Big, little day

Today was a big day for me.
I went into the scary basement BY MYSELF to do my laundry.

I went to Bite for my favorite sandwich again...I'm addicted.

It's always a good day when the little store next door has Mango Tango Odwalla in stock :)

Vagina Monologues was sold out last night and tonight's supposed to be even more packed!

Everyone did an amazing job, and I can't wait for tonight!

The best news? I'm making new friends all the time.

I get happier every single day.

Jillian Michaels obviously never went to film school.

I tried Jillian, I tried! I'm not giving up on you...I'm simply putting you off for a little bit.

To be honest, I don't really have the time or energy to update right now, but I haven't written in quite some time, because I've been too busy, so I figured that my two whole followers deserve a small dose of Destini.

Let me give you a little taste of what my life has been like the past couple weeks, and what it's going to be like for the next four. It has been a non-stop filming party! On Friday, I had a film shoot in Berkeley, CA 10am-5pm, then I came back and had a meeting with my new director friend. Saturday, I was busy the entire day, leading up to another film shoot in Burlingame, CA from 5:30pm-4am. I had previously been asked to take over a spot in another film shoot in Golden Gate Park today, when multiple people bailed on a guy I know. The shoot was scheduled from 7am-7pm, with a three hour break in the middle 12-3 when I had to run to the sound labs and mix sounds for my upcoming film. At about 5:30am, I realized agreeing to that was a horrible, horrible mistake and I too backed out. I felt horrible about it, even though I shouldn't, because I was the only one with a good reason for backing out... I literally couldn't open my eyes. I would have probably pushed myself to go, despite utter exhaustion, except that this week is also going to be extremely busy, climaxing with my performance in Vagina Monologues at the end of the week (pun intended).

I regretted not committing more to Jillian like I had planned, yesterday/this morning at the shoot, when I spent the majority of my screen-time in a bathing suit. But honestly, how does she expect me to squeeze her in with this crazy schedule I have? I'm planning on going back to the gym tomorrow... so little by little, I'll work her back into my life.

I'm not a violent person, but there's a lot of people I feel like punching these days.
Well, not really. I would never do that, but a lot of people are trying to fight me and when I get mad, I only threaten violence.
"I will punch you. I will dropkick you. I will cage-fight you. I will light you on fire."
But of course I would never do that.

I do however, have a lot of anger to unleash...and screaming a bunch of times (in character) in that film yesterday felt reeeeally good. I'm thinking about joining a kickboxing class or something when I get back to FL for the couple weeks I have free before my surgery.


Plus side: I've met a lot of really cool people lately, and I'm already excited for next semester!

Jillian Michaels: Day One.

I decided that with summer and my surgery coming up, and since I will basically be spending my entire recovery time at the beach, I need to look hot doing it! So, I went out and bought Jillian Michaels' book, "Making the Cut". It teaches you about nutrition, and walks you through a rigorous diet and exercise plan. She says that if you follow this book to the letter, you could lose 20 pounds in 30 days. I'm not trying to lose 20 pounds, but I am trying to get a 6 pack, so this book will work wonders on me too. Now, I am no stranger to working out, but I am accustomed to eating whatever I want, whenever I want, with few consequences, so this will be an interesting month.

After a few days of being too busy or tired, and saying, "I'll start tomorrow," I finally bit the bullet today. Here's basically how that went down.

I don't feel comfortable disclosing too many details from the book, because I'm not sure Jillian would appreciate me taking away her sales by making her information public. So, I'll just tell you this: It was HARD...but awesome. 50 reps of this, 50 reps of that, 5 different circuits with like 5+ exercises in them...and a 30 second break in between each circuit. When you're done with all that, 15 minutes of extra cardio. At times, I felt like I was going to cry and scream "I hate you Jillian!" But I toughed it out and it is going to be SO worth it!

I stayed true to her vision, including my allotted 30 second break times. I worked really hard and did all of the exercises, and did them right! Well, um, all but one that is. "Squat thrusts" - Alex, (who is doing this with me too) and I thought that we knew what that meant. Squat thrusts sounds easy enough to comprehend. Well, we didn't do them right. Not at all. A squat thrust, for those of you who don't know, looks a little something like this.

