EXCUSED CASTING!

Hey fans ....

So my world has been consumed by casting!! Since Feb 20, 2012, I have been non stop casting for Excused. That's right, the hit dating show on CBS is back for its second season with celebrity comedian host, Iliza Shlesinger! If you or know anyone that lives in SoCal that's 21-35 and wants to be on this show email me a photo and cell # at harley.excused@gmail.com!!! Woo hoooo -- it's a super fun show, so if you hit me up I'll tell you all about it.

I've been going all around LA looking for normal everyday people, so I'd love suggestions for every night of the week and what part of town to go.

Anyway, enough about Excused ...

This Sat night I'm volunteering at a fundraiser for Cystic Fibrosis on the Universal Lot -- on the set of Wisteria Lane from Desperate Housewives -- it's a block party. Celebs will be there, and my role is a "star assistant" so I get to make sure that a celeb is taken care of  - super excited about that! It should be fun --to be on set, and raising money, meet some people.. we shall see - I'll write about how it goes. If you want to donate please visit  www.cff.org .

Short post - back to work. Thanks for reading!
-Harley's Hype

I'm back!

Hey fans!

Sorry, I totally fell off the blogging band-wagon, and I do apologize. I have been so busyyyyy!!! Ok so here's what's up:

Started my job - about 3.5 weeks in, and it's great! So I'm a casting associate for the CBS hit reality dating show competition Excused. We are going into its second season. If you, or anyone you know, want to be on this show please contact me! It's paid, a one day shoot, and a TON of fun!

So yeah I get to talk to the hottest singles of Los Angeles and then pin their pictures up on my wall at my desk  -- so fun, I love it! Sometimes it get awkward, like when I have to approach people when they're out and about but whatevs -- gotta hit my quotas right!?

Then it was my birthday (March 2) so my mom came into town to celebrate. We saw Ovo, the cirque de soleil show in Santa Monica -- absolutely amazing!! My jaw was open the whole time. We did a bunch of other stuff, including high tea on a Sunday at High Tea Cottage in Woodland Hills -- go check it out, it's great!

Then I got Lasik eye surgery!! It had been on my mind for about 2 years, and I finally got around to doing it! If you ever want lasik, see Dr. Berg in Sherman Oaks - top notch. The latest technology and such an amazingggggggg staff. The healing process is quite extensive though - not to mention all the pre-op stuff including no eye makeup for 4 days prior and wearing your glasses for 4 days prior. But the aftermath - no eye makeup for 4 weeks!! .. Sleeping with eye shields for a week, 2 eye drops for a week, plus I got red spotting in my eyes - ew. And since I'm "Healing slower than normal," -so my eye doc says, now I'm on lubricating eye drops every hour on the hour. It def helps, but I can't wait for all this to be behind me! I know it'll be worth it.

That's pretty much it in a nutshell...oh wait by the way, I may need root canal -- anyone got a dentist they could recommend?? ughh

arite it's fuckin late, good night!
Thanks for stoppin by,
-Harley's Hype

I got a job!

So after 111 days of unemployment (not counting random personal assisting jobs), I finally got a job! It starts in about a week and goes until August, but hey, I'll take it!

It's a casting assistant / field recruiter job for Excused. We got picked up for a second season! I'm super excited although they're changing up the format, so I'm not sure what to expect, but I know it'll be good. Iliza Shlesinger is back as the host, and she's coming back with a vengeance - so be sure to tune in.

Anyway, I have to recruit X Number of people to come in an audition each week. So normal places I go, such as the super market, nail salon, clubs, bars, and restaurants, I gotta talk to people and get them to audition. Not exactly sure on my pitch yet, but I have some time to think of something. Any ideas/suggestions, please post below. In addition, if you or someone you know would be interested in auditioning, please contact me! (aka make me look good in front of my boss haha).  I really gotta step my game up, constantly go out and be chatty. Any cool parties to attend, holler at your girl - I will be there (with flyers and business cards, of course).

I'm getting distracted by TV ... short post.

