Stroller Curling

Having a newborn provides ample opportunity to get your creative juices going when baby just won't go to sleep.  One of the fun activities that Les and I have created is called Stroller Curling.  It's a game where you push the stroller down the hallway from one end and try to get it to stop as close to the carpet edge as possible without touching it...just like the Olympic sport, curling (but on tile instead of ice; and a stroller, instead of a slab of granite.)  Of course, Amelia is not in the stroller as part of the game...*whistle*

As you can guess, things here at the Wong household have been extremely busy these past 4 months (hence, the lack of blog posting).   Amelia "Boo" has been a major part of our daily lives, of course, but I also changed jobs at work; Les has joined the work force again; and been extra busy collab'ing on some projects with my sis.  Hectic, to say the least.

Nevertheless, everyday is a new adventure, filled with lots of fun and interesting surprises.

Growing Up Daily

I'm a big believer of always striving to better ourselves, everyday.  My motto is "learn something every day...be a better person, everyday."  Yeah, cheesy-peesy, but it motivates me to always strive to learn and grow everyday, so that I never get complacent or just content.  The way I look at it, we're here on a finite timeline, so why waste it?  Shake it up every so often; think outside the box; stay hungry, stay foolish.  Yes, I stole it.

It's pretty interesting to see Amelia doing the same thing.  Everyday, she is learning and doing something new; whether it's manipulating objects in her reach; gracefully pulling out her binky and putting it back into her mouth; or even handing off things back and forth between her hands, it is pretty amazing to watch.  Sometimes you can just watch her, and see that her little brain is working and making sense of things.

I heard that babies experience the same feeling adults do when they go on vacation somewhere...where their senses are extremely enhanced...the sounds, the sights, the smells, everything, become pronounced and extraordinary.  So for Amelia, everyday for her is like visiting Paris or Switzerland for the first time.  Man, I'm a little jealous.
  
The Court Jester

The parent handbook never once mentioned having to become the full-time, in-house comedian.  No matter how tired from work, exhausted from the drive home, or hungry I am, Boo expects the performance of a lifetime every day I come home.  I mean, she wants gold every time...and she will only offer the slightest hint of satisfaction after I've painstakingly performed my plethora of juggling-on-a-unicycle tricks, or until she gets bored of my act.  It's a grind and a thankless job.

But, to be honest, I must love doing it because getting that smile and laugh is more than worth the cost.  She brightens up my long day away and inspires me to be the best I can be.  Oh right, and so does Leslie!

Mama Bear

 
Q: What should I do if I find myself around a mother bear with cubs?
A: Mother bears are rarely aggressive toward humans, but they are protective of their cubs. A mother bear will usually give many warning signs (huffing or popping sounds, swatting the ground or even bluff charges) to let you know that you are too close. Move away slowly and non-threateningly.

This is from an online guidebook, but I think they have several typos.  They accidentally put in "bear" for some odd reason.

Ok, I'm kidding, but for most dad's reading this, I'm sure you can all agree mom's can be a bit protective of the young baby.  For good reason, of course, so I won't argue much about that.  I know it's all about instincts and stuff, but really, we're not that dumb to take care of a baby...although, admittedly, us guys spend most of our time trying not to burn the milk, put on the diaper backwards, or drop the baby during "flying time".

That said, though, mom's must get their props for being the main baby caretaker.  They feed, change, nourish, carry, sacrifice for the baby like no one else, and they will always share that special bond forever.

For dad's, sadly, baby will only see them as the court jester. 

One thing that I did realize, though, is that Les has a remarkable radar for Boo.  She can hear her making the slightest peep from her upstairs room (with the door closed) and is off running in a heartbeat....

Differences in the Pregnancy Journey (explained in memes)

It seems as though everyone is having a baby these days. I can think offhand of about 3 other couples that have delivered a newborn in the recent past weeks, which makes me wonder if the fall/winter time is a popular time to get jiggy wit it. I guess there's not much to do when it gets dark at 5pm.

Anyhow, in light of the different conversations I've had with the new parents, I've come to the conclusion that indeed, men are from Mars, and women are from Venus....especially when it comes to their experiences through the 9 months of pregnancy.

I could write a whole book on it, but it's been done before, so I decided to explain it to the non-parents what the experience is like, through colorful internet memes. (Those who have kids can either confirm or debate this, but there's a good 99.9% chance I'm on the mark.)

First, let's quickly review what it's like from a female's perspective...

Yep, that's pretty much it. This is, of course, according to a guy's perspective, so that's how I saw it. I might be liberally missing a few minor details, like emotions, personal reflection, sacrifice, etc, etc, but this sums it up pretty nicely, I think.

Now, compare this with a guy's experience, and you'll get to see what we go through...

Month One Lessons

Where has the time gone? Amelia is 1-month old now, but it seems like she has been with us for much longer already. In fact, I can't seem to remember Leslie just being pregnant. We've only been at this new crib for 2 months, but the way it looks now, it's like we've been here for years. In reality, the past few weeks have been simply a blur, with diaper changes, feedings, and staying at home watching reruns of Jersey Shore and Inception (which is one of the best movies ever made).

That said, this past month has also been a great period of learning to be parents. Not only is baby growing like a weed, but both Leslie and I are coming into our own as caretakers. Time waits for no one, and babies definitely don't wait for parents to grow up....it's learn as you go, and learn fast you must.

