Ice SKATING not Ice falling...

Oh how I'm feeling my age right now. JT & I went shopping in Union Square on Thursday and we had tickets to ice skate at 4:00. The idea was to skate while the sun set and watch the lights come on. It's beautiful...we did it last year. I took TWO steps on the ice and biffed it. Face first on the ice. Since my face is my 'money maker' (HA!) I hit my left knee first.....right in front of a class of 1st graders who delighted in my spill. I got back up and re-skated after a little ice on the knee. Two days later and I'm still paying for it! Getting old is hell.

Tiana's Jubilee!

I knew when we left home that Disneyland had a new 'parade' for guests to participate in. Well, anyone who knows me KNOWS I would just LOVE to do that!!!

So, we played our cards right and....got asked to participate!! The show is on the Mark Twain and they stop the boat in front of Pirates of the Caribbean where there was a HUGE crowd. It was so much fun! We performed in 3 parts: First we had scarves we waved at the crowd, then we had wooden music notes we danced and played with, and lastly, we put on the choir robes and shook our tambourines to the music that played. We had a blast!! At the end of our performance, we were given special necklaces and took the pics you see here....

Disneyland at Christmas - filming

Something is always happening when I go to Disneyland! When we arrived, they were filming commercials for Tiana's Jubilee

Disneyland at Christmas - arrival

I love all of the colors Disney has on their Christmas Decorations. One of the first rides we went on was It's a Small World. Isn't it beautiful?

Disneyland at Christmas - Candlelight Processional

I LOVE Disneyland at Christmas time. We flew from Santa Rosa to LAX on Thursday night. It's so nice to fly direct from Santa Rosa. The Disneyland Express bus is right outside baggage claim and it's a fairly quick 45 min bus ride to the hotel. $32 round trip pp. Not too bad considering we fly home to Santa Rosa and don't have to fight the traffic or pay gas/parking in Oakland.

One of the reasons I go the first weekend in December is for the Candlelight Processional. It was tonight! We had a great place to stand (right in front of the fire station) with my friend Robert (cast member) that I met on the CHOC walk. Jeff and I could see the whole thing from this area. Jon Voight was the narrator of the Christmas Story and there were over 500 choir members from all over Orange County singing traditional Christmas stories. It's really a lovely concert!

Character building

Part of what I need to do before I voice a demo is create characters. I don't necessarily mean 'cartoon' characters, but different people I can do with my voice. I'd never really thought about it until I took the VO class. I've had some fun creating a few....but I have many more I need. To be a 'bookable' voice over artist I need 12 - 15 characters. People I can slip into and out of with ease. Sounds crazy....right? So here's what I have so far.....

• Miss Kitty from Atlanta (I created her after attending an HDI meeting where they didn't have a name tag for me...only Kitty's was left and she couldn't attend)
• Tsunami Susan (my Superhero! - created her at the VO workshop)
• Nasaly Nelly (self explanatory - created just to keep up with speaking nasaly)
• Biker Brenda - tough talker and such a far stretch from me!

That's it. I have a long way to go....any ideas will help!!! :) Thanks for reading....

My life long dream....a possibility!!

I did it! I'm sure I've driven some of you nuts in the past few days and for that, I'm sorry. I didn't want to jinx anything. I was afraid if I said something, what I wanted to do, just wouldn't happen.

I've had a dream....for the past 27 years and was afraid to follow it. I was afraid that if I tried and was told I wasn't any good, that my dream was done.

So, here it is.................voice over work. There. I'm sure for some of you it was 'duh' or 'that's it?'!

Yep, that's it. I worked at Burger King back in the early 80's. We had to call back our orders on a microphone. First time I picked that thing up, I was HOOKED! I LOVE talking on the microphone (my EB family can attest to that). Over the years, I've taken a few classes on voice over but they were mostly about how to break into the business. Big deal. Didn't really help because I didn't know if I had the skills....or the talent. So, today, I found out.

I got an email from American Eagle Casting this week asking if I was still interested in their voice over workshop. I had inquired back in July 08 and they just recently went through their contacts for this upcoming class. My weekend plans were canceled (Jeff and I were going camping) so now I was available to take the class. The class was offered at Zone Music in Cotati (CONVENIENT just a mile away!!!) and being taught by Kathy Garver. Some of you might remember her as "Cissy" on a Family Affair from back in the 60's. Kathy has a Masters' degree in Communications from UCLA and a Bachelor's degree in Voice Work again, from UCLA. She's been in the business for 25 years and knows what she's doing.

I was very nervous about going. Just because I like to talk on a microphone, doesn't mean I have any talent. Can I do a cartoon voice? Can I speak with another actor and read/act out a script? What about commercials? Tags? How was my diction? Elocution? Enunciation?

We spent 5 hours reading and recording scripts. Car commercials, descriptions of paintings for museum tours, commercial scripts with multiple actors, cartoon characters. I took direction, created my own characters, and read the most convoluted tongue twisters I'd ever heard of! (Ask me when you see me and I'll read a few!). I had a BLAST!!!

In the end, I needed to ask Kathy. "Can I do this?" "Am I any good?". This would tell me if my dream was just that.....a dream, or if I could actually work in this field someday.

Kathy told me, I'm good. Some of my reads were a bit over the top and she had to bring me down a notch (another big surprise). I came up with my own motto to get through my reads "Drink a glass of wine, then read my line". That's what I need to do. Chill out a bit and go for it!!!

So there you have it. My dream has been to do voice over work and be good at it. I might just have a shot!!

Oh, one more thing.....when I got to the class, the casting director was there. She asked me "Have you ever modeled?". I said no, but funny you should ask....I was in a print ad campaign recently for an association I belong to. "You have a great look. What are you doing Monday?" She asked. "I'm working...". "OK, never mind. I'll find someone else".

And that's show business!