When people ask what I do for a living, I tell them I'm a cab driver. It's how I make the bulk of my money, it's my steady gig, it's my day job. There are those weeks, however, when just for a moment, I think I'm something else. I really think I'm an actor. Not just an actor, but a good actor. It's more than a touch egocentric, but I do let the feeling wash over me from time to time. This week was one of those weeks.

First off, I began rehearsals for a play called "Hillary." It's a modern Greek tragedy based on the life of Hillary Rodham Clinton, and I play her husband Bill. Maybe you've heard of them. We had a read-thru on Monday night and loosely blocked the entire play on Tuesday night. The latter was a long evening, but it reminded me I need to get back into rehearsal shape. We have five more weeks of rehearsal before we run the show for three weekends. Two months of guaranteed acting. You can't beat that.

Except for the fact that this is community theatre, which means it's unpaid work. I really don't mind unpaid acting, mainly because get roles that I would never be allowed to perform otherwise. I can think of one other actor in town who would be a great Bill Clinton, and would probably beat me out in an audition for the role. He's an equity actor, though, and they don't do hardly any theatre for free. Therefore, good ol' Chris gets the good role. I'm already perfecting my raspy southern drawl.

On Wednesday, I did get some paid acting work. I'm part of a group called The Crisis Company, and we basically do scenario role playing for special interest groups. This time it was for the police cadets. I portrayed a man wanting to jump off the overpass of the Interstate, and the cadets had to attempt to talk me off the bridge in a safe manner. I did this for three separate groups in the span of five hours. I get paid about 15 bucks an hour to do this.

The cadets get practice with their verbal skills, and I get to work my tragic emotions while rewarding good comments and stinging bad ones. I've done this scenario a handful of times before, and I haven't jumped off yet. That would be pretty bad.

Just so you know, I did drive the cab for three twelve-hour shifts this week, so even with my acting, I still had to make a living.

On Friday, I was back doing Crisis Company work, but this time with health care professionals. It was a pilot endeavor for the company, and they wanted to impress these folks, so they can get regular gigs. I was honored to be part of the group of five actors to do these scenarios for the first time.

They gave me one called Disgruntled Juvenile. Since there are no children in the Crisis Company, they let me play a kid half my age. There were two variations on the disgruntled juvenile. He is refusing to go to school because either he is upset with his dad for putting him in the facility. We call this rage-depression. The second variation involves sexual abuse by the step dad, and the kid suffers from PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder). Many of them commented how professional of a job I did. Acting! Genius! Thank you!

I did my best angst-ridden seventeen year old for five different groups over eight hours. If you've ever tried to act all day, it can be extremely exhausting. I had no emotions left when I got home, but again, I got paid 15 bucks an hour for it.

When I got home, I had a message for me from a local film director, who was looking for someone to play a small part as a male nurse in a short comedy film he was shooting this weekend. One of the artistic directors from a local theatre company recommended me. No pay, but I rarely get to be in any movies, short or long, paid or not. That chunk of my resume always needs improving.

This morning, I went to a local hospital, put on some scrubs, acted and reacted in a comedic style. I had one line ("I want to be that guy") and three quick scenes altogether. I was in and out in three hours. That's what I love about film. When they're done with you, you get to go home.

So there you have it. Stage, screen and educational acting all in one week. I won't lie. I would love for this hobby to be my full-time job. If I was being paid at a professional rate for the acting I did this week, it would have been over a thousand dollars worth of work. In actuality, it was less than two hundred dollars of paid work and some quality practice otherwise. You can't get paid acting without doing a lot of acting for free.

I can still dream the dream, but there's always that nagging conscience reminding me: Don't quit your day job. So true. Get back to work, Chris.

Chris Jungle can play the part if you let him.