Reckless driving and Jell-o

Sorry for the lack of update yesterday, but it was a weird day: frantic travel from location to location, followed by lots of waiting around, all with no access to a computer. I got to travel two legs of the day's journey with Ian, the producer, and that was... not great fun. Ian's this tall, lanky Englishman with a scrubby beard and flyaway hair, and to say he's intense is a gross understatement. He is driven, almost to the point of distraction; he'll be so focused on getting somewhere, for instance, that he'll be well on his way there before he checks to make sure he's going the right way. It's unnerving to passenge with someone who's driving a stickshift, checking a map, shouting into his cellphone, and trying to eat breakfast all at the same time. When he reached for his second Diet Pepsi of the morning, I was tempted to wrest it from his grip: Ian does not strike me as the type of person who would benefit from a jolt of caffeine. I do like listening to him begin and conclude his phone calls, though. He drawls "Haaallooooooooooo" in his broad British accent and ends with a high-pitched, singsong "Byeeeee!"

Our first location of the day was a tux shop miles and miles away from our home base at Lesley and Simon's apartment. At the last minute I was relieved of lunch picking-up duty so, with no obligations for the rest of the day, I went along for the ride. Once there, I was just in the way, so I walked a couple of blocks to a quilting store I'd spotted on our way in and spent a pleasant half-hour shopping for fabrics. I walked back to the set leisurely, and it was only when I was about a half-block away that I realized I was walking right into a shot. Everybody -- Sean, Curtis, Ian, all the actors -- were staring at me, and I faltered and stopped. Sean and Curtis started gesturing for me to keep walking. After all, this is a mockumentary and the camera is not supposed to be invisible. So I walked through the shot, everyone finished up the scene, and Ian turned to me and said, "So you made it into the movie! You'll have to fill out some paperwork now." I'm not sure he was kidding; Ian has been fanatical about geting all the actors to fill out and give him their I-9s and tax information.

We went back to the little bungalow in La Jolla for another couple of scenes. Ian had to take off somewhere, so I rode in the cab of the pickup with Curtis and Sean. That was cozy, to say the least. Good thing we're all such good friends. I was kind of pretzeled in the middle and it was a major ordeal to unfurl myself when we got to La Jolla. We had an amazing lunch that was provided by a local seafood restaurant, with excellent clam chowder and sourdough bread.

I settled myself in a comfy armchair after lunch, expecting to get some serious crosswording done, but suddenly Sean yelled that they needed my expertise on the set. A couple of actors who were resting between scenes looked at me curiously as I leaped to my feet with excitement. I knew they were filming the scene with the cake decorator and that pastries would be involved. Sure enough, I was asked to give a quick coaching to the cake lady, describing the attributes of the various cakes laid out on the platter ("This is a dark chocolate truffle cake with chocolate ganache filling. This is a rich pound cake with dark and milk chocolate chips"). I sat in the living room while the scene was being shot and listened to two so-so takes; on the third take, everyone seemed to figure out what to do and the improv was really funny. A couple of more takes and the scene was done, and I was invited to help eat the leftover cake while the crew moved next door to a bar to film a short sequence. So, all in all, a pleasant afternoon.

I drove back to Lesley's apartment with Ian. We got caught in traffic, decided to take a "shortcut," and then became lost. I didn't really care, but Ian was frantic with anxiety. He made several phone calls and practically tore his map apart trying to figure out where we were and how to get home. I decided to spend the rest of the evening hanging around the apartment and skip the evening's shoot, mostly in hopes of avoiding any further stressful car travel. I got to talking to Patricia, the actress who plays the dress shop owner, and we went out for a bite to eat and had a great time. I called Norman after dinner and told him to be sure to bring his paperwork on Wednesday, as Ian will probably greet him with, "Hi. How ya doin'? Do you have your paperwork?"

Today I'm making fake whale blubber for a couple of upcoming scenes. (It's supposed to be a delicacy among Polar Americans and is part of the traditional Antarctic wedding ceremony.) I've made two batches so far, one which is probably too yellow but has set perfectly, and the other a creamy yellowish white that is still too liquid. I may be experimenting with a few more batches throughout the day. Jell-o Jigglers, man -- who knew I would ever be making that stuff?

Oh, and Peanut is back! He let me pet him, but he lost interest in me when he realized I wasn't holding any food. Heartbreaking.