A New Path

I've always wanted to try being a stylist.  When I was in high school this boy named David Green asked me if I would do the costumes on one of his student films.  David was a very ambitious director, he used special effects, and the most talented actors from my class.  So, of course, I was flattered when he asked.   We discussed budget as he walked me through who each character was and why he/she might wear what.   I thought long and hard about how I would dress my classmates.  I think I even made sketches.    The film was scheduled to be shot over summer vacation between 11th and 12th grade.   I gave David my notes, and he said he would call me once pre-production had begun.   He never called, not once.  And once 12th grade began he pretended nothing had happened.    

This has been my experience many times.  

Dozens of stylists shop at the store I work at.  And slyly I try to tell them that I am interested in their field and would love to have the honor of assisting them.  We exchange numbers, and then...nothing.  Once, just once, one of them called me and asked me if I could help out on a commercial.  Finally, my big break!   But I got a horrible flu and had to cancel last minute.  Never heard from her again.

  

I kinda gave up on my minor dream.  I stopped giving out my number.  I applied to grad school.  I was taking a different path. 

 

One evening, about half hour before closing time, one of the regulars came in.   Her name is MIchelle and she's a stylist that works for a band of young gentlemen.  She had told me all about it last time she had been in.  So I asked her how it was going, and she said she was doing great.  I decided to ask her if she needed an assistant, you know, what did I have to lose?  And she said, "yes!"  Just like that.  "Yes!"  I mean she sounded like she meant it.  And she did. 

She called me the next week.  And told me to put certain days on hold.  That' s what they do, the stylists, they put you on hold.  So I got the days off at the store.  And I waited to find out if my on hold would become just on.   And it did!

I spent two days at the Hollywood Center Studios.  I got a new notebook to write all my "assistant stylist"  stuff in.  And I picked out my outfit the night before.  Well, I had to get there at 6:30 am.  Which meant I had to get up at 5:45, and no one can pick out a good outfit at that time. 

 

So I got there at 6:30, met the other assistants and the day began.  I steamed clothes, put them in dressing rooms,  I went on set and used the lint roller a lot, I made sure the boys in the band looked good on camera.   I got to eat off the craft service table, and lunch was free.  It was the best of work I have ever had.  I didn't get to go home until 8, but I wasn't even tired.  Ok, I was, but it was fun tired.  Like after you come home from Disneyland.  I am going to keep it discrete who we work for, but I will post this picture:

Maybe I've finally found a new path.  At least for now.  I've worked with Michelle again.  So far she is the best boss I've ever had.  And the food is always free.  

NYC

This is the post that was supposed to come before my last post.  Please consider that while you are reading it.  Sorry for the delay, I kinda thought maybe I was sick of being a blogger, but don't worry I'm not.   

When you see a * remember this was meant to be two weeks ago...

So I've got a lot of catching up to do since I've been alive for 24 years, and I just started this blog last week*.  For Christmas this year my family decided to go to New York City.  Usually we go to Hawaii, specifically The Kahala.  But I guess everyone was sick of The Kahala, except for me, so we went to New York, and my bf Colby got to come along too!  We had a lot of fun but in the words of Garry Marshall I found this trip to be "different from Hawaii!"

On our first day there we went to the Natural History Museum

I had been dying to see the Mythical Creatures exhibit which focused on Unicorns,  Mermaids, and Dragons.  I was hoping the museum would give us a new reason to believe that these animals once exsisted, but the exhibit gave me every reason why these creatures are called "mythical."   I was pissed!

After I finally got over it, we went to visit my cousin Michael and his wife Tracy.  They live on the Upper West Side with their two kids Gertie Pearl and Isaiah.  We played dress up. 

     

Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures of Isaiah, or the parents Michael and Tracy.   My cousin Michael is the man who put Martha Stewart in jail, but I'll save that story for another blog.  I will say this, when they did a TV movie about the Martha trial, an actor played my cousin, he looked nothing like him.  It was really nice to see them, its been too long!

We didn't take that many pictures after out first day...

Here is Colby and my dad at the MOMA

We saw the Lucien Freud exhibit, it was amazing.  Also we had lunch at "The Modern" recommended by my dad's friend John Marcus, who know a lot about the finer things in life, and it was delicious.   I got a 3D notepad in the gift shop.  All in all a good second day.

The rest of the trip was spent seeing friends: Morgan, Lauren, Charlie, Solomon, David, Courtney, Kahlid, Hanson, Casey Brown, Damhave, etc.  My sister, Colby, and I saw Grease on Broadway, staring Max, my fave!  And we spent New Years in sparkly glasses drinking really bad chanpagne at Lit.  

     

 

 

 

    

 

   

 

We had a great time in NYC.  Its been a long time since I have stayed in a hotel in New York City.  The Four Seasons took the cake.  Their bathtubs fill up in under 60 seconds.  It was a great place to finish 2007 and start 08.  

