Long drive this afternoon / evening from Atlanta to Charlottesville, VA for an audition.  Small speaking role on a popular AMC channel series.  Could be fun.  I had 8 hours in the truck to practice so I'm feeling pretty good about it right now - but we'll see how the nerves do tomorrow once I'm in the office in front of the casting director.

Also, the Nat'l Geographic Channel show I did back in late October released a trailer recently.
Origins: The Journey of Humankind airs Monday March 6th.  The trailer looks pretty cool and you can see Chad Joyce at 1:33 playing the viking king.  I'm not sure how much I'll be in the shots - but I definitely killed a guy with a sword that night.  I know that for a fact.
Hoping it makes in on screen.

Watch the trailer here:

I posted these pics a while back but here is the whole viking / barbarian crew in costume on set:

Just now, I was listening to Jocko Willink's podcast interview with Colonel Bill Reeder and discussion of Reeder's book, "My Captivity in Vietnam".   While discussing being shot down in his Cobra attack helicopter and nearly being killed by friendly fire after escaping his burning aircraft, Reeder paused Jocko to mention that in those moments and for many after, he often recited the 23rd Psalm as a means of strength and comfort to himself over the many obstacles confronting him.
You know the 23rd Psalm: it's the one that starts "The Lord is my shepherd...."
While I've heard this many times I didn't know it by it's numerical/bible reference so I looked it up.
And because I'm me, I also looked up the "catholic prayer of the day" for February 24th and found this - which seemed timely / fitting.

Listen to Jocko's podcast series.  It's really great stuff and pretty dang inspiring.




Prayer For Courage

Dear God, give me courage,
for perhaps I lack it more than anything else.

I need courage before men against their threats
and against their seductions.

I need courage to bear unkindness,
mockery, contradiction.

I need courage to fight against the devil,
against terrors and troubles, temptations,
attractions, darkness and false lights,
against tears, depression, and above all fear.

I need Your help, dear God.

Strengthen me with Your love and Your grace.

Console me with Your blessed Presence
and grant me the courage to persevere
until I am with You forever in heaven.

#tbt. My radiation mask. Sheets of plastic are heated in boiling water and carefully molded around your face. They add the cleats later to use for leverage when they clamp your head down on the table. The machines are loud. Whining, whirring, grinding, clunking, metallic banging all around you as the table you're strapped to moves into position and adjusts over and over again. Then that god awful smell fills your head. That searing plastic bacon smell of bits of your brain burning away. 

8 weeks. 42 treatments. 78 grey. Each day when it's done the tech puts a large copper coin in your palm for the parking attendant, a dark skinned Indian man with soft eyes and a smile that says, 

"I know that you're dying and all I can do is lift this arm for the price of that coin". 

I gave him the pet name Charon but he didn't get the joke.

Well, I had to shave the beard - which was painful - I haven't seen my face in 10 years - but I am now officially SAG eligible.  As soon as I receive my paychecks from Turn: Washington's Spies, I'll go down to the local Atlanta office and submit my forms and be a "professional actor".  Pretty cool stuff.
It's a big step up (hopefully) and my agent has offered to make introductions to her people up in NYC.  2017 could be a huge year for me.  Fingers crossed!

The latest post in which I become a published author and qualify for SAG in the same week

Wow !
It's turned out to be a very good week indeed - and I needed a little of that !

A show that I've submitted to many times called to see if I'd be interested in a small part this past Monday night - so I drove to Richmond, VA on Wednesday to meet with casting and wardrobe.
It was an incredibly long day - up at 4 am, left at 6:30, arrived at 3:00 pm, had an hour and a half meeting, then got back in the truck and drove all the way home, arriving a little after 1 am.
Jeez - tires me out just thinking back on it.

I'll be appearing in season 4 of "Turn: Washington's Spies".  I'm not allowed to give any details because of the non-disclosure agreement but looks to be pretty cool and I'm very excited about it.
It's a small role - but more importantly - it will qualify me to join the screen actor's guild, which is a big important step up professionally in the tv/movie biz.
Couldn't be more happy about it !


AND - the piece I wrote about surviving 10 years post cancer has been published by the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center where I had my surgery in May of 2006.

The link is here:
https://issuu.com/eyeearfoundationofpittsburgh/docs/newsletter-skull_base_center-final-

Life is good !
xoxo,
J