Why I Am a Bruins Fan

This morning I went to work on a student film in which I played a college teacher named Mr. Robertson. Two of my “students,” Rebecca and Jonathan, were exchanging glances throughout the class. Rebecca was supposed to arrive late and make an excuse, prompting me to say, “That's OK, Rebecca, just have a seat,” but someone in the crew pointed out that Mr. Robertson shouldn't know her name at that moment. I responded that I just assumed that we had a past. “Rebecca“ laughed and said she thought so too, and new darned well why she was late, which made a lot of people laugh. I'm glad she played along rather than reacting with shock and horror. Later on, when we were shooting Mr. Robertson introducing himself, I goofed and said “Robinson,” so I apologized and said I was thinking of The Graduate. I said it more for my own amusement than anything else; I’ve heard "I was born in XXXX" as an excuse so often I no longer expect anyone more than 10 years younger than me to get any of my pop-culture reference, but several people laughed. Of course there were a lot of film students in the room, but it was still encouraging. The rest of the shoot went very smoothly. Director Clint Chang was calm and collected and seemed to know exactly what he wanted. The crew was very welcoming and respectful. I left the set feeling pretty good, but unfortunately I had to deal with some personal stuff afterward that brought me down a little. Then, tonight, I got this e-mail:

“Thanks so much for coming and participating in my film. You really did an amazing job - I got several complements on your performance in particular. Multiple people asked me if you were a real teacher because they all felt you nailed the act. I look forward to doing the edit to see all your great work come together.”

Now, he didn't have to say any of that at all, but the fact that he did helped bring me back up. Go, UCLA!