disneyland vs. comfy office: part 2

So, where was I? I was sitting in the dark in the conference room.

R. comes in--she's editor there and a real cool girl--and she says, "It's so sad that you're sitting in the dark. But I have something for you to do! I'm sorry to make you do this, but there's no one else who could do it." Turns out it's the boss's b-day tomorrow, but she's leaving early to see her parents for the weekend. She dumped a load of work on everyone, and there's no one to pick up cupcakes and wine for her surprise b-day.

INTERN TO THE RESCUE!

They gave me money, and I basically went to Trader Joe's, got her fave wine, went to Sprinkles in Beverly Hills, pushed my way through all those hipster toolbags, and picked up the cupcakes. I was amazing, I was on it, and I was thorough. I made sure to call and tell them I was outside so that boss doesn't see me walk in with cupcakes. I saw that the champagne flutes on the table that one of the assistants put out were dirty, so I washed them.

This is all PA stuff, which I don't mind, because I'm being real helpful. It's not helpful when I'm stuttering on the phone to producers who are questioning my "position".

The boss was surprised, and one of our directors was there (yeep!), and he said "Thanks" to me for picking up the cupcakes. That made me happy. Made me more happy than getting half a cupcake and a glass of wine in my tummy.

When the boss left everyone unloaded and just hung out in the office. I got to talk to the assistants a little more, which is nice. They said they're glad to have me and how helpful I was, which is nice, but probably the wine talking. I got to go home a little later than usual because I was just hanging out and there was nothing to do, but I think it's important to show that I'm "sociable" even when I'm not.

R. was telling me that no matter what you do in this business, YOU HAVE TO BE AN ACTOR. There are certain ways to deal with people, and you have to know how to "act" with certain people. When you're on the phone trying to get a boom lift from a guy, you have to have a certain voice, maybe "flirt" with them a little, make them feel good, because you want what he has, and only he can give it to you. It's frustrating for me to act on the phone, but I know I have to do it.

The same with interning--I have to be a different person there. And it's very weird and disorienting, and I feel phony, and I don't want it to take over. I don't want to be this person at home or when I'm with my friends. At the same time though, it feels really really good to book a caterer for a film shoot or to get some weird info about cameras at Panavision all using my "phone voice and act"--which are two things I did yesterday.

I don't know. Still mixed about all this. Yesterday, I also got to hang out more with R. She showed me how to pull clips from films and to post them on the website. Pretty cool.