Decisions, Decisions

Well, this weekend I have learned a very important lesson: Laura needs her alone time. Seriously. No for real, give it to me. GIVE IT TO ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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I was feeling really stressed last week and almost even depressed. I could not figure out what was wrong. Friday I had most of the day free except for rehearsal from 4:30-7:30. I pretty much spent the day by myself. I watched more of "Weeds" (sooo funny...) and just rested. Friday night, the group was going to a Swing Club (where they do swing dancing, not where married couples hook up with other people) and I felt like maybe I should go. I don't want to miss out on anything! But I didn't and stayed home, went to bed at a decent hour rather than paying $10 to get into a club where I probably wouldn't have danced anyway. Saturday I went to get something to eat (and got a fabulous, cheap brunch down the street, it was sooo good) then headed off to the library to get more DVDs. I had lovely chats with Mom, Dad, Andrea, and Julie on the phone. It always makes me feel better to talk to my family on the phone. Seriously, family, I love you! I don't know what I would do without you! Saturday evening I had dinner at my residence and then watched a new DVD, "Sweeney Todd" (the Johnny Depp version). After all this, I felt so much better and I think I realized I just need some quiet, alone time! Wow, I sound like a dork, but I guess it is good to know yourself. I will be sure to fit this into my schedule now, and I am learning it's okay to say no to some things. Sometimes it's better to just stay home!

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Saturday night I finally felt like doing something, so I went out with Jenna and Owain. Owain's roommate was performing in a short sketch comedy show near Times Square and so we went to that. It was $10 admission, but it was worth it, because it reminded my of why I wanted so badly to come here in the first place...to PERFORM! NYC has endless opportunities if you're only looking for them. Which brings me to my next conclusion: I do want to stay here. Yes it's scary, but I don't want to leave yet! However, I also do not want to accumulate a lot of debt, so if I cannot find a job, then it's goodbye New York (for now). So the job search is back ON! I applied for 2 yesterday, and this week I am going to make an extra effort to keep going on these open calls. I still don't know what I am going to tell my apartment, but I have until Friday to decide. After the show, we went to get coffee (I am now a coffee ADDICT, by the way...I love it) and then went home. This is the kind of thing I like to do! Not go out to clubs or bars. Today I have been taking it easy again (I love the weekend!) and probably going to church again this evening (where we get free coffee, yum). Oh yeah, before the show last night, I walked around Times Square a little bit, so here are some photos for your viewing pleasure! :-)

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Here are a few shots of Radio City Music Hall:

See this one below? I had to look into this. It turns out that they are showing "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" and whenever the music plays, a live symphony orchestra is going to play it! OMG, if I am still in NYC in October, I will find a way to go to this...

Here is a picture of NBC Studios, my future employer. They don't know that yet, though.

Oh yeah, one last thing. Julie: is this the place you were telling me about? Stardust Diner? The wait staff sings. Well, I have to draw the line somewhere. I am NOT working here!

Pictures

These are pictures from "Inside the Actor's Studio" ... I tried to put them on my last blog, but it kept messing up the formatting (arrgh, technology)! Here is a picture of our group. We took up an entire row!

A close up of the set:

And farther out. There were a lot of people in the audience!

Long Time No See

Dear Blog,

I am sorry I have neglected you all week. To make up for it, I will now attack you with a slew of words about this week as best I can. I am already forgetting what I did 4 days ago!

I think Sunday I laid around mostly but I did go to church in the evening and it was back to good. It was a continuation on the life of David called "God gives David a Community." The preacher (pastor? I never know what to call it! <- embarrassing confession) said that becoming a Christian is revolutionary. I understood what he meant at the time, but cannot explain it now. Well I think he meant it isn't easy. Monday I went to class and we got to do our scene. I am now liking the scene a lot. I left Voice and Speech class a little early to go to Audition #2. This was for a touring children's production of a "Junie B. Jones" book. The ad told us to dress like the character, so when I arrived to the audition, there were about 30 girls all dressed like a first grader. It was really annoying. I arrived at 1 PM for sign in and at about 4:20 PM I got to go in for about 5 minutes to do my monologue. I had only picked it out on Saturday so it was not as well prepared as I would have liked but it went okay. The director asked me if all my contact info and email was correct and it was but I have not heard anything. Monday night we had a Career Counseling class (usually on Fridays but we were making up for this Friday when she'll be gone). We talked about resumes. Because of the odd time, about half the class did not show up so we got more individual attention, which means that people asked a lot more stupid questions.

Oh, I should probably let you know, I am a little cranky due to lack of sleep so this might not be the cheeriest blog ever!

On Tuesday we of course had acting and then the singing class. Singing did not go as well as last time but I think I know why (the pianist had changed the key then forgot so we were both confused). The teacher also told me I had a sweet and lovely voice but it will not get me jobs if I don't get bigger and louder. I know what he means and it was good advice. Tuesday night, some of my classmates and I went to a free screening of "Inside the Actor's Studio" (a TV show on Bravo hosted by James Lipton). The guest was Amy Poehler, most known for her run on SNL. I like Amy Poehler and think she is really funny. I half expected her to be wild and zany on the interview but she was totally normal and calm, with a good bit of funny moments still. The interview was very inspiring, but also very long (about 3 hours)! He could have gone without the detailed questions about her childhood (i.e. what elementary school did you go to - who cares!)...but overall it was good.

Wednesday we had class (acting and voice & speech) and it was mostly uneventful. After class I hung around at school until I had to go to my first rehearsal for Clownsville. I had to take the F train down to East Broadway (southeast end of Manhattan close to Brooklyn). Well, on this lovely day of days, the F train was broken, or something, but I did not really know because I could not understand what they were saying on the PA. So I ended up on a different track and had to get out and walk across the island of Manhattan via Canal Street, a busy and crowded street running through China Town, and it just happened to be particularly hot and muggy this day. Needless to say, I was not a happy girl. But eventually I made it to rehearsal. All the people are nice and some are professional actors just starting out (like me, I guess)! The script is pretty funny and I like my part. I am excited to do a comedy show, it has been quite a while. The show will be August 25, 26, and 29 (Tues., Wed., and Sat.). I will let you all know if they add more dates, because I know you can all make it, right? Just kidding ;-) They told us the theatre name but I forget it.

After that, I should have gone to bed, but instead I went to see Harry Potter with some classmates! It was a pretty good movie. Never a dull moment. I still need to see the others.

Which brings us to today. Acting, again, and then movement. Yoga, which was torture, again, and then we did some more spatial relation exercises. I was getting frustrated in class because some people do not pay attention and listen, and then the teachers have to explain it all over again and we lose time. And they can't follow simple instructions, like stand still with your hands at your sides. I am aching to work with serious, professional people! Maybe grad school would be good.

Tonight I have been relaxing and watching "Weeds," a TV show I rented from the New York Public Library (woot woot). It is an awesome show and very addicting! Now I am going to try once again to go to bed early. Wish me luck!

P.S. I hope you all had fun at the reunion! I mean, as much fun as you could have without me around of course.

UPDATE!

I got a call tonight and found out I was cast in said musical mentioned below! I am going to be in an off-broadway musical! Yay! I will let everyone know the details when I learn them. I am excited, but I am taking this good news with a bit of reservation. I am suspicious of good things and happiness, I can't help it. But the people at the audition were really nice, and I think it will be fun. Oh, I am playing Wendleton, a nerdy ventriliquist (no comments)! We'll see how it goes. Our first rehearsal is Wednesday, and the performance will be at the end of August!

Halfway Point.

Ah, how I love lazy Sundays...the laziness is much needed! For some reason last week seemed very busy, but it was a good week nonetheless.

Thursday we had acting class of course and then movement. In movement, we did some more really hard yoga and then some exercises in "spatial relations." Afterwards my classmates were going off on an adventure to the village, and as hard as it was to say no, I did because I had my very first..... NEW YORK CITY audition at 4:15! I went home to change and relax until I had to leave. The audition was in midtown and I was called into a small little room with the pianist, the director, and the writer/assistant director. The audition was for his new musical called "Clownsville" which is about a man who falls asleep at his boring 9-5 office job (I can relate!) and wakes up in Clownsville, a magical land he created as a child, and he re-discovers his youth or something along those lines. Anyway I had to sing 16 bars and I chose my favorite audition song, "If I were a Bell" from Guys and Dolls. I was pretty nervous, but I actually did all the relaxation things we are being taught in school and it helped me to stay calm and I sang the song pretty well. Then I had to do a comedic monologue. The director then had me improvise a little bit and it was fun, then I did a "cold reading" from the script with another actor (that's when they hand you the script and you read it and act it out as best you can). Overall it went pretty well and everyone was very nice. It would be a non-paid gig but would be at an off-Broadway theatre (!). But even if I don't get it, I am glad I went. It is good to have my first audition here out of the way!

Thursday night I went to a free musical theatre workshop at my school. It was pretty useful, but they had people go up one by one and get individual critiques and I did not get called. That's okay though - I guess I had put my nerves through enough for one day.

Friday morning I had musical theatre and I got to sing my song for the first time with the piano and an audience. It went okay, but I am learning that there is so much more to musical theatre than just singing your song. You actually have to act it, too! Jeez, what do they expect? Then I had career counseling and it was cool. My teacher said that with the economy the way it is, and with our young ages, it's actually better NOT to join a union right now (like Actor's Equity). She also said it's a good time to become an actor and I wondered if she was smoking crack, but it'd be awesome if she's right. After that we all went to lunch and I started feeling really dizzy so I went home and after talking to Julie on the phone for a while I took a much needed nap. That night I went out with everyone and I realized that I am old! I have no desire to get krunk or go clubbing. I'm not sad about it, it's actually quite a blessing from above because there was a time when I did have those desires, and indulged them. But sometimes it makes it hard to relate to people. Friday night I started missing my family very much and wishing I was at the reunion and I sort of had a mental breakdown and started crying! It was just the culmination of everything, and it can be quite overwhelming here in NYC and with all the info we are getting in class. But it's okay, I'm not afraid of crying because once I had done it I felt a lot better! :-)

