The Jennifer Blogs

Things have really been looking up for me and my business overseas.  I was very excited when I was recently asked to submit a quote for a Johnson & Johnson TV commercial. The client liked my demo, accepted my quote and hired me for the project. Four TV commercials.

I showed up to the studio 30 minutes prior to the scheduled recording so that I would be relaxed and acclimated to my surroundings. I was a little surprised to see that there was no separate booth for me. Instead, there was a microphone toward the back of this roughly 10'x10' room, a sheet music stand for my copy and a tall chair for me to sit in. Oh, and no headphones (and no place for me to plug mine in).

Finally the people from the advertising agency arrived. There were four of them, one a man from the US. The client showed up next and we were ready to go. In addition to these five people (and me) were two people from the studio. Eight people total in this small room.

Before we could begin recording, the engineer had to turn off the air conditioner. They don't have central AC in many places in Singapore, and the wall unit was making too much noise for us to be able to record. To say that it made the room stuffy is a huge understatement.

I wasn't thrilled with my mic either. I was certain a professional recording studio would have a Neumann microphone. When I asked about it, they acted almost like they had never heard of it before. Instead I was recording into some cheap microphone that, quite honestly, did not do my voice any justice. During playback, one of the reps from the advertising agency asked me if I have a cold. She then wanted to know why my voice sounded so different than it did in my demo. The client and the American man from the agency shook their heads, also wanting to know. I did my best to explain to them (without putting down the studio) that my demo was recording on a professional quality studio microphone.

The American man from the ad agency was the one giving me direction. He wanted me to sound sultry during this read. But there was something he didn't like about my delivery. He told me several times he didn't like my phrasing. Those are his words. I quote, "I do not like your phrasing there." He told me this as if I had anything to do with the copy. I did not write the copy, so I could not control the phrasing. I actually figured out about 30 minutes later he did not mean that he didn't like the phrasing. He didn't like the inflection I was giving one of the words in a specific phrase.

To make a long story short, after two hours in the studio, we gave up. There was a lot of external noise. The studio is next door to a school and the children on the playground were very loud. There were also interruptions of people walking in and out of the studio during the recording session. On top of this, some of the ad people found it necessary to leave their cell phones on and every time one of them would vibrate, the buzzing noise would create a huge distraction.

When I left the studio, the client told me it was not me. She told me the problem was that the studio is not a suitable place to record and they would call me back to determine another time. Later that afternoon I got an email from the studio informing me the client was unhappy with me as the talent for this project, stating that my demo did not represent my true abilities.

I was devastated. The truth is, I believe my demo is quite an accurate representation of what I am able to do. However, given the fact that I was asked to record into a less-than-stellar microphone, I can't say I blame her. If I had been allowed to do this project from my own studio, I have no doubt the client would have been completely satisfied with what I would have delivered, and in far less time. In addition, I would have had complete control of my environment.

This experience has given me a little more diva than I had before. I will no longer settle for crappy equipment or less than perfect studio conditions. If it costs me a job, so be it. Not insisting could likely yield the same results, as I learned in this case. For my two hours' time I earned nothing except an insult and a blow to the ego.

It has taken me a little while to be able to blog this. I was too upset to even bring it up until now, but I've moved past it and am still ready to take Singapore by a storm.

I'm horrible at being sick. I'm the worst sick person I know. It's kind of like that "Man Flu." (Look in YouTube if you're not sure what that is.) I know I'm a bad patient and I feel sorry for anyone who has to put up with me while I'm not feeling well.

I went to the doctor this morning. I wish I could have taken a picture of how big his eyes were when he looked at my throat. So yeah, strep throat and I'm highly contagious. Forced rest. I guess that's not so bad.

One of the nice things about going to the doctor in Singapore is that they don't charge you an arm and a leg for your visits. The doctor dispenses all the medicine, too, so it saves you from having to go to a pharmacy. For the visit itself and seven prescriptions (yes, count 'em, SEVEN), it was only $90 Singapore dollars. That's just $65 US dollars. That's incredible!

