sarchix

In the third week of filming, Beth was told that she had to report for her dance lessons. Part of her deal was included with her ballroom dancing and she wanted to receive ballet lessons instead of a personal trainer. Beth had been dancing ballet on and off for most of her life. This was her chance to have some time with a really good instructor and not from the instructor at the adult night school back home.

After shooting most of the morning, Beth climbed into the car and it was about to pull away when someone knocked on the window. A bit annoyed, she rolled the window down and saw Rob’s assistant, Jason, standing there.

“I’m sorry to detain you, Ms. Edwards, but Mr. Cobb was wondering if he could share a ride with you to the dance studio?” Jason asked.

Surprised, Beth responded, “Sure, I guess.” Jason quickly ran to Rob’s trailer and Rob quickly emerged from his trailer.

Once inside the car, Rob said, “Thank you Beth. My car is in the shop today and I figured since we were both going for rehearsal…”

“It’s okay Rob. But you do know that I have another lesson before our rehearsal?”

“It’s okay. What kind of lesson?”

“Ballet, but they haven’t told me who the teacher is. All I know is its some Russian guy. That’s like saying that my opera teacher is some Italian lady.”

Chapter 9

After a few hours of filming, they broke for lunch. Beth quickly retreated to her trailer. She needed some quiet and time to herself. It was almost too much for her to process. To be able to process her emotions, Beth booted up her laptop and began to write about her experiences and feelings. It seemed like writing was the only way she could handle life sometimes. Before she had written Aria’s Song, she had only dabbled in writing. Now she was known as a great writer. She had that fear that someone someday would realized she wasn’t the great writer everyone thought she was and that terrified her. Beth was surrounded by professionals who had been writing for years and here she was, a regular woman from New Jersey creating a multi-million dollar major motion picture. Now if she was to be found out, the whole world would know her as the ‘hack’ writer who couldn’t act as well.

Deep into her writing, Beth was startled when there was a knock on her trailer door. She asked who it was and Rob replied. Beth invited him in as she finished typing her thoughts down.

Chapter 8

At her morning call, the first day of shooting, Beth showed up very early in hair and make up. An hour later she arrived at her trailer. It was just like she had seen on television, a comfortable, oversized trailer. She even had a second bedroom set up for when her children visited her. In the kitchen area there was a basket of “Philly food”. She smiled as she read the card. It was from Harry and his wife. He had realized that Beth had been a little homesick and was trying his best to make her feel at home. Harry had really taken her under his wing during the whole project and she had appreciated everything he had to teach her.

An hour after that, a production assistant knocked on her door. “Ms. Edwards, you’re needed in wardrobe and then on the set.”

“Thank you, I will be there in a minute.” She stepped out of her trailer and went to complete the transformation into the character that Beth had created to escape her grief. The costume designers had tailored her gray and navy blue jumpsuit/body suit to fit her perfectly. It was very snug on her and hoped she would begin to feel more comfortable in it as the days of filming passed.

Read more of Chapter 7

The two talked all night long and really began to get to know each other. Beth was about to hail a cab when they got outside, when Rob offered her a lift home. She was surprised when the valet pulled Rob’s black convertible Jaguar up to the curb. Trying to act cool, Beth gladly accepted the ride home.

Rob drove fast down the highway with the top down. It felt so liberating for Beth to feel the wind blow past her into the night. Twenty exhilarating minutes later, the Jaguar was pulling into the driveway of her house. She surprised even herself by asking Rob if he wanted to come inside for a cup of tea and was even more surprised when he said yes.

Read More

Before she had knew it was Thursday, the day of her meeting with Rob. The whole idea of meeting him in such a fancy restaurant terrified her. She hoped she was appropriately dressed, as she had chosen a smart pants suit, since this was a professional meeting.

