Home | Forest Bathing Friends w/benefits | Krush the Serpent | LA Atmosphere | Gnawing on the Big Apple | Forest Bathing in the Tropic of O | Poetry | Featured Writers | How I Got into SAG | Archive~BUG BOY TV episodes | Memories to Movies | The Singing Office | NYAHAY ROADTRIP 2013 'Into the Desert' | Nyahay Road Trip 2012 | NYAHAY ~ KING OF GOTHOLIC | Lyrics

Channeling the Goddess of Crazy Bizzy ~ chapter 1 by Jacqueline Nyahay

January 2013~

5...4...3...2...1  HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!  Kisses, champagne toasts, laughter, family.  We rang in 2013 with snow softly falling around Ed's parents home in Ohio surrounded by cousins, aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces, mom and dad.  It was all very magical and I felt much love in their home.  After some sleep we all got dressed to attend mass at St. John Chrysostom Byzantine Catholic Church.  We welcomed the New Year in with blessings and graces poured out to all.  It was with tear-filled eyes we had to say our good byes as we returned back on a plane to our home in California.  Thankfully we had Zyla's new iPad with Facetime that would call with an image to see everyone as often as we wanted.  Upon entering our home, the smell of our dieing Christmas tree no longer filled the air with Fraser Fir scent.  Ed immediately de-ornamented it and dragged it out to the curb for pick up.  It was late, almost midnight as we vacuumed up the last of the tree needles shed all over the floor.  For Zyla and I it was our last weekend of holiday break.  I was due back to Whitney on Monday, she to school on Tuesday.  Jessica called with my call time during my layover in Phoenix, AR, I confirmed, 7:30am back at the stages.  I still had no idea what was going on with the Back 5 or Back 3 or whatever we had gotten.  I went online and found that tickets were being distributed for more Whitney show nights throughout Jan and into February!  So it was true, we were shooting 3 more!  The ratings for episode 5 which aired Jan 2nd were the best yet.  Better than the season premier!  Ed and I received our first SAG/AFTRA screener ARGO.  What an amazing movie based on real events making it all the more fantastical.  I did not really remember when this covert mission to rescue the Americans in Iran happened as I was a very young child then, but it was times like these I wished I still had my dad to talk to about it.  He would have loved this piece of history woven in Hollywood lore.  He had been part of Central Intelligence for the CIA most of his adult life, a life he could never share with us, highly classified, that held mystery and questions for me.  Questions that would never be answered, mysteries that remain locked forever in the quiet solitude of death.

 

Monday morning it was back to Whitney.  First thing I did was get the new production schedule showing the dates of our 3 new episodes.  I called up Jessica's to let them know when to put me on hold for the show.  Happy New Year, Welcome Back cheer was everywhere.  Todd told me to cover Chelsea Handler's scenes since she would not be coming in until Tuesday.  It was a lot of dialog and I was not surprised when Whitney asked Zoe to do it, she had done it last year when Chelsea worked the show as well.  Whitney had just gotten back from Thailand and Hong Kong sharing stories of her adventures between rehearsals.  Everyone was in great spirits, I was happy to be back and part of it all.  Wrapping out early, I arrived home to watch the 5th Whitney episode ‘Three's Company' with Ed and Zyla.  It was so funny; I was laughing the entire time.  I remember when we had rehearsed and filmed it so long ago and it was one of the best episodes yet.

 

Tuesday was a long day.  We got started late morning and went until about 9pm.  Chelsea wasn't available until late afternoon, so that might have factored in why the schedule was later.  After some pre-shoots and camera blocking I took my walk away lunch break to my car where I relaxed, meditating on the words of The Religion of Ayahuasca that I was currently in the middle of reading.  Chelsea arrived to the stages, moving us to the scenes she would be playing in.  Everything ran smoothly, she looked fabulous and her two pre-shoot scenes went well.  Then we moved on to camera block her other two scenes, one with just Whitney in the therapy office and the other in Whitney and Alex's Apartment.  It was getting late and Chelsea had to go and I was asked to fill in for her and run the scene in the apartment with Whitney and Chris for camera.  Joe told me to channel Chelsea, keep it dry humor, so I did.  Everyone laughed and loved my performance congratulating me on a job well done.  Our director Andy told me I would need to do the same thing tomorrow since Chelsea would not be available for the camera refresh in the morning.  I went home elated.  Forgot how much fun it is to act out 6 page scenes with principal stars.  Missed the rush of it.  After kissing Zyla goodnight, Ed and I sat down to watch one of the SAG nominated films The Impossible.  This movie was intense, in your face.  Based on a true story made it all the more horrifying, Naomi Watts deserved to win, her performance was powerful.  I fell asleep to tsunamis crashing one after the other, while I tried to navigate a way of escape all over again for her.

