And They Told Me I Couldn't Act

TAKE 1

THERE ARE PLACES you shouldn't take a nap at. It's also not a secret on where you shouldn't nap. But, when you're sitting in a bus after a 5am casting call, you don't really think about all the places you shouldn't take a nap at. 

What I'm trying to say is that in the right conditions, I can see why falling asleep on an overcrowded bus might seem like the best idea. 

And of course, my pillow is shall be the broadest shoulder I've seen that's squashed uncomfortably close in the last bus of the night fashion beside me. 

It does look soft too. 

And I'm not going to sleep - just close my eyes for a minute. 

Yes, it's not like much can happen in a minute. 

And that, kids is how I found myself waking up in an empty bus, what constitutes for light is flickering street lamp a bit away, and I'm pretty confident there's a bruise beginning to form on my head. I touch the spot that must have been bobbing up beside the glass window (what happened to my comfortable shoulder?) and groan. 

The first thing I do, like any native New Yorker, is to check and see if I've still got my phone (yes), and wallet (also yes). Then, I check the time to find it at, unsurprisingly, two in the morning. 

Alright, today is a new day and I will not fuck it up by sleeping on a bus like yesterday.

I get off the empty bus to find myself in... a parking lot filled with busses. Some are white, some have travel logos on them but most of them are public busses that I'm pretty sure I almost never see in California, the city that hates pedestrians. 

I check my wallet again, there's no way I managed to keep both my wallet and phone without any repercussions, but I do. Not a single dollar missing. 

Get this? My phone battery that dies within 6 hours hasn't died on me yet. It sits comfortably with 29% left. That's already a promising start. 

I try for Uber, because I'm not that much of an idiot. Even if it pains me to see the price. Maybe, I could walk back? I hesitate, because I'm dressed for the role I auditioned for earlier. The role of the supporting actress who was from Upper East Side New York. 

Which meant, I looked like I had money. 

Or tried to look less like a poor struggling actress anyway. I'm dressed in a thrifted Gucci with a knitted top and flare out black skirt. I'm wearing black Gucci heels and carrying a small black Gucci purse. The kind that doesn't actually fit anything more than a phone and maybe a credit card. 

Honestly? It's really a shocker that no-one tried to rob me. 

We should give more credit to the people who take the bus in Los Angeles. We're kind enough not to steal from each other, even if they're all dressed up in Gucci. 

I stare at my phone. I even notice that the battery percentage when from 29% to 28%. 

When it hits 27%, I figure out it's best to call a Uber while I still have battery percentage to call for help. I mean, it's two in the morning. There's only two kinds of people awake. 

Hookers.

And perverts.

Nothing good happens after one in the morning and it's only fools who believe otherwise. 

Now, I know how people in LA are, they believe in manifestation, reaffirmation and feeling heard. In a city as loud as LA, where everyone's struggling so hard to be seen, I can't fault them. Even, I would dress up in five inch heels that hurt my toes if it meant for me to be seen. It's one of the things, I love and hate about LA. It's that this city gets me, it understands my need to be seen and to stick out like a sore thumb.