Hey folks - how you been? I'm currently sitting at the desk shift at the dailey method - yes at 7:15am. I traded my shift from last Friday with this Saturday, as I knew I needed the morning free last week, as I was getting ready for my teaching demo etc.
What I did do this Friday, yesterday, was my classical song for voice class - in Italian. Surprisingly, that song went much better than "Have yourself a merry little christmas," which was the holiday song I chose to sing. My teacher emailed me earlier this week to say another student was going to sing that for our "Holiday Performance" class, and I could do it, but I might want to choose a different song.
So, I paused, and thought about it. And the next morning, Wednesday, my mom texted me to say that Meet Me in St. Louis would be on TV that night. ... For those of you who don't know, Judy Garland sings the above song in that movie - and it's really sad and beautiful. It's at this moment after a little girl has just slain the snowmen she made of her family in the backyard because they're moving from that house, and Judy come fetches her and comforts her (all while in this gorgeous fur coat and bright red dress), rocking her and singing that, "We'll all be together, if the Fates allow, Until then, We'll have to muddle through somehow."
The song always gets me, I cry like a little girl.
So, when my mom texted me that the movie would be on, I decided to sing Have yourself a merry little christmas anyway. And when I sang it yesterday, all drama and all aside, I dedicated the song to my mom. And I totally teared up then too. Now, granted, it was not the performance of my life. I was really nervous, and all full of jiggling emotions, and I was all dressed up in heels and a really hot pencil skirt I've worn once because it was a class party, and we're supposed to dress up for classes when we perform - which is all to say I was also a little ...embarrassed? about looking so nice.
But, I sang it, and as is almost always the (genuine) feedback, the class and the instructor said that I have such emotion and presentation and stage-presence. So, maybe my voice is not Judy today, but I showed up with my whole heart & body anyway. And sometimes that's enough. I've heard the "stage-presence" thing often enough to maybe stop dismissing it. My teacher actually said That's something you cannot learn. So, that felt good. And next it'll be time for me to leap again and show up for another audition, or rather, email back to some casting calls.
I had an interesting moment this week. I was offered a temp gig over my winter break from school at the awful, Office Space-esque company I worked for before. I'd hemmed and hawed on it, trying to see if I could stay with the interior design firm instead, but they couldn't guarantee that they would need me in January, or for how long. So, I accepted the job.
Then, on Wednesday, I'm being driven home from class by a school-mate and she's telling me how she'll be using the break to really begin thinking about jobs after graduation (in MAY!), and I tell her, well, I'm going to be working full-time in the city, and I'm not going to have one day of holiday the entire break, and I'm actually looking forward to when classes will begin again (in over a month!), because then I can finally breathe again.
Anybody else sense a *warning* in the above? Any tinge of resentment against the job I haven't even started yet? A large bout of self-pity for not having any time off at all? An intense feeling of overwhelm? Well, yeah, I finally got that too. And on Thursday, the next morning, I met with a girlfriend at lunch to talk about NOT working AT ALL over my winter break from school.
It hadn't even occurred to me that I would be able to afford not working over winter break. But, it did in my morning pages on Thursday morning, What if I don't work over break? Can I?
So, that morning, I crunch the numbers. If I don't work over break (3 weeks - as I'm with the interior design firm til Christmas), I will be entirely covered - entirely covered - through the whole month of January. And what happens mid-January? My student loan replenishes, and I will have enough. I do have enough. I *don't* have to work over break.
But... being the mind-f*king woman that I am to myself, I work the numbers as to how much I'd earn if I did work (despite ALL self-care information to the contrary). How much would I earn? Enough.for.a.car. A used car, but enough for a car.
What could I use that car for? AUDITIONS!!! Holla!! .... What else? The live modeling gig - they require you have your own transportation as many of the gigs are all over the Bay, at various schools, universities, studios. So... I need a car, right? I need a car to help follow my dreams right? I need a car to be more available for auditions & for gigs, right? ... I need a car under these circumstances when I would be working myself so hard that I nearly cried talking about it with my girl friend at lunch on Thursday, right? ...
Luckily, my friend is wise, compassionate, and has a mountain of faith in all of our dreams. She said that she doubts that the Universe would make it this hard - that she doesn't believe in the kind of Higher Power, if you will, who would make us grind ourselves to the bone for our dreams. If it's meant to be, it usually is simple. That does not mean easy - we have to do work on our end - but look at so many of the things that have just "fallen into place" in my life (See "Wordless but Effective Chant" blog). In each situation when I've given up forcing myself into a situation which did not fit, I was led to something which was immensely better.
That continues to happen. So, ... my friend and I made an action plan for me. First was to call my temp agency and to decline the job in cubicle purgatory. Also along those lines was to affirm that I would be more conscious next time I was offered a job before I accepted it. I actually hadn't really asked myself whether I wanted it (I knew/know I didn't; I was just focusing on having continuous work, as I thought that's what I needed). So, that's my action of reparation for the future - to do things differently. Hopefully.
I did call the temp agency, and she said, So you can't work even a little? And, I said, No. (with all the attendant thank yous and I apologize, etc). And she said, Okay, Thanks for letting me know. And that was that. Cuz, despite the fact that the woman at the new job asked for me specifically (I'd worked there last year and she and I got along really well), and that she rejected other applicants, and that "she only seems to want you," ... (some ego may be mixed in here too, huh). Despite all that - I AM NOT the only woman able to adjust the margins of a 300 page Word document. I am not the only woman able to recalibrate your Table of Contents. Yes, it's hard, because the whole document is fucked and it's mind numbing to highlight and tag and adjust and readjust - it's time consuming and takes patience and diligence - but guess what, I'm NOT the only woman, or person, able to do this job. I appreciate your faith in me, and your appreciation of work I have done in the past but,
Anty needs a recharge. ;P
The other action items were to look into getting away over break. Getting somewhere out of the city, somewhere warm. So, I'm looking into that. Reaching out to my network of elves, I mean friends. If it doesn't work out, my girl friend will be out of town between Xmas and New Year's and offered me her place in the city. So, that would sort of be vacationy, and also would mean I wouldn't have to commute in if I'm doing city related friend things. It's just an offer, a generous and sweet one.
But, just to know that I will have OPEN TIME. FREE TIME. Time that isn't filled with dubious stains on BART seats; institutional recycled air; or resentful exhaustion - that's my Christmas gift (or Chanuka rather!) to myself.
My part of this whole bargain is also to *do* some of my thesis. To email the theater companies. To check out an open mic (that's one of my self-assignments lately).
But, also, Super Molly, part of my assignment is to take a long walk in some semblance of outdoors, even a park in the midst of a city. To paint my toenails. To see friends. To see new friends. This is a vacation after all.
If the Universe wants me to have a car, it'll be easier. If the Universe wants me to get an audition, I'll go "buy a ticket" and apply. If the Universe wants me to feel calm, useful, and available, I'll let it.
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