It's All Happening!

Alright.

So, yes, I know I have been essentially MIA through the internet for a week. But I have been busy getting my butt kicked by this wonderful studio that I am a part of. For more information on that studio, you can go here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Howard_Studios

Okay. So, after that rather vague introduction I can delve into what I actually DO do. I'm a half hour away from midtown manhattan, living in Guttenberg, NJ. Guttenberg makes me feel a bit like I'm not on the east coast at all and instead commute every morning from a port town in central america. The population is 98% hispanic, making my measly waspish butt not nearly jiggly enough to compete with the local feminine faire.




I go to class each day of the week and literally am working to transform myself inside and out. This studio is not your standard acting conservatory, it's a place to hone yourself as a person and a performer. By learning who I am completely I can have both the confidence and the ability to play multiple roles without every feeling like I'll leave myself. Most specifically, in these early weeks I am really learning how to appreciate my very vulnerable, feminine attributes and add to them a little more masculinity so that I can actually stand up for myself without bursting into tears. If any of you get the chance to work with Faye Simpson, do not hesitate. Just run there.

As far as my weekends have gone, I hang out during the day in New York City going from place to place. This past weekend I celebrated with my old pal Josh and my college friends who have just moved to the city. We saw a pretty excellent show on sunday called 'The Pied Pipers of The Lower East Side' by a theatre group called The Amoralists (http://www.theamoralists.com/). The show itself was exceptionally written and very well acted despite being a overkill in its volume levels. I know what they mean when they say "play for the space you are performing in" now.

And sometimes it's just fun to drink in the middle of Manhattan on a friday night.






Finally...Josh and I were meandering down 24th street when we witnessed the strangest sky. It was especially creepy, because people began taking out their cameras to take pictures of the clouds. A little reminiscent of the beginning of a horror/sci-fi flick. Fortunately giant sea monster zombie aliens didn't fall from the clouds and begin eating New York City, and I was left with a neato picture.

Big Stuff Is Happening Really Soon

So today I'm leaving for Manhattan for the rest of the summer. As I packed, my cat, Nicholai, demanded to be taken as a stowaway:



He's very persuasive, but I can't even begin to think how he'll fair with the heat of the luggage cabin. He'll be a cat-kabob by the time we land.

In celebration, my best friend Lauren (http://welcomehomesophie.blogspot.com/) took me to the Propylaeum for a last brunch. If you haven't been there, and are even CLOSE to the vicinity of Indianapolis, I beg of you: please go here. You will forever be enchanted by the intricate tea cups, elegant bathrooms and grand staircases.

Here are some pictures from the event:






And now I must go, because my plane is taking off without me and I must go catch it.
See you all in New York!

Oh yes, lots has happened lately. I've...

uh...

worked. And taken up running and eating loads and loads of flax seed and italian food. That's essentially it, really. I've also found several serious oddities my grandmother collected. Among the piles of ceramic rabbits and homemade witch dolls, I unearthed something truly bizzare. They are frogs:



...with human genitalia



I believe they are cuban from the 1940s. I have no idea what to make of them, except that I keep showing them to any guest that happens upon my house. For the most part, though, I have to keep them hush-hush. God knows I'll degenerate the youth of rich upper-east Indianapolis with my perverse sexfrogs and be run out of town with flaming pitchforks.

Oh well, I'm leaving soon anyway. That's right! Six days until my big NYC adventure. I'm thrilled. Aaah...the culture, the public transportation, the food...

Speaking of food, and as I've said earlier in this post, I have frequented several italian restaurants since being home for the summer. My favorites thus far have been Iaria's and Buca Di Beppo's. I think as far as food goes, Iaria's won. I cannot fathom how good their Chicken Drogato or Chicken Piccata was. I wish I could go bovine and have four stomachs just to consume their food. However, Buca's atmosphere, ceasar salad, and free cake helps to put it on a pedestal. That's right. Free cake. Justin took me about a week ago, and our waiter asked if we were celebrating anything. "Life," we answered. We asked if there was a "Celebrate Life" cake, and he said he could work something out.




I'm leaving you all with a few choice songs that really inspire a summer-y attitude in me. Enjoy them as I have.




Os Alquimistas Estao Chegando Os Alquimistas by Jorge Ben


Jessica by the Allman Brothers


Cet Air-La by France Gall


The World's Green Laughter by the B52s


He's a Bad Boy by Carole King

Summer:What?

So I've been not very diligent about keeping this blog regularly updated. But here we go-one big swoop!

Things have been slightly crazy around this part of the midwest lately. Yesterday, I was driving in a car with my mother and brother, and huge chunks of hail started falling from the sky. The car was driven under a gas station and we waited until it cleared up. As we drove back towards my neighborhood, we noticed that several houses had gaping holes in them, and there were trees knocked over and car windows shattered. It hit so much harder toward my parent's house! Our deck chairs had been knocked into their pool and all of the windows in the front of our house were shattered.Here's a little peak at the size of the hail:



All of those dots in the grass are hail balls as well.

Dumb summer storms.

Otherwise, I've been working begrudgingly at a cafe near my parents house and helping my mother put together a garage sale. It's sad to part with nostalgic things. I simply had to rescue the stuffed tiger my father gave me 1988, no one would love him the same way I did.

My grandfather offered to give us some stuff to sell at the garage sale, and yesterday I went to his house to collect the goods. I love going to their house, because my grandmother was a pack rat. It's like a museum in there! Each time I go, I find myself taking little oddities to remind me of her.

Remind me of her, because last year she died. I loved my grandmother dearly, and I miss her so very much. She grew up in Alabama during the great depression and lived in Indianapolis during WWII, where she danced with soldiers at USO parties. When you looked at her hands, and into her eyes you saw so much heartbreak, love, and warmth. I've been collecting things and made a mini shrine to her



That is a depression-era glass vase, a picture of her when she was in her twenties, and a 1950's wallet I found buried in a chest in her house.

And this is her turban, something I've been wearing more and more of: