acceptance · acting · action · adulthood · family · love · school

Quiet on the Western Front

This morning, I called out from meeting with Patsy, in order
to sleep more – and not trudge through the rain and several modes of public
transportation (AC transit, BART, Muni) to get there and just turn around. This
is something I’ve been doing weekly since my car was stolen a year ago, and today, with
all I’ve been thinking about rest, restorative rest, rather, I asked her if we
could talk on the phone instead. And she said no problem. Just like my boss had
said.
I still haven’t contacted my Shakespeare teacher to fess up
to not being there on Wednesday, which obviously, he knows, but I have to talk
to him about this final project too. It’s the end of semester push when everything
you’ve been procrastinating about for the last few months suddenly comes due.
So this morning, after sleeping in several more hours, and having the weirdest dream about two people in my life, weird, I got up, had breakfast, wrote my morning pages,
and started my homework. Poetry workshop homework, which consists of reading
and writing comments on my classmates’ work, work which has piled up over the
last month or so, so that I have about 4 weeks of each person’s work. It’s
cool, I like writing the comments. Like I said earlier, there are ways to
comment on someone’s work, even in a suggestive manner, that aren’t soul
crushing – so I try to write like that – but really, for the most part, people
are going to be true to themselves, no matter the feedback, although certainly
there is a little wiggle room, which I need to remember too – the whole “being
teachable” thing. It’s still icky for me to read comments about my work, but I did read the
comments I said I’ve been reluctant to read, and they were what I expected – a few,
no i have no intention of following your suggestion that is completely off key with what my purpose is here, thanks for reading; a few, hm, that is
something to think about; and mostly, lots of encouragement and support.
Then I went out into the world to see some folks for a few
hours, laugh at ourselves, get some camaraderie, and came home, made dinner, and started a new
holiday card (#4).
That’s about it. I did update my acting resume and sent it to the 4th audition I’d highlighted – I think I’m going to have to do a lot of these – I still feel like these are such awkward I have no idea what I’m doing baby steps, but I’ll call my actress friend again tomorrow to check in, and ask a few more pointed questions about these particular auditions and my resume. 
I also did write that letter about renegotiating
agreements with my mom this morning before I called Patsy. And I read it to
her, and we talked about being emotionally vulnerable without feeling
threatened – without having to run away or be consumed. After our phone call,
I did one of the CITO exercises, which
was an “individuation” meditation. It was sad and powerful; the recognition
that we are each not what the other has wanted us to be, and that we can’t be; but
by letting us both go from these desires, we both get to be freer. “Separate and
whole” is the phrase that keeps repeating.
Patsy asked how I felt about the letter, and I said I felt
scared that I couldn’t keep up my end – and she prompted sagely, worried that I
couldn’t do it perfectly? yeah, that’d be it. So, I’ll do it haltingly. I don’t
know yet when we’ll talk, but I know the work I did today, and this weekend,
and for the last several years is heading me to a place where I can hold myself
in openness and safety. I heard someone say today that we can be emotionally
vulnerable, and raw, and blessed, and I’d like to enter that belief too.
So, there you are. I’m glad I slept in this morning, and I have
more to do. I think all this spiritual gutting is contributing to my fatigue,
and so I’ll let myself sleep and recharge, and that’s all she wrote. 

acting · action · joy · laughter · performance · responsibility

Let the sunshine in.

I do a work/trade at the Dailey Method workout studio on
Friday mornings – it’s pretty harmless, except for the occasional bout of
entitlement from clientele or having to cover childcare with a usually wailing baby who knows his mom is in the next room and if he only
screams long enough, she’ll come. But, this morning, childcare lady came, there
weren’t any payment traffic jams in the 5-minute turn around between the morning classes,
and I had my Theater Bay Area magazine with
me. Highlighted.
The other night, I set my alarm clock for ten minutes, and
sat with a highlighter and the magazine. And opened it. I knew that if I had
too long, I’d feel overwhelmed, and 10 minutes felt like a good beginning. It
was actually easier than I’d thought, just reading through the descriptions of casting calls –
some were obviously not right for me – male, far away, or another ethnicity.
But a few were. 4, in fact. One was a reach, but I highlighted it any way: Lead
frontman in a The Who’s Tommy production
company. – But hey, I’m just highlighting, no need to rule any thing out. And
then my alarm went off, magazine closed.
So this morning, *thumpthump* *thumpthump* I took the
magazine out at my desk shift while class was going on, and… I sent 3 emails. (I
want to research the playwright for the 4th, as they were specific
about it, and I don’t know the name). I sent my small little actor’s resume and
my headshot a friend took for me in January, and a blurb about why I’m
interested, and can’t wait to meet you, yadda yadda.
I’ve done this. I’ve sent out at least a thousand resumes in
my working day. I know how to fashion a cover letter. So, I did. And I send the
Roger Daltrey one too. – That one, I got a response to right away – he said
they’d filled that slot, but were still looking for an Acid Queen and/or
backup. I said, count me in. Who knows, he said they have someone interested in
managing their group who needs to see the new Daltrey, and probably won’t start
going until mid-December, more yadda yadda, so, no high hopes. But I did it – I made baby
steps.
Actually, I think proposing that I’d be a great frontman to
your production is a major leap, and perhaps I need to learn to mitigate
better, so I can stay realistic, hopeful, but realistic, and not stamp out my
own dream by taking too-large, developmentally inappropriate steps – but that
said, I was glad I replied to the ad, because it might lead to something else.
Like anything, this is a game of persistence. And so, great, I sent out 3
emails – one bounced back! – but I have one more to send, and other work to do
as assigned/suggested by my actress friend.
However… tonight, me and two of my girl friends went to see
HAIR in SF, and at the end of the play, you can go up on stage to dance with
the band and all the other audience and cast members – and so as me and my two
friends jiggled around to the finale song, laughing and loving it, I told myself to get used to the
heat of those lights. 

