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I did a screen test today for a mandarin drama. I felt so blessed to have met this particular casting director – let’s call her “B2″. She was very kind and patient with me while bothering to take the trouble to point out the areas that I should watch out for.
As a note to myself, I am blogging them down in this entry.
Unconscious Actions
I unconsciously make a “tsk” sound every time I say my lines. When I am nervous, I deliver my lines with a frozen smile.
Silent Scene Syndrome
This happens when the actor does not imagine enough and delivers his lines without acting. I tend to break into this as a default mode. I do not imagine enough to act out the scene sufficiently. If I am a nurse, when I am delivering the lines, what actions should I be doing? If somebody asks me a question, how would I use my body language to reply? Move my arms, touch something, drink something or flip something.
Watch the volume
I do not speak loud enough and tend to speak too softly. Remember to speak louder and project the voice! My acting coach always tells this to me but it slips my mind too often.
Eyeline!
I need to remember to watch my eyeline. Imagine where the other person is positioned at and look at him/her as I am speaking. I tend to keep my eyeballs down at the props in my hands.
I am so grateful to have gone through this particular screen test as I learnt so much about myself. The experience is invaluable and made me realize why I failed terribly at some of the auditions that I went for. Definitely need to put in more effort to fine tune and hone this part of me.
On a side note, I am having my first TV drama filming this Friday! Wish me luck!
Made broccoli soup for dinner over the weekend. Love how it is so creamy without milk and cream. Check out the recipe here.
I made Pandan Chiffon Cake today. I must say that for a first attempt, I have done well. Now it is just to figure out how to make the cake fluffier and more moist as well as prevent the middle portion from collapsing too much. I <3 these radioactive looking cakes!
Due to some not so sound financial decisions and an atrocious shopping habit plus a smorgasbord of holiday activities this month, I found myself digging deep into my pockets today to pay my credit card bills. Was feeling kinda stressed the entire day and felt lousier when I came back and saw a huge stack of letters addressed to me. “Oh shucks” I told myself. More bills to pay.
As I trudged to the stack of papers and picked them up, I saw one that came from a company called “Crawford”. I raised my brow, what’s that. When I opened it, I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was from my insurance company and my claims for my flight delay has been processed and they will be issuing me a cheque for $300. Boy I was soooooo happy. That feeling is indescribable. It’s like you’re thirsty and drying up in a desert and suddenly you find a pot of water. I know it’s a bit dramatic but I think this is the best way to describe it.
I started grinning to myself and opened the other letters. Then I realised the other 3 letters were actually vouchers from my credit card points. $5 Jollibean, $20 Skinny Pizza and $10 from Watsons. Hahaha. Like seriously, those are the things that I need right now. I do hope my $20 Isetan voucher comes to me soon. Then I thought through my day and realised that it isn’t that bad, I was packing my bag today and saw that I had this Biotherm coupon thing to redeem free samples. I happened to be at Paragon Metro where they had a Biotherm counter and I got free samples. Even better was that the samples were for the Homme range but the lady also threw in the lady’s range for me.
I think I’m really grateful for everything that’s happening to me. I need to constantly remind myself to count my blessings. It is really a state of mind that you can switch in and out of. Now that I’m positively charged again, those credit card bills don’t look that daunting any more. In fact, I have figured out the cashflow without hurting the fixed stuff. Really, I must remember to stay conscious and be grateful.
Thank you up there. Thank you very much. 
I’ve gone to the US and came back in October. I was suddenly swarmed with so much work and casting calls that the time just flew past like this. I haven’t even written my birthday thoughts and realisations and *poof* december comes by and it’s time for new year resolutions. Like huh?
And so it seems that 3 weeks of vacation just zoomed by like that. I had many plans, like writing a book, meditating, spending some me time with myself for this holiday, having a boring week. But it seems like I did nothing of those. Trip to the US was intense as I met so many people, did crazy fun things, revisited old friends and shopped till I dropped. I saw Yosemite, stayed at Castro, went for Folsom Street fair, went to an electronic music club, toured Baltimore by myself, basked in the magnificence of Niagara Falls, revisited Philly, swam in Coach bags. I came back recharged, happy and bordering on being broke LOL. The money was well spent IMHO as I really needed the break and money can be earned back right? (comforting myself)
I find that time actually flies by faster now that I’ve started work as opposed to school time. Is it because there’s this lack of examinations that kinda prolong the weeks? Weekends keep hitting me like bullet trains and I am overwhelmed. There has been a lot of work to be done at the backend to make our business more efficient.
On a side note, apart from the business, it was suddenly casting call season and I’ve actually done 1 short live gig and 2 short films. Super fun. I do hope there are more film projects that I can participate in next year. I’ll be rounding up the year soon and revisiting my resolutions to see how many of them have I achieved. Here are 2 pictures from my gigs to end off this post 