Saturday I went to the Morningside Heights Library to get a book I had on hold and then went to the Performing Arts Library at Lincoln Center. Here is a picture:

The library is having a free Katharine Hepburn movie series on Saturdays, and this day it was "Morning Glory." The movie was kind of dumb, but she was great. I think I was the youngest person in the theatre. After the movie, I perused the stacks and found a new monologue for another audition I have on Monday (more to come on that). Then I went home for dinner. Saturday night I hung out with Jenna and Owain and we were going to see a movie (500 Days of Summer) but it was sold out. Bummer. So we went and got some really good coffee then went to Jenna's and watched a movie.

Today I am going to try and find a good thrift store because the audition tomorrow wants you to dress like the character! I am going to try and make it to church tonight too (hopefully it won't be quite as boring). Hope everyone enjoyed the reunion! Here are some more pictures....

I realized I never took a picture of my school, so here it is from the outside:

Also, while walking home one day, I realized it was quite near the Empire State Building:

Here is a picture of the city at night, after the musical theatre workshop on Thursday.

Friday night we got off at the Bleecker St. station and I had to take a picture! It's the namesake of one of my favorite Simon and Garfunkel songs. "Thirty dollars pays your rent, on Bleecker Street..."

And just for Dad, I passed this restaurant on the Upper West Side near Morningside Heights Library. I think they filmed the outside of this place for "Seinfeld," although I am sure he'll correct me if I'm wrong!

Hump Day Update

Sadly, I have no pictures to post today...sorry :-( I don't know why I have not been taking any pictures lately!

Tuesday was good. We had acting and we did our scene for the first time in front of class. I thought it was horrible, but the teacher said what I was doing was good. I thought it was boring but my classmates said it was not. After that we had singing class. After doing warm-ups, we got up one by one to sing our individual song in front of the class and then the teacher critiqued us. I was sooo nervous but managed to get through the song okay. I didn't think it was very good though (I definitely missed a couple notes because of nerves and having never done the song before) but when I got done my teacher said I had a lovely voice and not to change anything. We did put it into a higher key more suited for my voice level. I am beginning to wonder if self-confidence (or lack thereof) is going to be my biggest obstacle. Hmm...do they have a school where they teach that? ;-)

After school we got lunch and then went back to the library. I read the full play that my scene is from (Doubt which is an AMAZING play if you're interested)! I also copied another song that the voice teacher said would be good for my range, "Til There was You" from The Music Man (the Beatles also did a rendition I believe). Afterwards I went with my friend Owain to get some coffee and we hung out and talked about future life goals. He is from Wales but wants to come to America permanently. It is really hard to come to America permanently!

In the evening, I went to an open call for a new restaurant opening in the Times Square/Theatre District. I interviewed with a service assistant and then the Maitre'd (sp?) and they said they'd be making decisions by the end of the week. I think it went okay, but you can never tell. He said they were holding second interviews, but he did not ask me for one at the time. Who knows... back to the Brandon for dinner, fried shrimp and it was delicious!

Wednesday we had acting again, and voice and speech in the second period. Mostly uneventful, except I got to recite a Shakespeare Sonnett in the second class which was okay. I did pick out a Shakespeare monologue that I will do for grad school auditions in the future, it's from Othello and it's really good. I am excited to have that out of the way. After class, I went to Chipotle and got a yummy burrito and then my scene parter and I went to Madison Square Park to rehearse for almost 2 hours. It was good. Then I went walking around to various stores trying to find a cheap Yoga mat for movement class tomorrow (winner: Old Navy, $14.50). Tonight I went to the library and printed off copies of my theatre resume, and checked out some more DVDs that I probably won't watch again! Oh well. Now I am going to try once again to do the thing I have failed at every day this week: go to bed EARLY! I am exhausted. Goodnight!

More Fun in NYC

So I just got back from a pre-screening of the new TNT television series "Dark Blue," starring Dylan McDermott, who came in after the screening for a Q&A session! The event was at my school and I took one of my many "roommates," Jinee, along with me. The pilot episode was actually pretty good, and it was nice to watch some TV! I have not really watched any since I've been up here. Mr. McDermott seemed to be a really nice guy, and talked about his life as an actor and how he got to where he is now. He waited tables until he was 23 years old, then quit because he decided he was going to make a living as an actor, and (luckily) he did! He studied for 7 years before that, at Fordham University, Neighborhood Playhouse, and the Actor's Studio. It was fun. The show is about undercover cops, and it premieres this Wednesday at 10 PM. I recommend it, especially if you like cop shows!

Backing up to Sunday, we unfortunately did not get tickets for Twelfth Night. The Public Theatre gives away free tickets for the summer Shakespeare in the Park series and, as a result, they go very quickly. They open the "box office" for same-day tickets at 1PM in Central Park, but people line up as early as 4 AM. My friend got there at 7 AM and it was too late. They also do a "virtual line" which is like an online lottery, but none of us won. Oh well...I really wanted to see it, but I don't know if I wanted it so bad as to get up at 3:30 AM and wait in line for 9+ hours!

So Sunday I pretty much chilled out. I did go uptown and apply for a hostess position at a little French cafe. Which basically just consisted of me walking in, handing in my resume, and walking out. The manager said they have been getting so much interest that they are going to screen all the resumes and start calling people by the end of this week. So cross your fingers! Tomorrow I am going to apply for a job at a new restaurant opening, so hopefully they will have a lot of positions open! Hopefully...

At 5 PM I went to church again at Redeemer Presbyterian. They continued to discuss the life of David. The title was "God gives David a Friend" and it was about David and Jonathan. Unlike last time, this sermon was extremely boring and I had to struggle not to fall asleep. It was a different preacher so maybe that was why, I don't know. Anyway they are worth another chance, so hopefully next Sunday will be better...

Sunday evening I met my scene partner in Central Park and we worked on our scene from Doubt (which for now mainly consists of trying to memorize the lines)! I have come to like it and I think (hope) it will be good. My lines are pretty easy, and she is stuck with the big paragraphs! But it's a good scene.

Sunday night I could NOT fall asleep for anything, but I would not miss class for the WORLD! Today he made people go up and recite their lines. If they didn't know their lines he made them sit down. He wasn't mad but said you cannot really work on a scene until you know your lines (I love this teacher - I couldn't agree more)! Our turn did not come today, so we have another night to try and memorize! I think I have my lines down, but we'll see tomorrow. After that was Voice & Speech class. This class is kind of boring but now we are reciting Shakespeare Sonnets which is pretty cool. She's just trying to correct any speech issues we have.

After class, we ate lunch and then I went into the school library because they have sound booths and I needed to practice my song for tomorrow (eek). Then I found I was getting really irritated with everyone and everything, so I decided it best to go home and take a nap...and what a glorious nap it was. I forgot how much I love mid-day naps! Then it was dinner and off to AADA for the screening.

Time is starting to become a reality to me. August 7th (last day of classes) is not far off, and I am already starting to feel a twinge of sadness. I wish I could afford to study year round at somewhere like the Neighborhood Playhouse or the William Esper Studio, but it's SO expensive (about $13K per year, plus housing costs). I have a feeling I really need to start thinking about whether I really want to go to grad school (for an MFA) or not. I mean, of course I do, but would I be wasting precious time that I could be trying to find work? Which is more valuable? Hmm...lots of questions! But for now, it's bed time...good night!

Oh wait I almost forgot...here is a photo of my friend Tania posing with Dylan:

He is really good looking in person, and has very blue eyes!

I also took a picture of my street at night on the walk home, because the sky was very beautiful, but it did not turn out so well in the picture. Here it is anyway:

Weekend Update

Friday turned out to be a pretty good day! I started with Musical Theatre at 9 AM. Our class is all female, and I am the oldest. The youngest is 17! The teacher is pretty young herself, no more than 30, and went to school for music at NYU. We started the class with vocal warm-ups. We were supposed to have a song prepared for the class so she could hear what our voice is like and assign us a new song. I ended up going last, because I was not too excited about having all these people hear me sing! But it went okay. I sang "If I Were a Bell" from Guys and Dolls (great song). I was a little nervous but got through the song decently. She assigned me "Mr. Snow" from Carousel. I downloaded the song and it's really cute! It's higher than the song for my other class.

Next I had "Career Counseling." The teacher is a casting director and she's really funny, but goes on tangents easily. We went around the room and said why we wanted to be in this business. It was a little hokey but she said it was important to remember why we want to do this in the first place. I can see her point. She talked a lot about what we are going to cover in the class, which was a lot! I hope we can get to it all. At the end of class she said her friend needs some extras for his film and told us to email her our headshot/resume for consideration. Groovy! Not holding my breath though...

After class we got lunch and then I went to Herald Square, which has some really good shopping. I went into Forever 21, another of my favorite stores. I have discovered this is really good motivation for me to apply for jobs. I just look at all the things I'd like to buy, and it lights a fire under my ass! Whatever works, I guess! When I got home, I changed and went on my first in-person application journey. I went to Calle Ocho, a nice Latin restaurant on the UWS about a 10 minute walk from me. They had posted an ad for servers on Craigslist. There were about 6-7 other people applying at the same time. I finished my application first (probably because I did not have answers to some of the questions!) and a manager came out to speak to me. He was very nice and seemed to be interested in my catering experience. He said the servers average $100 per shift on weekdays and $140 on weekends. He told me that he would be sending all the applications to the main manager who would be seeing people for additional interviews on Tuesday. Again, I'm not holding my breath. It's been a few years since I've waited tables, plus they like people to have "New York experience"...and it seems they will have plenty of people to choose from! There were some questions on the app about alcohol, like what is a dirty martini, why do you decant wine, and I had no idea. Ideally I would love to get a serving job where there is no alcohol, because with it comes a plethora of additional knowledge you are supposed to have! Anyway it was a good experience regardless and it made me realize that it's not hard, and I think if I do it enough I will get something eventually. One guy who was applying (and had his 2 years NYC experience) said he usually gets a job within a few days, but has been trying for 3 weeks now and still has not gotten anything. Sign of the times I guess!

