Car issues

Hello spring break! I'm sitting here in the waiting room of Auto Glass Repair in St. Paul waiting for my window to be fixed. I drove over here in the SNOW with no window and my garbage bag makeshift window flapping in the wind. What a fun ride, let me tell you. I did my research though, and this was the cheapest place in the twin cities.$221 dollars and a couple hours later, my car will once again have a window for this lovely spring snow shower we seem to be having right now. This weekend was kind of a bust as well. I spent all Saturday trying to find a place to fix it, and Sunday doing research online. I watched my netflix movies (cheers episodes) and read my library books. And in a few hours I will head off to the Idealist.com career fair in Minneapolis with Abby and Sathiya from work. What a fabulous start to Spring and April. Woo hoo!

Adventures in Acting, Part II

I, apparently, rocked the theater tonight, and it felt fabulous. There was laughter coming from all corners of the room. I didn’t want to look up at my teacher because out of the corner of my eye I saw her cracking up. Inside I was cracking up too, because inside I secretly knew that I never would have done this a year ago. I had a table and two chairs and I wore a skirt and tights and hiking boots. I couldn’t get a hold of my steel toes or I would have worn them. Too bad for that! I ran through it twice before show time, quivering, but I was reassured every step of the way.

“Do something with your down time!” instructs the woman in the front row.

“Are you still searching for words? Do something to fill the space…” she drones on. Easy for you to say woman! I’m trying here and I’m trying. But I never felt threatened in any way. In fact, I probably felt the most comfortable I have ever felt in front of a group of people, performing. I forgot my lines, so what! I just kept going. Clicking my pen, biting my rolled piece of paper I was using for a cigarette. Going with the flow.

It dawned on me that I’ve never “performed” in that sense of the word before. Sure I perform everyday as a fifth-grade teaching assistant. Performing, though, is so much more than that! To act is to want the eyes directly on you. For the first time tonight, I felt a small dose of that wanting.

Another revelation I came to tonight: Acting can’t be rushed. For the entire length of the class I wanted to just rush through my monologue and get off stage as fast as I could. But tonight I realized that there is so much in what is not said. That’s the DOING that my teacher had always talked about. It’s not just doing though, it’s doing and allowing people to watch you DO. It’s scarier than I’d ever imagine.

I’m coming back next session, starting April 9. I can’t wait.

The Namesake

My newest Netflix find, and an absolute gem. I know I should have read the book first, but to that I say, "meh." Absolutely beautiful, although I don't know how politically and culturally accurate it is; I found myself crying all the way through. And now I have this strange fascination with Nikolai Gogol, as in, I want to read some stuff he's written. Something tells me that I won't be able to understand it, but I want to try. So if anyone reading this post wants to recommend some Gogol, go for it and leave me a comment.

Speaking of finds, I found Educating Esme: Dairy of a Teacher's First Year in the $2 bin at the central library last week and it's a gem as well. So thoughtful, funny, candid, and heartbreaking all at once. It makes you just want to go up to Esme and hug her, and tel her that she's wonderful and to not stop doing what she's doing. Anyone who is considering teaching (or currently teaching for that matter) should read it.

I think that is all for now.

This week was the last week’s rehearsal before the performance for family and friends. I felt it went well. I was still shaking, but in a good way. I was energized, and I wasn’t thinking about how silly I looked in my character. I ran through my monologue THREE times on stage. The first time was by myself. The second time the teacher motioned for one of the other participants in the class to get on stage with me, so I can pretend I was talking to her instead of to myself. That went better, seeing as how my monologue has me talking to someone. The third time I did with that same woman on stage with me, but my teacher said that I should pretend I’m moving toward her instead of moving away. That was more awkward. I know that as a person I tend to move away from people in real life, so getting closer to someone on stage was as hard as it was in real life. It was a good exercise in forgetting about my audience and just doing it. We shall see how the final performance goes next week. Everyone reading this is invited.

Somehow, between now and then we got to talking about fertility. She mentioned how she heard somewhere that males who had a deep voice were more fertile than males that had a high voice and vice versa for females. I think that is bullshit propaganda but I didn’t say anything.

Miss Potter

I just watched this this weekend and realized that I AM Miss Beatrix Potter. And I love her. The woman didn't marry until she was over 36. She lived at home for most of her single life and dedicated herself to her work, which included writing and illustrating her children's book series. Her characters were her friends, and she was proud of them. She told herself and her fans that she would never marry, and when she did decide to, the love of her life found her by accident, as a business proposition. She was forbidden to marry him until she spent a summer away to make sure she truly wanted to marry "below her class." When the love of her life DIED that summer, she swore to herself and her parents from then on that she would do only what she desired to do and she moved out with her book profits. That's my kind of girl. She did find love again, but only after finding herself and dedicating her life to the conservation of farm land. She was a true inspiration to females everywhere!

Spring is in the air

I know this, because it is almost 7:30 in the evening and we have light outside. Rejoice!!!

Just another awesome secret...

...from PostSecret!