Seclusion (Part 1/3)

I have been on vacation for the last three weeks. My office was moved into a new building on April 1st, but it was so new that the electricity hadn’t been wired. We were hoping for the 18th to reopen, but the 25th was my first day back. The new office is gorgeous! It has wood flooring and a tiled bathroom. It resembles a home more than an office.

My vacation was great. I spent the first few days at home, sleeping a lot and cleaning my room. My room is cleaner than when I first moved in. Then I flew into Fort Collins, just outside of Denver. I spent a few days with my older sister, Christine, and her 2 ½ year old son, Trey. My nephew is a hoot. He likes to mime slinging webs at me so that I get all tangled up and sticky. I was able to help Christine with a baby clothes consignment sale after I got back from a short trip south to see my uncle. It was really good feeling that I could help.

My Uncle Jonny lives in the mountains near Colorado Springs. It was good seeing him since we really don’t talk much. He’s my father’s older brother, and my father’s death was always hard for him to talk about. We finally had one of those talks. I sat crying over my burrito at a table emblazoned with sun in Chipotle while my uncle told me how much my father loved me. I’ve always known that, but it’s good to hear from another source. His wife’s daughter and her son were there as well. Apparently the appeal of Spiderman knows no bounds because Zaiden, my 4 ½ year old second cousin, couldn’t get enough of the web-slinger either. We played his Playstation games, watched the movies and romped around his room in the style of Spiderman vs. foe. I also did some sight seeing in the wilderness out there. It was very tranquil.

When I went back to my sister’s to help with the sale, Trey was happy to see me. It’s really great to be recognized and loved by young family members; they don’t yet know that they have to love you because you’re family. There’s no obligation, so when they love you, it’s sincere admiration.

Graduation (Part 2/3)

I got home on Sunday, a week and half later, to find out that I didn’t have to go to work yet again; the construction work wasn’t finished. I would have had to go in on Thursday, but I had to go up to Provo for graduation. I didn’t bother with the pomp and circumstance of commencement; I just attended the College of Fine Arts convocation. It was fun. We all gathered in the tunnel before being herded onto the DeJong stage. There was no real order besides keeping with specific majors. I sat at the end of the theatre studies majors so that I could sit next to Logan and the acting majors. We talked through most of the ceremony, but it was pretty nice. Sam was one of the speakers. His talk was nice, but you could tell he was nervous by the way he plowed through the speech. It’s good to have a concrete end to my college experience. I now proudly hang my white tassel on my rearview mirror as a symbol of my intellectual intimidation.

Weird-tion (Part 3/3)

Besides work, I am still heading out on random auditions. Saturday was one of the weirdest days of my life, in part because of my audition for Tony and Tina’s Wedding. My parents and I left Provo at 7:00 am, and I slept like the dead for most of the drive; I had been up til 3:00am with Laura and Logan. We watched Trainspotting, Vera Drake, and started Eulogy before giving up due to the last film’s stupidity. So when I got back into town, I rushed home and got dressed for the audition. I sped down to the Rio and did a cold reading. They asked me to stay for the call backs, and I met up with a few people I knew from high school and UNLV. While passing the time, I met some guys from L.A. who had started a theatre group out there. I got their website and email to keep in touch. Yea for networking! For the call-back, we were put into couples to improv a given situation: Person A went on vacation and left his/her pet in the care of person B. Person B has to break it to Person A that his/her pet died while he/she was away. I was paired up with a boy named Blake that I had been noticing. In our scene, he was my brother and I had killed his chameleon by playing my music to loud (evidently they can die from noise-induced stress). The scene went fine and we chatted for a while. Then the auditors called the names of those who would stay for a final call-back. I was not called – neither were any of the other girls my age, so I didn’t feel too bad – but he was. While I was making my way to leave he lingered a little, so I asked him for his number to which he replied that he was thinking the same thing. I left feeling exhilarated! I've never been so bold as to pick up on a stranger before. Weird.

The weirdness continued while at Wal-mart. I had just been thinking about my high school friend Jay because I want to learn to shoot a gun; he is the only person I can think of who would know good places to shoot and could loan me a gun to practice with. Well, I was almost ready to leave when I decided to get popsicles. I rounded the corner and there was Jay in the frozen food section! We exchanged numbers and promised to keep in better touch this time.

So, to recap: On Saturday, I drove from Provo to Las Vegas, met an old high school friend, a new theatre contact and an interesting guy then topped it all off with running into an old friend who was like a brother to me.

Ahead in my events calendar: Seal’s concert at Whiskey Beach in May. Then sometime in July, I’m going to the 100th anniversary celebration for Las Vegas concert headed by The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Weezer.