Finally!

This morning I got an e-mail about an open slot on Wednesday for the VO classes I'm starting. I e-mailed back saying I wanted to take the slot and now it's mine, yay! This means I'll be starting my classes two weeks earlier than planned - would've liked to have started a month earlier, but the first two openings I couldn't do, and the third one I was too slow responding and someone else nabbed it. Still, my plan is to do one class a week - although schedule-wise and money-wise every other week might be more realistic. I'm just hoping things go well and the teacher doesn't say "sorry, your voice sucks, why don't you just save your money and do something else." I'm seriously having bad flashbacks to college speech class!

Last week I found out about a VO gig for a website that I go to a lot. It wasn't a paying gig but would be good practice and some exposure. They wanted a demo but if you didn't have one you could record the sides and send them in. I was going to stretch the truth a little and say I was in the process of putting my demo together (hah! not even close to that point!) so I don't have one to send in and had to record the sides. I planned to record them on the sly at work. But unfortunately in the end it didn't work out. Our system is so antiquated - it records to tape and I was hoping to be able to convert it to an MP3 and put it on a CD. Could not for the life of me figure out how! Was too scared to mess around with the computer for fear I'd mess something up. I also tried recording the tape to DVD so I could bring it home and put it in my computer. Couldn't figure out how to do that on the DVD recorder. I think it's a 2 step process and I wasn't sure how to do the 2nd step. I gave up. I also wasn't 100% thrilled with my read which could mean one of 3 things - 1. I was too preoccupied with worrying about running the equipment or that someone would show up at work while I was recording, 2. I'm not really right for this, or
3. I have no clue what I'm doing! (which is why I'm taking VO classes!) Probably a little bit of each. I do have to say I sounded better on the professional microphone than on the little mic on my computer. I did try to record it at home by attaching a microphone to my video camera, but in the end it was just too much trouble for something I really have no idea about what I'm doing. The sad thing is today I found out that someone I know just set up their home studio and I probably could've talked them into letting me record it at their house. Oh well.

A few weeks ago I was talking to someone about how I was starting VO classes. I was saying how I went to a few VO seminars and realized I have no freakin' clue what I'm doing and if I really want to do voice overs I need to get into some sort of structured class. They said they knew what I was talking about and how they went to some VO thing once and it was horrible - like they were just reading from the page. Somehow we got on the topic of price of classes - I think I was saying how I had done a lot of research, heard a few VO teachers speak, and audited a class that turned out to be one of the lower priced classes, but what I decided on was the best fit for me even though it's expensive. My friend is like, why don't you take the cheaper class so you'll comfortable and then take the more pricey class when you're more confident.

Okay, I understand their point. I understand trying something out before comitting to it. But the thing is, the cheap class ain't cheap! We're not talking a $50 or even a $100 class. The "cheap" class is about $500! I know there are those "getting started in voice overs" seminars that are somewhat inexpensive, and I guess if I knew NOTHING about voice over it might be good to take one, but I'm not totally clueless. I've now gone to three free seminars and audited a class, and listened to a few audio seminars, so I have some clue of what's going on. Also, it isn't like I'm jumping into some advanced class - this teacher teaches all levels so why waste my time and money taking class somewhere I really don't want to take class? And so what if I'm not comfortable or confident yet - that's what class is for! The teacher is not going to expect me to be at the top of my game the first day. I highly doubt they expect me to walk in there and impress them, lol.

Aha! I think I just realized why this person said this to me. OK, now I get it. I get where their coming from and why they have this mentality and even where they got it from. Not even gonna get into that here because that's a WHOLE other post.

I'm also beginning to really thing you do "get what you pay for." Too many times I've tried to save a buck or two (or a hundred) and not been happy with the results. Okay, okay, I know the opposite is true too. But I know this is a reputible teacher, one of the best. It's taken me way too long to learn that you just can't cut corners on certain things.

The other thing is I pay per class as I go, so I'm not locked into a six week session - so if I do end up just not liking it, I can stop anytime and not pay another cent.

This post went in a totally other direction than I planned, lol.

This weekend I went to a party in Long Beach. The person lived on a little penninsula between a bay and the ocean. They had a patio. They could walk to both the bay and the ocean. I'm SOOOO jealous. Yeah, their apartment was tiny, but still, they live in a GREAT location! And they have their own garage and a HUGE patio. We barbecued and drank on the patio. I still have a stomachace from all a ate and drank, lol. 2 people had kayaked over from the OC so we walked over to the bay and saw them off. I wanted to go to the beach or at least see the ocean portion, but we never did. Things like that make me want to throw in the towel and go rent a little place by the beach, lol.

Tonight I have French class. It's starting to make a little more sense, but I can't retain this stuff at all! If I can get going I'm going to go over to the college early and check out the theater and film buildings.