Of Note

It should also be noted that my new computer's name has changed. Originally I named it Mithrandir and then named my iPod Touch Glamdring, but those names just didn't seem to fit their personality. I've been musing over different names lately and felt that it should be something British, and my sister suggested Nigel. I remembered that that is one of my favorite names. I then remembered that the computer needs a companion with a good name for the iPod. So, I would like to inform you that my new computer's name is now Bertram Wilberforce Wooster, or Bertie for short. My iPod Touch is named Reginald Jeeves, or just Jeeves for short. This also allows me to name my future printer, Time Machine, speakers, and any other accessories I decide to get after characters from "Jeeves and Wooster". Cheers!

Dancing Queen

I would like to thank my nieces and nephew for being my inspiration for a dance test today. We were performing a silly dance to a silly song, and were being graded more on character than technique, which is a good thing because my technique isn't the greatest. However, I was still very nervous because I didn't quite remember the whole dance well enough to just go through it without any hiccups, and being nervous just makes you get into your own head and worry about the performance instead of just letting loose and doing it, which is what the dance needed. While waiting for my turn to perform it I realized that I need to imagine someone to perform the song for. It needed to be someone who was fun and silly and loved me and who I loved to make laugh and who wouldn't care if I messed up at all. So I decided to use the kids. They love to laugh at me when I'm silly (and even when I'm not silly) and they wouldn't care if I messed up. So I did that. It worked great. My technique was a little off. I missed a few steps. But I had fun and enjoyed myself and it seemed like everyone else was also enjoying themselves watching it. I feel bad for the girl who was also performing with me (we all learned the same dance and would then perform in pairs, not as partners though, we each did our own separate thing). I felt bad because I probably stole the show from her. Oh, well. I needed this dance to bring my grade up from a low B, so I went nuts. The class I'm in is Intermediate Jazz dance and it's tricky because in Beginning they just grade you on your willingness to try and progress and don't worry so much about good technique. In this class however, your grade is very much based on good technique, which is my biggest struggle seeing as I've only been dancing for a year and everyone else in class has been dancing since they were kids and can turn themselves into pretzels. Anyway, that's that story. Hope you enjoyed it. Thanks again to the kids!

My hair

So, pretty much the easiest and quickest way to calm me down/put me to sleep is to just play with my hair. I can't think of anything that works quite as well and I love being reminded of this little joy in my life.

I just really love what I do.

Well, that title pretty much explains what I wanted to say. On Monday I go to my stage combat class and play with swords for two hours, then I read plays that writers have written and help them improve them, then I work monologues for auditions and learn how to audition better, then I assistant teach the classical acting class, then I rehearse a character mask piece. On Tuesdays I have a dance class, then I rehearse the mask play again, then I go to work in the Prop Shop, and then I rehearse my senior project, "Absent Friends" by Alyn Ayckborn. Scattered throughout this schedule I work with students from the classical acting class on their scenes. Pretty much every single thing that I do is something that I love. So even though I spend every Wednesday and Friday going from 9am to 10pm without a break, I love it. This is definitely what I want to be doing right now.

Okay Folks!

Here we go everyone. I've just purchased my first top-of-the-line computer and I'm very excited. It's an aluminum MacBook and it looks great. It is my hope that now that I have a portable computer I will write more often on my blog. I'm not going to worry about having anything interesting to say, I'll just start by writing whatever and we'll see where that takes me. Um, that's all I've got. I didn't get much sleep last night and my brain is dead. Ta ta!

An Afternoon at the Theatre

Yesterday I went to a matinee of a play. As many of you know I am an actor and I enjoy going to the theatre or to the cinema and watching a performance. I love to see plays and movies that are well done. It doesn't have to blow me away, but I like to see a sincere effort and honest talent. Such was the performance that I saw yesterday. One of my friends here at BYU is getting a degree in directing and her senior project, "Rabbit Hole" by David Lindsay-Abaire, was performing this weekend in the Margetts Theatre at BYU. The Margetts is our black box theatre, and is a delightful space to work in. I've done three shows there and each one was a memorable experience. My friend is a very accomplished director. I've had the pleasure of performing in two different shows that she had directed and each was a wonderful experience. So I was excited to see this play. Also because two of my friends were acting in it. The day before another friend of mine (who I hadn't seen for a while) called me up and asked if I would be her theatre buddy for the afternoon. I agreed and we met up to go see the show. We met and there were two other friends of hers there. They asked me if I knew anything about this audition they had noticed announcements for. I told them what I knew about the film project and encouraged them to audition since one of the guys involved in making it had encouraged me to audition the other day (I'm far too busy right now, or I might have, it sounded like fun). They agreed to go try. I thought just the one girl who asked about it would audition and we would get out and make it to our play on time, which started in 15 minutes. Bad idea.

