I'm at work, and bored...

Get to know a little about me!

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER SOMEONE? My middle name is Cecilia, which was my grandmother's name.

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? Sunday actually, at rehearsal. My friend is an amazing actress and totally made me cry! Haha!

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? It gets the job done...lol!

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? Turkey

5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? No way!

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON, WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Probably, I'm kind of cool sometimes!

7. DO YOU USE SARCASM? It's my second language.

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yes

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? No freaking way! I would shit my pants! Haha!

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Raisin Bran Crunch...I'm an old woman!

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Nope, most of my shoes don't have laces actually.

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? Mint Chocolate Chip or any chocolate/fruit combo.

14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? The vibe they're giving off.

15. RED OR PINK? Red (I'm not really a pink person)

16. WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? my pudge

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? my mother and brothers :(

18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO COMPLETE THIS LIST? it's on my blog...so no?

19. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? dark denim jeans and ugg boots

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? The sound of "The Price is Right" on the TV in the lobby...someone is yodeling?

22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? i always enjoyed midnight blue

23. FAVORITE SMELL? really clean, sexy-smelling cologne ;)

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? text-wise: my step-sister, on the actual phone: probably my mother

25. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? yes i do, she's wonderful

26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH? BASEBALL!!!! (it's really my ONLY sport I watch!)

27. HAIR COLOR? brown

28. EYE COLOR? baby blues

29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? nope

30. FAVORITE FOODS? cannolis, green beans, sweet potato pie, and really anything my grandmother makes!

31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDING? Happy Ending--I am PETRIFIED of watching scary movies! I have a very overactive imagination :/

32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? I just read the screenplay of "American Beauty" and supposedly I'm getting it in the mail via Netflix today :)

33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? white

34. SUMMER OR WINTER? SUMMER!!

35. HUGS OR KISSES? both ;)

36. WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF SOMEONE YOU LIKED ASKED YOU OUT? Say yes to them?

37. HOW ARE YOU MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? smile and say "yes" haha

38. HOW ARE YOU LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? throwing up on the spot LOL

39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW? Just finished Frankenstein and American Beauty, so now I'm on Chinatown and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (for Screenwriting) and either Catcher in the Rye or On The Road (depending on what my prof assigns for Romanticism)

40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? the comp in the lobby doesn't have one :/

41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT? My roomies were watching "Real Housewives of NY" or whatever it's called

42. FAVORITE SOUNDS? people laughing, sound of running water (ocean, rain, river, etc.) and people who can SANG

43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? THE BEATLES

45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? I sing? I can pretend to play four different instruments? I can make my tongue into a CLOVER!

46. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? West Islip, NY

47. WHOSE ANSWERS ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING BACK? Nobodyyy

48. HOW DID YOU MEET YOUR SIGNIFICANT OTHER? SINGLE and ready to mingle ;)



So that was fun...hahaha!

Easier Said Than Done

This has nothing to do with what I wanted to write about tonight...but it was so nice outside the other day! I was in such a good mood (which, I'm sure you've seen from my blogs, doesn't happen as often as it should) so I "woke up early" and went to City Hall Park and had lunch, just enjoying the sun and the warm! So amazingly wonderful! :)

Anyways...I'm ASM for a show right now at my school. I haven't done legit tech work since high school, so I wanted to try my hand at stage managing! So far, I haven't really done too much, but it's been really fun and the cast is amazing! But what I wanted to talk about was how much easier it seems to be for me to get into other people's characters more than my own. Maybe it's because you're looking from an outside perspective, but I've found that it's easier for me to do "work" on someone else's character than if I'm working on one of my own.

The idea that I'm thinking about this too much is definitely possible, but it's something I've been thinking about lately. The fact that I'm a sophomore theater major and I "don't have a monologue" really scares me! Of course, this is easily fixed...FIND A MONOLOGUE! But I feel like it's more than that sometimes. It seems like all of my peers have established techniques when it comes to their acting. They're method actors, or they do 17 page character descriptions, or they do stream-of-consciousness journals, or they do sense-memory exercises, etc. etc. etc. I've been officially studying theater for almost two years, and I still don't FEEL like I "have a method" that I use. Then again, sometimes I feel like I'm self-conscious because I haven't had an opportunity to really showcase my talents (or what have you). But then again, I feel like that reason lies partially in the respect that I "don't have a monologue" that I feel comfortable with.

