[Lauren's, Brian's and mine on the right.]
I'm gonna kind of work backwards on this one. It'll probaly be long and boring, so I'll try to break it up with pictures. Today was my first day off since two Thursdays ago. It went a little something like this... I woke up around 8am and said "that's not okay." I went back to sleep till just before 10am. Got up, dinked around a bit then left to pick up Nina and headed to Ikea to finish furnishing my room. Yeah, Lauren had an audition and wasn't able to help me out today. But Nina and Jason came this time. We looked around and I got the cool zig-zaggy mirrors I wanted, a hamper and a couple of other little things. Nina got a shelf for their kitchen appliances. But they didn't have the actual items I really went for which are the shelves in the black I need. They said they come in tomorrow, so Lauren and I are going to go back another evening this week. After Ikea, Nina, Jason and I went to Chevy's then headed back. I took a picture there of Jason trying to get Nina to eat a nacho by making it talk to her, and the picture is really funny, but Nina looks blurred and weird in it so I don't know if I'll post it. I then raced over Beverly Glenn Blvd. to a hair appointment. I made it in plenty of time and parked close by. I put money in the meter and started walking the wrong way. I turned back and there was a man standing outside a store smoking who said "that guys about to give you a ticket, you better move now." I look over and the attendant was typing in my plates. I asked "what's the problem? Here, I'll move it right now." "I already put the plates in." He types a couple more things and hands me the ticket and envelope. I throw it in my car and look at the clock which read 4:01.

The sign was no stoping 4-7pm. I park elsewhere and am heading towards the stylest's and I see the attendant on the next block. I asked him "hey man, I'd understand if I was being a jerk about it, but I was really cool about it, I asked you a question..." "I wasn't being a jerk either, once the plates are in, we'd have to delete it and I'd have to file a memo." "Well, I'm sorry you'd have to write a little note about it but that's $70 bucks for me man." "They don't let us do that." At that point I was too pissed to keep talking. I was still early to my appointment and Farah (the owner of the place) welcomed me in. I had made the appointment over the phone with her personally before going to Ikea, and she was very sweet. My buddy Adam referred me to her. I told her this and she was very excited about it. But I sit down and she tells me what she thinks would look good and I said okay. The first thing she asks me after starting was "where did you park?" I told her the story and she felt pretty bad about it saying it was her fault for not warning me. We continue to talk more as she cuts my hair about random things. Afterwards I head to the counter to pay and she appologizes again for not warning me about parking and tells me she will not charge for the cut. I'm caught off by this and argue with her a bit, but she insists. I had just spent the last of my cash and offered to at least tip her with my card, but she still refused. So that raised my spirits good and high. I must reiterate my absolute adoration of genuinely nice people. Very little makes me happier.

Afterwards, since I was on that side of town, I met up with Brian and Lauren at Brian's place and we carved us up some pumpkins! After we gutted them, Lauren threw some seeds in the oven and we ate pumpkin seeds while we carved. They had purchsed a carving kit with some knives and scoops and patterns you could use. We each picked one and were amazed by how they came out. Then we watched some Who's Line Is It Anyway.
SO LAST WEEK... All of last week I worked CTE's (Children's Theater Experience) production of Fiddler on the Roof. Sunday through Wednesday were very hard days to get through. I normally have pretty decent patience for trying circumstances, but everything seemed so unorganized and crazy that I couldn't stand it. What made it worse was that I did very little those first few days. I sat around and watched chaos. I had my doubts about the company itself and its motives, casting over 100 people, the majority of which are kids ranging 4 to 18 and in the show %10 of the time. But come Thursday, things came together quite amazingly.

I was on rail and was worked pretty hard at first, until they took my advice and got rid of a few of my useless cues. But they all ended up being really nice people. I got to talk with a couple of them. One of the ladies was Margeret. She'd been working with the company (and the company it began as before it) for about 19 years, since her daughter was 4 and was in the shows. Chris, the director has a history and education in theater and really does love the kids. By the end of the week, after loadout we all hugged goodbye. David (my boss and Smothers Theater Technical Director) was right when he kept saying they were like family. They do 2 shows at Pepperdine a year, and A Christmas Carol every December for the last 10 years.

I think it was Thursday when Abbi Butler (Stefanie Butler's sister) called me out of the blue and asked if I would be able to work an event Monday at 2:30 in Malibu. Monday I was already going to be working a show at Pepperdine till 1:30, so I figured it worked too well to say no. Megan was working the same show at Pepperdine on Monday, and was going to cater the event as well, AND since we live 2 minutes away from each other, we carpooled the entire day. There was some confusion and the event ended up being in Simi Valley, which still wasn't too bad.

We got there in plenty of time. It was a fund raiser for Tony Strickland, whose running for State Controller. But it was fun because I got to work with three friends, Nina, Megan and Abbi. And the guy organizing the food and catering was the single most French man I have ever met. He ended up really liking the four of us (out of 15 servers) and told Abbi that he would try to get us $18 an hour, apposed to everyone elses $15 and hour. He took our numbers too, incase he ever needed help again. At the end of the night, he gathered us and said "After all the buffet (boo-fay if spelled phonetically with his pronunciation) are cleared, we can go upstairs, fill a giant plate of food and have a glass of wine." And we did. Oh, and the Ranch that the event was held at is supposedly owned by the guy who invented satilite radio, and it is where the current season of "The Biggest Loser" was filmed. That was yesterday (Monday).

