Back to the Book, Back to the Body

Hello Family . . .

Hope everyone has recovered from the Wedding! I'm still bummed that I couldn't make it, but like Elly was saying, I'll have to photoshop myself into some of the photos. Sounds like everyone had a blast, and the body butter went over well. Cool. I was thinking of everyone all day! On the other hand, I wouldn't have traded this trip for anything.

I wasn't able to knock on as many doors as I had anticipated, but I didn make a couple of minor connections. Above all else, it's been a great learning experience, or rather a great REMEMBERING experience. As far as acting goes, a lot of what people say is true. It's a city full of actors. All various looks and levels, but it's been difficult to take ten steps here without overhearing someone talking about the Industry. A lot of folks seem to know the answers to everone's questions too . . . that is to say, everyone has an opinion about how the biz works.

I spent an hour in the Samuel French Bookstore today. Sam French is the main publisher of plays, and there's a good chance that everyone has had one of the small scripts in their hands at some point (Shel Silverstein's "The Devil and Billy Markham" is a Samuel French Play). This location is one of Five in the world. It was fantastic. I was browsing through the refrence section looking at book after book about the Biz-some of which I've read, many of which I haven't-and I was sort of overcome with a feeling that I need to get back to the basics for a bit.

This feeling was compounded by a conversation I had the other day with Tannis H. . . . she was an acquantience at CSU who's been persuing acting out here for a few years now. We were talking about opportunities we had at CSU-highlights and lowpoints of the department-and she was very complimentary of a lot of the old roles I have portrayed. I don't spend a lot of time thinking about the past, so when these memories started coming back, it was a bit strange. I've lost a bit of the brassballsness of the CSU days. Back then, it was all about having fun and doing good work . . . less about acting to pay the bills. Not that I've totally left that old attitude in the dust-over the past several years, I've been able to tap into that from time to time . . . I guess that I'm trying to say that I'm excited about getting back into the books a bit . . . to continue studying the craft. It's been over a year since I've taken a class for crying out loud . . .

It's also time to get back to the body. I've had a pretty lazy summer. With the bike, and (soon) the membership to the neighborhood gym, I plan on getting back into a healthier swing of things. For the past couple of months, I haven't been sleeping very well, and I feel like I've been packing on the pounds. It's the old adage . . . I just feel a lot better in life when I'm feeling fit. Plus, broomball season is coming up . . .

So, all things considered, it's been a good trip. I've got a couple of things to accomplish before I run out here to the West Coast. In the meantime, I feel pretty good about what's happening in Minny. In comparison to a lot of folks that I've talked to out here, I'm working more than a lot of people. While most of my paychecks only have two zeros, I'm still moving in the right direction.

And that's the update from Cali. No pictures this time. Just words. Lots and lots of words.

Love