Enjoy what you have now

A few weeks before my January 26th birthday, I was debating whether or not I wanted to have a dinner, gathering or nothing at all. When planning, I share my birthday ideas with my best friend and the conversation always takes us to that birthday of mine four years ago when the forecast for January 26th, 2007 was: Bitter blast, Artic air arrives, below freezing temperatures. The city advisory news was urging people and pets (of course) to stay in unless they had to go out.

Since that bitter cold day, I've joked that it was so bad I wanted to call in and excuse myself from going to my own party. I am the type that stays in when it is too cold. For many years I had spent my birthday in the Dominican Republic, where January 26th is a national holiday, it's warm and is smack in middle of baseball season. Yay!

Even after that extreme weather warming on January 26th of 2007, almost everyone (except maybe one or two) showed up to my party! I was pleasantly surprised. It would be totally acceptable that nobody went (including myself).

After my best friend and I had a good laugh about her admitting she just wanted to stay in too (she has an August birthday), we spoke about my plans for this year. Temperatures in NYC haven't been extremely cold and there weren't any warnings yet. Around January 20th though, temperatures started dropping and Facebook messages were more and more about the winter and the cold. I would text her "Do you feel it coming? the cold?" She'd Lol me back.

I ended up planning a small soiree at the new cozy lounge Apartment 78 in Washington Heights. The place is close to most of the invited guests and I made it on that same Wednesday after work so that people were already out and about.

Then it came, first the posts from Facebook and people telling me there is another storm warning. I laughed but when I looked out the window the morning of my birthday, the streets were already covered in snow. Forecast said the snow would start in the afternoon, but instead it started early in the morning. Then I get my email update: Mayor Bloomberg issues New York Weather Emergency advisory. I deleted it. As if it was going to make it go away.

Everyone that had previously confirmed said they were still coming. My mom called and said it was just snow and we're in NYC and party was still on right? The lady would hike for a party if she had to. Then she drove me around with hubby for my errands.

Apartment 78 had the cutest drinks menu set up for me and everyone that said would show up did! Some were nearly freezing and wet because they walked so much in the snow. Others came from downtown and had to head back a little early. Some that have cars took public transportation to make it to the party and some of the guests stayed way beyond I left and hustled rides back on the street.

I do have a point in all of this: There might be snow, rain, and cold for my birthday or other people's birthdays and occasions and it doesn't mean I can't enjoy it. After making the decision of not canceling, all we had to is make it work out. The snow looked beautiful and if it's falling, it has it's purpose. The most important thing whether there is snow, rain or uncomfortable cold is that friends and family had a good time. Though some were not there for varying reasons, they have been or will be in other celebrations.

This year, I officially accepted the winter.

Standing In Part 1

Last month as I was getting ready for...I don't know, something, I got a phone call from a casting agent asking me for my availability tostand in for Jennifer Lopez in her next feature film, The Back Up Plan.

I didn't think much of it because with time, I've learned not to get attached to any casting call. To do so would be like playing the lotto and getting disappointed every week when someone else takes what you thought was your key to happiness. And I mean really attached though, like my mom kind of attached, who believes that whatever current game she is playing will make her the winner. Then someone else wins and she's like: Dammit, that could have been me! But she forgets all about that drawing once another one comes up and that will be her winning ticket. You see the similarities?

After I told the casting agent I was available for the ten days of the shoot (except for Thursday but whatever, who cares about my plans?), she submitted my pictures and production approved. I was surprised...hey you never know and I sure didn't know anything about stand in work. I've seen some people "stand in" but had no idea what they were doing.

The criteria for work as a stand in is to have the same height, skin tone, hair color and preferably the same sizes as the actress but you don’t have to a total look-a-like. When I warned the casting agent that I no longer had light brown hair like Jennifer Lopez’s she told me she cleared it with production. My brunette hair was fine.

So what do we do as stand ins? I’ve had a hard time explaining this and it’s part of the reason why I am writing the blog, Well, to begin with, we’re standing, that’s for sure and in my case, in heels. As a stand in my job is to rehearse all of the scenes the actress will do so that the camera and lighting angles are positioned during set up. Many have asked me: Why don’t the actors do it. Why do they hire someone else to look like them? In a feature film, it can take anywhere from forty-five minutes to two hours to set up just one scene. The director needs to secure the correct lighting and camera angles for all of the shots. The lighting and camera crew decides what to use and not to use and you can only do this at the location. During this time, the actors can get hair and make up done, and rest or do other prep. It would be too tedious to do all of their rehearsals and then act out the scene and one scene is shot from many angles so we were usually on set from 10-13 hours a day.

On the first day on set, one of the production assistants (referred to as P.A’s) introduced me to Chris, who was selected as the stand in for Alex o’Loughlin, (the main character opposite Jennifer Lopez) and whom I’d been seeing for the next ten days of my life. I was also introduced to the rest of the crew. Chris filled me in on stand in work and showed me the call sheet. The call sheet contains the info for production that day such as, set locations, scenes to be shot that day, time to report (referred to as the call time) but never the time we are finished. Ever! So you can't make plans for happy hour or anything like that.