 

Wednesday, I did not hold my breath I would be used as Chelsea in the camera refresh, but as fate would have it, everything worked in my favor and I was asked to join Whitney and Chris on set to run the apartment scene again.  We did it twice.  Camera crew were congratulating me on a job well done.  Rebecca, our script supervisor, told me I nailed it.  I felt good about the performance.  I loved this character and her dialog, a strong female, my age with dry humor, I could definitely do that.  Moving on, we also had to camera refresh the therapist office scene between Whitney and Chelsea, so I also played Chelsea for that as well.  Whitney said I was ‘the new Whitney'.  I was not sure if that was a good thing.  I was not trying to steal her spotlight, just channeling Chelsea and doing my best.  It also helped that Whitney had written the scene for Chelsea to get the majority of the laughs on her lines.  After the second take, Whitney got the whole crew to start chanting my name.  It was a rush to say the least.  I had a lot of people come up to tell me that I was amazing and the show would definitely be writing me in a role.  I thanked everyone for their kind words and was proud of myself.  I had no idea what the future held regarding having lines on Whitney, I was just happy to work at this amazing job with wonderful opportunities to express myself and have fun.  We broke for lunch around 1:30pm, so I drove home to hang out with Ed for a while before having to head back to set for the evening.  He had been painting more of the house, something he had started the day before.  Egyptian Gold, on the opposite walls of where we already had a cranberry red.  It gave the rooms even more warmth and character, I loved it.  As I headed back to the stages, I was excited for what this night might hold.  Tonight our 6th episode of Whitney would air and it was said if it did well in the ratings, we would get 4 more episodes on top of the Back 3 taking our work schedule to mid-March!  As I walked up to Stage 10, a coffee truck was parked out front, courtesy of Whitney and Dan.  I put my bag down in the AD office and went to get my usual Caramel Latte on ice and a Double Espresso on ice for Todd.  Everyone was still congratulating me on a job well done.  Saying I was a great character actress, very funny, better than Chelsea.  Rebecca, our script supervisor, came into the AD office about an hour into the show, to quickly let me know all the executive producers where chatting with Whitney about my performance and how much they liked it.  Even our UPM, Nancy, came in to tell me what a great job I had done.  I did not let any of it go to my head.  I loved working the show as a stand in, and was pleased that everyone had enjoyed my comedy and I had done my job well.  At the end of the night pizza came right before the show ended.  Rick, our associate director, came in asking if I was getting any extra money for my performance and of course I said yes the usual $20 bump.  He felt I deserved more. 

 

Thursday, Ed and I dropped Zyla at school then worked in her school library for service hours.  Afterward, we went home to watch the Whitney episode that had just aired, and tried to find out what the ratings had been.  For lunch we went to Teru Sushi so I could use my ID badge from work for a discount.  It was so yummy, I pretty much had the same thing I had when we had our lunch date there last month.  I felt blessed to be able to share these moments with my husband.  We came home to start watching Ted that had come from Netflix.  It was so funny.  The bear talked and acted just like our friend Ed Feeley, it was almost as if he had voiced the bear.  Zyla came home from school with no homework and got ready for gymnastics.  I was pleasantly surprised when Jessica's called saying I was back on Whitney for Friday.  All the stand ins had read the new script Wednesday night, but there was only one guest star girl and I had assumed Alex would be going in as per usual.  Before crashing out for the night, Ed and I watched another SAG screener Hitchcock.  Wow Anthony Hopkins was amazing, I loved this behind the scenes look at Hitchcock's life during the filming of Psycho.  It made me want to watch my old favorite black and white movies all over again, Psycho, Rear Window, The Birds, Rebecca.