Thanks for reading, more to come,
-Harley's Hype

100 Days of Unemployment

so today it's been officially 100 days of unemployment!! I cant believe i made it this long without a steady job. It feels like a lot less --time has actually flown by. I haven't really done anything too substantial or exciting ... but i feel like something good will happen soon.

My latest thing is that i'm going to be starting a webseries so stay tuned for that!

I'm also about to start selling some of my photographs in a coffee shop gallery in Santa Monica starting this week so if you're local, please come check it out (deets to come soon).

Also gonna be helping out with the Chi O chapter here at UCLA so that should be fun!! Seeing all the pics on facebook from my sisters at Rollins really makes me sentimental so this will be the closest thing to satisfying my longingness.

I woke up this morning (or I should say this afternoon, like 2p) to a broken phone. So I had no alarm clock. I dont know what happened --it was working perfectly up till I went to sleep - but that only gave me about an hour to get ready for the superbowl party I was going to in SM. Needless to say tomorrow will be a big day for me -- gotta get a new phone - yay for having something to do during the day!
But how about those Giants?????!!! Absolutely amazing - such a great game .. and I gotta say, I LOVE HAKEEM NICKS!!! He is such a great player i love watching him, especially when he makes those difficult catches, ones that only a God could complete.

keepin this post short tonight... gotta catch up on season 4 of Weeds -- which i just started from the beginning on Netflix and i am OBSESSED .. i watch several episodes in a row -- i can't help myself! :)

Thanks for reading, more to come,
-Harley's Hype

My Day as an Extra

So about a week ago I was contacted by a friend to participate in a pilot as an extra. 8 hour day, free lunch and snacks, and $50 cash at wrap. I said yes without hesitation.

3 days ago was the shoot. It took place at The Avalon in Hollywood, and I was part of about 50 other screaming fans for this Swedish Justin Beiber kid. His name is Alex Karlsson (look him up .. although not everything that comes up is him). Apparently he's this huge pop star in Sweden (but he grew up in Costa Mesa) and has about 40 songs out. So him and Sony teamed up to do this show about his life in LA / the life of this new phone that's coming out, in LA too.

So I took my other unemployed friends, Brooke and Koby, and we just had a fun time with it. There was a lot of down time, but when we were on camera it was a lot of screaming, and "OMG!" and "Alex, Alex!" -- I literally lost my voice by the end of the shoot.

At first we started inside, pretending we were screaming fans at one of his concerts. Eventually we moved outside to Hollywood Blvd. Imagine a swarm of 50 random looking people all clumped together, and then all of a sudden running and screaming after this kid. We were head turners and car stoppers for sure. Even a few people walking down the street went up to Alex asking what was going on / what was the commotion.

Another scene outside the Pantages Theater an old lady walked through our shot. We all stopped and stared at her. Then she stopped walking and looked around. The director hadda escort her away. Then she came back and chatted with Alex. He said she whispered naughty things in his ear.

Anyway, that was pretty much the extent of the shoot...

Thanks for reading ... and you're welcome for a short post.
-Harley's Hype

dentist

So the other day I went to the dentist to get 4 cavities filled (I know what you're thinking, and yes I do brush, duh ew who doesn't)... but these were the ones that were little and stuck in between the teeth.

Anyway, I'm no cavity virgin, so I wasn't all that nervous. And I knew going into it that I would need some novocain.

I arrive at 440 for my 430 appointment (damn LA traffic got me there late). I waited in the waiting room for about 5 mins so they could get my room ready (as if they weren't expecting me??come on.) Got into the chair, waited a bit more, and finally the dentist came in. We chatted briefly, he made yet another joke about my name being "Harley" and wouldn't it be funny if my "last name was Davidson?" Then he numbed my gums with a topical gel and left. Several minutes later he came back to shoot up the actual novocain (the one with the 7 foot needle). 4 shots later, he left me to let it kick in.

While waiting, I had this amazing view of palm trees and the sunset (Helloooooo California!!!) Very calm and serene. Meanwhile, it felt like my lips had grown 3x the size, but when I checked the handheld mirror, it didn't look as bad/weird as it felt .. or didn't feel .. not sure.

