Resource Girl

In New York, artists are always looking to make extra money. Summer is the perfect time because there are so many promotional modeling opportunities. Promotional models demonstrate products at various venues, the pay rate is 15-25 per hour. It is fun, flexible work and is always plentiful. Most of these opportunities are for people in the age range of 18-30 but there are instances for people older.

During the summer NYC is filled with festivals, parties, streetfairs, tradeshows and more. All of these events need staffing. On my odd job page you can find a few companies to get you started but there are more than 200 that I know about and trust me, there are many more.

When you google for more companies google “promotional modeling” “spokesmodeling” “promotions” “tradeshows”. Also you can buy my list right off this site that list promotional companies and more.

Enjoy all the opportunities for making money. Start here and then watch how things will snowball. Also after you have googled for modeling opportunities check out Craigslist.org, but always use your instincts at craigslist.org and never do work for under 15 an hour (unless you want to). They will try to offer less but always stand up for what you know you are worth.

I have been doing promotional modeling for about 8 years straight. It gives me the flexibility that I need to pursue what I really want to do.

Oh and remember to drink a ton of water!

Having danced since I was 3 years old, I can’t really imagine my life without dance, but after deciding to write my book and focus my attention there (I was beat after all the years of dancing and needed a break), I find it increasingly more difficult to make the time for it. But I have decided this year, that has to change.

Currently I have been channeling my love of dance into Country Line Dancing. Country line Dancing is very easy and can really be enjoyed by a dancer because you can immediately put all your energy into the dance because the steps are so easy. Believe it or not I have perspired doing these dances.

But today I would like to focus on who nurtured my love for Dance. One man in particular is Frank Hatchett. He, unfortunately in the past few years, had a tumor and at the current time, I do not know if he is still teaching. Frank Hatchett is one of those dance legends that will continue to be talked about to the end of Dance History. His always evolving funky jazz style lifted my spirits EVERY class I took.

If you would like to meet some of his proteges like Lane Napper www.lanenapper.com you can go to www.bwydance.com. The beauty of The Broadway Dance Center is that it is open to all level of dancers from uber-professional to the person who walks in off of the street. Most of my happiest memories were studying under these gifted and generous teachers.

A word to the wise, beginner classes never really mean beginner, so if you are a beginner, stick with basic and always ask before entering a class about the level. Remember people come from all over the world to study here and they bring a ton of experience.

Feel the pulse of NYC Dance www.goodbrandproductions.com/BUpromo/

www.answers4dancers.com is another packed full of help for the dancer on the move.

After years of pursuing, doing, striving towards a goal…an audition, a show, a rehearsal, a workshop…I created a way of life that was completely and is completely project based. The idea of living each day as it comes or completely living in that day, has become foreign to me in concept and design.

If I know that my tasks today will be the same tasks tomorrow and I don’t have a goal in mind, it makes me crazy. The idea of repetitive tasks without a goal, is not something I can easily accept. However repetitive tasks, disciplined acts, that keep out bodies running strong i.e. eating regularly scheduled meals and doing exercise on a regular daily basis, are two repetitive things that serve me.

However even eating well and exercising without a goal makes me nervous. I need to know even these tasks will serve me on a boat trip, skiing trip, horseback riding adventure or promoting my book on a real or virtual tour (if any of you have a blog that you want me to visit on one day as a part of a blog tour, let me know).

I am writing this because a few years ago I got off the exhilerating, challenging and exciting ambition train of becoming a star in the theater. In some ways I feel happier, knowing that I don’t have to kill myself to get somewhere, in other ways I have felt the loss of these projects.

In creating this book and promoting this book, I have been equally motivated but I have changed, I no longer am killing myself (i.e. now I stop to eat and exercise, even with so many things to be done) but I don’t want to become a person that only lives in the daily tasks, I still believe that if I completely followed “Give us this day our daily bread”, I might become too relaxed and never accomplish anything.

In reality I have seen when our needs are met, the drive can whither, (in me it will never die as I am totally 100% Type A personality) and so as I am considering my next book, YES I am going to write another one starting next week, I ask myself…where will the journey take me and can I enjoy the steps I take each day, instead of only looking at the vision in the future?? I don’t know.

So yes, I will continue to do shameless self promotion as any other great artist would do (LOL, unless they didn’t become great until after they were dead) or like Oprah where she has her picture on every single O Magazine, does she really need the promotion? I don’t know, but I know I do. I found my book on www.target.com and I am now featured on a site for 200 self-published authors www.substancebooks.com.  So there is my good news. Would love to hear your good news.

In the section in my book about “The Joy of Being Clutter Free” I talk about the reality of living in a small space and the importance of keeping only that which is essential for the journey that you are on now, instead of having everything from your past, present and future, completely surrounding you. If you have a mansion, that is one thing, if you don’t, you need to stick with your current needs.

