2011-02-16 - 10:52 p.m.
What an eventful couple of months it's been. Believe it or not, class is nearly over for me. THe last semester of school is all productions, no classroom work, so there's only 5 more weeks of classes left in my future. Kind of a scary thought. I'm torn on whether I like this idea or not. On the one hand, I feel like I want more time in classes with the things we've been learning, but on the other hand, the best way to get better at acting is just to do it, and graduating from workshop productions to full scale shows is a good way to build up that experience. So I dunno.
OK, so we finished the semester in late december with our small scaled down 12th Night, which was not a smashing success. Something about it never quite clicked, although having to move to a different studio and reblock it 3 days before we performed certainly didn't help.
After that came a much needed break. I could feel myself wearing down as the semester came to an end. I would wake up each day feeling a bit less rested than the day before, till by the end it was hard to just drag myself through the day. And it wasn't just psychological- we went out for dinner to celebrate after the performance that night, and i started feeling a tickle in the back of my throat. the next day I felt awful- sore throat, cough, congestion, and a bit of a fever. My body finally said, "The hell with it, I have no reason to stave off illness now, so I'm just gonna close down for a bit." Thanks, body. This is how you repay me for years of....well, actually, abuse, so I guess I can't blame you there.
The upshot was that I spent christmas day on the couch watching No Country For Old Men and Die Hard while eating popcorn chicken from the one restaurant in the neighborhood operated by a non-christian (I don't know what religion he was, and I don't care to hazard a guess, but it was probably one fo the other big 2...why am I bothering to ponder this? Who cares?)
After New year's I went to Paris, saw the Louvre, Versailles Palace, Notre Dame, and, of course, the Eiffel Tower. I was miffed to learn that you can't climb stairs all the way to the very TOP of the tower, just up to the 2nd level (which is still a pretty hefty climb, but I was feeling pretty crazy). And of course the top of the tower was closed for the season anyway. Just my luck. Guess I'll have to go back. Probably at a time when it's not so cold up there, too. My camera stopped working because it was too cold- it would keep flashing the low battery light, even with new batteries in it, but then it'd work again after I'd warmed the batteries up for a few minutes and why am I still talking about this in one really long sentence?
New semester, same classes, except working on Restoration theatre now, and I have a new song. THis one is called "I've Got Your Number", from a musical called Little Me, and it's terrible. It's got dated, cheesy lyrics at best, and big parts of it sound like something you'd sing to a girl from the bushes outside her window late at night as you prepare to wear her face like a mask (Man, I have GOT to start ending these paragraphs earlier.)
There are 2 shows this semester, and we just wrapped the first one on Friday, so we have a one week break between the Restoration and the Well Made Play. So....I jetted off to Dublin.
Wait, wait...how did the first show go?
I hated it. Not the piece, I just didn't think I did very well in it, although I'm noticing that in the last few years I have developed a tendency to be by far the harshest critic of my work, which is funny given that when I was younger my ego was so raging I couldn't bear to hear ANYONE say ANYTHING negative about my work. Now I drunkenly argue with my professors at the bar after the show about how none of what I did was any good. Maybe one day I'll find a happy middle ground. I'm guessing that from the things said to me post-performance i"ll get a pretty good grade at least. yay.
Anyway, Dublin. Dublin is, well, absolutely freaking awesome. I think I may love this city more than NYC now.
Ireland is a beautiful country with beautiful greenery and beautiful architecture, populated by beautiful people who speak with a beautiful accent and eat beautiful food while drinking beautiful alcohol.
There. That's how you oversell something.
Seriously though, this place is great. Bit on the pricey side but a lot of fun. THe people I've met are nice and mellow, and very helpful. Every time I pulled out my city map to double check my location/destination someone came up to me and asked if I needed any help, or if I was lost. And they would do it with that lovely accent. You know the one. The one everyone wishes they could do but so few people can.
As with Paris, and pretty much everywhere else I go, I played the tourist (though hopefully not the ugly american). Dublin Castle? Check (although I didn't get the tour till my 3rd attempt). Trinity College LIbrary and the Book of Kells? Check. St. Patrick's Cathedral? Check. St. Stephen's Green? Check. Staying in a bed and breakfast right by Dublin Harbor and taking pictures of where the river meets the irish sea? Check. Traditional Irish breakfasts? Check. Irish Stew for dinner? Check and check. Jameson distillery? I consumed a positively herculean amount of samples there, the result of being involved in two different guided tastings, and if I had a bucket list I could totally cross "get drunk in Ireland" off of it. And it was after Jameson that I finally got in to see Dublin Castle. Smart planning on my part, eh? Guinness brewery? Oh you bet your ass. I can now pour a perfect Guinness. Suck it, miller.
and when I wasn't actively sightseeing, I was wandering the streets up and down the Liffey taking pictures of all kinds of things that caught my eye. (Pictures that will be made available soon, I promise)
I also managed to excercise one of my many mundane superpowers and, quite by accident, found a comic book store. It's like my feet just know where to go. I am kicking myself for not buying a comic book in Paris, because if I had I could now say I'd bought comics in 5 different countries, instead of just four. So far I'm on the US, England, Ireland, and Canada (if you count canada as a country. and if you don't, I don't blame you. I blame canada)
I wonder if there's a market for american actors in irish theatre? I think i'd like to live here someday (I have a rant in my head about american actors in british theatre, but I am not going to get all hostile in this entry, so that'll wait till next time. and it'll still be there, cause the more time I spend in english acting classes, the more i think about it.)
anyway, tomorrow, sadly, I head back to birmingham, and Monday it's back to class. But this has been a great vacation, and one I definitely needed. Monday it's back to work, a Noel Coward scene to memorize, a TON of lines for the next play, and a dissertation to start panicking about not having found a solid topic for yet. Yay.
Sine Metu
Ken
If I could see the western sky for the first time
If I could hold that horizon in my hand
If I could hold her close again before the wedding
If I could fall in love for the first time
If I could only let it go and start again
If I could write to my first love for the last time
What harm could it do?
A new age has begun
A new age has begun
If I could see that western sky for the first time
If I could hold that horizon in my hand
If I could sponge back the pain between two lovers lost
If I could fall in love again for the first time
If I could only let it go and start again
If I could pull the weeds of regret from a choking heart
What harm could it do?
A new age has begun
A new age has begun
When I see that western sky for the last time
I will know for that for the first time I am done
I will hang my head down out on the prairie
A new age has begun
When I see that western sky for the last time
I will know for that for the first time I am done
I will cleanse my dusty hands out in the twilight
A new age has begun
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