"Nothing to do, nowhere to be/A simple kind of free/Nothing to do, no one but me/And that's all I need/I'm perfectly lonely..."

A great way to start off a day (besides my mandatory cup of coffee from Cowgirl Creamery) is rocking out to John Mayer's new album "Battle Studies" (Perfectly Lonely lyrics as title of post) and some old stuff by Citizen Cope. I'm feeling very mellow and yet jazzed up (is it the caffeine she inquires?).

I'm currently making some lentil tacos for a quick lunch before work. I'll have to get the recipe up here if I haven't already cause it. is. amazing. I really do have to thank my sis-in-law for getting me hooked on these...though hers will always remain mad good (thanks Estelle!).

Can I just say I can't wait for Thanksgiving?! It's going to be great, despite being on the road for the majority of my time off and only being home for less than 3 days. I'm driving off to Philly to pick up my brother tonight after I get out of work at the theatre around 9:30ish. Once there it's sleep for about 4 hours, get up, caffeinate, hop back on the road and we're off to Rochester, NY! There will be audio book fun happening and with two siblings on a 5 hour car ride with some intense dark coffee coursing through their veins things will be on the insane fun side. Trust me. My family veers on the wacky side. We manage to down play it in polite company but mixing any of us together and things get a bit out of hand.

Example: Every major holiday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, Easter, etc., etc., we always go to a movie because we're not really close enough to visit our relatives. And every major holiday the entire family gets into a big, close to knock-down-brawl that may or may not include visual aids, hand gesturing, and threats/attempts on lives when it comes to deciding which movie we should see. This may be a slight exaggeration but welcome to my random acts of drama.

Ah, holidays...what fun it shall be. ;)

xo, Lindsay

"Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently." -Henry Ford

In other words, I got schooled, son.

Let me just preface this blog with I had an awesome time NYC and this weekend was just a big ol' ball of fabulousness. Best idea ever to stay with my friend Jen (Hi Jen!).

That being said, I certainly got an education.

The audition actually went very well and I'm so proud of my monologue work. I loved all the people that came out to audition for Central. They were my kinda people. As in the kind of people that are all "I freaking love everything to do with theatre and I just want to learn". And here I was all afraid I was going to run into the stuck-up kinda theatre people, who treat it like a special club that you're not invited to join. Completely not the case.

As a result of attending this audition, learning what goes on during a Master's course in acting, doing a pre-audition warm up with everyone, and meeting some innately awesome people, I've come to the conclusion that further education is the exact path I want to be on when it comes to acting.

As a result of actually doing the audition, which was my two monologues and a brief interview, I've learned that the Central School of Speech and Drama's MA in Classical Acting course is not for me. Or I'm not for it. I'm not really sure which. But I do appreciate the brutal honesty that was exacted on my person by, as he shall now be referred to as, a Dear, Mr. Martin.

He was blunt and straight to the point as I was informed, I "do not have the educational background it takes to perform in the master's program at this school". I did, actually, already know that but was hoping that a master's program would take me regardless of my lack of education and based on my work history in theatre. Dear, Mr. Martin did explain to me that he thought I should try for, if not going for another BA, an MFA which would be two years instead of one and would provide me with more "studio time" (aka-acting classes).

I found this whole experience to be.....kind of fantastic. I did go into all of this not fully aware if I qualified for this kind of program and Dear, Mr. Martin gave me a wealth of knowledge that I will be taking home with me this week to digest and research. I think he was correct in saying that I'm not right for this particular program...but I do think I'm going to email the other schools I'm interested in and find out if they feel the same after looking at my theatre resume.

I would still love to do a master's degree course. But I shall surely be looking into some MFA programs in England as well now.

(Can I just say that the 14-year old me, a hard-core drama queen pessimist, is slightly gagging at the positivity of it all. But what can I say? Over a year ago I was sitting behind a desk as a receptionist, working part time in retail, doing nothing that involved theatre or acting and I felt like my soul was dying. Now I'm actually taking action to figure out how to go through with further education. The twenty-something me is jumping up and down with excitement because I've got a freakin' purpose. Take that and chew on it, internal angsty-teen.)

And even though I do not see this as a failure at all...I'll leave ya'll with these two quotes by one Dear Mr. Beckett:

"To be an artist is to fail, as no other dare to fail...."

"Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better."

State of Things

(Taken by me while at the D.C. Zoo)

Here's a video of an Orangutan hiding under his blankey...add a bottle of red wine by his side and you'll come to some comprehension of the state of things for me exactly 3 days away from my very first graduate school audition.

My monologues, I'd like to say, are going well. But I'm not going to really say that...because actually they aren't currently going at all, I mean as well as I'd like them to move. They're more in a halting state. This is very frustrating because I am totally in love with my monologues.

One of them is particularly difficult for me because I've never played any kind of character like her...which is why I picked it...and I've got the words down, but I can't quite make the emotions rise up to the surface and show through. The other monologue is so perfectly suited to my personality and I'm very comfortable wearing this character's very refined shoes...but the words won't straighten themselves out. I know them. Oh, how I know them. But it's like a slow train moving up a hill, halting every couple of feet and jerking everyone around that's on board. I'll get halfway through it and then...bam!...blank.

Now just so you understand a bit about me...this is completely how I work. It's sporadic and not at all professional. But when I'm in a show, even as close as a week away from opening, I'm still glancing at the script and halting a bit. It's like I can't fully operate smoothly until I'm actually in the deep end. You can't see how well I swim if I'm only miming it to you, just throw me in already.

