Baby steps

When you're so incredibly eager for life to TAKE OFF - it's hard to take baby steps - but those baby steps are very important towards building a solid foundation.  I feel like this past month has been all about baby steps.  I took the baby steps towards getting my tour guide license - (I hope to take the test Friday and I have my Peter Stuyvesant Tour "audition" on Tuesday.)  I took baby steps by training to be an equity monitor - which pays a "stipend" and helps me meet a lot of people and learn from them.  I took a managing your cash flow class that will - in theory - help me manage income once I actually GET income.  My blog was discovered by a major Broadway website (Not this blog - the other "professional one) - and they will be running a special on it and me in "a few weeks."  Hopefully once Amore is over I can start "Pay what you can" classes to go along with the blog.  I've looked into how to start my won (VERY low key) pet sitting business - just so if a friends knows a friend who needs an over night dog sitter - they can go to my website and see my rates - which I plan on making competitive!  (Man - I feel like I've been MASSIVELY jipped every time I dog sat the demon dogs!  Most pet sitting businesses charge $40 a NIGHT PER DOG!!!!!!!!  I got paid something like $100 for two weeks!  I figure I can get insured and set real prices and hopefully every now and then pick up an extra $40 for taking care of someone's roo.  I've secured a LITTLE funding for the cabaret Loralee and I want to do and have put together bits and pieces of a potential "Script" for it.  I've learned A LOT about how treat MYSELF like a business!  (business cards, thank you/follow up cards, newsletters, how to audition, how to deal with callbacks, how to deal with audition sides, etc...)  I've also learned that I CAN'T accept a non-paying/non-union that I can't be proud inviting industry to  - even if it IS for my BELOVED OPERA with a dozen of a my besets friends.  It's too time consuming and my time needs to be spend on my REAL CAREER(s).  

So this month has been slightly frustrating as I'm ready for everything to be OFF THE GROUND - but I think some very important steps were taken towards GETTING them off the found next month - and smooth sailing for July building up a solid "parallel career base" until my unemployment runs out in August.  Then it's sink or swim and hopefully I'll be swimming!

Cake

Today I bought a cake, that was way too expensive really for me to buy, but I bought it for my very good friend's birthday, who was trying to celebrate while we were having our final tech rehearsal for LA TRAVIATA.   So I bought this cake from a famous Italian Bakery (Venieros) which is right near the theatre.  After rehearsal all of my friends friends went to a pub, where we ate this cake, and shared it with the waitstaff who generously gave us dishes and utensils, and free shots.  (The cook came out and when we offered her a piece almost looked like she was about to cry of happiness!  It was so sweet!)  And I'll tell you what - every penny I spent on that cake was well well WELL worth it because for 30 minutes it brought so much delicious happiness to so many people!  And I think it helped make my friend's birthday very special and happy and "most marvelous."  YAY CAKE!

stream of conscious entry about new perspectives.

I feel like I've been looking at my career/careers from a new perspective lately - or MANY new perspectives.  The Actors Work Fund is an absolutely invaluable resource.  I wish all actors would take advantage of it.  Obviously - in the ideal world  - I'd jump from Broadway contract to Broadway contract, but, at least at this moment, that is not my reality.  So - they give me the tools I need to be a "real person" which I HOPE will also help with auditioning -because instead of NEEEEEDING THE JOB - I can walk in super relaxed and let the JOB NEED ME!  THis is by having fun sustainable jobs that invigorate me so if I don't get cast - I'll still be o.k.  Of course, it takes some time to build this career up, and my "parallel career counselor" keeps telling me to be patient, so I gotta breath.  But it's nice to know there are people who will help me, for FREE, figure out health care plans  that can work for me, and manage my money, and help me network and learn computer skills, etc...  It also has opened up new ways that I look at myself and work on audition material - and dancing (THANK YOU LISA G. NEW DANCE TEACHER EXTRAORDINAIRE!) - get and vocal coachings - and I even started writing the skeleton outline script for the cabaret Loralee and I keep TALKING about doing but never DO!  (I figure if I put it together - she'll just join in.)  I'm actually rather excited by the new ideas that have rattled out of my brain this past week!  I feel like such an entrepreneur!  (When I met with my parallel career counselor - that seemed to be the thing she was really impressed about too - and really encouraging.  She LOVED all of my tour guiding ideas - and was like - if you created that thing with the RSC you can create ANYTHING!) AND - reading Mindy Kalings book really showed me how putting on a little two person Cabaret can launch a career if done right to showcase your talents.  So that's entrepreneurial as well I suppose!  So - I hope this positive creative entrepreneurial energy continues and turns into something wonderful and happy!:)