Where did the summer go?

I cannot believe that it has been MONTHS since I have been on here - Summer was a busy one to say the least!

Quick overview of events:

- Opened and closed "As You Like It" with the Actors Co-op Theatre Co.

- Worked on "Days of Our Lives" again

- Auditioned for a bunch of stuff

- Started to new acting classes, one workshop with a commercial pro and the other with Bree and Steve as well as some other actor friends of ours.

- Started interning with AIA which is a place I take tons of CD workshops and am trying to meet an agent!

- Got new headshots

- Scott and Kel moved here

- Saw tons of movies, sold almost all my video games, lost 15 lbs for good (down to 190 for real!)

Coming up there are a bunch of auditions for theatre companies, Scott and I are working on an internet pilot that we are going to find a home for online as well as continued class work, artistic exploration and such.

Christmas is right around the bend too and home we shall be heading...

Not much else to report for now!

Later.

J.

So blessed are we

There are some days, when you wake up, you think "why the f' do I want to even get out of bed?" While today was not totally one of those days, the day did drag a bit. A long day at work, and not the pop of people that we thought we would get. Which gives one alot of time to spend in their head, which I did.

I just starting thinking about my life, and all of the wonderful things that I am blessed with.

First and foremost, is my health. Every day now, like clockwork, I get up and head to the gym - but I take for granted that I can do that. Without anyone's help, without a wheelchair or anything - I have a fully working, wonderful body.

Then there is my loving family - without whom I wouldn't even be at all. My parents, who have been nothing short of totally supporting of every crazy thing I have ever wanted to do - I mean, who says "Sure son, we will totally pay a crapload to send you to college to become an actor and get a degree that isn't worth the paper that it is printed on." And still to this day, are so proud and so happy to hear about every little audition, every one line part and almost booked job. And then there is my amazing sister and my two wonderful little buddies, Maygen and Jaeden. Two of the coolest little people, who get more amazing with every passing day. Not to mention (though I will) my new family - the Pavey's. And how they have taken me in like I am their own flesh and blood and love me like their own child. Just as giving and as wonderful as my mom and dad - so I see where Bree gets the huge heart from.

I have my friends - who are all over the world - some in Disney, some right down the street. Some I have been friends with since before I could remember and some who I have only been friends with for a few years. Making new memories all the time, sharing our old war stories and missing the fallen that left us long ago. Without whom, I wouldn't be the man that I am today. They are like my second family - the brothers and sisters that I didn't have.

And then there's the fact that everyday I move one step closer to my dream - of making my living as an actor. I'm not sure when I told my parents, that brisk fall before "Flowers" opened, that I wanted to be an actor at the ripe old age of 16, that I would still be plugging away at this some 12 years later - that I would have been on "Days of Our Lives" and auditioning for the Guthrie, the Geffen and DC Shakespeare Theatre (which I am doing in two weeks). I'm not sure I could have even seen myself living in LA and chasing a dream that is truly within arms reach.

And then there is Bree (and also Jabez... but more Bree)

I have spoken on here a few times about how lucky I am to have someone like her in my life. But the more I look around at the fallen remains of other relationships, I see how truly amazing, understanding and wonderful this woman is. She absolutely cares for me in a way that no one I have ever met does, and I for her. Not only would she saw off her own arm just to make my life better, she's beautiful (not only on the outside), giving, a gifted and driven actor and amazingly smart. She's easy to talk to, easier to take care of and an unmatched partner in striving for our common goal in the entertainment realm. The truest foil and bestest friend I could ever ask for.

I am the most blessed person I know... and for that I am so thankful.

Well... now that you got thru all of that, this past week and the up coming one have been/will be filled with many adventures.

- Bree and I worked on this reading for a new theatre company called Rouge Machine - the play, which was getting its first ever read-thru, was called "Essence of the Earthworm". An okay play, which has some room to grow into a great play.

- Lots of auditions: We auditioned and were called back for Theatre 40's production of "Lost in Yonkers", I have an audition for "CORIOLANUS" and "TWELFTH NIGHT" with VCPA, I'm auditioning for the Shakespeare Theatre Company (America's version of the RSC) in Washington DC on the 9th (They are holding West Coast Auditions in LA - this one is a real long shot - but sh*t, you only live once!), Bree has an audition for NBC's "Heroes" and auditioned for a new Fung Shui show today

- I had a week of adventures in new headshots - meeting with different photogs and not being able to find one that I liked - Either their pics were great and they were boring or they were amazing and their pics just didn't do anything for me. I ended up finding a guy that I loved all around and I cannot wait to see what we come up with! His name is Zen Todd (check his work out here http://www.hollywood-actor-headshots.com/)

- Looking forward to seeing The Cure at the Hollywood Bowl - Bree bought these tickets almost a year ago and while I am not the biggest Cure fan, I haven't ever been to a concert with her before and I think that it is just going to be a blast!

- Have been listening to TONS of musicals again - I haven't done that in years... just enjoying them again in a whole new way.

- Brian and I are going to see WEE Smackdown/ECW for his birthday next week which should be a blast.

- Bree's mother is coming into town on the 7th for a few days, which should be a blast - this is her first time coming out West, so we plan on showing her a good time!

- It is almost time for Scott and Kel to move out west and I cannot wait! They are going to be living in the same building as us! HOW RAD!

...I think that is all the news and sudo-news that I have... for now.

More at another time.

Thanks again to everyone, for the love and the support. Thanks for checking out the "Days" episode, either online or on NBC. If you haven't seen it yet, you can check it out on YouTube - just search Jason on "Days"

Till the next go around!

J.

Like sands thru the hourglass... Part Two

So much has been happening over the last month.

I signed with a new agent.

My episode of "Days of Our Lives" aired.

Bree and I have been auditioning like crazy.

Bree booked a national commercial and got to callbacks on two others.

We are working on a staged reading this week for a new LA theatre Company called Rouge Machine. I saw their first production, Complete Female Stage Beauty, which was - hands down - the best theatre I have seen while living in LA. I am so stoked to be working with these guys.

And we have been working crazy, long hours at our days jobs!

So, in case you missed my time on "Days" this week - here it is. Enjoy!



Not alot, but a great start and I am sure there is more to come on this show and many others.

Much love! Till next time,

J.

Mystery Man in the Can.

So Monday was - for lack of any other words - amazing.

I had a 7am calltime, got a drive-on to park on the NBC studio lot, had my own dressing room (#27), then went on and enjoyed some hair/make-up with a little morning coffee.

Pre-blocking began at 8am... I went in to block at 8:20am, was done by 8:23am. It was "stand here, enter when cued, walk to here, turn, speak. Okay? Next scene... sit here, talk, get up and exit on your line. Okay? Next scene" and I was done... I loved that while everyone was there to have a good time, everyone was also there to work and that was a blast.

The inside of the soundstage (I was on Stage 4, which is across the hall from the stage that Bree got to work on) reminded me of the theatre at Stritch... with the weighted pullies, the half built sets... it was like being in college again in a very strange way. So cool.

So after the dryblock, I headed back to my dressing room, read about Robert Downey Jr and Iron Man for a while, had some breakfast and waited the hour till taping, which without a book or music or something feel like I was waiting a week... but hey, I would still rather do that everyday than not.

So around 10am I was up on the stage, with my costume that had been brought to my room while I was dryblocking and running the scene. Jay Johnson was in my scene, he plays Phillip, really nice guy. We talked for a while about what the scene was about, if I had gotten anymore scripts and when he thought I would be back... which he did, and since he is about the fifth person to either imply or come right out and say I would be back, I feel good that I am going to be on the show again. But even if I'm not - what a great time this was.

So we ran through the first scene, shot it in one take and then moved to the next scene.

Ran through that one, shot it in three takes... cause they wanted to change a little of the lines. Shot it, a little "check the gate" (even though this is video) and we moved on. "Thank you Mr. Lovett, that's a wrap for you today."

I went back to my room and gathered up my stuff and home I went.

I would love to be on this show, or any soap really. The feeling of it, is so different than the other shows or movie sets I have been on. It is really chill and everyone, like I said, is there to work but have a good time while doing it. No egos or anything...

So yesterday, I had a meeting with an A-level boutique agency that has been courting me, thanks to a friend of mine that got me on their desk. Met with their head of commercial representaion, he loved me, my look, my sense of comic timing and my work eithic, overall thought I was cool (I like to think I can fool people into believing I'm cool!) and I'm going to come back next week, meet with the other agents, show them what I have and I might have a new team by this time next week!