Friday night I met up with my classmates for a night on the town! We went to a little restaurant/pub (of course I did not eat as I had already had my meal at the Brandon)! Here is my favorite picture of the night...

I really like all my classmates! Will be sad when they leave.

Today I have just been resting and taking it easy...it's been awesome! I did get an urge to take a walk and did not want to stay here, so I took the subway downtown. I got off near Ground Zero and walked by it. It looked about the same as when I saw it 6 years ago. They have built some towers nearby (Freedom Towers I think?) but the actual site looks the same. From what I can tell anyway...they have most of it blocked off and there were already tons of people anywhere there was a sightline, and I did not want to see it that bad. I did not take any pictures of it. Too sad and depressing. So then I walked around the financial district. All the streets are very narrow with very tall buildings, including Wall Street! Here it is:

This is the New York Stock Exchange. I don't really know what they do here, but it looks important! After perusing that area, I wandered down to Battery Park where you can see the Statue of Liberty from afar:

After the park, I was headed back to the subway when I passed Trinity Episcopalian Church which is beautiful on the outside...

as well as the inside:

I sat in the pew and rested for a while, and walked around the church. I loved being in there, it was so still, quiet, and peaceful. Then it was back out into the hustle and bustle of the streets so I could head home for dinner and laundry! On a Saturday night...I am so cool! Well, it's bedtime, and I am exhausted! It's raining right now, and I love sleeping to the rain... tomorrow I have to get up and moving early because we are going to try and get tickets for the final performance of the Public Theatre's Twelfth Night in Central Park. But first, here is one last picture from today!

Tiffany & Co., where my future husband is going to purchase my wedding rings! ;-)

Ramble on...

OK, so I have been a bad blogger, as my very attentive audience has pointed out! Well, thank you all so much for reading. I can't tell you how nice it feels to see a comment from you, and I love being able to share everything with you all! Blogging is cool! Okay, super-nerd-dom over. Oh wait one more thing. I sometimes try to comment after you and this stupid website messes up and won't let me. But thanks for all the nice things you are saying! It really is awesome to read and makes it seem a little less lonely up here!

It appears the last blog I wrote was Monday...and a lot has happened since then! Let's see...Tuesday was somewhat uneventful. Acting class, more repetition. I don't think I went that day but it's cool to watch other people squirm up there! Then we had singing class. Thankfully we did not have to sing our songs, but I did not know this so was still incredibly nervous when he made us all go up and speak the words of our song. He had to stop me because I was not breathing right, or something. Later he pulled us all aside individually and said that I was holding my breath when I spoke, and not releasing it. This guy knows his stuff! He is right. I guess I do that when I'm nervous. It's kind of funny actually. So anyway if I concentrate on letting my breath out, it helps a lot. Then the pianist recorded the accompaniment for our tunes so we can practice. The remaining 4 classes we will be singing and working on our songs. So, I have FIVE more days until I have to panic! Sweet!

Tuesday I was in a funk, as some of you know. Sudden, random panic about the realization that I am up here in this big city all by myself with no job, no income, lots of outcome, what if I can't find a job here, ohmygod I'm taking acting classes? what the hell am I going to do with my life, la la la. So Tuesday I had a big old pity party and tried to sleep the day away which did not work, and I had to sulk in my misery with full consciousness! Life is so cruel. But luckily, Wednesday I realized I do NOT want to waste my time up here worrying! And if I do fail here and fall flat on my face, I am so blessed to have two wonderful parents who would take my unemployed self back into their home. So after some phone calls, long walks, and a few valium (kidding), I am feeling much better! :-)

Wednesday we had...you guessed it, acting! I just have to say, I freaking LOVE this class. When I am there, I sometimes find myself just grinning...I just love everything about it. Well this day I did get a turn. The couple that went before us had a very emotional exercise, I mean, it was intense. So maybe it was partly that, or my stress and anxiety built up from Tuesday, or the fact that my partner was being particularly judgmental of me that day, or whatever...but I actually started crying, out of the blue, unexpectedly. It was so weird! I have never experienced such intense emotion on stage before. Of course it felt bad at the time, but afterwards, it felt really good! Not that crying is the goal of this exercise - the goal is whatever comes out, as long as it is genuine and honest. I am anxious to see how the technique will apply to our scenes, which he assigned at the end of class. We got a scene from Doubt (originally a play but they recently made it into a movie with Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Philip Seymour Hoffman). I am playing the Amy Adams character - a sweet, young, innocent, passive Catholic nun. My scene partner is the Meryl Streep nun - the uptight, nasty principal. Eh...we'll see. Oh yeah then we had voice and speech which was not interesting enough to write about, or maybe I'm just too tired.