So here's a breakdown of a few things we're learned so far:

1) Feeding
Babies love to eat. They'll eat when they're hungry, tired, or just bored. (Actually, it's not much different than guys.) But Amelia has gotten her internal clock going to wake up every 2-3 hours to get some food. She's even gotten to the point that Les can't carry Amelia without her trying to nurse...she knows her scent and will instinctively go down to get some juice. We tried to experiment with putting the milk on my neck (like cologne) to see if she'll follow me, but test results are inconclusive.



2) Diapers
Another big one is changing diapers. Amelia goes through a diaper every hour or so, and they get so soaked that I wonder if she's blown a gasket somewhere. It's mind-boggling that a tiny thing like her can completely saturate a thick piece of cloth. (Yes, cloth...we're going the green, environmentally-friendly route with cloth diapers instead of disposable ones. They are working out ok so far, but the whole contraption gives Amelia a pretty urban-sized booty).


We've also gotten into this thing called Elimination Communication, or "EC", which is an eloquent term for "pooping in the sink". Basically, when you change the baby's diaper, you take her to the sink, hold her backwards against your chest, and let her release all their glory into the sink while making grunting noises. The theory is that the baby will become used to going doody into the sink, rather than into their diaper. So far, it's actually working, and for the past 3 weeks, she hasn't had a pooped diaper. But I think she just likes to poop into the sink and watch it wash down the drain.

3) Bathtime
Some babies love bathtime; some seem like it's a torture event. We got this nice Fisher Price baby bath that has all these bells and whistles on it; this is a first-class bath compared to what we had as babies. It even has a lifted wash area to keep the baby out of the dirty water...how thoughtful! Look at the picture, it even has little toys and looks so nonthreatening. Aww!

What we saw:


What she saw:

Suffice to say, that was the first and last time we used that pad.

Fortunately, now she actually likes bathtime. She likes to sit back in the baby tub and let us soap and wash her down in the warm water. This may be a problem when she gets older as only luxury spa's will do that for you.

4) Dress-up Time
I think baby clothes are basically a super-profitable racket that caters to a parent's subconscious obsession to dress their baby in a bunch of cute outfits as much as possible before they quickly outgrow them....and take an obscene amount of pictures to post on Facebook as much as humanly possible. Guilty as charged.


We're come to a point where Amelia is growing so fast now, we have about a period of about 1-2 weeks before she outgrows them. In fact, a lot of the baby clothes we have are from my sister, where most were still brand new since her baby outgrew them before she could even take off the tags.

So, sorry Amelia. You will be cursed with multitudes of embarrassing photos of you in various cat, bear, bunny outfits as a baby, and will find most of them online somewhere on the internet for the next 50+ years. Good luck running for political office.

5) Doctor visits
There probably isn't one thing more traumatic for a baby than a visit to the doctors. Nothing can change their mood from pure joy and happiness to utter anger and more anger in a split second.

Before doctor visit:


After doctor visit:


It's the same feeling that I always have when going to the doctor, dentist, or anyone with a white lab coat for that matter. I guess it starts early.

Our New Housemate

Eat. Sleep. Poop.

I realize that there really isn't any real difference between me and baby Amelia, other than the intervals between each cycle is longer. I also have a job, but only so I can do those 3 things in a nicer setting.

I'm sure you are well aware that baby Amelia Katsumi Wong has arrived (born officially on June 28 at 7:53pm, weighing in at 7 lbs 9 oz, 21 inch span, right-handed, likes the jab and uppercut), and the past 14 days have been a whirlwind of diaper changes, feedings, and nap time. It's actually a little weird because it seems like she's been around so much longer. But everyday is a joy, with her funny noises, stares, and occasional smile that happens with gas. Apparently, she is also growing at the rate of a bamboo shoot, having gained an inch in a week, and adding almost 10 oz in weight. In fact, I didn't recognize her when I returned home from work one day...it's as if she was replaced with a miniature version of Chris Farley.


(Side note: the previous blog post was actually posted the day Amelia was born. I posted the entry right when contractions started. Talk about photo-finishes!)

Leslie is doing amazing, having done pretty much everything (e.g. pregnancy, childbirth, feeding, waking up in the middle of the night, etc), so she wins the Champ of the Year award. Her parents have also been a great help at home, taking care of baby and us for the past few weeks, so it'll be sad when their internship ends. We're definitely appreciative of their help and generosity, so let's hope their schedule is open for the next 5 or so years!


We've also been fortunate to have friends come and visit the baby (some coming all the way out from London), even though Amelia spends most of the time sleeping. When we hit the 1-month mark, though, she will finally be able to make her rounds and get some real face time with everyone.


For me, it's totally awesome with her here now. Even though I can't do much with her feeding, I'm trying to learn how to help out in other ways, like diaper changing. I'll admit that it'll probably take some time, as with most new dads, but I'll get there eventually. My older bro, Mike, gave me some good advice from his experience: the job of a dad is to make the mom happy; a happy mom will make a baby happy.


We're very excited with the start of our first addition to the family. Not only do we have a baby, but now we have someone else in our house since we don't get too many visitors out here in Dublin. Is it also bad that the official motto of Dublin is, "Come on, it's really not that far away."?

