After yesterday's shoot, I come home, go on the computer to check the bus schedule and prepare myself for the next day's trip out to the movie location as a background extra. I get a call saying that it's in a remote area that I've never heard of! I wasn't sure about it, but I said I'd get there somehow. If I'd known ahead of time that it was an impossible location, I'd have said no, but I was needed. My mom agreed to take me there early so she'd drive all the way back and head to work. My dad became a backseat driver and dictated to my mom where to go. It's like seeing the toxic chemicals about to mix and feeling powerless to stop it. I knew the ride would be frustrating, but that wasn't the worse part.

The directions I got were wrong, so we went way past the point we were suppose to go. I was waiting to see the Canadian/U.S. border we were going so far out. At one wonderful moment, my dad fell asleep, so the car was quiet. Another wonderful moment was seeing deer on the road without getting that famed look in their eyes. There were a dozen of them! 'twas beautiful! When frustration hit me, for the first time, I went to a payphone and a black Labrador dog, wandering the streets, followed me around. Poor thing looked lost and had no collar. I was tempted to take it into the car with me and keep him/her, but it only lingered in my mind as we went another 2 hours looking for the location. When we were redirected to the same spot, the dog met up with another dog, so I was relieved. At this point, mom was late and so was I. It was shere luck, after asking 3 people for directions and getting baffled looks, that I saw some orange cones on the road and discovered the crew set-up there. I awaited someone to give me a hard time and I was ready to pounce on them for misdirecting me. It turns out that the other extras got bad directions too. I'm still amazed that no one gave me a tongue-lashing about being late; That's the difference between Winnipeg & Vancouver. In Vancouver, they'd have humiliated me by making me feel small for being late or sent me home, whereas out here, they were too calm about it. Hmmmm......this may mean I'll never work in this town again. That was my fear when I was told that the casting director called my house to tell me that they were still waiting. I immediately thought of my cranky and sleep-deprived dad on the other end of the receiver. If he traumatized her enough, I may never work in this town again, not even to do extra work. Anyway, I was on a bus that the scene was shot on and Ralph Fiennes was there. I was tired and it seemed like I blinked and two hours went by: I slept through shooting with a famous actor across from me! I only hope I didn't snore or have my mouth gaping open! We were wrapped for the day and shuttled to the place where we ate food. One of the extras, also a local actor, drove me home today, as he also did yesterday. Turns out that he went to the same elementary school I did, but he's 6 years younger. Talk about coincidences! He also said that he'd give me a ride back home, saying, "I've got your back". Too bad he wasn't a lesbian. He's shooting an independent film where he plays a sociopathic rapist, saying that the crew members had nightmares about him the following night.