I must suck at picking out material because I can't seem to connect to anything that I'm picking out. I've literally put off memorizing my monologue for my scene study class simply because there's nothing substantial in it, it's just an "angry" monologue, or a "sad" monologue...there's no real material behind it. Another issue, I have all of these resources at my disposal (and I mean, I'm studying theater, at Pace, in Manhattan...what more could I ask for?) but I don't use them? WTF Stephanie!!! THIS IS WHY YOU CAME TO NEW YORK!!

So I guess this post has mainly been a swift kick in the ass for myself to stop being an idiot and dive into what I love doing!! (And stop doing other people's work for them!)

:)

I Felt Like This Needed Its Own Post?

Is it possible to feel tired, apathetic, horny, depressed, excited, anxious, nervous, nauseous, worthless, optimistic, content and OLD at the same time???

it's probably because i'm at work and it's only 1:30am :/

FML todayyyy...I WANT WARM WEATHER NOW!!

We're Baaaaaccckkk

So I intentionally did NOT write in this over Spring Break. Not exactly sure of the reasoning behind it, but oh well!

But now I'm back in New York, and it feels like I didn't even HAVE a break, of course!

I'm at work, and I HATE it, and I'm REALLY BEHIND in my Screenwriting class (and I'm not sure how that happened)...

Whatever...FML? Yeah...definitely!

SUCCESS!!

I made it through the day/week, and I am AT HOME!!!

:D

Survival of the Fittest

What I have to do in order to make it to Spring Break:

1. Survive another 40 minutes at the Desk

2. Wake up successfully at 8:20am

3. Bring packed suitcase and bags to work

4. Be AT WORK by 9am

5. Public Speaking Oral Midterm (which I have not studied for?)

6. Be back at work by 2:30pm for 22 PEOPLE ON TOUR! (FML)

7. Be DONE with tours by 5pm (NO EXCEPTIONS!)

8. Hail a cab/take the subway to Penn Station for my 6:30 bus!

9. GET ON THE BUS

10. Make it successfully to DC (which includes my mom finding the bus station and picking me up!)

11. GO HOME!!! :D

GOD, I CANNOT WAIT!!

Romantic?

So I'm taking this class called Romanticism & the Modern World, and its taught by the head of the English Department at my school (whom I LOVE!) and basically, thus far, we've read and discussed the "Big Six" Romantic English poets--Wordsworth, Coleridge, Blake, Keats, Byron, and Shelley.

Now, I grew up in the suburbs of Northern Virginia, literally walking distance from Algonkian Park, a car ride away from the Skyline Drive, the Shenandoah Mts/Valley/River, the Blue Ridge Mts (my fav growing up), and all of the parks and monuments of Washington DC. I think it's safe to say that I've had my fair share of nature. My dad used to take us camping, hiking, exploring, and at one point, we even had a cabin ON the Shenandoah River. I always considered myself to be a "city girl"...and hey, look at me now! :)

But here's where I start to stray...when forced on these nature outings, I always resented them. Whether I was just being a 13 year old girl, or because I wasn't getting along with my dad (or his gf at the time), or because I actually DID NOT enjoy myself--I'm not sure, it was probably a combination of the three. But recently, probably now that I'm living in New York City where City Hall Park and Battery Park are the only types of "nature" that are within walking distance of my building, I'm beginning to WANT to be in nature?

When I go home (and even during my senior year), whenever I wanted to retreat somewhere, AWAY from people, I would go to Algonkian Park and just sit in my car or on the benches and think. It was quiet, depending on the time of day, there weren't too many people there, you could usually find a deer or two grazing around the fields--it was really peaceful. When I went home after Tia passed away in September, I found myself spending more and more time on this dirty little bench, just watching the river...for those of you who know me, that is kind of out-of-the-ordinary.

While I'm thinking of it, I admire my cousin Brian SO MUCH! He lives in California and before he got a Facebook earlier this month, I probably talked to him about once a year on the phone, and saw him in person about 3-4 years ago! EEK! I almost began feeling like he was this estranged, mysterious person whose life I only imagined. After being his Facebook friend, I finally feel as though I've solved the mystery and now I'm DYING to be part of his almost picturesque, Romantic life. He spends his free-time climbing mountains, exploring deserts, and learning how to conduct mountain rescues for hikers, etc. I feel as though he is living this peaceful, happy, lets-go-commune-with-Nature, Romantic lifestyle and compared to my micro-managed, NYC, go-Go-GO, superficial, theatrical lifestyle...well, it's something that I really want to experience and share with him!