If I had to choose when to get sick, now would probably be the ideal time. We leave for the US in less than three weeks, so by then I should be back to my healthy self and no worries for sickness on the airplane. The only one of us that hasn't been sick yet is the girl. The boy had strep throat about two or three weeks ago. I caught my strep from Marso, who is too stubborn to go to the doctor when he's sick and would much rather pass his nasty germs on to his innocent wife. Nice.

Do us all a favor if you're not feeling well. Go to the doctor. Stay home from work. Quit passing it on to us innocent bystanders.

I really felt like blogging last week. I really felt like I had something to say. Only I didn’t know where to put it. It’s kind of ridiculous, but I’ve got blogs all over the place.

Recently I cancelled my MySpace page. Before I shut it down, though, I snagged some of my old blogs and posted them here on Blogger. I also grabbed a few from my other blogs and put them here. I’m still sort of in the process of consolidating so I can keep them all in one place. It’s a lot more work than it sounded like at first. I’m sure it’ll be worth it in the end though, right?

Meanwhile, there’s a list of topics I really want to blog about piling up in my e-mail inbox. As soon as I think of something new I want to talk about, I shoot myself an email. I really hope to get to that list and give you something worthwhile to read.

I had one of the best sessions ever with a voice coach today. His name is Kevin Delaney and he lives in LA. It was the first time I've ever worked with a dude, and the first time I've ever worked with someone not working for The Great Voice Company. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was so glad I didn't listen to his demo prior to our session.

I'm not really sure why I didn't listen to the demo. Looking back, it was kinda stupid really. But I liked the testimonials on his website and I liked his marketing approach, so I went for it. If I had listened to his friggin' awesome demo first, I probably would have been far too intimidated to actually book a session with him. And boy am I glad I booked that session!

Kevin is an incredible director. He gave me some tricks that I could use right away to instantly make my reads sound so much better. He is also very inspiring. I loved his feedback (and not only because it was so positive), and loved his sincerity. I didn't feel like he was just blowing smoke when he gave me good comments. And the fact that he told me he'd happily introduce me to his agent if I were living in LA??? Okay, that was a bit of an ego boost, for sure!! (Maybe I should consider moving to LA?)

So yeah. Don't get me wrong. I really like the voice coach I've been working with, but Kevin will definitely be my go-to guy!

It's really cool to see history. I've never been much of a museum-goer, but when one of the museums in Singapore hosted the Dead Sea Scrolls, I was excited to take the kids to see it. My friend Kara and her daughter Cami went with us.

I took over 200 pictures of the Bibles and artifacts contained in this exhibit. I'm seriously in so much awe still that I'm having a hard time putting into words the beauty of this exhibit. I had this same feeling when I visited Anne Frank's house in Amsterdam last year. Something about being around so much history that just makes you realize the incredible awesomeness of all that has been preserved.

Another day, another chiropractor appointment.

I've been going to the chiropractor for some problems with my neck for several weeks now. It started out as a 6-week therapy. Then, because there was really not very much improvement, another 6 weeks were added on. Three days a week for 12 weeks. Let's hope at the end of this we see some improvement.

I initially went to the chiropractor because my neck had been hurting and I'd been having headaches. This has been going on for some time. So the chiro took some x-rays and showed me where my neck is pretty screwed up. A healthy neck is curved about 15 degrees. My neck is curved about 5 degrees -- in the wrong direction! So that's a 20-degree adjustment he has to make on my poor little head-holder-upper.

This is no ordinary treatment, either! We're talking about crazy vibrating beds, neck weights, head weights, vibrating platforms, jock straps on the chin and forehead. Yeah, sexy! (That vibrating bed thing isn't as appealing as it sounds - this is no massage, I assure you!)

How did my neck get so screwed up? Probably from looking down at my computer so much. I have been using a laptop for a long time and I guess it's taken its toll on me. So anyway, posture is important; ergonomics are important; therapy is important. So we're doing all we can to get this thing fixed.

I really love what I do for a living. I can't imagine doing anything but voice-overs.

