Donna in Hollywoodland

Donna Grayson

Saturday, May 21, 2005

Montana Avenue on Saturday

The American Cinematheque also runs another theatre besides the Egyptian Theatre . It is the Aero Theatre on Montana Blvd in Santa Monica. And usually I consider that alittle to far for me to drive for my volunteer work. But today was the Montana Ave Sidewalk Sale, and the idea of sitting out in the fresh air - not to far from the beach - sounded like a great way to spend the day.

I parked about 4 or so blocks away, up on Margarita just north of Montana . And walked through the pretty residential area to get to the Aero Theatre. It so peaceful and quiet. The streets are so wide, and the lawns are so nice - its such a big change from East Hollywood.

I got there alittle early for my volunteer shift, and walked around a bit. I hadn't had time for lunch before I left so I had stopped at McDonalds along the way, which I was regretting because of the calories.. But once I got there, I was glad I did - because there were no food vendors. I guess I was expecting more of a Street Fair with the Lemonade stands, Kettle Korn, Sausages and all the other treats.
Well, this was a Sidewalk Sale. All the merchants and stores had their items out on the sidewalk for a Sale. And in this area of the city, a Sale is still to expensive for me.

As I was walking around I overheard an upscale dressed woman saying "Oh, Montana Ave is my new addiction. I used to be addicted to Melrose ...."
And I really wanted to stop and eavesdrop on the rest of her conversation, but on the sidewalk we were packed in like sardines moving along in one huge clump and I had to keep moving with all the other people

All the stores are really Cute ... and seem to mainly cater to Women. Clothing Stores, Stationery Stores, Shoe Stores, Bath & Beauty Supplies, and Fancy items for your Home. All very nice and pretty.
And Montana Ave was filled with adorable babies, cute dogs, and alot of upscale woman who looked like actresses. A fun place to People Watch.

My volunteer shift was basically sitting at a table in front of the Aero, and asking people to sign up for the theatre mailing list. It was fun because I got to chat with alot of people. Mainly about Movies. And the afternoon was perfect, sunny - but not to hot. It was a nice relaxing day sitting outside in the fresh air. It was a really nice day. I ended up getting a blue berry muffin from the Wild Oats Market across the street.

At 6 pm, after my shift was over, one of my friends met up with me. She had been walking around shopping and our plan was to grab dinner together somewhere along Montana Ave. So we went walking. I stopped and got some Misticks incense at a store called "Hey Kookla" . The incense really smells yummy - I got "Vorange" which smells like Vanilla and Orange - and "Mango Mango". I like the fruit scented incense, and this is the best smelling incense I have used in a long time.

Then as we walked up and down Montana, we realized that there weren't that many restaurants - and the ones that were there were already closed for the evening. We thought about going into "Rosti" but it was to crowded, probably because it was the only large restaurant opened.
After walking west for a while, we decided to walk back east to theatre because we were getting hungry. We ended up at alittle french restaurant Le Marmiton Bistro and Deli right across the street from the Aero Theatre.
I got a very healthy and light green salad with a salmon fillet on top, and a light vinaigrette dressing. That makes up for my lunch of Mcdonalds. My friend got the onion soup - which smelled so good, I was thinking of ordering it, but stopped myself.

As we were walking back our cars, I said "Oh, lets stop at the Peets Coffee so I can get a Decaf for the ride home" It was getting alittle chilly.
The Peets was closed ... It was only 8pm. So was the Coffee Bean and the Starbucks .
At 8:00 on a Saturday night... almost everything was closed on Montana Ave.

