December Update

It's been a few weeks since I've updated this little blog, and I've had a lot happen in that time. So here's a quick recap of the last few weeks, as I continue to procrastinate on studying for finals.

1) Spider Baby closed. This is a biggie. After what essentially was this entire year of my life (ever since March!), I finally finished the show. I'm certainly sad that it's over--after all that time, you grow to love each other--but at the same time, I'm ready to move on. I learned a lot from the show though. Things about myself and what my standards are, what I'm willing to put up with, what kind of people I want to surround myself with, other important things. How to act to a house of 5 people. This was my first experience performing in a show that was entirely composed of adults. No kids, very few college students. It was certainly an eye-opening experience, one which I'm thrilled to have had. I have my first LA credit, toured internationally, and recorded my first official cast album. Despite all the insanity, that's pretty cool.

2) The semester ended, and what a relief! The last few weeks of school were really zany, what with projects and concerts and other things that just took up a lot of time. It's Tuesday and I'm still recovering from the last few weeks. It's nice to begin finals, only because it means I get a chance to recover and rest a bit. Today, for example, I slept for 12 hours and then had an easy start to the day. And though it wasn't as productive as it might have been, it was a severe change from this whole semester.

3) CTG internship ended. This one's a bummer. I had a ton of fun and learned a lot about theatre and the workplace. It also helped me figure out a lot of answers to questions I didn't know I had about what kinds of things I want to do after college. And although the internship is over, I'm eager to remain part of the CTG family and continue to stay in touch with the people I've met. Technically, I finished my internship last Friday but was already back on Tuesday for one final Brown Bag lunch meeting (with the artistic director! So cool!!), and I'm going back next week to observe an event within another one of the departments. Even though at first I wasn't sure if I wanted an internship this semester, I'm really glad I did. It was definitely a great experience and has opened up a lot of doors that I wouldn't have otherwise.

4) Really looking forward to the next step: what I want to do, where I want to live, and how I can make those things happen. I don't have any answers yet--I have a few ideas, but even those are rather vague. But now it's all about volunteering and networking and researching. Even though the semester is over, I've already made a few leads and am excited to keep working on my journey. (That sounds so pompous and ridiculous but I don't care!) But first... finals. And then some audition prep for shows for next semester. And WINTER BREAK! And SKIING!

2010: a year of major change.
2011: another year of change, of a very different variety. But because I got through this year, I'll be better equipped to deal with whatever comes next.

An Amusing Exchange

So apparently today was one of those "Discover USC" days--where clueless high schoolers visit campus, take tours, learn about the programs, etc. I had no idea this was going on today until I trekked to campus to meet a friend for lunch, and was bombarded with crowds.

The perk of all the high schoolers was that all the restaurants in the Campus Center were open. Usually on the weekends, select restaurants are open at certain times. There's always something open, but the selection is smaller than normal. However, the con of having these high schoolers visiting was that the lines were insanely long.

So I'm headed away from the insanity to find my friend when I spot someone out of the corner of my eye: a kid I knew from PYT way back when. I said hello, how are you, are you checking out the campus, good things like that. And then his mom asked if I was going to apply to USC as well.

....

Apparently I still look like a senior in high school.

And yes, I know in twenty years I'll appreciate this fact, when I'm still getting carded and all my friends are getting senior discounts. I'm not complaining at all--I actually found it rather funny in the moment. But still, it's a little discouraging to know that you look like you're about to graduate high school when you're about to graduate college.

Oh well. So be it!

Off to research potential colleges---er, I mean, POST-GRADUATION JOBS.

Nifty Linky Time

Here's just a couple of cool little links I've found over the last two days:

Spider Baby on BroadwayWorld

Just a press release, but it's still cool. Another such press release is also on Playbill.com, which is also awesome.

Conversatiosn with Katherine: Natalie Angiuli, Self-Made Recording Artist

It's the interview I conducted, now online in lots of pretty glory on HerCampus.com. It was a fun interview... and seeing my name in the byline is pretty fun too! =)

What a Weekend

This has definitely been an insane weekend. Very high highs, extremely low lows, and then some in the middle.

So Friday: internship and show. Same as every Friday. But this was an especially good day, because at the internship I was constantly doing stuff. And not just research, which I realize is important but I never feel like I can be officially done researching, so I never know when to stop. But this Friday I did a lot of different tasks, some in front of the computer and some away--a nice mix. I think I'm discovering that I am not someone who can sit in front of a computer all day: it gives me a headache. But even the computer-work was fun because I'm inputting names for people attending Opening Night and I was figuring out some stuff for the advertising department. Paying bills and things, which sounds dreadfully boring but was surprisingly satisfying, because I had to actually think and figure out the process. I don't know, call me geeky but it was fun to have something challenging. Not that my internship isn't challenging by any means, but I just felt really accomplished by the end of that task.

Then the show. We had a decently large audience, which is always exciting, plus a couple of friends came to see the show. After the show, I took one of the friends out to dinner and I had delicious chocolate chip pancakes from Denny's (of all places!). And then we just hung out for a while. It was great because we haven't seen each other since the summer, and it's always nice to hang out with people who you click with pretty easily. So that was a lot of fun.

Then... Saturday. Pretty much the opposite of Friday. Woke up having gotten not-enough sleep and went off for a group project. I don't want to go into details, because it was honestly one of the most frustrating moments I've had this year, but I have never been so insulted, both in terms of my intelligence and my personality and how my mind works. (Yes, those sound like the same thing, but they're not. I'm just not feeling eloquent enough to explain it better right now.) And consider this: I've been doing theatre for a good ten years now, where I have to deal with criticism left and right, and I've learned how to turn on a thicker skin. Some things really get to me, of course, but I've been working on not taking this personally since I was 10. But now they're not insulting my talent... they're insulting me. And that is not OK. Thank goodness this will all be done on Tuesday and I won't have to think about these people ever again. Plus this is all for a class I'm taking pass/fail, so in the end it barely even matters.

After this though, I was so upset that I went home, ate a snack and crawled into bed and watched a movie and napped. I was supposed to see my friends in a show but I was simply not in the mood. After nap-time, it was show-time. Went to the show, where we had a number of technical difficulties with the sound system. Very frustrating. Luckily, we're supposed to have a band back next week, thank goodness. And my cast was great--I told them about what had happened during the day, and they had a really encouraging perspective on the whole situation. It didn't change things altogether, but by the end of the show I wasn't feeling so upset.

After the show I talked a long time to my family too, which was also great. I love my family. They always make me feel better.

Today, I got up at noon (yay for sleeping in!) and didn't do anything for a really long time. Oops... I did edit down an interview that I conducted for an online "USC magazine" that's launching tomorrow. I'm a writer I'm a writer! (Kind of.) I'll put a link here once it's up.

Then off to a directing rehearsal, where I'll be playing an 8-year-old psychopath. Fun! Then another show tonight. It went really well, partially because the sound worked perfectly, but mostly because a few of my friends were in the audience and were extremely vocal about how much they enjoyed the show!! Two of them were returnees, and Spider Baby now officially has groupies, haha. And another girl from one of my classes was there, although I guess she left before I had the chance to say hello because I didn't see her after. But it was awesome to have them all there, especially since I don't see them that often. And having a really high-energy audience just makes the performing that much more fun!

The Joys of Being Sick

Ok, so being sick stinks. And after week of constant tiredness and endless coughing, I'll be glad when I'm finally feeling back to 100%. But today was a decent day--got a lot of emails sent, dealt with things I've been avoiding for a while. But the true test will come once I finish this blog post and get back to the one kind of homework that I can't fake with a cold:

Singing.

Now, because I'm enrolled in both a choir class and a musical theatre class, not to mention independent voice lessons, singing is kind of important. I kind of need to be able to sing to get the work done. I managed to get through an entire weekend of shows while fighting back a cough--apparently you couldn't tell when I was onstage, which was a relief! It's nice to know that if I have to, I can still perform, even if I'm not 100% in real life. But only if I know that the rest of my evening will be spent in a nice sleepy relaxed state. And I got through the week by just not singing in-class, which was fine. But I want to know my music and I want to work on my next song, which means I need to be able to get through it without coughing up a lung.

Wish me luck, invisible blog-readers!

The Trouble With Registration

Ok, so I'm in the midst of figuring out which classes I want to take for my final semester at USC. In some ways, I have it easy: I only need two more classes to graduate, and I know exactly which ones I want to take. A GE about the science of happiness (perfect, no?), and a class about adapting classic theatrical stories into a variety of mediums, from musical theatre to ballet to opera. Also seems pretty appropriate. I'm also 90% sure of another class I want to take, Theatre for Youth. If I want to consider any kind of theatre profession with children, this seems like a good choice. So those three are pretty much set. And I'll probably take the musical theatre workshop again, just because I enjoy it a lot and it helps me keep working and fresh.

But other than that, I have free reign. Which is exciting but also frightening. What do I want to take? What classes will help me further my career? What do I want to make sure to take before I graduate? What opportunities are unique to USC that I don't want to pass up? For example, I was thinking about signing up for a film class that shows films before they come out. That's unique to USC and I hear it's fun. So shouldn't I take it before the opportunity goes away? But then I remember that I barely watch movies anyway, so it's clearly not something I'm really interested in. Besides, if I'm in any kind of rehearsals then it'll completely conflict (since all those film classes are night classes), so I wouldn't be able to take that anyway. And I'm thinking positive, believing that I'm going to get into something next semester. Even if it isn't at USC.

So here's what I'm debating with right now. Do I focus on classes that could help with my career? Of course, that opens up a whole additional can of worms, considering I don't know exactly what I want to do or how I want to do it.

So here's what I'm debating, because I need to get this out of my system. And no better place to do so than in a blog!

Intro to Pop/Rock Guitar (2): just in case I want to pursue any kind of musical career. Or do songwriting. I have the guitar, I have the basic skills but I have no willingness to practice on my own without some form of pressure telling me to work. That's just how I am. Besides, guitar is pretty simple and it'd be a great skill to have. I'm currently enrolled in this.

