30...something...

I have 10 days left in my 20s. I'm not at all depressed by that statement either. I'm looking at this next year as a chance to celebrate my life to this point and I have devised several ways to go about doing that. So, it's not a birthday celebration, nor a birthmonth celebration. Nay, it is a birthyear celebration. Wait, that doesn't make any sense.

Either way, the occasion is going to be marked by tons of things I've never done. Chief among them, getting my first tattoo, which will happen next Monday when I'm in NC. Beyond that, it's mostly NYC stuff. I have a pretty regular work schedule next month and normal days off so I can plan to do a ton of things. I'm already pretty solid on going to the top of the Statue of Liberty with an ex-coworker friend of mine (how have I lived here over two years and not done that!?). I think I'd like to tour NYC by boat, I even heard that there's an outrigger club that has lessons for people who want to paddle around in the Hudson River. There's plenty of opportunities to kayak as well so I may look into that, too. I have a long list of museums I want to visit, including but not limited to, the Queens Museum of Art, the Transit Museum and the Guggenheim. And I may even end up at a Mets game some Friday night.

This Friday, I fly out to Raleigh. I'm really looking forward to it. Mainly for a little time away from work...and I mean all work, not just the one I'm taking a vacation from. I'm spending it mostly chilling out, though, there is a wedding to go to on Sunday night and then I go to the mountains for a few days to hang out with my bro and get that tattoo I was talking about. Then I'm throwing a party on the actual day of my birthday and my last day in town.

I had wanted to do something a little wilder, maybe something Carribean or at least tropical but that'll have to wait until next year. Seriously though. Watch me.

Anyway, a little update on the VO stuff. I'm getting ready for a mailing campaign blitz type thing. I'm going to get a bunch of pens or post-its or something with my logo and do a few hundred emails and snail mails to all the casting agencies and production houses I can think of. It's going to take a while though to get it together so I'm taking my time to plan it out strategically. After a little over a week of getting bombarded with audition invitations from voice123.com but only being able to really audition for two of them, I've decided I can't rely on those solely to get started even. Plus, I really need to streamline the recording process at home. There are barriers to recording with the PC and using noise reduction to counteract whatever computer hum comes through my portable sound booth (i.e. noise reduction plugins are not fully effective) and then, while there's no noise in the bathroom, there's too much echo if I set up in there and use the Macbook Pro to record. Plus plus, I'm much more proficient at Sound Forge than Garage Band and Sound Forge can do more. So if I do it on the Mac while narrating in the bathroom, I'm tempted to bounce the audio over to my PC so I can edit using a program that I'm quick with. And that may take some time to smooth out that process. I have to try a few more things.

That's what I'm dealing with right now on that front. Maybe having a little time to clear my head will be good for me. Raleigh here I come!