Have you ever played the game “Two Lies and One Truth?”  If not, let’s play it together right now.  I will start and then you can leave a comment with your 3 statements and then your cyber friends and I online will guess which one is the truth!  Here goes…

1.  I went sky diving in California right after I graduated from high school.
2.  I was once a rock star for about 10 seconds.
3.  I swam with dolphins in Hawaii during our last trip.

Anyone know the answer?  If you know me at all, you will know that I do not like heights of any kind.  I avoid them at all costs so number 1 is definitely a lie.  I do have a friend who has sky dived in California though.  I will vicariously live through her, when anything is over 10 feet in height!

I do love Hawaii and I have been their multiple times in high school, college and when I was married, but I am not that brave when it comes to the ocean.  On our honeymoon, we stayed on the island of Oahu.  One day we went snorkeling at Hanauma Bay.

I put my gear on and started to walk into the water, I was probably only up to my thighs when I put my face in the water and started to panic.  All I could see was sand moving all around me which looked to me like a very big something was coming for me.

Needless to say, I ran back to the shore and never stepped foot into the water again. I later realized that it was probably just the hundreds of people that I was in the water with too since I wasn’t out far enough to see a thing!  So, no the answer to number 3 is a definite “no” swimming with dolphins.  It sounds magical but I am a bit too chicken to try it.  I’d rather stay behind the glass at Sea World and enjoy the show.

That leaves number 2, yes, I had about 10 seconds of rock star fame.  Pretty cool right?  Let me back up a bit and share with you how I got to my 10 seconds of fame.  When I was in middle school my two older siblings were called on missions for our church.  My sister was heading to Utah and my brother to Korea.  I was number 4 of 6 kids and it was going to be tight financially to help support them.

My mom had an idea to get the kids into extra work on tv, movies, commericals, etc.  We hired an agent, took portfolio pictures and started a unique journey during my middle school and part of my high school years.  I had my first job permit at 13 and began to make a little money.

One day I went to an audition for an upcoming music video.  I don’t remember too much from that experience other than the fact that I had no clue who Soundgarden was.  I was a Reggae fan in a big way and hard rock or alternative music was no way even close to my interests in music at the time.  I remember having to act out how to put up laundry, strange right?  Well, if you have seen the movie maybe you’ll understand that “strange” and “weird” are just a few words that might describe the music video called “Black Hole Sun.”  There were a couple hundred girls also auditioning for the same part.

I got a call back saying I got the part and then we spent 2 to 3 days filming my part.  Now, my experience in the film industry was pretty much as an “extra” meaning if I was lucky you might of seen my feet or “fro” (I had super curly hair at the time) in a shot but that was about it.  Sometimes when the “extra” actors are in large numbers for a specific film, they would call them “cattle calls.”  Seriously, my humanity was degraded to cattle!?

Since elementary school, I wanted to be a Director or Film Editor.  My friends and I would practice our plays I would write during recess and I still remember a kit kat bar commercial we were working on.  If YouTube was around back then, who knows how far we would of gone!

With all kidding aside, I had my eyes set on going to USC where my brother eventually graduated from dental school and I would graduate in Cinematography.  As I began to go on set to film during shows and work such as Hocus Pocus, Salute Your Shorts, Toys, Hero, Hanging With Mr. Cooper, Step By Step and many more, I learned a few lessons that in my young eyes made a huge impact on me as well as my career choice.

Let’s head back to our music video experience and then I will try and explain what lessons I learned since I didn’t understand what was going on until after I filmed the music video.

We began filming on location somewhere in Los Angeles and then at the Charlie Chaplin Studios.  At this point, I still had no clue who Soundgarden was.  I remember sitting in the make up artist chair and after finishing my makeup, she looked at my hair and had no idea what to do with it all!  I asked for a comb and pretty much did it myself.  Then they threw a white shirt over my outfit so that it wouldn’t get stained until we filmed my portion of the music video.