There's something about using my voice to bring life to some words on a page that really excites me! I love how just using some different inflection or slowing things down or speeding things up or pausing somewhere unexpected can make someone really listen to what I'm saying. I love to voice commercials and audio books and radio imaging. I love all kinds of projects and I love that people actually pay me to listen to me talk! Seriously, what could be better?

This morning I had another session with my voice coach, Moneen. I love how she stretches and me makes me try things I never would have ordinarily tried. I like how I'm a little bit nervous to talk to her sometimes because I know she's going to be honest with me. I need to know what stinks just as badly as I need to know what's good. I'll never get better if I only hear the good stuff, so I appreciate that she's honest with me.

There are a lot of opportunities in Singapore that I haven't even delved into yet! I've been talking with this guy who is pretty much a legend in Singapore radio. He's been doing it here as long as I've been doing it in the US. We've talked about teaming up for some stuff and at some point we'll actually get together and discuss these ideas. So far our schedules haven't exactly matched up though.

In the meantime, I am enjoying my voice coaching sessions and I'm practicing every day. I've started reading out loud more, auditioning for everything I can audition for, and have been practicing my character voices more frequently.

Just think, when the roof blows off this thing, you can say you knew me when I wrote some stupid blog.

I'm in a great mood today. Strike that. Fantastic mood! Unless great is better than fantastic, in which case I'm definitely in a great mood. Seriously? Nothing can bring me down today!

Ever just wake up knowing it was going to be a great day? That's how I felt from the moment I woke up this morning. Nothing specific. No mail from Ed McMahon. No winning lottery numbers. No brushes with greatness. Just a genuine amazing day that will keep a smile on my face from now until the time I go to bed tonight.

Really? What better feeling is there than the feeling of loving life? None! Absolutely NONE!

I saw a guy at the MRT Sunday who was wearing this t-shirt. It kind of cracked me up. I mean, who goes around advertising they “heart” pies?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m definitely a lover of pies! Apple pie, cherry pie, blackberry pie, raspberry pie ... all fruit pies, really! But I don’t go around advertising it. Quite frankly, I think the size of my butt does a good enough job advertising that I love pies.

Seeing this shirt got me thinking ... what would I go around advertising my love for on a t-shirt?

I ♥ Jesus
I ♥ my husband
I ♥ my mom
I ♥ my dad
I ♥ my kids
I ♥ USA

I actually really love a few other things, but would not wear them on a shirt. I will, however, share them with you here:

I ♥ Poodles
I ♥ Chuck
I ♥ Charlie Epps
I ♥ Twitter
I ♥ to talk ... a lot!
I ♥ iWeb
I ♥ embarrassing my children
I ♥ radio
I ♥ Tristan Prettyman (Okay, I might actually put that one on a t-shirt)

What do you love enough to put on a t-shirt? What do you love that you’d be too embarrassed to put on a t-shirt?

This is the note that came along with my custom earphones. “Very small ears,” they say. Well no duh! That’s why I had impressions made to get some earphones that would actually fit in my ears!

You have no idea what it’s like to have ears so small that even the small earphones on the market won’t go inside my ears. I’m loving my LiveWires, though! These puppies not only produce great sound, but they fit in my ears & when I”m on the treadmill, they don’t fall out!

By the way, my endodontist also says I have a “very small mouth.” If you like, I can get him to write me a note for proof.

I’m definitely a glass half-full kind of person, so it’s hard for me to understand how people can be so pessimistic sometimes. My son, for instance. He’s got one of the worst outlooks on life of anyone I’ve ever met! I’m not sure where he gets its from, but it’s difficult to try to give encouragement to someone who really doesn’t want it. Ever try to cheer up a pessimist?

My daughter, on the other hand, is an incredible optimist. She always looks on the bright side of things. Suzy Sunshine. How she and her brother were made by the same two people is beyond me. Something somewhere went berserk. They are as opposite as two people can possibly be.

