Christmas Break

Well its over! My first show.

64 day benchmark in the DGA Training Program.

Thats an awesomely hefty amount of days on one show. And what a good show to be on it was :)

Now its time for a break. Time to relax, to work out, to have fun, to get and give presents and then come back and start fresh!

I'm excited about the gifts I have to give. Im excited about my time in Sarasota with my parents who I havent seen in so long. I think all in all the break will be great because Im saying that it will be.

When I return I want to focus more keenly on the program. I really need to start learning the rules and knowing all the little details. I need to do more of my observation days. If I have breaks I plan on reading, dancing, working out.

Its all going to be new and different when I come back. My new roommate (who consequently has already started moving in and is making me overly happy with her presence), Mollie moving walking distance from my house, and a new show to be on are all going to really create a different experience of Los Angeles. I can't wait.

The Cultured Life

Its about damn time that I returned to the cultured life :)

This past weekend I went to the Pantages for West Side Story. It was great! I love the fact that I can ride the subway one stop, pay 25$ for rush tickets and enjoy some broadway. The show was good overall. The male lead perhaps a little weak and the ending a bit of a disappointment but other than that I had a GREAT time. Me and Josh and Ellen had dinner beforehand and ice cream afterwards and I think I couldn't have asked for a better way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

I didn't stop there though because the next time I HAD to go see Black Swan and oh my god was it great! I love, love, loved it. Im debating on going again... It was beautiful and well acted, the story was great and Aronofsky only lost me once (lost me as in I felt he went a bit over the top, which is really saying something considering his movies). I have to say that mentally I felt a kinship to the movie given my recent dilemmas. The torn and crazy feelings are certainly familiar to me of late. Hurray Natalie Portman! You were superb.

And on that same note I suppose today I was inspired and decided to see what would be playing while I was in Sarasota. I found out that the Moscow Ballet would be in town on the 26 doing one performance of the Nutcracker. I asked my parents if they would like to go and they actually said YES! This ladies and gents is HUGE. My parents never go anywhere and for my, action movie watching father, to actually WANT to go to a ballet is pretty unusual. So yay for that!

Got this week and next week left on Mr. Sunshine which, BTW has an airdate now! Feb 9th on ABC Wednesdays right after Modern Family! Its a great time slot so hopefully the show will become popular and get picked up for a second season. I cant believe though that my time here is going to come to an end. It really was a great first experience.

Swing Dance

So ever since high school when ballroom became a fond memory for me Ive been missing dancing like no one's business, especially swing. There's just never been time or money for it. In undergrad I never felt like there was any extra cash, or I was with a boyfriend I, myself, didn't feel comfortable going off and dancing with someone else in a partner capacity. In grad school there was just no money and then in film school no time whatsoever.

I think its high time to stop thinking about it and start really, seriously, making an effort into me returning to swing dancing. I realize that while right now I may not have a lot of time (and I DO have seriously exhausted feet from work) Im going to try to make a real solid push to dance.

Swing is tough because its not as popular as salsa or ballet and you can't get to a place that just offers random time classes (especially in my case on the weekends) and since I cant very well sign up for a monthly class that happens every, say, Tuesday since I work like a madwoman I need to check the schedules for free classes and dances in the meantime and once Christmas break hits and Im back from visiting Sarasota try to get in as much as I can. I know its 15 or more a lesson but you know what, fuck it. Once I feel comfortable again to do it I can go to the Sat. Sun dances. So thats the plan right now. To make a real, wholehearted push to go to just about every class I can make during whatever time Ive got off after Christmas and before I'm onto the next show.

Lets see if how well I keep up.

Thanksgiving and various other things

Well I made it through that holiday. Id say sortof unscathed.

Thanksgiving went well. The plan for BIG event went off without a hitch. People came, brought LOTS of food, hung out and had a great time. 19 people in total at the end of the night.

It was great to see everyone. The next day me and K. went on a hike up in Griffith Park over by the abandoned zoo and did some geocaching. Then he was out of town once again. We had a break up talk and he left with things mostly unresolved so no real change in that department of life.

Im back on set and things are moving along fairly well. Only this week and then 2 more left on Mr. Sunshine and boy have I learned A LOT. I think over the Christmas holiday I really need to take the time to sort of reanalyze the things that are important to me. Or maybe Ive been thinking too much about that??

Trying to make a conscious effort to include more of the swing dancing in life. Ive got up on this website that tells me when all the swing nights in LA are so lets hope that I can start making it to some of those. As well as lessons...

Salmans is on her way here today! Later on this week some hanging out with her and a photo shoot which I cant wait for.

Lots of cool developments in the future:

Mollie is still on her way over in January which I think is going to blow my mind when she actually gets here. And theres also Wycoff arriving and moving in in January as well. New roomate, new friends in town, new show and what with knowing more about the job Im doing.

Oh and also coming this week is the new shirt I ordered from Threadless!

House Brawl