"Is it fun?"

When a friend recently asks, "Is it fun?"I really have to think hard before answering.

The question is regarding my latest job as a background actor, though it's really a stretch to call me an actor.

I've gotten only three jobs since beginning this adventure in November.  Enough to cover about  two cable bills and one electric bill.

A week or so after registering, I get a job in And Just Like That ( Sex and The City re-boot). 

So how fun is this?

I leave my home early (so early) in order to be in midtown by 5:30.

Most of the shoot is outdoors. It's supposed to be spring, so no coats. 

I'm freezing for hours.

I consider quitting but know I'll never work again if I do. So I tough it out.

My second job is in February for Murders in the Building. I'm to be there at 9am, so much better than last time.

But it's in Queens, an area I don't know.

I put the address into Google Maps. Take a subway and then walk about two miles in the wrong direction.

Turns out there is a big difference between 30-40 47th Avenue and 30-40 47th Road.

But the time I arrive, am stressed and my hair looks dreadful from the damp, misty weather.

I wait with other background people who have not yet been called until lunch is announced.

"SAG people first, than non-union." In other words, I'm the lowest rung among a very low rung of background actors.

One of the people I'm waiting with turns out to be someone I knew over twenty years ago when our kids were in grade school. That was kinda fun.

But like a few others, I am never called.

My third acting job is for Gossip Girl. I report at noon. And the location is on the UES. So time and place are great.

I'm a background teacher today.

I mostly sit around in a large room with about 50 others.

I play the NY Spelling Bee.

Do Wordl, Dordle, Quordle, and Octordle.

Read some of The Harbor.

Talk to some really nice people who are also waiting to be called.

And then when I am called, I stand outside pretend-talking to another "teacher" for about 20 minutes.

That's it. The shoot wraps around five.

So, to answer my friend's question, "Is it fun?"

Not really. 

But at least I get paid.

And, the possibility of it being fun does exist. It just hasn't happened yet.