How I Signed With My First Agency

When I made the 2-day train journey to The Big Apple, I came with a distinct plan.

1. Find a place to live
2. Sign with the Fit Model Agency I've been in contact with.
3. Sign with an Acting Agency
4. Get a regular job

Today, we're gonna talk about the second point.  First, a little backstory.

There's this organization I was discovered at.  It's called Applause Rising Talent Showcase or The ARTS for short.  About 400-500 performers are hand selected by the enthusiastic international talent scout that runs the whole thing. She's a pretty cool cat.  You go for a week to the World Center Marriott in Orlando and perform in a variety of performances in front of leading executives of the Fashion and Entertainment Industry.

My goal was to get signed and move out to LA to pursue an acting career.  However, things didn't work out that way.  I was discovered by two former Ford Models who are leading experts in the Fashion Industry in New York.  (Now we're getting to the good part)

During the callback session, I was put in contact with the first Big and Tall Model to ever do it.  He put me in contact with the top rated fit model agency in New York.  While it snowed in Nebraska, there was things I needed to do before I moved to NY, so I was running all over trying to learn more about the business.

When it came time to move to NY, I was in constant contact with both the former Ford Model and the B&T model as well as the Agency.  When I met with the lead Booker (person who books the gigs for the models), she took my measurements and everything.  Then they put me into the system.  And boom, I was signed with an agency.

Now, there wasn't any exchange of signing papers and stuff.  If you're wondering why, I was perplexed as well.  Well, in NY, they don't have exclusivity.  What I mean when 'exclusivity' is mentioned, it means that unless you make good money for them (think whoever Dwayne Johnson is signed with, or a very experienced actor or model) you don't need to sign an exclusivity contract.  But I am signed with them and they will be getting paid when I get paid.

Now, I await my first call for a gig.  Wish me luck!

When Preparing a Move, Always Plan an Exit Strategy

Hello, everybody! Kevin Wright here from the Big Apple.  I've decided to start blogging about my adventure in NYC.  Now, back to the title.  What does that mean? What is an "Exit Strategy?"

Simply put, an exit strategy is something in which you seek to exit the situation you're currently in.  Why is an exit strategy important while planning for a move?

Firstly, you may not always move with as much money as you might need. The sweet spot it seems is to move with $10,000. I moved with only $1,000. Smart? Maybe not. But its the amount i decided i would move with. You must figure out what amount you would like to move with. $100?  $500?  $1000? $15,000? Figure out your desired amount and engrave that to memory.

Secondly, things may fall through. Your bank may be cleared out from an attempted hack.  You could get your personal effects stolen. A backpack or a purse holds debit cards and credit cards and a split second is all someone may need to swipe your stuff.

Finally, Have a way to pull yourself out.  If for whatever reason, you cant make it in the city you've moved to - in my case, New York City - I dont want to be homeless.  Giant metropolises are the worst place to go homeless in.  My exit strategy involves my mom buying a train ticket for me to leave the next day if something happens with the place I'm staying at now.

When planning your exit strategy, it doesnt just have to involve you.  Involve anyone who wants to be involved in your move.  Parents, siblings, grandparents, friends.  They all truly care about you and will pull you out if need be.

The exit strategy is a last ditch effort to save yourself before you drown.  Think of it as a chain connected to the cage protecting divers from sharks.  If something happens they yank on the chain and pull the divers back up to safety.

You never want to enact your exit strategy and something may happen to where you never have you worry about it.  But for the sake of sanity - and safety - when planning a move, always plan a way to get out of the move.

Tapout XT Week 5!

Good afternoon everybody! As you know, I'm Kevin Wright!  Today, I'll be talking about Ripped Conditioning XT + Ultimate Abs XT.  I'll also throw a calorie counter into the mix as well.

On Week 5, day 2 or Tuesday, I had the honor of doing Ripped Conditioning XT, and let me just say, it was as tough as Cardio XT.  As you guys know if you've read my blog, I'm not very good at cardio, but I am getting better as time goes on, I was actually able to stay with Karpenko and gang during Cardio XT day!  But I'm getting too ahead of myself.  So, what is Ripped Conditioning XT all about?  Simply, it's about losing fat, without losing muscle.  You do a lot of muscle blasting moves, such as -surprise- punches, kicks, and what not.  You also throw some band work and leg band work in there, and you've got yourself a muscle-kicking workout.  Ripped Conditioning XT is 41 minutes long, warm up and cool-down included, plus with the 15 minute Cardio XT, it'll be around the one hour mark.

