THREE RIVERS - DAY ONE
Woke up at 6 feeling pretty awake. Poked around for a while - didn't pack any food or snacks because Lauren told me they fed her well and there was food available.
Dad arrived at quarter after seven or so, I finished getting ready and we were on our way at 7:40. Drive was fine - glad dad knew pretty much where he was going. It was easy enough once I saw him do it - turnpike to 70 to 43 to 40. He started wanting to chat with me around the time we were getting to California, which was around the same time my stomach started doing flippies! I had to tell him no offense, but I wasn't listening to him and I wasn't going to talk - I was nervous! It was very nice of him to drive me :)
We got to the hospital at 9:00, which was plenty of time for the call time of 9:45. They said to arrive 15 minutes before the call time, plus earlier if I wanted breakfast. I did - I had only been able to eat a plain ricecake. So when I got in, the security guards at the front directed me to Extras Holding, which was around to the right.
Here, I drew some floorplans! ;)
So, in from parking, through the glass front doors, past security to Extras Holding on the right. (yes, I will be going through this post in blocking, apparently. lol)
So then here's Extras Holding:
The entrance to the room is on the middle bottom -- so if you want to fit it into the hospital floor plan, above, just rotate it 90 degrees counterclockwise. The doors will fit up. lol.
But yeah, so check-in was there on the left and the little X on the seat to the right is where I plopped myself for two days - it was a little couch. There was one opposite me, and there were also chairs all around.
I was the first person there - just a minute later, another girl named Kelly showed up. She was going to Penn State... Uniontown? (is there a Penn State Uniontown?) and she was going for some sort of... global... marketing. We went off to breakfast together, which was around past security again to the cafeteria.
They had a nice breakfast spread - waffles, oatmeal, cream of rice, omlettes, lots of fruit, ham, yogurt, cereals.
Ate quickly, then went back to Extras Holding, where we met Dan Short, who was an... assistant... of some kind. (I think I saw his title as Asst. P.A.? I have no idea what that is or if it is right.) I took to calling him our Extras Wrangler, but he did a lot of communicating between crew members in addition to helping us get in filming locations. He was very nice to us - and kinda cute :)
So some time wore on and I also met Carol Ann, who was local to the Brownsville area, had three daughters, 5, 8 and 11, and one of her daughters was doing Flat Stanley.
Also met Trista(n?) (I don't imagine she's Tristan, as that's generally a boy's name, but it sounded like they called her Tristan.) She was a real cardio OR nurse.
Between Carol Ann, Trista and Kelly, we made up a little nurse team and hung out together most of the day.
Also met Bruce, he teaches an online college class. I met several other extras, but I can't remember their names.
(I love that I am blogging about these people. lol. I am apparently dedicated to chronicling everything!)
So at probably.... 10, 11:00, we got taken back to wardrobe in the back corner, where we met Virginia (Ginnie,) who put us in pink scrubs, as we were to be "South Carolina Nurses." She made us repeat about four times that we were South Carolina nurses and we were not to do anything else.
So I got a pair of pink scrubs with somewhat too-short pants.
We did some sitting around, then got taken over to props, where I got some pens, a notebook, a stethoscope and an ID tag -- yes, it was the wrong one, for Three Rivers, instead of Pawley Island, which went with the pink scrubs... ultimately it didn't matter, though, as they never end up using me in pink scrubs that day, as you will see...
ON the way there -- they took us outside to get props, so as we walked out the front door, I glanced over... and there was Alex O'Loughlin, on his cell phone!
I discovered that nooooobody knew about Alex O'Loughlin or Moonlight, so I had to play the love as cool as I could so people didn't think I was crazy ;)
But I whispered as we went out to my other nurses, you know, *pokes!* That's HIM! And they were all, "oooh." Kelly and Trista, who were younger, were both immediately enamored. But Trista and Carol Ann were both married - and Kelly, who was 22, said 32 was probably out of her range. I was like, oh, that's juuust right. ;)
So after we were propped up, we did some sitting around and chatting... food got wheeled over outside and the catering lady came in. She told us that there was food outside, but we were NOT to eat it -- if we did, she's stick forks in our eyes. o_O. She said she'd bring us some food later.
Before we got to go anywhere, but while we were sitting in our pink scrubs, they asked if any of us had old 80s cars that they wanted to use for a scene. We said no. They came back a while later and read off a list, asking if anyone had any of these cars... and, sure enough, after a while, they asked for a beige Buick LeSabre -- dad's car! I was like, "eeeeer... that's... my dad's... but, he went for a walk... and I dunno where he is and he doesn't have a cell phone..." *feels like I am fourteen and not old enough to drive and dad has to cart me around* So yeah, I dunno what became of the car thing. But dad missed his chance to have the LeSabre immortalized on the small screen.
A little while later, they took us over to the "Chapel" (waaay in the upper left corner of the hospital map) where they had us stand out of the way in a back corner with some equipment.
While there, they called Alex O'Loughlin over there -- in retrospect, I'm not totally sure why he was there, because he wasn't doing the chapel scene, but that's okay.
He walked past us and smiled at all of us and went, "Hey, good morning, how are you?" I was like, *GIANT GRIN!*
At this point, I realized - Alex O'Loughlin in TINY! ... that is, for me. For most normal women, he'd be perfect, but I'm an Amazon.
However, the man's got got a small waist and just straight down from there. He's very trim. And he's my height. Now, I had tennies, and my tennies have a liiitle height to them, but I don't imagine it's a two inch differential (imdb lists him as 6'0 3/4 - and I am 5'10 3/4.)
He just looks so much taller on TV! ... don't get me wrong, he's still tall, dark and handsome -- oh, he is. It was just ... it took me by surprise that I was the same height he was and also rather wider.
But it was fine -- I was swooning madly.
So anyway, we stood by the chapel scene for a while, but then they said they didn't want us, so they sent us back to holding.
... so we sat a bit... then they took us again. They picked me and Trista to walk past a door while an actor was going inside (similar to what Lauren did on Saturday) - I believe the actor's name was Josh? He was shorter - probably about up to my nose - but then they decided they didn't want us in that shot, either. So back to holding again.
At this time, they decided they wanted to move us into green scrubs and have us be Pittsburgh nurses. At this point, I am inwardly going, squeeeeeeee!
I also realized I knew the most about what was going on in the show, because I had been following the Alex O news - so I knew some cast names and how we wanted to be Pgh nurses, not South Carolina nurses.
So I was very excited to get into the green scrubs. (they fit better, too. lol) I also got a long-sleeve, dark-grey shirt to wear under the scrubs, so I was quite a comfy temperature.
Sitting... and then we got to go over to the ER - through the rooms with equipment in them.
That was the interesting thing about this hospital - it was really rather strangely left? Lots of equipment was just sitting around - machines that did who knows what!
Also, it was 1:00 or so at this time, and I was hungry! They hadn't fed us anything yet.
So we get into the ER--
(rotate this image 90 degrees clockwise to make it fit into the overall hospital plan.)
(I've got some blocking notes on here, I'll reference them)
In the middle of the room was a rectangular nurse's station, where they positioned my other three nurse buddies at the various corners.
In the room was Mr. Alex O'Loughlin, hanging out. Aaand I was squeeing.
So Trista was in the corner near roman numeral II, which was where Alex was at the time. He reaches over the counter, shakes her hand, and starts chatting with her. was over near #5, watching this transpire and dying of jealousy, lol.
His outfit, just as Lauren described it, was kind of a dusky blue scrub pant and a long-sleeve, snug blue t-shirt. (posted from another extra from some other day - you can see the blue under the jacket here)
I also point out -- the hair (which is quite nice, really) and the sparkling blue eyes and his lovely hands. Oh, goodness, Alex O'Loughlin, you're pretty.
