At 103 days... 378 and I am feeling great!

Well I have officially lost 88 lbs now and I am feeling really good. Aside from bad judgement eating some halloween candy that is...
I have had a lot of ups and downs this past few weeks. I have been moody and at times I don't know what truck driver posessed my mouth. I am also often tired but relative to the sleep I get, I would say that isn't a big issue.
I am excited about my life though. I dressed up in several different costumes for the various halloween events and I have to admit that I make a fairly hot pirate! ;)

I am also excited that yesterday, along with some friends and my sisters, I was on set as a background performer(extra) for the Mini-series Political Thriller "Burn Up".

The day was long and in my opinion more physically demanding than I anticipated but I LOVED it! I loved it so much that is has reignited a love for performing that I had as a child and teen. I never thought I would have the spark back but it has definitely come back! When I was about 8, I used to watch soap operas with my mom and we used to make up our own scripts and she would go through them with me. She wanted to teach me to cry on cue but I could never get that one! When I was a teen I was in a lip sync contest which taught me how much I loved performing. My mom and I wanted to write a song together and become the new "Judds" but that never came to be. Then when I moved to Calgary in Jr. High School, I joined a drama class and my love for the theatre began! I had to do an in character monologue where I had to have an accent. I did a flawless southern accent and it made such an impact that even though it was early on in the year, someone loved it enough to comment on it in my yearbook at the end of the year.

In high school, I continued the drama route and loved learning how to do theatre makeup. I loved the whole atmosphere of the theatre but when things went wonky with my academics and I left that school, I never went back to it. The years following leading up to now have been just getting my life back on track and getting stronger as a person.

Now that my life is changing after the surgery, I have discovered that I really do have the confidence and drive that it takes to be successful in a creative career like I have always wanted.

Being on the set of "Burn Up" was exhillarating. We arrived around 6:30 which was about 15 mins before our "call time". We got the forms we had to fill out for our registration and then we were able to get some hot breakfast and settle in. We found an empty table which was conveniently located near the ladies room! The breakfast made me happy because there was lots of protein rich items and even though there were bread items and some stuff I can't eat, I was able to fill up on bacon, eggs and fruit.

We hung out for a while, chatting and I did some Sudoku puzzles. Wardrobe came around and inspected the outfits we picked for shooting. For my first outfit I chose my black and grey peacoat with a green and grey striped scarf and grey gloves. I chose not to wear my hat because the weather was improving and for continuity, what you were wearing had to stay on until they said you could change. We were protesters in this shoot so we were supposed to look the part. There were some that looked like they had been protesting all their lives with the dreadlocks, bandanas and clothing to match, but I think we did pretty good. Afterall, people come in all shapes and sizes and protesters do too. I got complimented on the green and grey scarf too.
My second outfit was a light blue fall jacket with a blue homemade scarf. I didn't wear my hat for that one either. I changed my outfit 3 times, the 3rd time I put the black coat back on and that time, which was the evening shot, I wore my hat.

Our first call was at 8am. We were called in group B and although we were originally placed on the north side of the plaza, I was eventually moved to the west side as they needed to spread us out. As a matter of fact, Lauren was the only one who was kept in the original position at that point.

The day of shooting started with a variety of shots with us entering as if we were just arriving to the protest and then with us shouting and doing chants. We pretended to know the people next to us and then pretended to get excited with them and angry with them when we were instructed to do so. We ran after an imaginary limousine and raised our fists in protest. It was very different than my expectations in that I wasn't anticipating the number of times we had to repeat the same scene from different areas to give the illusion of thousands of people when in fact we were just 350.

It was chilly on the feet and we did a lot of standing. When we ran, we ran across the plaza, up the stairs on the other side and almost out to macleod trail. I took the foot high steps like they were nothing and I ran with the crowd as well as they did. I kept up!

The whole day was interesting and exciting and repetitive but fun. I was able to see a side of the movie industry I had only seen from afar before and even though some of it was similar to the shooting of the commercial for Ercole's restaurant I was in, it was a much larger scale.