Sidenote: I found a really great article about the Meisner technique (what we are doing in acting class). Actually, it's a blog I think. Here is the link in case anyone is interested in what we are doing, I guess if you're really bored or something! Anyway it's just a great description of what it's LIKE, but it does not describe the actual exercises (if I described those you'd probably think I was crazy, you really have to see it I think).

Wednesday night a girl at my residence, who goes to Circle in the Square summer conservatory, told me that her teacher got so mad at a student because the student would not get angry, that the teacher started a fist fight and the student ended up with a bloody nose. That sure made me grateful for my teacher! He yells and screams at us sometimes, to try and rile up some emotion from us, but he draws the line at physical violence, thank God! Wednesday night I went to a Q&A with some talent agents in New York City. It was at my school. Very interesting. Moral of the story: it's hella hard to get an agent.

Thursday: acting again. Got a turn again. Did not cry today! But it was good. Different than yesterday. It's different every time, depending on what mood you and your partner are in. Then we had some drama in drama class, and not the good kind! I think it will be helpful for everyone to have a few days away. After that we had movement class which I was dreading. We started class by doing some weird stretches but ohmygosh they were amazing. The class is very zen-like... After that we did the yoga again, but it was gobs easier than last time. Teacher said it was because we had warmed up with the stretches. Then we did an exercise where we had to get in a circle and be totally silent but still try to run, stop, jump, etc at the same time as the whole group. It's supposed to hone your focus and keep you in tune with what the group is doing, or something like that. After class we got pizza which was sooo yummy... hung out in the park for a bit and walked around then went home.

Tonight I visited yet another library, the 58th Street branch. No picture because it was ugly - they were doing construction. It was on the upper east side which is kind of ritzy. But they DID have my book, which I was happy about! I am starting An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser...I know Julie will remember this, because Jeff had to read it for school! I read a little of it at their house way back when and liked what I saw, and then a line from the book randomly shot into my head during a recent Thursday evening, and I thought I must read it! When I came out of the library, there it was, looming, inviting me in, calling my name...

The New York & Company of New York! My favorite store! I did have to go in and take a peek. Then back home for dinner and I applied for another job. (So I can go shopping - what good motivation!)

Well that is all for now! I am so exhausted and have to get up early - tomorrow we have electives. Musical theatre from 9-11 (why oh why did I take this class) and Career Counseling from 11-1 (maybe they can tell me what the hell to do with my life)!

I promise to take better pictures and update more often in the future, so they won't have to be this long! Goodnight :-)

A short one...

...cause I'm exhausted! Not sure why, as I didn't do much today besides class...ah the great mysteries of the universe.

Today was good. Acting from 9-11, more repetition. Found out we will get our scene assignments by the end of the week. I hope it's something good.

Voice & Speech from 11-1. We did the relaxation exercise and learned some new vocal warm-ups. Then we recited our tongue twister and she stopped to correct things. Later we learned about the anatomy of our vocal instrument (mouth, throat, etc) and all the different vowel sounds and where they are made in our mouth. Yep, did that in linguistics in college too, but I had forgotten it mostly. One vowel sound finally taught us all how to pronounce one girl's name who is from Portugal.

Afterwards we all got lunch and met in Madison Square Park again. I got a ♪ five dollar foot-long ♪ from Subway so I could have lunch for tomorrow too. In the park we sat in a circle in the grass like dirty hippies.

Oh wait, the real dirty hippies were across the park meditating, see?

Yeah they sat like that for at least 30 minutes. After lunch I headed home and wasted time on the internet for a while. Then I went trekking off to a different branch of the New York Public Library, Morningside Heights. I liked it and thought it was a little nicer than the Riverside branch. It is located right by Columbia University on the UWS.

Well they got 2 F's for not having either book I wanted, despite their online catalogue stating that they had copies. But they got a big fat A for letting me print 10 copies of my resume for free! That means job hunt for the rest of the week. (Prepares for rejection...)

Back home it was spaghetti again (yay!) and I finally met some girls in my residence. One is from Alpharetta, Georgia, and is looking to stay in NYC permanently. The other girl was from Alabama and is here for a summer theatre session at Circle in the Square theatre school (so jealous...I wanted to go there, but they wanted letters of rec and I didn't really have any). Turns out we all live on the same floor and we talked about how crazy Teresa was. Teresa is a small little old Spanish lady who lives on the 7th floor and lectures everyone about anything that pops into her head. She has lived here for 19 years and she complains about the food all the time, but she is always in the cafeteria eating it. Last week she lectured me because I was sitting indian style in the cafeteria (minding my own business, reading a book)...but apparently I was lacking the knowledge that we were in a hotel and nothing is wrong with my legs. Good to know.

Oh my hof I hate this stupid blog it won't let me start a new paragraph ar

Well, I guess it didn't turn out so short after all! Tomorrow is acting again followed by vocal production. Tonight I have been trying to familiarize myself with my song. I like it! The party's over, da da da...