PS - Les and I would also like to thank everyone for the awesome baby gifts. Amelia owes you some free gardening or lawn mowing when she is old enough. But I am jealous...she is the first person in our family to ever own a pair of Air Jordans! (Thanks Pete, for rubbing in the fact that her name ISN'T Jordan)

Waiting for Amelia

T-minus 4 days.

July 1.

The day that will change everything. Well, technically, everything changed when I asked, "Will you go steady with me?", but this milestone is arguably much bigger than that. For one, I will lose much more sleep in this case. For another, my video game time will decrease significantly. Sad, in either case.

So, 2 questions you may have:

1) Do people still ask to go steady?
2) Who is Amelia?

Well, let me answer the easy one first. No, I actually didn't ask to go steady with Leslie when we first started dating. In fact, I don't know if there was any specific moment when we were "official". We just started dating and seeing each other more often. We didn't drive each other crazy, so we just went with the flow. I just used this as an example for dramatization purposes only.

(Come to think of it, I don't know how 2 people make it official anymore. I guess they ask if they want to be exclusive? Hmm, sounds weird. I do know that I asked a girl once, "Will you be my gf?" but that was a little awkward-sounding. And this was when I was in college.)

Second question, who is Amelia?

So, if you haven't guessed already, Amelia will be the name of our "coming-soon" newborn girl. Yes, Amelia, as in Amelia Earhart or Amelia Bedelia (as referred to by my 5-yr old nephew). The name has actually grown on me, but my first choice was Jordan...I always liked that name because of my bball hero, it sounds cool for a girl, and it's a strong name for an athlete type.

But when it came down to it, after many months of name deliberation, it was Amelia...although several factors include:

- My chinese parents being able to properly pronounce the name without slurring or short-cutting
- An overall litmus test voting among friends (60-40% for Amelia over Jordan)
- Les's bestest friend, Steph, addressed a baby gift to Amelia (which is cheating)

So, Amelia Wong, she shall be. In case you were wondering, 3rd place voting goes to my bro Allen's suggestion: Megatron, which beat out many others.


Middle name is undetermined as of now, but it will be Japanese since her last name will be chinese (at least until she's married). Les's parents have provided a few nice options, so we'll pick one soon. I, personally, like an unofficial submission, Samurai.

As of now, I am effectively on pager duty since she can arrive any day now. I think we have everything ready: baby room with crib, baby seat, clothes, books, diapers, video games, etc. We're feeling a little unprepared, having never done this before, and maybe even a little worried since we can't even keep fresh food in our pantry. (I've never seen ketchup turn gray before) But thankfully, our parents have volunteered to help us out during the first few months...or did we say years in the contract? I think Les is a lot more comfortable being a mom, but maybe that's because she just wants to unload that massive weight from her tummy area. I have that same feeling after a night of Indian buffet.

As for being a dad, I'm a little nervous myself. Less time to go out golfing with my buddies, hang out at the gym, work on the computer, or just sleeping in. But more importantly, having to take care of a baby? Being a good teacher? Disciplinarian? Bad cop to her good cop routine? Keeping tabs on her when she grows up? Dating? Paying for the wedding?! Yikes. Maybe for now, I'll just watch out for projectile poopies. Everyone says it's tough but well worth it, but I guess we just have to go through it ourselves. The good thing is that I can teach her to be the next Michelle Wie, and then I can ride her coat tails to $$$. Woohoo!

So as the countdown goes, we'll most likely be going through our "last time" phase this week. Last time we can watch a movie, have a nice dinner at Ohgane, an evening walk, or bum around the couch watching episodes of Master Chef with just ourselves. Because starting next week, it'll be us +1.

It's been an interesting 9-month journey so far. Emotions from shock/awe->anger->bargaining->anger-> finally, acceptance. jk, I skipped most of them. (Well, at least went through them quickly.) Having our good friends going with us along in the journey has definitely helped us out. We're now looking forward to the many years of a larger family now!

I am looking forward to this also, the Average Asian Aging Process:


In the meantime, if you would like your baby boy scheduled for a prom date 18 years from now, please submit his photo and resume to us. We will respond to you accordingly. Thank you!

End of an Era...

Call me soft, but I've always been sort of a sentimental person. I keep old papers from high school, little trinkets from trips, and sometimes even ticket stubs from games or movies. It's not that I enjoy living in the past, but I do appreciate where I've been, and where I've come from. I also wouldn't say I'm a particularly emotional guy, but Leslie would probably tell you that I am a softie at heart.

These past few months have been pretty hectic. We are expecting our first child next month (!), which is a fairly big deal in terms of life events and we just moved to a new house in Dublin. Both, while seemingly are just normal things married couples do from time to time, have actually a profound effect on us. You may be wondering why, but these events are the inflection point in our lives...moving us from young newlyweds to "parents". It's a pretty big deal...if you've been there, you would probably agree.

And if you haven't yet, I can break it down for you (from a guy's perspective, at least). I will say that the most pivotal point in a guy's life is the day he proposes to his girlfriend...not when he graduates from college, gets his first car, pays his first taxes, but the instant he is getting down on one knee with a ring in his hand. Why? Because it is from that point on (assuming she accepts), that the train of life leaves the station and won't ever stop again. Example: Proposal -> Engagement -> Marriage -> Children -> 18+ yrs of Parenthood -> Retirement -> etc. There is no break, and no way to stop the cycle. Sure, you can delay some portions of it (i.e. if you decide to have kids later), but essentially the motion has been set, and now it's only a matter of time.