Anyways, whether I'm on some pantheistic kick right now, I don't know...but here are (what I think are) the reasons why all of a sudden I want to pack up my suitcase, jump in a car and "be 'On The Road' like Jack Kerouac":

-LIT212R: Romanticism & the Modern World

-Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer (I read the book AND watched the movie)

-Twilight series (odd, but it takes place in the Pacific Northwest)

-My cousin Brian (an all-around outdoorsmen...I think the ONLY ONE in our family)

-My aunt Kristin (from Portland, OR/also runs along the Twilight vein)

-Life/College/Stress (who doesn't just want to pack up their shit and hit the road at 20 years old?)

-Dorm Room--Maybe I just need to live in a room that GETS SOME SUNLIGHT! :/

Well, whatever it is, I unfortunately must conclude, because it is 3:45am and I have work in the morning (Why must I get philosophical late at night?) but yeah...who's up for a roadtrip across the Continental US??

Weekend Update

Um...I guess the summation of this weekend would be:

Never again.

And as Forrest Gump says, "That's all I've got to say about that."

*More later when I'm done writing my scenes for Screenwriting :)

Countdown to Spring Break...

I've been sitting her at my computer for quite some time now, looking at an empty text-box, trying to figure out what the hell to write about. I know I want to write, but I don't want to be whiny and complain...because I do have a LOT that I could complain about, but rehashing my shitty day right before I go to sleep isn't really something I want to do.

Let me talk about what I'm EXCITED FOR in my life:

-Spring Break! I'm going home Fri/Sat, hanging in VA, possibly getting some Sub Days in there, spending time with my family, AND THEN going to Penn State to visit Kristin, spending quality time with her and her boyfriend, getting wasted, and making some less-than-honorable decisions!! ;)

-ITALY!!! ITALY ITALY ITALY ITALY ITALY!!! :D

-Staying in the City for the summer (FO FREE) and everything that comes along with it, which hopefully will include being an OL, PALS, waitressing/bartending?, taking a cooking class, working out everyday, exploring the city, having cool people come visit me and doing all of those things listed above with them!!

-Getting my OWN APARTMENT with Melissa :)

-Elton John and Billy Joel, in concert...TOGETHER!!

-With all of my extra millions lying around, saving up money to go visit my cousin Brian in San Diego when he and his wife have their baby!!

Well, I'm sure there are other things I'm excited about as well, but those are the ones that are coming to mind! And it is now 3:16am as I am finishing this...so I am bidding you all goodnight!

Yay! I'm going to sleep thinking positive, happy thoughts!! :)

Why Do I Only Write at 2am?

My MacBook--my life, my pride and joy, the thing that holds my life together (sadly enough)--is breaking. I mean that in the most literal of senses...it's literally breaking.

I don't know what I did to it, if I said something to offend it, if it's mad at me for leaving it on the charger for too long, but it's breaking, and I don't know what to do about it! Right where I rest my right hand/wrist, along the front edge, the plastic (or whatever the outside is made of) is breaking off into little pieces!! :(

I'm sure if I run to the Apple Store, the Geniuses are just going to laugh at me (especially since I've been saving the tiny pieces that have broken off already), but I don't want to hurt my baby!! I also can't live without my Mac, as sad as that is. I literally check iCal everyday to figure out what I'm supposed to be doing, what is due in class that day, etc. etc. This piece of machinery has literally become an extension of me.

Luckily, I have that forever-warranty from when I bought my Mac before college (which has already saved my ass this time last year when my hard-drive crashed!) so I don't think it would cost me anything to have it fixed...I guess I should bring it to have it checked out.

And hey, maybe that cool Genius from Reston is still there! :)

S.A.D?

So I typically love the cold weather--I love the snow, I love bundling up, I love Christmas, spiked hot chocolate, boots, etc.  But this year...I don't know, I'm just not feeling it!