Sunday and Monday I worked a show called Tap Kids. It's eight kids who could tap like nobody's business! They tour around the world doing this show and their ages range from 15 to 23. They were nice "kids" (three of them in their 20's) and the crew were great too. The show was a lot of fun. I worked follow spot.
OH! One last thing. Incase you needed yet another reason to watch CSI: NY, and speaking of Stefanie Butler... Yup, she's going to be on it Novemer 15th! I know a bit more about her part in this one, Abbi spilled a bit in order to tell a story, but I don't know everything. They had to hold production for a couple of days because make-up screwed up on her face and she had an allergic reaction. But she's okay now, and she finished filming yesterday. Abbi was pretty sure the episode airs the 15th. If that changes I'll let you know.
Love you all, please feel free to e-mail me anytime about anything and I'll try to write back when I can. Let me know how y'all are doing.
terg_furgasen777@hotmail.com

Today was way too surreal.



[Rain on our street!]


It started out normal. I went and worked in the shop at Pepperdine, rigging flats to hang on the rails. Then I came home and got ready to go see Zac's play that he's in, which opened tonight. I showered and ate quickly and left the apartment at 7 o'clock. Traffic was horrid. It has rained off and on today, which was amazing and a lot of fun! But people in LA don't know how to handle it, especially when driving!!!

It took me an hour to get to the exit that should really only take 10 minutes TOPS. BUT, when I got to the exit (right at the time the show was supposed to start) I saw people getting out of their cars and talking to other people in their cars. I figured there must have been an accident. At this point I was really starting to get nervous about my fuel level. I have never been worried about my fuel level in my life, but I was starting to sweat. So, after a few minutes of not moving, I swerved back onto the freeway and took the next exit, which of course did not have a gas station nearby. I drove a while, and when I got to 5th gear, my car did not want to obey the gas pedal's demands of going faster. Luckily, I hit a hill and prayerfully I went into nutral, landing at a Chevron at the bottom. I filled up and headed home. The only two things that kept me from really freaking out and screaming were the fact that it was raining, and that I was listening to the new Killers album. But I was still pretty ticked off when got back to the appartment. I decided to watch On The Waterfront (which I've been sitting on from Netflix for a month now) and realized that it is hands down my new favorite movie. I had no idea what I was in for going into it. Marlon Brando created one of the greatest characters I have ever seen performed.
The rest of this last week and a half I will show in pictures and captions (in no particular order, sorry). I've had a long day and I'm tired, so sorry again for the laziness. Yesterday was my one and only day off in a 21 day period of time. My next day off is the 24th. Yesterday I bought Scrubs season 4, then Jason and I hung out with Brian for a while. Then I cleaned my room and the bathroom and did a little shopping. Then I watched some Scrubs and The Office and went to bed. It was a nice day off.



[Our street last night]




[April let me borrow her overalls so I wouldn't get paint on my nice black pants]




[It's a bad picture, but I saw people tango live for the first time. It was amazing! And the tour's sound and lighting designers were the funniest guys from Australia]




[Lauren Rose Lewis giving her Co-staring billing on CSI: NY the thumbs up]




[Jason and I theater hopped last Monday and when we left at 12:30am, the Universal City Walk was completely empty. We were that last two people to leave the place! This is the Hard Rock Cafe on the City Walk.

Last Sunday, Lauren and I did indeed go to Ikea and we struck gold! (The picture of her is a bit blurry because it was taken with my phone's camera and she must have been moving! But that's us on my first trip to Ikea! And not my last...) She and I spent a couple of hours there looking around and discussing what we were going to do with my room. We drew diagrams, threw ideas back and forth and decided to go with darker furniture. On that trip I purchased a computer desk (that I love), a TV table (that is perfect), an office chair for the desk, and a lamp. When we got back we spent the evening assembling all of it, after I cleaned my room of course. There was a huge pile of cardboard left in our dining room afterwards, which is now in the trunk of my car till we find someplace to dump it. Guitar Center doesn't care to recieve our heaps anymore. So I have the basic lay out of my room set up, all I have left to get are shelves to stagger on the wall in the corner and some cool zig-zaggy mirrors to go on the wall. I took a before video of my room and when I'm all done I will take an after video and post them somewhere for you all to see. Oh! And Luaren is going to be on CSI: New York this Wednesday (Oct. 4th) at 10:00pm. We're all going to Brian's to watch. Lauren has had bad back problems for a while and when she was helping me out Sunday with putting furniture together, her back really started to hurt. Please keep her in your prayers.
Brian has been shooting a Big Lots commercial in which he plays one of Santa's elves. Look for those to come soon for Christmas. He's going to be doing random things around LA like skate boarding under the Santa Monica Pier. He showed me Polaroids of the shoot, the commercial should be awesome! Adam went and shot A Chevy commercial. They wanted a real couple so he got to shoot with his girlfriend Rene. The director liked them so much they were called back to shoot more, then they were called back a third time and what was once a single commercial shoot turned into a multi commercial campaign that they will be in several of. They're supposed to start airing as soon as this week. So look for a cute couple driving around in Chevys!
On Wednesday and Thursday I worked at Pepperdine and ran Follow Spotlight for the Bayanihan Philippine National Dance Company. There was hardly any call for the spot lights so I got to sit back and enjoy the show from the light beams. They were a lot of fun to watch and incredibly nice people backstage. That turned out to be a very easy 14 hour day.

[The Official dance company of the Philippines from second light beam. The light in the left side of the picture is the spotlight and the dark shape in the bottom right of the picture is my foot dangling over the audience.]

Saturday I worked catering for the President's dinner in Pasedena for the board members and contributors for Cal-Tech.
Today, Jason has an audition and will be back around 2:30, then we're going to Universal City to theater hop. Paying $10 to see a single movie is ridiculous, so we won't!
I love you all!