Before the proposal, a guy's life is usually made up of "where are we drinking tonight?" and "how late can I stay up with my friends on PS3?". It's a fairly simple lifestyle, with no real expectations or responsibilities. Not to say having a relationship is bad, but it's a different time in a guy's life. His decision-making is primarily made of "what do I want to do" vs. "what is best for the family?". The event of the proposal signals an end to the carefree life that he was accustomed to, and now his life decisions will be part of something bigger, and hopefully, better.

Les and I have been preparing for this new child of ours for the past several months now; taking classes, reading books, getting supplies ready. But even with that, there is really no way to prepare for the mental and psychological preparation needed of bringing a new person into this world. Someone who will depend on you, someone who will change your life profoundly like never before. We've heard it all. But when it comes down to it, this baby signals a transition in our lives...similar to a guy's transition from bachelorhood to married guy, this is a couple's transition from young newlyweds to young parents. No more carefree lifestyle of traveling on a whim's notice, going out on Friday nights to watch a movie, going to SF on a sunny Saturday to shop, with not a care in the world. Now, we'll have little baby at our side from now on. Don't get me wrong, we're excited and blessed to have a child, but it won't be the same as before.



I think this really hit us hard last night when we were cleaning our old townhouse. Just a few days ago, we were living there...just like everyday for the past 3+ years. It was home. Safe. Secure. Familiar. Now, it was empty; save for a few empty water bottles. I was imagining our furniture back inside as it was, sitting together watching tv, cooking dinner, folding clothes on the ground, playing games in the room, packing for vacation trips, having friends over. It was nice. It was ours, and ours alone, and it was the place that Les and I started our lives together as a married couple. We could only sit and stare for a while, reminiscing the fun times, and just letting the past few weeks settle in on what is happening in our lives right now.



See, I think the move really cemented the fact that our lives are making the move to the next chapter, from young married couple to parents. We are closing the book on one chapter in our lives, and opening it for the next. It's been hard for us, and I think the past several weeks we've hidden that realization by keeping ourselves busy. But when the move finished and we sat down to take a breath, it dawned on us that something was happening, and something sorta sad and scary. Sad that we were saying goodbye to not just our townhome, but goodbye to a carefree life. Scared that the next chapter was unknown...living in a new place, with a new life shortly following it. It hit us hard: the train is moving to the next station, and we just have to say goodbye and thanks for the good times.



So, like that Friends' episode when Rachel moves out of Monica's apartment, it's an "end of an era". But with one end, comes the start of another. I'm not great at dealing with big changes, especially if I love what I have, but I suppose that's the only way to grow and live life. Stagnation is bad, and routine even worse. While we love our old place and its memories, it is time to move on to the next interesting chapter. We are both looking forward to it and excited about the new world our baby girl will bring us to. The important thing was for us to stop, appreciate what we had and enjoy the memories, collect ourselves, say goodbye, flip the page, and boldly move to the next chapter.

I'm Ready for My Close-up

A Day in the Life on a Movie Set

I have a number of goals in life. For example, I'd like to start a successful business someday, or write a self-help book ala Tony Robbins. I'd also like to be on IMDB.com someday, in some form or fashion. And well, this past Monday (April 25, 2011), I finally got that chance.

Since this was a pretty unique experience, I decided to capture the events of the day in this post (for posterity). Camera weren't allowed and I wouldn't want to get in trouble. Or would I... Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy the read! Hopefully it won't take you 13 hours, as it was in real life.

The Movie

During the month of March and April, there is a big Hollywood movie being filmed in SF, starring pretty big A-lister stars, such as Clive Owen, Nicole Kidman, and Robert Duvall, called Hemingway and Gellhorn. It's a docu-drama about the romance between Ernest Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn during the 30's and 40's, as they were war time journalists that covered all the major conflicts in that era. (I would also learn that Hemingway's first job was a journalist, and writing books was his hobby.) The movie is currently being filmed in several locations around the bay area, but mostly out of an old warehouse at Pier 80 off Cesar Chavez.

The Call

A few years ago, I did some extra work for a chinese tv drama called Human Cargo (Tou Du) that aired in China. Back then, I was on sabbatical from Accenture, so I had some time to kill. Fast forward to a few weeks ago, I auditioned for a print ad (which I didn't get), where the producers saw my mugshot and called me up. They were looking for a few extras to play chinese soldiers in the film. A free haircut and a chance to see the stars? Sure, sign me up. It was a win-win situation.

To be honest, the whole night before the shoot was pretty exciting and anxious...kind of like your first day on the job or school. I couldn't stop imagining what my life would be like in Entourage...picturing myself in the movie with the stars, walking the red carpet on premiere night, and eventually getting my own Hollywood Star.

Little did I know, reality would be a bit different...

Day of the Shoot

5:30am. Alarm goes off. I've gotten about 3 hours of "waking up every hour" sleep, so my eyes are fire red and I can barely walk straight. I have to be on set at 6:30am, all the way in SF...from Dublin...about 40 miles and 45 min away without traffic. I slap on some warm-ups and sweatshirt, wolf down some cereal, and mad dash it to my car. Surprisingly, Monday morning traffic is pretty thick already even at this hour. Getting a little worried, I calculate that with traffic and bridge conditions, I will arrive at my destination about 6:38am (not too bad, and I think most people operate on chinese-time anyways). Who knows, though...maybe these movie-type people are sticklers for promptness. We are dealing with millions of dollars here, right?