Modern Dance (2): Also enrolled in this. Would be taking it to keep up the dancing, and to keep in shape. Plus, I took a modern dance class over the summer. Just a drop-in class, but it was a blast. I absolutely loved it. It was a lot of the grace of ballet in a much more laid-back, interpretive style. And it's dance, which I don't get much of anymore (sadly). I'd love to keep this.

Acting Shakespeare (2): Taught by one of the best acting teachers at USC. I've had her before and she's great. The cons of the class? 9am. Tuesday/Thursday. The two days a week that I am already crazy busy: the GE and the Performing Arts classes are both T/Th, as is Musical Theatre. The two classes I'm definitely taking, and the one other one I want to take. Lame reason to be a con, I know, but considering that over the last three semesters I've had morning classes every day I'd like to have a few days a week to sleep in. Also, I don't love Shakespeare. I get that he's brilliant and I enjoy working with classical text, but I don't feel passionate about acting Shakespeare. I don't know. I'm currently enrolled in this, mostly because I just wanted to save a spot in the class in case I wanted it (it fills up super-fast), but I'm not sold on this. Although it's been a very long time since I've taken an actual acting class... it might not be a bad thing to do right before leaving.

Philosophy of Religion (4): the one class I'm considering that I'm not enrolled in currently. This sounds like a really odd class to consider, but let me explain: I really enjoy philosophy. Even though I dropped the minor, I'd love to take another class. But Katherine, you say, a class on religion? Well here's the thing. I've never understood religion. Growing up in a half-Jewish, half-Chinese household (for sake of argument, "Chinese" counts as a religion), I never had a clear concept of religion. I'm not complaining, I was happy and content, but I've always found religion to be both perplexing and frustrating. I have many questions about it but don't know how to ask the questions. Part of the reason I've enjoyed philosophy is because it offers ways to answer questions that are similar questions of religion, but without depending on pure faith to answer.

Of course, I could just take a class on intro to religion, but I don't want to simply take a basic 100-level class that will skim the surface and not fully investigate. I want to work through these questions! I want to learn! And a class on the Philosophy of Religion could be a great opportunity to do this. Especially since this is the one kind of class that I don't think I'll be able to take after school ends. I could always teach myself guitar, I could always take dance classes, but let's face it--I'm probably not going to take a class in philosophy after school. And apparently the professor of the class is pretty good, or so says RateMyProfessor.com--and I tend to trust the peoples' opinions on the site. It's all overwhelmingly positive. And this class is already pretty full--21/35 spots filled already, and registration hasn't been open long. When classes fill up fast you know it's a good one (or a requirement for a major). But do I want to take a class that kills my Monday/Wednesday afternoon (4-5:15) and I'll probably have to write a big research paper and whatnot? I don't know. This is probably the one I'm most uncertain about. I'd love to take it but I don't know if I should spend the time learning about it if I may never use it again...

And here's another thing. Do I really want to take a full courseload? Do I want to have time free to get ready for next year, to get material ready for auditions or to actually go and audition? Do I want to take a part-time job at some local school? Do I want to be practical or do I want to have fun? Maybe get another internship somewhere? Have a lot of free time (which is dangerous for me, I get bored super easily) or be busy all the time (which I am now... and it's a bit much, to tell the truth)? Cram in as much learning as possible or enjoy having minimal responsibilities while it lasts?

So that's what I'm struggling with right now. Wish me luck as I decide what I want to do with my semester... and my life... BAH I hate being a senior!

Grr...

Somehow, over the weekend, I managed to start getting sick again. Hopefully this will be going away soon, especially since I plan to sleep as much as possible over the next few days. Katherine has been sick for two of the three weekends of Spider Baby, she won't allow herself to be sick for any more!

In other news, I went to my first KP rehearsal today since I went "on sabbatical" for the show. It was very strange to be back, considering I pretty much sat on the couch and read my magazine and listened. Didn't bother singing, it seemed rather pointless considering I won't be at the concert--not to mention I couldn't. The three times I tried to sing to help the sopranos out, my voice was pretty much gone. So yes. Cold needs to go away. Now.

I haven't had the chance to buy Airbourne yet (I went today but the line was painfully long!), but I did drink a bottle of orange juice over the last two days. Considering how much I hate orange juice, this is quite an accomplishment for me!

I should go to bed now, considering that I have class at 9am tomorrow. Yuck. Oh well, so is life.

Sleepy Days

I've had a couple of very sleepy days. Friday I took a three-hour nap, then yesterday and today I woke up at noon. That doesn't happen very often, let me tell you! It was nice.

And now... some quotes from reviews of Spider Baby on Goldstar:

Great play for the Halloween season!

My friend and I attended a preview of this musical last week! I really didn't know what to expect when I bought the tickets but the musical was absolutely hystarical!!

What a great time! Creative, funny, diverse, and a wonderful tribute to a classic horror flick. The actors seemed to be having as much fun as the audience. The music was fun, funny and at times powerful.

And now, for the coolest one of all:

Katherine Goldman, playing the character of Ann Morse, stood out for her tremendous singing...

I'm Really Excited...

...because tomorrow my Costumes class is canceled. Which means I get an extra couple of hours to do whatever I want! Yay!!

...and that's all I have to say. I'm honestly wracking my brain on things to blog about, but right now I'm all talked-out. Tired. No creativity left. Mostly because I just practiced my mini-presentation of how I'm going to teach a mini-lesson in sound for next week. Speaking for a bunch of imaginary 8-year-olds is surprisingly exhausting!

Reasons Why This Week Is/Will Be Crazy

1) Tech week. Need I say more?
2) Had a marketing midterm today. Granted, I'm taking the class pass/fail, but still. It was still pretty tricky.
3) Have a midterm paper due in seven hours for theatre in education. I'm nearly done, but it's not my best-written work.
4) Yoga midterm on Wednesday, which I need to find time to study for and complete the assignments due.
5) Tomorrow I'll have four free hours in the day: 12-2 (between classes) and 8-10 (between class and tech).
6) I'm still sick with coughs and sniffles, and I'm supposed to be a soloist for a mini-concert on Wednesday for choir. And then obviously perform Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I need to buy some medicine...
7) Did I mention it's tech?

Headshot Album is Up

I've narrowed my headshots down from 500+ to about 20. Now I'm looking for YOUR advice. What looks like Katherine?? Where do I look older? Younger? Sexier? Goofier? Which ones look serious and which ones look joyful? Things like strands of hair can be cut out, but the eyes tell all. Which pictures tell stories? Give a hint of personality?

http://tinyurl.com/klgheadshots

Reasons Why Today is a Good Day

1) I won a dollar in my musical theatre class for being able to name the most Rogers and Hammerstein musicals. Silly, yes, but exciting nonetheless!

2) Had a sub in for our theatre in education class. I had tried to do the reading for the class but only got through half of it, so I was worried that it'd be really boring. But it was actually fascinating and I definitely feel a lot more inquisitive about education in general. And I'm excited to discuss it again on Tuesday.

3) Set up an interview meeting for my internship midterm, which had been weighing on my mind a bit (get it done, Katherine, just get it done!). So there's a load off my back.

4) I got a little solo in my choir class! For a more belty-number, which is rather exciting. Not huge by any means (it's choir class, not solo-class) but I'm excited nevertheless. And this is after we did a couple of quartets testing if people knew the music. Only 2 groups went up... and of course I was one of them. And it was a part I knew. Yet I got it wrong... but I know it! And I never get it wrong when we actually sing together. My nerves got ahead of me. The funny thing is, the teacher corrected me after and I said "I know it, I swear," and all the girls in front of me nodded. So clearly they hear me... and they hear that I do it correctly most of the time.

Yes. I sing loud. I admit it! But it's good, I'd say.

5) We celebrated someone's birthday in choir today... which meant WE GOT CAKE. YUMMY!!

6) I did a marketing research lab for my marketing class today. Super simple, mostly just quizzes for opinions, nothing exciting. But one of the labs was for soda brands which meant we got to drink sodas. And I haven't had a ton of soda recently (trying to cut back and all that jazz--and it's working. Apparently I've lost 8lbs since school started. And other than my yoga class and biking around campus, I've kind of stopped working out since classes began. No time. But yay anyway!), so I was excited. I got a Shasta cola. Apparently there were also Cokes as well, but I didn't get that one. I was a little bummed about that.

Clearly, I've got a very strong case of brand loyalty there. And I admit it! Kind of sad though.

And last, but definitely not least...

7) MY PARENTS ARE IN TOWN!!

I'm SO EXCITED!!!

Heatwave!

Today it got up to 113 degrees on campus. Thank goodness I spent the majority of today in air conditioned rooms! (I actually used a thin jacked at my internship today.)

Apparently I'm the only one in Los Angeles who isn't going insane from the heat. Every where, everyone's complaining nonstop. But not me. I mean, yes, it's really really hot. Unreasonably so. But I prefer hot to cold any day of the week, and as long as I'm prepared for the heat (wearing shorts and a tank top and flip flops, with a nice cold water bottle), it's not too terrible. But the minute it gets cold I get cranky. That's why I'm living in Los Angeles, for goodness sake!

So instead of complaining about the heat... I'm complaining about the people who are complaining about the heat. Hehe!

Week 4: Complete

So now I've completed my 4th week of class. By now, you'd think that things would have settled down. I would be much calmer, much less stressed out.

In many ways, that is correct. I had time to meet with friends and hang out a little, grab dinners and watch TV with them. But last night was KP callbacks, which (of course) took forever. Not the callbacks themselves--those were fine. But the deliberating, and then waiting to hear who (of those who overlapped with getting into another group) chose us. In the end, we have some awesome newbies that I'm super excited about!! 2 guys and a girl, and that sounds just about right! But because last night took such a long time, I barely slept last night (between the hours of 9am yesterday morning and 2am last night, I was home for a grand total of an hour). And today I was just exhausted. Luckily it wasn't as though I was doing anything strenuous at the internship, but it's rough to be so tired.

