An Interview At Fox Studios

Last week I was lucky enough to be asked in to do an interview at Fox Studios. The Modern Family art department team was looking for a new PA, and through a recommendation by a great contact, they had called me up for an interview.

Whaaaaat? I know. Madness.

My heart shuddered with nerves and excitement at the thought.

A couple of emails later, and I had a 10am time booked, a map of the Fox Studios lot, and a stomach of butterflies. I cleaned up my film industry resumé, did a lot of deep breathing, put on my tried and tested 'first interview outfit' (dark blue jeggings, black cowboy boots, sheer black sleeveless shirt, loose grey tee and lots of accessories - kinda goth, kinda glam), and rushed out the house.

Tuesday 9.08am.

Get in the car. 'Waze' (the traffic-dodging GPS smartphone app) tells me it's at least a 45 minute drive - which is longer than I expected (it's true what they say about LA traffic - it really is a nightmare). I'm getting a bit panicky. I still have to find the parking lot that I had a 'drive-on' for (industry speak - there's still so much more to learn), find a parking, navigate the whole of Fox Studios and find the stage and the office where I was due. Have I left to late?

9.32am

Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.

Traffic. Traffic. Traffic.

9.45am

I find the parking lot. It's emblazoned with a big 'Fox Studios' across the top - kind of hard to miss, but I'm glad for the directions in those aforementioned emails. The security guard seems positively bemused by my South African driver's license - he's never seen one before he says - and must show the other guard on duty too. I laugh and chuckle with him, but deep down I'm willing him to go a little faster. He hands me my pass, and my 'drive-on', and gives me directions.

Breathe. Drive into the parking building.

First floor - nothing.

Second floor - nothing.

Third floor - nothing.

Jees, how many people are there at Fox?!

Fourth floor - out into the sunshine. A parking!

Park. Grab bag. Check reflection. Nothing in teeth. Wipe sweat from brow. Go, go, go.

9.52am

Out the car, to the lift. Down to the ground floor. Studying the map on my phone, and trying to remember what the guard said - right and then left, or right and then right?

This place is HUGE.

Walk, walk, walk.

Realise I'm walking in the wrong direction. Turn around. Walk, walk, walk.

These boots are made for walking?

It looks just like it does in the movies - huge big warehouses of film stages, big trucks of equipment and props, people zipping around in golf carts. The only thing missing is a musical cast singing and dancing through the alleys - that always seems to happen in the movies. With the bright LA sun shining down, and the palm trees popping over the buildings and framing the sky, I suddenly feel very Hollywood.

9.56am

Stage 5! I find it. There's a crew member outside - I bug her for final directions. She's friendly, eager to help. 'Through those doors, up the stairs, and you're there.'

Life saver.

Through the doors. A bathroom! Ace! Did I mention that I was dying for a pee this whole time? Yip, bursting.

9.58am

Bathroom break. Thank gosh. And breathe.

10am

Walk up the stairs. And breathe. And breathe. Greeted by a loft office, open and bright. A few people are working at their desks. Busy bees.

I made it.

After all that stress, the interview goes smoothly. The art director talks me through everything, and she is kind and fair and nice. We chat about the industry back home, and the work I've done there. The projects they do sound interesting, creative and challenging; and I'm eager to learn. All in all, we chat for about 25 minutes, covering all the bases. I'm happy, and she seems to be too, making all the right motions and sounds.

On my way out I say how nice it was to meet them, and that I hope the rest of the interviews they have scheduled that day go smoothly.

Down the stairs, out the door, back onto the lot.

And breathe.

Smoothly? Silly me. I meant to say badly. Should have said badly. Ha!

Wednesday

A long day. I'm expecting a phone call. A watched phone never rings? Too true. My cold is just starting to settle in, and nests inside my brain, leaving me with an aching headache to accompany me throughout.

Thursday

Wake up late, groggy with flu. There's a missed call and a voicemail. I can hear the regret in their voice - while I was shortlisted, they're mid-season, and ended up going with someone with more experience on big TV shows, more ready to pick up right where needs be.

Coming second is never quite as fun as coming first.

But, one step at a time. While I might have been on top of my game in the industry back home, I'm a small fish in a big pond here, and I don't want to rush into a job that I may or may not be prepared for. While it would have been an incredible opportunity I'm a big believer that if it's not meant to be, it's not meant to be. And when one door closes another one opens. The experience was completely worth it, and next time I'll be just that little bit more prepared.