About an hour later, he came back in and we got started. The one on the top was completed without a hitch. He moved to the bottom right, went halfway, then moved to the bottom left ---OUCH!!! I felt this sharp shooting pain in my tooth .. like a lightning bolt. So he shot me up with #5 and continued to finish on the right side while that new shot sank in.

Back on the right, as he was drilling, he said he found another cavity .. aka, another $100 or so. Of course I told him to fill it .. so onward he went.

Back to the left side ... yet again, sharp shooting pain!.. In comes shot #6 ... only let it sit for about 5 mins till he continued again and of course I felt the pain again .. shot #7 ...This time we let it sit for about 20 mins ... He came back to drill ... and I felt pain still! .. shot #8 .. . about 45 mins passed ... I've been in the chair for about 2 hours, with my jaw open for about 90% of that time. (sidenote: the maximum legal limit of novocain shots is 20..I wasn't even close).

He left, and came back, and yay, successfully filled that darn cavity. Then he casually mentioned that since my left side is already so numb, why don't we go ahead and take out that wisdom tooth? (Back track -- i've seen this dentist 2 other visits prior to this, and each time he recommended to remove all 4 .. so this wasn't that outta the blue.)

I gasped and turned to the nurse, "Ahh, I'm scared!" she just smiled back at me and nodded (thanks lady).
Finally, I agreed. It made sense. I didn't wanna haveta come back and go thru all that novocain shit ever again.
Novocain shot #9 (a "just for good luck shot" I presumed, cuz i really was fuckin numb on the left side of my face -- like all the way up to my hair line.)
About 20 mins later, he came back and started to push .. or pull . . on the tooth. All I felt was pressure, and my eyes were closed. It felt like my jaw was going to snap. I moaned, or made some kind of noise which indicated for him to stop, and I was like it feels like my jaw's gonna snap ... so he got this metal mouth holder-upper thing, and that did the trick - it was out in 2 seconds!! What a bloody mess - ew. I can't even remember the last time I lost a tooth .. although I do remember in the good ol days when my pediatric dentist pulled out a tooth or 2 of mine (one of the worst childhood experiences of my life).

I was gonna take the tooth home with me and put it under my pillow for the Tooth Fairy, but then remembered that the 'Fairy was paying for this whole visit, so I decided that wouldn't go over too well.

As I'm walking out with this huge wad of gauze in my mouth, and a face that I could no longer feel, I remembered that I had an interview the next morning - fuck, this was a mistake - I began to panic, slightly. This was a bigger deal than I thought, especially when the doc began writing a prescription for Vicodin and an antibiotic to prevent infection. Not to mention that I had some other rules to follow -no drinking through a straw, no spitting .. no eating ... OYE.

So after 3 hours, and over $700 later, I get home with some mashed potatoes to make for dinner (soup was off limits that night because it was too hot and would irritate the gums). I relaxed on the couch, and watched the movie The Artist with a bag of ice on my cheek. After the movie, I decided to get the prescription filled. I had such a headache, my jaw hurt, and my gum was sore. Not to mention I might have bit my tongue somewhere in the numbness state, because today it's hurting just in one spot, but there's no mark or anything .. thank God for vicodin.

Anyway, the next morning I woke up in excruciating pain at 7 AM - my interview wasn't till 10. I couldn't pop a Vicodin cuz I hadda drive soon, not to mention I also hadda be on my A Game. I was gonna take Excedrin, only to realize that has aspirin in it, and aspirin is off limits. Luckily in my purse I had one dose of Advil, so I took those.

I got back after the interview, iced my face and took a pain killer and dozed off for a bit. When I woke up, I realized that my bite was a bit off. So I'm going back tomorrow for my doc to file down some of the filling on the left side so it evens it out back to normal. UCH what an ordeal!! But it's worth it -- coulda been worse -- like root canal or some shit.

Arite enough about me, what about you -- have you ever had a cavity extravaganza story? Wisdom teeth pulled??? Leave a comment to compare war wounds.

All for now, thanks for reading :)
-Harley's Hype

Holidayssss

So 'tis the season...to save money on gifts.

