Sunday, August 10, 2008

As if I wasn't cool enough before...

That's right, people. Meet my new Chucks. Those of you long time readers may remember these.

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Back in Business

Ladies and gentlemen (but especially you ladies)...I'M BAAAAAAAAAACCKKK!!!

Don't touch that dial. Do not attempt to adjust your screens. This is the real deal. After taking a two year hiatus, my blog has returned. After much negotiation, some legal consultation and the batting of my eyelashes, my personal assistant (sometimes known as "Mom") has agreed to resume her position. So thanks to her swift fingers and my quick wit, I bring you the rebirth of PlanetZaya. Please hold your applause until the end.

I hope you didn't come looking for cute stories about drool and baby wipes (though Mom would have me tell you that I'm still in diapers, but I see no reason to get into that here). I'm a big boy now, those are things of the past. These days I'm all about french fries, Pippi Longstocking and rock 'n' roll.

I've taken a liking to a little something called gymnastics. Have you heard about this? You get to run around and around, tumble, jump, stretch, bounce...pretty much everything I like to do. I'm still getting adjusted to the taking turns thing. And Mom insists that when Coach Marcy tells me to sit down, I have to stay seated for more than two seconds and quit running around like a "mad man" as she likes to call me. But other than that, gymnastics is a pretty cool deal.

The biggest news I have to report is that I'm a working man now. Yes folks, as of yesterday I am officially a wage-earning, tax paying citizen. Thanks to my good buddy Robert (ok, maybe he's Dad's good buddy, but he still deserves a shout out) I was signed to a talent agency in November. Mom and Dad weren't too sure about it. Frankly I can't say I was surprised that they pulled out a contract right then and there. Since then I've been taking trips every now and then to the studio. Mom calls them "auditions." She thinks they're a big deal, but basically all I have to do is stand there, look cute (which comes pretty naturally for me most days), say my name and jump around a little. Piece of cake!

Last week Mom and Dad were talking pretty excitedly about an audition for a Target commercial. I didn't really know what that meant. We headed out to Beverly Hills and everything seemed like business as usual. Stand on the blue line, say your name, smile for the camera. Then the next day, Mom gets a phone call and tells Dad I'm "booked." I'm not too clear on the details, but what I can tell you is that yesterday was pretty much the coolest day in the whole three and a half years that I've been on this planet.

It started with a long ride on the freeway to this place called "Encino."
We got to this park, got out of the car and right in front of me was a truck and lots of tables full of food. Mom mixed me up some of the best oatmeal ever, topped off with almonds, berries and brown sugar. I never knew you could get such good food in a parking lot.

Before I knew it a van pulled up, we hopped in along with some guys Dad called "the crew," and we were on the road again. The van took us to a little street where some big trailers were parked. They looked like regular trailers from the outside, but inside is where my star treatment began. Right away I got to see James, the other little boy who had been "booked," and his mommy and we met this cool guy Jeff, our "set teacher." He played all kinds of games with us and kept us pretty busy all day.

It wasn't long before I was hopping from trailer to trailer...had my hair and make up done, got to put on some brand new clothes. Then next thing I knew we were in another van on our way to a house. This was not your ordinary house though. It was all done up with lights and cameras and there were people everywhere. Most of the time we were in the house I just played games with Jeff and James. But then my new friend Bob (Dad says he was the "1st A.D." which apparently makes him a pretty important guy) came over and said, "Are you ready Isaiah?" and he took me, Mom and Jeff to another room of the house that everyone kept calling the "set." It looked like an office to me.

Everyone paid a lot of attention to me on the set. Bob said all I had to do was run into the room, bang on the desk, shake a toy duck around to distract George, my TV dad, and then run away. Running, shaking and distracting? Those are pretty much my specialties. So I did that over and over again while all these very important people standing around watched on a screen and murmured to each other. But everyone kept saying I was doing a great job so I must have done it right.

The rest of the day involved a lot more playing with all my new friends and some more "working" on the set. I almost lost it once when they walked me through the backyard right past the coolest playground I'd ever seen and told me I couldn't play on it! But all in all it was a really fun day.

Oh, Mom and Dad want me to tell you to watch for the commercial. It's supposed to be on TV all over the country so everyone should get to see it. I think it's gonna be one of those Target commercials with the happy music. It's called "New Day,
New Ways to Save." Mom says my scene advertises an office chair. And here I thought I was the star of the show.

Anyhow, it's been an pretty exciting week. My friend Chris at the agency is excited and says hopefully I'll get to do a lot more cool jobs like this one. Sounds good to me...I'm always ready for my close-up!