Remember yesterday's post? Well, this is me trying to add in a little more real life, a little bit more day-to-day, a little bit more of those gentle nuances which make life so interesting. This is the stuff that I wouldn't usually share on the world wide web, but since my mom, my brother and my good friend Niki seem to be the only three people reading, it's really not that bad. 

The Sporadic Nature Of Blogging

I have always found blogging to be a bit of a love-hate thing - one moment my cheeks are crimson with the cringe-worthy self expression, the next I'm proudly hitting that 'publish' button on a post that will rock your socks.

It's a tricky thing blogging - that balance of complete openness and honesty, versus the more thematic blogs, focusing purely on travel experiences, fashion know-how or DIY to-dos. For me I feel like I haven't quite found my spot in between all that. I'm not too sure how candid I can be about my life (there's a big part of me that thinks, 'Egh, why do they want to know?!', at the same time as cringing at, 'egh, why would I want to share that?!'). I guess that's the voyeur/tell-all parts of me in complete disagreement.

I read my favourite blogs on a daily basis, some are complete outpourings of words, emotions, thoughts and feelings, which have my eyes glued to the screen, shocked that someone can be so easily open. A Blog About Love is a good example of that. Others are more considered outpourings, each word matched and marked, a kind of blunt honesty, which seems to hurt the blogger to share - a strained expression if you will.

Then there are the frivolous pages. The fashion junkies, the DIY nuts, the all-in-one happy-go-luckys. A gentle dose of candy floss to plump up the cheeriness after reading those aforementioned blogs. And then a little dose of - I guess - jealousy-inducing blogs: young married couples sparkly and shiny, living somewhat similar lives to your own, but doing it with such grace and flair, and looking so damn fashion savvy the whole way through. But I guess it really does come down to presentation right? Because they probably also blog in their frumpy pyjamas, with a stuffy nose, not-even-could-be-bed-hair-just-damn-messy-hair, surrounded by bills to pay and admin to do. Hmph. Ideal procrastination.

I know I've spoken of blogs before. Many times. Here, here and here. But it is an ongoing internal argument for me. I just can't help playing it over in my head. It seems to revive itself especially when there is no clear thing for me to put up on these pages - at least when we were traversing the world I had a clear target, I had something to photograph and document and paste on these web walls. Now life is about work, and day-to-day nuances, and - especially at the moment - between Husband and I, which one of us has the worst case of the flu. Blog-worthy? I dare say not.

So the audience dwindles - I don't even know what the audience wants. A simple outpouring? A fashion junkie? The blatant honest truth? Nuances of life?

So it is that my five-times-a-week posts slip and slide, like a slow motion avalanche. Becoming every-other-day-posts, and not-so-often-at-all posts. So it is that the words run out.

Philosophy On A Monday Morning

[Poster from Max Temkin]

Lost in Time in Times Square

Sometimes you find yourself just standing in the middle of Times Square, just standing. All need to rush someplace else gone. Because you are standing in Times Square. There were everything happens. Where life swirls and turns and twists and breathes all around you. But stays the same. Essentially it is the same. Yes, it pulls your breath. It satiates you, it keeps you looking in every direction. But it is empty. A void. A space of empty spaces.

Ah, Times Square. Everything and nothing.

Even our tour guide agreed - he described the first and only New Years Eve he'd spent in Times Square - he said it was one of those things you have to do, a right of passage, a momentous occasion.

And not altogther worth it. An experience he'd never again repeated. Because when you spend hours standing in the square waiting for the ball to drop, in the cold, that last ten seconds go by so quickly, and by then all you want to do is go home. I'd much rather give Times Square a skip and hit up the big parties else where in the city.

 But you do get lost there. Slowing turning, neck craned up, lit like day light. What a thing.

Turning Twenty-Six

Twenty-six is one of those weird ages, in between, in the gap, in the space between twenty-five and thirty. Feeling old, but not old enough. It's also strange to be so far from home on my birthday, but when December 4 came around I was excited. I do love a bit of a birthday.

The morning started with wonderful Skype conversations with family back home, and presents arriving from across the world. That was a treat!