 

Friday, back at the stages after dropping Zyla to school.  I was told I would be reading for the Nurse in ER who was going to be played by Loni Love again.  She would be on set Monday.  Matt was also brought in to read for Phillip, a new love interest of Lily that Alex sets her up with.  But when it came time for Matt to read the lines, Dan was brought to do them instead.  I was not surprised and assumed Zoe might be reading the nurse lines when my turn came.  It was not uncommon for stand ins to be brought in on a Friday and then not used.  But when the ER scene was up, I was called down to the set.  Roxanne ends up with a dart in her back and has to have it removed.  I ran the scene with them, took direction from Andy who was back directing this extra episode.  Matt was asked to read the off camera line of a patient in another bed screaming.  Todd told us that the show had not received anymore back episodes and that February 6th would be our official last day.  When Whitney arrived to the sets she told everyone that the network did like the show and would have given more episodes, but that they wanted the show to end strong and since it had started late, more episodes would mean air dates into summer, and that was a bad thing.  Whitney said we should take it as a good thing.  After lunch we did the Network Run Thru, which went really well, with lots of laughter.  When Matt and I went to sign out, Todd told Matt he was getting the contracted part of the one line of off camera dialog.  I wondered how that would play out, considering Alex had been told she would have the off camera line last season and read it at every run thru only to be told show night that the casting director had brought in someone else to do it.  I went home to my family to start our weekend fun.  It was Ed's last weekend of his holiday break.  We watched another SAG screener The Sessions.  It was such a sad, strange movie.  John Hawkes was brilliant.  Helen Hunt did a great job and looked amazing nude.  The theme was invalids and sexuality.  A sensitive subject matter that was done tastefully with class.  It was a little distracting and hard to take William H. Macy seriously as a priest after watching him on his hit Showtime series Shameless though.  Jessica's called with my call time for Monday on Whitney.  Megan texted that she had finalized all her info with Jessica's and to thank me for helping her get into the best call in service ever.  Kids Management wanted Zyla for Hart of Dixie, but she had not brought home any homework or books, so it would be too much to scramble trying to find something for her to do on set Monday and I turned it down.  I was excited they were calling as usual since I had just emailed in her new 6-month picture update.  It was amazing how much she had grown in 6 months.  Looking back at her old shots from summer she looked so young. 

 

Along with screeners and downloads, SAG-AFTRA also offered cash coupons for some movies to be viewed at participating theaters.  AMC Universal City Walk was participating, so Ed, Zyla and I all went up to see Les Miserables.  What an amazing performance by all involved.  The two and a half hour movie never grew boring and kept all of our attention focused on this musical masterpiece.  Afterward, we strolled around the City Walk and ended up at Saddle Ranch where we toasted up S'mores on the fire pits outside.  They were messy but quite tasty!  Sunday, I wanted to take advantage of the new annual pass holder offer of Magic Morning Hour.  Usually it is reserved for guests staying at a hotel in the Disneyland Resort, but for a limited time we were also allowed to enter Disneyland Park one hour earlier than regular scheduled hours of operation.  It was a bit of a challenge getting my family up and ready by 6am, but well worth it.  We arrived to the park at 7am and got right in.  It was wonderful to skip through Main Street feeling like we owned the place.  With no wait times, we went on Space Mountain first, twice, then Star Tours, Matterhorn Bobsleds, and Indiana Jones before heading to the California side.  Grabbed up a fast past to the Radiator Springs Racers, then settled into a booth at Flo's V8 Café diner for breakfast.  By 9am, the park was still pretty empty, and we had no wait times going on Flying over California, Goofy's Sky School, or Silly Swings.  Making our way around the back of the park to California Screamin we rode it twice, then headed back to Tower of Terror.  I was wearing my Weird Girl shirt, after just viewing Frankenweenie Friday night, and making silly fish faces whenever the camera took our picture on rides.  Ed would take a picture of the monitors when we exited rides so we could upload the silly photos to his FB page.  We ended our day having a drink in the Carthay Circle Lounge before using our fast passes for the Racers, then headed home a little after 1pm.  I was exhausted, and declared naptime.  Ed woke up and started making a fabulous steak dinner, then we started watched another SAG Screener The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.  Ed's winter break was officially over and everyone was back to work and school tomorrow.