As I was driving home, I took Wilshire Blvd and spotted the Starbucks on Wilshire and 26th. Yes, this is section of Santa Monica was happening on a Saturday night. I got my Starbucks Decaf for the ride home.
It was just weird being in the section of Santa Monica. Back in 1979 my first apartment was off of Wilshire and Yale. Pretty weird to think it was that long ago. I lived in Venice for around 12 years and would always come up to this part of Santa Monica to attend the Santa Monica Vineyard when it was on Washington not to far from Lincoln (and which is now the Westside Vineyard ).
I think this Starbucks used to be a Bagel Nosh, and I remember how I would go there many a Sundays way back then.
Its really weird to be in a place where you used to live ...a very nostalgic feeling .... from almost 25 years ago.

posted by Donna Grayson # 9:30 PM (0) comments

Thursday, May 19, 2005

More pictures of the Cat

You can never have too many pictures of your cat on your blog.
Cinnamon Pumpkin, the Cat, sitting on the bookshelf under the window:

posted by Donna Grayson # 7:30 PM (0) comments

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Commercial Acting Class #3

Usually I type up my blog entries on a text document, and then copy them over to blogger.com. Well, I did that with a few, a then somehow I deleted my text documents. Very frustrating. Very dumb. Now I have to do them all over ....

Wednesday was the last class of the Commercial Acting class. And after all the weirdest this week, I was alittle out of it. Just alittle 'off".
Even though I've caught up on my sleep, I still was dragging a bit.

The first thing we did in class was to do one of those commercials where there is a bunch of people, and everyone has just one line.
The line I chose was "I want this mess cleaned up", said by a woman looking at a messy desk with bills and papers all over it. The point of this was to say it as many different ways as possible. Our instructor, Chris Game, said this was to give the Casting Director a "menu" of readings to select from. The teacher was giving us different direction, and saying ...do it this way, do it that way.
At one point he said "Do it like Dianne Wiest." I got confused, I couldn't think who that was. I said "I don't know who that is." Of course, all the class giggled. (Off course when I got home and looked her up on the internet, it dawned on me that of course I know who this actress is.)
Then he said "Do it like Goldie Hawn ". All giggling and spacey. So that was fun.

After our break, we then practiced the Interview. Which is basically being interviewed by the person behind the camera. And the instructor asked us two questions "What gives you great joy?" and the other "What really moves you?". So that we would give one happy perky answer and then give a very thoughtful answer.
The one thing the instructor said that I did well was that you can look at me and tell that I am thinking. You can see my eye movements and expression that shows I am giving some thought to what I am saying.

But then playing back the tape .... we noticed I was slouching ! I wasn't standing straight. I was kind of putting my weight on one leg, and looked alittle lopsided. Ugh ... that was a pretty big mistake. I never noticed that before. I wonder if I was just slouching today because I was tired, or if I slouch all the time ...... I am going to have to take notice.

posted by Donna Grayson # 11:06 AM (0) comments

Tuesday, May 17, 2005

Celebrity Sighting at The Dentist

Even though I caught up on my sleep - I still felt out of it. I don't know if it was the disruption of my sleep pattern due to my disturbed neighbor, or the fact that the church I attend is falling apart, or that my tooth is broken and is costing me $200 to fix, or that I still need to get repairs to my car which I haven't done, or that I am going through menopause,or that I haven't had an audition in a while, or, or, or .... you name it at this point, anything is possible.

Basically, I went to work this morning with lots of teeth missing while my bridge is being repaired. I just didn't smile. And when I talked, I held my hand over my mouth. Very humiliating - but I really didn't see the point in calling in sick just for that.

I call the dentist about 1:00 ish and they tell me that my bridge is ready, come by anytime.
I drive west on Sunset to the dentists office.
No major stories with this appointment. The break was repaired perfectly, and all was well with the world. I could literally smile again.

The high-rise building that my doctor is in, is a funny building. If you look at the Lobby Directory I bet more that half the occupants are all Dentists. On the floor that my dentist is on, there are 2 other totally different dentists offices. Its funny to see so many dentists crammed into one office building. I guess since everyone needs a Dentist, there really isn't alot of competition.

I go down to the parking lot to get my car. I stop at the really expensive ATM machine to get cash to pay the parking cashier.
I look to my left, and there in line at the cashiers is one of my all-time major favorite actresses, Cloris Leachman .

I am so flustered and so happy. I kind of panic alittle. This is a real thrill. But I don't know what to do, I never know what to do in these situations. My thoughts flash to the brand new cell phone camera in my purse, but I also know that I lack the finesse and bravery to actually snap a photo. Not to mention, I always treat people, even my favorite celebrities, how I would like to be treated. And if I was going to have my picture taken, I know I would want to be asked first. So it is out the question.

