I recently worked a temp job and this old security guard I was working with asked me what I did for a living. When I told him I was an actor he said, "Oh, okay. Lemme ask you something. Approximately when do most people like you decide to give up on your dream?" I don't get upset very often but this question really upset me. Who did he think he was?!? So I said to him, "Who are you to just come up to me and ask me when I'm gonna give up on my dreams? You don't even know me! You don't know what I can do, what my dreams even are!" I was riled up and rightfully so. How can he judge my profession when he has no idea what it even entails? And then he went on to explain that real success was "someone like Clint Eastwood. Someone who also gets behind the camera. That's when you know you're successful." This is when I stopped listening to him. Clearly his definition of success was different from mine.
I've been thinking a lot about this ever since and I've decided that no one else can determine what success is for someone else. When I told my mom I was joining AFTRA (the union for TV actors) she said, "Oh, one day you'll be on the cover of People magazine!" That, to her, would be real success. So, there ya go. When it comes to acting there is no definition of success. Is Meryl Streep more successful than Taylor Lautner? I would instinctually say yes, but in reality there is no comparison because they have to determine their own ideas of success. So what is success to me? I suppose it's just to do what I love. If I'm doing that, then I think I'm pretty successful. But then again, maybe success is simply just sitting here on my couch with cookies, Ina Garten, and the comfiest corner. After all, I'm doing what I love!
Stay comfy ya'll!
When do you plan on giving up on your dream?
I have taken care and effort into developing an effective method of meeting new people and building new relationships. There is a level of social obedience and propriety we all must maintain if we want to attract and invite new friends into our lives (and keep them) and there are, I believe, some basic rules. My primary rule of thumb for first time interactions? Try to keep spontaneous conversation clicking as long as possible before resorting to hackneyed starters like, "So, do you have any siblings?" Since moving to the city, however, I've discovered that I'm meeting and interacting with so many different people in so many different situations that it is becoming difficult to maintain my rules. So many people, so little time! It's a conundrum! So, I've discovered the beauty of "single-serving friends" and they come with an entirely different set of rules.
Single-serving friends are the people that you meet once and then never come across ever again in your lifetime. They are the people you end up in conversations with at Starbucks. The tourists you wait on at your restaurant job. The people you sit next to on planes. The great thing about them is that there are really no rules! When I used to wait tables, (God, it feels good to have that in the past tense!) I would tell my tables that I was born in Hong Kong and went to an English speaking school till I was five. What do they know? I sometimes tell inquisitive tourists that I'm on Broadway starring in Wicked. And airplanes? Oh, please. The BEST place for single-serving friends. Where else can you unload your problems on total strangers and not feel guilty about falling asleep mid-conversation??
So yes, we should should always be kind to our single-serving friends. I suppose you never really know if that person in Starbucks will some day be "the one." Or if that man on the plane is randomly a Broadway producer. Or if that guy on the elevator is a serial killer. So stay comfy ya'll because we can all rest easy knowing that for at least one moment in our day, the pressure to "turn it on" is off. You can feel free to drop off mid-sentence and they wo
In a world that is ever changing, in an economy that is dangerously unstable, in a career that is incredibly unpredictable, and having just graduated from theatre school and moved to a big, new city, I've resolved that making real resolutions this year is resolutely irresolute. That's why, I'm calling my resolutions this year my New Year's "Irresolutions" because they are fraught with uncertainty. So here are the things that I officially resolve to be uncertain about actually accomplishing. This way I can't possibly disappoint myself!
1) Take a bubble bath three nights a week (every night, bonus points)
2) Cook all of my meals from the Barefoot Contessa cookbook
3) Stop drinking (so much)
4) Give up coffee (on Wednesdays)
5) Make my Broadway debut (is this possible in conjunction with 3 and 4? Only time will tell)
6) Meet Tina Fey and convince her to use the catch phrase "You've got options, girl!" on 30 Rock
7) Sing a duet with Michael Buble, and then go back to his place
8) Open an IRA
9) Floss daily
10) Write a musical
11) Give up Starbucks
12) Gain 10 pounds (of muscle)
13) Lose 5 pounds (of emotional baggage)
14) Join a barbershop quartet
15) Film an Amica commercial
16) Ride in a helicopter
17) Go to a gay wedding
18) Touch Beyonce (if 17 and 18 can be accomplished simultaneously, bonus points)
19) Use Google Earth, a map, and some strategic longitudinal coordinates and graph paper to pinpoint the exact location of Ina Garten's home in the Hamptons. Have a picnic in her yard.
20) FIND THE COMFIEST CORNER IN THE WORRRLLLDDD!!!!!
Have the comfiest year folks! Stay healthy! Live long and prosper! NEVER GIVE UP! NEVER SURRENDER!
