A lot has happened since school began again. I've discovered astrology, ran my legs out in water basketball and was hired to work two jobs. Along with my intelligent and girlfriend, we both were recommended as tutors for the writing lab. Not only that, but it became official and were awarded the positions. Now, according to our soon-to-be bright and intelligent co-workers, we're helping stupid people with bad papers. It's funny how the other workers hold a superiority over the "other students." I just want to get paid. Just kidding, I think. I want to say that I'm in it for the right reasons, but I'd only be partly lying to myself and this blog. If I was in it for the satisfaction of helping students "realize their own mistakes without telling them," I wouldn't care about a paycheck at all, but that's not the way life works. I'm actually hoping to take knowledge along with a paycheck. I'm just like a positive college professor. We'll see how this job progresses throughout the year. Along with that, I will also continue holding my position as the Technical Director's Assistant (or as I like to put it "Assistant to the Technical Director). Every job needs a proper heading. But really, I don't consider it a job. I always thought a job is something you're supposed to hate or something you spend all day Sunday dwelling the notion that tomorrow is when you "go to a job," but now it's exciting that I can go cut, drill, bolt, screw and sweat and get paid for that. And then there's the job I have in the shop. Haha. Just a little humor to go along with this. But then the fun does go away when the work becomes tedious and the cutting is off center, drilling is not deep enough, bolting is too tight, or the screws strip, then a new form of hate emerges. God I love school!

On another positive note, I have been casted in David Ives' absurd comedy "All in the Timing." The character I have been casted to portray is Leon Trotsky. Yes, I am thrilled to be in it! The first read-through is tomorrow and this weekend I have already dove into the script head first. I am experimenting with a few new ideas for character preparation. I want to create a process. I might even start a new blog and devote it to the process of character development. Come up with certain things I can do, think, wear to better suit my portrayal as the Russian revolutionary. So far, I have read the script continuously and am slowly getting the dialogue memorized. Today, I began researching Trotsky's life. He's really a fascinating person. He believed heavily in Marx's view on the economy and used it as an influence to develop his own phliosophy. Trotsky also heavily faught with Stalin. The two, while agreed on basic principle, disagreed once the inner core of understanding progressed. There's a lot that I do not understand. I know basic understanding of Socialism and Communism, but a lot of what Trotsky goes into is way above my head. Maybe I have to be Russian and a hard worker in order to sympathize. It all sounds really cool though. I love revolutionary ideals. The thought of going out there and fighting really shows thoughness. It's all about the little people and unionizing. I wonder if Trotsky would rather fight for starving factory workers or bitchy writers. I can think of one thing they all have in common: let's go to the men in charge and demand what we need or else. I love the or else, because you only can imagine what it is. Anyways, Trotsky's biography online is really long and I want to gradually learn who he is, but no try and become him on stage. I do have to remember that I am portaying him, not becoming hom. I'm somewhat juggling two acting philosophies. I'm trying to weigh an even balance of theory from Stainslavski, Brecht and basic modern acting. I'm now going with Stainslavski's observation theory, where you watch the person of immulation or person of inspiration and merely watch for certain traits that stand out that you could do in hopes of convincing an audience you are that person, BUT here I go again. Brecht makes it clear that you are only portraying a person, whereas taking on traits for preparation can lead to Lee Strasberg style of Method Acting (I hate method acting). My biggest concern is whether to portray the real life Trotsky or the David Ives image of Trotsky. While both might be the same, it's my job to find a line that symbolizes doing too much and make sure not to cross it. The piece is really funny, but towards the end it's quite tragic. I see the ending as very serious, however I'm worried that Ronda wants to go for all laughs. Being an absurd comedy, I think an understanding of the harsh reality is in order for use as a wakeup call to the audience. And the ending monologue, broken up into dialogued chunks really hits you hard with something to think about, and I love it! I really feel moved by the role. Anyways, I have managed to write a lot about this so farm so I'll stop for now and continue later.

This past weekend, I went white water rafting. It was a lot of fun! I love exhilerating feelings of experienceing nature in a thrilling way. As cliche as it sounds, it motivates me to go out and really live. Skiing is fun and rafting is fun, now I have to keep searching for more thrills. Below are some pictures taken near the campsite. I would have taken pictures in the raft, but my phone would be DEAD right now if I had. So below are a bunch of dam(n) pictures. Hehe. We had a lot of fun with dam(n) jokes. It was really scary looking down. We were REALLY far above the groung.