 

Monday I headed into the stages as per usual, but did not stay long.  Chris had pink eye and was quarantined then left to go see an eye doctor.  So rehearsals and the network run thru were cancelled for the day.  Alex, Megan and I found ourselves with an entire morning off, so I suggested hiking at Fryman Canyon, where I had met Megan a few months before to hike, and was only a few short blocks from the studio.  The weather was crisp and clear as we hiked up into the forest of Studio City.  Afterwards, we lunched at Sushi Dan's.  I said goodbye to the girls and went home for a nap.  I woke up in time to pick up Zyla from school.  After homework and dinner, Ed and I watched another screener from SAG, The Master, starring Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix.  Both amazing actors did a great job.  I liked the story line of hypnotic regression to past lives and working out all the issues your spirit carries with it from each incarnation. 

 

Tuesday, things were running smoothly on set at Whitney.  We did some pre-shoots.  At one point Whitney walked by the set where I was standing in for Rhea.  What had been a therapy office last week was now an ER room.  Whitney looked over at me and started chanting my name.  She seemed in good spirits.  After the pre-shoots were finished, Chris was supposed to arrive to set by noon, but did not get there until 1pm.  He had gotten the antibiotic drops for his eyes, but was running a fever and was told to go home.  His pre-shoot scene was pushed for first thing Wednesday.  Whitney asked Dan Levy to fill in for Chris for the remainder of the day running all the blocking for camera.  On our walk away lunch, I headed to my car to relax and read more of The Religion of Ayahuasca.  I had been reading a chapter each morning in which I arrived early to set, and was nearing the end of the story.  I found online healing retreats to Peru to take part in the ceremony of ayahuasca led by Amazon healers, curanderos something I very much was interested in.  Andy was directing again, so the day went by quickly and I was home in time to help Ed make dinner, while Zyla was at gymnastics.  Netflix had delivered Homeland, a fabulous Showtime series, we had heard great reviews about.  We watched the first two episodes and were hooked.  I love Clair Danes, always have.  She has an amazing role playing a CIA agent caught up in the Al-Qaeda terrorist issues, obsessed with a POW war hero whom she believes has been turned. 

 

Wednesday, I woke early and took my shower, only to check my phone and find out Central Casting had called after I went to bed and Whitney's Show night had been cancelled.  Andy had warned us on set yesterday, that Chris, might not be up to Show night and that we would find out in the morning.  So now our hiatus week was starting a day early and we would make up this Show night the following Wednesday.  I was happy I had not done my make-up yet.  I don't wear make-up usually unless going to set.  I was glad to have the day off, spending it organizing my filing cabinets and clearing out 2012 stuff and prepping for tax time.  I had thought of going for a hike, but decided on a nap instead.  Lately I had been having so many fun vivid dreams and obviously my body needed the downtime.  Sickness germs were in the air, and I was thankful I had stayed healthy through the season.  Kids Management texted with a job for 14 years old boys, which I found odd.  I picked up Zyla from school, she did not have much homework and wanted to watch Pitch Perfect, which had come from Netflix for her.  Ed had to work late shooting the wrestling matches and told us to go ahead and start the movie.  It was really cute, like Glee but for college kids.  Afterwards, Zyla went to shower and get ready for bed, while Ed and I watched another episode of Homeland.  I finished reading The Religion of Ayahuasca and gave it to Ed, who had read the first few chapters on the plane over Christmas break. 