But tomorrow, I'm sleeping in. No doubt about it!

Weekend Plans

I hear that weekends are supposed to be relaxing. Psh. Not for me.

Friday (today): Internship 10-5, Movies at 7pm.
Saturday: Concert Choir retreat 9-4, football game at 7pm (maybe).
Sunday: Spider Baby rehearsal 1:30-4, working an internship event at CTG 5:30-midnight.

And all this past week was a cappella auditions and seeing Glass Menagerie for the internship, so I haven't had a chance to rest over the week. Which means that the first time I'll get to relax is Monday at 2pm. Not that I'm complaining, by any means. But still... isn't it weird to be looking forward to a Monday??

On the plus side, I got my marketing textbook in the mail today. So I can catch up on the work that I've missed for the class.

Hah. Because I have so much time for homework. That's why the football game's a maybe, because I might just have to stay home and get work done that night. But if nothing else I'll put the game on the TV... I'm a Trojan, we always fight on!

Well, I wanted to be busy this semester... and so far my wish has been coming true!

KP All Hail Concert Videos

Here are the KP Videos from the All Hail concert last night.
I'll write more later... but I've got a crazy-long week ahead of me and don't have the energy to write much more.

But in the meantime... ENJOY!



TORN




AFTERNOON DELIGHT




AFRICA

First Week Complete

I made it through the first week! Thank goodness.

So despite not being able to do most of the shows due to Spider Baby, I still had massive amounts of audition work to do: I auditioned for 1 play, 1 musical, the choir program and a musical theater class. Got into one of those, called back for another, no callbacks for the third and don't know if I got into the fourth. And I'm going to be cryptic, so I'm not telling you which one was which =D. (Give you a hint: they're NOT in order.)

I'm also in the midst of getting back to rehearsals for things like KP and Spider Baby. We've got a couple of guest singers for All Hail, which is exciting, and today we essentially re-blocked the show for Spider Baby to account for our new set. I just gotta brush up on my lines and come up with some clever character things, but it should be good. And once we have the whole band together, it'll be even better.

So now I've got to go eat some dinner before KP rehearsal. And then I need to get started on my homework. I've done none all week. Not that I have a lot, but still.

OneHealthyKat Update

Last time I updated this blog, I was 7/7 consecutive days of working out for at least 30 minutes. Today, I'm 20/20. Almost done with the 21-day challenge! It's definitely become much easier to make time to work out every day, even just a long walk down the block, and I feel a lot better too. Unfortunately, having spent this past weekend at the beach means that I ended up eating a lot less healthily than usual, but I'll make it up somehow. Must buy fruit though--I'm at home for the rest of the week, and I want to make me some smoothies!

I spent a lot of time today researching dance studios, yoga centers and local gyms, and I've found some classes I'm excited to take. Tomorrow, I'm going to try a yoga class at Yoga of Los Altos. I've never taken an official yoga class before--just mini-yoga classes during musical theatre courses and a few videos, so this should be interesting! Wednesday I want to do the musical theater dance class at Zohar Dance Company. I'd like to try the tap class as well, but that depends on if I can find my tap shoes or not...

Then once I get back to Los Angeles, I have plans for two more classes. On Saturday morning I'm headed to Burbank a little early before my Spider Baby rehearsal (first rehearsal with the new girl!) to check out a beginner modern dance class at The Dance Collaborative. I've never done modern dance before, so this'll be interesting. I'm tempted to stay for their contemporary jazz class that's right after, but I think I'll give myself time to eat and rest before rehearsal. Then, on Sunday, I'll check out the Broadway class at Your Neighborhood Studio. It looks like one of those big studios with a ton of different classes in many different styles, all going on at once.

Pretty much, I need to get back into dancing shape, especially if USC's doing a dance show as the spring musical. Besides, I love dance and it's fun! Plus it's a very good workout. Next semester I'm taking a yoga class, but I'd like to keep taking dance as well to get in nice and extra-strong shape. If I want to be a singing and dancing fool for the rest of my life, I need to start now!

Hopefully, the plan for next semester is this: yoga class M/W. Internship after class on M/W/F. After I'm done with the internship for the day, I go take a dance class. T/Th will be crazy-busy with classes (Tuesday I have class from 10-6 with one two hour break, Thursday is the same but goes until 8) so I just squeeze in the gym when I get the chance. Waddaya think??

In other news, I won a blog contest! I got some free Moleskine notebooks from Let the Words Flow. I highly recommend the blog if you like to write. I'm no writer, but sometimes I like to pretend ;). So I'm super stoked! Maybe I'll use one of them as a onehealthykat-themed notebook. Hmm...

Working Out Update

So I joined that habitforge website a week ago, and so far I'm 7 for 7.

I've gone a run on the track, tried a treadmill for the first time, used ellipticals twice, done several yoga videos and tried a truly terrible "dance" workout video.

Gotta love that Netflix Instant Watch--if the video is too insanely stupid for words, just stop it and try something else!

Now I'm sore from yesterday's "better bottom" video and today's yoga video, which I couldn't even complete because it was too hard for me! But I feel like it's getting a little easier to have good posture--or at least I think to do so more.

7 days down, 14 to go!

I Have a Confession...

Well, actually, that's a lie. I don't. My car does.

See, last week when I was at home, Mom & I realized that I had accidentally taken her car's registration and proof-of-insurance sticker a few months ago. (Her car is named Burt, and mine is named Charlotte the Carlette. We like to name things. It's fun.) When I got back to LA, I sent back Burt's registration. I also wrote a little somethin' somethin'...

[There's a lot of my family's inside-jokes in here, so if Carlette makes some strange references, that's why. Just warning you.]


Dear Burt,

I am writing this letter to you because I have a most painful confession to make. But first, let me just say that I miss you deeply. Our time together six long months ago have been some of my most treasured memories. Those thirty minutes of conversation while merely standing there in the garage have inspired so many fascinating thoughts. I have had many a fine conversation in a parking lot, but the things we discussed in that spacious garage have stuck with me far more than any other conversation with another car has!

But, as I said, I do have a confession to make, and it is both an embarrassing and painful one. After I was booted out of the garage and back on the sidewalk, I grew lonely. I felt such pain, such sorrow. Knowing that you are having such meaningful conversations with Felix II makes me ache with jealousy. So last month, when I was back at the house, I was so thrilled to have the opportunity to talk to you again! Yet we did not see each other. I was, once again, relegated to the loneliness of the outdoors, with only a stupid bird with a fear of shiny objects to talk to. And did you do anything to bring me indoors? No, you did not.

Perhaps our conversations meant nothing to you. Perhaps I was just a simple distraction, a ruse to get away from talking to that ridiculous motorbike. (Does he ever speak in full sentences?) Or perhaps you have these conversations with any old car. I cannot know. Regardless, it is clear to me that our talks meant far more to me than they did to you.

Knowing this has caused me such pain these last few weeks. And I was so angry when you didn’t even try to see me again, that I stole something of yours. Something important, something vital to your well-being: I took your registration and your proof of insurance sticker.

I know it was wrong, but I needed to make a statement, to make sure that you heard me loud and clear. But apparently that was not the case, for you have gone six months without either of the two. Perhaps you are far less intelligent than you seem: if you have truthfully not noticed these vital components haven’t been there, then maybe I overestimated you. Or perhaps you do not care. I cannot know.

But I am the bigger car in this situation (not literally, I know you are far taller than I, but I am emotionally the bigger car), so I am returning these things to you. I would love to hear back from you, but knowing how little you care about me, I am not expecting a response. I hope you have a nice life and wish you the best mileage.

Sincerely,

Charlotte T. Carlette



....Yes, this is what I do in my spare time.

One Healthy Kat

For the last few weeks, ever since I got back from Toronto, I've started paying more attention to my health and general well-being. It's not like I've turned vegan or anything like that (hah... me. Vegan. That's a funny thought. I like chicken nuggets way too much to be vegan!). But I did a lot of walking in Toronto, just to get from place to place (the three flights of stairs to get to the 3rd floor bedroom was just the kicker), and I started feeling a little better about myself. I didn't drink so much soda, and I actually ate a vegetable or two.

Thing is, I know I'm not the healthiest person. I eat a lot of junk food and I never exercise. When I was in high school, I'd be dancing all the time at PYT or for my PE dance classes. And I never worried about my weight or how I looked. I was short but I felt OK about myself. But in LA, I kind of lost track of that. I never go to the gym, I don't enroll in dance classes through SOT because I want to use those units elsewhere, and all the exercise I get is from biking to and from class. Which, needless to say, isn't much. So nowadays I'm feeling like there's a lot for me to work on. I'm not fat, I'm not saying that, but I'd like to feel better about myself. I'm not approaching it as a numbers game (I don't have a "lose 10 lbs" goal or anything like that-I don't even own a scale!), but I'd like to simply feel healthier.

So now that I'm back in the States, I've started working on that a little more. I paid the summer gym membership and went to the Lyon Center (that officially makes 3 times in 3 years--clearly fitness has not been my priority!), I've tried a couple of workout videos from Netflix Instant Watch, and I take the stairs instead of the elevator at home when I can. And if I feel like I've been sitting all day, I try to take a walk or something, just to get out and get moving.

My primary effort has been on eating better. Before Toronto, I would go through a fast food joint every couple of days. I actually don't eat a ton of sweets, despite my gigantic sweet tooth, but I do have a lot of fried food and soda. Coke is my downfall, I'll admit that. But since I've been back, I've done a little better. Haven't had much soda at all-actually bought myself juice a couple of times, and I'm not usually a big juice fan!

I've started making smoothies-I learned how to make them in Toronto and they're super-simple! I just put in yogurt, 100% juice, and fruit and I feel really healthy drinking it. Lots of fruits in one easy sip. And I haven't had a lot of fast food. In fact, the two times I've had a seriously fast-foody meal (last week at In-and-Out and today at Wendy's), I've felt kind of sick afterwords. Not ill, per se, but my stomach isn't totally thrilled with me. Maybe because I overate, or maybe because I'm starting to adjust away from it. I also had 2 Cokes today, which I definitely didn't need. One at lunch and one at dinner. But the one at lunch was so yummy, so I really wanted another one! But I still feel gross now, and it's been four hours since I ate it, so tomorrow's going to be a water and juice day.

Anyway, I feel like I'm on a decent path when it comes to eating. Now it's time to work on that fitness. I'm really lazy when it comes to that kind of thing. I want to find good dance classes in LA, but I don't really know where to start! I'm enrolled in yoga class for the start of the semester, since it's only 1 unit which'll make a full 18 with my 3-unit Costumes class, but I might drop it depending on if I get other classes. But I did an hour-long workout video from Netflix tonight (I love Netflix!) and I'm planning on going to the gym tomorrow morning.

I also joined the website Habit Forge. It's all about helping you create new habits by sending you daily emails asking you if you did such-and-such that day. If you click "yes" 21 days in a row, you win! Well, sorta. If you don't click "yes," it starts you over. I guess the idea is that after 3 weeks of doing the activity daily, it turns into a habit. So my new habit is "exercising for 30 minutes a day." I feel like that's reasonable.

Wish me luck as I begin my journey of being both OneHappyKat and OneHealthyKat!

Birthday Weekend

I'm back in Los Angeles after an awesome long weekend at home! It was supposed to be just a casual weekend at home, but it ended up being an extended birthday celebration, leading up to my actual birthday. I'm 21 today, hooray!

Thursday night I flew into San Jose airport and headed home. Ate some sushi, made fun of my family (in the best way possible), and watched the first half of SYTYCD on the huge TV. I saw myself a couple of times!! It was nice to see the whole dances, and I filled in Mom+Mel on some cool tidbits from the taping.

Friday I had lunch with a friend, then went shopping! Considering that I'm not a big shopper at all, I sure bought a lot. Got a bunch of pairs of shorts, some skinny jeans, and another dress. It's super cute though. We had dinner at Maldonado's (yummy pasta) and then went over to PYT for Mel's rehearsal. I was watching their last runthrough before tech. I'll still be in LA for their actual performances, so this was my chance to see the show. And it's good! I highly recommend it-lots of crazy dances, but they're dancing it well. Footloose. PYT. Be there. I won't, but you should. After the rehearsal I made smoothies for my family, which they all enjoyed quite a lot. They were also yummy.

Saturday was lunch with another friend from USC, then I went with my parents to see Inception. I really enjoyed the movie! It seriously messed with my mind, but in the best way possible. Then we went over to see Anything Goes at Foothill, which was also very good. Loved seeing my friends on that stage. They were zany and having tons of fun with this ridiculous show, ad-libbing lines left and right. But it was hilarious. My favorite was during "Friendship," a verse about killing and removing eyeballs and such, and one guy said "This is a violent verse!" in a mock-horror voice. It totally cracked me up!

Unfortunately, that night I couldn't sleep. I laid in bed for hours, unable to sleep. A major problem, because we were getting up early Sunday to go white water rafting! I fell asleep after 4am, and got up at 5:45. No joke. It was bad. I napped in the car, but not much. Luckily, it didn't matter too much, because I managed to collect enough energy for the day. And it was awesome. The rapids were great, and I even went in the kayak for a while. Such a good workout, too. After that, we stopped at Fenton's in Vacaville for dinner. Delicious crab salad sandwiches and sundaes!!

Slept in today, and it was so nice! Got up, read a while, and went to a birthday lunch at BJ's with Mom and a friend. I got my first drink! Good times, good times! It was OK, but I really liked the Root Beer drink my mom ordered for me to try. Then we went to pick up Mel from Theatre in the Park and I saw a few of my former TIP students! They didn't see me though, but that's OK--I'm not 100% sure I remember their names, oops. Dropped Mel off at tech and finished packing, then off to the airport and now I'm back to LA.


On another topic, I was just wondering if anyone actually reads this, other than my mother? (I love you Mom!!) Maybe as a b-day present, if you read this blog ever (and clearly you do, considering you're reading this now ;)), just leave a comment? I'd appreciate it!

Storytime!

So let's preface this story by saying that I cannot lie to save my life. I really can't. Maybe in a pinch, for something serious... but silly lies? White lies? Little fibs that, in the end, don't really matter? Nope. Not me. Not at all.

So today at my internship, I'm given a task of calling up a few magazines pretending to be a client interested in advertising in the 'zine. Can we get a few copies for free for research? Of course our actual product is already featured in this magazine, but we want some free copies in order to send to the client. But the people on the phone don't need to know this.

The first bunch of magazines I just leave voicemails. No biggie, I can fake it talking to a machine. But the last one I call... someone answers.

Well great.

I do the standard spiel, how we're interested in advertising, want details on pricing, maybe get a few copies of the magazine for research... you know. Stuff like that. And she says OK.

And now it's where things get tricky, and I seriously wish I had better improv skills instead of just FREAKING. OUT.

What's the name of the company?
Ummmm...... well great. I'm not listing the actual name of the company since they're already in the magazine, so I make one up. I see a post-it note on the table, which is pink, so I say Pink... East. Pink East. Because that's the first word that pops into my head.

what the...

And the conversation ensues, where I just try to make stuff up. I give her an actual email address (should have just made one up), but in the end she says she'll send us a few copies of the magazine. And I take notes on pricing, because if I were actually this person, that's what I'd do. So now I know that a 2/3 page advertisement in a major magazine costs arounjd $153,000. Good to know.

Anyway, that's my story of the day. Maybe next time I'll actually have some of those other random details figured out before I call... And you'd think studying to be an actor would help me with this kind of thing!

So You Think You Can Dance Taping

So today, I went to the live taping of SYTYCD. Which was amazing. Such a fascinating experience! I'll write up the whole story and my observations, and then I'll actually go watch it on TV. Because it's late, and I'm tired, and I don't want the watching of the episode to change all these initial reactions.

So lets start at the beginning. I hear from my friend who's staying with me that her friend got tickets to the taping. My friend and her sister are going with her, and would I like to join them? Well, yes. Obviously! I'd love to!! But then my friend + sister can't make it... so sad!! But I still want to go, and the girl still has the tickets, so even though we've never actually met... I'm going to So You Think You Can Dance with her!! Yayyy!!!!

She got in line around 12:30 and I joined her a little later, around 1:30. We sit and chat and whatnot for an hour and a half, which went by pretty quickly! Then some people checked came by to check that we all had tickets. And then we got to go inside!

Well, sort of. They sent us in through the gates and past security to a holding area. There were two sections of benches: the first section was where they held the--how can I put it... the people they didn't want featured on TV (mostly older folk, not the teens/20-year-olds). The second section was where the rest of us went, myself included. But they sorted us onto the benches with some sort of logic. The first bench had a lot of really pretty girls and a couple of TV-worthy boys, the rest were sorted fairly randomly onto the other benches. I was on the 3rd bench, which kind of sucked since we were there so early, but it really didn't matter at all because we still would be pretty close to the stage.

After maybe another hour, we got to go in! The space is really really cool. It looks SO MUCH SMALLER than it does on TV-obviously! But it was so cool to be able to see everything and watch some of the technical stuff that goes on. You can read all the facts of how it happens, but it's way better to be there in person.

Which I was.
And you (probably) weren't.
Teehee.

Anyway, we got put in spots all the way on the end, house right. So I was the opposite side from the judges, but we were right next to the lip of the stage. So whenever Cat Deeley was on the stage left side talking into the camera, or the dancers were there before they danced their solos, we were literally inches away from them!! The girl I was with actually talked to Cat for a few seconds and she seems SOOOO SWEET!! Ahh I love her. I blew her a kiss... she didn't see me, but that's OK. I saw Lauren at one point during Robert's solo-she was waiting behind the audience to get onstage. My friend told her she loved her (and who doesn't? She's so sweet!) and I blew her a kiss!! And she "caught" it!! Hehe that might have been the highlight of the evening for me!

Even though we were standing for a good 2 hours, it went super fast. I didn't realize it was almost over until they were telling us there were just 3 more routines before the review videos. Of course, the fact that I lacked both my watch and my phone made it hard to keep track of the time. They took our phones away from us, which was expected. I'd had an interesting situation earlier though.

So we're told not to bring purses, which is fine. I brought a bag to sit in line with, which had my book, some snacks, my wallet, things like that. I figured I'd run to the car before we went in and put it away. But we got checked in and then were told that there wasn't enough time to actually run to the car and put it away. So I'm stressing because I have all my stuff and I'm not supposed to. Will they confiscate it? Will we be forced in the back of the room because we aren't supposed to have it? Oh noes!!! Turns out we can just hide it under the bleachers and grab it before we go. So it's literally no big deal. I didn't need to stress at all! Silly Katherine.

We were standing in the "pit" for a little under an hour before the show started, so there was a lot of time to look around and observe. I watched a good number of the people walk in. We had a good view of the seated audience, so I saw a lot of the SYTYCD "celebs" come in. Kherington from 2 season ago (I think) was there pretty early, with her mom (I assume). We saw many of the choreographers, which meant we knew the genres of many of the dances. We saw Alex, Alexis and Courtney, and they seemed to be really relaxed and having fun. And then I saw Billy, who's in the show right now... and I realized there was ANOTHER injury! Sheesh, what's up with this season?? So I knew beforehand this tidbit, which is cool... I guess.

When the judges entered, it was also very amusing. They were having a grand old time and seemed quite relaxed and friendly. Adam Shankman seems super goofy and I want to be his friend. Just saying. I liked watching the judges who weren't speaking when another one of them was talking. Basically, during the show I just tried to watch the stuff that isn't shown on TV, since I won't have this experience again anytime soon. Unfortunately I was too far away to really see the judges at all, so I spent much of the critiques watching Cat and the contestants. Actually, I mostly ended up watching the All-Star, since they were on the end and that's all I could see. That and the top of Cat's head--she's very tall. Hehe!

