The holidays are over...

This month I saw two films that totally rocked my world. The first was Milk, starring a remarkable Sean Penn. This movie really opened my eyes to what the gay community in America went through and are still going through in getting and maintaining their civil rights. From the opening montage of actual police footage of gay men being herded into the backs of cruisers to the recreation of some of Harvey Milk's most famous speeches, there was rarely a moment that I wasn't either outraged, encouraged or almost brought to tears. It is really depressing to think that even after 30 years, the gay population is still fighting for civil rights (Prop 8 anyone?). I feel extra luck to be living in a country that treats everyone (or at least mostly everyone) as equals. I know that Canada still has a ways to go and is not at all the perfect country but it is a damn good one and I am proud to be Canadian (we just need to work on our arts and media....it's a little sad).

Last night I saw Doubt with Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman. The performances from Streep, Hoffman and Amy Adams were incredible and I highly recommend anyone (especially actors) to go see this movie. It's based on a play, so there are a lot of long scenes of dialogue, but they're executed so well that I didn't mind.

Yesterday morning I had an audition for a TV show for the Family/Disney channel. It is basically "Charles in Charge" only called something different. I read for "Blake" a rebellious teen who moves into a woman's home to take care of her kids. I don't think it went well, but the little kid I read with was amazing. I wish I was as good and funny and smart as him when I was six! I can't wait to see what he does!

Tomorrow I'm back to school after a month's break. I am not ready to go back and don't want to start being not-lazy. We'll see what happens.

One Word

My friend Fiona sent this to me and I thought it might be fun...

USING ONLY ONE WORD

Not as easy as you might think! It's really hard to only use one word answers.

Where is your cell phone? Floor

Your significant other? Imaginary

Your hair? Dry
Your mother? Cute

Your father? Quiet
Your favorite thing? iPod
Your dream last night? Hot
Your favorite drink? Whiskey
Your dream/goal? Theatre

What room are you in? Fort

Your hobby? Theatre

Your fear? Failure

Where do you want to be in 6 Yrs? NYC

Where were you last night? Date
Something that you aren't? Patient

Muffins? Elderly

Wish list item? iPhone

Last thing you did ? Facebook

What are you wearing? PJs

TV? Gone

Your pet? Cross-eyed
Friends? Missing
Your life? Busy

Your mood? Tired
Missing someone? Yes
Drinking? Water

Smoking? Nothing

Your car? Missing

Something you're not wearing? Bubblewrap

Your favorite store? TheatreBooks

Your favorite color? Blue

last time you cried? Milk
Who will resend this? Nobody
Where do you go to over and over? Sheridan(?)

Holidazed

So it's only been about two months since I last updated. To be honest, it's been a boring and busy couple of months, all at once. Boring in that I haven't done anything exciting because the "busy" mostly encompasses rehearsals, homework and the holidays.

My show went well, I suppose. I definitely dropped one of my fellow cast members when I was supposed to catch her in a trust fall. I'm pretty sure it was the first time she actually trusted me. Anyway, she learned a valuable lesson that day. Luckily, no one was injured (just our pride). The whole Winter Festival thing was a very valuable learning experience. I don't think a lot of actors can honestly say they had a paid performing gig right beside a herd of mooing cows and shared their stage with snakes and flying squirrels.

The holidays were good. I had to work three all-nighters at American Eagle, which kinda ruined Christmas Eve (I slept till 7pm, when I could have been spending time with the fam), but I didn't have to deal with any customers, who are at their worst behavior at Christmas. I also got Boxing day off, which was a godsend.

I don't really understand why people are so miserable during the holidays. I always thought that it was a time of joy and giving. But all my joy came from a bottle and the only thing I got was a headache and violent thoughts. It is very difficult to stay in the holiday spirit while working in retail. I'm a stock person, who rarely sees the sales floor, and even I was going nuts.

I think the best part of Christmas this year was a DVD my uncle made for everyone on my mom's side of the family. It was a compilation of home videos he had filmed since the '70s. I don't ever remember him having a camcorder, but the video showed my parents' wedding, my first Christmas, my brother's first Christmas, and pretty much every family get-together since we were babies. It was surreal. I love how excited I was at Christmas when I was a kid, before I had a VISA card, student debt and parking tickets.

Anyway, it's 2009 and I feel like the whole world is at my beck and call. One of my new years resolutions (besides the usual 'gain weight' and 'save money') is to read the Bible again. I read it once before, back when I was really into the church scene, and I'm interested on my interpretation of it now that I have a few more years' experience under my belt. This was triggered while I was at home for Christmas and going through some old boxes. I found my yearbooks and some old magazines, along with a box full of Bibles and Christian rock CDs. Needless to say, my iPod is a little more pack with Christian rock now. Oh, the memories.

Until next time...