 

Thursday, I was back doing my service hours in Zyla's school library.  No one showed up to help me, but it was ok.  Some of the kids got out of control and I had to send them back to class.  One boy decided to take the clothes off a nun doll and have the stuffed elephant breast feed from her.  Never a dull moment in the library.  I went home to have some lunch before hitting the trails of Stough for a Rosary Hike.  I felt like my body was fighting something, maybe a sore throat coming on, time for some Vitamin C.  I called up Kids Management to find out if there was something amiss in Zyla's profile after the text I had received yesterday.  I was told they were having Texting Delay issues all day yesterday and into today.  They told me they had texted me at 8am, but since I did not get the text until nearly 3pm, another job had already posted to that extension.  I was sad for Zyla and hoped this issue would be cleared up soon, so she could get back to set.  Patti, our DP on Whitney, email invited everyone in the crew to her beach house for a BBQ party on Saturday.  I asked if I could bring Ed and Zyla to which she said of course.  I picked up Zyla from school and fed her some dinner before taking her to gymnastics.  Ed and I still had one more downloaded screener from SAG to watch, Rust and Bone.  It was a French foreign film, intense, about a woman who looses her legs in an accident while working with the Killer Whales at Sea World and how she moves on with her life, with love and meaning.

 

Friday, I went for a Rosary hike at Stough, after spending most of the morning obsessing about our Easter Break Road Trip I was planning.  I wanted to hit 5 states in the week and half we had off, including visiting my friend Sonia and her family in New Mexico.  My research lasted all day, looking into hotels, locations, national parks, fees, etc.  Ed had to work all night shooting games at Crespi, including the basketball game against Notre Dame in which Crespi won! 

 

Saturday, I was excited for Patti's BBQ beach party in Ventura!  After Zyla got home from gymnastics, we had a light lunch and headed northwest.  The traffic was horrible, and it took over an hour and a half, but it was worth it.  The weather was amazing high 70 degrees, sunshiny day at the beach.  I had fun introducing Ed and Zyla to all my friends from the crew of Whitney.  Jeffery had the grill going, with shrimp, chicken and beef for tacos.  At one point Ed was talking about The Singing Office reality show he had won and we found out Antar had done the lighting for it!  Brian and Heather showed up and were a blast to party with.  Ginny and Leo arrived and she took a picture with Zyla for her instagram account.  A group of us all walked down to the beach about a block away to watch the sunset.  Zyla and I walked out on one of the stone jetties into the water.  The tide was coming in, and crashing against the furthest rocks.  It was amazing to see the Channel Islands right off shore, out in the water, illuminated by the rays of the setting sun.  Back at Patti's, I asked her to see her photos from her Kenya trip a few months back.  Zyla and I enjoyed scrolling through the off road adventure Patti had taken through wild terrain, seeing every animal up close and free that usually we would only see in a zoo! 

 

Sunday, was a somewhat mellow day.  Zyla needed to do a service hour and had put it off forever.  She was going to Alter Serve at Mass but we got there a few minutes too late for her to participate.  We did end up sitting 2 rows in front of David Henry, who had been coming to Mass at our church a lot lately.  Zyla was excited since Wizards was nostalgically still one of her all time favorite shows.  For a service hour, she ended up cleaning her entire bathroom, then we all went for a hike at Stough, where she ran into some of her friends from school.  Ed and I watched the last SAG screener we had gotten in the mail Silver Linings Playbook.  I really enjoyed all the performances, especially De Niro, Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence. 

 

Monday, Martin Luther King Jr Day, we were stuck in the house from 8am-4:30pm due to our courtyard area being repainted.  I was prepared with Netflix DVDs.  Ed and I watched more Homeland with Claire Danes, we were definitely hooked.  When Zyla woke up we watched Suburgatory the last disk of season 1.  Ed hooked up our mini fondue fountain for lunch, so tasty chocolate covered fruit was had by all.  Kids Management started texting, the delayed thing was over, and I got through to picture submit her for some gigs late in the week. 

