Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Being Sandy

Last week I had a couple of bad days dealing with life changes, unemployment, and impatience. There’s a lot of emotion running through me, and I’m trying really hard not to fall into The Funk. Matt is also trying to keep me from The Funk, and he kindly offered to do anything for me. So last night we watched Grease together.

Now, if I do say so myself, I have pretty good taste in movies. I know Grease isn’t exactly a movie you add to your list of favorites on Facebook, but it’s my weak spot. I can’t help it, the awful lines and the cheesy songs and the silly dance moves get to me every single time.

We watched the movie, and I sang along the whole time. My favorite part is the moment Sandy appears at the carnival and says, “Tell me about it, stud” in that breathy voice she uses. As soon as she says that, my heart gets all jittery and I’m suddenly overcome with the idea that I too want to be an actress, need to be an actress. Strangely, it only happens when I watch Grease.

I turned to Matt and said, “The little girl in me is about to run and make some very important phone calls.”

“What??”

“To find an agent.”

When I was around nine or ten, I used to sneak into my dad’s office after watching Grease and make a few phone calls on his business line, as if that made the whole thing more serious. The big yellow phone book was open to A, and with my heart racing, I’d pick a few that sounded promising and start dialing. I didn’t quite know how to go about all this, but I knew that I had to become an actress ASAP. After someone picked up, I always started out with “I’d like to be an actress.”

“Okay, why don’t you send us your headshot?”

“Great! Where do I get those?”

“Well, we can refer a few places for you.”

“Okay, and about how much does that cost?”

“On average, around $1,000.”

This is when I would abruptly hang up. I did this four different times, until I finally decided I didn’t care to be an actress; I just wanted big hair, black spandex, red heals, and some sass - I wanted to be Sandy.


Coincidentally, my babysitter gave me a few hand-me-down unitards from jazzercise, and I would push the sleeves down and walk around the house in my mom’s shoes. It satisfied the craving to be an actress. Last night, though, when Sandy walked out all I could think was WHERE’S MY UNITARD, I NEED IT NOW.

AND OH YEAH, CURL MY HAIR MATT. YOU SAID YOU’D DO ANYTHING FOR ME.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

In the eighth grade, my English teacher had us make a list of 30 things we wanted to do before turning 30. Right at the top of my list was to play Sandy in a production of Grease.

Something tells me that's not gonna happen. The closest I ever came was winning first place in a lip-syncing contest at church to "Hopelessly Devoted."

Unknown said...

I Love you!!!!!!!

Nic said...

I'm laughing out loud . . . I think I'm the babysitter who gave you the leotards!!! That is still one of my favorite movies - always has been!! I used to have these heels of my moms and I'd always act out the scence where Sandy throws the cigarette down and stomps it!! I think that movie brings out the inner "actress" in me too!! How fun!! You've got a great husband!! I hope you don't fall into the funk!! Hang in there!

Nicole said...

Duh, Nic!! Of course you're the babysitter!! Who else??

Amber said...

Nicole, I've just slobbered on myself laughing.

Unknown said...

Bahahahahahah.

OK, the image of Little Girl Nicole walking around in a Jazzercise uni is awesome.