movin' & shakin'

first and foremost, big bday shoutouts to the Watterbug & MC from Team A - both loyal followers of the freedom. membership has its privileges.

for me, it's back to the grind. last week was fun, the vacation from the vacation, which i know you all probably had a good little chuckle over. i know, it's ok.
but this is serious, i need to get busy, and fast.

teaching started up again this week, and as fast as i can drop English on my kids, my company signs me up for more classes. i still don't really understand how they operate. they are employing some sort of real-time inventory model. a class can be 24-hours away, and they come begging for me or someone else off their roster to help out. fortunately for them, i have very few excuses not to take what they throw at me. as it stands, i'm booked for classes every Wed & Sat for the next couple of months. woot.
i enjoy sharing classroom stories, and i promise this isn't turning into a kids say the craziest things - hong kong edition. i'm simply amazed just what exactly goes through their heads, especially when it involves me. i was waiting outside of my class with a teacher from the school, when a younger student looks at me, then says something in Cantonese to the local teacher. she quickly translates that the boy thinks i am 'very handsome'. i perhaps added the 'very', but either way, the kid is giving me props. it's an awkward flatter, coming from a young boy, however, it's just odd that it's part of the thought process. i'm fairly certain when i was 14 i didn't look at my teachers that way...maybe when i was 15 and it was the hot French teacher, but still...different.
on a similar level of vanity, the kids in my class took a stab at my age, suggesting i was 28.
'very good, class...'
i didn't correct them.
they also were quite fascinated by the size of my hands. this likely means that my nickname is now 'Mr. Big Hands'.
terrific.

with all these superficial comments going straight to my head, it's oddly coincidental that i got a call for a real casting today.
with wardrobe changes and all!
where do i begin.....

ok, well, how's about the part where they bumped me. twice....
for real, i got bumped...like a hack comic on a late night talkshow.
the casting call was 2-5pm, and being the mature model that i am, i was there a few minutes after the opening bell. waiting...waiting. finally, my contact comes out and apologetically asks if i can come back in an hour.
you see, Feraro (or something like that), another male model, had already jumped ahead of me. to add insult to injury, after my contact told me this, she asked 'oh, you must know Feraro?'...like he's the hottest goddamn thing to hit the runway since Hansel. pfft.
so, tail between legs, but still gliding, i have no choice but to wander around outside and come back later....
only to get bumped again.
this time, it was a client emergency, which really begged the question who i was actually here to see...as i thought they were the client. no matter, i wait again.
finally, attempt #3 to actually start my career was successful and i'm lead back into a fitting area, surrounded by a brotherhood of mannequins. the first wardrobe fitting is casual business attire - shirt, slacks, jacket - no tie, no problem. a small little area is curtained off for me to do a quick change. snap of the front, side, back and we're done. easy. i'm handed my next wardrobe and it's a cross between euro kidswear and euro kidswear pajamas. definitely not something i'd pick out for myself, but hey, this is a job and i'm a professional (in my head at least).
start my 2nd quick change, and i could be imagining this, but there's a certain scent on the clothes. a cross between ambercrombie cologne mixed with post-pubescent sweat.
it's model stink.
it's Feraro.
the bastard's in my head...focus Big Hands!
i repeat the triple turn, snap, and that's that.
the final portion of the test is a quick measurement session. tape out, and every inch of my body is recorded onto a stats sheet. i quickly scan and notice that there are targets imposed by the client for their 'perfect' model. was i a match across the board, you ask? no. not at all...but i have no idea how they grade this sort of thing. for the most part i was +/- 2cm on most of the criteria. i was then lead back out to the lobby and thanked for my time.
fingers crossed, i'll be back up in those PJs in a photoshoot near you.
if the day couldn't get any better, i was just asked to go for another casting tomorrow - to be a bag model. it's true what they say, big hands = big bag.
i'm a shoe in.