Last night at dinner I asked my son, daughter and husband to name one thing that had happened to each of us this week. The goal is to make sure we are all paying attention to one another’s lives. I did this exercise once last week. I made my son go first. When he had to name something that happened to each of us, he was stumped and struggled through. I then asked my daughter to do the same thing. When my son realized this was the same thing I did last week, he said, “Oh, I get it. This is to make sure we’re paying attention to each other, or to make sure that I’m paying attention.” (He thought I was targeting him because he really doesn’t pay very close attention to what we’re all doing from day to day.) That gives you an idea of his attitude. My daughter struggled a little, but she said, “That’s okay, Jean-Luc, we’ll get better at it!”

Reminds me of an old joke about a pessimist and an optimist who were each placed in rooms full of horse manure. The pessimist cried and cried, depressed that he was surrounded by the smell, the sight, the icky feeling of manure. The optimist, on the other hand, was gratefully digging through the manure, excited and giggling. The psychiatrist asked the optimist what he/she was so happy about. The optimist said, “With all this crap, there’s got to be a horse under here somewhere!”

Do I have to post a quote every day in order to have a “quote of the day?” I hope not.

Regardless, I read this today and it touched me so I thought I’d share it with you:

“The growth of one blesses all. I am committed to grow in love. All that I touch, I leave in love. I move through this world consciously and creatively.” ~ Julia Cameron

I have no idea who Julia Cameron is, but I like what she had to say. Yes, I realize I could google her, but who’s got time for that?

This sign was hanging up at a flea market in Ocala, FL, USA. I had to snap a picture of it so I had proof. There are so many things wrong with this sign. Where, or where to begin?

Okay, how about with the obvious. Loose Barbies? Does Ken know this?

And what’s with the apostrophe? Obviously Flea Market Barbie Salesman didn’t pay attention during 6th grade Grammar class (or quite possibly never made it that far). Here’s your free lesson:

Barbies
Barbie’s

What’s the difference? One of the two shows ownership. The other of the two is plural, meaning there is more than one Barbie. The one with the apostrophe shows ownership. In other words, something that belongs to Barbie. So either Flea Market Barbie Salesman is selling something that belongs to Loose Barbie or he is selling a bunch of Loose Barbies. (My word! There are more than one of them?!)

But we’re not done. He tells us on his sign these Loose Barbies are $3.00, boxed as marked. They were all in boxes and they were all marked $3.00. Why go to the trouble of writing on each box if you’re going to have a sign telling me they are $3.00 each? Then on top of that, he somehow felt the need to tell me that they were $3.00 each AND that they were all boxed and marked. You know, in case I missed that part.

No wonder Barbie’s loose. She’s probably drunk too.

My friend Robin posted a blog: "I love my husband, but ..." and challenged her readers to write an "I love my _____, but" blog also. So here it is.



I LOVE MY KIDS, BUT I REALLY NEED SOME TIME TO MYSELF.



Here's how my day typically starts: 

I wake up and quietly tiptoe to the kitchen to make an iced caramel non fat macchiato, but before I can even get a glass out of the cupboard, in skips my lovely, perky daughter, "Good morning, Mommy!" Then come the questions ... how are you this morning? Did you sleep well? Did you have a dream? Were you awake when Daddy left? What time did you get up? Do you want me to make you breakfast? Finally I answer her. "Yes, I want eggs. Pronto. And toast."

If I could just teach her how to make the coffee, I'd be set.



I'm homeschooling my son over the summer. Torture for us both, but it means he gets to make up a grade when we held him back a few years ago. So in the end, we all win. He wins cuz he gets to graduate sooner. We win cuz he gets a job and moves out sooner. See?



Don't get me wrong, I love my children. But a gift certificate to the spa would be nice. I'm wasting my breath writing that because my husband no longer reads my blogs. But if you see him, could you please tell him maybe I need a gift certificate to the spa?



I feel like the past few days I've had a lot to blog about, but not a lot to say about each individual thing, so thought I could put it all together in one neat little blog and tie it with a bow, then deliver it straight to your computer. How's that sound? Splendid! Let's get started!