6:35am. Arrive on set. Not bad, pretty close to my estimate, which I'm proud of. The warehouse area is surrounded by big trailer trucks, dazed crew members are getting coffee from the food truck, and film equipment is being unloaded. Oooo...my first real glimpse of Hollywood at its finest. My collective excitement and gittiness are about to burst, but I decide to keep it cool to not look like a noob. Oddly enough, the rest of the crew have a very "a matter of fact" look about them; like they're playing with their old toy after all the initial excitement of opening the box.

Wardrobe

I check-in to our casting lady, and head to wardrobe, located in the building across the street. Not sure what it's usually used for, but production has basically taken over. There are clothes on racks all over the place, and pictures and photos cram the hallway walls of different period clothing for Spain, USA, and China. I finally meet the other 9 extras, and they are actually pretty cool guys. Some young, some older, but all chinese...so we all get along pretty well. Some of them have done extra work before, but most are here for the first time. Like myself, they are here for fun and to do something completely different than their school or regular day jobs. They have that bit of gittiness to them as well.

I get fitted with some very rudimentary soldier clothes...or should I just say cloth pieces, a headband, and a nice pair of kung fu shoes. I take off my white socks to make sure I preserve that continuity of the film. I doubt that the 1930 chinese soldier wore Hanes socks. On the other hand, I'm pretty sure chinese soldiers during that time were less than 5'1" and weighed about 80 lbs...but who's counting?

Haircut, Props, and Make-up

Now that I'm draped only in a thin veil of cloth, we make our way to get a period-style haircut with the on-set hairdresser. I would guess that there are 2 ways to cut chinese hair back in those days: buzzcut or bowl-cut. I can do neither for my day job, so I'm hoping that we can do some sort of compromise. Looking around, I see that everyone else is either bald or very short already, so I may be in trouble. Fortunately, the haircutter is a nice lady who gives me a high fade and leaves the top long enough to slick back. I haven't gotten this hair short in a long while, but I figure it'll grow out anyways. My highlights don't seem to be a problem, which is good. I guess they had colored hair back then too.

Ah, the fun part...getting our guns! Although the bad idea is to give a bunch of young asian kids guns...cuz you know they will play-pretend war all the live long day. Each of us get a M1 Garand bolt-action rifle (for those of you who play BF2), which completely is a fake gun but works the same way a real one does. It's only a matter of time before all 10 of us are pretending we're in Saving Private Ryan and shooting the bejesus out of imagined Nazis.

At this point, Spike (the asst director), comes up to us, looks at us down the line, and picks out me and another guy since we are the tallest of the group. We're chosen to be the cave guards, so with this battlefield promotion, we're given the even cooler guns...the M4A1 Thompson Submachine gun (known as the Tommy gun...for you Dick Tracy fans). Now we're cooking.

Next, make-up time. We need to look disheveled, dirty, and just like we're still living in college. The make-up ladies come by and pad each of us down in tiny bags filled with sage powder (grayish/brown) to look like dirt. We then take turns going to the trailer to get the facial treatment. At this point, I feel like I'm in America's Next Top Model: sitting in a dresser chair, facing a mirror with lights, and a "fabulous" artist working on my make-up. A few glamorous minutes later, and voila! Transformation complete. I looked so good I could have built railroads.

The Microcosm of Movie-Making

Before I get into the shoot itself, I'll talk a little bit about the movie-making aspect itself. Since I haven't really been behind the scenes of a major production, I didn't really know what it is like. After having observed the environment for a full 12-hours, though, it is actually pretty amazing and impressive. It's truly unique, and something that you have to be dedicated to, and completely in-tune with the atmosphere...otherwise, you will find yourself out of a job in no time. Movie making is a serious business; which means every minute is worth thousands of dollars; which means when the bell rings, you better get into action. That is why if you make it and develop a good rapport with the crew, you will most likely end up working with the same people over and over again. There is no time to learn new personalities and habits in this business. Maybe that's what I saw this morning...maybe it wasn't indifference of lack of energy I noticed, but the look of familiarity. It's like family after a while, I suppose.

That’s all and good for the cast and crew, but what about the extras? Extras are very important in movies to help establish certain scenes and settings. Wouldn’t it be weird to have a Lord of the Rings movie without the hordes of orcs and knights, and we just looked at Frodo and his lover Samwise for 4 hours straight? Pretty boring, I would bet. Of course, you can probably CGI the whole thing, but sometimes you need real life people to bring a level of authenticity to the frame.

Fortunately, today’s scene only has 10 extras, including myself. Small groups makes it very manageable for the directors to get the exact shot they want without trying to herd cats. I heard stories from the other guys that last week they filmed in Chinatown for a marketplace scene that had over 80 extras. It was a nightmare of gigantic proportions as they had to close down major streets and shops for the shot, and trying to get Chinese folk of both old and young ages (some who didn’t even speak English) to follow directions proved impossible. It apparently took over 13 hours(!) to film the scene, with each take needing to re-do because of extras trying hard to get extra “facetime” on camera, not listening to instructions, or simply walking right into the frame of the actors. Add in the cold, windy weather, disgruntled neighborhood and shopkeepers, and you can imagine the stress level of the cast and crew. The day ended well past 7pm and the director was pretty much at his wit’s end, but who can blame him? And at the end of the day, after all the retakes and reshoots, yelling and crying, the actual scene was for only 30 seconds of film time. Yikes.

