Give give give!

Unfortunately I couldn't make it home for Thanksgiving this year. I had to stick around in town to work at the ol' Anthro store, a job which I'm enjoying more and more the longer I spend inside those stylish doors. The ladies (and ONE OTHER GUY, WOO!) that work there are super sweet, way funnier than I thought, and also...well...they also happen to be a staff of absolute knockouts. That last part is neither here nor there, but I figured I should count my lucky stars as long as they're shining.

No, I didn't make it home this year--but a friend of mine was generous enough to invite me to his family's Thanksgiving extravaganza here in town! Gotta say, it was an absolute blast. His family is a totally rad gang of quirky folks--isn't everyone's family? I was nervous heading over there decked out in a vest and wielding a pot of my family's awesome mac and cheese (Smoky cheddar, sharp cheddar, velveeta, half and half, eggs, maple bacon, 350 degrees for 35 minutes) but as soon as I arrived I felt incredibly welcome. It was the best lesson in "Hey, you know you can be thankful anywhere and anytime, right?" ever.

To append my previous post--I did finally manage to deal with that show anxiety, or at least I accepted it. As mentioned earlier, I like to relax into a performance...but that doesn't mean hiding from it. When it comes to showtime, I have to have done so much work that it can all take a back seat and I can just rely on the fact that I know what I'm doing up on stage. BUT THE FOUNDATION HAS TO BE THERE. If not, I'm a kite in a hurricane. When performing the last Shakespeare show, I managed to put in hours upon hours of work in order to make all of the mental connections, find the arc of the piece, understand my tactics physically and vocally, investigate the nuances of the text, and really upend my character and see what made him tick. Any workload less than that puts the impetus and responsibility back on me. It's the difference between preparing Thanksgiving dishes the day before or the day of. Yeah, it'll likely taste the same, but making it all the day of might also make you crazy. You're mashing potatoes like a lunatic, but dinnertime is rolling around and your family has already gone through the onion AND artichoke dip.

I may have gotten off-topic, but the main point is...I AM THANKFUL FOR MY LIFE. Like...seriously...trials and tribulations and minor complaints aside, I could never have imagined that this would be my life. My friends and I get together and pretend to be other people, and folks want to watch that. Ridiculous. I am surrounded by love, talent, and authenticity. I have friends on ridiculously similar wavelengths. I have friends who I can butt heads with, friends I can talk art with, friends I can text ridiculous messages with, friends I can rely for anything, friends I can geek out with, friends I can chat with over a beer, and friends who I can travel in a van with for three months and never ever get sick of.

Oh...right! That van thing? That's Shakesperience 2012. Macbeth. You're lookin' at 1/5 of the cast right here.


God help you.

Bullet points!

• I watched my friends' (Yep, my blog-buddy and her beau) kitty and apartment last week...it was fun! I think Kitty and I are officially pals now. I fed her treats and she scratched the bathroom door while I pooped. That USUALLY means friendship, right? That's how I meet new people, anyway.
• I'm playing Skyward Sword with another lovely pal of mine--and it is a total blast. I find that I can't spend much time playing videogames by myself anymore, but having someone to play with makes it infinitely more fun...especially when we can point out the utter goofiness of whatever we're playing.
• I got some very upsetting news about a college friend of mine. I don't think this is the right forum for talking about it in detail...but I would like to say this--please reach out to your friends. Especially the ones you don't get to see very often. The ones who bubble up into your mind every now and again. Probably a good time to ring them up--or at least Facebook em'. It's easy to feel extremely lonely, if that's the way you're wired. I should know.
  
• Wait...This.
• Lastly...check the picture...I guess I have an electronics company? Well hell, I'm marching right over there and demanding stock options and CEO benefits. Maybe they'll let me borrow the yacht (Though after I affixed automatic turrets to that last one, there's probably a black mark on my record somewhere.)
  

That's all for the time being! Now go have a damn fine weekend!

Love,

Dak