Busy as a Bee

I haven’t written in forever, which is partially because I have been busy, but mostly because there are two things that I wanted to figure out before sharing with you. Since they still haven’t been resolved, I decided to post what I can, and to give you the rest once I have all of the information. Since it has been quite a while, I won’t give you the day by day summaries I normally do, but will just let you know what has been going on with me (for the most part).

I have had two classes with Suzanna. During the first one, I got to do 3 different scenes! Two of them were my own, and the third was because I had already done the scene last year, and the girl couldn’t make it. I was surprised how quickly it came back to me, so I no longer needed the sides and we were actually able to film it. Very proud of that 🙂 As for my two scenes, the Gilmore Girls comedy scene was really fun to do, because unlike the week before, my scene partner was really yelling at me, and blaming me, like I had actually hurt her, which really got me into it. I really felt like I had been horrible and felt guilty about it, which motivated my defending myself.

Now the Southern accent I did was definitely not the greatest, and thinking about the accent kept me out of it at first, but I tried to get into how I would feel meeting my father again after 13 years, and I am pretty sure that by the last few takes, we got the emotions down, and my accent probably wasn’t too horrible, though I am still afraid of watching it 😉

My second class with Suzanna, last Wednesday, I just had the one scene, from Girls, where I again play Shoshanna, this time admitting to being a virgin while waiting for Jessa to show up for her abortion. I always find it hard when doing a scene from Girls not to try and copy Zosia Mamet or Lena Dunham, because they play the characters in such a specific way. This leads to me trying to emulate what I saw them do, while also trying not to, and trying to feel the emotions which sometimes comes out completely differently with me than it does with them…I guess it is always going to be harder to do a scene when you have already seen someone else do it, but I think we did pretty good by our last few takes 🙂

Before that second class with Suzanna, Carolyne and I spent the afternoon together. We talked a lot about those things that are going on that will be in my next post. It is amazing to have friends, just in general, but it is also such a blessing for me to have someone, or even a few someones who don’t judge me for kind of failing, but who actually make me feel better about it, and have kind of been through some of the same things. Acting is a tough business that can sometimes be brutal, but having friends around who are also living in this crazy world makes it all a little less hard and scary <3

We also went to see White House Down, which I loved. I thought it was funny, and I really enjoyed seeing people I knew, both as extras and with actual roles. It’s kind of a preview of what I will hopefully go through next summer with my current extra work, and it shows me that with a lot of hard work and dedication, I can get myself into an American production that films here and be that much closer to achieving my dream. I had also gone to see This Is The End the week before, which was hilarious!

This may seem slightly off topic, but I bought an UP bracelet when I was last in the States. It basically tells you how much/well you sleep, as well as how many steps you take. The goal is at least 10 000 a day, which I am really trying to achieve, because I felt amazing when I was living in LA, and I walked everywhere there. I am also trying to eat like I did in California, but I am bringing it up because in order to get all my steps in, I have been spending a lot of time walking. I don’t really meditate and stuff, but when you spend hours walking, you definitely get to thinking. Sometimes I think about stories and characters I can write about. Sometimes I make mental lists about things I need to do, either for my career, or for workshops and classes I have coming up. My thoughts usually follow my mood, and what has been going on in my life, so if I get bad news, these thoughts go slightly negative, and when I get good news, they are much more positive. Since no one wants to wallow in the negative, I tried to use my walking time to find solutions for my problems, instead of just imagining all of the worst case scenarios. I have been thinking of jobs I could do, or ways to make money until I can support myself from acting. I have been thinking of things I can do or change to make my goals more likely to come true. I have also used my parents as sounding boards for these thoughts, and have come up with the following plans: I am going to focus on my acting without a secondary source of income, until I am about 6-9 months from being broke, at which point I will get a job. Also, I am taking a break from all of the tv I have been watching (which is really hard) so that I can work on finally writing a book, which has been a new year’s resolution of mine for the past 10 years. It was my dad who asked me to do this for him for his birthday, but it also could solve some of my dilemmas. I love writing, and always have a character from my books that I would want to play when it gets turned into a movie (because clearly, that is going to happen) so maybe I can write a book that gets published, and turned into a screenplay, and bam! I’m the next Sylvester Stallone, or Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. I mean, almost all the acting books recommend showcasing yourself and making your own work, so although they mostly mean writing a screenplay or making a short film, I think the book could work as well 😉

I have been following this no tv rule, except for if it is with other people, but I haven’t got much done, because my cousin and his family flew down from Edmonton and stayed with us last week, then we spent last weekend in Quebec City for my dad’s Surprise 50th Birthday Party. I had a blast for both of these, but I am getting slightly stressed out for everything that I have coming up. I booked a voice session with Julia Lenardon, who is highly recommended by everyone I have talked to, I have the Tom Todoroff week intensive in New York City that I am preparing for, as well as the one day one in Montreal that we have finally found our scene for, and then I have to finish a self-tape and send it out by Monday. I have even less time for these things because I am spending half of this week on set, as an extra, but if you’ve been following, I enjoy this to the highest point. No matter how hot or rainy it is, if my feet hurt or I am tired of running up and down stairs, you will not find me complaining (though I might mention it) because I love it! I can’t wait to go back on Thursday and hopefully again and again 🙂

Now I have a lot of lines to learn, monologues to find and voice exercises to do (not to mention all the steps!), but I promise to write again soon. Hope everyone is enjoying their summer as much as I am enjoying mine!

“If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead, either write something worth reading, or do things worth writing.”

-Benjamin Franklin