Beth’s driver, Mark, took her to La Fontana that night. She told him she would call a cab to get home and said good night to him. At first, she felt a bit awkward carrying her briefcase with her laptop in it to such a fancy restaurant, but once she was inside, she saw she was not the only one with the oversized accessory. Beth went up to the matri d’.

“Hello, I’m meeting Mr. Cobb. Is he here yet?” she asked.

“May I have your name please?” he asked.

“Elizabeth Edwards,” she responded.

“Ms. Edwards,” he said, as he seemed to look her name up on a list. “Ms. Edwards, this way please.” She followed him to a quiet corner of the restaurant where her co-star sat waiting for her.

Read More

As Beth was leaving the studio to finally go home from her first day at her new job, her new life, Harry stopped her at her car.

“I just wanted to tell you that you really did a good job today,” he told her.

“Thanks Harry. It was exhausting but a lot of fun. I just felt a bit out of place,” she told him.

“It sure didn’t look like it. Remember, it has to be your first movie once. We’ve all had them. Would you like to have dinner with my wife and me to celebrate?”

“I’m sorry. We just got to the house today and I would really like to spend some time with my family and make sure they are settled.”

“I understand. It’s been a while since my kids were as young as yours. We’ll see you tomorrow for fittings at seven.”

“I’ll be there, but there better be coffee,” she replied.

“I think that is part of the standard contract.” They both laughed. “By the way Beth, you really did a good job in there.”

“Thank you Harry.” She climbed into the car to go home and tell her friends about her day.

Read More

Inside the car, Beth had a chance to relax for a moment. She pulled out the papers that Tara had given her and began to read over some of the notes before she left as she sipped the lukewarm water. As she read, it explained that today was the first read through and other items on the pre-production schedule.

The car reached the studio and pulled up at one of the office buildings. Beth felt that warm sun through her blazer as she headed into the building. She walked over to the receptionist.

“Hello, I’m here for the read through,” she said to the girl.

Read More

Two days later, Beth sat in Brian’s office in Philadelphia on a conference call with the Eastman Studio Executive Board hammering out the details of Beth’s contract. The board really saw promise in her work and agreed to practically everything she wanted, including her as one of the producers, but wanted a workable screenplay in three months and be ready to begin production soon after that. The special effects and editing would put the release date for the Fourth of July weekend the next year, just in time for the summer movie season.

 

Beth worked around the clock for those three months, transforming her novel into a suitable screenplay. In addition to that, she was also being ‘handled’ by an acting coach, a singing teacher, personal trainer and nutritionist while working with the producers and the director, Harrison Wheelburg. Harrison was the finest science fiction director in the business, bringing home three Oscars for best direction. He was able to give Beth some guidance via e-mail writing the script.

The script was completed and it was time for them to pack up and head to Los Angeles for and pre-production.

Click here for more!

I have finished posting my Star Trek:TNG fan fic called "Aria's Song" up at my site and now it's time to put something new up!

I have decided to put up one of my original fictions up on the internet because I had so much fun posting "Aria's Song".

So here is the beginning of the story and I'll try to post new links as they go up.

Brian stood at his friend’s front door in the early afternoon still in his suit from work and waited for her to open the door hoping he guessed correctly on

how she would react to his big news.

“Bri, what a surprise. Come on in,” Beth said surprised as she opened the door. He rarely showed up at her front door before the sun had set. “Shouldn’t you be at the office?” she teased him.

Entering the house, he said, “Yes, but I had to come over to give my favorite author the good news in person. We sold it!”

Read more

Hope you guys like it!

As many of you know, I have been happily overwhelmed in a massage therapy program.  Today I did 4.5  massages and am totally exhausted.  They were all on family members and the half is the "baby" since he was a wiggle worm.  Maybe he should have been counted as 1.5 but I'm too tired for the math right now.  I massaged: my kids (all 3 of them), hubby and my mom.  Each of them were wonderful and I learned a lot from each about myself and my technique.  Still trying to get the "dance" down but that will only come with practice.

