Punctuality

Im in between acting classes at the moment.  I’m waiting for the adults to arrive.  Normally I go upstairs and take a 20 minute nap in the make up room between the classes.  It really refreshes me.  But some security guard locked the door so I can’t access it.  So I’m writing you instead trying to maximize the use of my time.  I had breakfast today with the Music Man..or Russ.  Russ is my good friend and accountability partner.  I’ve never really had an accountability partner before but I can see so many benefits to it.  I help him stay strong spiritually and he helps me stay strong.  We talk about everything.  He’s also from the Bay Area.  He was asking about my blog when I told him about the Czech.  I was describing some of the character names I have used in the past to protect people’s identity.  He asked what his character name was…and I just said Russ.  I think he was a little disappointed that he didn’t have a character name, but didn’t mind me sharing information.  But since I’m his accountability partner many things I will guard as rightfully I should.  I think I only use character names for girls for some reason. 

I came down a little hard on the teenage class today.  Our courses are drawing to an end in two weeks and they have gotten a little lazy with their work.  Like anything in life you get out what you put in.  Many of them initially put in a lot but once they figured out in their mind that they had “it” they started getting lazy and resting on their laurels.  I use a lot of metaphors when I teach and in life.  Perhaps I use too many metaphors.  But Jesus taught in metaphors with his parables so if its good enough for him its good enough for me.  I told them athletes all have a certain level of natural talent, some have a lot some not so much.  But still if they want to make it to the professional leagues or the All Star team no matter how much natural talent they have, they still have to practice.  They still have to work at what they have to be the best.  Acting and life are like that.  No matter how much we have to begin with, if we want to stay on top of our game we have to  continue working at it. 

The adults are just about to arrive.  I enjoy teaching the adult class the best I think.  I feel like Im helping them heal their emotional pains through art and science of performance.  Im helping them maximize their potential which I love being able to do.  This group is interesting.  They are all semi-passionate about their acting.  But not quite as committed as the teens or the children.  Often times they will have commitments or excuses to not show up.  They’ve already paid so their level of commitment doesn’t affect us financially.  But they aren’t reaping the full benefits as they miss so much.  There is something about the culture of this island that is kind of annoying.  Rarely is anyone on time.  Its almost accepted that its ok to be late.  So often times for class we will have people show up 15-30 minutes late.  I think that is so disrespectful to the people that show up on time.  Its always been a bone of contention with me.  When you are continuously late, I think it’s a sign of disprespect.  You are telling people that my time is more important than yours.  I didn’t always used to be punctual.  I was late for everything it seems.  But I always made it a point to be on time for professional appointments.  So I figured if I can do for my professional work, why can’t I do for social and other engagements.  So since that time I ‘ve been almost maniacal about being on time.  I have this quirk though.  I like to be exactly on time, not early, not late exact.  Its more efficient that way.  I think my timeliness was crystallized when I was doing a professional project about 10 years ago now.  Be prepared Im going to name drop.  I was doing a biography on Charlton Heston and arranged to interview him at his house on the top of Coldwater Canyon in Los Angeles.  We were to interview him at 9:00 AM.  My executive producer delayed our departure and then my crew was late in arriving.  So we set off later than I anticipated and then we hit bumper to bumper traffic on Coldwater Canyon.   We get to his house at 9:15 AM.  I knock on his front door, he opens the door (Im thinking, AHHHHHH Im standing in front of Charlton Heston) he slowly looks at his watch and says, “You’re late” in his deep and bellowing Heston voice.  (Later I read in his autobiography that he hates when people are late…D’oh).  I apologize and tell my crew to set up the lights in lightning fast speed.  So about 30 minutes later we have the lights set up and start the interview.  Mr. Heston warns me that because of our tardiness he can only spare 20 minutes for the interview.  So I get cracking.  No small talk, right for the meat.  I finish the interview exactly at 20:00 on the nose.  I wrap it up by thanking him for his time.  He slowly looks at his watch and smiles.  “We got a lot in for a short amount of time” he says.  I was very happy about that.  So ever since that Heston experience, I have always been on time.  On a side note, Mrs. Heston who is a professional photographer opened up her personal photo collection to me letting me choose from thousands of photographs she took of her husband.  She was very gracious.  Wherever there were two of a picture she would give the extra to me to keep.  So I have a collection of about 200 Charlton Heston photos taken by Mrs. Heston. Mr. and Mrs Heston were married for 64 years…a Hollywood marriage lasting 64 years are you kidding me!?!?!?…that is so old school.  Most Hollywood marriages don’t last 64 weeks let alone 64 years.  Why has our society so readily accepted divorce?  The thought of it sickens as you know since I was an unwilling participant in my divorce.  But I digress.   It was one of the most enjoyable projects I have ever worked on.  I was quite saddened by his death last year.  He was an amazing icon that I really looked up to and admired.  He influenced a lot of people in his day.  One time for the NRA, he raised a gun above his head and said you can take this gun away from me when you take it from my cold, dead hands.  He took a lot of grief from the liberals for that.  For me…I think he just helped me to learn to be on time.