Ess Ess Ess

The summer is shaping up nicely, especially now that the weather's beautiful again. I spent the first half of the day up at Blackburn with Stevie, and then we decided to spend the next couple of hours at Art Hill, which is hands down one of the prettiest places in Saint Louis.

I went to the Stupid Ass Shindig last night with Courtney and her family. It was at this really neat little bar downtown and the people were AWESOME. They were doing free airbrushing, everyone had really neat cars and motorcycles and they weren't carding. It was an absolutely fantastic night.

Well, folks, I didn't have as much to say as I thought. I'm going to head back outside for the last of the sunshine. Probably gonna take a walk on Grant's Trail.

P.S. Goldschlager is a heavenly creation.

Signing off,
Abigail

What Is A Friend?

I do not think I can define friendship to you. I can, however, tell you what I do to be the best possible friend I can be.

I will never judge you.
I will always listen to you.
I will believe in you, no matter what.
I will be someone you can trust in.
I will make sure that you don't have to face the world alone.
I will call you out on your stupidity, even if I don't do it in a mean way.
I will be there for you, always, for as long as you let me be.

I like to think that I am a good friend. I hope I am right about that.

Even if one of my friends does something that I don't like, I try to work it out. All I want to do is help. They may succeed in disappointing me, but that will never change how much I love them.

On a side note: It better never happen again.

I am slowly becoming too tired to function. It's been a long day. Good night!

Signing off,
Abigail

Now.

I know I made a list of things to do by the end of May, but I think list-making is interfering with trying to teach myself to live day to day.

"With the past, I have nothing to do; nor with the future. I live now."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

So, I am throwing out the list. Still, let's see what I have done.

1. Memorize Cinderella Goes Disco (by May 2nd) - DONE!
2. Clean my room - HALF DONE!
3. Clean out my car, Bertha - DONE!
4. Purge my clothing
5. Reorganize my clothing
6. Perform in Cinderella Goes Disco - DONE MAY 30
7. Trick out the lounge in the mall space - CAN'T DO
8. Sing at the Crestwood Art Space opening - DONE
9. Call Jennifer about the job.
10. Pay Miranda for Paramore/No Doubt tickets
11. Pay Carrie for Rent tickets (by April 30) - DONE
12. Pay off credit card - Not done, but I DID make arrangements for a special payment plan, and made the first payment
13. Read five new books
14. Start running - DONE
15. Sell back books
16. Attend theatre banquet - DONE
17. Reconnect with at least one old friend
18. Pass playwriting - DONE
19. Finish That 70's Show
20. Buy a pretty dress - DONE! (I bought 2)

So, I got half of my list completely done. I am still really happy with that.

The pool opens tomorrow. I am so excited! We had our meeting on Wednesday, and then I got certified for CPR and rescue breathing on Thursday (Those mannequins are creepy). I worked a parish picnic today (and made bank). John paid about time and a half, in cash. He really is a good guy. I hope memberships go up soon. I don't want to see the pool hurting because of the recession.

It's going to be a great week though. I am working 29 hours! More than anyone else, I think. That means my paycheck in two weeks is going to be beastly. Also, I work with Jenny tomorrow, Gwen on Sunday, and Lisa (favorite!!) every day except for Saturday and Monday. I love Indian Hills Swim Club!

I have a lot to look forward to this summer: Oklahoma, Rent, Showtime on the Showboat, Nunsense Amen, family reunion.

Oklahoma auditions are coming up. I am auditioning and running auditions on Friday the 5th. I REALLY want Ado Annie. Greg and I have been working on her stuff, and I hope it pays off. I have never really gone into a Marble Stage show wanting a part at all. Wanting this part so desperately is either going to pay off and the hard work I am putting in will win me the role, or it will hurt me when someone beats me and I am disappointed. I am going to go and talk to Lulu and see what she says about it.