 

Wednesday I was back at Whitney for shownight.  Chris was doing much better.  The day flew by, none of the stand ins were needed since we had camera blocked everything the previous week.  So we just sat in the audience section watching final rehearsals and a pre-shoot being taped.  We broke for walk away lunch late.  I did not drive home, since there was still drama with the last of the courtyard being painted.  I went with Alex, Megan and Alex's aunt Jennifer, who did BG on our show, to eat at Crave Café across the street from our stages.  A coffee truck was waiting for us when we returned, and I got my usual along with our 2nd AD Todd's usual.  Andy got us out quickly, since they had to re-shoot a scene from a previous episode after the audience left.  I made it home by 9:30pm, in time to kiss Zyla goodnight.

 

Thursday, I was back in Zyla's school library earning my service hours.  The other mom did not show up for an hour.  The little boy who had been using the nun doll to breast feed the elephant was back, stripping the nun doll again.  I sent him back to class.  Later I found out his mom is breast feeding his new baby sister at home so his behavior made some sense, but was still inappropriate for school.  After work, I went to pick up Lining, whom I had not seen in months, to eat brunch at Mimi's.  Over Mimosas and Sunrise Pomosas we discussed her upcoming speech she was giving the following week at her Toastmasters Club. My Lincoln screener finally arrived so Ed and I watched it before casting our votes for the 19th Annual SAG Awards Show. 

 

Friday I was back at Whitney.  Alex, Megan and I were called in for the 3 guest star girl roles we had read about in the new scripts Wednesday night.  But as what usually happens on a Friday, Zoe played two of the guest star roles, and the other was played by the actress cast for it.  Meaning we all sat in the audience section all morning watching the rehearsals but not needed for anything.  Megan was used at the last minute for a featured female BG thing for the run thru, so she felt useful.  I was just happy for the extra paycheck and yummy catered breakfast and lunch.  Wrapped out at 2pm and went to get Zyla from school.  Our Netflix had come in the mail, Homeland disk 3, which Ed and I watched all evening.  I just really loved this show and fantasized what my life might have been like if I had pursued a career as a spy for the CIA which I had considered back when I was 17 years old, just graduated from high school and trying to find direction for my life after my father's death.  It would have been a career in my dad's footsteps, but that was not the direction my life ended up taking. 

 

The weekend was mellow.  Ed had a gig shooting a music video for the band American Lust Junkies, while I stayed home with Zyla helping her finish up her weekend homework.  Zyla had requested I get her Full House, the 80's show I grew up with that was now in syndication on Nickelodeon.  Since we did not have a TV signal, the only way she could watch it was for me to get the 8 seasons of disks from Netflix.  The first one arrived and she watched all the episodes on it twice.  I found myself reliving childhood memories watching the show with her.  I liked the directors commentary about how the show was created, the process they went through for casting it and some history behind the pilot episode and first season.  Sunday, after breakfast, we all headed into the 11:30 am Mass so Zyla could Alter Serve for her service hour she needed.  It worked out well, considering there was only one other server for the mass, a new girl who needed help learning all the movements so Zyla helped train her.  Next door, Zyla's school was having their big Open House, in which we walked through saying hi to all her teachers, then came home for a delicious steak lunch.  Ed's cousin Rebecca Nyahay was in town from New York and staying in the Los Feliz area by Griffith Park.  We drove over to see her, then took her with us down to Gillian's Art Show in Santa Monica.  Ed had not seen Gillian Lefkowitz in a while and wanted to touch base with her and her mother after the death of her father Zalman King last year.  Her art was beautiful and bold, I loved the colors and emotion she captured on the canvas.  Everyone was hungry for dinner, so we stopped into an Italian restaurant near Rebecca's place for pizza and pasta before heading home for the evening.

 

Monday I was back to Whitney.  The schedule was a little different because we were shooting on New York street the next day, so we camera blocked after the Network Run Thru.  I told Alex and Megan about the new app Strum that Zyla had been playing with over the weekend that Joleen had told me about.  It was so much fun, you record 15 seconds and then can edit the footage with different filters that turn it into a music videos.  We shot a few and were dieing laughing having fun during the lunch break in the audience section.  Kids Management texted for Zyla to work The Mindy Project again, but then said she had to be 12 years old and in 7th grade, they could not use 12 year olds in 6th grade.  This was the second time that show was being so particular and I found it annoying.  I texted my friend Zack who stands in on that show to see if he knew why they had this rule, but he had no idea.  I managed to wrap out by 2:30pm and pick up Zyla from school.  Good thing because she needed a lot of help with her homework setting up study guides for upcoming history and religion tests.  Ed had to work all evening shooting the soccer and basketball games for Crespi, they won both events!  I watched another episode of World Without End, a mini series based on the book I had read back in 2009 when I was working Better Off Ted.  They did an amazing job, I felt like I was right back in the story of 14th century England.  I put Zyla to bed early, and crashed out myself because I had to be up at very early to get ready for set.

