Another week has gone by, and this one was spent recovering from what I thought was food poisoning but may have been the stomach flu. Whatever it was, it was extremely inconvenient and stubborn. At least I was able to finish the entire first season of Lost (upon Sweets' suggestion) and let me tell you, that show is bananas. I highly recommend it.
Monday I was still a little queasy from my weekend bout with the still undetermined stomach disorder, but I had to stop by her apartment to pick up her dry cleaning. When I walked into the lobby there was an old man, probably in his early 80s struggling to open the main door. When he heard me walk in he turns, sees me and says "helllooooooo pussycat!" I smiled because what does one do when standing in a confined space with a senior citizen with a possible penchant for perversion? He mentioned that the lock was stubborn and I opened the door for us both. When I asked him if he needed help up the stairs he said "what a good pussycat," but that he's been climbing these stairs for over 40 years and was fine on his own. I quickly ran away because sometimes old people make me uncomfortable. I realize this makes me a terrible person, but I had visions of being sucked into spending time with him playing mahjong and crushing up his medicine so I could smoosh it into his tapioca pudding.
By Tuesday I was back to feeling 100%, but didn't have too much to do since Sweets had Monday and Tuesday off. Wednesday the talk around the water cooler was when one of the P.A.'s called the office manager to say he forgot his wallet in the crew van which was being returned to the rental place that day. The office manager told him that she was the only one in the office at the time and had to stay near the phones, but that they wouldn't return the vehicle without checking it out. A few hours later Tom, the office P.A., goes down to the van and doesn't find a wallet, but does find a plastic shopping bag. He brings it back up to the office manager who looks inside and discovers...a penis pump. She had just watched Austin Powers and that's how she recognized the device, that and the fact that I'm pretty sure it either says "Penis Pump" or has a picture of a penis pump on the box. When the P.A. called the office to see if they found his wallet, she said no, but they did find a shopping bag, and before she could say anything else, the P.A. interrupted her, saying "oh, that's mine." She offered to send it to one of the Assistant Directors on set, but he quickly said, "no, no, send it to me." My question is what he was doing bringing it to work with him?
Thursday Sweets asked me to pick up breakfast for her from Pastis, and told me that she wants me to eat with her from now on instead of from film catering because she doesn't want me getting sick again. So against my will I was forced to eat Irish Oatmeal from one of the swankiest restaurants in New York. I don't actually like Irish Oatmeal because it's covered in bananas which I loathe, but I ate that oatmeal like it was the most delicious dish to ever hit my lips. I was also cat-called while picking it up which I thought was kind of funny since the bistro is located in the Meat Packing District. We heard through the grapevine that it was Roe's birthday, and Sweets asked her friend R to send over something nice from the luxury brand she heads PR for as a gift.
Sweets wrapped early on the scene she was shooting before lunch so we had a solid hour and a half before we had to get back to set. She suggested we go somewhere for lunch and who am I to argue? We went to Schiller's on the Lower East Side, which happens to be owned by the same people who run Pastis, and we had a lovely little Parisian lunch. At first I didn't really know what to talk about (it happens every once in a while when I'm in a non-work related situation with her) but she took over by asking me what it was that I wanted to do, professionally. I told her that I've really enjoyed working for her and that I enjoy being a personal assistant (true when referring to Sweets), but said that's weird because people don't aspire to be personal assistants, right? Plus, I'm always embarrassed to admit what I really want to be when I grow up so I rarely do...okay fine, it's a child actor. She said that it's a good thing because you have to have a certain personality to be good at it and then spent the next fifteen minutes complimenting me, telling me I'm confident and responsible and I know how to get things done and made feel so appreciated. I also told her that I'm really thinking about moving to Los Angeles because New York has been great, it was where I wanted to be for college, but I get itchy when I'm in one place for too long. I told her I thought I needed some sunshine and she couldn't have been more supportive. Our conversation really gave me hope that this is going to lead to bigger and better things.
After lunch I had the pleasure of being alone in the elevator with Slick. We passed a few floors in silence and then he asked me how it was going. I enthusiastically said "super" and he goes "super?, really?" when I quickly joked "well, no," since I was actually running around like a madwoman, he smiled and I melted a little because Slick is hot. The package for Roe arrived in the afternoon, it was a black purse so new it's not even in stores yet, and when Sweets presented it to Roe she started freaking out, profusely thanking her for being so nice. My friend Koko joked that I should have told her it was my birthday too.
When I got back to the production offices I discovered the paparazzi photos that I seemed to be the focal point in. The office manager and Tootsie kept asking me what their names were, as if I'd forget them and leave them behind when I moved up in the world. Never, well at least not Tootsie, I could care less about the office manager. I forwarded the link to Sweets, joking that even though she didn't need any help in looking pretty, I've taken the liberty of bogarting the ten pounds the camera would have added to her, and added them onto my ten pounds. She quickly responded: "Oh hush. U look great! It's always a little jarring to see onself in those crazy pics......don't be so hard on yourself! We all look a bit windblown! Xx S" I was schooled on my insecurities by Sweets Magee.
Friday was a slower day. She was called to set at 2pm but didn't start filming til it was close to 6pm, and by 8pm we were all dying to get out of there. Even though she still had one more scene to shoot, she kicked me out, telling me I should go home and enjoy my weekend, she'd be fine. She also gave me a bouquet of flowers that were sent to the set for her from Juicy Couture. She told me she already had flowers in her apartment and she's going straight to dinner after work and won't be able to take them home, but somebody should appreciate them. I brought them back to the offices and put them on Tootsie's desk because she's the reason Sweets is even giving me flowers in the first place.
tune in next week...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment