The L.A. Report – Part 22

02-27-2015

Hey Everybody,

It’s been almost a year since my last report so I guess I’m about due for another one.

In my last report I told you that my Union Bank contract had just ended. After that, I had five interviews for a perm job at UCLA but I wasn’t hired (details). When the interview process was getting near the end, a position opened up back at Union Bank so I started back there June 30^th. It was a 7-month contract and it ended January 30^th.

In my time off last year (March – June), I landed a new agent. He sent me out on four auditions but then I got called back to Union Bank so I had to put my acting on hold, since there was no way I could get from Monterey Park (where I was working) to Hollywood and back in the middle of the day in any reasonable amount of time. Now that I’m not working again, I called him and asked him to re-activate me. When I was out of work last year, I thought about getting into background acting again but since I got that agent, I really couldn’t.

In my last report I told you about a YouTube copy of my appearance in an episode of Unusual Suspects. That one had a few glitches in it but I found a better one. Unfortunately, that one was removed (probably for copyright infringement) but if you really want to see it, there is a legitimate copy on YouTube but it costs $1.99 to see it (Season Three – Clairemont Killer). Not sure it’s worth $1.99, though! In case you do want to see it, I'm at 20:41 - 20:55, 23:05 - 23:19 and 25:17 - 25:22.

I haven’t had health insurance since 2010 and this year I got penalized $600. That’s still a lot less than 12 months of premium payments would have been but it still leaves you vulnerable to financial ruin if you cut your fingers off with a Skilsaw (like my brother almost did) or get the “big C” or whatever. Plus, the penalty is doubling next year. So I finally bit the bullet and got one of those crappy $5000-deductible Obamacare policies, which I will now need because I gouged my eyes out in frustration in the application process! Okay, slight exaggeration (details).

Haven’t been hiking much lately because I’ve been playing more golf. I’ve had to take a few breaks here and there, though, because my main golf partner (Susan) was traveling, or the weather wasn’t ideal, or my back got tweaked, etc. Now that I’m not working, I can play more. I just bought a new putter so Rory is probably shaking in his boots! Yeah, right. I have been getting a little more consistent but rarely shoot less than 50 – for 9 holes!

What else have I been doing in my time off? I’ve been finishing up work I started even before my layoff, digitizing my VHS videotapes, records and cassettes (details) and I redesigned my Web site (www.jayblake.com), adding lots more photos (I expect you to look at all 2,300 of them), updating my resumes and even reluctantly added some songs to the Songs page.

Jay