Hello friends, family, and my huge fan base. I'm receiving so many fan letters and requests for headshots that I'm having trouble keeping up. And if I had you going then good, I'm just practicing.

I'm back in LA after a pretty long break from 12/23 -1/4. I drove to San Angelo to see my mom, then to Austin to see my aunt and sister, and then up to Farmington, NM to see my dad. I stopped on the way back to LA at the grand canyon for a little sight seeing too. It was beautiful and humbling! I had a great time with my family and got a lot of strength from them. Kind of like when Dracula has to lay in soil from Transylvania when he's in London to get strong again. Yeah, sort of like that.

Unfortunately, I missed a callback for a comedic industrial that I had auditioned for before I left, and an audition for a commercial, but the trip was well worth it. I've been trying to get back in the groove of things here in LA. It's pretty happenin' right now since it is pilot season. Everyone is trying to cast the next great show that will be new and exciting and appearing on your tv set in the fall. A lot of actors come out here during this time because of it. Yes, more productions, but more actors. I have a feeling most get out here and feel a little perplexed when they find out it's a business and their romatic notions of Hollywood are crushed (I'd suggest reading this article under the part "Moving to Los Angeles for Pilot Season". For you actors out there, this casting director writes a column each week and it's very educational. She auditioned me for my first SAG film too). Unless you are going to an American Idol type competition, you don't have an audition unless you are invited. This seems to be one of the biggest misunderstandings that people seem to have. If "Grey's Anatomy" let everyone audition for the show who wanted to, there would be auditions everyday for years, for just one episode. That's where the importance of an agent comes in (or should I say, an agent that actually works for you). He/she's the one that gets you the audition because he has relationships with the cds (or vouches his reputation that you would be good for this role). Agents generally stop taking new clients before pilot season, so it's not exactly the time to seek one. That time is in the summer months, when they start dropping their old clients who don't make them money. Or, most of the time, the casting director won't bring you in unless they've seen your work before (that's why I've done workshops, and being that I don't have a theatrical agent, have seemingly been the only reason why I've been able to audition for 3 tv shows). Other than that, it's about connections usually. And connections take a while to make. You got to be patient (and I also refer to me when I say "you"). And last but not least there's always the luck factor. After saying all that above, if you've got the goods and people can't resist you and you've got the "it" factor or you're in the right place at the right time, anything can happen. It is Hollywood after all. But I think it's important for people to know what they're getting into before investing their time and money. If I discouraged you from coming out here then you should thank me, because you wouldn't have lasted anyway.

As far as what I've been doing... on 1/5/07 I had an audition through my commercial agent for a True Credit commercial in which I was a quirky businessman riding up on a mo-ped (b/c I couldn't afford a car). I park it, get off, and then it falls into a million pieces. I got a call back for it but didn't book it in the end. On 1/9, I did a table read for a comedic horror movie. A friend of mine is producing it and she asked me to come in and read one of the roles (writer's like to hear their work be performed, "lifted off the page", so they know how to fine tune it.) It was a lot of fun and although I didn't recognize him then, one of the actors was in Weird Science from the 80s. The next day, I went as an audience member (officially, doing extra work, ugh) on the NBC game show "1 vs. 100" with the host Bob Saget. Pretty fun show although I could hardly speak from so much yelling and oo-ing they made us do (I got paid to do this). D.L. Hughley, from Studio 60, was a special guest on the panel of 100 and was pretty funny.

On the 11th, I auditioned for a Chapman grad film out in Manhattan Beach. On 1/17, my agent got me an audition for an American Express print ad. Basically, they took a picture of me smiling and not smiling. That was it. That same day, I shot a spec commercial for a radio channel competition. The winning commercial gets aired during an episode of "24" in a few weeks. I was basically a redneck, complete in flannel shirt, jeans, and gimme cap that busts out of the public restroom stall wearing headphones, singing in a high pitched voice, and doing a few Michael Jackson moves, much to the astonishment of the other guys at the urinals. Pretty funny and hopefully it will get picked if for nothing more than a little exposure. On Saturday the 20th, I auditioned for a short film that will be entered into the upcoming reality show competition "The Lot" (http://www.thelot.com/), brought to us by Steven Spielberg and Mark Burnett, in which filmmakers are eliminated each week based on their short films. Check out the link, I think it will be a pretty cool little show.

Other than those things, I've been interning at the casting office every Monday and dropping off my headshot at other offices in hopes of getting an audition. On Tuesday 1/23, I've got a SAG feature film audition for a horror flick. It's only the second SAG film audition I've had since I've been here, so quite a big deal!!!

It froze here. In southern California. Believe it. You will when you try and buy an alvocado. Pretty bad all across the nation. Doesn't seem like there's been as problematic a winter in quite a while.

On the other side of life, I've got an interview to be a substitute teacher for the LA school district coming up. It would be enough pay to get me by, and I think I'll enjoy teaching (hopefully I'll actually get to do that) and most importantly, it'll be flexible. I'm a little apprehensive though. I'm afraid of getting pay back for what I put my teachers through in high school. I hope I don't have to send someone to the principal for popping out from under my desk while I teach class. It was really funny at the time though.