Reality

[whipchick]

I said no the first six times.

The seventh year, the seventh season, after an hour-long phone call with William the freelance producer, I think, well, it’s in my mom’s city, and there’s money in it, and this project we’re working on, the one that can’t get booked because nobody’s ever heard of it? It could use some exposure. And I say, “Yes.”

And,

Comments

[jacq22]

Just for the record? you are a class act whatever you do!

[whipchick]

Thanks! And I have to say, the narrator was actually surprised that she didn't feel crappier about the situation than she did, but a lot of that comes down to it really, truly, being just another gig :)

[halfshellvenus]

Can't tell if this one is fiction or real, but I'd hope it's fiction!

Have we ever been…booed before? By a sober person? With a home to go to?
Hahahaha! This says so much about hecklers.

even that is better than waiting for opportunity to knock, for lightning to strike. Waiting for a life to begin. Waiting for a dream-any dream-to arrive.
There is much to be said for working your success and focusing on doing it well and always striving for better, rather than thinking that it's all some waystation to something unimaginably "bigger" and "better." Enjoy what you have. You're already living it, after all!

[whipchick]

It had better be fiction, because I could be sued if it was real and I wasn't careful about language and who was identified :)

Thanks for reading and I'm glad you got the point so clearly! You sum it up so well - it's not about "hitting it big", it's about showing up to do your work, every day :)

[porn_this_way]

I totally love that this entry is tagged "horror", but a big ol' case of EPIC FAIL to everything else!

Edit that like a Loser, motherfuckers.

And a big ol' high five for this. IMNSHO, the best way to handle manipulative god-complex assmonkeys is to figure out what they want, and give them the exact opposite with a cheerful, innocent smile. Even if they've tricked you into playing the game on their terms, you can fucking win on your own.

General "you", of course.

Well played, in every sense of the word, and I'm sorry your non-existent character's friend's neighbor's cousin's dog's girlfriend's owner's sister had to put up with this shit, in any plane of existence.

[whipchick]

Glad you caught the tag :) And thanks!

[i_17bingo]

“Fist bumps only!” said Aubrey, “No handshakes, no hugs!”

This is a stabbing offense.

[whipchick]

Big time!

[i_17bingo]

But he's a germophobe. Not really his fault that he has a psychological condition that must be horrible to live with. At least, in my imagined version of the fictional tale, that would be his diagnosis.

super read

[anonymous]

Hey Whipchick, if that is your real name. Great story.
The story left me wondering if the narrators fellow performers in the piece where able to rise above it in the way of the narrator? Or was mothering them yet another job that needed to be done afterwards in the hotel?
I honestly could never imagine being booed. That must be awful on some level.
IceLee

Re: super read

[whipchick]

Most of the performers were OK - the newest one was hit the hardest, and her part was specifically criticized by the nastiest judge, so that's probably why; and most of the other performers drank a lot that night, I imagine in the backstory. I'm thinking also that the setting helped - at least they were in a nice hotel with sunshine and a pool.

For the narrator, being booed was more surreal than awful, because it wasn't connected to the act. That is, the act may well have been mediocre, or not to the audience's taste, but it certainly wasn't bad or offensive. For example, if I personally am street performing/busking, and a group of teenage guys walk through and shout, "You suck!" I'd be more likely to respond with a heckler-squashing line than feel personally insulted, because it's them, not me, and this situation for the narrator felt like that.