I've always had the idea of opening up my own day spa in the area and Hubby is chock full of ideas and most of them are really great and unique.  I love the fact that he is so supportive of me being out of the house so much at night while I'm in school (plus weekends).  Yeah, I feel guilty not being able to be everywhere at once and being able to take care of everyone like I have been but I'm starting to feel like a different person in a way.  I guess I've done the Mommy thing so long that its hard for me to come out of all that.  I'm sure my classmates are sick of hearing about my kids but that's part of who I am and we're stuck together for the next year or more.  They really are a great crew and so are the teachers.

On a side note, my injured hand has not bothered me one bit druing massage but I do feel a bit of weakness in the left side.  The good thing is that its coming back and the scar tissue is getting smaller every day.  One more appointment with the hand doc and I should be good to go.  Of course, all this time I wasn't supposed to be doing massage but I figure, if it doesn't hurt I can do it.  I never handed in the 2 "get out of class free" notes from the dr but had them on hand in case I needed them.  Even with a head cold and hand surgery, I have been able to keep up with all my work and not suffered through any physical activities so I am very happy.

I'm tired but wanted to say hi to everyone.  Hope everyone has a great week!

I can not wait till tomorrow!  I get my stitches out and hopefully get rid of all the wraps on my hand.  The idea of washing my hand sounds heavenly!  10:20 tomorrow I'll be there with my hand outstretched.  I'm hoping that I can leave with a band-aid but figure there will be more than that and maybe another week of showers with a bag on my hand (to keep it dry).

I found a massage table this weekend on Craig's List.  I was a bit nervous since I'd never done anything on CL before and the idea of going to a stranger's house is a bit scary in this day and age.  The lady selling the table was very nice and was happy to be rid of it despite selling it for about 1/3 of what she paid for it.  $240 for what would have been at least $650... not a bad deal in my book.

So now I have a table and can practice properly at home (or at a friend's house).  By Christmas I can actually start charging modest fees.  I guess I should look into some of the computer programs I saw online to track clients and what not when I first got this idea in my head. 

I get the results back from my 2nd Anatomy quiz.  Got a 95% on the last one and that was only because I totally blanked on one question.  The teacher hates blank answers and will take almost anything as an answer.  I think I did pretty good on last week's quiz but this week (aka tomorrow) is a practical quiz finding bones of the body.  It should be quite interesting to say the least.

Update:  LOL - As I type this, Hubby is already setting up appointments for me to practice on.  A lady was about to pay $150 for a HALF hour of massage!  That is a RIP OFF or they better have Golden Hands.  Avg price for an HOUR here is between $70-90 for a basic massage.  I'm going to have to get at least a 2nd set of sheets and QUICK!  Joy... adding to my laundry!

You guys have been so great with your words of encouragement and I am so happy I can share this experience with you.  I haven't been this happy and excited and confident in a LONG time.  I know what I need to do and I know I can do it versus letting other people control things.  Long ago, I wanted to be an astronaut.  I still wish I could be one without.  I saw the movie "Space Camp" last weekend and totally geeked out.  I must have seen that movie over 100 times growing up.  I actually went to Space Camp twice and it was amazing.  I want to be able to send my kids to Space Camp at least once each because it was so amazing.  Yes, while some kids were watching "Dirty Dancing" 100 times, back to back, I was watching "Space Camp".  I had so much fun saying, "I've been there and there and there...." while no one else in the house could.  Probably a first for me but it was special for me to be able to share that with the kiddies.  I may not be an astronaut but someday I know I'll be up in space if Bronson et al ever get their act together.

Wow what a random entry.  I need to get to sleep soon.  Nite all!

I really should be writing up my "client' notes right now but I'm just too tired.  I did 4 mini massages tonight and loved every second of it.  The baby (age 4) was a wiggle worm but was pretty decent.  My 9 yo daughter LOVED it so much!  I think I have created a monster.  Getting my 12 yo son on the table was a bit of a challenge.  It was a cross between him wanting  to play his video game and not exact.y sure what I was going to do.  Eventually, I got him on the table and he either fell asleep or was pretending he was so relaxed that he was.  I even got Hubby on the table and he let me do the whole routine so far (shoulders and back) even with his bum shoulder.  I was amazed that he let me do it and I told him that he was to tell me ASAP if he felt pain.  I'm hoping to meet with his PT dude next week to find out how I can help his shoulder and treatment plan.

Another amazing class today but tired.  Nite all!

After my last post, I was pretty much off line except what I could do from my iPhone. 

I did go see my Doctor (unfortunately she was not "The Doctor") because the pain and swelling was increasing.  By Tuesday, the first day of regular office hours, my hand was swollen and turning funny colors.  Think not only an odd yellow but some dark bruise colors too.

She (not my normal doctor) looked at me and send me for x-rays to make sure my hand was not broken and to make sure there was no glass in there either.  Not only did the Medical Student but the resident thought there was no glass but her supervisor (faculty) also thought so but he had forgotten his glasses that day.  (Yes, I did laugh at him since he's only a few years older than me and I've been with the practice as long or longer than he has).

On my way home from the Doctor's office I get the x-rays done and ask for a copy, more to show my anatomy teacher that night than anything else, but am completely confident that there is no glass in my hand.  I sit and wait for my x-rays to get processed when I am told by the lady behind the desk to pick up the phone.  Its the young doctor I saw earlier that day and she says there is glass in my hand and I need to see a hand specialist.    I have class that night and tell her to give the info to my hubby since I have to turn off my phone in class.  I come home and he has a number to call.

The next morning, I call the hand dr's office and they get me in right away.  Yeah, I looked at the x-rays right away since x-rays are cool but I wanted to see where the glass was.  All I could see was something the size of a bit of rice and that was it.  The hand dr told me (and felt for it too.... ewwwwwww) that it was a chard about an inch long and that I would  need to be sedated so that he could get it out.  

Note: I have never had surgery before and the only stitches were from child birth.  I have never been "knocked out" for medical reasons.

Normally, I would have totally freaked out with the idea of having surgery but i just wanted the darn thing out of my hand.  Each day the pain got worse and worse and so did the bruising on my left hand.

Eventually, I am scheduled for surgery for 2:30 pm on Friday.  I am not to eat or drink from midnight the night before the procedure.  i am annoyed but comply.  At about 8am, I get a call from the place and they had a cancellation.  Good thing I didn't have the cup of tea I was threatening to have because they wanted me in the office in 45 minutes.  I call my mom (yay mom!!!!) and she picks me up so that hubby can take care of our kiddy.  Waiting 3+ hours would be cruel and

unusual

torture for everyone else if hubby had to bring the kiddy with us.  My mom is both a nurse and a psychologist AND had the day off plus it was so comforting to have my Mommy there too.

So at the end of this saga, I was knocked unconscious (medically) for 20 min and it took the doctor 7 to remove the glass and patch me back up. 

I hurt but this hurt I can deal with.  There is no glass in my hand doing unknown damage every time I move.  I did knick one of my hand tendons and I CAN NOT WAIT to get the bandages off on Tuesday.

Just wanted to let you guys know how I am doing and why I've been so quiet this week.  My hands are getting sore so I thing I'm off to bed here in a few.

I was having a great day today.  We ran errands, the baby (age 3.75) ate a new food and asked for more and we visited a friend's store that was closing.  All was right in the world as my 2 oldest were playing outside with the neighborhood kids and I was contiplating either running out to Walmart (ewwww - hate it there but the prices are decent) for sheets (for massage class) and raser blades when i realized that the baby and possibly the dog had gone outside.  We do not have a fenced in yard for either of the two offenders and was scared.

I run to the back door and throw open the screen door to see that the dog was the b"good one" and was inside and the baby was outside, playing at the top of the stoop.  The next split second, I relized that the screen door (without a screen but a plate glass window) was coming back at me.  Hands go up and as I begin to hear the tinkle of glass I realize that the baby was still out there as the glass was falling.

Next thing I know Hubby (the saint) was coming to my side,asking if I was ok as my hands covered each other. 

"yeah, I'm fine," I say, wanting the baby and the dog, who is sure to investgate, out of the sureal glass on the floor and stairs.  But then right thumb.I realize I am bleeding under my watch (left hand). 

I head to the bathroom with the amazing hubby behind me only after he makes sure the dog (who listens better) and the baby are out and away from the glass.  Next thing I know is he;s taking off my watch off and making sure there are no shards of glass in either major wounds.  Blood is flowing into my bathroom sink and hubby is just taking care of it all.  Sure he dosn't know where the first aid supplies are (despite the fact that I told him not even last week that they were inthe shoe box under the sink with a BIG red cross and the words "first aid" on it).

Not to gross anyone out, but there was a lot of blood.  I refuesed the thought of going to hosital.  This is because I know if I had called my dr, he would have said go to the ER because the office is closed and the dr on call was also working the ER.  I refuse to pay the$100 co-pay for the ER visit when I know exactally what the would say... oh, its no big deal.. take a motrin for the pain, ice blah blah blah.... but still pay the $100 for the honor of coming to the er and waisting hours of my life just to hear that what i alread know from someone almost too young (in my "older: eyes) to be able to pratice medicine.

Hubby takes care of me and puts vbandages on my boo-boos with the threat that if I bleed through the super sized bandages that he was going to haul my butt int the hospital.  (All I could think of was my 3 kids being board kids in the ER since my parents and primary babysitters are in Texas at the moment and not due back till Wends,)

I lay down on the couch and put both my hands above my head as I try to controll myself.  The bleeding and the baby ( and dog) are under control as hubby and my oldest clean up the glass.  Hubs was impressed with the distace of the glass made when he originallly thought I
fallen doen the 7 concrete stairs with the glass when he had first heard the comotion.

He suggests that I take a small nap since I was still a bit "shocky" when he came back in and the next thing I know is that it is an hour later and I am waking to pins and needles in my left hand (semi normal thing) but then there was the pain.

Ice is my friend right noe and making dinner for the kids was a very painful chore.  Hubby had fallen asleep, dealing with his own medical issues and I do dinner for the kiddies with the older two's help.  It was all leftovers but they were good leftovers too.

I was able to chat with both my mom and dad, which me feel better.

But my big fear is that I did something to my left hand when I less than a week into my massage therapy program where both my hands are needed.

So far so good and I feel better than I did hours before but well see what happends when I wake in the am.

I typed this entire post with one hand so please excuse any typos i missed and thank you to aquakittie   for posting a weekend chapter as it really did help distract me for a bit.   And I will be re-reading it again  so feel free to post a sunday chapter for my poor hanfd (pouts lip).

Im off to bed now.  Wish me a full nights sleep as I do the rest of you.

In case anyone was worried, the kiddies came back from my in-laws with out major incident.  Things  were REALLY loud when they did come home and the dog was thrilled to see them yesterday.   They were happy to get pizza for dinner and couldn't wait for their Daddy to come home from work.

There were no major injuries this time.  (Last year my father in law let my then 8 year old daughter bungy jump and she came home with a major bruise across her stomach which caused me to take her to the doctors just in case it was worse then it could be.... She was fine but had a bruise to deal with for the next feww days.)

I was thrilled to have my kiddies home and near me.   The older two are getting too old to "hang" with Mom but the youngest is constantly cuddeling up with me which is one of the best things in the world.

With school 2 weeks away, we have to make sure the oldest 2 start to get ready for their earlier wake ups for school.  We'll see how that goes.  School sarts early this year..... 2 Sept... before Labor Day.  So the kids go in on Wends but have Monday off?  Like anything is going to happen those 3 days anyway.  What a waist of school days but the state says we have to go so many days of school for it to be a leagal school year.

