The Mid-Vacation Check In

It's the Drama Shorties!

By definition, a Drama Shortie is of 5ft 1in or shorter and was part of the South Pasadena High School drama program between 1999-2002.

In other words, Roz, Rudy, and I have been friends since elementary school and we all went through the trauma of our high school drama teacher. This is the first time all three of us have been together since 2003 and it was quite a happy reunion. Unfortunately, some people have no skills at taking pictures and I had to crop a lot of crap out. So it's a bit disappointing that the picture isn't any bigger.

I feel like I've been out in LA for ages, which is a wonderful thing, in my mind. I'm definitely catching up with the sleep and just feeling relaxed for the first time in a long time. I don't wanna go back to New York! *sob!* But I still have a week left out here, so I won't think about NYC until then!!!

Similarly to my last post, it's always refreshing to come home and watch my parents. They just bought a brand new flat screen HD TV. We had just finished watching the American men's volleyball team win the Gold at the Olympics and reporters were interviewing the head coach when:

Dad: "Wow. You can see all his pores and blackheads."

Me: "Well, you did get an HD TV for higher definition - so there you go!"

Mom: "Yuck!"

For the most part, it seems that my parents are quite happily moving along as "empty-nester's". My parents built a monstrosity of a deck in our backyard, which used to consist of an empty hill covered in ivy:

I actually really like the deck, although it does look a bit intimidating upon first glance. We live on a hill and it allows one to see an impressive view:

The deck also gave way to gardening, which seems to have given Mom a new semi-hobby. I say "semi" because she isn't actually doing the gardening - she tells the gardener what she wants:

Perhaps this is what I will look like in 40 years?!?

Clearly Mom isn't too happy about having her picture taken.

I've decided that my career coach stresses me out. I had a coaching call with her this past Thursday and I totally started to panic when she asked if I had any auditions lined up for when I returned to NY. I answered "yes", which was a complete lie, but I didn't want to hear anything from her. I know lying to a coach who is trying to help you is counter-productive, but I REALLY didn't want to deal with someone lecturing me or making me feel like I'm not doing anything. Actually, she already made me feel like that with me not being truthful so I can only imagine it would've been worse had I told her the truth. It's not that I plan on sitting on my butt doing nothing when I get back to New York - for those who know me well, they know that I'm quite motivated and tend to drive myself crazy when I'm not doing anything. Essentially, I've decided that I need to end coaching with this lady because I need to stop obsessing about my career for a while. It'll be good for my own mental health and tolerance for NY. Thankfully, I only have 5 more coaching calls with this lady, which happens weekly. Now that I have an agent, I'd like to see how things go according to my own pace. It's difficult to not worry about things I can't control when I have someone constantly over my shoulder reminding me about them.

My Mother Is Killing My Brain Cells

In my old blog I had something I called "Mom-isms", which I am going to continue here. My mother has a tendency to say things that highly amuse my father and I, or just kill brain cells by the thousands. I say this in an endearing tone, but I've found that as my mother gets older, her thinking seems to be more and more traditionally Chinese with the occasional thought that just comes from left field. Maybe she's always thought like this and I've only started to notice because I've moved out of the house. I hear a lot of her upbringing, desire to improve her English vocabulary, and "small town syndrome" in her voice. A past example would be when she learned of the word "apparently":

Mom: "Marina and I went shopping today and apparently there was a red dress that I wanted to try on."

Dad: "Apparently?!? So was there a red dress or not?!?"

I arrived in LA last night and this morning, out of nowhere:

Mom: "I know art, even though I never got any training! I often surprise a lot of people with my critique of art and I say that a make-up artist who can make an ugly person beautiful, is TALENTED!"

Me: "... Okay Mom." *Inner dialogue: Ow! This hurts my brain ... this hurts my brain ...*

For those "Sex and the City" Fans ...

Enough said. 

Gotta love Perez Hilton because he finds this shiz.

My career coach is driving me a bit crazy. So I had a session with her yesterday morning and told her of my plans for staying in NYC and taking the entire month of Sept off in LA. She then told me that it actually would be a better idea for me to take my vacation for the month of Aug, since everything in NY starts in Sept. I was like WTF?!? WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THIS LAST WEEK????? A little foresight would've been wonderful, although it wouldn't have saved me any money. I would have still had to pay the $100 fee to change my ticket. (Crazy, ain't it? Them airlines are upping the anti.) I just don't like changing things at the last minute so I ended up stressing myself out. Stressing oneself out is really fun, you should try it some time. Thankfully my parents had a clear schedule and didn't have a problem with me moving my trip up a month. So LA peeps: I'm coming home a month earlier!!!