I decide to just go about my business as usual. And I get in line at the cash register behind Cloris Leachman. I look out the windows at the cars and I try to mind my own business. She seems very nice and is chatting alittle with the cashier. The cashier gives her her change, and she says Thank you. She turns and walks past me and glances at me. I kind of grin, but walk up to my turn to the cashier - trying to summon all my acting classes and look natural, to pretend like I am not completely totally thrilled to be in line behind this talented woman.

After I pay, I see Cloris Leachman drive off in her car. I say to the very young, early 20-ish cashier, "Oh, I bet you get celebrities in here all the time."
She looks at me blankly.
I say "The woman who just paid - she is a very famous actress."
The girl shrugs and kind of giggles to say "I don't know".
I say "She's been in alot of hit TV shows. She was just in the movie Spanglish . "
The girl starts to look flustered at this point. I hope I have inspired her to start reading magazines. I bet dozens of famous people come to her cashier booth every week - and she has no idea.

Driving back to the office, my gloom has disappeared. I am reminded of why I moved to the Hollywood area in the first place.
Its really fun living here !

Back at the office, I tell all my co-workers. I email my fellow volunteers from the Egyptian. I look up Internet Movie Database , which says Cloris Leachman has been in over 100 movies.
Wow..... thats all I can say is Wow.

posted by Donna Grayson # 8:27 PM (0) comments

Monday, May 16, 2005

Mondays Suck - No Sleep and The Dentist

3 am, I am sound asleep. And when I am sound asleep, I am out. Its gonna take me a while to get my head together.
I jump up from bed with a start, my heart is pounding. I swear I heard my door bell.
But I can't even gather my thoughts to make sense of anything. I just stand there - dazed.

I run to the door "Who Is It?" No answer.
I look out the Peep Hole. No one there.
I am embarrassed - wonder if I woke the neighbors my shouting "Who Is It" so late.

At 5 pm, and at least one other time during the night. I jump up because I think I hear the doorbell.
My heart is pounding, I think I could have a heart attack from being jolted out of sleep.
Each time I think the door bell rings, I look out the Peep Hole. There is no one there.

"I must be having nightmares. I am dreaming this". Its all to weird.

I usually wake up between 7:30 and 8 am.
At 7 am ... another doorbell. I jump and yell "Who Is It?'
No answer.
I look out the Peep Hole, and see a woman standing there.
I open the door. It is my elderly neighbor.

She starts to talk to me like we were already in the middle of a conversation.
"Well, I never did find a locksmith to help me get in my apartment" she says.
Did we talk sometime last night... because it slowly sinks in that this was the cause of my doorbell. But I don't remember ever opening the door.

I am not in a good mood. "Are you locked out? Why didn't you talk to the manager ?"

The lady says "Oh, the manager changed the keys to my apartment and forgot to make keys for himself"
This makes no sense.
I say "But they have keys, they can let you back in"
The elderly lady says "No, their daughter just slammed the door in my face and refused to help me. If you can call a locksmith, I just need them to come and open my door".

I shut the door, and I grab my phone. I am so out of it, I can't find the telephone book. I call the landlord.
"Why aren't you helping this little old lady? She is locked out"
My landlady swears she has already called the locksmith and is helping her.
I say "You better come down here. I don't know why I have to be involved in this. She's at my door. She's been waking me up all night."

The elderly lady tells me which locksmith to call. It turns out she knows the name. And the locksmith already knows the address.
I am not very nice, because after being woken up at least three times, I am exhausted and completely in a fog.