Because I'm so short, I had a really hard time seeing a lot of the dances, which actually was really frustrating. I was behind this group of kids who were there for one girl's birthday. During one of the commercial breaks they played some music and two of those girls actually danced some hip hop. They were so adorable!! They left after that, so I had a front-row view and could see absolutely everything onstage, which was amazing. Alas, it was only for the last 3 numbers, but whatever. I was still happy.

So usually I watch the show and am not a huge fan of the solo numbers. I just never get as engaged watching them. But being so close to them and seeing it live was definitely an amazing experience. Instead of waiting for them to be over, I felt much more engaged in their dancing. Seeing it live definitely makes a huge difference. Not to mention all the energy in the crowd makes it so that you really WANT them to do well-whereas on TV, you aren't quite as invested in everyone's performances. You root for your favorites and enjoy the rest. But in person, you really want to see them do well.

A few of the routines really stood out as amazing to see live: the contemporary piece that Jose did, the hip hop routine that Ade did and the stepping dance that Kent did. Jose's contemporary piece was amazing just because I could hear them breathing! They took such deep, intense breaths that were truly heartfelt. When you can hear them connect with the breath like that... oh, it's just so intense. The dancing was lovely-what I saw of it-but their breathing was what caught me.

Ade's hip hop was one that I could tell would be really strong just from the opening video. And for what I caught of it, I was really moved. It was strong, hit hard, and the emotion was so overwhelming! Alas, SO MUCH of that piece was stage right... which I could barely see at all. So I'm going to have to watch that one on TV for sure. But at the very end, when Comfort was on my side of the stage, the pain stretched across her face was enough to cover for that whole piece.

Kent's stepping number was also really fun. This was one of the few that I could see really well, and I'm so glad I did! I loved being able to hear the a cappella section, all the hits and thumps and sounds they made. It was fast and intense and awesome. That was just a lot of fun.

Lets see... I'm trying to think if I'm forgetting anything. Well, I'm sure I am, but anything noteworthy?? Kenny Ortega was there as a judge, and he just seemed like the biggest super-fan of this show!! Haha. Commercial breaks went by quickly. They usually told us to move around, either to keep within the blue lines or adjust for the set pieces they moved in for Cat to stand on or for the dancers to dance on, through the middle of the audience. Whenever those occurred (I think it was twice), I literally could not see a thing. In fact, in one of the recap videos I said "I didn't know they did that!" because I hadn't seen it! Haha. Commercials were actually amusing, because they had an entertainer guy there to talk and tell us to bend our legs (to avoid passing out, you know. Actually, while sitting on the benches we talked to one girl who fainted at one of the tapings last year. So that was amusing). He was a funny guy. He gave out Chipotle gift cards to the rowdiest audience members, and my friend won one. =)

It was the 150th episode!! Sheesh, that's insane! They didn't do anything special, as far as I could tell, but it's cool nonetheless.

During each commercial break makeup folk would come out and make sure everyone was looking good. I found it amusing, for some reason. It's a lot of work to look this pretty!!

I think that's pretty much everything... I'll edit the post if I remember anything. Anyway, that was my So You Think You Can Dance experience!!! All in all, a really good time! HOORAY!

Super-Mini Update

So I'm super tired and want to go to bed now but it's been forever since I actually wrote something here so I'll do a super-mini update:

1) Spider Baby tour was awesome. A major learning experience, both as an actor and as just a person in general. I feel so lucky to have worked with this group of people and feel like I learned a lot about living and being a person, all the good and bad that comes with it. I'm glad to be home though. There's no place like home, it's true!

2) Of course, the minute I get home I start to get sick. I don't have a fever or anything, just a lot of congestion and a touch of a sore throat, and my head feels all woozy. And somehow, I've been super insanely busy since I've come home so I haven't had much chance to rest. But I'm unpacked, at least--well, my suitcase is, at least. I haven't touched my backpack yet.

3) I'm drinking Airborne right now. Happy Mom? =) And I had a yummy smoothie for dinner! Super easy and I didn't have to buy it from Jamba Juice or something. Which is good because if I bought the exact same thing, it'd probably be a good $6-I made a very large smoothie. And I still have extra ingredients to make more.

4) Going to the beach this weekend! Hope my cold goes away!

Tour Part Two: Starts Tomorrow

Tomorrow's the day! I hop on a plane with the rest of the Spider Baby cast and we fly off to Toronto. It still hasn't totally kicked in yet--I'm mostly packed but still have a few errands to run, like picking up cash and photocopying my passport. Maybe it'll kick in tomorrow, when I'm driving to the airport at 6:30am (ewwww). Or when I see the rest of the cast again. It's been forever, I forget what they look like! (That's totally a lie, I remember all of them perfectly.)

Anyway, this week has gone by surprisingly quickly. Trying to keep myself busy, avoiding too much thinking. It's a dangerous pasttime, you know? Saw two shows: In the Heights on Friday night and Daddy Long Legs last night. ITH was fantastic, as usual. Seeing Lin Manuel Miranda, who wrote the score and originated Usnavi, was the coolest experience. He's so cute and dorky and perfect for the role--obviously. The last 2 times I saw it was on Broadway, with the same people both times. So now, seeing it with a totally different group of people, was also a really fun experience. Some of the people I preferred over the Broadway cast, some I didn't. But in the end, I still love the show.

DLL was actually a little disappointing, though I still enjoyed it a lot. It was great to see people singing the songs that I have heard now, oh, maybe 20 times on repeat in my car? I'm not sure the show really worked though. Because the whole thing is written in letters, there wasn't a whole lot of interaction between the two characters. And I really missed them actually talking to each other, instead of talking through letters. My favorite scenes were when they were speaking face to face. But even though I had some issues with the direction of the piece (not that I'd know how to solve these problems--this issue comes directly from the way the book was written), I enjoyed it nonetheless.

I kind of wish I weren't leaving tomorrow. Not that I want to stay in Los Angeles, there's nothing really that exciting for me to stay for, but because I have the random desire to cook something: I really want to make this baked mac&cheese recipe that I have, and stick some peas in it for nutritional value. I had a delicious backed mac&cheese w/peas at this restaurant in Burbank a month ago, and I really want to try making it for myself. But since I'm leaving tomorrow, it's pointless-I'd be cooking for myself, I'd have a bazillion leftovers, and it'd just sit in the refrigerator for two weeks. So either I go to the restaurant and order one for myself (I'd still have leftovers, but not a bazillion), or make something else, in smaller portions. Still deciding which one I'm going to do.

Spider Baby in Vegas: Weekend Two

So here's a list of some of the highlights from the weekend.

1) Friday night we had 10 people in the audience. Luckily there were more people in the house than onstage... but not by much. So that was interesting. What was also interesting was that we were all really insanely relaxed. It was good to see everyone again after the week apart, and thus I kind of... forgot that we had a show to do. The house was open before I even knew it. And since I was so relaxed, I wasn't nervous at all. I'm pretty darn sure that's how it was for the whole cast. Without nerves, it's hard to get the right kind of energy going before the show. So it passed in a blur... It was too easy, and so I don't think there was enough at stake. And I feel bad for the audience. The show itself wasn't bad, I don't think, but it wasn't enough. The 10 people that came didn't get the best performance, which is too bad. I think having a small audience is no excuse for not giving them your all, but you live and you learn.

After the show, someone came up to me and told me I had a lovely voice--apparently, she is a Vegas native and has seen a lot of shows, and mentioned me in particular!! So sweet! And then she added that there wasn't a bad vocalist in the bunch, which is awesome. She also told me that if there's ever a Monica Lewinsky musical, I'd be a shoo-in. I was very flattered... though not 100% sure what to make of that, hehe. But apparently there is, in fact, already a Monica Lewinsky musical, so I should check that out. Hah.

2) That night we all went out to the Vegas strip for a night on the town. The girls got very dressed up (I actually thought to bring a cute-ish outfit! Good for me! But I had no cute shoes so I was the only one in flats... and thus, I looked about a foot taller than the rest of the group. Oh well!) and the guys were just chillin'. It was really fun though. We didn't do anything, exactly--just walked around, saw a couple hotels, talked and took some photographs. I really enjoyed myself!

3) The Saturday show was much better. We had a good audience, both in numbers and in energy. I daresay the house may have been at least half full--sounds small but it made quite a difference. Apparently, this show has a history of having a good audience the final show. But I don't want that to be the case anymore: I want it to have a good audience EVERY show! But it made such a difference: it was so nice to have ENERGY for us! They clapped after songs (seems standard, right? But we've been going through the show without getting applause for a while. I think it's partially due to the content, but it's also due to the structure), laughed at jokes, reacted to scenes... It was just nice to know people were watching, and were interested. Beverly Washburn, who played Elizabeth in the original movie, was there and she really enjoyed the show! We talked to her a bit after the show ended, and it was just a really cool experience to hear her feedback--very positive.

Unfortunately, the energy was so invigorating that I tried a few new things in the run--mostly vocally. Trying to add texture to my voice. Didn't seem to work too well, because by the final number I was losing my voice. So I came back, had some throat coat tea, and felt better by morning. But I have to be smart about these things! Silly Katherine, trying new stuff is good but only if you do them smartly and safely.

Reasons Why Today Sucked

1) Barely any sleep. Got home later than anticipated from the roomie's bday party, was too wound up to go to bed right away, and then got woken up when said roomie came home. At four in the morning.

2) My internship was pretty quiet today. Didn't have a whole lot to do. Sometimes that can be nice... but other times I just get bored. I started reorganizing the cabinets in my last half hour.

3) Apparently USC is now banned from bowl games for the next two years. I don't know why, and I don't understand the situation (honestly? I'm too tired to sift through the information), but it's ridiculous either way. That's part of why USC's so awesome! (But only part of the reason. Because clearly USC is the BEST, regardless of the football situation.) Fight on!