The day went pretty much the same way as above until lunch. We had a break mid morning where they gave us sandwiches. I ate the turkey, bacon and cheese out of mine and tossed the roll. I grabbed a whole apple that was sitting in a basket. I don't know if they were for display or for consuming but I knew a piece of turkey, cheese and 2 slices of bacon wouldn't keep me going until the hot lunch was served. We went out for another "wedge" where we did the same thing over and over again, and then were brought in for a much desired hot lunch.

They served a variety of green, greek and coleslaw salads with rolls, rice, bean/pea medley and then our choice of ham or chicken. I chose ham. A great choice. I skipped the rice and roll.

I ate most of what I took. I gave Lauren some of my leftover ham and drank whatever juice they had. We didn't get a lot of time to relax and were asked to change before the next shot. This time, we were heading over to city hall to shoot in front of the municipal building. The shot involved running towards a police barricade fence and then shaking the fence as the "american" limousines drove by.

After doing that scene about 10 times in different ways (with a really short hot chocolate break in between), we went back to holding for another break which unfortunately only provided some chips and veggies for snack but I was fortunate enough to grab a banana! We hung out for like 20 mins and then were called back out for the last 2 "evening" shots. We heard them say they were ready for us to begin heading out so we decided to jump on it and head out right away. We were literally in the first 10 out the door so the second AD Brian counted us off in the first 15 and told us to see Patrice and tell her we were her 15. We didn't realize this immediately but much to our delight, we were going to be in the shot that included Neve Campbell and not in the distant background. I was placed in the shot and just a couple feet in front of me was Neve Campbell's marker. Debbie, Lauren and Alice were also placed in their seats and we waited for the shot. The two ladies I was seated with were terribly annoying as background performers. They kept watching Neve walk through the scene rather than pretending to be chatting. Ahh well, it all worked out and they got the shot in 1 take.

Neve didn't stick around long. She was flying out right away but she was nice enough to meet some people, sign an autograph and get her pic taken with one person. She smiled at me while we were waiting for the shot. That was nice. I didn't feel it was necessary to shake her hand or get an autograph.

After that shot, we were moved to the last evening shot which included a breakdancing polar bear. It was pretty hillarious! We laughed and cheered and clapped as random people joined in to dance with the polar bear. It was pretty cool!

As soon as that was done, they wrapped us and we went back to holding to pack up. I went to talk to the person that arranged for us being cast as background performers to thank her. I wanted to make sure she knew how much I enjoyed myself and how I would do it again! She was great and made sure to point out to us that there were hot spring rolls waiting for us outside that were supposed to be ready as soon as we wrapped. I got 2 and in my state of hunger, scarfed them down with a pack of plum sauce to dip in. I didn't care about the consequences at that point, knowing I would be heading straight home.

We got home after grabbing hot chocolate at Timmies and dropping Debbie and Alice at Deb's place. We arrived at about 9 but it felt like 3am. I was beat! I tried to sleep on the couch for a cat nap but ended up dragging my ass to bed at 11. I was in zombie mode!

After all that happened on Saturday my final evaulation of the whole day was that I loved it. I loved it. I loved it. Even if just a part time hobby, I want to get back into performing. I start in January with the choir but I have already begun looking for info about acting schools to see what I can start taking!

I woke up this morning a little sore but not as sore as I have been in the past and once I got out of bed I felt fine! Not a single ache which surprised me. I did a lot of running yesterday. More than I have done in a long time. I also did a lot of standing and stairs.

A few things I am pleased to share with you:

1) After yesterday and all I ate, I had no issues with how my body reacted to the food. I made healthy choices and was able to eat as everyone else did and had no issues.
2) I sat in a folding chair all the time I was in holding yesterday and didn't break it! I was sure it would collapse under me.
3) I sat in a foldup canvas chair (without arms) for one of the scenes and didn't have any issues. I didn't break it and it wasn't terrible!!!
4) I met a lot of wonderful people! I had fun chatting with the other background performers, getting tips/advice and just seeing what they had done in the past! I had fun flirting with the fake cop that had a nice "time piece" too! (Long story)
5) I enjoyed spending the day with Lauren, Debbie, Alice and Jennie.

I think thats all I can rattle on about tonight. I am beat and need to rest up for another busy week!