Something Different

So I’ve decided to try something different.  Well, I guess I mean different then what I planned this blog to be…I was going to post pictures from my trip to NYC, which I will after I do, well, this. 

When I started my blog I had imagined it to be a lot like the only other two blogs I read, my friend Anh’s blog (www.owleypatrol.blogspot.com), and my friend Kime’s blog (themoldydoily.typepad.com), and by being like theirs I meant with minimal writing, and lots of good pictures. 

 Now, here’s the thing, my dad’s got a blog now (www.earlpomerantz.blogspot.com), and it’s really good.  I mean good.  It’s funny, and thoughtful, and he’s already gotten like ten times the amount of comments that I have (we coincidentally started our blogs on the same day).  

So I called my dad and said, “Gee dad, your blog rules!”  I even left my own comment saying a similar thing, next to all his adoring fans.   Now I don’t expect this “different” type of entry to be at all an attempt to compete with his talent, because as he told me, “Anna, I’m the dad and I’ve been writing for 40 years,” I just thought I’d try.

To be honest, I like writing, I like it a lot.   So much so that applied to Grad School for it.  I’m waiting to hear.  It doesn’t look good though.  I mean I get in, or I don’t, but they only accept like 6 people so I probably won’t.  Or maybe I will, we’ll just have to wait and see. 

Right now I spend my days working in a clothing shop on Melrose and my nights hanging out with my bf Colby, my roommate Darren, my cat Raoul “Tiki Barber,” and my friends.   The precious moments of my life are slipping away as I write this, not to be melodramatic or anything, but I am ready to do more.   I mean I don’t want to change the hanging out with Colby, Darren, Tiki, or friends part, just maybe the working in a clothing shop part.  And not because I don’t like it, I mean it has its good days and its bad, but because I am ready for something new.    The hard part is figuring out what that new thing is going to be.      That’s the REALY hard part. 

I sorta like doing a lot of things.  I as I already said, writing, and as I already blogged, weaving.     And that’s just the beginning.  It’s hard to figure out what to do with your life.    And right now I just can’t figure it out.  But I’m trying. 

So next post will be more like the rest.  Pictures and all.    Thanks for listening/reading or reading/listening. There may be more like this.  I hope that’s ok. 

Anna

Penland

There was a time last year when I was feeling down.  I needed to try something new, do something different, and see a part of the world I had always dreamed about.

My best friend Morgan had once looked into learning sculptural knitting at a school called Penland.  It was in North Carolina, a place neither one of us had ever been.  However, we had met a couple of nice gentlemen from there once, who told us it was the kind of place we would love.  

I flew from Los Angeles to Cincinnati, then Cincinnati to Asheville.  I waited at the airport for the shuttle that would take me to the most magical place I've ever been.  

This is where I slept

I decided I wanted to learn how to weave.  It was something that had always interested me.  I love fabric and texture and this was a chance for me to make my own.    But I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did.

This is my first piece

We had to chose a solid and a hand dyed  yarn for our warp.  I chose purple, one of my favorite colors.  Getting the warp on the loom is the hardest part.  But my teacher Kathrin Weber Scott taught us her fool-proof method.  

I spent every day weaving.  I woke up and wove until lunch, ate lunch, wove until dinner, ate dinner, and wove until bedtime. 

  Everyone I met was awesome.  Highlighted by Brandy, Sarah Jones, Annie, Ben, Helena, and Christie, Malcolm, and BJ O'Riley. 

        

They decide I needed too be "Southernized,"  so they gave me the name "Anna Faye," made me sweet tea, and put butter and honey on my biscuits.  

Sarah Jones took me to JP's BBQ on the weekend.  First we went to a flea market to ask around who had the best BBQ in the Blue Ridge Mountains.  Everyone told us to go to JPs right next to the "Shoe Show."  I had never eaten pork before but I decide to try it...

  

   

...it was GOOD!

 

The last week there was spent preparing for my final project.  I couldn't quite put my finger on what I wanted to do.  My class mates kept saying, "Anna Faye you like that hippie stuff don't you?"   

I had always admired a woven piece at my friend Kristin's house.  She had bought it in Oaxaca.  I decided to do my own version:

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It was the first thing I had ever made that came out exactly how I had planned.   While I wove it, I looked out onto the Blue Ridge Mountains and Listened to "Ladies of the Canyon."   My favorite Joni Mitchell album is "Clouds," but "Ladies of the Canyon" felt more appropriate.  

All and all my experience there was priceless.  I will never forget the people I met, the things I learned, and the places I saw. 

   

  

Thank you Penland.  I hope to see you again this summer.

www.penland.org

This Is My Blog

Hello World

This is my blog.

This is me and my cat Raoul...

This blog is for me, for fun, for practice using the Internet, for show and tell, and for your reading pleasure.  Enjoy!