I need to get some sleep and stop ranting for now..  Its nice to have y whole family under one roof.

My three kids have been out of the house since Thursday morning.  They are spending a whole week with my in-laws down in Myrtle Beach.  Until I called them last night (Monday) I had not spoken to any of them since Friday, when my oldest called to basically tattle on his sister.  And I had to call them.  Needless to say, I think they are all having fun down there.

It has been weird not having them around the house.  Usually, there is at least one home so it has taken some time to get used to them not being there.  Its SO quiet!

Last year I was a mess trying to get them ready to go and have Hubby and myself packed up to go to a family wedding.  (The wedding was a blast and it was very nice to go to a family event without them.)  This year, I was much less stressed about them going but I think I miss them more.  I love the fact that the amount of laundry, dishes, general cleaning and cooking is much less without them around but it will be nice to have them home.

In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy the peace and quite that my house is not used to.

Its been a crazy summer.  The kids have been having a lovely and lazy summer and the (not so much anymore) baby hates having to go to daycare/school when the big kiddies don't. 

Hubby is starting to respond to his meds but its been an interesting trip so far.  I really hope we are making progress but a great thing that has come out of all this is that hubby had taken up bike riding.  Even better is that, the rest of the family has done the same.  The kids love going for rides with hubby and I even get out and get a 20 min workout before he leaves for work.

I've started writing more and have really enjoyed posting my old Star Trek:TNG on my site and the hits have been pretty decent so far. 

Fun stuff happened this weekend when I went to my cousin's baby shower.  She's having a little girl in early October.

While coming home, I emailed hubby to tell him we were enroute.  It normally takes 1.5 -2 hrs to get home.  Hubby informed me that my oldest wasn't feeling well.  By the time I got home, he had a 102 deg fever.  Sunday, it was down to 100 but his throat was even more sore.  I took him to the doctor today and it turns out he has Strep Throat.  Its like pink eye for the throat when it comes to "sharing" it with the rest of the family. 

Now, everyone seems to have a sore throat.  Its probably all sympathetic but we're trying to play it safe especially since the older two are headed to Hershey Park on Friday and they would be devastated not to be able to go with the martial arts group they belong to.  The oldest has antibiotics but until someone else gets diagnosed with it, the doctor won't give us the antibiotics.  They are really good about that.

I'm really trying to post more often, really I am.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAGGI!  Hope you have a great day!!!

We had a power outage due to a thuderstorm one summer.  There was very little rain and all the neighborhood kids were over at our house playing.  My family was lucky and had almost a double lot so we always had kids over playing.

The power went out while we were all taking cover under my parents' covered porch.  It's almost a huge wrap around porch and at the time, it had a ROCKING porch swing that fit at least 4 kids (but not teens).

My Mom made popcorn, on the gas stove, for us all.  I thought it was so cool that she could cook with the stove even with the power out.  This was back before microwave popcorn was as big as it is and everyone had an air pop machine.  (The kind with the yellow plastic top and the tray to melt butter, even though it never really melted it all the way.)

Chapter 4 is up on "Aria's Song"!

I am really having so much fun posting this old story for the world to read.  Getting to read it over again (and trying to catch any major mistakes) has be a real treat.  I know there are some non-cannon things in the story but I try to keep it pretty true. 

Working on a new RPF story with DT as the male lead.  No idea how long its going to be or how its going to end, but it will be a fun journey getting there.  

I think after I am done posting "Aria's Song", I'm going to start posting "Second Chances" and run the series I have created there.  Yes, I have a whole series of stories.  The cool part about "Second Chances" is that the main character, Elizabeth, is the author of "Aria's Song"... kinda.  All the real Star Trek references came out and replaced with something similar.

If I don't post before the weekend again, for those in the US, Happy Fourth of July!!!!  I'm going to see fireworks this weekend!