Rolling along

Very many exciting and wonderful things have happened since last I wrote.  One of those times when it started getting too overwhelming to think of catching up…but I have to get the latest stuff down in a place where I don’t feel slightly guilty saying it.

So, graduation.  That happened.  Many goodbyes.  It was exciting and scary and wonderful and sad.  And that was that.  People seemed to quite like the diary excerpts I gave them…I debated long and hard about whether or not to give Alex his, but had the question settled for me in the end when he had to leave on short notice and we did not even get to say goodbye.  Perhaps it was for the best.  I miss him.

I came home and rode in the LifeCycle.  That was wonderful, like last year, but it was a very different experience for me somehow…perhaps because I hurt my knee on Day 2 and couldn’t finish the day.  I was able to ride everything else, but I didn’t know if I was going to be, and already by Day 2 it was decided that I wouldn’t be able to ride every mile.  So there wasn’t the same pressure as last year.  No days when I was crying because I didn’t think I’d make it in time.  I met lots of great people, ate and drank and worked hard, showered in a truck and slept in a tent, and participated in the making of a difference.  It was good.  I might have to ride again next year.

When I got home, I almost immediately had an audition for Much Ado About Nothing.  My distant cousin, Larry, saw me perform at the Installation in the winter; he’s connected with a company called Shakespeare at Play, and when their Hero dropped out, he called me to see if I wanted to audition.  Which I did.  I think I got the part because Archie, the director, was hugely excited that I was from Syracuse (he is, too), and not because of any real merit on my part, but that doesn’t matter at this point.  So I’m playing Hero in Much Ado.  It’s a small show, but it’s paid acting work, and that makes me a professional.  How about that!  All this is very cool.

Rehearsals haven’t really gotten underway yet, because simultaneous to this, Shakespeare at Play is offering a workshop for company members on Shakespeare in general and Twelfth Night in particular, and Archie wants to give us all a chance to take the workshop.  The man who’s teaching it is also directing the play in Henderson, NV in October, and he wants to cast his production out of this workshop.  All this is wonderful and exciting, and I’d be having a great time even if the man teaching me weren’t Armin Shimerman.  Even here I feel a little bit guilty about putting that in writing — it feels like name-dropping — but still…..I’m taking class with Armin Shimerman!  And he knows my name!  And he has my headshot and resume!  We know each other and we’re on a first-name basis and it’s all terribly exciting.  For anyone who doesn’t know, Armin played Quark on Star Trek: Deep Space 9.  And he played him very well.  He’s an excellent actor and a very good teacher, and while I try to be calm about it and look at it all as one more audition, I’d give an awful lot to do Twelfth Night with him.  He likes me, so my chances aren’t bad — he teaches socratically, which is good for me, because I tend to get answers that other people miss.  I was the first person to get a tricky question right, and I think he noticed me then; I didn’t talk much the last class, cuz I didn’t have that much to say, but in general I participate and I am visible, and he remembered my name the second day without my having to remind him (he didn’t remember everyone’s), so I think I’m doing OK.

Plus, he’s incredibly cool.  In a moment of flighty-girl-ness, I will say that he is totally my new older-man crush.  He’s very funny and very present with us, and I enjoy his classes very much.

Another interesting thing, on a different subject, is that I suddenly seem to have become attractive to the opposite sex.  I have no idea what happened.  In a space of about three days last week, I was approached by no less than four strangers on the street asking for my number.  It’s very weird, but kinda cool.  I wonder what brought this on.  On the other hand, it hasn’t happened since Midsummer, so it might have had more to do with the time of the year than anything else.

Now I’m working on cleaning out my room.  Probably the first time I’ve done that in a meaningful way in some years.  I cleaned out large portions of my closet, and moved lots of books from my shelves into the closet, so I can now (in theory) unpack all my books that I actually keep with me in life onto my shelves.  I’m still not convinced there’ll be enough room, but it might all work.  And I’ve cleared off my floor.  Aside from the debris of cleaning that’s scattered around, my room looks better now than it has in years.  Overall, I’m quite pleased with myself.

Still no day job, and I’m probably not working on that as hard as I should be, because I don’t know whether or not I’ll need to be in Nevada for two weeks in October.  And that somehow feels like important information.

Anyway, I just had to write and say that I’m taking class with ARMIN SHIMERMAN.  And he’s awesome.  I’ve also started watching DS9 again, with my family, and it’s suddenly gotten good again…Season 5 deteriorated a bit, I think, but Season 6 certainly started with a bang.  (Quite a lot of them, actually.)  We’re only a couple episodes into it, but it’s looking very promising.

I will try to write more regularly, especially if things continue to happen.  Not much of a social life and no love life just now, but the work is going well.  Have I mentioned lately how much I love Shakespeare?  I love Shakespeare.  And I miss Alex desperately, he would *love* this; he’s in Mexico right now getting a deep diving certification or something, so he’s completely out of contact and doesn’t even know yet that I’m doing this show.  I can’t wait to tell him.

–Stephanie