While waiting for my scene to be set up, I was snacking in a court yard area within the studio.  An animal trainer/owner happened to be there at the same time and was holding a monkey, but I think he really is an Orangutan.  I wanted to take a closer look at him so I walked right next to him and he jumped right on to me and wrapped his arms and legs around me!!  Oh, my was I shocked!  It was the coolest thing ever to hold an orangutan in my arms.  Maybe I should of used that for one of my truths above instead, I bet you wouldn’t of believed that truth!

When it was my turn to film, I did what I call the crazy face scene that is found in the music video below where I turn my head and smile.  I know pretty creepy and then the screaming part was filmed at the same time.  The other parts of me “jumping rope” which would later become my signature, was filmed on location in front of someone’s home.

I remember that the director was so very kind to me.  At some point, I was cold and he gave me his own jacket to wear.  I thought “wow” that’s cool, I feel pretty important here instead of just being an “extra” like I had always been before.  This was the first time it was just me, the director, a camera and I am sure a ton of others working behind-the-scenes around me, but no one else being filmed.  I was the “star” for about 10 seconds!

As I got out of my “wardrobe” as it is called and getting ready to leave the studio, I saw a few older guys at least to me they looked old walking through the studio.  Once the music video was aired, I realized that those were probably the band members like Chris Cornell.  I wish I would of stopped and said “Hi” or better yet grabbed a picture instead all I have is me and an orangutan!

This music video happened in 1994 while I was in the middle of high school.  Once it was aired, it quickly became the number one music video of the year and was viewed on MTV millions of times.  On YouTube alone it has been viewed over 1.64 billion times and that’s not counting the years it was on tv before YouTube was even created.  Later on, my husband and I were visiting London and ate at the Hard Rock Cafe when “Black Hole Sun” was playing and even my sister while living in Argentina saw it playing on someone’s tv.

The music video hit the number one spot on the Billboard’s Chart in 1994 and the band won the Grammy Awards for the song in 1995.  I like to think that I was about as much help in making it a number one hit as a tiny grain of sand is to the entire shore in helping it’s success or at least that’s what I dream about at night.  Actually, if I truly did dream about that video, it would probably be a nightmare.  It has to be one of the weirdest, craziest and strangest music videos ever made.  Go figure, my 10 seconds of fame would be tied to such a video and I would be known as the “jump rope girl.”

I remember in high school, everyone knew about the music video, I mean let’s be real, it’s hard to miss my braces and big hair when you are full screen!  Luckily, everyone thought it was the coolest thing ever and even years later, I have had people say, when I might confess to being in that video, that I was the jump rope girl, they would say “You were the jump rope girl? That’s awesome!”  They had that awe in their voice that made me feel like a 10 second rock star!

So, what lessons did I learn about during my years as an “extra” and “10 seconds of being a rock star?”  Well, I quickly realized that I was the same person whether you saw just my feet or it was only me featured on the screen.  I didn’t change, myself worth was intact no matter how much the “film industry” wanted to label me.

Yet, while on the set of many shows, I felt like I was a nobody.  I was treated differently and I didn’t notice until I was the “star for 10 seconds.”  It left a bitter taste in my mouth and I have come too realize why so many problems happen to those that are in the spotlight.  Just because their job happens to be acting, there self worth and importance to others isn’t any different then a trash man, a waitress, a mother, a doctor, the President of the United States or myself.

Our worth is not based on how much “time” we spend in the spotlight, but what is in our heart.  It has been said and I believe this statement to be true that “ALL HUMAN BEINGS—male and female—are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny.” (The Family: A Proclamation to the World)

I know that I am of worth and so are you!  We each have a divine nature that does not come from “billboard charts” or “cattle calls.”  Our journey here on earth is to find out how we can touch the lives of others in a way that will build up and not tear down whether we find our career as an actor or mother.  We too can play the part and act in a way that can bring joy, hope and peace to the world.

And that’s what I learned during my 10 seconds of fame as a rock star.

I started scrapbooking in middle school.  Here’s a design I did about my experience.  To find out what I am currently working on in regards to scrapbooking, check out the link here.  A special thank you to my mother who has always been the family historian.  So grateful for these pictures!  Read about “Mothers Wanted: Family Historians.”

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