Meeting Standards, Making Friends and Influencing People

Today was the day the day I got my headshots back from the local photographer that I work with.  The reason I went and got headshots was that I figured I'd try my luck with one of the local talent agencies in St. Louis called Images.This isn't the first time I've had headshots done.  Last year I had operatic headshots done for my audition applications to various music productions.

I did find this one place online, claimed to be run by a casting director that offered headshot critique.  So I bit the bullet and actually sent my picture in.  I explained, that "This isn't my sole ambition in my life. My real ambition is to become an opera singer, but I figured I should try my luck at acting if I could get a job or two and get some money coming in."  Well I guess the guy trumped it up to me not being "serious," because he told me my headshot wasn't "bad but not great either"  he said I was "washed out and that the white background didn't help" well, I'm sorry Mr. High-Mucky-Muck Casting Director, but it wasn't my choice to have a white background for this particular headshot. My agency requested a white background.  And no, I'm not washed out or overexposed. I have extremely pale skin and almost black hair.  In the end, he said it should be a fine headshot since I'm not serious.

Exactly how serious can you be in a business where everything is about the luck of the draw? I'm not about to delude myself in to believing that I'm magically going to make some big splash in the entertainment industry JUST because I got out from my parents' thumb and FINALLY had the freedom to talk to some agents.  I KNOW it takes years of work,education, and a lot of LUCK.  The people who have gotten where they are have paid their dues and then some.

I'm not about to put all my eggs in one basket. And no smart person in that industry would.  Last I checked, everyone has to make a buck to survive and make ends meat in this country. Since when has realism and prudence become equated with a lack of seriousness?

Only in La-la land.  And some people think that La-la land is Los Angeles.  I've lived in LA and I miss it terribly.

Life and Lemons

I'm still dealing with being out here. I've yet to find a solid circle of friends or dig myself into a comfortable rut. Oh, I'm in a rut alright; just not a comfortable one. Therein lies the difference between me and my neighbors.

One thing that has made things more bearable has been the Meyer lemon tree that I ordered in September of 2010.  Here it is on our patio shortly after it arrived shipped in a 5 gallon container.

 

Now some people, like Mr. Smarty Plants, who gives regular advice on planting stuff in Illinois, may think I'm off my rocker to try to grow a tropical plant in the middle of  USDA 6b zone.  Truth is, I'm not crazy, just homesick or crazily homesick. 

You see, one of the first things my parents did when they bought their house, besides dealing with a major plumbing issue, in Los Angeles was to plant a Meyer lemon tree.  I was 9 years-old at the time, and that tree and I were both the same height.  Later that year, LA had one of its coldest winters, and that tree lost all of its leaves and branches to the point where it looked like a stick in the mud.  But thankfully, that spring it came back with a vengeance. Sure enough, the next winter we had our first of what would be many prolific crops of super-sweet lemons.  

The Meyer lemon tree in my parents front yard was one of the better memories I have of my childhood.  I remember whenever my mom or grandma made a dessert that called for vanilla, I was promptly sent outside to pick a lemon or two for its peel.  Adding lemon peel to any dessert that calls for vanilla, if it doesn't involve chocolate, is one of the secrets of the great chefs.  The two flavors together are nothing but pure magic.

I remember putting up white Christmas lights on the tree and seeing these bright yellow fruits all but make the tree look like a Christmas tree in its own right.

One light-hearted scene that comes to mind, despite being frightened at the time, was watching all the overripe lemons falling out of our tree and hitting the ground during the many aftershocks from the Northridge Quake which occurred on January 17, 1994.  We lived roughly 5 miles from the epicenter, and the shaking was intense.  And by "intense" I mean enough to move both our stove and refrigerator a full 3 feet from the wall.  It was also enough to toss organ pipes of the local church right through the stained glass window behind them.  That quake was no joke: 57 seven people lost their lives and many more followed in the days to come.  Thankfully, my family and friends got through it unharmed.

My husband also was none too happy to find out that I had spent nearly a hundred dollars, with shipping and all, to get a plant that he is most likely allergic to.  He's allergic to pretty much anything that grows in the ground, so at first it stayed outside.

I found a guide on the internet with advice about growing a lemon tree indoors.  There's also a video I found on youtube. I knew it wasn't for the faint of heart, but hey, at least I hadn't killed my orchids yet right?

So I planted the tree in a 20 gallon pot, more than enough for it to have room to grow and expand using Miracle Grow Moisture Control soil(just in case I forget to water it).  It stood outside on our patio until Mid November when we brought it in.  That's when we started running into problems:  my cat thought it was a second litterbox.

At first I figured I'd just cover the soil with a plastic bag.  The end result was a couple of months later, the tree started to develop white fungus at the base of the root.  When I discovered that, I went into a panic.  The local nursery gave me neem oil to dilute and spray saying it was a safe organic fungicide and insecticide.  While I was checking out the tree, I also found out I it had a massive scale problem.  After spraying it for months, the fungus went away but the scale bugs kept coming back to the point where the leaves were falling out.  The neem oil didn't seem to bother them as much as it bothered the tree, whose little green lemons started falling off from the moment I started spraying it.

In order to get rid of the bugs, I ended up having to check over every inch of every leaf and branch every morning and pick them off one by one by hand. After almost 9 months of constant vigilance, the scale bugs gave up and I had a healthy tree again.

We eventually solved our cat problem by putting screen mesh over the soil and securing it to the pot with a bungee cord.  The tree stays outside 3 out of 4 seasons, and it is brought in from November to April.   This year my tree produced for the very first time.

 

 11 Lemons in all: 4 were given to my voice teacher. 3 went into the marinade for my Christmas turkey, and there are still 4 left.

I use lemons for a lot of things: including facial masks.  Although my husband is isn't exactly happy about having to shlep the darned thing back and forth twice a year, I'm glad I it's here.  It's a little piece of California growing in my basement.