I learned we were referred to as: the 2^nd team by the crew. Jennifer and Alex: the 1^st team. As astand in I watched Jennifer Lopez rehearse the first scene of the day a few times. 1st teamleaves to hair and makeup or whatever and 2^nd team is called in. Chris and I would go in and do what they just did, except we do it over and over and over and over. We have the actor's lines in hand and do everything they do except we aren’t them…and we know we aren’t them because I didn’t get hair and makeup as a stand in! Anyway, the lighting equipment and cameras are worked on so that it is appropriate for the scene. We can move an inch over here or inch over there as crew members are hanging off machinery that allows them to adjust lighting or move props around. Different decisions are made as to what to use for example, a trolley for the camera or not, what type of lens, and all sorts of things I have no idea about. By having stand ins, they can adjust because we move back to beginning and end spots or try different positions until it's really; a rehearsal. The camera man gets to test and see what the real shot would look like and then the actors just have to do their scene.

When the director is satisfied with the placement of cameras and lighting, the marks are set with tape on the ground and we move out. The 1^st team is called in a few minutes before we are done and they step in on the marks as we move out. The actors do the scene until the director cuts and checks the gate (the camera lens). If the gate is “clear” then the scene or that angle is done. Which means 2^nd team has to be there because set up for the next scene will start and they waste your time. You better be there lest you have 20 people looking for you all over the set.

Another important thing for the stand in is to get “color matched” by wardrobe on the beginning of every day. “Color match “means I’ll get something to wear that is the same color as Jennifer Lopez or a copy of the same clothing she is wearing for every scene. I didn’t get “color matched” the first day, but for the rest of the shoot I’ll stop at the wardrobe truck first (after finding out where it was located since we moved locations and I’d get lost everytime) and then walk to set and right to work. If it’s in the a.m you can go extra early and go to the breakfast truck. With a call time of 7am, it’s a little hard to say: Hey, let me get there at 6am instead. Not on the 1 train I’m not.

All the shots we did were exterior scenes because the production had shot everything else in California. I was really surprised to see we were in the middle of the street with paparazzi, neighborhood people, policemen, security and a few tents for production as we worked. Yeah, some people were pissed off that the streets were closed off so they made their statement by going through and into their subway anyway. Streets aren’t closed for all of the hours, only for some of it. Some people get upset because they feel it's their streets but who wants to see a guy pass by and come out waving "Hi mom" during the movie? And people do this and all other sorts of things.

On the first day, I also worked as a double. For the first time, I wore a pregnancy belly! I went to wardrobe and put a body suit on with a belly on it. Then the two stylists worked on getting the dress to close as I held on to the inside of the truck. After learning how to get into a car while pregnant, I had the pleasure of being in a Rolls Royce for the first time. It was such a fun ride. I ran back to the wardrobe truck after we were done. I wanted to see if I could run with the belly and heels. People looked at me a little funny but what did I care? The whole experience couldn’t get any crazier. Actually it could, but I’ll write that on the second part of my first stand in experience.

Pave my own way

Recently when I thought about what to make my first post about, maybe not recently, but for a long time, I've wondered...what do I have to say? What is the essence of what I want to share? The perfect phrase came up to me at the Latin Alternative Music Conference (LAMC) this month, where there was a seminar titled: Going your own way. The title was perfect for me because for some years I've been paving my own way in the arts.

When I first decided to start a music project I didn't exactly know where I was going but I knew that starting it was better than not. It was right after college when I obtained my degree in Political Science and Latin American Studies; a Pre Law Major at NYU. Many times I'd sing in the cafeteria and other students asked me why I wasn't in Tisch School of the Arts instead. I joked that I wanted to have a real career but during the middle of my college education I was presented with the opportunity to join an all girl band known as Las Chicas del Can. I grew up listening to their music and though I was a fan my answer was absolutely not. There was no way I'd drop out of college after working so hard to be there and how many people from Washington Heights became artists anyway, I thought. I didn't know anyone at the time that became an artist from my neighborhood (that has since changed).

I went to the casting for the band when another person mentioned the opportunity to me. I was chosen on the spot. Instead of making the possibility impossible for myself I went to the counselors office at NYU and asked about a leave of absence. The process was very easy and I was allowed to take two semesters off. It was perfect. After about nine months of work and travel, I was ready to go back to school and the group was breaking up anyway.

When I went back to school and my office job, it was my boss that gave the CD I had recorded with the band to his guitar teacher, who gave it to his boss and he gave to his wife, a manager for Latino talent. For months she asked me to get pictures for the castings and I had no idea was she was talking about. Eventually, I got my headshots. I was on my way to booking commercials, voiceovers and industrials. Between politics classes and some science classes that I never understood, I'd take off to attend to castings and rush back to class or work.

My last year at NYU, I took an acting class and more vocal lessons and that is when I knew that I could actually pursue this dream that seemed to be pursuing me, asking me to give it a try.

I have since independently recorded a latin pop album and continue to do commercial and film and TV work in NYC.

Sometimes I think about what my life would be like had I not given the arts a chance and I can hardly picture it. The arts was always there, ready for me to pay attention to it. Is it easy and clear? Absolutely not! I think the arts is a little masochistic actually. Why keep doing it? Because it is so much fun to wake up with a challenge everyday and pave my own way.