My roommate was talking the other day about Seasonal Affective Disorder, which is essentially people who get depressed during the winter months because of less sunlight, having to stay indoors, the cold weather, etc.  I don't think I actually have S.A.D. but I definitely think that this past winter has not been as "happy" as my previous.  I can't pinpoint an exact reason either--it could be a multitude of possibilities, I guess.

But I don't want to dwell on the past, because although I just had a snow day (on March 2nd, mind you), it's SPRING SEMESTER and daylight savings is around the corner, and the warm weather is ALMOST HERE!!  I'm tired of feeling trapped in my dorm room, I'm tired of feeling like I don't experience the city to its fullest because it's too damn cold to walk around!  I remember last spring was so great!  Despite the fact that my friends and I were essentially running on no sleep the entire semester (staying up until about 4am or later every night, like I am again tonight), I remember having this feeling of spring, of warmth, of optimism, of realizing that I can in fact GET THROUGH my classes and there would be a reward afterwards--SUMMER!!  I have this urge, this desire to feel that way again--my life has been sucking a little too much lately.  And I'm not saying that in just the "my life sucks" kind of way, I mean it in a literal sense as well!  My life (and lifestyle) is physically, emotionally and mentally DRAINING!

I'm the type of person who likes to keep herself busy.  There's nothing wrong with that, but I've been realizing that I do it to a fault:  I load myself up with so many things that I run myself into the ground until the point of complete exhaustion, and then I fall apart at the seams.  I've been getting a little bit better at managing myself and keeping myself in check, but I slip up occasionally.  Here's my life right now:

-15 credits (I just dropped my 9am ITA 102 for the second time because I never went!  Sorry, I just cannot do 9am!)

-PALS Coordinator (Essentially a 9-5 job, whenever I'm not in class)

-DA (Tues, Thurs, and Sat nights from 11pm-2am)

-Two Shows, sadly one of them is ending tonight at 7:30 (Vagina Monologues) and the other is really just getting started but will be rehearsing practically every single day (including Sat & Sun)

-Homework??

Anyway, I'm not trying to complain about my life in this post, because to be honest, I LOVE everything that I'm doing and it takes a lot for me to give anything up (even if I hate it on occasion).  Basically, I want it to be spring so I can get some Vitamin D from the sun and be happy again! :)

Snow Day = :D

So according to weather.com, we are going to receive approximately a foot of snow in the NY Metropolitan area, so thankfully Pace University cancelled classes for tomorrow! YAY! :D

Of course, the jury is still out on whether or not I'll have work tomorrow morning--I love PALS, but I would love a day to SLEEP (since I forgot to do that this weekend).

Speaking of...

This weekend, my HS Drama Dept. came up to NYC on their annual field trip, which was GREAT because I got to see my brother and all our friends!  I am supremely jealous, however, that my brother got to see Guys & Dolls, West Side Story AND In The Heights all in one weekend (when I still have not seen any of them!).  Not only was my brother (and all his HS friends) here in the city this weekend, but also my two friends Joe and Gabe were up looking at colleges AND my friend Stephany was visiting from Harvard!  So basically, my whole hometown was in the city ALL IN ONE WEEKEND!  Insanity!!  I constantly beg and plead with my friends back home to come and visit me in the city, and they all separately decide to come up on the same weekend?  Like I said, INSANITY, but soo much fun!

So now I'm sitting in my dorm room, being completely unproductive (which is BAD because I'm way behind in my Screenwriting class right now) but for now, I'm relishing in my Snow-Day Bliss, listening to Billy Joel, and just enjoying my 2:40am-ness!

Speaking of the Piano Man, my mother is the most amazing woman on Earth!  She texted me this morning and told me that she purchased us tickets to the Billy Joel/Elton John concert this summer in DC at the National's Ballpark!!  Now, I've been fortunate enough to have seen Billy Joel in concert already in my lifetime, but I have never seen Sir Elton John before, and I was reading an article that I found on Google that stated that they could be sitting at adjacent pianos ON STAGE--two music LEGENDS on the same stage performing TOGETHER, their own separate stuff, and then TOGETHER AGAIN at the end!!  Needless to say, I am so incredibly excited for this concert and so incredibly grateful to my mother for buying these tickets for us!

So since I have not slept at all this weekend (and had a blast while doing so), I am going to go to sleep now.  Enjoy your snow days East Coast!  I hope everyone's school is as cool as mine and gives you a well-deserved DAY OFF!!

:)