A Wonderful Night!!!

I went to Austin to film a football game for Friday Night Lights. In one word, I can sum up the entire evening... AMAZING!!!! Our call time was 5:30 so we left San Antonio around 3:30 to dodge rush hour traffic. We got to set about 30 minutes early. We had a major chance of some severe weather and I had my phone doppler working in overtime. The air was sticky and muggy so it was evident that the dryline was setting up to the west. I love that feeling, but was concerned about the storms turning tornadic and us not having a place to take cover....

After signing in and taking care of all that stuff, we ate some dinner and waited at base camp to be called to the stadium. Everyone was in good moods. It wasn't a huge shoot so it was a lot more relaxed than a lot of other shoots I have been on.

We got called to the East Dillon stadium, a first for me. Talk about a very huge transition from West Dillon to East Dillon. That stadium...just wow.

Between setups on films, there was times we were just hanging out. Loriann and I walked below the bleachers... There was Kyle with his daughter and his dog. I knew that was probably our chance to get to talk to him. I wanted to at least one more time in case this was my last time to film. Kyle saw us and came over. He hugged Loriann and they talked about her surgery coming up. I chickend out and only shook his hand, but that's okay because I was there with him. I told him that we had met before, I was Jessie from Lubbock. He smiled and said it was good to see me again. I informed him that this too, was probably my last time to be on set. He asked why. I told him I was going to school. He flashed me a sly smile and asked "Where?" Almost like he knew, being that I was from Lubbock and all. I told him Tech and he approved. So I got a stamp of approval from Kyle to go to Tech. :-P His daughter was adorable too. She asked me if I had to go to school on Saturday's and when I told her yes, her eyes got huge and she just could not believe it. We also petted his dog and it was soaking up a lot of attention too.

We told him goodbye and he said, "Maybe we can come back for 13 more for you guys." I think he was meaning 13 more seasons. That would be cool in some ways. :) We went back up in the stands and I had one eye on filming and one eye on the sky. The storms weren't forming yet, but I knew they would.

Connie Britton (Tami Taylor), Brad Leland (Buddy Garrity), and the woman who plays Mindy Riggins got seated in the stands. We got moved down the row to sit right below them. We chatted with Connie and Brad. Connie was commenting on the weather and we showed her the doppler on my phone a few times. She was geniunely concerned for all of us extra's getting wet. When they wrapped them, she even told us bye and hoped we'd be okay. Brad thanked all of us as well. They were so kind.

After doing more filming, the storms were getting closer. The wind shifted west and feeded into it. It also got cooler. Then, the wind randomly picked up and they sent all of us to a hotel near set. We had to sit down in an area and wait. They fed us Subway and we just chilled for awhile. I checked over the dopplers and it was just too unpredictable to tell what was going to happen. They then sent us out on the field again. As we were walking back, a huge cluster of lightning lit up the sky. I was like, seriously? We can't film on an open field with metal and electrical equipment around us. No sooner than I thought that, Jacob and Tony, the PA's, said we were wrapped for the night.

If this was my last filming, I can say that I'm leaving satisfied. I got to talk to Kyle one last time and tell him my goodbyes. Filming was relaxed and fun and I got to see some friends I have made on set. What a great time. I'm truly blessed! :)