t get it until I’m about to leave back to the US. .. And then all my friends will comment on my interesting vocab. Then there is the constant ‘reckon’ usage. This and other such words are often used. I’ve heard them before, but usually in a historic or rural setting. Then there is the difference in pronouncing words and companies. They pronounce Nissan as niss-anne where us says niece-on.

Again I’m not complaining about these differences, merely commenting on observations. I find it all such a delight and I’m glad I still have about two weeks left to enjoy everything some more.

I’m very optimistic about my relationship with Jacqui. So I know I will visit again and again.

Oh, and the area of Melbourne (or Sydney) isn’t like the cartoon versions I have constructed in my head. I pictured everything tan and dusty and everyone talking like Crocodile Dundee. Jac has assured me such places exist in a different state than hers (she lives in Victoria). People who speak that way are called ‘auckers’ (sp?). Perhaps I’ll venture to those areas the next time I visit. 🙂

I have a bin full of acting books, none of which are available on the Kindle. The few that are I don’t want to ‘buy again’. The benefit of course is having the book read to me while I sit in the car.

I’m going to start a habit though, where I make time to get to someplace early so I can read these books. I have a BUNCH of plays, acting theory books and reflection I could do, but as I’m learning in BCII, you can only go so far ‘learning’ acting. The rest is doing. That is what I am preparing to do.

I don’t want to sit too long now and type up a post.. I have LOTS to memorize. Part of my new process is to type or scan the script and have the ‘robot voice’ read it to me. When I try recording the script myself, I end up accidentally doing intonations and then run the risk of always repeating them that way.

I have a scene from Angels in America (need to re-read this play), When Harry Met Sally, and then I have to memorize a dramatic monologue for my Tuesday Hollywood Playground class and a comedic monologue for Monday.

It is times like this that I really wish I had instant memorization.. someday… = )

So yeah, digital books are great, unless you have ‘non’ digitalized books that you have to carry around too.

For the past.. while, I’ve been exhausted and felt like I was running around. Today I had off of work, and I am doing something special for the month of June..

My plans for ‘Catching Up’
——————–
-gathering a smoothie recipe collection & healthy out and about snacks (I’m sick of eating terrible-for-me foods when hunger strikes)
-setting dates for important things (like my hike-plan day!)
-recruiting others to help me with my community building (I have a list of great ways to build different communities impact l will appear soon, probably more in depth after BC2 is over. My ideas include: cold reading practices, ramshackle films, goal club, TRKS planning meeting, commercial improv, bible study group, LA adventure group, and of course a hiking club)
-getting rid of the ‘junk’ that is taking up space in my room
-mini-calendars and pencils near sites of habits to form (or checklists)
——————–

Calendars and Checklists

Keeping track and marking progress is the best way to accomplish a goal. I made a bunch of little June calendars and my goal is to do put these near ‘stations’ where I want to forge new habits.

– Dental Hygiene: last week I got a cleaning and checkup. (thanks to a $29 Groupon). They mentioned that I have ‘pockets’ forming on parts of my gums. This is probably due to my hit-or-miss habit of flossing and rinsing. NO MORE! I made a little calendar that I’ll check off twice a day for brushing-for-2min/flossing/rinsing.

– Workout. I haven’t been to the gym in a LOONG time and I keep thinking about how that is such a wasted opportunity. Apple paid for my membership to 24 hr fitness until March 2012. I put a little calendar check off list near my pull-up bar in the hall for: pullups/pushups/situps/touching-toes. I’ll need to buy some 8lb weights for some shoulder exercises too.

– Feeding Seamonkeys. You are supposed to do this every two days, but I often lose count. Sorry little dudes.

Same thing with checklists
– Car. I once supposed that I spent $150 on gas a month. I’m about to find out how accurate this is. My plan is to fill up today and then keep track of all gas I pay for until the end of the month, then fill it up again. This should work right?

– Acting exercises. There is a collection of different exercises that I ‘could do’ and I’ll have to come up with a way to rotate these things.

-Free time list. I’ve gotten in such a bad habit of wasting those ‘free moments’ one has throughout the day. I now have my little list of free time activities that are prioritized: Submit to LAcasting/Actors access, ‘things-to-ponder’, life goals meditation etc.

As other ideas pop up, I’ll add little calendars and golf pencils near the area. I’ve tried using my phone all for such matters, but it gets lost in the sea of apps on there, and a lot of things are location specific. What good is a timed reminder that appears when I’m elsewhere?

Let the month of change begin!

Most of my acting anxiety is from having my lines memorized. It seemingly takes me forever!

For a while now, I’ve been collecting all the ways other people memorize lines, and trying to figure out what works best for me.

One such way has been to write out my lines, so then I can go back afterwards and see what words I messed up on.

The tried and true method is to ask to have someone read lines for you, but I always felt bad because I would constantly need my lines fed to me. I needed a middle ground.

Then a while back I saw an iPhone app called Rehearse, which had this awesome feature that allowed you to highlight your lines on a pdf and then press a button and the highlight would turn black, leaving just your cue lines. Great! This works a little more elegantly than using a card to cover your lines.

The drawback was that the app was ‘free’ and they had a subscription model which meant that you would have to always pay for the scripts to be put in the app. Boo I say! This subscription price was WAY overpriced.

I turned to the clunky hollywood helper app, but there was always some sort of formatting issue with that little guy.

Then today I was preparing all the scripts I have to have memorized for my BC2 class, and I wondered if anything had changed with Rehearsal.

Yes! They’ve done away with the subscription fee and now I can pay a one time price of $20! FINALLY!

Now to get memorizing! I hope this app helps me overcome my memorizing mental blocks!