4) The third weekend of Spider Baby in Vegas has been canceled, due to medical stuff and job conflicts. So, to remind everyone of how this Vegas portion of Spider Baby has been, lets go through the process of scheduling this elusive third weekend:

a) was originally two weekends
b) then was three weekends. we were asked to check that weekend, and yes, everyone could make it.
c) then was two weekends... and with the potential of scheduling the third, if the owner wanted it. so we had to keep it open... maybe.
d) he loved it, so it was three weekends! that is, if everyone talked to the producer by the Friday evening and said it was OK.
d.1) which they did. so three weekends it is.
e) now, the Thursday before the second weekend, it's canceled. due to conflicts and illness or whatever.

I'm so so tired of these things changing. Make up your mind people and COMMIT! I honestly don't care THAT MUCH either way, but once a decision is made, people need to stick with it! Is it really that hard??

5) Have I mentioned that I'm still really, really tired? And I still have laundry to do and a checkbook to balance and a messy room/apartment to clean.


Reasons Why Today Was a Teeny Bit Less Sucky

1) I learned two new programs at my internship today: the elusive Cision, which has all kinds of nifty contact info to major publications, and some blogging software. Both are pretty simple, but now I can add that to my bag of tricks.

2) Got Quizno's for dinner tonight. Yummy yummy.

3) Watched last night's episode of So You Think You Can Dance, which was all about telling the new Top 10 (sorta...) who got in. And because of the way the show's structured this season, pretty much everyone they featured significantly got in. So ALL my favorites made it!!

3.1) And there's a new episode today. I may not watch all of it (um... 2 hours is a bit much), but I'm excited nonetheless.

4) We're headed back to Vegas tomorrow, which means in about 24 hours I will get to begin performing again. Hooray.

5) Not having a third weekend does mean that I get to go home for sure, instead of just maybe. Which is a very nice thought.

Tour Part One: Done!

Spider Baby Interview

So the first weekend of tour is over and done. It totally flew by, I have no idea where the weekend went!

Even though audiences were pretty small, they all seemed to enjoy the show. The first night had 20+ people, and apparently all of them came up to Enrique after the show and told him how much they loved it. It was a small house, but they giggled and clapped a bit and were decent.

The second night was dead silent, even though before the show started I thought they'd be enthusiastic. But they applauded like crazy at curtain call, so I guess they liked it too!

And the owner of the theater loved it, because we've officially extended for another weekend! So I get another weekend of Spider Baby-ing in Vegas. Hopefully that'll give us more time to build up an audience and get people excited for the show.

The only downside? Lots of driving. It's a long drive, especially when it's going back and forth for the weekend. But I think it should be worth it, in the long run.

Other than that, there's not much to report. I saw a few shows that performed late in the evening, saw some hotels and even played a few penny slots =). I won a bit of money! Like $15-worth. So that was exciting. And now I have today off, to recoup, and then two days of interning, and then back again for a Friday show! It's crazy, man.

Busy, Busy Week

This week has certainly been an eventful one. Started my internship on Tuesday, and so far so good. I go in twice a week and help people when I can. So far, I've fetched magazines, called film schools, read through client accounts and Tweeted. It's not too exciting, but it's interesting just to listen to what these women do on a daily basis. I'm so impressed! And clearly something's working: several of their products are featured on a weekly basis on The Bachelorette, which seems pretty good to me! The internship's a lot of staring at a computer screen, but that's alright.

Spider Baby had its fundraising concert last night. Apparently we (the actors) actually made a bit of money! Surprising and cool. Not a ton, of course, but no big. It's cool nonetheless. It was a very mellow concert: a tiny little theatre and we could see right into the eyes of everyone in the audience. We pretty much just came out when it was our song, sang, and then left. Our producer described the plot in between, but we didn't act it out or anything. Just singing and being rock-stars (or in my case, attempting to be). It went fairly well, so yay. And then a couple people went out for dinner after the show. I got a yummy fancy mac&cheese, and I have leftovers for dinner tonight! I love leftovers.

Today we had our LAST Spider Baby rehearsal before we open in VEGAS!! Crazy crazy. We ran the show twice. The first time felt like a warm-up run for me: I was forgetting lines left and right (pathetic, considering I don't have that many to begin with), but I started to have a little bit more fun with the character. Because, you know, this whole acting thing is supposed to be fun, right? The second run through was much better, mostly because I actually ran the lines in between the two runs so I knew I had them. We also did an extensive fight call, and my muscle memory started kicking in again. Remember, it'd been a good two weeks since I'd run the show, so I was not in good shape. But the second time went much better and I'm getting excited for Vegas! We're carpooling up Thursday night and then it's a good two days of Spider Baby mania. Or something of the sort.

Almost Done!

I'm almost done! Hooray! One more final, which won't be bad at all. Just turning in a packet for my directing scene and presenting the scene to the class. I had my final rehearsal with my actors earlier today, which went well. It's amazing how much the scene changed from our first rehearsals to now--all in really exciting, interesting ways. Every time we run through it, they add in cool new bits and it makes me happy. I love working with actors, even when I'm not actually on the stage. They're so creative! We're so creative. It's awesome.

Another awesome thing: I got an internship! Yay! Last week was insane, I went to 5 interviews in 5 days (seriously), and talked to one woman on the phone about coming in for a trial run of working in their workspace. The interviews went interestingly. I got one of them for sure. The rest went pretty well, but when I said I would be out of town for 2 weeks most of them said it wouldn't work. Unfortunate, but that's life. But I think I would have gotten at least a couple of them if I'd had been in town. Well, I like to think so. I honestly have no idea.

Anyway, I'll be interning in a Public Relations place in downtown Los Angeles. I'm looking forward to it. It's a 5-woman place, painted really cute and pink, and they're really friendly. It's a small space, but I'd honestly prefer a smaller environment where I do things versus a huge place where all you do is photocopies and get coffee. I have no doubt that I'll be doing a bit of that, but I'm under the impression that it's small enough that I'll be doing other things too. It's not entertainment-based at all, which is interesting. Mostly I'd been applying for theatre groups and actor management places, but this should be good to expand my horizons, see what's out there outside of the entertainment industry. I like trying new things. This, combined with the Spider Baby tours and probably an online class or two (I want to learn how to design websites!), and the summer should shape up to be productive and fun. Which is good, because in about 14 hours I'll officially be done with my junior year of college and be a SENIOR.

AHHHHH!!!

I know so many seniors who are nervous about graduating and getting into the real world. I'm nervous too, and I still have an entire year left! I can't believe that in a short year, I'll be done with school forever and moving on to (hopefully) bigger and (hopefully) better things. Ugh. I so don't want to think about that. Just focus on the now:

It isn't the big troubles in life that require character. Anybody can rise to a crisis and face a crushing tragedy with courage, but to meet the petty hazards of the day with a laugh - I really think that requires spirit.
-Jean Webster, "Daddy Long Legs"

Classes Are Done!

Hooray! I'm done with classes. But not done with the work for those said classes. Luckily, I don't have a lot of finals: I have one actual final (for my pass/no pass class), a presentation of my Directing scene, a final lecture, and a jury performance for piano. And a couple of easy reflection papers, talking about my processes and stuff like that. So finals week is looking pretty easy going for me.

But I definitely don't feel officially finished yet. Still hunting for an internship that will take me over the summer, despite the many conflicts that Spider Baby has brought up. Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled to be doing the show, but it's hard to find something that'll keep me busy despite the two weeks plus three weekends of being out of town's worth of conflicts. I have hope though. I have to.

I've actually been doing some research on fringe festivals and they sound really cool. The Toronto Fringe, for example, hosts about 150 companies over 12 days of performances. The shows rotate around in the spaces, and with so many shows, there are multiple performances going at once, all day. Tickets are cheap so audiences can spend a day going from show to show to show. These festivals give smaller companies chances to work in front of an audience, and don't judge the shows themselves--entrance into this particular festival was by lottery, and others provide spaces on a first-come-first-serve basis. Our performance times are all over the place--one is at 10pm, another at 5:15, a couple at 8ish... So we'll have plenty of time to check out the rest of the Fringe and see a bit of Toronto too. Yay! I'm getting excited.

But also sad. I won't be in the country to celebrate July 4th! Well, technically it's still the 4th of July, but it just ain't as fun when you aren't in the United States. Oh well, it's a small price to pay.

Another cool tidbit: The Drowsy Chaperone got its start at the Toronto Fringe Festival. Which is awesome. It starred Sutton Foster. Who is awesome. And who I MET!!!!!


Not my best picture... but it's not the end of the world.

She performed a small concert at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City. We were sitting really close--like, 4th row close. We were all the way to the side, but the theatre is rather small, so it didn't matter. And she was so good! I love her voice. After the show she did a meet-and-greet, so we, well, met and gret (meeted and greeted? I dunno). She was really nice and friendly. I forgot to bring my CD from the car =( so no signing of my CD. But I got a photo, which I've wanted since we went to see Shrek in New York last summer and I was mad that she ran off. So that made me happy. And then we went to grab food in downtown Culver City and as we were leaving, I saw her on the other side of the restaurant with the pianist, eating a late-night snack. I didn't say anything--didn't want to be an obnoxious fan--but it was cool.

I really should study for this Chinese final. Even though I'm taking it pass/fail, I still want to make sure that I'm going to pass, you know? And considering I only have one legitimate final, it's not that big a deal to actually study for it.

Well that, or I can do some research for my internship interviews coming up! Yay interviews! I hope they like me! And to quote the show that was the source material for one of my Writing 340 papers (YESSSSSS I'M DONE WITH WRITING 340 FOREVER!!!)...

God I hope I get it!

Long Weekend

This weekend has been a long one.

Saturday, I went shopping with my roommate to find a costume for a party. I found a really cute dress for under $20 that I might actually wear again, yay! And a hat to spray paint silver. It was a board game themed party. I was a thimble, from Monopoly. So that was fun. Then I went to visit Adam for a few hours, since I haven't seen him in a while. Came back to campus, ate a quick dinner, and saw a workshop production of a new musical that had a bunch of my friends in it. It was definitely an interesting show, very jazzy and new age. After that I came home and got ready for the party, and off we went. And guess what?