Turns out this girl encouraged my friend to also audition so she wouldn't feel alone. We got up there and another girl in line agreed to let us go in front of her, but the girls I was with decided that they wanted to look over the sides first, and so they let her go. Then my friend went. When she got out we had less than five minutes to get down there. The other girl seemed to spend forever in there, finally I decided that we needed to go. Now, I didn't know the other two people and I hadn't been introduced to them, so I felt rude and awkward just abandoning them, especially after encouraging them to audition in the first place. Finally, two minutes after the show should have started I decided that we had to go. My friend and I headed down from the fifth floor to the first and got there just as they were starting. Unfortunately we were just barely late enough that they made up wait until the first scene was over. Perhaps I should mention here that one of my biggest pet-peeves as an actor and supporter of theatre is people who are late to plays. I personally hate being late to plays and movies. If I miss the beginning of a play or movie, I would almost rather not watch it at all, except usually I've dished out a bit of money for it. I have being at a party with friends and they want to watch a movie, and it's one I haven't seen, and then everyone talks through the whole thing and I miss most of it. This annoys me to no end.

So I found myself stuck just outside the door to the theatre trying to catch bits of dialogue through this tiny crack, and for the most part failing at this because of all the other late people who felt the need to whisper to each other. I felt my frustration with late-theatre-goers rising, and then my embarrassment at being one of them would also rise even more. I felt awful. I was on the verge of giving up, and eating the $5 and coming back for the evening performance. I just felt awful walking into a theatre to support some good friends, but doing it late. I couldn't think of anything more rude. Then they finally let us in (please don't get me started on the usher, who, while a very nice girl, knew less about her job than I did). I snuck in as fast as I could and grabbed the first two seats I found. Please, also note that at this point I was feeling very bad toward the girl who had invited me to go with her. While, I'm pretty sure it wasn't a date (she referred to it as being theatre-buddies), I was still ignoring her with my ear plastered to the theatre door. Plus, she no doubt felt awful about making me late. I was annoyed by this, but was trying very hard not to blame her, because she's a nice person and didn't do it on purpose.

Anyway, we finally got in and grabbed the first two seats. Bad idea. The mass of people behind us who were also late, also went for the first section they could find. Which was our section. So instead of the corner seats with a good view that we had obtained, after a lot of "excuse me, can you move down please" to good patrons who had had the decency to show up on time, we found ourselves stuffed way in the back, with no view of the front part of the stage. Whenever an actor went up there, I could only try to imagine what they were doing, because I literally could not see them. So we missed the first act, and a lot of the second act by trying to move in enough to let people sit down, who were dumb enough to show up late, oh wait that was us. Pooh. Finally we settled in and I had to try and figure out what was going on.

At this point I would love to give you a nice review of the play. Except for one small problem. On the front of the program, printed very clearly, are these words: "Under special agreement with the playwright, no reviews in newspapers, magazines, blogs, radio, or any other mediums may be published of this performance. Thank you." Well, how do you like that. I've never encountered this before and I'm not sure why someone would make that disclaimer. Perhaps Mr. Lindsay-Abaire doesn't like criticism, or perhaps the events in the play are too personal, and he doesn't want them commented on (but then, why write the play?), or maybe he doesn't want anyone to disagree with him. So whatever, his reasoning I cannot tell you that I enjoyed the performance, particularly that of one of my friends who was in it, nor that while I really, really enjoyed it and it gave me a lot to think about, I also saw a lot of areas of improvement. So I won't tell you that. On that note, thank you for reading and have a great night!

Here's the title I forgot to add in November

In case anyone is interested I've added a link to my Amazon wish list for Christmas. It's not everything, but it's a start. I'm mostly interested in books, music, and movies this year. In case anyone is wondering if I'm expecting gifts from everyone, that's not the case. Mostly I'm putting this here for my family so whoever drew my name this year will have an idea as to what I'm interested in. Thanks!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/1925FCWC6WHZQ/ref=wl_web