Crazy right? (And THIS is why I really should go to grad school...get trained up a bit, mmm?)

I do think I'll perform quite alright. It's just....I'm getting on my own nerves.

And I just ate a humongous chicken fajita bowl from Chipotle, with an extra scoop of rice, and now I'm going to have a burrito baby. Seriously, stick me with string and float me in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. I need to break up with Chipotle soon. It's an abusive relationship and I just keep coming back for more. Which makes me cranky.

So...note to self....no Chipotle on Saturday, as it is the day before my audition. In fact...maybe I'll just stick with cupcakes and coffee....cause I'm sure that'll go well.

Okay, note to Jen, whom I will be staying with in NYC this weekend (yeah!!): do not let me eat too many carbs or horrible things that make me feel bloated.

Excellent. Back to hiding under my blankey. See ya'll when I'm sane...which will be sometime after 1pm on Sunday.

xx

Best Cupcakes (So Far)

Hello blog world, how I've missed you! I haven't been able to find the time to blog lately, though I have been thinking up great blog ideas left and right. I've been preparing for my grad school audition that is taking place November 22nd in New York City and until then my blogging, and quite frankly my social life as well, have been put on a brief and bittersweet hold.

Tell I can get back, just thought you should know:

Best cupcakes in D.C. yet so far that I've found are from Georgetown Cupcake. We had to wait in line for these babies this past Saturday and it was worth it! I tried the chocolate coconut (top left corner) and then was only able to eat half of the pumpkin cupcake (top right corner) before lapsing into a sugar coma. They were moist on the inside and the frosting seemed to have been just made as it almost melted off the top. They were beyond good. Instantly addictive. I will now commence dreaming about these cupcakes.

I can't officially award them Best in DC yet, I still need to try Love Cafe cupcakes and Hello Cupcake as well. I take my cupcake ratings very seriously, people. It's practically my job. Hell, why isn't it my job? Who would like to pay me to try out cupcakes? Anybody? Ah well...

Love,

Cupcake-Whore

I Heart Julia.

If you should happen to partake in the joys of D.C. I can offer you a few kindly, money saving suggestions. Such as rule number one: don't bring your car (see previous post) or stay somewhere that has parking off street and then there's rule number two: for a cheap lunch/dinner/late night snack, reap the benefits of Julia's Empanada's. I was able to get a delicious chorizo empanada (Spanish sausage, rice, and black beans, yum!!) and a diet coke for under $5 and these empanada's are filling as well. I first ate here at the Adam's Morgan location...but I don't remember it much besides thinking "delicious NomNomNom". I tried it again recently at the Columbia Heights location and wasn't disappointed. The guy working behind the counter seemed to be quite knowledgeable on the product as I heard him giving a bit of a history lesson to the old couple in front of me. Good food and an education! The nerd in me celebrates!

Mmmm, chorizo!

Lindsay

D.C. Parking Enforcement Is Out To Get Me.

The picture you see above it one taken from the public cork board for my building, found down in the lobby by the mailboxes.

The D.C. Parking Enforcement, and specifically Officer Fisher, is out to get me.

I flat out refuse to change my license or my plates. I am a New Yorker damnit and I shall return to the motherland someday. If I don't get into grad school I want to move my ass over to NYC to try my hand there for awhile. I'm a nomad and changing my plates is not part of the nomad way. It costs money, money that is better used for say, oh i don't know, bills! And it says to people "hiya! yes I am staying here for awhile and so is my car." That's really not what I want to say...neither does my car. Betsy is a full on New Yorker herself and would like to stay that way, thankyouverymuch. (Yes I name my car, get over it.)

I think possibly someone in my building may have posted this sign in response to both myself and my roommate, who is sticking to his Washington State license plates as well, and as we're the only ones within a 3 block radius with out-of-state plates, who else would they be directing this to? Though my brother did mention that it could be something someone printed out numerous copies of and posted all around...but I say, highly unlikely Sir! Much easier to believe they're out to get me!

Officer Fisher has been so kind as to post onto my windshield a total of three parking tickets and the last two within the span of a week. And I even use my car for work now, so it's only ever parked there three hours in the morning. Which, of course, is an hour longer than permitted in the zoned parking area, but give me a break!

I've decided to try and outsmart them by parking on the street that runs directly into my street, where there is no zoned parking. It is, however, the exact line that crosses my hood from semi-safe in the daylight to ohmygod-i'm-going-to-be-mugged-at-10a.m.-in-broad-daylight, when you cross that line. So a bit of a gamble. A little Russian roulette never hurt anyone, right?

This morning when I went online to pay one of the parking tickets I was surprised to find that I also happened to have been caught speeding on New York Avenue last week by the annoying cameras and wire trips implanted into the road, and have been issued a $100 speeding ticket in addition to my two $30 parking tickets. Yeah D.C.! The douche bag award is officially yours. You've earned it! Welcome to our nation's capitol, where out-of-state cars are not really tolerated or, what the hell, even allowed, period. And forget about speeding on empty streets...it doesn't matter that you were in a life or death situation that requires you to speed more the 15mph above the speed limit (hey, trying to make it home from a friend's house late at night without falling asleep at the wheel totally qualifies, end of story).

Anyways. Just thought I'd share. Now I'm going to totally make this into a whole, march-on-the-mall-with-picket-signs, kinda issue. What can I say, I'm an activist at heart.

NY-er fo' life.

Word to yo' mama.

L-Dub, queen of the hyphen.