Rent is coming back to the Fox, and I am so excited because Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal are reprising their roles as Mark and Roger for this tour. This will be the third time in a row I have seen this show. I probably wouldn't have gone this time, but Anthony Rapp and Adam Pascal...I can't miss them!

I have had so much fun doing Cinderella Goes Disco that I volunteered for Showtime on the Showboat in July. It is a melodrama and I play the heroine, Heather Heartthrob. We will start rehearsals next month. I can't wait, especially because Paul is in it!

Also in July is my family reunion. It is not my entire extended family, just my dad's parents, and all of their kids and their families. That may sound small to you, but my dad is one of eleven, and everybody is/was married and has kids except for one. And no one has fewer than two kids. And a lot of my cousins even have kids. Yikes! It's a good thing we have over two hundred acres to roam. I'm pretty sure now that my Aunt Julie is officially insane, I'm going to need the space.

And the last major show of the summer will be Nunsense Amen. It's the Nunsense we all know and love, except all of the nuns are played by men. I'm assistant stage managing it, and Ricki (the stage manager) and I get to dress up like Catholic school girls. Woo-hoo!

That's all for now bloggers. Just getting you caught up!

Signing off,
Abigail

School is out! I probably could have put a lot more effort into the past two semesters academically, but no regrets, right? I'll just have to buckle down one of these days.

Acting was really great today. That class has been really stressful at times, but I am going to miss it. There were a lot of great people in it that I'm going to miss - hopefully I'll see some of them in Acting II next semester! It was really cool to see everyone's growth, too. I love classes that produce such growth in people, I love to observe that change. I should probably be a teacher.

I also feel GREAT about my monologue. Yes, there were things I wish I would have done better, but I got great audience reactions and had fun doing it and that is what matters. Also, my song was VERY well received - which I was so nervous about! I'm probably a better singer than I am an actress, but because of that my singing means more to me than my acting. I am MUCH more vulnerable to people's opinions of my singing.

I'm also really excited that so many more "real people" are getting Twitter. It's a fun (and apparently more reliable) way to keep in touch. I really hated Twitter at first, but I'm glad I kept with it. It can be really interesting to see what people consider worth saying in 140 characters.

Very light blog tonight. Sorry folks. My deeper thoughts are much more personal lately.

Signing off,
Abigail

Trial and Error

Lately I have been itching to get out of St. Louis. I love it here, don't get me wrong. I don't want to go away forever. I think. But I want to go away for a week, or a month, or a year. I don't know where. I just want to leave. I want to explore. I want to live in a different place all the time. I want to travel the world. I want to have a friend in as many countries as possible. I want to pick up and walk away from everything I know so that I will be forced to discover things about myself that I didn't know. I am tired of reading about the world. Well, that's not completely true. I will never tire of reading. But I want to see it for myself. Instead of looking at pictures online, I want to look at pictures that I took with my own camera.

I want to be crazy and let go of my inhibitions. I've been doing a pretty good job at that but I just want to not care about what people think of me. I want to live for myself and do what I want to do. There are things I do that my friends hate the idea of. There are things I want to do that my friends hate the idea of. Why should I care? Well, I live for my friends. I don't want to lose my friends. But are they really my friends if they would judge me for something that I want to do? That's a question I don't know the answer to.

In other news...

My updated list:
1. DONE
2. Clean my room
3. Clean out my car, Bertha
4. Purge my clothing
5. Reorganize my clothing
6. Perform in Cinderella Goes Disco
7. Cannot be done due to outside circumstances, unless company members prove themselves to be shockingly productive.
8. DONE
9. Call Jennifer about the job.
10. Pay Miranda for Paramore/No Doubt tickets
11. DONE
12. Pay off credit card
13. Read five new books
14. DONE
15. Sell back books
16. Attend theatre banquet
17. Reconnect with at least one old friend
18. Pass playwriting
19. Finish That 70's Show
20. Buy a pretty dress

I'm lacking in productivity...but also, I have begun several items on the list but cannot cross them off yet.

Signing off,
Abigail