*ahem*
So eventually they move me over to #1, which is a chair next to a girl who, for a while, they had a pencil sticking out of her neck! She had to hold a bloody rag to her neck and they had half a pencil sticking out. One of the crew was going on about how she wanted her Emmy-winning idea here, where the girl was a schoolteacher and she was choking on lunch and a student tried to do a tracheotomy with a pencil instead of a pen. However, one of the assistant directors didn't like that idea, so they were like, no, no, pencil is going. However, the pencil got a lot of attention from people, so lots of crew members were chatting with us a little about this pencil. ... but don't look for it, it's gone. lol.
I'm sitting there, and I was supposed to be comforting her or checking out the wound, but the didn't like that, so they gave me a chart instead - and also a pair of gloves, because they said I wouldn't sit with a patient without gloves.
But yes, as for the scene, most of it happens along that right hallway there. To the best of my memory, here's what happens here:
Alex comes walking from the direction of #5 over to roman numeral I in, past camera in the lower right corner. Camera follows him.
Girl: Slummin' it in the ER today?
Alex: Hey Lori.
Alex walks over past where we're sitting at #1, but someone in the room to the right of numeral I calls out to Alex and he backs up and goes into the room a little
... some dialogue I don't quite remember...
As soon as Alex goes into the room, I get up and walk past camera, to #2, looking at no-more-pencil-girl's chart. I hang there for a few seconds
Guy: Hey, you should come down to the bar... see [name of some guy,] he just got out.
Alex: [troubled?] ... okay.
Over in the upper left, a gurney gets wheeled in from outside
Black guy, who I think is a regular, whose name I don't know: Hey, we need cardio!
Alex: I'm here!
I go running from #2, around roman numeral II to #3, past camera again and off camera down that hallway
And that's about the end of that scene. So basically this is some sort of Alex-character background that... doesn't make sense to me. lol. But then they wheel in the gurney with a Duquesne basketball player, character-named Anton, who collapsed during a game and is fighting his intibation (I love that I know that word, even if I don't know how to spell it. lol)
So you see here that they put me right next to Alex O'Loughlin! A few times he got mostly to my chair before he turned around and went back into that room. So every now and again, he paused in front of me and turned around to go back.
It was at this point that I realized he smelled good. I dunno if he had some very very small amount of cologne or if he just... smelled good... but... he did. And I was glad I had a chair to collapse into. lol.
Mmm, Alex O'Loughlin goodsmell...
So yeah, they ran that scene about... oooh... six times or so... and then they called a break.
At this point, we went back to holding. Earlier in the day, we were in there and there were apples and water. So since 9 am, I had an apple and a cup of water. When we left the ER, there was a table sitting out - I went to go get something, and the catering lady goes, "are you an extra?" I say yes, and she goes, "Oh, this isn't for you. Cast and crew only. You need to go back to holding." ... in holding, they had cups of water and little fun-sized chip bags. I don't know WHAT stick was up the catering lady's butt, but... whoa, she was not nice.
Sooo, anyway. We sat around in holding for a little while and I talked to a girl named... Melissa, I believe. It was a rather short break, I only got to eat half a fun-sized bag of doritos (which are zippier than I remember them being!) before we were called back to set.
Oh, the trials of being in close proximity to Alex O'Loughlin... lol.
So this time, they were picking up right where the last scene left off, where the gurney got wheeled in and they called Alex O. They had me going from #4 over to #5 - Alex O was usually somewhere between numerals II and III, following the gurney.
Camera is right beside the gurney, I have to squeeze past around the nurse's station as it gets wheeled in
Alex: What've we got? *snaps on gloves, goes over to III, camera and Alex go into the ER with the gurney*
Nurse who was really a nurse/Bruce the real EMT/someone else: *medical terms, something about "Anton"*
Alex: He plays for Duquesne?
Nurse/EMT agrees; Anton is flailing around
Alex: Anton, that tube is to help you breathe. *speaks calmingly, looks at some medical paperwork for info about what's wrong with him* *gets out sonogram device* I just need to take a look at your heart... where's your heart... there's your heart! Signs of (tachycardiac arrythmia?! *makes up words*) Prep the OR. Anton, I'll be right back! Alex walks toward #5
Nurse: He's crashing!