 

Tuesday, I dreamt I was walking down a sidewalk through a city, getting some exercise before heading to set, when all of a sudden the entire day passed me by and I realized I had missed going to set.  I woke in a panic, but thankfully it was just the alarm sounding 4am.  I showered and had some coffee before heading into the stages.  All the stand ins were needed to bring their cars to the New York street again.  After parking, I headed into our big catered breakfast, having a breakfast burrito and fresh squeezed orange juice.  It was chilly out, but not too bad.  I was thankful they were not spraying my car with the snow stuff that had stained it last time.  None of the girl actresses were in since the scenes being shot were only with the boys, so we were told we might be used as BG.  Alex, Megan and I hung out in the Dinner/Italian Bistro while filming commenced.  I wanted to be close to my car since they kept asking me to move it for different shot angles.  Eventually all the stand ins were thrown in for some BG crosses, but it was a short day for the girls and we all wrapped out by 12:30pm.  I came home and made a sandwich for lunch, then got Zyla from school.  The last disk of Homeland season 1 had arrived.  When Ed got home, he helped me make a tasty penne pasta dinner, then we watched our show.  Simply amazing.  Claire Danes acting job was phenomenal.  I had voted for her during the SAG awards for best female actress in a dramatic series and much deserving she had won for Homeland. 

 

Show night on Whitney!  I arrived to the stages a little after 9am, had some breakfast and waited for the action to commence.  Originally we were going to be pre-shooting a Low Bar scene with all the cast, but then it was changed to being played out for the live audience.  We camera blocked it, then another scene that had a bunch of rewrites.  The rest of the morning was spent doing camera refresh.  At 2pm, we broke for walk away lunch and I went home to relax.  I wanted to watch all the extras on the Homeland disk.  I loved seeing the prologue to the upcoming season 2, the behind the scenes of how they created season 1 and the deleted scenes.  Back at the stages the coffee truck had arrived and I got the usual.  We had a guest star stand in Erin, who was also with Jessica's List.  She was really cool and fit right into the group.  Hanging all night in the AD office while the show played out, it was crazy to think it would all be over in one week.  The crew would be moving on to Up All Night which was revamping their MO and changing the last 5 episodes to be a multi cam show like ours.  Brian asked if I was tall enough to stand in for Christina Applegate.  I said yes, but I did not want to steal someone's job and was sure she had a regular stand in who had been working the show already, but if she was not available, count me in!  Andy directed the scenes very quickly wrapping us out at 8:30pm.  I got home before Ed and Zyla who had been at Crespi working the Jumbo Tron for the basketball game.  I watched all the behind the scene extra footage from Homeland again with Ed before going to sleep.

 

Ed had tweaked his knee, similar to what happen to me 3 1/2 years ago when I felt my knee go out.  He woke up and could hardly stand on it.  I scheduled a doctor's appointment for him, then headed into Zyla's school to work the library.  The other mom did not show up, so I handled the kids alone.  They always get so crazy when they come to the library, like its recess time instead of quiet time.  When the 4th graders started talking about teabagging and what it means, I had to send a number of them back to class.  I took Ed to the doctor who said he should see an orthopedic specialist.  He got a note to stay off work for a week.  I brought him home so he could elevate and ice his leg.  In his down time he finished editing the music video he shot over the weekend.  It looked wild. 

Continue reading chapter 2 of Channeling the Goddess of Crazy Bizzy.. CLICK HERE..

Questions or comments, please email Jacqueline here at kts@krushtheserpent.com