Parking tickets 3. Gareth 0.

3 auditions all over L.A and meeting with acting coach first thing in the morning. Belated Valentines Day dinner with girlfriend.
Yesterday was epic. Today after earning my third $50 parking violation the wheels finally fell off. I'm exhausted.

It was worth seeing Nikolai in the morning. Once again he was able to remind me that it's all out of my hands. Keep it simple, play one thing and commit to it in the scene. Then don't worry. Some guy has written this scene in Starbucks two days ago and the part has already been given to some TV Star or the next best thing. 50 other actors will go through this room today. Most will be terrible. I'm a good actor, if I'm right for the part I'll be called back. Problem is, so far, I hardly ever am.

Audition 1 saw me playing the cop with an anger management problem. You know the guy, he snaps and beats up a witness, saves the little girls life but gets a grilling from the chief. Not really me. And they know it as soon as I walk in. It would save everyone a lot of bother if they simply said "thanks, this isn't gonna work" at this point, but we go through the whole game. The best I think I can hope for is that they then see how great an actor I am and put my headshot and resume in the "hmmm ... interesting" pile.

Audition 2 was at Walt Disney Studios. Serena joined me on this one. It was a funny sight having Ms Cotton in a waiting room full of men in suits like me doing her NZ Listener crossword. We'd been for lunch at Big Boys Burger in Burbank. Finally a good American burger! The Big Boys Burger in Burbank is the oldest Big Boy in the U.S. It's an original 1950's drive in diner. On weekends people bring their classic muscle cars into the lot and car-hops bring their burgers out to them. It's like being on the set of Grease. I changed into my suit in the parking lot like a real L.A actor. Character is a lawyer, District Attorney with mayoral ambitions. Maybe more my style. Hoping they can see past the scruffy beard I'm sporting for the NZ audition I'm putting down on tape later. I get a similar reaction I'm getting at most auditions now. It seems to be a mixture of relief to see someone half decent, and confusion as to why I'm not quite right for this job. The sooner I figure out what kind of product I'm selling in this enormous marketplace, the sooner my potential customers will recognize it as something they want. I'm getting there. My manager is making time for me next week to run through my auditions, my approach, my look etc. and we will be reviewing the footage from a couple she has procured. Doesn't that sound like fun.

Always always always take I.D out with you in L.A. You have to be 21 to drink and with everyone suing everyone all the time no one will take a chance if you forget yours. We drove back home to get I.D debating whether it was worth it the whole way. It was. The Edison is an old power station converted into a bar. All the old fittings and machinery have been used to decorate the place and a live Jazz band plays. A Green Fairy with electric wings pushes round an Absinthe cart and the cocktails are sublime. We loved it. Though these Kiwis are still getting used to the idea of someone driving off in your car to park it for you.

My house-mates birthday tomorrow. Plan is to drive to vineyards in a limousine. Could be fun.
Pleased to report that Knotsberry Farm was nearly deserted and all the roller-coasters were cleaned up in a couple of hours.

Steel Panther were hilarious. One 15 minute guitar solo that included every famous rock guitar riff ever written, plus Flight of the Bumblebee for good measure and concluded with Guitarist exclaiming "How fucking Awesome am I!" Stage ended up filled with women going crazy and Serena bought a t-shirt. Have learnt that "Appetizer" in L.A means "Mains" for Gareth and that 5 minutes after your parking runs out you WILL be stung.

A reporter from Metro interviewed me over a cocktail on wednesday. Pretty sure I said some dumb-ass stuff so look out for that one folks. Serena has put down her Reeces Peanut-Buttercup Ice Cream and is doing bedroom yoga. I need a nana nap. Sorry for slacking off on the blogging. Hope it's still interesting.

G