I have to go to a funeral

Is probably not the thing one should say after your solo routine while rushing to get to set. Especially with zero context. And yet those were the exact words that came out of my mouth.

So for context — I was a volunteer extra for a musical being filmed, and the scene that day happened to be a funeral. That's it. That's the whole thing.

Now that we've cleared that up, here's what that day actually looked like.

I had a dance competition in the morning and had to be on set that same afternoon, which sounds kind of cool until you're literally living it. We're talking still in competition hair, full stage makeup, running to the car with all my stuff. Very chaotic. Very not glamorous. (It was not glamorous at all.)

The transition from competing to being on a film set within a couple hours is genuinely one of the weirder things I've experienced. One minute you're waiting for scores trying not to spiral, and the next you're in a parking lot attempting to fix your hair before walking onto a set. I ate a granola bar at some point. I think that was dinner.

Here's the thing though — it actually worked out? Being in performance mode all morning just kind of carried over. Like my brain had already done the whole okay we're performing now thing and just kept going. I was way less nervous on set than I usually am and I genuinely think it's because I'd already done the hard part.

The funeral wasn't real. The exhaustion absolutely was. Would I do it again though? Yeah probably.