Hey Jealousy

After Saturday's excursions, I decided to take it slow on Sunday. I slept late, applied for a (really super duper cool) job (as an assistant to a theatrical casting agent), and in the evening I decided to take my friend Alex's suggestion of the Redeemer Presbyterian Church services (http://www.redeemer.com/). It was held at the beautiful First Baptist Church at 79th and Broadway, a 15 minute walk from my residence.

The service started at 5pm with singing and meeting our neighbors. Then they read a passage from scripture (1 Samuel 18: 1-16) about Jonathan, David, and Saul. In this passage, Saul becomes very jealous of David, and the entire sermon was about jealousy. I must admit...this creeped me out just a little. If you know me, and if you're reading this I assume that you do, then you know about a recent situation in which I have encountered extreme, irrational jealousy, and seen it transform a person I cared about into a monster. Apparently, God saw that I needed to understand the whole situation better! The sermon was amazing. The pastor talked about Aristotle, who believed (in his infinite wisdom) that all good drama was based on love, ambition, or jealousy, as these were the forces that motivated mankind in reality. He talked about Shakespeare's Othello, and how Shakespeare recognized the theme of jealousy and the power it has to transform people. He talked about a scientist who believed that jealousy was actually a necessity from an evolutionary standpoint, "survival of the fittest," yet noted that there was something noble and divine about rising above it. The pastor defined jealousy as the fear that we are losing the love we have allowed to define who we are. It is somehow related to worshipping false idols, I think, because from a worldly standpoint it is always possible and always a threat that we might lose worldly loves, but we will never lose the love of God...or something. There are certainly times when I have been jealous of other people, and felt insecure. At any rate, I think I have found my new church! I loved it, it opened my mind to so much understanding and learning. I was too chicken to go have coffee with everyone, maybe next Sunday!

After church, I wandered around for a while looking for food. I finally decided to go to the Broadway Farm around the corner for some cantalope (I am an addict thanks to Mom!) and a southwest chicken wrap. Now that I am done blogging, I think I will get ready for bed and watch one of my movies. Tomorrow is Monday, and for once, I am not dreading it!

Happy Birthday, America!

Being that I was in NYC for the Fourth of July, I simply HAD to go see the Macy's fireworks over the Hudson River! It was actually pretty cool, despite the crowds and the fact that I probably could have had a better view on television. After the park, we all agreed to meet at Owain's apartment in Harlem. I had a firecracker popsicle in the park and my mouth was blue, so I went home first to brush my teeth, then took the subway to Harlem by myself. Harlem is...kind of scary! Basically the stereotypes seemed to be there for a reason. Don't worry, Mom and Dad, it was daylight, and furthermore all the crazies were so wrapped up in their own little worlds that they did not even seem to notice my presence. Owain has a very nice place though and we ordered a pizza. I made plans with a girl from class to go pick up some pepper spray this week! Then we all headed downtown about 8:30. We got off at 50th Street and began walking west towards the river. We only got as far as 11th Avenue, it was sooo crowded. The show started at about 9:30 and went for about 20-30 minutes. We were wedged between two tall buildings, so our view was limited. But it was still spectacular and I had a great time! Afterwards everyone went home to change and get ready to go out later. They were going to meet up again around 11:30 - 12. When I got home at about 10:30, I decided that I was too tired and called it a night! Here are some pictures from the fireworks. I took the first one so you could see how crowded it was! And this was just the street we were on. Each street was like this for at least 20 blocks or so.

Weekend Daze...

Yay for three day weekends! This weekend was fun. Friday was uneventful, I mostly rested from the week, read, and did laundry. Saturday I ended up spending most of the day at Central Park. I was going for a walk after breakfast when I got a text from one of my classmates, Jenna. They were going to have a picnic in the park. So I went home, showered, ate lunch and went back to meet everyone at 1:30. We found a nice grassy spot and laid around, eating and trying to memorize our tongue twister for Monday's class. After that, we walked around the park, which was pretty crowded probably due to the holiday and the lovely weather. We saw several street performers. We stopped to watch a couple. One was a group of 3 young men who did acrobatic/gymnastic types of things. It was about an hour long but about 30 minutes of that was devoted to collecting money from the crowd (and it was quite amazing to see how freely people gave up their hard earned cash)! Their big finish was lining up 3 people and making them bend over, and then one of the guys ran and jumped/flipped over them all. Here's a pic of one of them "walking" down the stairs:

And here are some more pics of the lovely Central Park:

Week one, done!

Well I made it through my first week! Now I only have 5 weeks left of class and I know it's going to fly by. But I am really glad I came here. One of my goals was to see if I enjoyed studying theatre in a conservatory setting (to help me decide if I would enjoy grad school in this subject). Needless to say, I love it! Of course it can be frustrating at times, but overall I am having a great time.

