There's no business like show business

Glitz and glamour. Red carpet events, celebrity interviews, and VIP treatments. These have always fascinated me, and living in Southern California, not impossible to attain.

I’ve had my share of the red carpet, some fashion shows, and mingling with local celebs, but I’ve never really pursued anything beyond that.

But now I have the opportunity to explore this exciting world.

I attended my first casting call in Hollywood today for a radio broadcaster. I’ve never really thought much about the radio, but I was reminded that Oprah Winfrey and even Ryan Seacrest started in this field prior to their television fame.

Hollywood, famous for its television studios and stars is unimpressive and dirty. It took me three hours to get there from Orange County, and another 45 minutes to find parking remotely close to the American Radio Network studio. There were homeless men and women everywhere. I wonder if they were aspiring stars once.

I arrived right on time, but I was apparently late since many people were already there before me. There was a good mix of people ranging in age and color. I loved the diversity. Unlike television, radio seems to be more accepting because voice talent is more crucial than looks. Nonetheless, people still showed up well-dressed with headshots. There were also tons of really hot-looking people. "Welcome to Hollywood," I muttered to myself.

I realized how unprepared I was for this audition. My headshot is nearly a year old, and my look has definitely changed. I need to get it updated. My last couple headshots cost several hundreds dollars per hour for the photographer and his crew of hair and makeup artists. A shoot is usually 2-4 hours. I suddenly empathized with all the struggling folks trying to break into showbiz. I now understand how some end up doing compromising acts just to make ends meet and with the great hope of breaking into the industry one way or another.

My resume is also practically bare. I have no “real” broadcasting experience except for the morning announcements in highschool, which I left out. It has been nearly six years since. I do recall turning down a 2am slot for my university radio station because it was "inconvenient" for me at the time.

The audition itself was not intimidating. We each got our own studio with a microphone and all the broadcasting gadgets and we read a script to be recorded and listened to by the director and producer. We’ll know by tomorrow if we made it to a callback.

This could very well be the start of something new… or just another interesting experience.

The Ten

1) Line dancing is totally cool. Learning steps and the music they go with is a bit complicated, but people are generally nice and willing to dictate steps to newcomers. I now need to save up for nice country boots and a cowboy hat.

2) Chivalry is not dead. I was walking behind an elderly couple in their 70s and the man still opened the car door for his woman. In the past, I’ve only observed this act on first dates, or newlyweds, but I don’t think it was the case here.

3) I can’t tell people’s age. A 31 year old acts like he’s mid-20s and a 24 year old acts totally mature. Or it could just be context of our meeting. It does make me question whether or not people think I’m my age when we meet. I had a couple people ask if I were still in college. This could go either way.

4) You can never be too old to pick up anything new. Given my indefinite free time, I was able to take up four new activities and actually am enjoying them. My body is a bit sore from it all, but it’ll be fine.

5) Good friends will always be there. :-)

6) My daddy loves me. :-)

7) I clean out my closet each week, but I continue to have plenty to wear. I don’t get it.

8) The library is an awesome place. I have to halt expanding my book collection due to recent personal budget cuts, so I have just been borrowing books instead. Not having money won’t stop me from my love of reading!

9) I’m an expert on giving dating advice, but I can’t seem to help myself in this area.

10) Quarter-life crisis is a pain!