Rainy Saturday...

Just got back home from a walk in the rain, slightly wet and with a bunch of new plays to read. Haven't written in a while... It happens.

I'm now both looking for a new home -always tricky, but especially if you're an international student- and working on my rehearsal project. The latter is giving me much joy: it's still school, but it feels a bit more like the professional world. I'm definitely enjoying the chance to bring in all the tools I acquired during the year into a complete play. Not that I don't love working on scenes, but going through the character's entire journey is something else.

I don't seem to have much news, although my life is anything but uneventful. As always, I'm learning a lot, growing as an artist and as a person, and trying to balance my student life with my friends, resting, and other leisurely activities...

This post is a bit on the short side, but hopefully I'll write a lengthier one soon. Have a great week!

I luv my crazy life

Today I carried two plants, a watering can, pink clothes, and a buch of other things to class. For my previous scene, I had to take a lamp. The next one involves crème caramel, but perhaps my scene partner will take care of that. Although, even if that's the case, I'll probably be taking another crazy item.

And the above is just the tip of the iceberg, since the prop madness is just one of the consequences of the constant addition of new scenes/monologues to work on. Another way in which it shows is, I'm now working on three ways of speaking English: Standard American for Shakespeare, General American for contemporary scenes, and a Brooklyn Italian dialect for my scene from A View from the Bridge.

I promise at the beginning of the semester I thought I was going to lose it. But I seem to be getting along quite nicely. Actually, I find the juggling of the various scenes quite stimulating. I find it overwhelming at times, but right now I feel like I'm learning more effortlessly... Which makes me enormously happy. And also, I'm having a crazy amount of fun. Rehearsal projects will be anounced soon. I can't wait!!

70

Wow! I've just realized this is my 70th blog entry. I'm not much about numbers usually, but 70 seemed worth noticing. I suppose what I'm actually happy about is my ability to commit. May this serve as motivation to keep on writing.

Now, before I noticed the number thing, this post was supposed to be about this week's realization. Yep. I don't really now why, but whenever I slow down, however minimally, I realize something. And this week, it hit me that I'm kind of suburban at heart. Not way suburban, but a little. I love Manhattan and all, but when I started hanging out in Brooklyn, I came to realize that I actually missed having a little bit of quiet. And the gardens. I had almost forgotten that they existed. Also people walking down the streets without rushing. So, while being a mere 5 subway stops from school is very practical, my mind is almost set on finding a new neighborhood for my second year at Adler.

I suppose this resolution is somewhat related to the one from the previous week, which involved living for something other than acting and school. And about that plan, I'm sticking to it zealously. I don't know if the events are related, but I'm feeling more creative and focused in class.

I hope this post hasn't turned out completely random... As for the picture, I took it the past Sunday in Caroll Gardens. Seems to illustrate both the suburban thing and the 70 posts anniversary. Happy next week, everyone!

How to not be a workaholic

Hey there! Happy weekend. I almost miss my weekly post, but I didn't. Ha!

Today is Saturday, the sky looks a bit cloudy but it's probably gonna be a nice day anyway, and basically my plan for the day is... rehearsing. I have to run lines and then go rehearse. And tomorrow I have to rehearse too. Sure, I won't be rehearsing the entire day, but out the window goes the concept of free day in the weekend. My past weekend was pretty much like that, and chances are, my following one will be, too.

So it seems to me that I have a challenge, here. I need to get my homework done for Adler, but I also need to rest and have a life. None of these are negotiable. What I've done so far is to a) make sure I at the very least have one free afternoon, when I can avoid thinking of school for a couple of hours; b) make sure I can sleep late, at least once a week; c) combine work and relaxing. This could be walking to school, or having a dialect coaching session in the park (see photo above). I'm still working, but at the very least I remind myself that there's a world out there and take in the fresh air. In so many words, I make sure that I have a few moments when I can think of something else and spend time with my friends.

This may not be the ideal solution, but it's the best I have, for now. There's so much more to being an actor than just the craft. I'm learning so much about time management, staying healthy, and, more importantly, I'm growing every day. Even if at times it gets a bit overwhelming, I'm really grateful for my jounrey, and excited for the new adventures to come.

Headshots!

Pictures by Matthew Sussman. It was a fun, and actually pretty fast, session, and I'm really happy with the results :-)

More writing next week. Oh, and before I forget, I was featured in Bonnie Gillespie's column again! I'm so grateful for that, and proud to have been used as an example. So, do stop by and give it a read. Her columns are always instructive, regardless of my presence in them. Have a great week, everyone!

The science of sleep

My break is oficially over now; and when I look back on it, it seems to me that what I did most was... sleep.

Now, that doesn't seem too exciting to a hyperactive person like me. But as I started to slow down, I realized just how badly I needed to catch up on sleep. After all, it isn't so rare for me to wake up at 7 a.m. and got to bed at 1 a.m. of the following day... So, for once, I accepted tht I couldn't do the millions of things I'd planned, and just indulged in laziness. I read everything I could lay my hands on, slept late, drank gallons of tea to fight my allergy, walked, saw a couple of plays and hang out with my friends. And that was pretty much it.

But as a result, I did some thinking (BIG thoughts), came up with new ideas, was inspired, and re-kindled my enthusiasm for school.

Second semester, here I come!

PS: Curious about the results of my inspiration? Read this!

PS 2: Picture of me having breakfast for the second time by Emily! (she and Danny can be seen on the reflection of the sugar pot, if you look closely).

Renewing commitment

Hello!