So lots of great things are going on. Shakespeare Fest/LA announce they are doing Taming of the Shrew this summer, which is a show I have been dying to be in for many years, and Crown Theatre will either be doing 12th Night or R&J, either one of which would be a blast!

So that is news with me... Days airs May 22nd - Bree's episodes are May 2nd, 5th-7th, so make sure to tune in. =)

Love ya guys!

J.

Like sands thru the hourglass...

Lots and lots has been going on which is why I should be posting more and yet have not. So let's back it up a bit shall we?

I've has been having a great run of auditions. A couple for Wendy's that went really well! I just finished up my second semester with Steppenwolf and am going to take the summer off before returning to classes with them. But, in the meantime, Steve has finally decided to start teaching scene study classes and we (Bree and I) will soon be starting that on Monday nights.

I've has been working out a lot and lost a lot of weight since Christmas.

We went on a cruise last month. That was cool. Bree's parents wanted to include us in their family vacation this year so Bree and I joined her mom and dad, sister and brother for a week in the Caribbean. The boat was amazing. I did a lot of napping and video arcade visiting and Bree did a lot of reading. We stopped in Cozumel and swam with dolphins at a place called Dolphinaris. If you ever have the opportunity to do this I highly recommend it. Bree cried. It was an unforgettable experience. We then went on to Belize which was probably my favorite part. It's a beautiful country but so so poor. It feels a LOT like New Orleans which, as we learned, is probably because the predominant ethnicity in Belize is Creole. Next is Mayan followed by eastern indian, chinese and amize/mennonite. I know, strange combination, right? Anyway we took a gorgeous although harrowing bus riode across the country to the border of Guatemala and climed some ruins and an ancient temple call Xunentunich (pronounced shoo-NAHN-too-NEECH). It was indescribable. Again, I highly recommend the experience if you have the chance. Really breathtaking. And the history of the culture is mind blowing. After what we learned on the trip I say watch out for December 21, 2012. There's something to it. :)

After that we returned home and tried to get back into the swing of things. The week after we got back Bree booked 4 episodes of Days of Our Lives. She played Annie, a cop. It was cool. The episodes air May 1, 2, 5, and 6. It will be hard for them to cut her out of these because she is in a LOT of these episodes. Not a lot of lines, but a lot of work time. It was awesome and she hopes to go back again soon!

The only thing that made working on Days difficult was that her car was totalled the night before. Sunday she was driving to the restaurant and got rear ended. Totalled the baby Kia and left her in a lot of pain. She has 6-8 vertebrae that are misaligned and her pelvis has gone off balance. She is in treatment 4 times a week which included shooting electricity into her back and neck to fatigue the muscles in order to allow the doctor to try and put things back where they belong. It sucks. We also had to go buy a new car which was not as fun as one might think. If you PLAN to buy a car and WANT to buy a car it's fun. When you are less than 2 years from having your existing car paid off...and that car makes you perfectly happy, then being forced to incur a new 5 year loan is not fun. Plus we found out the Thursday after the accident that the car was totalled which meant that we had to return her rental car within 3 days which FURTHER meant that we had to buy a new car over a weekend. It was beyond stressful. But we got a wonderful new Scion tC. It's a very fun little car and she is beginning to warm up to it every day.

Last week we went to a table read for a play we were thinking of doing. We spent a few weeks doing re-writes as it was a thick script that needed some streamlining. Steve would direct. The woman who would poroduce however....not so much my cup of tea. Steve, Bree and I all agreed that we did NOT want to work with her. So we'll look for something else to do. :)

I had an audition for Days of Our Lives on Tuesday...

Thursday I went in for my callback for "Officer of the Court" which Bree told me means Lawyer =)

Well, I booked work on Days, which I will be filming on Monday... yet it is not the role I read for... instead I will be playing "Mystery Man" and in my scenes I say very little but am sent to do a devilish task of I know not what... Does this mean I will be back? And if so, what will I be doing?

I'll keep you posted!

Much love.

J.

Mini-update # 42

After being sick for what felt like months - I am now back and ready to take on the world again.

So what has been happening...

- Lots of days of work... boring I know.

