I'm Famous

Thursday afternoon, I received a text from one of the new TBI guys (Steven) asking for help to move a couch that he found on craigslist.com. I was excited so I called Johnny (another TBI guy) to help move the couch too and we would be able to get to know each other before the semester starts.

We arrived at the dorm room where we are picking up the couch but the student that was selling it was not home. I then suggested that we go out and eat in the local since all of us where from California. We were talking about how we miss In n Out in the car on the way to the restaurant.

We reach the restaurant area in Dinky-Town and we are looking for some kind of restaurant that we could all agree on. On the way to the restaurant, we see some people filming students sitting at coffee tables on the side walk. I didn't know but in God's providence, this is where my career is about to take off (j/k). They had the bright lights, the foil-covered thing to reflect the light, and big professional cameras. It reminded me of walking through Covina while they were filming Roswell. I am leading the pack and I stop in front of the set and turned to Johnny and asked, "do you think we can walk through?" Johnny laughs and doesn't know what's going on so he just walk right through. I start laughing and Steven, Stephanie, and I just follow Johnny right through the set. We turned the the corner away from the set and were still laughing talking about how we might be on TV. We returned to our mission to find a restaurant. Little did we know one of the assistants from the set followed us and stopped us. He asks "How would you guys like to be in a commercial?"
To that I responded "Cool! What do we have to do?"
"It will only take 20 minutes and all you have to do is sit there and act normal." the Assistant said.
"Do you guys want to do it?" Johnny asks.
"Oh yeah, you get $20 if you do it." The assistant added.
I started following the guy and getting ready to be on camera already when Steven and Stephanie agreed to be in the commercial.

We sat down at the tables where they were filming before and they gave us the instructions. The director says, "thanks guys for doing this commercial for Great Clips."(great clips is a haircut spot out here). His instructions to Steven and Stephanie were to talk to each other and run her finger through his hair. Johnny and I were to act natural and have a regular conversation. The director also said when the camera comes by us to interact with the camera.
They came by and did the powdering on Stephanie but not the guys.

So they start rolling for the commercial and they start with Steven and Stephanie's table and she is running her fingers through his hair. They get the approval from the director that they are doing a good job and then the camera moves over to Johnny and me and we start laughing. The director loves it. I pulled out my phone and started reading a text and the director thought it "looked so natural". I looked up from my phone and into the camera and
I winked at it. The director again was happy in the way this commercial was turning out. Then he gets to Johnny and Johnny takes off his beanie and starts shaking his long hair like he is in a Pantene Pro-V commercial. I started laughing again but the director said he loved it.

The commercial was over. The director was excited about the footage that he got and he said that it will be airing in February. We signed the waivers took the $80 and ate dinner. When it was time to pay the bill we all pulled out crispy $20 bills. We all laughed at out 20 seconds of fame that will be on TV. I started to debate in my head if I wanted to continue in TBI or make a career move and jump into acting :)

Home Away from Home

Today, there was ridiculous storm (a tornado). We had to get everyone away from the windows and get into the stair way. It was crazy!!! It was 1:00pm (11:00am for you guys) and it was pitch black outside like it was midnight only lit by the lightning that flashed every 15 seconds and the headlights of the cars below. The thickest clouds I have ever seen hovered over the Twin-cities Metro area. The wind was so strong the debris was flying up and hitting our windows on the 6th floor making loud noises. After about 30 minutes, the streets were dried up and the clouds past over us. I looked outside and started laughing because it looked like that nothing even happened. The sky was super blue and clear of all rain clouds. I sat in my cubicle and said "This madness would never happen at home!" I miss the weather over there. If you think that you know what a storm is like try visiting me here and see.