The above picture is only 1 of many that my brother and I took for our gift to our parents for Hanukka. We spent a little under an hour at Santa Monica Beach to take some pics and choose 1 to frame for our parents. My friends, and amazing photographers, Paul Dunkan and Emma Hopman-Fuller took the pics and did an outstanding job. And yes, we went for the "white top / khaki bottoms" clean cut look - never would I be caught dead in this outfit for real.

As for my Hanukka gift this year from my parents, I decided to get myself a heavier coat -- yes, that's correct -- a warmer jacket for southern LA. If it's one thing people know about me, it's that I love warm weather and I hate to be cold. So the jacket I have now is fine, but honestly at night, I have found myself shivering - yes physically actually shaking, in my jacket. Believe it or not people, it gets chilly at night here!! Now of course it's not like NYC chilly, it is bearable .. but I'd like to be a little more comfortable. It's not like I sought out to get one of those puffy jackets, like for skiing -- I still want to look like a functioning member of society. So I started my search in Loehmann's. After getting distracted in the shoe section, I finally found my way to their Coat section ... or lack there of. I was shocked by the limited selection, not to mention the selection in my price range and taste. After trying on several, I found myself in this nice grey peacoat by Marc by Marc Jacobs. I was almost gonna buy it until after walking around in it for a bit it started to itch my neck -- and I had a scarf on .. so, back onto the rack it went, and I walked out empty handed. ( And yes, I still hadda pay for parking - ughh). Then I tried Bloomingdale's, Nordstroms.. and J. Crew ..and Abercrombie -- NOTHING! The selection out here is very slim - I get it, it's not like it goes below 0 out here, but still, this is America, a capitalist society, - people at least travel to colder climates!... right?? or are like me and want to be warm in a grey peacoat so that it'll match with everything, and preferably with a hood. Not too hard to ask for.
Finally I remembered this little store called H&M. I saw a few coats up front on their sale rack, but nothing perfect. Until I reached the back corner of the store, and (Cue angels singing "aahhh") - a shit ton of peacoats!! I went crazy and tried on nearly all of them. Unfortunately my cell phone died so I couldn't take pics and send them to my mom for approval, so I went on my gut instinct and bought 2 - 1 grey one and 1 brown one, anticipating to possibly return one later on. After a few days of them hanging in my closet, I decided to check out Nordstrom Rack, the very last store to resort to - if there was nothing there, then there was nothing else in the entire state of CA for me.

Side note - It was going to be my first time at Nordstrom Rack out here, and many of you know parking can be confusing. So I pull into what I think is the proper lot, only to find a security guard standing there telling me it's only for CVS customers. So I said where's parking for NR? The sign for it is right here.. this doesn't make sense. After shamefully pulling out of the one-way lot, I circled around, and voila - a metered spot opened up on the street, so I grabbed it, without thinking twice of driving around once more to explore. It might have had something to do with the fact that I was on the phone with my aunt, so my brain was only half paying attention. I gave myself one hour on the meter, and aimlessly walked around. I found myself at a weird deserted underground parking lot, that looked more like a construction zone. I walked all the way across it to the stairs, walked about half-way up to discover none other than construction workers - clearly not NR. So i quickly tip-toed away, and then climbed this other set of stairs that was outside, but that led to a loading zone for Marshall's -- wtf?? .. Finally decided to walk through the CVS parking lot, and down the sidewalk ... finally I found "Beverly Connection" with it's own parking lot (of course) .. and followed the signs to NR.
Their selection was much more what a jacket selection should be. I saw several styles that I liked, so I tried them on right there in front of one of those mirrors they attach to the pillars - I didn't even bother with the fitting room (who does for solely jackets anyway, am I right??).. After many rational scenarios playing out in my head for each coat, I decided on a grey peacoat with a hood by Miss Sixty - yay!

The next day I went back to H&M to return the other grey one, so I'm finally set with my Hanukka present - 2 jackets. I wore the brown one tonight actually, and lo and behold, a button already popped off ... luckily it came with a spare one sewn on the inside, so I was able to fix it right away, but usually those always last the age of the coat, so I gotta be careful!

Anyway, tomorrow is Christmas Day ... stay tuned for my blog on my movie marathon and Chinese dinner! haha
Thanks for reading,
Harley's Hype