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Good idea, Bad idea

We’re getting into Spring now, so I thought I should go ahead and start gettin’ me some sun. So, I figured I usually shoot hoops before I work out, so why not shoot hoops in the sun? I’ll tell you why not: It’s stinkin’ hot out there and the sun will sap all your energy if you let it. Sure enough, it let it and it did. So, I shot around for about a half hour, hopefully getting some sun, and then I went ahead and started my workout. About two sets in, I felt awful–tired, nauseous, sweaty, dehydrated–and all I wanted to do was go home. Looks like I need a new way to get some sun. Maybe I’ll have to resort to reading by the pool.

The books are in

The books that my acting instructor recommended have arrived and I’m well into Acting in Film. So far, I’ve found it to be a very practical book with a lot of good information for a guy like me who hasn’t ever been anywhere near a set. The book’s not about “being a tree” or the ethereal part of acting, but it covers more of the basics like how to act on a set, how to prepare a scene and things like that. It’s really interesting and I’m sure it’ll help me even next week at my lesson. Best of all, it’s an information-packed, fast read.

One week

A week from tomorrow, I’ll be in Jacksonville, beginning my version of Spring Break. I’m really looking forward to it and I’m sure it’ll do me some good to rest up, but I’m not yet to the point where I feel I need to “get away”. I think that’s good, though, because I’m not getting stressed at work and I won’t put unrealistic expectations on my trip. I’m looking forward to seeing my family and friends and just sittin’ around and gettin’ paid.

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A different direction with acting

Well, I spoke with my friend and former acting instructor tonight and I’m beginning to have a clearer picture of where I’m going and how I’ll get there. For now, it looks like I’ll be taking private lessons (or being “coached”, to use the preferred nomenclature) once a week. Ultimately, I doubt if I’ll pursue the 2-year degree I’d been considering because it is more of a hodge-podge degree covering all aspects of acting and the business. I think such a degree would be great for someone who knew only that he wanted to act, but didn’t know how, where or why. In my case, I’m pretty set on TV and film, so much of the curriculum would be outside the scope of my ambitions.

Here’s the best part: I couldn’t have taken classes at the conservatory until October anyway, so I’m really not making a decision not to pursue the 2-year program, but I’m making a decision to pursue private coaching to see if that works for me. As October nears, I’ll re-evaluate my situation and make a final decision on the degree. Essentially, I’m filling my time with productive training that may ultimately make the 2-year degree unnecessary.

Regardless, I’m excited about getting going and I’ve already ordered some books to get me started:

Acting in Film: An Actor’s Take on Moviemaking
How to Get the Part . . . without Falling Apart!; Featuring the Haber Phrase Technique for Actors
Truth in Comedy: The Manual of Improvisation

Another great thing about not taking the 2-year program is that it’ll save me a ton of money. The program costs about $20K while private coaching costs only about $50-70 a week. And, what’s more, I think I’ll probably get just as much (if not more) useful information out of private coaching that I would at the conservatory.

Good night.

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Hoops

Although I’m completely out of the running for any of the three pools in which I’m participating, I’m really enjoying the NCAA Tourney this year. This weekend, there were some great games–today’s two games were both nail-biters that came right down to the wire–and I’m looking forward to the Final Four next weekend. A friend of mine is a Georgia Tech grad. and may have a chance to go to San Antonio to see them play. I wish Florida hadn’t gotten rocked in the first round and that I had a chance to go see them play in the Final Four… “maybe next year.”

Dream Job

I didn’t catch the first half of the season, but what I saw of ESPN’s Dream Job was pretty interesting. ESPN has a knack for creating interesting game shows with regular people trying to do extraordinary things in real-time. Beg, Borrow and Deal was a good show and I was disappointed to see it fade at the end of the second season. Dream job, I think, will probably have another season (even if it’s for a different job or with a slightly different twist) some time in the next year.

I thought it was clever that they allowed “America” to choose the finalist and it was neat to see Mike Hall’s salary–$95,000 American–decided on Sports Center on live TV. Overall, I think the show was a good idea, although it was tailored to a very specific audience. But then, pretty much everything on ESPN is tailored to a specific audience: people who dig sports.

The Silver Chair

I’ve read the first couple chapters of the sixth book in C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia and I think it’s going to be another great story. He sure has a talent for weaving stories together and using commonalities to make the reader acquainted enough with the environment and characters so as not to be uncomfortable or turned off by the unfamiliar while keeping the story fresh with new plot ideas and characters. I don’t think I’ll have any problem finishing the series before I head to Florida in a few weeks.