- Auditions, tons of them for a bunch of different commercials, but I haven't booked anything.

- Working hard in Scene Study class, doing two scenes this time, one from "The Seafarer" and the other from "Blue Surge". Both are going great and I feel like I'm making some wonderful break thrus. Working on the simple storytelling, instead of adding all kinds of unneeded actor crap.

- booked our tickets for the cruise Bree and I are going on at the end of the month.

- Even though I haven't been working out, being sick and not eating has gotten me down to 200 lbs... I can hardly believe it... 20 lbs away from the goal and right now I'm not even doing anything! =)

- Going to lots of theatre - saw "Some Girl(s)" at the Geffen Playhouse, "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at Long Beach Shakespeare's Goad Theatre, "Death of an Anarchiest" last night at the Unknown Theatre. Which really has gotten me dying to get back on stage. I needed to wait till closer to the cruise to audition for anything, since the cruise dates seemed to fall right in the middle of tech week on anything I was interested in doing. No worries though, I'm going to rejoin the acting ranks after the cruise ends, one way or another.

- watching alot of movies, just saw MotherNight and Chaplin (Just amazing!) last night, saw Vantage Point a few weeks ago (wait and rent it.)

- Heading to Brian Koehler's 30th Birthday party tonight - lazer tag and pizza, the only way to do a birthday!

- Cannot wait for Ironman and The Dark Knight to come out! Summer movies are gonna rule this year!

I think that is all for now. Sorry for being away for so long =)

Peace out!

- J.

This week in action news!

So, this week...

- I had an audition at the Geffen Playhouse in Westwood for Understudies. I did a piece from "Long Day's Journey Into Night" - only had to wait 3 hours, which is good cause I thought for sure I would have be there longer since I'm not in AEA.

- Had an audition for Viread playing a 35 Polish man.

- Did week three of my "Rosencrants and Guildenstern are Dead" scene in my Steppenwolf West class; it went really great!

- Am down to 210 lbs as of Monday

- Have a CD workshop tonight

- finally saw "Eastern Promises" last week

- Am sad Russel Crowe seemed like dick to Bree, now I have to kick his ass. And I wanted us to be friends.

- Am stoked that Bree is still spinning.

- Cannot wait for the WGA to sign off on their deal (looks like the strike could be over in less than a week!)

- Pissed Clinton won CA!

- Cannot wait for Scott and Kel to be in LA!

- Have run out of things to update...

Later -

J.

- PS, set your tivo for this friday's Day's of Our Lives so you don't miss Bree!

Another Week in the can!

Man, this has been a long week - lots of working and thinking.

So this is week two of my hardcore working out and eating "clean". (If you don't know what that means, basically it means fruits, veggies, lean meats - that kind of thing. No white breads, only wheat and whole grain and only in a limited amount and never after 8pm. No sugar - ever - and no fast food. I get one "cheat" day to be bad - this week I had a few beers and Pizza!)

So I wanted to get this whole thing on track, lose weight for me, for Bree(I know she loves me like I am, but I'm sure I would be much nicer to look at and show off with a tight six-pack - and besides, she started this spin class and will soon be able to kick my ass, so I got keep up with her! I'm so proud of you love), for this cruise that Bree and I are going on March with her family, and just cause I want to feel like I can compete with other actors in my "group", so I started looking around the Men's Health Website and found their Body Fat Challenge - where you post about goals, weekly weigh-ins and a full blown, ever building work-out and eating plan. I tend to get bored quick and start messing with stuff and next thing I know, I'm heading back into Wendy's and not going back to the gym. So I downloaded the whole thing.

Well, this is a "body weight" work-out, supersets, all kinds of great advanced sh*t - and it is kicking my ass.

I wasn't so sure how I was doing - I felt a little better and couldn't see much difference - That was, till I hit the scale today. When I started last week - I was 220 lbs - this week, wearing the same stuff as last week - 213 lbs. Holy CRAP! 7 lbs in one week? Now I know this rate of loss isn't going to continue forever, but - wow! Nothing made me want to run upstairs in the gym and start breaking into week two! So I am moving in the right direction.