We decided to try out one of those 'Hollywood Classics' for lunch - Pink's. The queue is always long, and the demand high. Pink's sells hot dogs, cheese dogs, mince dogs, and a combination of all of the above. It was worth the experience I would say, but not worth the taste - I've definitely had better hot dogs in my life.

Husband suggested we spend the afternoon in the downtown LA garment district - something I could not possibly turn down. Ninety or so blocks of stores - clothes, accessories, flowers, menswear, everything you could ever imagine! We didn't make it all the way across all ninety of course - that's a mean feat, but did cover a good ten or so. I was so busy filling my head with brain images that I forgot to take real pictures, so you'll just have to imagine how cool it was.

Got it? Yip, that cool.

Awesome.

Next up, we stopped at The Grove on the way to dinner (I know, a busy birthday, what can I say?), to bask in the Christmas lights and visit Sprinkles.

Birthday cake! Mini birthday cake for me!

Dinner was at Animal, with endless plates of delish tapas arriving one after another. I was too busy stuffing my face to really take any photos of the food - I know, useless again.

To round off a seriously perfect day, we walked up the road to Genghis Coen, for some live country music. Which I will admit to developing a serious liking for. It's just so - fun!

So that was my twenty-sixth birthday, and was entirely satisfactory. I think it can only mean good things for the year ahead!

The Feast of San Gennaro

Just over four months ago, we were in New York City. I had been doing some research into things to do in the city, and happened across a very interesting event.

This was one evening that I was particularly excited for. I love carnivals, and markets, and fairs. I love the rush of people, of cultures, of fun things to buy, and delicious things to taste. I love the new experience.  The Bell Buckle Arts and Crafts Fair was one of these. It was an incredible mix of things, people and curiosities. And so, so very different from the Feast of San Gennaro. This Italian spectacle, and that back country bring-anything-you-got-to-market could not have existed in the same universe.

And so it was that we entered the alleyway, welcomed by every possible concoction of red, green and white. And as the sun sunk lower in the sky, the Feast got more and more persuasive, tempting and delightful. Our friend Kimon joined us for the evening, and he and I set out to try as many delicious little snacks before dinner as we could. Each was more delicious than the one before.

Life bleeds out of the streets, just like the lights which make it seem like it may even be day. It feels like a carnival, rolled into a food market, rolled into stalls of souvenirs and make-up. All covered in flags of Italy.

It makes for a strange mix.

Unfortunately our actual dinner that night in Little Italy was a complete and utter disappointment. Husband has done a full review of the events of that particular meal, which you can read here.

Luckily the rest of the Feast was so heart warming, so delightful, and so right up my alley, that I skipped out of Little Italy that night, happy and content.

A Case Of The Common Cold

Sunday night. The bed is finally made. I've spent most of today either in it or on the couch, sore throat, box of tissues, television on. How is it that when you really are at your busiest that things all seem to fall apart? Body says no. Body says you will rest, or you will spend the whole night coughing. Body says working seven jobs at the same time is bound to catch up to you.

Boo.

I hate it when my body is right.

Make Music

Our Dirty Little Secrets

Candy Chang is the artist behind this thought provoking public art exhibition in Las Vegas, Nevada. What a novel idea. I love it.

What would you confess? ;)

[Photos from here]

In An Instant

I'm now instantaneous! Follow me on Instagram for up to the minute pics @reachingrobyn

Blog, What?

This blog couldn't be more perfect - each day Lizzy Stewart shares a moment through a little sketch, and they're wonderfully simple, descriptive and emotive.

These are a few of my favourites:

See more on her blog.

[All images from Solo]

Words to Daughters.

I just read this INCREDIBLE article; the words twist and flow like perfect poetry; but the message behind is the real clincher - the real pill to swallow. You have to click here, and read it all. Or, if you're feeling a little lazy for this Friday afternoon, read this little bit I cut out, and pasted here:

I don't want my girls to be children who are perfect and then, when they start to feel like women, they remember how I thought of myself as ugly and so they will be ugly too. They will get older and their breasts will lose their shape and they will hate their bodies, because that's what women do. That's what mommy did. I want them to become women who remember me modeling impossible beauty. Modeling beauty in the face of a mean world, a scary world, a world where we don't know what to make of ourselves.

"Look at me, girls!" I say to them. "Look at how beautiful I am. I feel really beautiful, today."