Later, I call the Landlady, and tell her off "Why didn't you help this poor lady?"
It turns out they had been helping her, and they did call a locksmith. But this poor woman is going senile or has Alzheimers. Plus she has no living relatives. And it is she who changed the locks, not the landlord. She has at least three extra deadbolts on her apartment door. As a matter of fact, there are 3 locksmiths who will no longer come out to our building because she is always calling them. She keeps forgetting where she put her keys.
When she doesn't call the locksmiths, she calls the Police.. She reports that someone keeps getting into her apartment. She changed the locks because she told the police someone stole her cat food, and another time someone stole a fork.
At twice a week there are either the Police or a Locksmith there because she has called them. And she doesn't remember anything the next day.
Oh, and guess what else ? When she rings your doorbell - then she runs and hides. Thats why whenever I looked out my Peep Hole, there was no one there last night.

The landlords don't know what to do. They don't want to evict her and risk having her become homeless. They keep calling Social Services, but I guess it really takes alot to get Social Services to take over a situation. I tell my landlord, I will write out what happened last night, so that they have it in writing for Social Services.

When I get to work, I email my boss : "I don't think I will last all day, I may have to leave early to go home and get some sleep. Plus I have a dentist appointment".

The dentist sees me at 1:00. This is not a good appointment. They have to take impressions of my mouth because my Bridge has to be sent out to a Lab. I tell the Dental Assistant "Impressions ? It would be easier if you were going to drill for a filing."
At least they let me sit up during the impressions. One Assistant held the mold in place. Another Assistant talked to me, reminded me to breath through my nose, and did all the little tricks to get me to concentrate on anything other than the big glob of goop on a steel plate in my mouth. Yuck, I am getting nauseous just typing this ....

After its all done, I tell the Dental Assistants my Dentist horror story from about 10 years back. This other Dentist had to take impressions. Her assistants held me down, lying down in the dental chair - and stuck a bucket under me. I just threw up while they held me down and held the goop in my mouth. By the time we were done, there was vomit every where. This same terrible dentist gave me a root canal. They used a laser light on the tooth. She rested the burning hot metal of the instrument against my lower lip. I had all this cotton and stuff in my mouth, and was trying
to scream and motion that I was in pain. The awful Dentist just kept saying "Its only a light". When we were done, I was screaming at her and showed her the big burn on my lip. She kind of laughed "Oh, it burned you, ha, ha." I never went back to her after that. And it took me quite a few years to even think about going back to any other dentist.

Once my new Nice Dental Assistants are done with these new impressions - there is very little damage. My eyes are watery. And I have some of the mold goop on my face and in my hair. I am calm enough to make a joke "Oh, you could have given me a face mask at the same time."

I decide to pay an extra $50 to put a Rush on the Bridgework. The bridge is right in the front, and I will be without a certain number of teeth for 24 hours. An actress in Los Angeles without teeth - with my luck, this will be the day that Steven Spielberg wants to audition me.

After the dentist, I stop off at Carl's Jr. A Western Bacon Cheeseburger and Onion Rings. I feel I deserve it.
Then, its straight to bed by 3 in the afternoon. To catch up on all the sleep I missed last night.

posted by Donna Grayson # 7:16 PM (0) comments

Sunday, May 15, 2005

Crappy Sunday

I managed to get to Hollywood Presbyterian church only a teensy bit late this morning, I wasn't ushering or anything. I have to say I really didn't want to be in church this morning.
There is alot of emotions and gossip flying all over the place because our Pastor has been put on a leave of absence. And as I understand it,the Presbyterian Church placed a Commission to oversee the church and help straighten out whatever is wrong with it.

Well, I started to suspect something was weird almost right away. The Assistant Pastor who is currently Acting Pastor got up and said something along the lines of "I just want you to know that all those vicious reports in the Associated Press and Yahoo News about how this alternative service was a problem for the church - well, they just are not true."
I'm sitting there thinking "What in flippin' tarnation is he talking about ? Stories on Yahoo ? About our church? Huh ?"

Yeah, well sure enough when I got home..... Yahoo News
I tend to think of the Internet as a wonderful thing. But this is definitely the down-side. Anyone can get hold of a story about anything, and just Splatter it all over the World Wide Web.

