3 Hot Chicks and a Van...

...is the title of the porno I'm starring in. Just kidding. Jeez, I can hear your jaws drop and your eyes bug out from here. But seriously...

This is the story of why I should be a part-time mover. Jen, Rachel and I managed to move Rachel's stuff out of her storage unit into the apartment and Jen's stuff out of the apartment and into the storage unit, and we did it in under 4 hours. We rock. We also did it entirely by ourselves, and the big, burly guys who were doing something similar at the storage place said that we were making them look bad. Rachel's unit, by the way, was on the third floor of the storage place, so we had to take everything out, move it to the elevator (which wasn't close), then put it in the van we had rented. We moved two beds, two dressers, some shelving units, a table, chairs, stools, a closet, a sofa, and lots and lots of boxes. My arms are still a little sore (we did all this on Monday) and I have random bruises and scrapes in the oddest places. Still sounds vaguely dirty, doesn't it?

Whatever. I think we should do this part-time for extra cash. Even better that we're 3 hot chicks. In fact, I think that's how we'll advertise.

So, after the moving extravaganza, I took the fastest shower of my life, then pelted off to work. When I got back, Rachel was still in the process of moving her things around and unpacking. I hung out in her room/in the way and helped/hindered. She's all finished now, and her room looks great. She's a deeply organized person, so it looks much better than my room ever will. However, I was inspired somewhat, so I cleaned my room, even going so far as to look through old paperwork and discarding what I no longer needed and filing what needed to be kept. Yes, I have a filing system. And I found stuff that I hadn't thought about for over a year. Mainly, it was a bunch of papers from AMDA, most of which got tossed. I did keep my evaluation from Chris Neher, my favorite teacher at AMDA. For the mid-term he wrote "Excellent work! Clearly has a penchant for the work" and he gave me an "A". For my final evaluation he wrote "Excellent. Superb. Thank you."

"Thank you" he said. THANK YOU!!!! I think I'll hang it on my wall.

The other thing I kept was from a teacher I never actually had. For our final demonstrations for each class we would have to perform something for all the teachers who taught that specific class. This particular one was for Voice Production and Speech. We all had to do a monologue from the Tempest. This was second semester, and they still didn't want us to do any movement, but, instead, focus on posture, breath, diction, and tone. Basically, all we were allowed to do was stand there and deliver the monologue. Which is what most people did. I have no doubt that it was very annoying to watch all those people do the same thing over and over again. But this particular monologue happened to be one I really enjoyed, and I wanted to act it even though I wasn't allowed to move. Many of the teachers commented on the fact that I had a great voice and that they liked seeing me act the piece, but the best comment I got was from Joe.

He wrote: "Outstanding connection. Nice work! I am watching a good actor!"

That is word for word, except he underlined "good actor".

Later, in fourth semester, I was chosen (based on my third semester VPS demo where we got to choose our own monologue and perform it) to be part of VPS tour. Basically, we would perform for the rest of the school. We would travel to the different classes and instead of them having a regular VPS class that day, they would watch us, then ask us questions, and then discuss what they saw. It had been my goal since seeing the VPS tour when I was in first semester, to be invited to perform in it. I was thrilled to be chosen (they don't choose that many people, and by the way, Rachel was also chosen), and the man who put it together was Joe. He came up to me at one point and told me that he remembered my second semester demo and how impressed he was, and that I was doing great work on my tour piece. I really wish I could have had him as a teacher.

I think that will also go on the wall. Or maybe the refrigerator.

Anyway, seeing these and remembering that I actually do have talent, was a nice little pick me up. I consider myself fully out of my slump now, and ready to forge ahead.

See you next time, when I tell you about my trip to the dentist!

Jules