Polishing your little star

When I was an infant, my mom would bundle me up and drive me out to countless commercial auditions. Eventually I booked a commercial where got to play around in a giant pile of Kleenex. My sister also did a fair amount of work as a child actor in commercials (her big break was 1-episode in TV's "The Judge"). Based on this limited success, my parents wrote a book and marketed a workshop called "Polishing Your Little Star". At the end of the 2-hour workshop where they made it clear why you shouldn't put your kids in show business, they said "If anyone wants more than $50 from you, it's a scam." Then they proceeded to sell book after book for $35. This is the mid-80's people: $35 for a mimeographed and spiral bound book written by my parents.

Today I spent $50 dollars on a mimeographed, spiral bound, book on the industry written by someone that I don't think has kids. I did so willingly, and with full knowledge of what I was doing. In addition, I plunked down another $200 to join an organization called "The Actor's Network" - they host a lecture series that is populated with industry professionals. They promise to save me the 3 years of getting up to speed that it takes the average nuevo Angelino. I did all this despite an oogy feeling I got from the gentleman running the orientation: the man brought up race far too frequently - and I didn't appreciate the joke about an Arab friend of his being a terrorist. I'll probably be posting with some regularity about events at The Actors' Network because they do seem to offer a cadre of useful services.

Financial Update
Oh, and I have $850 in my checking account.
Rent is $825 and just this morning I got a $50 parking ticket (the same street sweepers that plagued me in Oakland).

It looks like I'm going to have to dip into savings before the month is through - but (and we'll see if I keep this promise) I won't dip into savings next month. No sirree.