It has been an interesting week and a half standing in the cast-off glow of someone in the media spotlight. The main thing that really strikes me about observing Jon-Barrett is that no matter the level of notoriety, the day to day details of life remain essentially unchanged. In the midst of all the hullabaloo we have moved in together, celebrated our daughter's first birthday, hosted two sets of grandparents... oh and my car's transmission died*, the brakes on Jon-Barrett's have failed and both of our bank accounts are currently in overdraft. All of this while he has spent about four or five hours (maybe more) spread out during the day responding to messages and interview requests. It's a good thing he got fired because managing the story of his firing is like a full-time job!
It's good practice, I guess, for being a successful anything but especially an actor/writer. Although at a certain level of success people just tend to hire a personal assistant. But it's not just learning how to run your life and your p.r. at the same time - it's also about learning how to love the good feedback, let go of the bad and not at any point buy into your own hype. It's about accepting that everyone has a life story and a point of view that makes them say things that have nothing to do with you. It's funny that Jon-Barrett and I have been able to begin learning these lessons in a matter of weeks (even with our very full life!) and Jane Adams still hasn't learned it in 24 years of working in Hollywood.
*I bought a used 2003 Honda Civic Hybrid 2 years ago and it's always been a little wonky when it comes to accelerating and deccelerating but I just chalked it up to a new model design flaw. And I never had any real problems with it until last week when my car began shuddering violently while braking and starting from a stopped position and then died completely the next day. I had it towed to the nearby dealership that I brought it from where they proceeded to keep it for 4 days before informing me that it was going to cost $5000 to fix. Yep, that's right, $5000 on a car that I still owe $9000 on. Awesome. So I called another mechanic (to whom I definitely should have taken the car in the first place) who found out that the transmission on my year, make and model had been recalled by Honda for exactly the problem I'd been having and that they would fix it for FREE. He printed out all of the documentation for me and after numerous calls to the now disgruntled service reps at the dealership my transmission is being replaced on Honda's dime. So a big shout out to Dave at 60 Minute Tuneup on Balboa in GH!!! Sometimes really shitty stuff happens in life and just when you're asking "Really? Why would you do this to me Life?" Life steps in and responds, "Just Kidding!"
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I had a Mitsubishi Montero that had a blown gasket, except the local dealer refused to admit that, and said, they'd be happy to take $2000 from me to pull out the engine and confirm, as the car was no longer under warranty.
ReplyDeleteLife stepped in, and the dealer was shut down by state officials for apparently selling cars to non english speakers while using english contracts that flat out ripped them off.
I took it back to the dealer I bought it from 60 miles away. They found it was a blown gasket and it was fixed under warranty in 2 days.
Sometimes bad things happen to bad people/companies for a reason.