Then.. the service of about 400 people continued, tho today it seemed alittle low - maybe between 200 to 300. People are getting tired of all the arguing and are starting to stay away.
As the service ended, the Leadership Team of about 20 people got up on stage and the leader read a letter saying : They were all leaving the church. They were all leaving the Presbyterian Denomination. Because of everything that was going on, they didn't want to stay here. They were going to be starting their own church. If we wanted to attend their new church, we were invited. And all the information would be on their website. We could still come to Hollywood Presbyterian next week if we wanted, but They would not be there. They would be meeting somewhere else.

And that was that.

Okay, well, people looked pretty shocked. Some people looked really happy. Some people looked really sad, almost in tears.
Me.. well, I was pretty pissed off. Okay, lets see how we can make things even worse than they already are. Whats that about kicking the dog...
Not to mention, that to me the entire speech smacked of "Sheep Stealing".
I totally understand if they don't agree with what is going on in the Church and they want to leave. I have been thinking of leaving myself. But I didn't like the way they did it - getting up and making an announcement and inviting 300 people to join them. That was inappropriate.
If they had quit the church in private, and then sent me an email to invite me to their new thing, I wouldn't be so mad.
I read a letter on Layman.org that described Hollywood Presbyterian as a Train Wreck right now... and you know what, thats pretty accurate. Things just keep getting worse.

After church there was another meeting to discuss all the problems. I haven't attended any of them, and I wasn't going to attend this one.
I decided to stick to my plans to have a relaxing afternoon...

My first stop was The Burger Factory .Its alittle junky dive, fast food place. I got breakfast. You know, egg, bacon, hash browns and toast. I haven't had a breakfast like that in ages ... and it was a real treat. And the entire breakfast was under $5 - thats pretty good considering its real eggs, and real bacon.
I had planned to sit and play with my new phone while I ate. Guess what ? All the pictures I took yesterday - my battery wore out. That was pretty funny considering....

Then I headed over to I Nails for both a pedicure and a manicure. They have these great chairs that you sit in, where the rollers go up and down your back while you soak your feet in water. Very relaxing. And it helped me forget this mornings problems.
Last stop at Ralphs for some groceries before going home.

I sat and thought ALOT about what happened in church this morning. I came to one conclusion. I have to think about what is best for Me.
It doesn't matter at this point who did what to whom, and who is getting asked to leave, and who has left already - or what any of these people are doing. I have to think of myself and my spiritual growth.
Well, I know I won't be joining the ex-leaders who took off to start their own church. First, I don't want to attend a church that got started because a bunch of Christians were fighting.. And second, I just plain do not want to go to a small church. I am single, in my 40s and I want a church were there are lots of things to do with a large congregation. So that makes any independent church that is just starting out - not a good personal choice for me.
So .... if Hollywood Presbyterian ends up losing its members and the numbers and activities dwindle down, then it will no longer be an option either.
I have no idea where I will end up for church next Sunday.... I feel alittle church-less right now. Sigh....

That being said, I looked around the Internet. I am just becoming a wealth of information about Churches in the Los Angeles area.
Here are a few where I have looked at the websites, and I may visit sometime soon:
Church on The Way. In Van Nuys, alittle drive for me. A huge mega-church with two campuses. I visited there a few times over a year ago, and I kept getting lost trying to find the buildings on the campus. The website seems to have better maps now. Numerous services times.
Lake Ave In Pasadena, another large church. I have never been, maybe I will go one of these weeks. Numerous services times.
Harvest Rock Another church in Pasadena. I don't know anything about this one. I may visit sometime soon.
Mosaic I visited a few weeks back, and really enjoyed the sermon. They seem to have alot of their activities farther east .
New Hope Chapel In Atwater Village. They have one service at 12:30, and I like that later time. They are actually pretty close to where I live.
Oasis LA In Mid-Wilshire - I attended this church for over a year. I really enjoyed the sermons, but decided it was way to young for me. Who knows, maybe I will go back and see what they are up to.

So there, who knows what I will do next Sunday.

And then .... as I was reading all the websites .... the tooth that I just got repaired ???? It broke again !!! Back to the Dentist tomorrow.
More money to the Dentist. A crappy ending to a crappy Sunday......

posted by Donna Grayson # 9:04 PM (0) comments