Temescal

There are many different neighborhoods in Oakland and tonight I am cat sitting in the Temescal District in a high-rise apartment above a Whole Foods. Okay, perhaps six floors do not qualify as a “high rise” but what else do you call a newly constructed prefab apartment above a Whole Foods? Besides gentrification.

On the sidewalk outside the Whole Foods:

Years ago when I moved to Oakland, this piece of land was nothing but dirt behind a chain link fence. And before that, it was an adult movie theater. And before that it was the Tower Theater, and before that- the Claremont Theater per this Oakland Wiki Site

“In 2018 construction began on 5110 Telegraph Ave, a 204 unit mixed-use development with a rooftop farm.”

I took pics of the sunset tonight from the rooftop farm. I mean, it’s cool and all, but as you can see, I am the only one here. It’s kinda chilly in Oakland so I don’t know how often this roof gets utilized.

Even Freddy has a view by his perch which he doesn’t seem to appreciate much.

I am currently working on a new solo show about being a fourth-generation SF Bay Area native with deep roots in Oakland, however, I don’t believe we have too many ties to this district. But maybe we do, but the neighborhood has changed so much I wouldn’t know it now. But I wanted to preserve Temescal and Freddy for the historical record.

For the Record

Crazy Month of May

The month of May flew by. After performing an excerpt of my new one-woman show “All the Great New Things to Come” at the beginning of the month, I went on a mini-vacation, came back, and immediatlely started cat sitting for all my friends:

Cat Clients For the Month of May:

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Then in mid-May after my family celebrated Mother’s Day, I got news that two supervisors at my work were retiring. This was quite a jolt for me. I consider our office to be a well-oiled machine, so whenever there is a changing of the guards, I get a little nervous.

Change is hard, even when it’s right- it’s still change and it’s stressful. Even if it’s good stress – stress is stress. I worked with one of my supervisors for 16 years. A season has come to an end.

Then I returned to the gym after 3 years:

U-Jam Class!

Also in May, I was taking acting classes down in Redwood City on Wednesday evenings- and that is quite the commute for me coming from Oakland during rush hour traffic, but it was so fun and worth it.

ACTING!!

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This is the first time I have taken an acting class that ended with us filming actual movie shorts. Usually acting classes just teach you some techniques and then say, “good luck!” and send you off into the abyss. But Bravemaker Academy actually gives their students experience with making films. I think this is a brilliant format. I was starting to doubt myself thinking maybe I was just a theatre person, but this class has reminded me that I love this medium too. We shot two short films and one of them was written and directed by Los Angeles based Christine Weatherup. She flew up to the Bay Area to work with us.

Speaking of movie sets, also this past month, someone on Instagram, who goes by the name “ScreamStyleSleuth” (a fan of the Scream movie franchise) found a picture of me on set from 1996 when I worked on that movie as a stand in for Neve Campbell. I have never seen this picture before:

It’s me and Deborah (Rose McGowan’s stand-in) during the lighting of a scene at “Tatum’s house”. I know, it’s hard work, ha ha! Look at us, just laying around. Setting up interior shots is so much easier than being outside in freezing cold weather. We had a lot of those scenes too.

The month ended with my family going out to dinner for my sister’s birthday and I also started up my solo performance class again. No wonder I am so tired! But a good kind of tired. I wonder what June will bring.

May 2023:

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