Tired, but happy

First, I would like to share this link, re: my rant about "positivity solving all of your problems".  It's awesome and it makes me laugh.  Thanks Joe.  http://xkcd.com/828/

There, now that you're laughing, let's talk about why we do what we do.

Living in New York City, being an artist (I'm an actress and I write, but please don't envision that I have any capability in the fine arts.  I can draw Garfield and that's about it.) can be stressful.  My 'day job' is as a Pilates instructor, but the truth is, though I wasn't seven when I announced that this was to be my destiny, it has also become one of my passions as an adult.  It also perfectly fits into the context of my artist brain.  Point being, I'm way lucky to be able to spend most of my waking hours doing things I love.

This past weekend, I was also lucky enough to be a part of a theatrical retreat with the Stolen Chair Theatre Company.  The play this year is entitled "Cut Paste Corset Perfect", inspired by the art of Victorian photocollage.   Now, while this probably sounds like a possibly more interesting college class you might take instead of yet another Brit Lit, it was actually so much more.  Delving into the history and lives of possible photocollagers was fascinating.  Transferring their world onto the stage in many various and creative ways was friggin' awesome.  I got to spend 2 days with talented, imaginative and exciting artists creating many worlds in many ways, inspired by assignments from our director.   He gave us a context which he was interested in exploring, in regards to the period, the people and theatrical concept.  We were then set loose to figure it out.  There were moments when it seemed almost impossible, and I would wonder if maybe this would be the one composition that doesn't work or we couldn't figure out.  And I was wrong every time.   Honestly, I used to daydream about doing stuff like this when I was 11 and dressed up to perform plays in my parents over sized bathroom.   Now I have friends who want to play with me.

While it was really exhausting work, in which I'm sore from who knows what (though the spin class I took Friday before the drive up there didn't help), when I got home and Sal asked (kindly muting the rerun of Walking Dead) "how was it?" my only honest answer was, fun.  Acting is fun!  Creating stuff is fun!  Pretending - so much fun!  Seriously, people should do it more often.  And not just the crazies like me and my crew, but I think the world would be happier if more people had outlets that let them safely explore worlds outside their box.

Which makes me wonder about the Arts in our Schools, since we keep losing funding.  The human condition is made up of more the 'the three R's'.  Let's not forget - creativity is the OTHER HALF OF OUR BRAIN!  In fact, they've proven that music helps with math ability, and Shakespeare actually does make you smarter.

At work this morning, teaching my clients, with somewhat of a British accent that was hard to kick after 48 hours of non-stop cheerio-ing, I felt even more focused than a normal Monday morning should entail.  And I pretty much know why.

So, check out the website if your curious about this crew.  If you want to see some of the fun stuff we came up with this past weekend, and you're in New York City, we've got a little shindig at Shetler Studios this Sunday, Dec. 12th at 7pm.  Here's the website:  http://www.stolenchair.org/index.html

Hey, Pirates vs. Hobos fans, Season Two is almost finished with the first round of edits!  Meanwhile, for some hard core pimping, you gotta re-live the first Season before you go on to the second!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNdswVqTJ0M

and, you know.  tell your friends. =).

Happy Hannukah! (I'm saving the Merry Christmas for later, meanwhile, latkes are tasty!)