BOOK STUFF:

 I recently finished reading the book 19 Minutes by Jodi Picoult. It's the first time I've read any of her books and I am hooked! I don't know if they're all this good, but I chose this book based on the story, not on the author. It's about a school shooting, which my kids think is very morbid -- that Mom can't stop talking about a book she loves that deals with a school shooting. Anyway, it's a great book. You always get to hear what the victims and their families go through, but this one also lets you see inside the shooter's family. The parents -- so distraught -- wondering what went wrong. The shooter himself -- bullied from his first day of kindergarten through the day of the shooting. This is a book I won't forget for a very long time. And I actually hope I never forget the way I felt after finishing the last word. The things we say and do really matter. You have two choices in every situation in which you deal with others - treat them kindly, or don't. Period. If you treat them kindly you may just make someone's day. If you don't, you could be the one to push them over the edge. And maybe neither, but won't you feel a lot better knowing that you treated them kindly anyway?




GEEK STUFF: 
Speaking of the book I just read, it's the second one I finished on my Kindle. I'm so in love with this wonderful electronic gadget! I am currently reading "Size 12 Is Not Fat" on the Kindle, and "Life of Pi" on paperback. I still have a lot of paperbacks that my mom sent me from the US from before I had my Kindle. Books are just so expensive over here. And with the Kindle I don't have to worry about taking up room trying to find places to store them all. I also downloaded The Renaissance Soul on the Kindle. Can't wait to delve into that one! Oh yeah, and Bitter is the New Black.
I'm only a few chapters in to "Life of Pi," by the way, but it's *very* good!




RADIO STUFF:
 I've been reading out loud a lot lately -- practicing, I tell the kids and my husband. I hope to get a job (or two, or a thousand) reading for books on tape, so I want to make sure I can read well. It's not as easy as it seems.
My friend Robin sent me a job ages ago with information on how to apply for a job reading for books on tape - someone was looking for demos. I didn't have my studio here at the time -- it was still on its way from Japan -- and then things got busy and I never did submit anything. I did, however, finally finish recording a short demo of me reading from a book and put it up on the website yesterday.
Oh yeah, the website. It's no longer up at www.jenniferpagemedia.com, but it will be again one day. For now it's on a back site. I'm designing this one myself so I can update it whenever I want to. That's important to me -- to try to keep my demos fresh and the page looking current. So if you want to see what I've done so far -- keep in mind it's STILL under construction -- it's at web.mac.com/radiojen/JPM.




SINGAPORE STUFF: 
I'm meeting a friend Monday at the Bird Park. She's got two kids close in ages to my two. I've only met Nicky once, but we've corresponded by email a lot since before I moved here. I really like her. She's normal. I like normal. You don't find a lot of that here. Nicky is going back to the US next week, so it'll probably be the last time I see her until after summer.
Alicia has been busy with a friend in town and then will be going back to the US soon. That kind of bums me out, cuz who will I hang out with? Who will get me into trouble, and then get me out of it? 
Marso & I were supposed to meet with some of Don's friends here in Singapore. They'll only be here like another month and then are going back to the US for a year. They're missionaries, and are very busy with some training they're conducting before heading back to Florida. We've missed out on seeing them twice, and I'm kind of bummed about it. I cannot begin to tell you how homesick I've been (off and on) for the past couple of months. Seeing some people who know my dear friends back in the US was supposed to make me feel a little closer to home. I hope I get to see them before they leave.




US STUFF: 
Speaking of the US, I got a nice letter today from my friend Melanie and a package in the mail yesterday from Mom. Mom sent microwave popcorn, a sarong, a couple of tank tops, a t-shirt, some pictures and some American candy. Nothing beats letters and goodies from home. 



Having lived in Tokyo for six months, I thought it was pretty cool when we came here and saw a store in the mall called Authentic Japanese Souvenirs. There were honestly a few things in Japan I wished we had brought with us, and this was going to give me an opportunity to pick them up here in Singapore.

