The Warm and Fuzzies of Fame

I have felt hugged, loved, and high fived virtually since Thursday when LOST aired. Calls came first from the East Coast, then the Midwest, and finally from the West Coast as family and friends had seen the episode I was in hours before it aired in Hawaii. It felt like my birthday!! The best part of playing up my slice of time on LOST was sharing it with so many of you! Mahalo (Hawaiian for thank you) for rising to the occasion! I watched the episode again with friends tonight, and in slow motion, saw myself across several frames. You know I had to stretch out my fame. I giggled when an email came from Rhode Island and a friend in grad school stood up and said, "My wife's friend (me) is going to kiss Sayid tonight on LOST." Now I wonder where he got that idea? Ha ha. I am ecstatic to hear we all had some fun with this and many of you used your Tivos and DVRs to see me in slow motion. I don't ever expect to give an Oscar speech, but eh hem, I would just like to take this opportunity to thank the folks at LOST, my family and friends that have made this experience so fun, and especially my husband, who made this all possible, by taking a day off from his day job just so I could have a memorable day!

The Shape of Things to Come

Tonight is the night! You are looking for me on LOST in an orange abaya. Read more about how I was an extra on the episode, The Shape of Things to Come, here. It airs tonight at 10/9 central on ABC. Sawyer would call me Wilbur. I can't believe I am admitting that. If you want to find out what Sawyer would call YOU, find out here.

Because I'm Not Just ANYbody!

Last week I had Hubby's wheels because he had the kids and needed the car seats in my car. On my list of stops was a particular store to get part of a present for Charis. (I am sure her mother must think I have forgotten her, but truly not!) The store is located at a popular shopping area in Honolulu, with one of the most poorly designed parking garages. I pulled into the mouth of the garage, and gaped up at the fading black letters: WARNING SIX FOOT CLEARANCE. I tried to imagine I was six feet tall (hard to imagine since I am 5'1"). Would that make me taller than Hubby's car? My own car makes it in a seven foot clearance. What could I do now? I could back up, or I could chance it. I pulled into the garage and heard something between a CHINK! and a PING! Some part of his car made contact with the cement over head. Ohh this was bad. Now I had the option to park in a tight space, or head down to the basement, or farther overhead. Through the grate of the parking garage, the basement looked empty, so I headed down again. CHINK! PING! Double OH NO! I barely made it into the lower level of the garage and suddenly felt claustrophobic and hit the panic button. I needed to get out of here. Hubby was going to kill me.

Down at the other opening of the garage, I saw an exit and the ceiling of the garage must have been an extra two or three feet higher. Perfect. This was my way out. I pulled down to the end of the garage, and came face to face with a single chain link and three groundskeepers. They told me I should try to get out the way I came in, since this was just for groundskeepers. Fine. I swept into a large three point turn, and drove up to the way I entered the basement level. Gingerly I pulled the first third of the vehicle up the hill. Claustrophobia set in again. I pulled the emergency brake, jumped out, stared at the opening, and again stared at the vehicle. How had I slid down into the basement? How in the world was it possible for me to fit on the decline but not on the incline? I did not want to find out. Moreover, I did not want Hubby to have to find out! I popped the emergency brake, hit reverse, listened to the annoying back up sensor,and charged back to the other end of the garage. I begged the groundskeepers to let me out, but they said I had to check with the boss. He was just pulling away. I pulled my car right up to the chain link, threw the vehicle in Park, and tried hopelessly to find the head groundskeeper to unlock the chain.

A bicycle security guy rode up on his bike toward me. He asked me what was the problem. I explained there was no way I was going to get this vehicle up to the next level without scraping the top of the roof rack. Never mind I had already done it twice. He asked me how in the world I had driven over the single chain link that was two feet in the air, where we were standing. Didn't I get that was to keep people out? I rolled my eyes. Hubby's car doesn't have that much muscle. It's no Knight Rider. It doesn't fly. No, no, no. The vehicle fit on the way down. I had driven into the basement. I just couldn't get myself back up, even though I already tried. Young bicycle boy eyed the car, then eyed me. "Well, how about if we both try again?" Was he for real? I am insured on the car, I am married to the owner, and I had already potentially damaged the car. One way to get myself into deeper trouble was to let his little testosterone, muscle man self get behind the wheel and prove what I already knew. It wasn't going to fit. "No," I said sternly. He didn't like that. I am not saying every security guy is like this, but you give some people a bicycle, a helmet, and a walkie talkie and they think they have got you. So then, he started to interrogate me.

"What were you thinking driving down here?" he shot at me. Did he think I was really going to answer his rhetorical question? There was no need to answer. I dismissed his question. "What does it matter why I came down here? The point is I am down here now, and there is only one way for me to get out. The groundskeepers said I could get out. All I needed to do was ask the boss. I am NOT driving this car up the ramp when I know I am not going to make it." He didn't look at me, but pinched the speaker on his shoulder, explained the situation to someone across air waves, and asked if I could be let out. The person on the other end patched back that yes, I could be let through. To my surprise, he dug into his pocket, pulled out a key, and unlocked the pad lock. Why had he made this so difficult, I wondered silently.

But bicycle boy wasn't going to let this go. Nooo. "You know, we just don't do this for anybody." So I took one look at him and said, "Well, I'm not just ANYbody. I am the LOST star!" He turned and looked at me slowly. "You're the LOST star?" I informed him I was going to be on April 24. He glared at me, and in a mocking voice said, "LOST, what's that?" My last words were, "Yeah, whatever," as I climbed behind the wheel. I drove off, parked in an outdoor space, completed my shopping, and headed home.
A few minutes after I arrived, Hubby asked me how I liked driving his car. "I don't," I answered a little too quickly. He raised his eyebrows at me. "Well, I want to tell you the whole story, and I want to be honest, but I don't want to get in trouble." His mouth made a small "O." I recounted my misadventure at the parking garage. He didn't say much. When I finished, he said he wanted to check out his car. I insisted I was going with him to look. I grabbed the two kids, and Hubby looked at me inquisitively. "Well, I figure you can't get too mad at me in front of the kids," I smiled. He stood up on the runner and looked at the overhead rack. He popped a piece of black rubber molding back into place of the roof rack. He jumped down, and started laughing. There was nothing damaged. He couldn't believe that the guy actually thought I seriously might be the LOST star. So that's the running joke in our house now. I'm not just ANYbody!

The End of the LOST Saga

Need to catch up? Read about my Jealousy LOST, Final Casting Call, Getting LOST,
and On the Set of LOST.

I rounded the set in my orange abaya, and plunked down in my chair. I started to read my book, knowing we would break for lunch soon, and the chances of me being in another scene before lunch were slim to none. So I thought! A production assistant rounded the corner of the Iraqi tavern and announced that any extras not used in the last scene would be in the next scene. I jumped up, and was snatched up for a on set with another man. As Ben (Michael Emerson) ran out of the tavern after forgetting to pay his bill, he skirted his way around me and the man who walked with me. We did the take three times. A wrap was called, and it was time for lunch. This first meant a trip to my car to pump.

I rolled my shirt up in my car window that I had worn earlier, and threw the long skirt I had worn to the set up on the dashboard all bunched up. I dialed Hubby and spoke to him in the meantime. Son2 actually took milk from a bottle with a cracked fast flow nipple. It didn't work well, but it worked. That was a huge relief that I had not left a dehydrated baby!

I made my way to the lunch lines. There were two lunch lines. One side was for the extras, and the other was for the cast and crew. The food was the same on both sides, though. There was also a lunch wagon that made some food to order that was only available to the cast and crew. I don't think anyone used the lunch wagon, though. I met the caterer. His little boy was an extra that day, too. He used to own a restaurant in town, but he closed his business and does all of the catering for LOST and for any films shot in Hawaii. Throughout the day he had runners bring trays of sandwiches on set, trays of water bottles and drinks, and boxes of ice cream. He also had snack tents set up just off the set. WOW it is a really long day for his company. When I arrived at 5:30am breakfast had already been served. The best thing at lunch was the guava cake. Mmm. I love living in Hawaii! After awhile a production assistant popped by and gave us a ten minute warning to get back to the set. Lunch was over. The only other cast member I saw was Jin. He (Daniel Dae Kim) was not filming that day, but he did stop by to have lunch.

Now here is where it gets exciting for me! I really think the reason I got picked for the last scene before lunch was my orange abaya. It worked well for me all afternoon. After lunch we filmed a scene at the open bazaar in the Iraqi market. Ben and this bad guy that Ben is after were running through our bazaar. Thanks again to my orange abaya I was picked to do the cooking in the Iraqi market. Ben and the bad guy bump into me in this scene, if I don't end up on the cutting room floor. I was cooking chicken and steak kabobs and throwing seasoning salt and pepper all over the already cooked kabobs. The lady with the pan next to me was pretending to cook dry ice. I can't remember how many times this scene took, but it must have been at least 24 times. I remember the assistant director saying we were almost out of letters when this take began with an X. They took this scene with camera men running through the bazaar behind the actors, in front of the actors, and then rolling in a truck in front of the bazaar. When the final wrap was called, we sat on the steps of the tavern. A meeting was called for everyone on set, including cast, crew, and extras. Quickly the extras were divided into two groups. One of the assistant directors gave a long speech about how wonderful the day had been, thanked the extras, and all of the cast and crew began to clap. He said the day had been a success because of our help, said some other mushy gushy things, and then dismissed an entire group of extras. I was not dismissed. Neither was the other extra in orange. I am sure it had to do with my orange abaya!

We went on to film a little more of the bazaar. This time Ben was making his way through the end of the market, and we were filming from a different entrance. Ben was about to make his escape into a back alley. An assistant director chose me to try and block Ben on his exit. Then, there was some discussion about how Ben's exit should go, and instead, they decided he should go behind me while I was serving coffee beans. The discussion went on, back and forth. I took one look at Ben and he started to smile, and I started to crack up. He said, "This sure is crazy isn't it?" I asked him what he meant. "This sure is a crazy way for me to make a living. Me, running out of a market and running over people, over and over." We both chuckled. I was standing with my back to the camera crew and I didn't catch the final decision on what I was supposed to be doing. I asked Ben one last time if I was supposed to block him. What was the final decision? He told me to just scoot forward so he wouldn't pummel me when he ran past me. And the next thing you know, he was off! We did the take a few more times, and Ben went under an arch. I stood in the gateway of the arch and watched the rest of the filming. Over and over I saw the same scene take place where Ben was held at gun point by the bad man. It was odd to see Michael Emerson go in and out of character so much in between takes. That is by far the most popular question I am asked. Is Ben really that creepy in real life? NO! But it was oddly familiar to watch him turn into his Ben character. He was actually very nice in real life, but the creepy Ben you would expect while in character.

After that take, another meeting with extras was called. They dismissed another half of extras, but I wasn't one of them. Again, I credit this to the orange abaya. There were only a handful of us left, and we were directed to sit on the steps. Two of the costume folks emerged on the lot. One had a blood stained jacket, and some clothes for Ben. The other costume person sat on the steps next to me. Sayid showed up about this point, too. While we were waiting she and I got to talking. Everyone on LOST was really nice, but she really felt that was the culture of the show, though she had worked on a lot of nice sets recently. She said that when they film five days a week, the days are long every day. She gets up every morning around 3am and works until 6 or 7pm. Whew! Our conversation came to an end when a production assistant came around with ear plugs. We were about to hear gunshots and she wanted us to protect our ears. I heard gun shots come from the alley several times as *someone* was killed. Then the next thing you know we watched Sayid emerge from behind the arch with someone teaching to fire the gun over and over. All of the gunfire was finally over, and we had one more take in the bazaar. I was walking with another guy in the market place. Once that footage was taken, we sat on the steps. It was 4:30 and I knew I had at least an hour of driving from town back home, in traffic.

Call me sappy or silly, but I really started to miss my husband and kids. I had gone to bed late the night before, and had about 4 hours of sleep. I hadn't seen the kids since the day before. One of the program assistants thought we might have two more hours of filming left. I usually don't miss my kids when I leave them with a a babysitter or with Hubby when I have plans, but I missed them today! I called Hubby and told him I was ready to just leave early, and tell them if they needed to cut someone I was ready to go. Hubby did not like that idea. He said that was going back on my commitment. He told me not to worry about the kids, and that they were fine. I went back to sitting on the steps when our little group was called to the back alley of the set. The production assistant started to give us direction, when the director gave the word that we would not be needed for the rest of the day. We walked off the set close to 6pm, and they were still filming. What a longER day for all of the cast and crew on LOST than for me! After handing back all of my clothes I was given my time card. It was kind of funny to laugh and point with the other extras at how different we looked in our street clothes and hair than we had in abayas and hijabs.

My clock read 6:10pm when I drove off the lot. As I drove home I thought about how much I had enjoyed my day on the set of my favorite show. It will air on 4/24, I think. I imagine most everything I did will be cut. Just in case, though, look for me in orange. I will DVR LOST and have a debut get together with folks from my Bible study. We filmed episode 9 of the season that day. I had lots of stories to tell Hubby. When I walked through my door around 7pm at night, and saw my kids for the first time all day, I was greeted with some loud shouts of "Mommy!!" and other happy screams. I hugged Hubby and thanked him for taking the kids all day, and taking a day off work. While I had a fun and memorable day, I was so glad to be getting home to my real job.

On the set of LOST

Need to catch up? Read about my Jealousy LOST, Final Casting Call, and Getting LOST.

I jumped up the stairs into the hair trailer with my hijab in hand. I was led to the seat right next to NA. I sat down, still mortified by the little convo outside, and tried to completely pretend it hadn't happened, firing off tons of questions for the hair stylist. But NA was making some great political jokes, and had everyone giggling about historical figures trying to affect change. Obviously I was ineffectively ignoring him. I self consciously stifled a giggle. He looked up at me, and I don't know what got in to me, but I looked away!! Awkward! The hair stylist pulled my hair back in a loose pony tail at the nape of my neck. She bandaged my hair down with some ace bandage material nearly across the middle of my head. Absolutely no hair could show from under my hijab. Next she pinned the hijab back in place with some discreet bobby pins. I was done. I glanced to my left. NA was gone. Alone, I bounded the down stairs of the trailer, found a production assistant, and walked onto the set.

You can read a short blog post from a fan about our scene here, and see some pictures from the set here. The ones with the cast were taken the day we were filming. I am not in any of the pictures, that I can tell.

Once on the set, it was a chore not trip over my abaya, or trip someone else with it! Incense was burning everywhere. Totaled cars were smoldering with more incense and more smoke. It was pretty stinky. The first scene was in Tikrit. Well, anyway, the taxis said Tikrit Taksi. It was a funeral procession for Sayid's wife. That is what I got from an extra that had filmed the day before. We were never exactly told that on the set. There were many takes of the scene. I doubt I made it in the scene. I was standing on the edge of the procession. The directors kept coming in for narrower and narrower shots of the procession. Still, I was chased down by many hair folks, constantly tucking back my hair that polked out with a comb, pulling my hijab forward, safety pinning the hijab to my abaya, all in between takes. The abaya and the hijab were surprisingly cool. Since they were rather large on me, air flowed through the costume with ease. The material was so sheer and breathable the 80 degree weather did not bother me. Still, I hadn't gotten over the embarrassment of the morning. Was NA trying to make eye contact with me on set or was I imagining it? He came up to me several minutes later and said, "Sorry, my love." Ok. Now I could quit doing the whole ineffective avoid eye contact thing, and look him in the eye. I smiled, knowing it was over.

Nearly an hour and a half later, we finished filming less than a 20 second scene. The production assistants met with the extras off to the side. They announced a private ten minute rehearsal was in the works for the cast. Meanwhile, they needed eight people to change costumes, and the costume director picked. Well, I stretched my little 61 inches to the moon, attempting to make me be noticed. PICK ME PICK ME. Change me into something SHORTER. I was the last one of just eight extras picked to change clothes. Hooray! We started toward the costume trailer. I thanked the costume director for picking me. I couldn't wait to get out of the long abaya! The costume director looked me up and down and assured me I wasn't getting into anything different. I joked in total shock. "You mean I won't be wearing a miniskirt?" He chucked and said, "Oh honey, this ain't no miniskirt." It was similar to what I was wearing already. The costume resembled an Indian sari. My costume was orange. The pants were devoid of any elastic. They were so large they could have fit three or four of me in them. The costume director folded material from both ends of the pants toward the middle and pinned them, kind of like an old fashioned cloth diaper . Next he took one look at my feet. Black shoes were not going to work. He handed me a pair of bejeweled shoes that looked like a cross between Aladdin slippers and ballet slippers. I slid off the black athletic socks and black lace ups off and exchanged them for Aladdin geenie shoes that totally matched my outfit. Next, I headed off to hair. to have my new orange hijab placed correctly. I sat in the same set where I was before, only now Michael Emerson (plays Ben) was sitting where Sayid had sat. He was there just briefly. Finally my hair was done, and I headed back toward the set. Filming for the scene started already. Anxiously, I headed toward a production assistant. I asked where I could join the scene. I was told to hang out for the time being. Well, that sounded indefinite, and I really wanted to be in the scene. I was directed to stand under the director's easy up tent. I started to inch my way closer and closer into the scene. But the assistant director was wise to me, and moved me right back to where I should have been standing! Well, it wasn't all bad not being in the scene. I interacted a teensy bit with Jack Bender who is an Executive Producer for LOST. I watched the filming on the directors' camera, and observed camera lens changing. Honestly, it was getting very HOT, and I was standing directly in the sun. It was clear to me I wasn't going to be in the scene. I rounded the corner behind the set searching for my camping chair. I located it, pulled out my chair, and turned to find a good number of extras waiting to be useful. Ah ha! I wasn't the only one....

Come back to hear the end....

Getting LOST

Hubby suggested I take his car to the LOST set so that I wouldn't have to pull the kiddos' car seats out of my car. He only bought his car a few weeks ago, and I had never driven it. Bad idea to drive this car for the first time in the dark and in a rush. I hopped in the car at 4:45AM. I couldn't find the lights in my driveway, but finally found them on the dash board. A button controls them. Then I tried to depress the emergency foot brake by punching it the way I do in my car. Nope, that just tightened it. Finally I found a lever to the left and below the steering wheel. SIGH. What else? Was I ever going to leave my driveway? It was raining. Don't ask me where I found those windshield wipers but I finally found them somewhere different from where they are in my car. I started down the road and heard a humming sound coming from the vehicle, and I was lacking power. I looked down and I was in D2. GREAT. I had to wait for a traffic light to slip into Drive. Finally I was on the highway, headed toward Honolulu. The directions were to take the cut off (that is what we call an off ramp in Hawaii) and then drive over the canal. It was still really dark, and I couldn't see the canal. It wasn't one of the major canals I was familiar with in town, so I was a little confused. I started to look for my left turn. The street signs don't hang from the big traffic lights like they do in CA. No, they are on street corners tucked back from the road in dark light. The letters aren't reflective, so I pulled into a convenience store and asked some old men standing out front if they knew where this street was. Yeah, about 1.5 miles down the road. I doubled back on the major road, and headed in the right direction. About .5 mile later I realized I had just passed the turn. I doubled back AGAIN, grateful Hubby wasn't riding shotgun, absolutely horrified the way I was whipping round and round on a major road. I finally pulled onto the right street and into a gravel parking lot with lots of semi trucks and white trailers. A man that could have been no smaller than a 4X shirt size shined a flashlight at me and gruffly asked if he could help me. I told him I was here for LOST and he waved me through with a flashlight. I pulled far into the parking lot. I went to pull the keys out of the ignition and they wouldn't budge. Oh no. Why hadn't I taken the trusty minivan that has never failed me? A security guard came over and insisted I pull forward. I couldn't even pull the keys out of the ignition. He thought I just needed to push a button and the key should just pop out. Well, I assumed the same thing, but that didn't work. I let him have a look, and he couldn't figure it out either. I dialed my house and after 2 rings I hung up because I figured out my problem. I was still in Drive and not in Park. It was just after 5:30AM, my call time. I grabbed my book, pump, chair, identification, and extra clothes, and headed toward a large group of people. A groggy Hubby called me. Had I called the house and hung up? I told him never mind. Poor thing, I woke him up for nothing. I stood in a long line with a lot of other folks. Oh, the costume line. Wait a minute, I hadn't even signed in! I jumped out of the long line, checked in under the New Women, was handed my slip for payment, and was told to exchange my slip for a costume. I muddled my way up to the costume director. He handed me a black abaya with the hijab covering for my head. The head covering was detailed and laden with little rhine stone trim. I asked where I could change and he waved me toward a four sided vinyl white tent. I opened the flap, walked in, and saw women changing in the big empty open space. I pulled on the abaya, and my first thought was that this thing was too big, I looked like the Ghost of Christmas to Come from the movie, Scrooge. I could barely get it on it was so long. I am slightly over 61 inches. I slid back into my leather sandals, and came out of the vinyl tent. I extended my arms like an eagle, and paraded out for the costume director. I told him that the abaya was just too big. It was so long it looked like I was wearing a wedding dress train. He pulled my dress abaya together, tied it in the right place, and looked at the obviously low neck line on the scoop neck, and announced, "NO cleavage! Keep the girls inside!" Some folks in line giggled, and he waved me off toward the hair trailer. He recanted as soon as he saw me take a step. My slides were not going to work. No, another costume helper handed me a pair of black closed toe shoes and black Nike athletic socks. What a combo! Ha ha, none of the females on set had brought black socks. So the costume folks were scrounging to grab socks for all of us. No skin was allowed to show, including my feet that couldn't be seen from under the abaya, anyway.