The first person I saw also was dressed up as a thimble!! No fair =( but I think mine was cuter, hehe. And a couple people I talked to also said that my thimble was more effective. It was all because of the hat. The hat looked awesome.

So that was last night. Today I got up, attempted to do homework, went off to Spider Baby rehearsal for a series of two run-throughs. The first one was sucky, for me. The second one, I actually had energy, so that was better. Then I dashed back to campus for a quick rehearsal for my directing scene, which went well. Then KP rehearsal. Then some recording of music for a friend. And then, just for kicks, I recorded an audition video for Glee.

It's absolutely terrible and I didn't really even try. But hey, why not? It's the internet age. It's what you do!

So that was my weekend. Now it's 12:15, I'm exhausted, and I have internship applications to fill out, papers to edit, and a Chinese oral final tomorrow. Ugh... This should be a long week. But at least it's the last week of classes! YES!!!

Weekendly Update

The weekend has been pretty uneventful so far. I slept in two days in a row... which is delightful!! Watched a lot of TV via Netflix--I love the Instant Watch that Netflix does. I also got a cool thing for the Wii that lets me watch Netflix using the Wii, which I love. It works really well, which was surprising--I didn't think it'd work. But it does! Which is awesome!

And bad. Because I've watched a lot of TV these last few days. But it's for my education... right? Because I have to be educated in acting... Right? Right?

(Of course, this argument makes no sense because I'm watching stuff that's been canceled for years. But that's a minor detail.)

Other than that, I've had a rehearsal for my directing scene which went really well. I thought of a pretty creative way to create the set-well, I think it's creative, and the cast seems to enjoy working on it, so I'm happy. Maybe it's dumb. It probably is. But I like it, so yay!!

I also saw an SOT show tonight. It's one of the Blueprints--shows that are new works by the Playwriting Grad students, performed by USC students. The shows are still in development, so they aren't anywhere near being done. It's just about getting an audience in there and seeing what they're seeing. So there's a talk-back with the director/author/playwriting program person after the shows. The talk-backs are always really interesting to hear. I didn't have much to say, mostly because I'm still processing the piece until at least half an hour after it's over. But it was interesting to hear these other people's thoughts on the play, and to know that they'll be taken into consideration as the piece moves forward.

Then I came home and made brownies. Yummy!!! And an egg-bagel-wich with cheese and pastrami. Also yummy!!! I love having food =)

Weekend

I got a lot of work done this weekend. Not as much as I'd like to have, but a fair bit:

1) First rehearsal for directing scene #2
2) Made appointments with the Internship Adviser AND a Career Center adviser.
3) Watched the film of Spider Baby
4) Worked on directing stuffs.
5) Worked on a writing project (I'd explain more, but it's a secret =D)
6) Got Into the Woods tickets and saw it.
7) Performed for Relay for Life with KP
8) A Spider Baby rehearsal, which went really well. I got some laughs!
9) Made a birthday present CD, with a really pretty design on it.
10) Saw Adam. Which is always a good thing.

Now I just have to figure out what we're doing in the in-class-rehearsal tomorrow (ewww), revise a paper, do my Chinese homework and work on internship resume/cover letters.

I have a feeling I won't be completing all that tonight...

Things I Do In Alcestiad

1) Sing a little
2) Play the vibraphones a little
3) Stand. A lot.





Like an hour and forty minutes a lot.

Acting Class

I had a good acting class today.

My teacher began the class by talking about "feeling" in a scene. That just because the scene feels good doesn't necessarily make it so... and even if though as an actor, it doesn't feel good, it still might be perfectly strong.

The way my class works is that people go up, one at a time, to "audition" with the scene. The rest of the class sits in the "audience" and watches, except the person who's going next--they wait outside to prepare and stew, just like in a real audition. And as you watch, you pick up things: ideas of things to do, or not to do, new interpretations of the scene, or just a whole lot of self-doubt that what you're doing isn't what everyone else is doing, so it's probably wrong. It's fun like that.

So I wait outside for my audition, and I'm the second to last person to present the audition. This scene has, for some reason, not be the simplest to understand. The way the dialogue is written is a little random, and a fair number of people are struggling to make it work. I go up, having watched everyone else, and for the most part the changes they're making are things that I'd thought about. So I feel OK. I take note to make one adjustment. It was something I'd considered earlier, but never worked with, but I felt like it would be OK. I went in feeling pretty good and did the scene. It didn't feel great, but I knew that the work I'd done for it had, well, worked. (I tried a new technique in understanding the lines, and it helped me figure out which options were better and which were worse.)

He asked how I did, and I answered honestly that on a scale of 1-10, I'd give myself a 6. It didn't feel great. But he said he'd give me a much higher number. Yay!!!! That when I presented the scene, things made sense. He asked what I changed since watching everyone else, and I said that it was mostly all the same--just the one adjustment. I got a "good job." Considering how much this class terrifies me (sheesh Katherine, get over it!!), it made me very happy.

But that got me thinking about acting in general. I think part of the reason that this class scares me so much is that I'm never working with someone--not like you do in a show or in a scene class. I don't get to react to people when I rehearse, and it's hard to feed off the energy of the reader when you're auditioning--there's about 50 other things on your mind already. So I never go in presenting something that I feel really good about, even if I did work on it. I very rarely feel it. But if I can change my mentality to one focusing on solving the puzzle of the scene, it could make it more approachable.

I'm realizing that I enjoy scenes when it's about connecting the lines together. Solving the puzzle of the scene. I'm not a big fan of poetry, so I don't usually want to work on the stuff because it's a beautiful passage. I'm not a fan of reading Shakespeare for that very reason. But I've enjoyed the Shakespeare/classical work I've done (all three scenes of it, haha) because I enjoy figuring out how this point gets to this point gets to this point. And I've learned that if I can make it make sense to me, then it'll probably make sense to the audience. Moreso than it would otherwise.

Anyway, those were the thoughts that were rolling through my head on my walk from class to home. I'm not bragging, by any means--I'm just excited! And want to get these thoughts down before I forget. Now off for some food and more Alcestiad rehearsal. Let's see if I fare any better on the vibraphone than I did yesterday!

The Vibraphone:

Pizza and Homework Night

I just ordered a large pizza from Pizza Hut online. It's cool, you can just put in all the information online and then they send it to you! No phone necessary. Quite handy! So that should be delicious. And large... but it'll be my dinner for the rest of the week, so it should be worth it. I got half cheese, half olive and mushroom... and NO SAUCE. Yummy!!

Anyway, I was planning on seeing the BA show at school tonight but I'm so exhausted from last night's KP retreat that I couldn't muster up the energy to go. And it's raining. Not a bonus, that's for sure. I just took a half hour nap, but not a very solid nap... more like a kitty-cat nap. And now I get to do homework. I have a lot due Monday, yucky. My director's notebook, which should be interesting. I've been taking notes all throughout the directing process, but mostly just thoughts on what to work on, not necessarily big 'ideas' and 'themes.' And then I get to pick the play I'm directing next. Shoot.... I still have NO idea. I borrowed a bunch of plays from the LA Central Library yesterday (definitely the coolest library ever), or I may do a musical. I'd love to do a musical, but that adds fun challenges like music and harmony! Which could be fine, but could be difficult. I do know a ton of two-women musical scenes though, luckily, thanks to CAP21 this summer. So there's a lot of options. But I might be too tempted to just have the actors do exactly what the girls did this summer, which would not be so good. So... we'll see. I have until Monday to decide.

Which is in two days.

......oh boy.

Ralphs Adventure

Is this not the cutest kitchen object EVER??? In case you can't tell, it's a single-egg skillet. It's TINY!

I saw this in the middle of one of the random aisles and knew I had to have it. And then I used it to make myself a delicious egg/cheese/bagel sandwich with a side of yummy grapes. I love having food in the apartment!!

I'm a little worried because I have a two-part Chinese final Monday and Tuesday that I have a lot of studying to do in order to do well, and tomorrow's going to be busy. Spider Baby rehearsal 1-4 (which means I need to be able to leave USC around... 12? 12:30? Have to figure that out soon) and then another rehearsal for either KP or my directing class after (things were rescheduled without my knowing and now there's no way to do both... which really screws me over. I'm really, really frustrated). So I have a lot of work to do. I'm probably going to see if I can find a Borders or Barnes and Noble or some place where I can get away from my apartment and study. I'd go to the library, but it's raining and, oddly enough, I'd rather drive some place and stay dry than bike and freeze in the rain. Besides, sometimes the library is too quiet. I enjoy a bit of white noise to keep focused.

First Spider Baby Rehearsal

I had my first rehearsal for Spider Baby today. It went pretty well. Wish I had reviewed the music of the songs we were working on today a bit more. I'd heard them a few times already, but an extra listen or two would have been good. Oh well, will know for next time!

The rehearsal was in a small set of studios, where there also seemed to be a set of auditions for multiple different things, most notably something for kids because of the vast number of children everywhere. I didn't really notice them though--not until I left rehearsal, when I walked smack dab into a hallway full of kids. Anyway, the rehearsal was very quick and straightforward. We got new copies of the scripts, sang through a song, fixed/tweaked things for those who got confused with the parts (AKA the new cast members, like me!), and reviewed a couple times. Then moved on to the next song. Since maybe half the cast is returning from the last time they worked on the show, we didn't all have to learn it from scratch. I was done within an an hour and a half.

I'm looking forward to next week, when we work on the solos and duets! I have a couple of featured numbers. Just need to review the stuff before going in next week, which shouldn't be too bad.

Measurements

I went in to get measurements taken for the Alcestiad. Or, I tried to at least. I got to the costume shop and into the room but alas, the costumer was sick and wasn't in to take the measurements today.

I suppose that when the ASM called me last night to reschedule, she meant because our costumer would be sick today again, instead of what I assumed--that it was rescheduling from last Wednesday's attempted measurements.