Thursday we had acting in the AM and continued our repetition exercises. It's good because you can learn a lot just watching other people do it. At 11 we had our first Movement class. The teacher is an Equity actress who got her MFA in acting at Harvard (did not even know they had it there). She's very nice and really into what she is teaching. We did Yoga (!) and I about died doing those exercises. She said we will be doing that every class. It is supposed to help with flexibility and alignment, to help you establish a "neutral" position. We talked about some movement theory and something called "grounding" where you try to have a really strong posture and gait. After sweating buckets in the Yoga (she turns off the AC and fan because it's supposed to help your muscles loosen up), we were dismissed until Monday. My classmates and I went and got some yummy hot dogs from a street vendor and ate them in Madison Square Park. Here is a picture of some of my classmates:

Everyone is pretty nice and seems to get along for the most part. It started getting cloudy so I headed home, but I guess I did not leave early enough and I got caught in my first NYC rainshower! I didn't have an umbrella, and I got soaked! Oh well. Saturday some of us are going to get together to go see the Macy's fireworks over the Hudson River for the 4th. I hope it won't be too crowded! Next week I really need to hunker down on the job search, too! I love all the free time, but I want to work! The truth is, I miss being able to go shopping :-)

Three days in...

Let's see, where did I leave off...

Tuesday I had acting class again from 9-11 and we continued to practice the Meisner repetition exercise. From 11-1, we had vocal production class with Mr. Baylin. This is basically a singing class. We all stood up and he was on the piano and we sang scales...okay so far. Then he made us go around and do the scale by ourselves! Eek. I don't know why exactly, but whenever I have to sing by myself in front of other people, my heart starts pounding out of my chest because I am so nervous. Then when I get to sing, my voice is shaky and cracks and then I get even more nervous! After that, we all sat down and talked about any acting/singing experience we had. Then he wanted everyone to stand up and tell the others their name, where they were from, and 2 other facts. Only...we had to SING it. So, one of my facts was that singing in front of other people makes me nervous, and people laughed...thank goodness! After that, he went around the room and assigned everyone a song. I got "The Party's Over" from the show Bells Are Ringing. He said it was a sad song (originally sung by Judy Holliday), which I was pleased with because all the other songs in my "repertoire" (if you can call it that) are mostly happy songs, and it's always good to have a range. Speaking of, I don't know if I am going to pursue any musical theatre at all. Aside from the getting nervous part (which is quite a problem), I was kind of burned out after doing The Producers. It's very different from "straight" plays (non-musicals)...in musicals it seems to be less about really acting and more about who can be the biggest and most animated. But of course, you rule out a bunch of shows that way...we'll see. Maybe this class will make me less nervous. Anyway we will be learning our songs over the course of the class.

After class we got our photos taken for our IDs and then about 10 of us (16 total in my class) went to lunch at a random deli we found. It was fun. There are a lot of international students in my class. They are from England, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, France, Greece, Mexico. It's nice meeting people from other countries, it seems to widen my perspective somehow. The non-native English speakers actually speak pretty good English, but are constantly trying to improve their understanding of the language and American culture. It's almost flattering that so many people want to learn our language!

After lunch, I took the subway to Lincoln Center Station in a second attempt to find a working library...


Hooray! Success. I got my library card quickly and without hassle, and checked out 2 DVDs in case I get bored this weekend (Sweeney Todd with Angela Lansbury, and Shadow of the Vampire). When I got back home, I was going to go for another run but it started raining. I opened my window, laid down, and took a nap. It was such a good nap that I almost missed dinner! But I didn't.

Wednesday...acting class again. Repetition exercise again. It's nice to know what to expect. I very much like this class and feel like I'm learning something new. I love acting - you are never done getting better! Of course, we're not doing actual acting yet. He said he is going to cast us in scenes soon that we will work on for the remainder of the course. My teacher studied with William Esper who has his own studio in NYC. Esper was a student of Sanford Meisner who came up with the technique. Pretty cool. Then we had Voice & Speech again. We did a relaxation exercise that almost put everyone to sleep. Then we did vocal warm ups and our crazy tongue-twister and later we had to stand up one by one and recite a bunch of difficult word combinations. This class reminds me a lot of my Linguistics class in college...phonetics, where consonants are produced in your mouth, etc etc. I guess my college major had more in common with theatre than I realized.

After class we got our photo IDs and went out to lunch at a Thai restaurant. I spent $10 and got two meals out of it...not too bad! I think I will have the leftovers for lunch on Friday. When I got home, I applied for some jobs online and reserved a CD recording of "Bells are Ringing" at the New York Library for the Performing Arts (can't WAIT to visit this library). Then I went for a run/walk in Riverside Park. It was very nice, but it doesn't even compare to Central Park. It runs by the Hudson River with a view of...New Jersey I guess? I plan to take pictures to post but of course I don't have my camera with me when running. There are lots of dogs in New York, and more children than I expected. Tonight we had chicken sandwiches, french fries, salad, and chocolate cake...yum! Right now they are having a movie night and we are watching Pulp Fiction. Here is a picture of the main sitting room, where I am typing this from now:

And just for fun, here's a picture of the subway. I love it!

This is the station I get off at to go to class...

I am getting into a routine and really starting to like it up here. My nights are very relaxing, I get dinner served to me, I have nothing to cook or clean, and then I get to blog, read my book, talk on the phone, or do whatever I want!