Validation is nice

A friend was telling me she (and another mutual friend) were at the Sibelius concert.  She said we sounded good (both with the symphony and out in the lobby.)  Nice validation, you don't always get feedback, I do a lot of choral singing, I don't do it for the validation, but you know...it's nice to get it anyway.  (Also, most of the time, you haven't a clue what you sound like as a whole; in most rooms, you can't hear it.  When we sang in the lobby, I ended up way out on the end, and couldn't really hear any of the other parts.  I always enjoy when we move around in rehearsal either changing places, or once one of the directors had as all walk around the room and sing, both practices enabling the ability to hear the mix of all the voices.)  And sometimes this singing-creation-writing-performance-art thing, feels like existing in a vacuum; it's not just ego, we all need feedback and encouragement now and again.  I need it.

Went to this playwright group's reading of new short works (excerpts) last night.  All took place in a movie theatre.  Good writing, good acting.  (My favorite was the first one, where two people meet in a movie theatre because the man tells the woman that she is wearing his ex-friend's dress.  By the end you don't know if this is really the first time they are meeting, or if they are starting their relationship over.  That was a nice twist.  I think that was by Stephanie Timm.  The two other writers that presented work were Frank Basloe and Emily Conbere, I enjoyed all of it.)  It was closer to an actual performance than a staged reading; the actors sat in the theatre seats (rather than behind a stand), and though they were holding scripts, they interacted with one another, and looked up most of the time. (Not always the case.)  Took forever to get home.  Traffic had been backed up all afternoon, and the buses were still off schedule.  The bus I ended up eventually catching was 25 minutes late, but that worked for me (I thought it was early.)  Traffic was bad this morning as well.  Took 40 minutes to get to work. (Usually, it's about 15.)  Traffic wasn't moving much, and then there was an unannounced reroute.  Apparently, a road is closed.

Have a wicked headache, seems to be going around today.

More water pictures...still attracted to reflections.  Oh, and a duck.

Tree, March 25/L Herlevi 2015

Sky, March 25/L Herlevi 2015

Proud, March 25/L Herlevi 2015

More Clouds, March 25/L Herlevi 2015

About that missing bird

Oh, apparently robins flock together (for safety) and migrate. It seems strange for them to leave now, however, as there seems to be plenty of food, and the weather has been good. And I know we have some during the winter, though, maybe they migrate here from somewhere further north. One site I looked at mentioned that the migrational pattern of American Robins is a mystery. (And the ones that don't migrate, have first choice of breeding territory.)

Free item(s) today: chai (the real stuff, not from a bottle) crisp grapes, brownie bites.

Went to an audition panel after work. There were four panelists from theatres around town, mostly casting directors (ACT, Seattle Rep, Book-It, and Seattle Shakespeare Co.) They talked about the casting process, resumes, general things about auditions, how to choose work and prepare that for a general audition, among other things (it's okay to introduce yourself, let them know what you are doing; they are on your side even if you don't get cast, etc.) Really helpful. So on that input, I am going to sign up for the TPS auditions, even if I only get to the pre-auditions. So, need to start saving up for head-shots (about $285.) I guess that's actually not too bad, camera actors have to get them a lot more often than stage actors, you have to actually look like the picture when you go out for auditions/jobs. (Some stage actors look nothing at all like their head shots; they are refreshingly less intimidating in person.)  Also, need to start reading a lot more plays. And I don't think I'll do a classical monologue. On the way home, I also decided I need to start doing the physical training again: my center of gravity has creeped up toward my chest again, and I feel like I have an aversion to my feet fully contacting the ground. I've been making a lot of excuses, time for that to stop.

I'd been looking for a group of people to work with, and now (fingers crossed) I have two: a clown group and a text group. Both of them only meet 1x/month, but it's something to stay in practice, to read more plays, work on monologues, work on physical impulses, and to stay in contact with people, build a community.

And lastly, the woman I sat next to had seen our show, she said she enjoyed it, enjoyed our scene, particularly the clothing removal (it was funny.) It was really nice to having someone I've never met before tell me that. It's good to know all the work is actually communicating to someone, even if it's just to make them laugh. I think it's why we do it, and it makes it more worthwhile to sacrifice (time, money, sanity) this year.