acting · action · Jewish · letting go · love · performance

Pulling a Carmen

So, following in the footsteps of my friend Carmen, I’ve decided to post a blog a day, cuz why not. I thoroughly enjoy reading hers each day, or a few in a row, like catching up with a friend – and keeping up with people in this busy world.

So, can I admit that I just wikipedia’d adam levine – that maroon 5 singer, after watching some of charlie day on SNL (on hulu; no tv ~ not a california thing, just a … don’t have a tv thing). And lord, have, mercy. My god. That is one hot jewish man. And god save me, there are actually hot jewish men in this world.

Now I know you can’t chose (particularly) who you fall in love with, but boy, would it be nice to find a tall, handsome, jewish man. … and while we’re at it, employed. It’s been interesting – as a semi-result of reading Carmen’s blog, I bought and started to do the exercises in this book “Calling in the One”. Now, gag if you must, but I did a lot of browsing in the “preview” on amazon, and it seemed like it was up my alley – very Artist’s Way-style exercises and readings, and hey, why the f. not.  Now interestingly enough, I’m asked to look at what ways are my relationships with men a reflection of my relationship with myself – She, the author, asks, if we’re picking up this book, in what ways is are we not loving, nurturing, or committing to ourselves … and I knew immediately that there are tons of ways in which I am not committed to myself – to my dreams/goals/little internal nudges. And that is certainly mirrored back to me in the real world.

So, I’ve been reading this book, and doing these exercises – and shit you not, the week I was home in NJ was the week on “Letting Go” … I’m not doing it all precisely one-a-day, but reading, flagging, going back, doing the exercises on more than one situation like she suggests. And things are changing. Take a look at my apartment!!

But, also, I recently downloaded from the SF Public Library on eBook (yes you can do this now!), What Color is your Parachute? It’s a book about careers, career advice, how to figure out what you want, what you’re good at. And so I’m now doing the exercises in this as well. Because, no, I am not committed to my dreams. I am always embarrassed to tell people I sing. No one’s heard me (well, except Carmen actually, who once told me [after I’d just sung with a band in front of an audience of a hundred people…] that I was really good, and when I said “Really??”, she said, No I’m just trying to sleep with you) 😉 But more than just sing, I want to perform. I want to act, be on stage, riddle you with emotion – I wrote a poem about it once. About throwing you off the edge of a cliff and gently reeling you back in – about steamrolling you with emotion – and the fucked up thing is that I really do think I can. I really do believe that I have it in me to possess myself so completely that I might possess you too.

What a powerful thing is that?

Now, the advanced portion of this exercise, is to let myself head there.

This blog, I suppose, is a part of that. Emptying out my childhood home is a part of that. Finally completing the art project I began in July is a part of it ~ and I’ll tell you something, It Looks Amazing. Even I’m proud of myself.

I’ve been realizing I have a pattern of thought/behavior lately, which states that I can only have happiness when I have success. I can only have love when I have a job. I can only have a career when I … when I let myself take the hideously frightening action steps – even the baby ones, like call these two working actors I know in SF and set up coffee dates/informational interviews. So, putting up my artwork yesterday was part of spitting in the face of that belief – the art doesn’t have to be perfect for it to go up (that was actually the purpose of that project – was to let myself paint it, no matter how it came out – and when it was done – it was done, no finnicking with it). The art doesn’t have to be perfect to make me happy. I don’t have to be perfect to be happy, because let’s face it – that would be never. So, I’ve set up for myself a system of belief where I can never have love or joy in my life. And, in realizing this, I’m realizing how ultimately retarded it is, and I’m beginning to take action in the opposite direction.

Because maybe there’s another Adam Levine out there just waiting for an actress/writer/singer. … bass player 😉

(source: huffington post via Cosmo UK)