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Monetizing Every Inch
On Monday, my girlfriend and I woke up at 5:30AM and spent the morning participating in a joint Massachusetts State Police and US National Guard Training Exercise in a small town eighty miles West of Boston. We roleplayed as rioters clashing with police and guardsmen, throwing half-full water bottles, earnestly screaming at cops, and getting pushed back by horse mounted officers. It was quite an experience and I definitely gave it my all when it came to chanting, I wasn't entirely comfortable with direct confrontation and that's not really what we, as the civilian roleplayers, were there to do. Even so, I was mock arrested and placed in the back of the paddy wagon briefly after sitting on the ground with arms linked with a few of my fellow protestors. The whole experience was very fun for us roleplayers and it seems like the law enforcement and soldiers enjoyed it as well while also gaining invaluable experience in a protest riot scenario. Wednesday saw us at another crisis exercise, a US National Guard Training Exercise near Gillette Stadium where we were thrust into the aftermath of a mock chemical explosion. We played severe injury victims in a decontamination simulation that included cutting off our clothes and a simulated shower before our wounds were patched up.
Beginning last week, I started with therapy at no-cost thanks to the healthcare system here in Massachusetts. I'm unsure of what results or revelations that therapy can bring but I'm open to the possibilities and sharing myself with the psychologist.
Boston does has its disadvantages. I could rail on and on about the advertisements heralding the luxurious life and opulent amenities but I'm also stung by an excise tax on my car that boils down to, essentially, a sin tax on owning a vehicle. This is on top of the several electronic tolling plazas that are unavoidable when traveling to certain parts of Boston and the nearby neighborhoods, thankfully Uber covers the tolls that are incurred while driving a passenger to a destination.
Speaking of the Ubering world, I've pursued every known means of monetization that I've come across. I'm currently utilizing Cargo, a mini-bar type snack box for the center console, Play Octopus, a free-to-play gaming tablet that allows passengers to enjoy trivia and other games while competing for a daily $25 Amazon gift card giveaway, and Wrapify, a car advertising wrap intermediary which has recently approved me for a campaign for CVS Care. Play Octopus is unfortunately not currently available in Los Angeles but I'm hoping it will be soon enough because it is a very smart concept that passengers love engaging with and it's a strong passive income stream requiring little to nothing in the way of a hard sell.
I'm worried about returning to LA. I want to make sure it's sustainable and the right decision. It feels right and I do want to pursue this harder than I have in the past but I'm scared that it's not enough. I'm concerned I'm just walking back into an untenable situation but, in some ways, that feels like the life that aspiring actors have chosen. With only 10% of SAG actors working consistently, what is the practicality of pursuing such a career path? It's foolhardy but, at the same time, feels like the only thing that's right, the only thing I really enjoy and can do without some semblance of complaint into the wee hours of the morning to well into the evening.
I'm also trying to learn Hindi with Duolingo but I've been somewhat lax on my lessons lately, I need to pick it up again but the app's insistence on trying to teach the written Hindi alphabet is a bit of a unnecessary task as it doesn't seem necessary to my needs of speaking the language.
Noteworthy Events
11/7 @ 7AM
Participated as an Injury Victim in a Decontamination Scenario with the US National Guard
Participated as an Injury Victim in a Decontamination Scenario with the US National Guard
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