I see it behind their eyes, the calculating and impression. I see it behind their shining brown eyes, how glad they are that I believe I am beautiful. They love me. To them, I am love and guidance and warm, soft blankets and early mornings. They have never doubted how wonderful I am. They have never doubted my beauty. How confusing it must have been for them to see me furrowing my brow in the mirror and sucking in my stomach and sighing.

How confusing it must have been to have me say to them, "You think I am beautiful, but you are wrong. You are small and you love me, so you're not smart enough to know how unattractive I am. I know I am ugly because I see myself with mean eyes. You are my child and I love you, but I will not allow myself to be pretty, for you. No matter how shining you are when you watch me brushing my hair and pulling my dress over my head. No matter how much you want to be just like me, I can't be beautiful for you and I don't know why."

**

Thank you to my mom, who always made me know that looks were not the most important thing - brains were. Thank gosh for a solid grounding like that.

[Article excerpt and pic from Offbeat Families]

Going Pro

Apparently when you're all grown up, and you're done with studying, and moved out from home, and have your own bills to pay, and money to make, that's when you also have to do things like make contacts, business cards and shamelessly self-promote to strangers, people on the street, and everyone who might ever read your blog. But that's the name of the game, and makes for the best best-foot-forward approach.

So please do visit my website, even if it's just to look at the pretty circles I made, and all the fun colours that I managed to fit into one page. Yip, yip!

Click here: Robyn Davie Wardrobe Styling & Art Direction

List Ticking

Remember how I made that list of ten places I want to visit in LA? 

Well, last week I got to visit one of them - Laurel Hardware. It was kind of a last minute thing - we were heading out to do some errands, and as we got in the car realised it was kind of lunch time, and we were kind of hungry. Well, I was kind of hungry, Husband was ravenous.

Our first errand for the day was just down the road, so we grabbed some lunch first. Arugula salad for me, fried chicken burger for him. Fresh flavours, perfect sizes, and a clean, impressive layout left us feeling very impressed.

Tuesday {Past Explorations}

At age eight, I first experienced snow in America. I remember waking up early one morning. The world was so quiet. Deathly quiet. I couldn’t understand why. Our apartment was along a suburban road, and there was a main road not far away. The Harvard campus was just around the corner, and you could often hear people walking past heading to class, or cars pulling out of the apartment parking lot heading to work.

But it was so very quiet. Had I been a few years older (or now, basically), I might have thought it was the zombie apocalypse. Not this time though. I looked out the window. The world had gone white. Everything was completely blanketed. There was no room for noise or movement or shape in that white world. Only a few shadows remained. It was as if the world had ear muffs on – very big ear muffs made of snow.

To my eight year old self, this was incredible. Never had I known a world like this before. A world of lush green, and a world of dry brown, but never a world of quiet white.

ROAD TRIP 101: Top Ten Items

One of the biggest reasons I wanted to do such a big focus on the road trip on this blog was because I struggled to find good blogs about road trips before I left. There were a couple, but they were patchy, lacking detail, and would generally drop off half way through (something that I can completely understand - managing this blog on a daily basis while on the road was a big job, and very time consuming).

So that's why I've tried to be as comprehensive, and informative as possible - which I guess can make for a boring read for those with no interest in road tripping, but shame, just skip those ones. If you include yourself in that group, you might want to skip this one too, but I do feel this stuff is necessary.

So here are my top ten items to take on a road trip:

1. A Car
Obvs. Wanna rent? And you're not an American? Use carhire3000.com and save a lot of money. S.E.R.I.O.U.S.L.Y
Great things to note while you're renting/buying? Air-con, cruise control, radio, audio input jack, spare tyre and full tyre changing kit. This stuff is important to make your journey more pleasant. And it is all about the journey right?

2. A GPS
Also kinda obvious. This place is big. And has lots of twisty roads. Don't fool yourself.

3. A Cooler Bag
And really great things to put in it. Like lots of water, a couple of bottles of wine, and jelly babies. We also chucked tons of salt&pepper sachets, serviettes, plastic glasses and cutlery in there. Organised.

4. A 3G/4G Card.
This is America, there is wi-fi everywhere. Even the most unexpected tiny hole-in-the-wall bar in-the-middle-of-nowhere has a website. But you need to have 3G in the car, on a device to do research as you drive to find that tiny hole-in-the-wall bar in-the-middle-of-nowhere.