12 hours for 30 seconds? I wouldn’t even want to think about how long those shoot days was for the Lord of the Rings trilogy, which was well over 10 hours collectively.

Life on a Movie Set

Anyways, onto some of the details. The entire warehouse is set up for this production, and divided into 4 main areas...from back to front: green screen set, staging/monitors/crew, cave set, and open area for more construction of sets. I notice new sets being constructed, such as hotel rooms and hallways. The green screen area is empty, for the day.

The staging is where the most of the 20-30 man crew spend their time. Everyone has headsets and mics on, and constantly talk to each other to address issues, lighting needs, shot feedback, etc. The stagehands are fixing lighting, stages, cameras, spraying water in the cave set, setting up fog, rocks/plants, props, etc. The make-up artists hastily run back and forth between takes, putting on powder and makeup, or curling Nicole's blond hair. Clive and Nicole's stand-ins come in between each camera setup to help position lights and angles. The assistants walk around with pieces of paper with the actors' lines to help cue certain actions for the extras. The asst. director discusses actions and motivation for the extras, while the actual director talks at length with the actors themselves on the scene and emotions. It's a very well coordinated environment, and it's easy to see that these folks have worked together for years in film, so they know exactly what to do when the director says cut. While the actors and director get the fame and acclaim, none of it would be possible without the help and support of the tireless crew behind the scenes. They are there before the actors get there, and stay later after the wrap. It’s a thankless job, but it’s sort of fulfilling to be making movie magic.

When the cameras and lighting are in place, and the director is ready for the shot, the crew clears the set and actors/extras are in place. The directors yells, "rolling!" which is repeated by the assts. A loud bell rings (like recess) to alert all crew to be silent. Directors calls for "sound" to make sure the mic is on, the slate is clamped ("Marker!"), and he yells, "Action!". The actors/extras do the scene while the live playback is shown on monitors all around the staging area. The director and asst director watch intently with headsets on and stare at the screens, looking for flow, delivery, and oddities. At the end of the scene, the directly yells "Cut!" and everyone rushes back into action.

Again, it's an impressive sight to behold, and really impressive to observe. And even more impressive was that the entire crew: assistants, stagehands, make-up artists, asst director, and even director, were super-friendly to us extras. I was sure that they would be indifferent or even annoyed at us "one-dayers", but they showed us the same courtesy and respect as everyone else. I would've guessed that constant days of laborious filming would take a toll on decency, but I was wrong.

The Scene

The scene was basically a 5-minute shot that takes place in a cave with a chinese general and our main characters, Hemingway and Gellhorn, having a discussion. The cave is in the mountains of China (obviously), and is a hiding place while the Japanese are invading the country. The general is Chou En-lai, who later becomes the first premier of China. He invites Hemingway and Gellhorn to a private meeting, where he has a nice civil conversation and discusses his books and her jewelry. Something happens, and he rushes off to deal with it; leaving Hemingway and Gellhorn behind to deal with their own little drama and argument.

My role is as one of the guards to the cave: armed with a machine gun and diligently monitor the land for make-believe intruders. I'm instructed to lean up against the rock, and slowly watch across the field, back and forth, making subtle motions to my comrade. 5 minutes of this and I start resembling an animatronic at Disneyland.

Fortunately, I luck out. Out of the 10 extras, 6 of us have something to do in this scene. 1 is a radio operator inside the cave (which is kinda cool since he gets to see Clive and Nicole upclose), 2 are running guards who get 3 seconds of screentime of the back of their head, 1 is a guard who sneaks up to us to talk to us for a few seconds, and the last 2 are us guards, who are in the entirety of the scene. And of us 2, I get the rock that's next to the cave opening, and right in the camera shot. I adjust my position on the rock to sit with my back on it, so I work more of my side profile into the shot itself=D It was more comfortable that way anyways, and if they said anything, I would turn away as asked. But I didn't volunteer it, necessarily.

So, as you can imagine, with a 5-minute scene, I'm getting some serious love in the shot. Now I'm sure editing and post-production will whittle that down to about 10 seconds of good footage, but it's all worth it to be immortalized in some fashion in the filming archives. I can't say the same for the other 4 extras, who don't get any action for 10 hours.

A Long Day

My first take is pretty exciting. I’m not sure quite what to do, as my instructions are pretty open: guard the door, look tense and stressed, and lean against the rock while relating to your buddy. Okay… So I take that as pretty much sit on the rock with my gun, and stare into open space that’s decorated with a giant blue screen. My comrade does the same, so we’re just a couple of statues in the background staring out into nothingness. I’m not even sure what the scene is about taking place behind me; are we in the middle of a war, or just protecting these guys, or what? I guess there’s no reason to explain what my motivation is, but at least I could mimic an emotion or something.