 I found something of interest, turned it over to see the price and instead saw the words Made In China.

 So much for that.

I just finished reading the book "The Next Thing on My List" by Jill Smolinski. It's about this girl, Jane, who has a "List of Things to Complete By My 25th Birthday." Thing is, it's not her list. She's completing it for a girl who recently died. In the process, she learns a lot about herself. I won't spoil it in case you decide to read the book. (It's fiction - completely made up - chick lit.)

Anyway, I'm sure I'm not the first to start my own list after reading this book. I did feel compelled to start writing my List of Things to Complete By My 25th Birthday. *sigh* Wishful thinking. By my 40th birthday. Granted, that's still a few years away, but I'm going with more than 20 items since List of Things To Complete By My 37th Birthday not only doesn't give me a whole lotta time, and it doesn't sound nearly as glamorous.



So far, I've got things like: sing karaoke (God only knows why cuz I have a horrible voice and I'm petrified, so I guess maybe this is one of those face your fears of humiliation things), learn to play one song on the guitar, learn CPR, give up a bad habit, pick up a good habit, write a book, take a Girl's Trip, walk in a fashion show, go back to San Diego.



I'm just like the character in this book. In fact, from near the beginning of the book I began to identify with her. I'm a world-class procrastinator. I don't know when it all started. All I know is I'm very, very good at it. That's why I'll be counting on friends and family to help me complete my list. I can say I'm very glad that my karaoke-singing friends in Florida are too far away to force me into karaoke night with them and my friend Alicia here in Singapore doesn't read my blogs (I don't think). So I may not be forced into doing that one til I've been able to practice a bit.



If you've got a list - or if you feel compelled to write one - I'd love to know what kind of stuff is on it. Maybe I can steal a few of yours for my list too.

Warning: If you think my daughter is one of the most gentle, beautiful, innocent little darlings you've ever met, this WILL ruin your image of her. Turn back now.



My beautiful petite flower is gassy. And she's proud of it. In fact, tonight at dinner this little beauty interrupted my sentence with something loud and duck-like. Immediate laughter from her brother. She applauded herself. I left the table and warned her that if she did not start exercising her sphincter muscle that it will fail her miserably by the time she's allowed to date boys.



She wanted to know, "What's a phinkster?"

You have been tagged. Post a new blog and list 10 odd or interesting things about you that most people don't know. Then tag 10 of your friends to do the same. Make sure you message or comment them and post a bulletin so they know they have been tagged!


1. My friend JP helped me pick my "radio name." He was reading an industry magazine and found a girl in Denver named "Jennifer Page" who was mentioned in one of the articles. We liked how it sounded and since she was in Denver and I was in Gainesville, FL, I took it.


2. I prefer eating with chopsticks to eating with a fork.


3. I picked two of the American Idols from the auditions. I knew from their auditions they would win that season, and I was right twice.


4. At one point in my life I was so afraid to speak in front of people that I had to drop out of my speech class in community college. I had to retake it to graduate, but waited a couple of semesters to work up the nerve.


5. I was named after my mother's favorite actress, Jennifer O'Neill. My middle name was my maternal grandmother's first name.


6. I had to go to speech class when I was a kid because I couldn't say my "esses." They sounded more like a "th."


7. I remember what I got for Valentine's Day in second grade, but not last year.


8. My knee surgery screwed me up. The doctor didn't send me to physical therapy right away, so by the time he did send me (several months after the surgery), it was about too late. I still have problems climbing stairs and doing certain cardio exercises.


9. I'm addicted to cereal. I love ALL KINDS (except the stuff with peanut butter in it) and could eat it for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks in-between.


10. I really like what JJ said in her 10, so I'm going to borrow it. I've never heard it put so eloquently. Here goes: I am a Christian but I'm not likely to hit you upside the head with a bible. I don't feel it's my job to judge anyone and I would much rather show by *who* I am that I am a Christian than by preaching to anyone. What you do with your life is between you and God-not up for my approval or judgement. I do, however, hold my values and morals very close and am not afraid to stand up for them.