Monday night, one of the incoming first year directing grad students stayed at my place. We went to see "The Blair Witch Project". It was a little hair-raising at points, but not the terror-fest everyone had led me to believe. Conceptually, very scary, but I didn't totally buy it from the beginning. *shrug* Who knows?

When we finished the film, we drove back to my place, and my car started emitting a smoky vapor from the grille. Needless to say, this made me not happy. I needed to return a couple of films to the rental store, so I asked my next door neighbor to drive me over. She was already going to pick up her boyfriend from work, so she agreed. We dropped of the films and on the way to pick up her boyfriend, the car conked out. (remember to check your gas gauge often, kiddies)

I pushed this VW bug (thank god) mostly downhill (thanks again) for about 2 miles...until a cop stopped and asked us "what the hell is going on?" My immediate response was to say, "Uh...this is my new cross-training program...next week, I'll start on Buicks and by the end of the year, I hope to be dragging Suburbans loaded with concrete uphill and into the wind." ...but I didn't say that... "The cop gave my friend a ride home to get money and a ride from the woman staying with me (who wasn't driving because her car wasn't registered). So, I sat on the bumper of this car for almost 45 minutes and they FINALLY showed up. The rest of the evening proceeded with little or not incident. (The student I met was very nice and very bright. We had a lot in common. This bodes well for meeting the rest of the students...I hope)

Spent Tuesday trying to make sure my car was in decent shape. Took it into a new shop in the area which specializes in Mazdas, hoping the mechanic was a good guy. He turned out to be great. I thought my water pump had blown, but on Wednesday, he showed me the radiator cap simply needed to be replaced. The repair price dips from $250 to $10 and he gave me an update on the car's overall performance and some preventative maintenance I might want to invest in. No pressure, no commission, no bullshit. I love finding a good mechanic. Spent the remainder of the day relaxing and cleaning. Finished "Syphon Filter" in 4 days. Not bad. Rented "Nixon", "Meet Joe Black" and "Blade" to watch over the next few days. Also playing Army Men 3d on the playstation.

Spent yesterday at a massive cattle call audition for extras with a friend. I am union, so I couldn't participate, but it was interesting to sit and watch these people freak out on each other. Pretty ugly when actors get desperate. I am glad I was sitting that one out. My friend got work right away...one job for today and one Friday. She REALLY wanted to be an extra on Buffy, but got passed over. *shrug* As we were leaving, a woman approached us and asked if we were dating because she wanted us to be on some gameshow "Second Thoughts" or something ridiculous like that, where people go on a date with someone who is not their partner to make sure that it was okay. It's a bunch of freakin' actors who probably have never dated. Ah...Hollywood.

Sarah promised me that she would come and visit me in October if I quit smoking. I haven't had a cigarette since Tuesday night. Now, all I have to do is lay off the other respiratory cocktails.

Life is good!