Alex: whips around, runs back in We'll do it here! *starts doing chest compressions*
So I spend most of that scene down at #5, which was around a smaaaall corner - but since the camera was watching Alex and co. in Trauma 1 (there was a sign on the door that said Trauma 1.) I was able to peek around the corner and watch most of the scene.
Alex did sliiiightly different things each time when he was looking for Anton's heart. One time, real upbeat, he was like "I'm going to look at your heart!" Another time, it was more... "I gotta find your heart... where's your heart, where's your heart... theeere it is!" I'm curious to see which one they ultimately go with.
... a few times, I almost got hit by the gurney. The one guy who was pushing it around paused after the second shot and was like "oh, gosh, I'm sorry, I almost ran into you!" and I was like, oh, don't worry, they have me going behind you, you're backing up, *I* can see what you're doing, don't worry, *I* won't bump into *you!* However, it was a really tight squeeze to get past that gurney. You might see my hip running past in that shot - I usually had to throw my hand out onto the nurse's station to steady myself.
Also, it was somewhere during this shot that I was in the nurse's station and Alex was leaning on the counter (close to #4) and he looks up at me, gives me a little eyebrow raise and goes, "hey" with a grin. Ooooh, I swoooooned. *swoons.*
So eventually they were happy with that and we got to have "lunch!" "Lunch" was at 4:30! :P
They had some pretty decent stuff, I got basically whatever they had, because I was hungry! lol. Salad, cooked veggies, rice, some sort of questionable eggplant, and some fresh tuna in a lemon sauce of some kind - though I did get a little bone in it. People were like, eeeew, dinner, but... really, I was just happy to eat. lol.
So we went back to holding after that, but then I was called to go back and do the scene again -- they were wheeling Anton in again, but this time, feet-first instead of head-first. They didn't call everyone, apparently nobody else was in the shot, so they just needed me and a few others.
So this time, I was standing there at #4 and Alex was at III. Holy crap, we were almost touching shoulders.
He has *four* ear piercings in his left ear. I had seen the "ear dimple" in the Moonlight pics, but it's definitely a piercing hole. He's also got three more, going up the lower side of his ear there. Mmm, I was so close, I could have just... swooned right into his arms there. ... aaaand I was tempted. lol.
Also, at some point, he was standing across from me at the nurse's station, while the make-up lady was doing *something* to his nose. I have no idea what, but she was really working at it for a minute there. He glanced over at me and kinda laughs, "Oh, yeah, big star, I get to go, 'hey, scratch my nose... pick my butt' and they do it!" I was giggling. Eventually the makeup lady retouches his nose. But it was very entertaining.
... and I should comment that Mr. O'Loughlin's butt *did* look rather nice in the scrubs.
So during the last shot, I had pretty much worked up the nerve to talk to him (and break all Extra Rules - interacting voluntarily with the cast/crew! Speaking without being spoken to! :o ) ... but then they called to "check the gate," (which is a term I didn't know going in, but came to really enjoy. Here's a little thing that Google turned up, which really nicely sums up the feel of "check the gate") and it was good, and that was that! People were clapping and I was being returned to my holding pen.
So that was about it for the day - with me, at least! It was about 8:30 when all was said and done - but they were putting Carol Ann back into pink scrubs to shoot more - but they said they would shoot until about midnight! Factoring in that dad was *presumably* out in the car and we had an hour and a half drive home *and* I was coming back to do it the next day - and since they gave me the opportunity to leave, I did. I figured I was seeing most extras the following day - because they said I would!
So yeah, returned my scrubs, checked with Dan to see what time I was supposed to come back on Wed - he said 9:45, but said to go home and get in touch with Lissa to double check.
Called Miss Julie on the way home to give her this complete rundown. lol. And when I finally got home, I passed out as promptly as possible!
Aaaand this post has taken me ALMOST a week to get up. Posting, will follow with more tomorrow night! (when there is no TV)