The first take is a little intimidating. I don’t want to screw up…I’m not quite sure how I’m doing, but I don’t want to do so badly that I get switched out with my buddy. I have the best shot where I am. I’m trying to stay focused in my ‘acting’, but I can’t help but listen to the scene being played out behind me. I can hear Nicole and Clive doing their lines, which is a little surreal. I’ve never heard them in real life, but it sounds just like the DVDs. At one point, they have to give a big hoo-ha laugh, which sounds a little fake and forced. Hell, I could do that. And then a little smoochie-smoochie kissing. Hearing actual acting seems to take away some of that movie magic cause it really just sounds like 2 people practicing badly in their living rooms. Anyways, my butt starts to hurt from sitting on the edge of the fake rock and my back is a little sore from hunching over to stay low. It’s not bad for a few seconds, but this 5-minute scene is getting a bit long.

The first take cuts and Spike comes up to us to give us some feedback. He gives us a little more instruction on scanning the frontier with our bodies to show a little less ‘casualness’…which was more constructive than what the other assistant said, “look more stern”. I even offer up the idea to hold up my gun as I scan across, which Spike really likes. My comrade and I work out some minor details on how we should interact, since we’re supposed to be brothers-in-arms and have supposedly worked together for a long time.

The crew are doing their thing and the director is giving feedback to the principals (actors). Ready for take 2. Again, back on the rock and now I’m menacingly strafing my vision across the hillside with gun in tow. A little more comfortable with my movements, my comrade and I start trying different interactions and headnods. It’s coming together slowly.

Take 2 done. Take 3 starts and ends. 5-minute shoots each. My back is really starting to get irritated, and stretching it between takes is not doing much. I heard the Chinatown shot took 30 takes to complete, which sorta scares me. No way I can last 30 takes of 5-minutes hunches. I’m not that young anymore.

Today’s cave scene, since it involves a very tense and dialogue-heavy shot with the main characters, requires several camera angles to get all the different perspectives: far/wide; close-up of Nicole; close-up of Clive; close-up of the general; close-up of Mr. Ma; side-shot of Nicole; long shot of the cave. Each shot requires about 3-4 takes each too, so after you add it all up, it’s about 21-25 5-minute takes altogether. Between takes are about 10-15 minutes of resetting, feedback, review, make-up. Hours of this reshoot, reset, reshoot, reset, reshoot, and so on. I think I counted about 16 takes that I was in (some of the takes didn’t require me). During our final takes, my comrade and I had a pretty worked out system and we started really improvising our acting skills. We incorporated subtle head movements, smooth articulated turns and gun positioning, well-orchestrated tag-team monitoring moves….all pretty in-synced by our 15^th take. That’s when it got fun since we started to push the envelope a little bit and really do some non-verbal acting. Honestly, I was really getting into my role. It’s my cave!

Wondering about the other 4 extras during this whole time? Yeah, me too. Well, while some of us had shots to do, the others stayed back in the holding area, waiting for their number to be called. After a few hours, they found ways to distract themselves… fiddling with their rifles until they became experts at loading, unloading, cocking, and firing it in less than 0.6 seconds, talking about school/work, girls, sports, cars, you name it. I thought it would be a matter of time before it de-evolved into a Lord of the Flies scene with facepaint and a bonfire in the middle of the room. I felt kinda bad that they had to sit around and wait all day, but at least they got paid for it.

But, around 5:30pm, at long last, they called all of us together to do the final shot. This last shot had the camera facing into the cave, and the lot of us were soldiers walking across in the background in the cave tunnels. I’m in the 5^th group that walks across screen, and the first one to do hastily running (the invaders have breached and I’m the first to respond). Bang, bang, 5 quick takes and we are done. After the final take, the director takes off his headset and yells “Cut! That’s a wrap!” and the crew goes into a burst of clapping and hollering. They congratulate each other and even us, which is nice. I guess after long days like these, you need little victories and cheering to keep morale up.

Including the nice catered lunch, the day lasts over 13 hours total (starting at 6:30am and ending at 7:30pm). For a 5-minute scene. After a few days of this, I would think the cast and crew would be exhausted, because I know I was. And all I had to do was sit on a rock. A 2-month filming period would be unimaginable. I guess to be in the movie industry, you really have to have a passion for it…because unless you’re a main character or director, the pay and time is definitely not worth it. My respect and appreciation has definitely grown for these dedicated artists.

Hanging out with Storm Shadow

Now that I’ve detailed out the events of the actual film-making part of it, I wanted to spend a few minutes to recap some of the interesting interactions with some of the cast members on set. The first I’ll talk about it is Keone Young, who plays Mr. Ma (a character that’s a mix between General Mao Tse-tung and Kim Jong-Il).

If you don’t know who this guy is, you will probably know his voice. He’s done so much voiceover work over the past 35 years that it’s more than likely you’ve heard of him in some film or tv show. And usually, he always does the asian guy’s voice. But I’ll remember him as the voice of Storm Shadow from the 80’s GI Joe cartoon series. Awesome. He even did the voice for us.

Anyways, between takes he would hang out with a few of us near the cave and just crack jokes and be, generally, crass and offensive (in a funny way). He joked about being single and how he made it in the business. He gave some interesting advice to one of us on making it in the industry. Basically, it came down to a few points:

- Acting (even voice acting) is not for casual thinking. The industry will eat and spit you out alive. It’s like Rudy, you need to have the heart and soul to get into the business for people to even look your way, and if you ever get that shot, you better be well-prepared to wow them, or that is it.

- Study, study, study and perfect your craft. Always be prepared for when your shot arrives. He said he studied everyday to learn different languages, acting styles, history, etc. He can speak almost all of the asian languages perfectly, so when someone asks him to do some voiceover work, he asks for which language and dialect. He shows he knows his stuff.