The way Alex and I decided to "Squat Thrust" IN the middle of the gym, looked a little something like this.

Needless to say, tomorrow I'm going to look at Jillian's exercise example pictures a little better.

Here's what my arms look like thus far:

Right now, it's late and I am starving and sore. I've already eaten dinner, and since then, I've been trying to tide my body over with water...and by promising it we will eat again tomorrow.

Alex told me that "Jillian Said" I wasn't allowed to eat triscuits at nighttime, resulting in our newest addition to theeee... Quoteboard!

"Don't tell me what to do or I'm going to get another cardio workout in when I beat your ass!"

- yours, truly

Bad Wednesday Turned Good.

Hey friends,

The next set of stories I have for you is from a random compiling of events over the past few days.

The first is regarding the documentary project that I mentioned hating here. Good news friends, my view on documentaries has once again changed for the better. I was literally at the end of my rope with this project. I tried up until late Tuesday night (the project was due on Wednesday) to get a back-up plan. My Motion Picture Language teacher, God bless her, invited me to her graduate class on Tuesday night because they were having a woman come in for an interview, and to film her, for her website. She is a rocket scientist and has created 90,000 scholarships! (Many benefitting girls in China). That's incredible. I don't have a whole lot of information on her unfortunately, because I always have 1,000 things to do.

Tuesday night, after my two classes, I also had rehearsal. I haven't really mentioned this yet, but I auditioned for the Vagina Monologues and got a part! I'm really excited for it. I'll write more on that later, I've got a few funny stories about my audition experience and whatnot. So anyway, I had rehearsal and I suck at saying goodbye or asking to leave early from things, and I'm all about sticking to commitments (on a first come, first serve basis)... and, I'm also very loyal and never want to disappoint anyone. So, I stayed for the whole rehearsal which I thought was the best decision, (while occasionally checking the time, or nervously sweating, hoping my teacher wasn't waiting for me), and then I ran up there after rehearsal around 9pm. My teacher was just like "Oh hey!" and everyone in the class (at least the ones that talked to me) were immediately super friendly and helpful. One guy even gave me his phone number and his card. So profesh. Well, to make this unnecessarily long story short, I don't have much information on the magical interview lady, because I only caught the tail-end of her interview...and it was in Mandarin.

I made plans with my teacher to come to her graduate class again next week, for another interview with someone new, and I might even go to the week after that too, because that week's lady sounds fascinating. Have I mentioned how awesome and accommodating my MPL teacher is? She does so many wonderful favors for me, and gives me so many suggestions, that one day, one of my blog entries might be solely dedicated to her.

So, originally I was going to Georgia's graduate class for last-minute documentary footage that I could turn in for my Editing class, but now I'm just going for fun. WHY? Because friends, I DID film and edit something and I DID have something substantial to turn in on Wednesday! I filmed a short "documentary/mockumentary" on how my actual documentary failed. And while I thought it was clever and funny, I really wasn't expecting my Edit teacher and class to feel the same way. And they did! Well, sort of. They thought it was sad, which wasn't what I was going for, but I could see that. But they liked it, so that's all that matters! And I got permission to run with this idea, so it's going to hopefully be hilarious and awesome when I'm done with it for next week. Alex's documentary was a success too!

From there, my Wednesday just got better and better and better and better. Alex and I went to "Taco Night" with Kevin from our Edit class and Michael from his Sound class, at Kevin's girlfriend Jennifer's apartment. That, in and of itself was fantastic! But wait...

Plus side #1: Jenn has a cat! An incredibly cute, furry feline...with a Star Wars name! (Just like one of my kitties back home, Yoda). I've been so deprived of animal lovin' out here, I was ecstatic!

Plus side #2: Jenn's roommate, Jessica, is in pastry school!