Tis the season for holiday parties! They are large gatherings of random groups of people brought together for the sole purpose of eating lots of sugar, drinking lots of alcohol, and wearing sweaters. The connecting theme between all of the parties that I have been to this season? There seems to always be one person at the party that no one likes. It isn't the kind of thing that you're forewarned about either. It starts off so innocently, "Oh Clark's girlfriend is coming too. It'll be fun." And then you get to the party and realize very quickly that Clark's girlfriend is a constant-talker-no-listener and no one really likes her (except Clark, and he's cool, so everyone is also like, "Clark could do much better"). And you are condemned to hours of Clark's girlfriend and forget to actually enjoy the party. Finally, Clark and his girlfriend leave (or worse, Clark's girlfriend gets too drunk and winds up on the floor passed out) and there is a breath of silence before someone quietly pipes up with something like, "Clark's girlfriend is... animated."
All we want from a holiday party is a little Christmas cheer, some good friends, and perhaps a comfy corner by the fire, right? So why must we be subjected to these holiday Grinches that make everything uncomfy?! It should be a universal law that at holiday parties everyone must put aside their bad habits and poor social skills and pretend to be a human for the sake of the people that want to enjoy the festivities. So to all of the "Clark's girlfriend"s out there I have this to say; don't get so drunk you pass out on the rug, don't sleep on the couch while everyone else helps with the dishes, don't just talk constantly about yourself and your achievements, and don't make people uncomfortable by prying into the intimate details of their personal lives ("So like, how's the sex in your relationship these days.") Not cool.
Happy holidays, ya'll! Stay the comfiest this season.
Everyone goes through a very similar series of conversations when they get to know someone new. Where are you from? Where did you go to school? What did you study? Where do you work now? But I, being so wonderfully typed into the middle ground of races, am cursed with being ethnically ambiguous. So every time I meet a new person, conversation inevitably leads to a conversation about how I am half Chinese. It amazes me how worked up people get about it. They gasp and flare their eyes in astonishment. "YOU'RE CHINESE?!?" I am sometimes taken aback as though they are offended or something. But then their eyes narrow (as they try to see a hint of squintiness in my eyes) and they say, "You don't look that Asian. I knew you were something, but not Asian." Then the whole room (everyone loves to discuss this topic) looks me up and down as I sit there judged and ethnically abused while they decide whether or not I look my race. They usually finish it off with an offhand compliment like, "Asian and white is such a beautiful mix. I want Asian babies." So I'm left confused and trying to decide whether or not to be offended or thankful or afraid they might take advantage of me.
Yesterday, however, I was not confused. I was just offended. I was an extra on this TV show and I was walking past this other extra girl who, for my own purposes, I will call a bitch. As I walked past she was saying, "Asians just aren't..." She paused and looked around to make sure no Asians were lurking in corners. She looked right into my eyes!!! And then she continued, "They just aren't attractive. The boys aren't cute and the girls aren't pretty. It's their pushed in noses and their slanty eyes." She demonstrated by pushing in her own stupid nose. "And they never have very good muscle tone." I wanted to push her nose in WITH MY FIST! But, I took the high road. A few minutes later I was with her in a group of extras and someone complimented my skin tone. I said, "Thanks, it must be THE ASIAN IN ME!" And I looked right into here eyes and glared. She looked confused. I hope she got the memo. She probably didn't though, the dumb bitch.
Moral of the story is twofold. One, yes I am Chinese, don't be shocked. Two, you never know if someone around you is a mixed breed. So don't talk smack. Stay comfy ya'll.
I've been doing some extra work recently for the TV shows that film in New York and after shooting only a few episodes of a few different shows I have quickly been able to establish some stock characters that always pop up amongst the extras. They totally legitimize the making of a TV show about extras called, "Extras."Here are some of the most notable characters I've come across thus far...
1) The Creepy Old Man - there is always an old man that is awkwardly hitting on all the young ladies. There was in fact a man on the set of "Gossip Girl" that said, as the girls were walking by, "I wish you ladies were all walking into my apartment." I'm so glad I'm a dude.
2) The Overact-er - This is the girl that stands beside you in the group scene and is gesticulating and making facial expressions that are so big they definitely won't be missed by the camera. This is also the girl that causes the director to come to the extras and say "stop opening your mouth so wide."
3) The Woman with the Obnoxious Laugh - there seems to always be one woman who makes her presence known to everyone in the holding room with her hideously obnoxious laugh. We hate this woman.
4) The Girl Who Almost Got SAG - this is the non-union girl who talks about absolutely nothing except how many waivers she has and how she is going to become SAG. This girl we hate also. This is also the girl that gets pushed into the deep back because she's too tall. HA!
5) The Guys Who Only Counts the Hours - this actually a group of people. These are the union people who do absolutely nothing except talk about how much overtime they're gonna get, what meal penalties they are getting, when golden hour is happening, blah blah blah. Did you really start doing film and TV for the money? Then, I'm sorry, but you're doing it for the wrong reasons.
6) The Guy Who "Won't put up with this shit" - this is the guy who goes and gets a piece of cake from the catering table before we're allowed to. He is also the one who refuses to stand where he is supposed to or is always complaining about not having bottled water on set.
7) The Couple - Last, but not least, there are the people who do extra work to find romance. I actually don't mind these people. It's a game I like to play while I'm sitting around doing nothing. Where are the budding romances going to pop up first? My set crush usually ends up being a crew member with tattoos and pretty arms (Don't worry, Kevin. I only look. And I still only have eyes for you. :)) <--- I hate that.
