Getting Out of Your Head
So one of the first things I did after securing an official move date was to find in-person workshops to take advantage of the location. Zoom workshops are great, but I wanted to be in the flesh. One of the places I frequently check for new voice acting workshops is Bang Zoom! Specifically, I check Adventures in Voice Acting.
I have taken a few online workshops through them before and even had a career coaching session with the wonderful Dorah Fine. But I knew that if I took an in-person class, I’d get to step into the studio itself.
The class is called “Getting Out of Your Head.” It couldn’t have come at a better time. As of the writing of this post, I am currently coaching with Richard Horvitz, and he is phenomenal. This AiVA class reinforces a lot of what he teaches, and being able to do it in a group setting is quite an experience. Not only am I getting the benefits of learning from the pros behind the glass, but I get to watch my peers and colleagues have their own “a-ha!” moments in real-time.
It’s a 2 day workshop: 8 hours on Day 1, and then we return on Day 2 for a 4-hour wrap-up. And hooboy, at the end of Day 1, I was exhausted.
More Hummingbird
However, I already had plans for that night! Ricardo & Alonso invited us to the soft opening of their restaurant, The Hummingbird (which I have written about before). So I got home, showered, lazed around for a bit, then my wonderful partner and I snagged an Uber to head over around 8p.
I could have done that thing I often do… Cancel plans because my old bones are tired. But I didn’t. And I’m so GLAD I didn’t. Because that food… is… FIRE.
We had access to the whole menu that night as Ricardo trained his kitchen staff. The atmosphere was electric. The location isn’t far from my new apartment. We tried dishes we had never heard of. And to put a great, big bow on it — it was inexpensive.
Ricardo & Alonso were kind enough to invite friends and family to this event, and they only asked for just enough money to cover the cost of the food. But the menu presented had retail prices on it, so I was able to total up what we WOULD have spent had this not been an informal affair. I kid you not, I could have (and would have) easily spent an extra 50% of what the retail cost for this meal would have been.
I had to pull Alonso aside and ask, “Hey, are you sure you have enough of a profit margin built into the retail price of these dishes?” And he assured me he did. I still can’t believe it!
Round 2
On Sunday after a late-for-me night, I was back at BZ! for round two. We played. We learned. The class exchanged contact info. It was a great time.
All and all, it was a pretty great weekend. I admittedly get into a funk sometimes about the voicework side of my life, and getting to be around like-minded people is such a great way to jump start my motivation.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some auditions to get to.