I've been in conflict as to what to do about this blog for a while. Should I close it? Force myself to write? Finally, after an inspiring conversation with Erin Cronican, I decided that what I needed to do was find a more realistic way of dealing with it. Cause, the end of the day, it all boils down to time management. If I don't have time to write every day, how about once a week? So yep, you can make me accountable: as of now, I'll be sharing my adventures weekly. :-)

A brief update:

-Participated in Adler's Annual Shakespeare Bennefit for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. I played a scene from Otello. It was insane but fun.

-Had my first American headshots taken. Yay! I promise they'll see the light of day soon.

-Modelled for my friend Emily's blog, Travel and Toil (see pics here!).
-Saw Vanessa Redgrave in Driving Miss Daisy, Mark Rylance in Jerusalem, and Natalie Dessay in Lucia Di Lammermoor, and it was all awesome!

-Went to Boston for my Springbreak.

-Did an absurd amount of homework and research for Adler, and learned in proportion.

I might be forgetting something, but I guess the essential is all there. As of now, I'm enjoying the remains of my summer break, before classes start again with renewed intensity next week. I know keeping my commitment will be a challenge, but I think I'll be able to meet it. See you! :-)

Transitions

So... a few weeks later, here I am again. Back to normal. Or to something closer to normal.

I now have a place to stay, with a normal and actually pretty cool roommate. I'm also better adjusted to school, so life is more orderly and I'm starting to develop routines, and man do I need them. Like my awesome voice teacher from Chekhov told me on Friday, if you have a place to sleep in and take a shower, then you can do everything else. A house is something we all take for granted, but when you live in a hotel and don't know who you'll bump into at breakfast, or get woken up at 4 a.m. by a coffee machine, you begin to appreciate it's importance.

Now that I'm more settled, what I feel is the need to have a family. I don't mean a literal one, because I already have one, but rather to develop deeper friendships and have a group of people to lean on and share life with. I think I'm on the right track, but of course all that takes time. I don't feel particularly homesick, but I do long for a world of my own, here. I think it's just a question of stomaching the moment, being strong and above all, patient. That said, I'm incredibly blessed by the support I encounter from all everyone in my life, wherever in the world they may be.

Looking forward to sharing more with my awesome readers sooner than not. Thanks everyone for sharing my journey!

The good, the bad, and the ugly

So... where I've been?

I've been busy starting school, networking, moving into an apartment and running away from it, catching up, celebrating my birthday, apt hunting again, making new friends... I know..., what!? I'll go one item at a time:

School: started two weeks ago, and boy is it keeping me busy. I already have a scene, a monologue, an exercise, a play to read, plus so many recommended readings I lost track of them. However, being back at Adler is a pleasure. There's an energy. A passion. I have wonderful teachers from whom I expect to learn a LOT. And my classmates are awesome too. They're fun to work with, driven, and interesting people as well. :)

Networking: I dropped by a master class/networking event and met loads of cool people. I left with a bunch of cards and added contacts on FB, some of which I know I'll see again. :)

Apt: Aaaaaaaah. I thought I'd found a short-term sublet. I had, but I had to RUN. Bad roommate. It's too long to explain here, but he wanted me to believe I had been scammed. I hadn't. However, I got my money back and got out. It was awful, but it's over. And now I'm looking for an apt again. I was quite shakey for a few days though.

Birthday: Yes! Another year has gone by. And to my vast surprise, I received presents (edible arrangement from my awesome family, roses from my friend Emily) and was taken out to lunch. The wheather was beautiful, which was a nice change, since for some reason these past years it always rained on that date. So I didn't mind changing to mid-winter after all.

I am currently very absorbed by my everyday life. I do hope (but don't promise to) sit down to write more often. These weeks have been crazy... once again, I'm blessed and happy at the warm welcome I received, both from those who knew from last year and from both who didn't. I'm a lucky girl :)

Home, New (York) Home

I've now been in NY for almost a week and, you've guessed it, pretty much all I did was apartment hunt. It's been an exhausting, at times frustrating and at times exiting ordeal. However, I ended up signing a two-month lease for a place very close to school. That lease can be extended, but I only signed a minimum to see how I got along with my roommates, and if I get better value for money somewhere else. School starts Monday, and moving in before classes started mattered to me. So, for now, mission accomplished.

I can barely begin to explain the relief it is not to be glued to my computer screen all day long checking padmapper and answering ads. My mind is at peace! I can now focus on rehearsing my monologue, and enjoying a short vacation of sorts, before I move in this weekend.

Of course, more happened this week than just the apts (including seeing John Gabriel Borkman at BAM, which I recommend), but I really can't get myself to blog about them right now. I'll get back to more New York impressions in future posts!

2011: The Beginning

Happy belated New Year, everyone! Once again, thank you for reading my posts, following this blog, or merely dropping by on occasion.

My much needed vacation is now over. I returned from the mountains on Monday, and have been doing nothing but running errands, visiting doctors, saying good-byes and the like ever since.

A few weeks ago, I still managed to pretend that I had plenty of time before travelling. I could answer, "I'm leaving in January", and if someone pointed out that January was just a few days away, I would meet the comment with, "No, no, January won't be here for a long time". Needless to say, as soon as I got back home and opened my new agenda, the illusion (or the capacity for self-delusion) was over.

Unable to do otherwise, I faced reality and got busy. As I rolled up clothes in an attempt to fit my wardrobe in one suitcase and a duffel, I was thinking what I fabulous opportunity I now have. Scary, too, but fabulous. I get the chance to start anew, from scratch (or almost), something I had craved for years. New year, new life. Lots of new people to meet, lots to stay in touch with, new house, new classmates, new teachers, new routines, and I could go on forever listing the many new things to come. It's a privilege, and definitely a challenge, and I certainly hope to rise to the occasion. So, since baby steps is the only way to accomplish big things, I will now move on to the next task: more cloth rolling. May 2011 be amazing.