Plus, since it was my 30th day of using tapout, I had to do a weigh-in!  I was really excited to see what my progress would be.  Below are the results from day 1, 10 and 30:

	Weight	Jean Size	Chest	Bicep	Waist
Day One	297	44	47	16	45.5
Day 10	293	43	48.5	17.5	41.25
Day 30	287		49.25	17	42

As you can see, I've already lost 10 pounds from first starting Tapout, and I've felt that I've lost weight too. I'm looking thinner and healthier as well.  Chest size has gone up considerably as well.  I wish that it'd be higher, but I can't be getting greedy about my progress.  Bicep size is up and down right now.  I deduced that the reason for that is because part of my arms were made of fat, but now that I'm slimming down, I'm losing that fat and my arms have gone down in measurements.  I'm starting to gain abs and I've felt thicker and tougher in my abdominal area, so I think it's okay that my waist has gone up, not to mention that I can see the top of my abs as well now!

At the beginning of the post, I alluded to using a calorie counter.  This counter is called MyFitnessPal.  This useful gadget tracks your exercise, water intake, measurements, and the amount of food you're taking in.  I feel that the important thing about this is the food because you can track everything non-food wise, but the MFP database contains the most diverse food recipes at a whopping 2 million foods and recipes.  In my opinion, it's the best way to track the food you eat and if they don't have a food you made, you can easily add it to the database.  I did that with the chicken salad I made on Friday.  If you're serious about losing weight, but don't know where to start, MyFitnessPal is the best way to start.  They also have an app for Android - MyFitnessPal Android and Apple - MyFitnessPal iPhone, iPad

So today, I talked about Ripped Conditioning XT which builds and tones muscle, my weigh-in where I'm seeing a good amount of progress, and MyFitnessPal which is a pretty nifty gadget and also provided links to Android and Apple services.

Remember, don't forget to add me on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+!  Don't forget to comment as well to let me know how i'm doing!

Facebook - Kevin Wright
Twitter - @TheKevinWright
Google+ - Kevin Wright

Have a good day, everyone!

Day 14: Rest Day Plus You'll Learn More About Me!

Hey all my visitors! If you read the title, today's my rest day!  Yay!  It was well deserved too but tomorrow, I'll be back at it with Cross Core Combat, wait for that!

So today, I'd tell you all a little more about me.  Well for one, I was born on October 25, 1991 in New Jersey.  As it has become a staple with learning I'm from New Jersey, I don't not claim Jersey Shore.  That show ticks me off >:( .  Anywho, I moved to Nebraska when I was four and have lived in various places in one town while we lived there and also made a move up to Minnesota.  I think Minnesota was the funnest time for me ever!  I met awesome friends, and I had such a fun time.  Building snow forts, to going to the Mall of America, to driving around the city of Burnsville, MN I just had so much fun.

Next, I'll tell you about my hobbies.  The biggest and most important hobby is that I am a gamer.  I play Playstation 3 and PC with the occasional playing Xbox 360, but I will only play a friends, I will not own one myself.  I can't afford to pay for Xbox Live every year (broke college student.)  I love games so much, that I run my own clan, known as the B3YOND Players.  We're growing in the League of Legends division of the B3P but we also have players on PS3, Xbox and the Wii.  My favorite game to date is Mirror's Edge.  I'm a big lover of modern things and running through a gleaming "utopia" which is ultra-modern is absolutely mind-melting for me!  Some games i play are: Beat Hazard Ultra (PC), The Sims 3 (PC), Uncharted Series (PS3, Vita), and DB Ultimate Tenkaichi (PS3.)  I'm an all-round gamer so I can handle my own on most games.

I've only told you one of my hobbies but what about the others?  Well first off, I like to take long walks on the beach...wait.  Scratch that.  We have no beaches in Nebraska!!  One of my hobbies, being that I am a college football player, is to weight lift.  Because I had gotten a season-ending injury this last season, I could not do any sort of weight lifting.  During the summer before my diagnosing of my meniscus tear (it happened during two a days), I turned to Tapout XT to do body weight training while I completed my own person workout I started while back in high school.  I still don't have it finished yet haha.  We finished this season with a new head coach with 4 wins and 6 losses.  It's not the glamorous life, but other teams have finished with worse.

Since this post is getting kind of long, I'll just rush through the others since they're easy.  I like to listen to music, lounge around, make quotes (I make them all the time, contemplating making a book of them), and also working on my sims 3 world, which i plan on posting pictures here soon.

Just so you know, I don't just plan on talking about Tapout in this blog.  I also plan on giving weight room tips, PS3 game reviews (if i can spare the time or money) and others!  Post in the comments something that you might like me to write about!  Have a good day, visitors!