I headed toward the hair trailer. In between trailers I saw Naveen Andrews (plays Sayid) walking in the same direction, parallel to me. I made a turn toward the hair trailer, and met up with some of the other girls ahead of me. We got to talking, and I repeated what the costume director had said about my cleavage. They laughed. Then wouldn't you know NA comes up right behind me as I am sharing and says, "Hullo ladies! Today is a perfect day for a funeral isn't it?" I was totally mortified, as he noticed. He laughed and went up into hair and make up. One by one, the girls ahead of me were called to have their hair done, and have the hijab placed appropriately. Finally, it was my turn. I was totally mortified again. Guess who was sitting in the chair next to me, getting his hair done, cracking jokes? To be continued...

Jealousy LOST

In case you missed this before, I originally posted this earlier in the week. I was on set yesterday from 530am until after 6pm. The baby took bottles from Hubby and I was grateful for the opportunity to pump during the day. I had scenes with Sayid and Ben from LOST. I will post more later.

Everyone knows the Farmers are huge LOST fans. Since we live in Hawaii we know people who know people on the show. We know people that have seen LOST stars at restaurants. Someone in our Bible study was best mommy friends with baby Aaron's mother from Season 1 and 2. Another friend helped scout for LOST filming sites. Then, one of my own baby friends was told YES he could be baby Aaron and then NO he wasn't going to be baby Aaron last fall. SIGH. I wish my baby could have auditioned. Shhh! I was even a little bit jealous! My baby was the same age as the would be baby Aaron, but Son2 just wasn't blond and blue eyed. Still, more friends from that mommy group said there was a casting call for extras. So Hubby cropped my pictures and submitted them the first week in October.
Well, my Caucasian friends got called immediately for extra parts for the scenes of Kate's trial in Los Angeles. SNIFF SNIFF. But not me. I wished I may, I wished I might, but it didn't happen. Then, wouldn't you know I got another email from The Baby Hui, saying that LOST was looking for more baby Aarons, male or female, blond, blue eyed, 8 to 15 lbs. Well, that didn't fit me or Son2 again, so SIGH, I forwarded on the email to J.


Her son got an audition. Still, no call for me. Oh well, I was wearing ten more pounds of baby weight in these pictures than I am now. My hair was long then. Hubby suggested resubmitting new pictures about a month ago. But I didn't.

The phone rang on Tuesday. I looked at the caller ID. Hawaii State Govt. Ugh. Did this have something to do with this year's election? I hit the Talk button and said hello. The person on the other line said, "Is this R?" Suspiciously I told her it was me. I am always wary when people ask for me by name. I can't even remember the woman's name, but she was a casting director from LOST!!! Pick me up off the floor, splash some cold water on my face, YES, YES, IT'S ME!!! She and I chatted for awhile, and she said, "I see in the picture you have a baby." I told her I had TWO of them, you know, just in case. "Oh, well, we may need you to work on Friday 6am to 6pm. Will that be a problem?" Hubby was off that day, and I mouthed LOST to him, and then paused and looked at him and mouthed FRIDAY. He gave me the nod. YIPPEEE!!!! I assured the casting director that childcare would not be a problem. So the casting director and I chatted a little while longer, getting all of my measurements, stats, and numbers before we got off the phone. I am getting a final call tomorrow. That phone call will give me a final call time for Friday. See this is so secretive. I have no directions, no time, no nothing except for a final call tomorrow when I will get all of the final directions. But here is what I can tell you. I can tell you that I am being cast for either someone buying or selling in a flashback to a Middle Eastern market. Ta-dah! That is fine with me. I have actually been mistaken for Middle Eastern before. It happened a lot when I was a student at UCLA and also when I lived in Northern VA. I have been mistaken for a handful of other nationalities, too.

