Another interview

Well, this is the 3rd interview since getting laid off; slow going I know. The schedule sent makes it look to be a long afternoon, I will be interviewing with 5 members of the Decho/Mozy staff starting at 1:00pm. First is the manager that I interviewed with over the phone, that will be only 15 minutes. I'm scheduled for half an hour with the other 4. I'm not sure if they are team members or managers, likely a mixture of both. From what they were saying I will be given a programming assignment to do and present another time. According to them it should only take about 2 hours to complete but if it's anything like what we did at Onyx it will take longer. The Onyx programming assignment was slated at 4 hours but the candidates who really cared took closer to 20 hours to complete it. I'm curious what the test will be, I'm sure it will be easy enough to complete if it's slated for 2 hours; likely something to do with wxWidgets since that is part of the job description that I applied for. Unfortunately I probably won't sleep too well tonight, likely stressing over the interview.

Other than that, play practice has started (Beauty and the Beast, remember? I'm playing Cogsworth...) and so far it has been all singing; big surprise! Tonight I get to go over my "big solo" in "Human Again". I told them I couldn't sing anything higher than an E and guess what... the song calls for and F!!!! My voice cracks if I try to hit anything higher than an E so they will be in for a surprise (me too) when I try to hit that F. They keep saying that I should be able to blend in with the others (the F IS, in fact, when singing with others) but I'm sceptical. I'll probably end up screeching in the middle of the song. I almost have the rest of my lines memorized and I'm more anxious to get into the staging rehearsals, especially with "Be Our Guest", that's going to be lots of fun!

slowly but surely

Interviews are finally starting to come. I've had 2 so far this week but at the same time I've had 2 others say that I didn't have the experience they wanted. I think the interviews that I had went fairly well but then I don't know how they felt about it. I should hear back from both of them sometime next week for either a second round of interviews or otherwise. I just need to be patient and keep sending my resume out there hoping and praying that someone is hiring.

The first meeting for Beauty and the Beast was last Thursday for the main cast so we were able to see who all were in it and get the script. I have already started memorizing my lines and practicing my singing (if you can call it singing). I was clear to them that I can't sing very well but they were obviously fine with that. Saturday we will have a meeting for the whole cast, including those who want to be in the orchestra. I can't wait to get started with the practices!

My new pet

As you can see on the right I have adopted a pet! My kids found then and thought they were really fun so they showed them to me. His name? "Purple Tiger will eat you"... and he will if you keep your cursor in his cage for too long! He'll play with your cursor and you can pet him and feed him if you like.

Beauty and the Beast

I know this is unusual for me to post twice in one night (much less per week :-0 ) but I think this is pretty exciting. Our stake is putting on the musical Beauty and the Beast and I decided to try out for the part of Cogsworth. I found out that there were at least 4 others who were trying out for the part as well. I went to the initial screening earlier this week and I thought I did pretty good with the reading. The panel laughed at all the right spots which I took as a good sign (it very well could have been courtesy reactions). But then I got invited back for a second screening to 'test the chemestry'. The only problem is that Wyatt was being baptized at the same time they wanted me there!!!! Naturally I chose family first and attended the baptism, having given them my cell phone number just in case. Well, about 10 minutes before we made it home they called and wanted me to come in as soon as possible, which I did.

When I got there they handed me a short section of the play and gave me about 1/2 hour to go over it. It was the section where Cogsworth and Lumiere were talking about others in the castle who 'fit' what they were changing into (a part that is not in the Disney movie). When they called me in I did the parts in my practiced 'posh' accent and added emotion. Again they laughed at the all the right spots, etc. When they were done they gave the schpiel about 'if you're not selected don't be mad' and that they would want me to participate in some other way in the play. They finished with say that 5:30 pm today was the time they would post the cast.

I didn't have too high of hopes (mostly so I wouldn't get too disapointed) but Anna Marie, who came with me to the callback, was quite certain I would get the part. She had 2 reasons she thought this, 1. they went out of their way to call me in and 2. she watched my performance and said I did really good. I must be a better actor than I make myself out to be because lo-and-behold when I looked at the cast listing tonight, I found out that I got the part!! Imagine me as Cogsworth! A friend of mine will be Lumiere so that will make it even more fun.

This will be a good distraction in the evenings as I look for a job, I also think it will be lots of fun.

Still looking for a job

I know it's only been about 2 weeks since I have been looking and I need to be patient but I have a family to feed! Unfortunately a lot of companies have a hiring freeze and are waiting for the economy to improve. I have also got to remember that the hiring process takes a while for each company as well. Even though they laid me off I am still grateful that Onyx gave me a severance package because it allows me to float for a little bit.

I have recently signed up for facebook! Within the first day there were several people who added me as their friend. I've heard that this is a great way to network too. Still crossing my fingers for getting a job soon.