The L.A. Report – Part 24
07-25-2016
Hey Everybody,
I just started another unemployment stint so I
thought it would be a good time for a new L.A. Report.
Last month I left my programming job in
Covina. The contract was supposed to be
for four to six months but I hung in there for ten. The first six months or so were great but
then things started to change and I was assigned tasks that I wasn’t qualified
or trained to do. The whole team was in
a constant state of flux, with new requirements and procedures every week or
so. As a result, I was under a lot of
new pressure to complete things I didn’t fully understand. In fact, it was such an unusual business it
was always difficult to fully grasp, although I even surprised myself with what
I was able to accomplish. But then as
things evolved, my manager started getting very critical. It got to the point where every time I got an
email from her, my heart would start to race.
Well, you can’t take that for very long so I gave my two-week notice
without even having a new job lined up.
Crazy, yes, but my mental and physical health is way more important than
any job!
I am under consideration for a perm job with an
L.A. County department and a few contracts have popped up recently so hopefully
I won’t be off for six months like I was last time.
But this time off has enabled me to get back into
acting a little. A couple weeks ago I
was a featured extra on an episode of People Magazine Investigates, titled Long
Island Serial Killer. I played a medical
examiner in three shots, although I’m not sure how much of my face they’ll use. It will air on the same network as that other
crime reenactment show I did in 2012 – Investigation Discovery.
Last week I auditioned for a role on Battle of the
Sexes, kindof a raunchy show on the Lifetime Movie Network (even though it’s a
TV series). A week later I found out I
booked it – my first scripted speaking role on national TV. I only had five lines but you gotta start
somewhere! I shot it Thursday and the
first 3 or 4 takes were perfect but my performance got a little weaker as the
day wore on. It’ll be okay, but no Emmy
award nod this time! We’re not supposed
to talk about the details – studios have gotten very strict about leaking
details in these days of rampant social media – but I will tell you it’s
Episode 19. It’s supposed to air this
fall, but I don’t know when; I’ll let you know when I find out.
I tripped on the sidewalk at the end of my run
December 12th and broke my left pinkie. I went to a hand
specialist a week later and he suggested just buddy-taping it for a while.
After a couple months it just wasn’t healing well so he recommended
surgery. He operated on April Fool’s Day (just by coincidence) and I had
to wear a bandage/splint for 10 days, then another splint for another
month. Now the bone is almost perfect but the finger doesn’t bend as far
as it should nor straighten as much as it should so I had a few sessions of physical
therapy, which helped, but it’ll probably never be back to normal. No big deal – it hasn’t affected my golf or
anything else.
Those of you who follow my occasional posts on
Facebook know that I finally got hearing aids.
However, they only amplified background noises and didn’t make voices
any clearer, which was the main goal. I
was driving with a friend in the car and I had to ask her to repeat everything,
just like before I got the aids. I know
they're supposed to be able to adjust them somewhat but I just wasn't confident
that they would ever be able to make them sound really good. So after a week, I returned them and bought
my first smartphone instead, with the excuse that there are hearing aid apps
you can get. Since there are only a few
places I have problems hearing (mainly movies and lectures), I figured I could
use my smartphone on those occasions.
So I have tried half a dozen hearing aid apps, and,
while almost all of them amplified clearly and equalized well, they all had
just a tiny delay, resulting in an annoying echo-effect. So much for that experiment. But I love the smartphone anyway (Samsung
Galaxy S7)!
It got up to 107 degrees in Sherman Oaks Friday,
but it looks like the entire country is sweltering under the “Heat Dome”! And it wouldn’t be summer in Southern
California without a wildfire or two.
Right now we have the “Sand Fire”, so close to me that I could see the
flames in the distance when I was driving home a few nights ago. Saturday I couldn’t do my run because there
was so much smoke and ash in the air. Yesterday
was much better because the wind had shifted so I did the run I usually do on
Saturdays.
Well, that’s about all for now. I would imagine I’ll send my next report in
another 8 months.
Jay