Ooooh I am so thrilled. I am not listening to the little voice in the back of my head that says they may just forget to call me.

Final Casting Call

I have a lot to do before tomorrow. The casting call is at 530am, 40 minutes from my house. I like to leave the house and the kids totally planned out for Hubby to make it easy for him. It is an old occupational hazard of writing good sub plans when I was a teacher. The better the plans, the better the chance of the day going smoothly. I actually do leave written plans for Hubby. Fridays are busy days and nights on the Farmer schedule.

I am a little worried about feeding. Son2 refuses bottles and sippy cups, though we are going to try again tomorrow. He up and decided one day about 3 months ago he wasn't going to take any more bottles, and sippy cups were out of the question. Then there is my own comfort tomorrow. There may not be an opportunity for me to pump. So my plan is to pump at 4am, and pray that I can pump somewhere during lunch. Apparently there are these "honey wagons" or potties that sound miniscule and are not an option. Two casting directors spoke with me over the pumping issue. Ugh. They just wanted to make sure I would be comfortable and could go 10 to 12 hours. GULP. I said yes. Did I happen to mention I am taking my pump anyway??

Final directions that I don't think are too revealing were to bring my own chair to sit in outside and also bring my own umbrella. I am going to wear long sleeves and a long skirt, but Costume may have something different for me, and I am not to wear any makeup and have my hair pulled back. And I have one more direction from Hubby. I have to take the bling out of my ears and off my finger because he doesn't want anything getting misplaced. Signing off for now...weekend is a busy one, hope to post again, soon.

For the many of you that have noticed and emailed...YES I know I have not posted lately. Soon folks, soon. I have been busy you know!

LOST update

I just suspended my post about being on LOST until after it airs. You know, just in case.

The Farmer Files LOST on Oahu

It's not too late to get LOST! If you have never watched the first three seasons of LOST, the network has you in mind. Wednesday night is last year's season finale, and the first hour of the premier on Thursday night is a recap of the first three seasons!

LOST season 3 finale, Wednesday, January 30 at 9/8c on ABC.
LOST season 4 season premier, Thursday, January 31 at 8/7c on ABC

More about LOST in a moment, but now for more on The Farmer Files...
You have to be a fan of the show to get the whole concept of our new header. For those of you that don't know, LOST is filmed almost all on Oahu, where we live. The series follows the lives of survivors of Oceanic flight 15, a plane that crashed on a mysterious tropical island. The flight departed from Sydney, Australia, and was headed for Los Angeles.

The survivors find themselves establishing a new community, and getting to know the island. Mysterious things happen on this beautiful island. The survivors see things they have never seen before, and things happen here that happen nowhere else. There is a chance to go home, but some like Hurley and John don't want to go back. This is pretty much where the parallels end between the show and The Farmer Files.

About us...We have made friends here that we otherwise would have never made. We have been so blessed by them! Things happen here in Hawaii that we have never encountered in other parts of the country. We have learned what it means to Live Aloha. You also have to live here to understand the shirts that say, "Relax. This ain't the mainland!" The people here are so giving, loving, and make us feel part of their "Hanai." That means part of their family, though we are not related by blood. Then there are the things that happen that only happen on the island. They are quirky kinds of things to mainlanders. Here is just a little bit about what the Farmer Family calls T.I.H.

Our family finds ourselves at a crossroads. We know where we came from, and there are so many reasons not to go back. This island has truly been a complete deviation from our mainland life. But then we find ourselves like other characters on LOST, Jin, Sawyer, and Michael, that do long to go back to their old lives. It is hard to live somewhere without family around. We find ourselves waiting for the next episode in life. Unfortunately, Hubby's job is not here forever, though I have threatened to throw myself on the tarmac and refuse to leave. One day we will leave the island, though. We don't know exactly when, but we know it will happen. For now, we are enjoying Hawaii and all that it has to offer. Like the characters on LOST, we weren't expecting to land in Hawaii. It was only through the generosity of a colleague that our lives completely changed.

Now about LOST, if you used to watch, but are amongst those that got bored in Season 2, the writers heard you! That is why they sped up the story line in the second half of last season, and the viewership totally resurrected itself. Supposedly a secret DVD was sent to a select group of previewers on Monday with the first two episodes. They are raving about the new season!