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

Life You Kill Me...Can I turn down the difficulty level?

Ridiculous.

Seriously. Ridiculous. I don't think a more back and forth, uncertain person can exist than me.

Has anyone ever thought about something so much that they have no idea what they actually think about the subject anymore by the time they realize how long they've been thinking about it? Or feel? Maybe I should use the word FEEL here.

What does it mean when you're confused about love? Confused about how you feel about someone? Am I comfortable or am I in love? Am I both? How do you KNOW deep down in your gut know if this is the person for you. I think its fair to say that there's some choice in the matter certainly but I also think there is some lack of choice too; afterall why do we like the people we like?

I'm in a ridiculous situation. I've been with someone for 7 years...I thought he was the man for me, perhaps I still do think this. We moved in together, I was sad, panicked, totally freaked out. Perhaps it was the circumstances? Or maybe it was just him? Now we're far apart. Very far apart. Do we keep going? A part of me feel this person is a part of me. More a part of me than my parents in some ways. But what now? 3 or 2 years of more long distance? Seeing each other for 3 or 4 days every month or 2? Is that a way to spend the rest of your 20s?

Open relationship perhaps?? But then how the fuck does that work?? Give up on it completely? But then when I try to do that my heart cries out and freaks out in such a way that I start to doubt that its JUST comfort and that there really is something to this person.

I don't know. How do you find clarity on a subject like this?

Hope that it all sorts ITSELF out in the end? I'd love to do that except for the fact that the firmest belief I hold is that one creates their own existence and life experience so by doing nothing I am in fact doing something therefore, an active choice is very important. Which way do I decide and how do I determine how to even make the decision.

So again I say...Life? Can we please PLEASE turn the difficulty level down just a tad??

Shopping Extravaganza

For me anytime I spend something over 100 dollars its considered a shopping bonanza so this weekend I decided that there were some things that I just needed.

For starters I needed a vacuum cleaner so there went about 50 bucks on the cheapest Dirt Devil I could find. It seems to be working well enough so Im satisfied with it.

And then there were speakers for my computer (I bought Sony ones for

30 bucks but I dont actually like them so they're probably going to go back). I plan on checkin out the Sony store on the lot and seeing what I can get there.

There there were some shirts. I bought 4 long sleeved shirts for work cause Ive been rotating through my 5 shirts way too much to the point where you can see I only own those couple shirts. But hurray for Buffalo exchange cause 30 dollars later I love my shirts! I also LOVE shopping there. I know its a hunt and sometimes something not fitting you right is dissapointing because you just CANT get it in the right size. But when you find some

thing great boy does it feel good.

Then there are my new monkey slippers:

And last but not least Im incredibly excited about FINALLY getting myself Pandemic as well as Beyond Balderdash. Saturday will be boardgame awesomeness!!! I can not WAIT!

PS. Sims is amazing. I love the Ambitions expansion and all I want to do is play more and more! Good news is that after this week I have a 10 day Thanksgiving break and can Sim it up for awhile :)

On Fall and Changes

More than likely my favorite time of the year fall is now being experienced in Los Angeles and its bringing with it highs of enjoyment and of course some disappointments. For starters, I sorely miss the rain of course. There's nothing like Florida downpours and that fresh and moist smell in the air. NEVER thought Id miss Florida but it seems that rain-forest climate is now in my bones.

The weather here has been up down up down; today its unbelievably hot. Nights are unbelievabl

y cold for me; at times I sleep under a down

comforter with another comforter on top of that and two long sleeved pajama shirts. I've actually had the cold wake me up in the mornings. The heat was turned on too, I don't know if its how old the building is or if

something is broken because I've never had to deal with a gas heater before.

Fall brings me Halloween, the ultimate of holidays! And even

though I didn't carve a pumpkin this year the costuming went over really well. I didn't even really DO too much because I was exhausted from work. I did wear my fairy outfit to work on Friday, where it was a big hit and then later out to Hollywood and Highland to walk the Walk of Fame and see everyone else's outfits. Strangers took photos with me, I took photos of strangers and all around fun was had.

Thanksgiving plans are abound. I've decided to host a Film School Family dinner at my place complete with long tables and lots chairs and hopefully many attendees and lots of food.

Caroline has volunteered to be the turkey master so I am thankful that day for being alleviated of that chore.

My computer came! It's sitting in a large box in front of the doorway in the living room and tempting me. Its making me crave the weekend. Well, that and whats been a pretty difficult week so far. I feel pretty tired. (De

finitely going in for a massage on Sat and Sun.) But yay computer...sadly amazon shipped Sims Ambitions to...Tallahassee so I may not be seeing that for a little bit(booooo).

And last but not least...Tom is moving out in December and Laura is moving in. It's an unfortunate series of events and a decision made by me to not continue fighting with my landlord. I cant afford to be mentally and monetarily moving at the moment and given that atmosphere surrounding the whole situation I was just tired of phone calls and complaints. I hope that our friendship will remain despite the fact that I know he feels at least somewhat if not totally betrayed. I did not ask him to go, the landlord did, even though I think he doesnt see it that way. But you never know...perhaps even good things will come of this? Maybe he will be happier in his living situation that follows, maybe me and Laura will become good friends?