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Spaceballs

When I first moved here, I picked the DVD up at Target for about 10 bucks. Tonight, I finally got around to watching it and I was vividly reminded of Mel Brooks’ unique style and ability. Of course, seeing John Candy and Rick Moranis was a blast from the past and I always enjoy a good spoof, especially if it’s of a cult film like Star Wars. All in all, I think this was 10 bucks well spent and I’ll have to try to remember to screen it the next time a bunch of my friends and I are sitting around with nothing to do.

The Voyage has come to and end

…but The Silver Chair has only just begun. I’m beginning the 6th book in the Chronicles of Narnia series and I expect I’ll be done with the series in about two weeks. I’ve said too many times how much I’m enjoying the stories, but this one was particularly well written. The last few chapters were unique in many ways and C.S. Lewis’ creativity and storytelling ability really stood out to me down the stretch.

Laptop on hold

I finally sat down and worked out a dollar-by-dollar budget for myself and, long story short, “laptop” ain’t anywhere to be found. I might re-evaluate here in a month or so, but the laptop is on hold indefinitely. I’m really bummed because it’s something I could really use and I was looking forward to having the freedom to write almost anywhere (on a computer), but facts are facts and the fact is there ain’t room for a laptop right now. Patience is a virtue.

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It’s official

I’m going to Florida from April 16th until April 24th. That’ll give me a few days each in J-ville and G-ville. The ticket was only $268, so that was definitely an added bonus.

Plowing through Treader

I’m almost half done with Voyage of the Dawn Treader and I hope to finish it up by this weekend. That’ll put me pretty much on pace to finish the series by the time I head to Florida. More importantly, I’m still really enjoying the stories.

More training tomorrow and Thursday

I’ll be spending the next two days in a very similar environment to the one I spent a couple days last week. I expect to be thoroughly bored, very tired and mostly counting the minutes to food-times and bathroom breaks. But, it may all be worth it as this training will allow me to shine in my group and in my company, and that could mean a nice raise this time next year. Only time will tell.

On the subject of training: I may be working my way into an opportunity to go to Austin for a week of training in late April (in fact, it could be the week after my trip to Florida, making for a very busy April). Initially, I was supposed to be getting this training in Dallas, but it turns out the training center is basically at the airport. After crunching some numbers, my co-worker and I have discovered that it may actually be cheaper to fly us to Austin–rent us a car, get us a couple hotel rooms (in a Hilton or something) and pay for our food–than it would be to pay us for the commute to and from the airport for five days. Now, if we can only convince our managers of that, we’ll be home free.

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Break time is comin’

I’m starting to feel a sense of urgency about getting some time off and seeing my friends and family back home. I’ve been here about 9 weeks and, while I’m pretty comfortable and feel very settled in, I’m ready to see my people back east. I’ve been spending some very quality time with my buddies here, but I’ve also got a lot of free time and I have to work hard to fend of laziness. With laziness comes a lot of down-time and a lot of time to think about “home”. Most times, I’m ok with that, but sometimes, I begin to long for the relationships I left there.

That’s why I’m so looking forward to spending a week in Florida in April. It’ll give me some time to chill and see the people that I’ve only been able to talk to on the phone (and not very frequently). Vacation seems to have a wholly different purpose now that I’m working full-time and living 1000 miles from Florida.

Sailing through Narnia

I’ve read a few chapters of Voyage of the Dawn Treader and it’s another good book. It seems strange to me that I’m reading children’s books and enjoying them so much, but I figure if I am enjoying them, then why not keep reading them? Also, reading shorter, easier books is a good way to boost my “books read to date” numbers: there are seven books in The Chronicles of Narnia.

I’m hoping to finish the series before I go for my vacation in April, but that may not be realistic. It can definitely be done, but I’d have to go on some reading binges between now and then. Normally, a reading binge wouldn’t be totally out of the question, but since I’ll probably spend the next two weekends doing nothing aside from watching basketball, I doubt I’ll have time for any binging.

I’m off to watch Letterman and then it’s time for my beauty sleep.

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Fun out west

Turns out my friends live about 65 miles away, so the drive out and back was a beast. But, I had a great time and got dinner with them and the trip was well worth it. It’s always great to see faces from home, or the other side of Texas, that are familiar.

Bracket almost done

I’ve been working on my bracket since Sunday when the Selections Committee made their choices for the 65 teams competing in this year’s Tourney. It’s always stressful because it’s difficult to know the difference between a bracket that is simply “all favorites” and one that is “the right blend of favorites and upsets”. Someone should figure out a mathematical way to determine how many favorites and how many upsets should be picked. Maybe a points system could be devised so that the differences in seeding are taken into account (to compensate for the difference in likelihood of a 16 upsetting a 1 versus a 9 upsetting an 8 ). So, it would be something like: You get a total of 14 points in upsets. A 9 upsetting an 8 is worth a half point, a 10 upsetting a 7 is worth a full point, an 11 upsetting a 6 is worth 2 points, a 12 upsetting a 5 is worth 4 points, etc. (Of course this method would really need to be based on statistics, so these number have absolutely no meaning.) Then you pick your bracket, count the upset points and see if your bracket is balanced. Of course, this would only get one through the first round, but then, that’s the toughest round to pick. I’m sure a similar method could be used for picking subsequent rounds, but I don’t feel like thinking about this anymore.

I’m pretty happy with my bracket and I also realize that a lot of it comes down to dumb luck and freak occurrences, so I ain’t losin’ any sleep over it.

Finishing Prince Caspian

I’m about to finish the fourth book in the Chronicles of Narnia series, so I’m out. That’s all I have to say about that.

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Through The Horse and His Boy

I finished up the third book of the Chronicles of Narnia this past Sunday and I’m working on Prince Caspian. I’m starting to get into new territory, meaning I haven’t read these books before, so it’s all fresh and new and I’m really enjoying it. Normally, I’m not a big “fantasy” or children’s lit. fan, but C.S. Lewis just does such a great job painting word pictures and articulating concepts through metaphor that it’s impossible for me not to enjoy his writing.

California: attempt 2

Well, I’m going to try to go to CA again next week. This time, I think it’ll happen and the timing seems pretty good. I’m going to e-mail my co-worker out there tomorrow so he can give me a list of places to go and things to do while I’m out there. I figure I’ll use it as sort of a field-trip to learn about L.A. and that general area. It’s been about, oh, 20 years since I was out there, so we have a lot to catch up on.

The Passion

Well, I’ve been itching to see it since I first heard Mel Gibson was working on it and I’ll finally get to catch it tomorrow night. I’m going with a friend who’s already seen it, but he says he’s excited to see it again. I’ve already heard lots of opinions on different aspects of the movie, but the great thing is that I already know what happens, so I can watch it simply to appreciate the gravity, intensity that the movie is said to create.

Pay day approaching

I get paid again on Thursday afternoon. This way of life is so different from being a college student, I still can’t get used to it. In college, my bank account would spike once every four months or so, then it would slowly decline as I spent my scholarship and loan money. Then, as a new semester began, so the cycle would recycle. Now, I get a fresh influx of cash every two weeks and I have a lot of freedom regarding how I spend or invest it. Right now, I’m focusing on paying back my student loans and the other “debt” I incurred this past year at school. I say “debt” in quotes because although it is technically debt, I’m not paying any interest on any of it, so I don’t stress about it too much. If all goes as planned, I’ll be paying back all of this past year’s living expenses by October without having paid a penny of interest on that money. Then, I can start whittling away at the real debt.

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Another Noble Friday

Tonight was the second Friday that I spent at Barnes & Noble since I got here. Part of me thinks that makes me some sort of extravagant loser, while the rest of me thinks it was a good time and an excuse to drop 30 bucks on some magazines and a book. I got a 5-dollar copy of Cracking the Genome: Inside the Race to Unlock Human DNA by Kevin Davies. The magazines were on web design, digital photography and, yes, Nintendo Power. I couldn’t resist the Nintendo Power because I used to read it when I was a kid and I figured it was worth five bucks to see what sort of rubbish I used to enjoy. Turns out it’s the boring, short-on-actual-content sort of rubbish that I enjoyed so much when I was younger.

Florida game tomorrow

I think we play Arkansas tomorrow. I think they’re doing pretty poorly this year, so hopefully we’ll be able to grab a road win and build some confidence. I can’t make any sort of predictions because I don’t know much about their team. I think I read somewhere that they have a couple strong wingmen, so that could spell trouble for our perimeter defense, especially if we’re playing a zone again. I guess we’ll see…

Speaking of Basketball

I’m playing tomorrow morning at 9, so I’m gonna’ go ahead and get some sleep now.

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Phone home

The highlight of my day was a 45-minute conversation I had with a friend from back home. This has been a common theme since I got here and it seems that nothing I do is ever more refreshing than talking with someone from home. Tonight’s conversation was all over the place, but the common thread throughout the conversation was the commonalities that we share. It’s nice to realize that I’m not alone and, although I’ve begun a new phase in my life, there are many other people experiencing things just like I am. It’s interesting how we can be in different places in life, but still be experiencing the same things.

Group blog

I don’t think that I mentioned the other blog I’m a part of now. A friend of mine decided it would be good to have a blog where many people post to discuss our perspectives on transitions. Specifically, we’re all in some phase of the college-to-real-world transition. I think it’s a good idea and I hope I can contribute something meaningful. I’m not a super writer and I often have trouble thinking of interesting, useful and creative things to say, but if I do think of something that has all those attributes, I’ll post it over there.

Still reading the Chronicles

I’m in the third book and still enjoying the series. Nothing to report except that I’m still reading them and I’m going to knock out another chapter right now.