5. A Travel Companion
To do said research. Don't drive and research. It's dangerous.
Also good for taking over the driving when you're falling asleep behind the wheel. Way important.

6. A Local Phone
Once said research is done, you're gonna want to make reservations - hotels, restaurants, shows. There's a lot of people in America, this stuff books up fast. Don't think you can get away with just rocking up. If you're coming from overseas make sure you're phone is unlocked by your local service provider before you leave. We used AT&T, who had pretty good coverage across America, except in the Grand Canyon and Death Valley (which are kind of the most important places to have good coverage, in case of a break down), so always check coverage with the provider before you sign up.

7. Plastic Bags
Maybe a little random, but entirely useful - for rubbish, wet clothes, extra carrying etc etc.

8. In-Car Entertainment
You're going to spend a lot of time in the car, so you might as well make it fun. Music, audio books, puzzle and crossword books, as well as your favourite form of technology is great for this. We also found out about the licence plate game just as we began our journey. It basically involves spotting, and keeping a log of, all the States of America licence plates. The far off and small ones can be particularly tricky (like Hawaii and Rhode Island), but it's a fun game for the driver and car occupants. Big hint: the Grand Canyon is the best place to go to round up this game. Everyone visits the Grand Canyon it would seem.

9. Cash
Quickest and easiest way to get through tolls is to pay cash. And as I've mentioned previously, everyone wants a tip. Carry cash.

10. Wet Wipes
All that food, all that dirt, all that life-happening-in-a-car, and wet wipes will save the day. They always do.

The views and opinions expressed on this blog, and in this post are purely that - views and opinions. What worked for us may not work for you, this is just the knowledge we gained along the way.

Friday Night

I'm in my pyjamas, I have been all day. Days at home have become quite sacred, what with shifts and work and errands and all sorts of things cropping up all over the place. So the fact that I spent most of today wandering around the house in my pjs is exceedingly satisfying.

And I did not say I was slacking - I was in fact sending off important emails, learning how to use new software and applying for even more jobs, all in my pjs. It makes me smile to think of all these important people receiving my mails, from me, in sleepwear, under a blanket on the couch. Kind of makes me wonder how often the people who send me emails are doing exactly the same thing.

But yes, that has been my Friday. Ok, ok, I might have watched a little bit of TV in between sending all these emails, but one must take breaks from taxing email-sending.

So here we are. In a week, we would have been in Los Angeles for two months (!), all through the bizarrely cold winter (I still swear that me, my two jackets and one suitcase of summer clothes were told that LA was like Durban - warm all year round. Gosh, the lies!), throughout the festive season, and now shock horror, back into the working world of 2013.

So Friday night is spent at home, sending ever more emails, dismantling Christmas trees, and brainstorming ways to make 2013 count. I have projects and plans, and hopefully soon, a little bit more cash flow. Otherwise we're just going to have to sell these poor little Christmas decorations on the black market.

A Little Bit Of Sunshine

I just stumbled across this blog post, with an amazing DIY idea: yellow painted chairs! Besides from an overwhelming desire to paint lots of things yellow in our home, I had never thought of doing it to the chairs. How very tempting...

[All pics from A Beautiful Mess]

Christmas in Los Angeles

Christmas Day is a flurry of activity. Husband's up at 6am (whaaaat?!) excited to open presents, and for me to open my gift from him.

I drag myself out of bed - Christmas Eve was a loooong day at work, and I'm especially surprised to find Husband so spritely since he had an equally long day spent shopping for all the Christmas feast
ingredients, and assembled our new Ikea bed frame, bed side tables and dining table all by himself! Madness.

But it's Christmas, and presents must be opened, and they do not disappoint. (I got the new iPhone 5, eeeeek!)

Soon enough it was time to start prepping the food (you can see our trial run here), clean the apartment and wait for our guests to arrive. The rest of the afternoon flew by - avo ritz starters, the biggest roast feast for lunch, then a fiery round of Dirty Santa, with much dice-rolling and present-thievery, followed by a mammoth game of Monopoly (four hours in and I couldn't take the pressure - I became the most charitable player ever, and gave everything away), and then we ate cheese, drank and laughed, and ate mushy apple crumble for dessert, to finally round up our long day of eating.

But I missed home A LOT. Even with all that fun going on - I wanted the kind of fun that a family Christmas brings. Ah well - I guess you can't have everything on a big adventure.