As for the other goals - this week I started working on my first new scene for class, which is from Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead - I'm playing Guil with a buddy of mine from class, Jim - both he and I are big Shakespeare nuts, so it is really cool to be working with him - plus I am really getting back into the play of acting and he is great to try stuff with - nothing is to out there for him and I, which is wonderful.

I have given more thought to this Write/Produce/Direct my own short - I had talked to "S" sometime ago about doing a series of shorts called "Shake Shorts" doing mini versions of Shakespearian plays, and I am going back to this idea. I searched all over YouTube and found nothing like my idea. I figure use the best written stuff and what the hell is better than the Bard himself? So, I'm going to start with Macbeth and Much Ado - I have some cool ideas for them - I'm going to start by shooting one scene... see how that works...

What else? I had another CD workshop tonight with the CD of Burn Notice and The Shield - my two all time favortie shows! It went great - I got this fun scene from an indie movie where I get to play the asshole boss who in the first scene is just riding his lower co-worker, and in the second scene totally gets put in his place - and my partner was great, we lit the room on fire! It was a great feeling - two weeks in row. Last week (also Monday) was with the CD of Criminal Minds.

Hmm... I think that is all - Bree got her script today - which films on Wens - the episode airs on Feb 8th (Friday) So set those Tevo's for Days of our lives! (PS -If you didn't know, Bree Booked a one dau U/5 on Days' of Our Lives! Give her a shout out!)

Love and miss you guys - can never tell you enough.

J.

A new year and a new line-up

So this year has already started out great for me in a few ways.

The biggest one, if you had not heard from me, or read the last post or just don't remember last week, is that I got engaged to Ms. Bree Pavey right before Christmas. It was a wonderful day long journey through our life together so far and where we are planning on going in the coming days, weeks and years together.

On the 2nd of Jan I had an audition for a Six Flags Promo - for the Dark Knight. They must be reworking the ride to match the new films, and I am in the "press" footage with Aaron Eckhart (who plays Harvey Dent/Two-Face in the next film) I don't have any lines, but it doesn't really matter since no one but Eckhart did much talking during filming anyhow - It was really cool though.

Other than that, I am back to scene study class on Tuesday, doing some more CD workshops while the strike is going on and working on audition material for the Geffen playhouse. They are having open, understudy auditions at the end of the month and I would love to work at this playhouse, so I am working hard to find some great material and work it till perfection.

Now in the last post, I said I would be listing off some of my goals, which I have been working on already, some very well and others not so much. While I know tons of people every year say "I'm going to eat better" or "Spend more time with my family" and it last a week, I really want to make some changes to better my life - some that I have been doing to much talking about and not enough action towards making real. So here is my list and at the end, a few notes to go along with them. Some make better sense than others, bu getting them out into the world is one of the steps, I think, to getting them done.

- Make more money from acting in 2008 than waiting tables (in 2007, Bree and I together made as much from acting as from our survival jobs)
- Free myself from the bonds of fast food for good (I have had this problem for a long time)
- Drop to 10% body fat (I'm currently at 21%/215 lbs... I was very bad leading up to and during the holidays)
- Be able to bench press/squat my own weight again
- To quit my day job forever
- Get my break in acting for a living
- Play one major Shakesperian Figure (I have not be doing nearly enough theatre in the last few years)
- Join a great Theatre Company (I have a few that I am scouting right now)
- Write/Produce/Film my own short film (I have no idea what about, but I want to make something so bad!)
- Do One "New Adventure in SoCal" each month (We live in such a great place and never take advantage of it - so now I am going to!)
- Invest 10% of all my 2008 earnings
- Learn to cook (I have slowly started with some very easy meals from The Food Network Website)
- Become great at 12 new things
- Live like an MVP
- Enjoy each and everyday 100%
- Meet every goal on this list by June 1st!
- Never stop setting new goals
- Always remember to say "thank you" and "I love you"

So, there you go.

I have already been working out again, and trying to over do it which has cause me to cheat on each when I should not be and making myself sick. I think I have figured out the problem and that roadblock might finally, after a long struggle, be gone.

As for the rest, strike or no strike, I want to be acting full time and I need, for my own sanity (which is thin at best) to find a way to make it real and now.

The others, I am working on them day by day. =)

I plan to report in on how these goals are being met and when, whatever adventures come along with them.

Much love to you all and as always, thanks for reading, and even more, thanks for being a friend.

J.