Seriously...does it get any better than that? And she even brought home a delicious treat that we all got to taste. Jenn and Kevin told me to follow her blog for photos and cooking stories. Her blog looks so yummy! Roxanne, I thought you'd be particularly interested in her.

I said I was moving in. They think I'm kidding. I've always lived my life with the motto "All you need is a cat and a pastry", so it makes sense for me to be there.

Then, after taco/pastry/cat night, I came home late. I was the last roommate in, which was a tiny accomplishment for me, because that's hardly ever the case. I checked my facebook, thinking, "Do I really need to do this now?", and I'm SO glad that I did, because I had a message in there from a photography major at my school, asking me to be in a photo shoot she's doing. She said that she was really hoping I was interested, because she thought I'd be perfect for it! This was like the icing on the cake to what surprisingly turned out to be a great day! I emailed her back saying, "Um duh!?", but nicer, and I'm set to do that photo shoot next week. The best part is that these photos are going to be part of an art display in a cafe on Sutter street, and they're on sale! I could be in someone's living room! And just like the ticket sales from Vagina Monologues, the proceeds from the art show will go to benefit La Casa de las Madres, a non-profit organization, helping women and children affected by domestic violence.

I could not be more excited about all of these upcoming events and opportunities. Almost as excited as my friend Lauren was in Sports Authority today, when she spent hundreds of dollars on exercise equipment. Most of her purchases made sense. All but one. The "virtual jumprope". It's called "Cardio Jump". And it's a jumprope...without the rope. Does that make sense to anyone? (If you are a firm believer in "Cardio Jump", please educate me further and I will retract my statement). Because I'm like, what's the point of a rope-less jumprope? Why don't you just jump for free? She said it's more fun this way and has yet to tell me how much she paid for it. As silly as I think this purchase is, I can't even be mad at her for buying it... It's the creators of this product that I want to talk to. What was the idea here?

Easter and upcoming greatness

I hope everyone had a truly great Easter! =)

This was the first year that I didn't have a really happy, Eastery feeling or an overall good day. Maybe it's because this is the first year that I haven't done family stuff at my Grandma's or been around my family at all. Even Alex and I didn't do our usual Easter tradition. Instead, we took turns sleeping all day and rose occasionally for various technologies. Him, the tv, and me, the computer, where I tried to be halfway-productive, but ended up swapping hilarious online videos with Andrew periodically...throughout the whole day. My mom sent an Easter box out here with chocolate and goodies in it for me, Alex, Dre, Andrew and Lauren...and I was so thankful for that, because it made me feel like home, and she sent stuff for all of us, because she is so sweet. My mom and I have been iChatting lately too, which is really great.

Poor Alex, him and I are both stressed to the core, and though we hide it pretty well from others, the stress-claws come out around each other far too often. It's been hard to separate work and school and stress, from home...so we're working on that.

It's really important to remember how blessed we all are. Easter is a perfect day for this...to really think about how lucky we all are.

I know that I am a really lucky person, but sometimes I think we all forget, myself included. I thought it might be helpful to get out all the stuff I've been stressed/worried about lately, and counteract it with a positive. Because there's always a positive side to things, though you may not realize it at the time.

- SCHOOL.

+ I'll have a degree soon(ish) and be on my way to the film biz, which I love.

- DOCUMENTARY (and it's many failed attempts).

+ I have a new idea now, that I will either get applauded for my last minute attempt...OR it will just go up in flames. BUT, if the class laughs at all, I'll be good.

- $$$$$.

+ It could be worse.

- SURGERY.

+ Yeah, that just sucks. But... it's in the summer...so that's the good part! Summer in Florida, definitely looking forward to a break. (no pun intended...as they break me open).

Also, lots of good things are coming up.

wedding(s), roadtrips/airtrips, my performance, end of the semester (in 7 weeks!), family, friends, food and fun... FLORIDA! =)

It's no secret how much I love music. All kinds. One thing I love about music, aside from it's ability to fit my every mood, is that I don't think there's anyone on the planet who would say, "I don't like any type of music. At all." It's a universal uniter, and probably the only thing that does such. Anyway, since moving out on my own across the country, I have become even more attached to the power of music. Another surgery plus side? I'm seriously considering learning guitar and/or jumping back into my piano "roots" and trying to dabble in the songwriting business with Alex. (This might also get me into gear for the voice class I'm taking for my minor in the Fall).

