Going big outside the comfort zone
As the saying goes, life begins just outside your comfort zone, and about five years ago I took that to heart.
One of those new adventures was acting in a training video for nursing students, which would be part of the curriculum in colleges and technical schools across the country. My role? 'Woman in the ER with heart attack symptoms.' Talk about typecasting. It was a fascinating process with a very nice paycheck.
Since then I've done voice-overs and worked as an extra in commercials and a film that was produced in Spokane last year. Usually my roles are of the 'woman in the waiting room' variety. I'm signed with Anne Mitchell of Mitchell Artist Management but until last week, few people knew I moonlighted with acting. At the level I'm at - elevated just above a potted plant in background scenes - why would they?
But in April I got a call to spend a day on set at the Coeur d'Alene Casino Resort as one of several actors for a new ad campaign which would include electronic ads, print and billboards. The day included hair and makeup, taping multiple scenes, a photo shoot and lunch.
It was daunting to have the camera inches from my 62-year-old face for close-ups before 8 a.m., close-ups of my fingers pushing the buttons on a slot machine, even of my feet and legs below the knees walking. But the most unnerving was a camera focused on my backside as I walked down an aisle filled with slot machines while other "players" high fived me. Talk about outside the comfort zone! Eight hours of maintaining a perpetual and believable expression of excitement about winning a big jackpot is harder than it sounds.
Which brings us to last week, when friends and readers began emailing and posting photos of a billboard in the Spokane Valley with my bigger-than-life smiling face. For someone whose column photo is the size of a postage stamp, it's far outside the comfort zone.
We only live once and I intend to continue to embrace new experiences and adventures. Find yours and join me!
Happy birthday today to Joann Hildebrant, Bill Reagan, Mikki Stevens, Patty Vogt, Addison Johnson, Jim Guy, Jan Olson, Connie McGee, Kylie Gibson, Shanda Johnson, Sally Mackin and Megan Ownbey as they celebrate another trip around the sun.
Tomorrow, Kit Hoffer, Rick Rasmussen, Alecia Warren, Shannon Fish, Chloe Hutter, Ben Wolfinger, Karen Hanson, Cathleen O'Connor, Sheryl Snyder and Ernie Hunt put on their party hats.
Friday birthday wishes to Terri Mercer, Janet Smith, Cherry Jones, John Goodlander, Terri Mercer, Scott Hamilton and Nathan Gubbe.
On Saturday, birthdays will be celebrated by Luke Thoreson, Ashley Honnell, Connie Gridley, Sheryl Sipe and Norma Fencl. Sunday, Lyndon Harriman, Neil Conner, Monty Danner, Krystal Gordillo, Kiley Nick and Carolyn Havens are blowing out their birthday candles.
On Monday, birthdays will be marked by Patty McGinnis, George Green, Katie Disney, Kimberly Carlson and Rosie Brown.
On the first day of July, Tim Riordan, Arlene Reichenberg, Bill Brown, Chris Harrison, Byron Hamby and Mark Johnson will celebrate another birthday.
Kerri Rankin Thoreson is a member of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and the former publisher of the Post Falls Tribune. She was voted Best Local Writer for 2013 by the readers of the North Idaho Business Journal. Main Street appears every Wednesday in The Press and Kerri can be contacted on Facebook or via email [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @kerrithoreson.