Fake Men in Black

An Actual Conversation I Had With A Fellow Extra On the Set of "Veep" Yesterday

A big part of working as an extra on a movie or TV set is waiting. Go here. Wait. Go there. Wait. It's just part of the drill. There was a guy yesterday whom I suspect was unfamiliar with the experience and wanted something to happen NOW. And he wanted someone to vent to. Now. I was that someone.

Him: I know what's taking so long. One of the guys playing a Secret Service guy said that Julia Louis-Dreyfus isn't even here yet!

Me: She's here. I saw her a couple of hours ago.

Him: No. (gestures to the table of extras dressed in black suits) The Secret Service said she's not here.

Me: I saw her this morning on the set. She stuck her head in to say hello to some people and then I passed her on the street about an hour ago when I was coming back to the holding area.

Him: (a bit upset that I wasn't agreeing with him) No. The Secret Service guys said she's not even here.

Me: Those aren't real Secret Service guys. You do realize we're not really Senators, right?

A Nice Weekend with Friends

When the TV show "Friends" first debuted (yes, I was watching from Day 1) it clicked with me immediately. As someone who's always been a people person, it came at a timewhen I didn't have a huge circle of buds in my immediate area. I was living in California at the time and didn't know many people. For a self-declared "people person," I'm not incredibly outgoing when I find myself among strangers. And so, at a time when my only contact with my friends and family back home was via a long-distance call or snail mail (I still can't believe I lived in a time without email or cell phones), hanging out with fictional friends once a week was an easy sell for me.

Fast-forward a couple of decades and it's no surprise that I'm a big fan of "Community." True, it's got some of the wittiest writing and acting on TV (that apparently no one but me watches), but it also has that communal vibe that clicks with me so well.

Today in the car, Sarah was commenting on how many people I still keep in touch with considering how many different places I've lived. We were coming back from visiting with a friend of mine who lives a few states away and was in town for a short bit. It was Sarah's first time meeting him and we had a lot of fun sitting in Red Robin talking, laughing, and making each other laugh.

This weekend we got to get together with a bunch of other friends from a variety of walks of life and tonight as things were winding down (and by winding down I mean hanging out in the living room watching Sarah choreograph Zumba Christmas songs) I got to share some nice exchanges with some pals online.

This weekend was a nice opportunity not only to spend time with some really cool people in a variety of different ways, but also to take a step back and appreciate those people in our lives. Not too shabby.