- Voice actors get much more respect than actors or directors. Everyone thinks they can act or direct better than the next guy, but no one ever thinks they can do a better voice. It’s a small community of voice actors, and you have to fight your way to get in.

- Asians have had the hardest time to get into the business. Being a nice guy doesn’t help. He pissed a lot of people off and does still, but you need to have some sort of edge to make it. Nice guys get toasted in Hollywood. Especially in an industry dominated by caucasians.

Speaking with him really opened up my eyes. I don’t think I can get into the business, because it really will take a lot of sacrifice to make it. I, frankly, don’t have the passion that real actors do, which makes me understand and appreciate their kind of life. I think just being an extra to watch all of this peripherally is good enough for me. And really, all I wanted to do was meet Storm Shadow.

Clive and Nicole

Watching acting professionals do their job is absolutely amazing. Some people can do it, and most can’t. I don’t know what it is, but you can tell if someone was meant to do this kind of work. Charisma? Looks? I’m not sure what it is, but I guess that’s why they call it the “It” factor. When Clive and Nicole walk onto set, you just kinda know they are different somehow. Maybe it’s a bit of Star shock, maybe not.

First off, both of them are TALL. I mean TALL. Clive is 6’2” officially, but he looks at least 6’4”. I’m a big fan of Clive’s ever since I saw him on BMW Films as the Driver (look it up on youtube). He was also the sniper in Bourne Identity that gets killed by Matt Damon in the fields. Anyways, Clive is well-built and tall, and a bit intimidating. He doesn’t say much to the cast or crew, and is always seemingly focused on his work. He’ll pace around in the cave between takes, listening to his iPod Nano (which I think is playing his lines), or looking at his Blackberry. He seldom looks up at us and remains steadfast in his craft, never really breaking character unless he’s sharing a laugh with Nicole.

I’d like to get to say hi and tell him I’m a big fan, but best not to break his concentration and get hit with a Christian Bale rant. Not much more to say about Clive, but he’s one of the coolest Brits that I’ve seen. He would have made a pretty good James Bond I think.

Nicole, on the other hand, is just the exact opposite. She is super-friendly and kind, and gives off a nice-person vibe. When she passes by us, she’ll make eye contact and say “hi”. I ask her how she’s doing and she gives a smiling reply of “good, how about you?”. She’s a really nice person. I even take a second to tell her she looked good in one of her takes that I saw on the monitor, and she smiles with a “thanks! (in an Aussie accent).

Did I mention she is tall? She stood toe-to-toe with Clive in her Uggs, so she had to be at least 6’. She was taller than me, for sure (I’m 5’10”). I can’t imagine what her and Tom Cruise (5’5”) looked like when they were married, but it was probably pretty funny.

Band of Brothers

It’s funny how a few hours (or a day) with complete strangers can bring some unity, especially if you make-believe we’re in the same army. Those 9 other guys were actually really good guys and fun to hang out with. At one point, with all of us looking ragged and rather homely, sitting in the waiting room for some white guy to get us, I commented that we looked like we were waiting in the immigration office. That drew a pretty loud raucous laugh, and maybe brought us closer together.

After the day wrapped up, we gathered together once more in our little office, and took a nice group photo with Keone, as the Band of Brothers. We would meet again for a screening party when the movie releases, but since it won’t be out until 2012, we might have to get some beers in the meantime. We come from all walks of life, but at the end of the day, we’re just people having a good time and making new friends. Laughter and kindness are the keys to bringing random strangers together…and sometimes being in the same raggedy clothes with fake guns helps too.

My older brother once told me to take the opportunities presented before you, because you will never know what will come of it. I’m glad I did this, for not only did I get to catch a glimpse of movie making for a day, but I got to meet a bunch of cool, new people, who could potentially be future partners-in-crime!

Aftermath

I finally get home about 8:30pm, and I am beyond exhausted and tired. Fortunately, my involvement in the film has quietly come to an end. I can’t say the same for the rest of the cast and crew who have to be on set at 6:30am tomorrow morning and do it all over again, though. After showering the heavy sage powder off of my face, and finally laying in bed, I get to do a little bit of reflection on the day’s events before I crash out. I can summarize them in a few bullets:

- The art of movie-making is just that, an art. Supreme dedication, vision, organization, coordination is all needed to tell that story. To make art, you need a great supporting cast to help you.

- Being in the film industry takes an intense fire and passion to be successful or even enjoy. If you don’t have it, don’t even think about it.

- If you want to do something, you need to be totally committed to it…half-fast effort or passion won’t get you anywhere, and will most likely waste your time. You need heart to be successful.

- If an opportunity presents itself for you to do something different, challenge yourself to do it. The outcomes can be very great and unique. You just never know, but doing the same routine won’t get you there.

So, that’s pretty much a day in the life of an extra. I was fortunate to experience this moment, which I can proudly tell my kids one day that daddy was in a Hollywood movie, even for a few seconds, opposite Clive and Nicole. I hope you enjoyed reading this post, and I encourage everyone to stretch their wings as well and give it a shot. It’s well worth the time and effort. You never know what will happen.

One last thing, apparently being an extra on a film does NOT put you on the IMDB.com cast list for the movie. So I guess I’ll have to find another way to get on there.