For those of you who may have been worried about me: I'M FINE! Work has been okay so far. I think the toughest part has been getting up at 5:45am everyday, and trying to get out the door by 7:15am. My routine has completely changed, but I'm getting used to it. Kenyah is adjusting very well at daycare, (I'm VERY happy about that!) The whole experience has been a huge relief, because it turns out I wasn't paranoid about leaving her like I thought I'd be.
In other news, I picked up my postcards after work on Monday. They are BEAUTIFUL! I will never go anywhere else to have my postcards printed up. Seriously. I've been working on my mailing list every chance I get, and I intend to mail them out this weekend. I decided that I'm going to do one mass mailing, instead of small groups like I'd said a couple of weeks ago. I really hope that I get a few calls from them.
I haven't heard anything since last week about the job I interviewed for.
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I can't remember if it was 1995 or 1996 that he enrolled at UNM, all I know was, I was back home from NYU, and still not the most pleased that I was working toward a degree in Theater at UNM, and not the school of my dreams: NYU. You see in 1994, at 17 years old, I was accepted to NYU: Tisch School of the Arts. Unfortunately, severe culture shock, a bad cold, and the asthma attack that followed, sent me crying home to my mom and dad just six short weeks after arriving in the big apple. Since I was back home, and had to do SOMETHING CONSTRUCTIVE WITH ME LIFE, I decided to enroll in the Theater Program at UNM until I could plan my next move.
When I walked into acting class one day, he was already seated. I immediately thought to myself: "Gee, that guy looks really familiar. Where do I know him from?" It wouldn't take me very long after the teacher asked him to introduce himself that I would remember. During the 1994/1995 television season, there was one show that my mom and I HAD to watch every week without fail. It was called
EARTH 2. Ever heard of it? Probably not. We watched it partly because it was filmed in New Mexico, partly because I was completely obsessed with
Antonio Sabato Jr. at the time, and partly because it was a pretty good concept for a show.
One day while watching, I caught a glimpse of
Rockmond Dunbar's character. I remember laughing with my mom about the fact that he was the only black person that'd made it to "EARTH 2". So of course when I remembered who he was that day in class, I thought it was totally cool that there was a "real actor" in our midst. I, in true Shenita form, introduced myself after class, and chatted with him about his experience on the show. (It's funny because looking at his resume now, it seems as if that was one of the first projects he'd done professionally.) Anyway, as quickly as he'd joined our class, he'd leave a few weeks later. Where to? Noone knew exactly.
Cut to sometime in late 1997/early 1998, just after I'd moved to L.A. I was having a late night breakfast with several of my friends at the Denny's on the corner of Sunset and Gower. Out of nowhere my friend Rodney, who had gone outside to have cigarette, came running inside saying that
Minnie Driver (I think, or was it
Winona Ryder?) was having a birthday part at Pinot Hollywood across the street. He said that he'd walked inside, right past the security folks, and had hob nobbed with the elite for a little while. Of course he knew we wouldn't believe him, so he'd come back to take us over there. He wasn't lying, we got in with no problems, and although the party was almost over, the room still had some celebrities in it. Minnie Driver,
John Cusack, and yes, Rockmond Dunbar. As soon as I locked eyes with him, we remembered each other immediately. We exchanged numbers.
Rockmond and I became very good friends, and he was part of my inner circle the first couple of years I was here in L.A. It's because of him I got to meet people like
Ben Affleck,
Taye Diggs, and
Tanika Ray to name a few. Unfortunately, we lost contact again when he catapulted to stardom.
I ran into him again in 2002, when I was pregnant with my oldest daughter. At the time he was working on
SOUL FOOD the television series. (Speaking of SOUL FOOD, it's funny because I knew he had that role before he even did. Crazy huh? More on that another time.) Anyway, we didn't exchange numbers that day, but I'm not at all concerned about that. I'm sure, or I should say I KNOW, we'll run into each other again.
S.
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