Update~ My past in the ARTS!!!!

So, I'm sitting in the local Starbucks in Hawthorne, 15min south of LA. There are Starbucks every 10,000 feet -20 blocks in LA. No joke. The area I was staying, Marina del Rey, has about 5... and it's a small town. It's nestled between Venice and Playa del Rey. Right next to Venice, is Santa Monica. Now, you can walk the shoreline and hit these towns, though most people bike it. There is a built bike path, that everyday has people hitting the pavement for 20-30-40-50 mile bike runs. Biking is very, very popular along the coastline of West LA, and as I foresee my future... I know included is me buying the perfect bike (see previous post with one of my ideal bikes) the perfect biking outfits, tennis, water bottle (maybe all made from organic/green material) and setting out for 30-60 mile bike runs every week.



I found a place in Santa Monica. When I was 15 years old I begged myself to let myself live and work in the film/entertainment industry, while living in Cali perhaps right on the beach or in mountains. I pictured my future, the life I dreamed of was filled with successes and happiness. Kind of like The Devil Wears Prada, or any love story where the women is already living in paradise with the perfect job and perfect body (for me THE PERFECT MIND/BODY/SOUL)... but still looking for HIM. So that was my movie... except what made my life MY life, was my profession. My first theater performance (I was an Angel) was when I was in 7th grade. Ever year since then I have worked on at least 5 full productions. My freshman year of high school I feel in love with the best actor in our school (who happened to be senior) named Matt Yeager. I turned 16 and fell in love with C.B.... though I didn't know the whole picture/story then... Though parts of myself called me to different vocations (astronaut, nun, to cooking school, to be a scientist, professional writer, educator) the little person in me begged so frequently for my new passion (new when I was 10...every year since then it grows like ivy on a church) that I ultimately ended up putting more and more time into art, performance art specifically, and my roles as student director, stage manager, theater technician, etc.



A play in high school would rehearse everyday after school for 4-6 weeks, then have a 2 week run. I WAS THE ONLY STUDENT IN MY HIGH SCHOOLS HISTORY TO BE INVOLVED IN EVERY PLAY/MUSICAL/PRODUCTION WE PUT ON, EVERY YEAR, FROM FRESHMAN TO SENIOR. I WAS ALSO THE ONLY STUDENT TO BE A STAGE MANAGER FOR ONE OF OUR STATE FAMOUS MUSICALS, WIZARD OF OZ.



We did a play at the start of each year that was placed in state competitions. My freshman year, we won 1st place. Sophomore year we got 3rd. Junior we won 2nd place. and Senior we got 1st again. I was the student director for the last 3, and the tech for Veronica's Room which we did my freshman year. It still is one of my favorite plays.



After the competition play, we produced a bunch of One Acts or Shorts. I was also in choir, and these 1 Acts were performed right between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The Choir presentation was the week before Christmas break... and I helped with the tech on it, when I wasn't on stage. I also did act in some of the One Acts, a monologue here or there, while also student directing/stage managing.



In the spring, we worked on the musical, which was a huge performance and very big deal. We sort of competed with all surrounded high schools for the best musical presentation... We were always noted as one of the best....



The musical by my Junior year, from Jan-the end of March, had me missing all my last period of classes. My junior year I think it was world geography. My senior year, it was a free period, but the class before that was either math or chorus. I also missed most of it... As I was the stage manager for the musical that year. It so happened that the chorus teacher became one of my closest peers in high school and helped me get an intern position the summer of my junior year at an esteemed summer stock theater in PA. She was the director of the musical, in cahoots with my closest peer, Mr. Tom who happened to also be a very, very active member of my church.



By the end of my sophomore year, Tom knew I would be deeply involved in every production our high school put on. We decided that in the summer we would start a reading program, which would pick the plays we did the following year. I read about 30 plays in the summers of my high school term, usually most pleased with my choices for the full length play which we did last, right before summer break from April to June.



The musical is over, we had about a week of and went right into the full length, which we put on right before summer break. All in all, every year in high school, I had about 3-4 weeks without being in rehearsal or running a show.



I was accepted into on the best stage management programs in the country. The director, Travis Decastro, was straight from Broadway, as was most of faculty working for the Arts & Architecture College. We did have a film department, much smaller than the theater department, but it was under the Communications branch. Travis only picked between 4-8 students a year to be in his program. He demanded 150% from every student he picked, and without fail... pushed them to the brink of their skills. I always thought it was like growing as a tree under him, every so often he would come along and prim your branches... which is not especially pleasing. The only way we could grow and produce fruit is if we followed his preset coursework and schedule. This demanded I, and the other 20 stage managers, did at least 3 main shows a year, plus 3-5 smaller productions. Since PSU had the money, it's a very wealthy college, the theatre department def didn't cut short the funding for it's productions. On campus there are 3 large theaters, and 2 smaller venues. I started as the asst. for the 3 large productions, which meant rehearsal 6 days a week for 10 weeks, a run of 2 weeks and then right into a smaller production (grad students shows) which rehearsed 3 days a week.



50,000 students attend PSU main campus, our theater dept had about 400. I made many friends outside the theater dept, and funnily I remember often thinking of how when i was at rehearsal every night from 5-11---they were having normal college lives. Saturdays when everyone got drunk, high and attended the tailgates and then the famous Penn State--Jo PA--football games... I was at rehearsal... 10-4, 90% of the time right when the game was being played. Sundays was my only day off, and you couldn't imagine the amount of coursework I had to do on those days. If I had the chance, i might do the whole undergrad term over again. 1--because it was absolutely amazing. 2---because many choices I made, I would make different. I don't have regrets, I just learned life happens fast...



I graduated from PSU in August of 2006. About 40 months ago. 40 months, that's all. Once I graduated I left and moved to Orlando, Florida. I started working for Disney, left after 3 months and did freelance AV work. AV means audio visual... I worked as a techi. My 80 credits in theater/production/management/etc included many classes in lighting, sound, and hands on shop work... I worked in freelance for a year, 2006-2007. In 2007, since I wanted to move to South Korea (long story) I got into education. It was easy. Orlando need teachers, badly. I got an amazing degree from a very reputable college. I was hired as a professional tutor, and even before I did one hour of tutoring, I was hired by the same company as Asst. Director for their SES Program. My management, admin training (which there is alot as a stage manager...every night after rehearsal or performance we did about 80 min of paperwork/admin stuff) got me into business....



I left the AV field, there were to many uneducated men to ever please me. 90% of the people I worked with were guys, and out of them 75% never went to college. I worked as asst. director the spring of 2007, had off the summer of 2007 and traveled/lived in Oregon with my current boyfriend, and when I got back... I was hired by a different SES company to be the director of their program. My 1 year contract made me very happy. I was making about $35 an hr, only working 20 hours a week and doing a little freelance tutoring on the side at $25 an hr. I pulled in 1,000 a week, broke up with my boyfriend and moved into my own place Jan of 2008.



That's where my previous post starts. If you go back you will find my explanation of my mystic life from Jan 2008 to...well this summer, or maybe spring 2009. I do have some more recent posts, but less and less of actual experiences I had.....



I loved my job in Orlando. I really loved it. It wasn't entertainment related, but I was THE BOSS!! I love being the boss, I was raised bossing everyone around on the stage. I was trained to manage the whole show in college. My family is upper class and believe me, as both my mom & I are Tauruses, she wore the pants in the family and I learned how... Pants are a part of my life.