Music is constantly playing in my apartment and a song that came on my last.fm playlist today which I thought fit perfectly to this post was Danny Gokey - My Best Days are Ahead of Me.

Definitely check it out, if you haven't heard it already... it's such an uplifting song.

That's a taste of what's to come. More later.

- Des

#@$!-umentary(s)

The most recent story I have to share with you involves documentary filmmaking. Now, many other film friends I have talked to, both in SF & FL, have been far less than thrilled with the documentary process, saying things like..."I hate documentaries."

I was actually really looking forward to filming mine. I was the first one out of my little support group to have an idea. A really, really good idea.

This is the story of how, I too, grew to hate the documentary...at least for right now.

It all started at 5 am on the Tuesday of Spring Break. (Some people...Andrew Blackman...would argue that my day began at 6 am, but when I'm in bed and can hear you moving all around my apartment, talking about pouring coffee on me to wake me up...I don't think that really qualifies as sleeping). Although, that might just be the sleep-deprivation talking, since I had gone to bed at 3 or 4 am the same morning, before the epic journey.

When I woke up, Andrew had a cup of coffee for me. He's so sweet! (This backfired later). It was free pastry day at Starbucks, so naturally we hit that up too, before we set off on our mission to film Alex's documentary in the woods somewhere across the Golden Gate Bridge, down (BUT first UP... way, way up these scary mountains!) by Stinson Beach. About halfway up this cliff, Andrew had to pull over , because I was pretty sure I was going to throw up...and Alex was not far behind me on that. (This was the backfire I was talking about).

I don't want to give his documentary away yet or anything, before it's finished, so here's what I'll say... and it basically sums up mine and Andrew's portion of the adventure:

There were bees everywhere! We all had to pee outside! Poor Andrew got poison oak! =(

But, you know... it was more fun than I gave it credit for at the time. It was exhausting, but fun(ish) and Alex is a rockstar! (...and Andrew got one on the way home).

That was part one.

Now, for part two. My original idea involved pit bulls. That unfortunately fell through. I'm going to re-visit it at some point, because it's very important to me, but it's too late to do for my rough cut that's due on Wednesday. (Cue mini-panic attack). So, I need a backup plan... and here's what I've got so far: Nothin'!

Well, that's not entirely true. I started brainstorming yesterday in class:

I came up with a few ideas, like...

- A documentary on Andrew's documentary

- "You Just Got Got!" (via Bryant Nardozzi)

- My chances of getting on American Idol

...yeah, well they get worse as they go on, so I'll spare you the rest.

Tomorrow starts my weekend of nonstop filming... something. I'll let you know how all this works out... and if you have any suggestions for me, please share!

- Des

Well hello.

It's April 1. #1. I figured that'd be a good day to finally start this.

After reading my auto-bio and performance reflections, my acting teacher told me I should start writing more. Hope this means I'm just a good writer and not a bad actor. ha..haha...

Well, I had rehearsal for an upcoming performance tonight, so I must be doing a little something right. (We'll learn more about this later).

So, I started a blog. A blog with comment capabilities. Because I want 'em. Just sayin'.

There's been something that's a little off about me this semester. Not sure why, but that's why I'm here. I've had to work through a lot of conflicting feelings lately and I made a resolution at the start of the year that 2010 was going to be all about meeee, first and foremost. (This isn't selfish of me...and it includes charity work and good deeds, because those are things I like to do.)

I've been stepping so far out of my comfort zone these past few months and I am ready to share my stories with you! (whoever "you" may be)... and hopefully gain some more confidence (and comedic material) along the way, so that I'll continue to have more wonderful experiences and more stories to tell!

So, get ready readers! (if there are any of you...)

It's going to be a fun and (hopefully) hilarious ride!

-Des