Since the last few posts have been about me obsessing about my career, I thought I'd switch it up a bit:

This is one of my favorite books from childhood. And I have to ask, who's the wise-guy who labeled these as "Children's Books"?!? I remember Shari Lewis (ventriloquist and creator of 1992's Lamb Chop's Play-Along, yes, she's the one who's show had that damn SONG THAT DOESN'T END!!!!) once said, and I paraphrase, that "one should never play down to the child's level because before you know it, it'll be below him/her. I always try to play a level above children because they'll actually travel with me." In other words, give children more credit. ;0)

While Lois Lowry's books are categorized in the children's section, her stories are actually quite complex, in a simple way. Oxymoron, yes, but bear with me and I'll explain. I revisited this story because I found out that Lowry wrote two sequels to this book 7 years after its original publication!!!! And I didn't know about it until now!!! So I had to re-read the first book to know what goes on in the other two.

The Giver, I had originally thought, was in my mind until recently, in a futuristic setting. I had previously thought that it took place in a small enclosed community - a picture of what society would be like after many world wars. Civilization traveled backwards a little bit where no one used cars or modern day technology. Everyone lived by rules and jobs and futures were assigned to an individual by a counsel of elders. Everything is perfect, controlled, and there is no war, fear, or pain. However, after reading the other two books, I'm think these are just civilizations made up by the author with an undefined timeline. Anyhoo, this tale follows Jonas, a 12 year old boy who has been singled out to receive special training from The Giver - which is also the job and future that he has been assigned. The Giver is the lone citizen who holds all memories of life; pain, joy, fear, pleasure, colors, etc. The reader will follow Jonas as he learns the truth of the community and in a way, experience a type of innocent passion that only a child has.

Perhaps the most interesting thing to rediscover in this book were subtle sexual references. At the age of 12, or when ever I read this book, I never picked up on them, until I read it again. (Then again, if I were picking up sexual references at that age, that might have been a problem ... I'm just saying ... ) As Shari Lewis said, creating art that is above the child's level ... well, the piece becomes timeless because an individual can continue to enjoy it as he or she gets older.

The next book in this new trilogy is Gathering Blue. In this second novel, Lowry makes no reference to Jonas or anything in The Giver. Instead, she chooses to center around Kira, an orphan with a crippled leg. Kira's father had been supposedly killed by wild beasts when she was an infant. Her mother dies during Kira's adolescence from illness. The community in which Kira lives in appears to strive for physical perfection, leaving imperfect infants in a field located outside the village to die. While everyone is physically "perfect", there is certainly a clear divide between rich and poor. Kira survives because her mother was the daughter of the chief at the time, and thus, the rare exception was made. Because of this obsession with perfection, all other citizens, mostly those who were poorer than Kira and her mother, look down on Kira and attempt to throw her out when her mother passes. However, the counsel of elders in this community noticed that Kira had a talent for weaving brilliant tapestries and therefore, saved her from harm. Although her talent keeps her alive and brings certain privileges, she soon discovers that she is surrounded by mysteries and secrets. This is a tale of discovery of truths and governmental distortion of reality. The reader will follow Kira as she grows from a tentative adolescent to a strong young woman who will learn the reality of her own world and what lies beyond it.

The last book, Messenger continues the saga of secluded communities but finally connects Jonas and Kira together. The central character, Matty has lived in this particular village under the guidance of Seer, and old man with special sight. Matty has been the messenger between villages but something ominous has crept in to the atmosphere. He must make one last and dangerous journey through the woods that separates his village and Kira's and bring her back to reunite with her father. Matty's only defense against his increasingly dangerous surroundings is a power he discovers within himself.  He wants to heal the people who he loves and is willing to pay the ultimate price for the well being of others.

It seems that Lowry questions the tenacity of mankind. She poses the question of how much control can be enforced over human nature before someone will rebel? Can human nature be fully contained, even if all this control protects from negativity like pain and suffering? Is it better to live with fear and pain or to live a blissful life of ignorance? While there are rules set up in each community in each book, every scenario has an instances of imperfection or defect and those individuals with flaws seem to beat all odds. They come across as the most heartfelt, genuine human beings who not only fight to survive, but also fight to love and stand together through their struggles. Without directly saying so, Lowry paints an accurate picture of mankind - our desire to control each other, rebel, and love.