All of this comes from my experience of living almost 12 years in 325 sq feet. However as I approach my own nervana of realizing what are my essentials, I realize there are more essentials than I think and I am not sure that I can survive much longer in this small space.

As I am currently on vacation and sincerely only have the basics, I am going to be honest, being clutter free and free of my stuff, has had a bizarre effect on the question, “Who am I?”. I know who I am and I like who I am, but without my stuff, I have quickly realized my dependence on them to be a part of me, to define somewhat of who I am. That was something I wasn’t expecting to feel.

If you are listening and are a subscriber to blogs and the like, what brings you back to a blog? Is it like when we are 5 and we sit next to someone just because, there isn’t really a reason, or do we seek things out that we really need?

I currently am fascinated by www.qdnow.com. Quick and Dirty Now, it has nothing to do with sex, sorry people my site is purely rated G, my friends have children. It is a site where you can learn about investing or grammar or whatever little thing you might need to know, in depth but in a hurry at the same time. Not sure if they live in NYC, but they definitely have that feeling about them. They are the experts that write there.

While I travel I sometimes teach English as a Second Language and the Quick and Dirty Tips on Grammar are very helpful.

Anyway, back to the question, why does one continue to go to a blog and if anyone is listening, I would love to start a dialogue, not a monologue, even though most of my friends would never belive that. Being one who always shares, I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas.

As I am on vacation and am preparing my own meal, I was thinking about NYC and has it made me more independent or more dependent? Practically speaking I have eaten out more than I have eaten in while living in New York. Surrounded by foods from all over the world, when would I have time or the energy to learn how to prepare all these world-wide cuisines? I am not saying that I wouldn’t want to have a wok for the perfect stir-fry, a Vita-Mix blender for the best organic apple, carrot, sage, celery with a protein boost shake, a rice cooker, a food processor to properly mix all these exotic ingredients, but first of all where would I put all these appliances in my small space?

Making it here really requires a ton of energy and energy is produced by food, but there is this contradiction to this city, how can I do it all, prepare all the food, eat it and continue to do it all? This brings me back to my question, are we becoming more independent by living in this vibrant, and yet at times isolating city? I am not sure. I think if you take me and put me in the country, I would be dead in a few days.

I am amazed at how I don’t know how long an egg can stay in the refrigerator and the fact that no one ever told me that leftovers start to grow mold right away. And what about the “bloating” effect that Chinese food produces (at least in my body) from all the sodium and is that really chicken? I am still not sure. Having pretty much exchanged Chinese for Thai, I can tell you that I feel better with Thai, but I am not sure why.

It’s funny when I am on vacation I have all this desire to bake and make dinner, but while in the city, the only thing I can think about is “How will I get it all done?” “What is it again that I have to do again to afford the 800 square foot apartment that costs 1 million dollars?” “Eating isn’t a waste of time?” I continue to ask these questions to myself.

In my attempt to make eating more a regular part of my life (don’t worry, I am not binging nor purging, I am just eating about 2 meals a day and not at any specific time) I have attempted to have friends over. Overall I find that most people are on this “I only eat out track” and it doesn’t look like my new found excitement about changing my eating habits has caught on with any of my friends.

So once again, not just me, but most of us are quite dependent on the people around us to cook for us. So therefore we aren’t turning into an extremely independent group of people. When I have dreamed of being a star, it’s funny but the best part for me (apart from having the chance to champion my favorite causes with a powerful voice) is the idea of living like Celine Dion. She has a cook, a driver, a stylist and so on…but this goes all back to the fact that the more we live in this type of city the more we can become dependent on others to help us.

Occasionally I take my laundry downstairs to be washed, I eat out, sometimes I have my haircut, I dream of a driver, I dream of having dresses made for me…all in all showing me that yeah, just maybe this great city causes us to become a princess in our dream, but what if we leave the city, could we survive in any other place? I am not so sure but I better go and continue reading my current recipe which awaits me on the kitchen table.

Hey Everyone, Life is going good here in NYC because the weather is absolutely breath taking. It’s not hot, it’s not cold, there is a breeze, it is fantastic. I have been running around the city putting my postcards on every phone booth and while walking around I stumbled upon the newly renovated pier at 45th Street on the Hudson River.

One of the coolest free things to do is to rent a bike or put on your rollerblades and start at 110th street on the West Side and go all the way to Battery Park City. I highly recommend picking up a sandwhich and eating along the Hudson as you go.

They haven’t renovated every aspect of the riverside promenade but there are so many spots with creative seating and artwork that is functional, like at 45th street. There is a water pump that propels other parts of the artistic permanent installation to move. Yes I totally pumped the pump. The motion was active and the gentle spray of the water on my face was enough to lift any of my general daily blues, (I live excited and sad every day in this city, as I see the beauty and the hardships all wrapped up in one).

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