But that's OK! I just came home and watched lots of TV instead. Very nice, very relaxing!

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day world!

As a Valentines Day present... here's KP's full set from the ICCA's last night:


Individual song videos will be on YouTube soon.

Yesterday itself was an insane day. Spent from 2:30pm-1am with the KP folks! We met at 2:30 to finalize some costume things (we had several options for vests, some which came from Target and some which were three weeks late coming from China) and went to meet the rest of the group on campus. Warmed up a bit, then sat around in front of Bovard to hear some rules and fun things like that. Then we headed back to our classroom/practice room to relax, warm up and get ourselves ready.

We went last in the entire set of the ICCAs, so we had a long time until our sound check. Like, two and a half hours long. But it went surprisingly fast. Did warm ups, ate some food, practiced dancing a bit and tried to keep calm. Also went on a number of trips to get hot water for our Throat Coat tea. It worked surprisingly well. I've never tried it, but I probably will in the future.

Sound check was rushed because they were running late, but it went smoothly. And we got to watch the first half of the show. Four groups began the evening, and it was fun to watch and consider what they did that worked and didn't work. Then at intermission we went backstage, warmed up and got excited!!

The performance itself was surreal. We've spent so much time this last month preparing for this performance, and in the end it was exciting! We all had a ton of energy, much more so than in rehearsals. So it was exhausting, but exciting.

In the end we didn't win anything, but it was fun and I think we gave a really good performance. And people seemed to enjoy it, so yay! After the show we took photos and got food at Wendys. Adam was with me, so I dragged him along =). And then went back to one of our house's to relax and watch the video from my camcorder. It was definitely interesting to watch back.

I think we're going to try to record some of the music tomorrow, so we'll have a nice audio. And then... on to new and more exciting things! Hooray!

Lies

I lied. Facebook didn't take 3 hours to upload the video; the screen just froze. It finished uploading by the time I finished that prior post.

Instead, I offer you this little Youtube video. It's the advertisement Google ran on the Superbowl (which I did not see), and it makes me happy. Yay!

Uploading Videos Online

Two nights ago I uploaded a recording of KP's rehearsal run-through of the ICCA set to Facebook video. I'd put a link up here, but it's a rehearsal, so for our eyes only. Sorry :)

Anyway, the video itself was 12:34. How long did it take to upload online?

Three. Hours.

It's in HD, which is probably why. But still. THREE. HOURS!!

And now I'm in the midst of uploading 2 videos from tonight. One is 8 minutes long, the other was 3. The 3 minute one was up and online within an hour and a half. The 8 minute one... well, I started uploading it at the same time as the 3 minute one, and there's still two hours to go.

Needless to say, I'm going to just let it upload tonight by itself and assume it works out. Because I'm not staying up another two hours just to watch it upload.

Ooooooh Facebook video. Sometimes I love you... and sometimes I don't.

The Danger of the Pass/Fail Class

This morning started off well enough. My first class of the day was Writing 340, where we had the first paper of the semester due. Ew. That part wasn't so fun. But the good part was what we did the rest of the class.

We looked at a couple of epically long sentences from a variety of different books. One sentence was about seven lines long. The other one--where "massive" doesn't even begin to cover its length--was about five pages long. It was insane! So for the rest of the class, we practiced writing in a similar style of insanely long sentences, using commas, dashes, colons and semicolons as necessary in order to create a sentence that, although could easily be broken up into smaller pieces, was an extraordinarily long yet grammatically correct, much as this one is--yes, I could have stopped this sentence any number of times using a simple period, but I chose not to, proving a point and showing exactly what we did in class, though I'll admit that the exercise in class was more fun, because the group I wrote my sentence with wrote a massive story about a diner's experience in Denny's (the prompt sentence said "I love Denny's Grand Slam") and how their sad experience in this restaurant eventually ruined the breakfast of champions: The Grand Slam, coupled with a delicious sparkling Cherry Limeade (which I've never tried before, but one of the girls I was sitting was says it's delicious, and I'm inclined to believe her), all because of the frustrating stares of the fellow diners being so cold-hearted as the diner sat sobbing over her food, because her sweet dog Fluffy had died and she was sad-so sad, in fact, that her tears made her bacon extra-salty and essentially ruined her beloved breakfast.

PHEW! That was one sentence, by the way. Anyway, as you can probably guess, the sentence was extremely long and silly, but when we read it in class we got a lot of laughs!! It was exciting, and I left that class feeling pretty happy.

Then I went to Chinese... which is not so happy. I have no idea what's going on half the time in that class, because the teacher isn't always super clear. And I feel like I'm getting singled out at moments because I don't always do all the homework and I don't always put in a ton of effort. Not that I'm not trying at all--I always turn something in and I always try to follow along in class, but sometimes I don't put that much effort into the work--can you blame me? I'm taking it pass/fail, all I need is at least a C- and I'm golden! And it's not that I'm putting in D or even C-level work. So far I've been getting B's or higher on everything, even the half-finished homework. But it's frustrating to feel like they expect me to do more when I just don't have the drive, at this point. I'd rather spend my time on things that matter more, and which will actually affect my GPA. Sure, if I spent enough time studying I could get an A. But I don't really want to, so I won't. So I sat in that class feeling a frustrating combination of "ugh I don't care" and "What's going on?" I'm just ready to be done with Chinese and never have to take another language again. I'm just really terrible at learning languages!

My Insanely Good Day

Today was a seriously fantastic day. And now I shall tell you about it!

It started off by my getting to sleep in because of my canceled writing class. Now, this sounds exciting until you realize that usually class starts at 9:30... and I had a scheduled writing conference with my teacher at 10am. So I got an extra half an hour of sleep, which is good, but it wasn't much. And considering I stayed up significantly late last night to write my rough draft for her... Well, it just wasn't that much sleep. But I did end up feeling pretty well rested regardless, so that just made the whole day better!

The writing conference went really well. All the things I was worried about--having an opinion, the voice of the writing, etc--she thought were pretty good. And the things she suggested that I work on all seem reasonable and doable. Then she told me that she liked my diagnostic paper, which I wrote the night before the second day of class at midnight. I thought it was no good--and the group that read my paper didn't seem to like it either--but she still liked it! And some of the groups that read it (we split the class into groups of three, each reading three random papers at a time and comparing them within that set of three) thought it was the best of three papers, which I totally didn't expect. When I read my paper amongst the group of three, I thought it was definitely 2nd place. So that made me happy.

After the conference I had about half an hour before my next class, so I went to Trojan Grounds and got a chocolate croissant for breakfast. Trogro, as it's called, has excellent chocolate croissants. And I got to read today's issue of the Daily Trojan, which I don't get to do very often.

After breakfast I went to my Chinese class, where I got my test back. I got a 97%! Now, I'm pretty bad at Chinese. When I can remember what I'm saying I'm not bad, but for the most part it doesn't come easily to me. Luckily I'm in a large class of half native Chinese speakers and half total Chinese-newbies, like me. And that means I'm not the worst Chinese student in the class. It's refreshing!!! And I got a 97%, which was higher than some of the native speakers' grades. Not that I'm comparing or anything. But ha ha!! Hooray!!!!

My next class was Performance for Camera, which ended up being a lot of fun. We've been working on auditioning techniques to make the audition less tense and more relaxed, and how to deal with stupid questions like "Tell me about yourself" (aka most annoying question ever! Though technically that's not a question. It's more of a statement. A demand, per se). So we sat with the camera taping us and answered silly questions with whatever images popped into our heads. It was surprisingly fun, and I found myself giggling a lot. It went a lot better than the last two times on-camera in class. I wasn't as awkward and I felt a lot more relaxed. It was fun! So that definitely was a fun class.

The next exciting thing from today was my audition for The Alcestaid. It's a School of Theatre play, and the director had already cast the characters but was looking for a few (re:three) singers to act as a chorus and sing and make the sound effects of the show. So it was more a singing audition than anything else. He didn't even know exactly what they'd be singing... but it'd happen eventually.

Oh. Did I mention that this director is Jason Robert Brown?

If you don't know who that is... then look him up. He's a big-wig in musical theatre world.

So last time I auditioned for him, I felt awkward and uncomfortable and insanely nervous. I mean, this is JRB for heavens sake!! AHHHHH!!! But today I decided to play the auditioning game a bit differently. I cracked little jokes, said what was on my mind, and tried not to obsess about the fact that I was auditioning for such a famous person. I didn't even get dressed up. The only thing I changed for this audition was my shoes: I wore my awesome boots. They're comfy but give me a couple of inches. Perfection.

I sang "Someone to Watch Over Me," which went pretty well. It's a soprano song but doesn't go extremely high--no more than a D, and I can sing much higher than that. So he had me try it a half step higher. No problemo. I'm only re-singing the final ending, so I decide to be a little risky and change the ending a bit. Instead of jumping down an octave, as the music is written, I go up an extra note. Which in hindsight doesn't seem that dramatic, but it felt exciting at the time. And hey, what better time to show off high notes than an audition? His comment was that now I was really singing, yay! I left feeling happy and satisfied.

And then a little dumb, because I accidentally left my sheet music in the room. But the accompanist brought it out to me, so no biggie.

I'm done by 7:30, and this is the earliest I've been home all week! This week has been super crazy, what with KP auditions/rehearsal and Anything Goes rehearsals... I actually have time to sit on the couch and watch TV.

After 2 hours of mindless television I check my email. And I get this:

Congratulations! You have been cast as The Chorus in the Alcestaid.

WOOO HOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lots of happy bouncing and squealing immediately followed suit.

I'm doing a show directed by JRB. My first School of Theatre show. Picked to be one of four girls in this musical ensemble, doing a cappella harmonies like nobody's business, in an all-female cast with other girls that I really like.

This.
Is.
AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The only problem is that there is no way I can do this and Anything Goes. So I'm calling the guy tomorrow. But in the end, I think it's worth it, because this is just way too exciting an opportunity to pass up!!

And that, my friends, ends my insanely good day.