Catch up day. Remember how these titles used to be interesting quotes?

Today, as you can see, I'm at Barnes and Noble. This is preferred because I don't have to buy anything. But it's farther away.

I have some catching up to do, which is unfortunate because my brain is so fried I can't remember anything.

Wednesday night was a sad night. I was bummed about that Chekhov scene and I just needed to take my mind off of acting for an hour, that's all I asked. And So You Think You Can Dance? (SYTYCD) was just the ticket. But alas, it was a very windy day so I got home to find that our satellites had been messed up and I couldn't watch tv! I left the tv on for like two hours, hoping the tv would come back but it never did. I was pretty angry. Exhaustion + disappointment + loneliness can make your temper very short. I took a nap, and when 8:00 came and went with no luck, I grabbed my wallet and some shoes and went out the door. I wasn't sure where I was going to go, but as I turned onto the mall I decided a movie was what I needed. A movie I hadn't seen before. I'd heard good things about Knocked Up, so there I went. (I would have preferred 'Paris, Je T'aime', but the arthouse cinema would have been a drive rather than a walk). I felt like a loser, the theater was pretty full and I walked in late, so everyone saw me sit down by myself. The movie did take my mind off of things, and some of those side characters are Hilarious (Paul Rudd and his wife especially, plus that Firefly guy and his co-worker woman). But it also made me think: "boys are gross. Really gross. And stupid. Stay away from me." It also made me feel very alone.

Thursday started out with the same negative feeling. Which is bad, and I knew it, because going to a program like this, you have to be totally into it or it's a waste of everyone's time. As it turned out, Hip Hop was what shook me out of it. It was our last day and we were doing some really fun partner work. By the end of class I was enjoying myself again and taking things a lot less seriously, which is exactly what I need to retain. I take things way too seriously. Doing that partner work also helped us bond as a group.

Friday was a good day. We had Movement, which we hadn't had since monday, and I really enjoy that class and the instructor. We also had Camera for the first time, taught by Hillary who also co-teaches Voice. She is the essence of quirky fun, I love her. And she really knows what she's doing with camera work-- she's specific, frank, won't let you get away with anything, but so positive. We also had our dialect day in Extended Character which was fun. I was pretty shy, which is unfortunate because I'm good at dialects. They heard my Irish though because the monologue I chose for the class was Padraic from 'The Lieutenant of Inishmore'. I also had a great collage.

And I had to do that Chekhov scene for the last time yesterday! I am so glad. It wasn't fun to be nitpicked by Jennifer, but it had to be done. She just knows everything. She's been studying Chekhov for 30 years so she has the plays pretty much memorized and has an opinion on THE way to do EVERYTHING. Plus, after being hardwired to communicate in terms of objectives and tactics for the last 6 years, switching to someone else's system is difficult for me. It turns out that everyone is as frustrated with her as I am though, so at least I'm not alone in that.

My next Chekhov scene, with a different partner! is Arkadina and Treplev from The Seagull. It's a really funny scene, I am so glad. We were supposed to rehearse today, but I'm pretty sure my scene partner got totally hammered last night, so that will have to wait til tomorrow and I don't mind that at all.

So I went to my first bar last night. Everyone went out for drinks after school ended, to the Rockbottom Brewery. I also had calimari for the first time (Octopus!). I didn't like it. The rubbery texture, and the fact that it's curly like a tentacle, I could not handle it. After a couple hours at the bar we split up, half went to a gay bar to hit the booze a bit harder, half of us went in search of a movie and more booze to bring back to the apartments. In honor of our Chekhov filled week, vodka was purchased. Here are my thoughts on hanging out with drinkers. It's not that fun. Most of my half of the group didn't get thaaat drunk, but I still felt rather left out and kind of stupid. I also felt like half the conversation went over my head as it pertained to alcohol, nasty movies I have not seen (though they were talking about how unnecessary the graphic parts were), sports, songs I don't know... The other half of the conversation was great, these people are really passionate about theatre and it was nice talking about it with them. But they are definitely part of a different culture, and I felt like an outsider. And it was kind of depressing that this young group of people's idea of a good friday night activity was basically just to get drunk. It was centered on alcohol. I understand a drink with dinner or something, but come on, isn't there more to life? Maybe I just don't get it because I haven't tried it.

Ironically enough, hanging out with them last night turned me off from drinking, whereas living in Provo I have been incredibly tempted to try it.

Despite my loneliness this week, after spending all day yesterday with classmates, I was so ready to spend today by myself. Well, I would have preferred to have a friend with me. But a friend from before. I slept in, which is greeeat. So appreciated. I haven't been this exhausted in a while. Only because the exhaustion is from so much new, different stimulation in addition to mental focus, sleep, physical exercise, and homework. I watched half of The Village, kind of expecting my scene partner to call, and then decided to let him sleep or whatever and headed out to the art museum.

On my way, I walked through the Civic Center Park. It has trees, grass, flowers, and lots of greco-roman architecture/art. You know, columns and an amphitheatre-ish thing. It was really pretty and flanked by the city hall and the state capitol. But the only people in it were lots of homeless people. I certainly don't blame them, if I were homeless I would want to hang out somewhere pretty too. But it was sad. Ironic. There are a lot of homeless people here. On the mall at least. Lots of street performers too though, I like them.

I was so sad to find that their impressionist collection had been lent to the Louvre, but when the Louvre calls, you don't say no. I really enjoyed the museum. They had lots of really interesting pieces, and it was small and intimate. I felt like the museum was very well organized, well cared for, very public-friendly and kid-friendly, and passionate about its work. There were some great pieces from Native American tribes on the Northwest coast-- totem pole culture and lots of masks. Very interesting. Plus tons of artifacts from pre-columbian central america. They also had a really great modern art exhibit visiting. I was disappointed in the museum shop because they had no postcards, and really hardly anything pertaining directly to their art. Mostly dishes and clothes and stuffed animals type things.

Seeing the European art that they did have and flipping through the books in their discovery room made me long to be in Europe. Will it ever stop? Do I ever want it to?

So tonight I'm going to clean my apartment, it's gotten pretty messy and I'm hosting a Tonys party tomorrow. I am also going to watch a movie, The Piano I think. And tomorrow I'm going to church at 8:30, ew. With Susannah, hurray.

Feel free to call any evening...