76. March 15, 2012

Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak, but courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen

75. March 14, 2012

Turns out that shoes thrown over power lines are representative of drug dealers who were killed. Not quite sure if it's to commemorate them or announce to the world of the fact that they are dead and we can sleep better at night

74. March 13, 2012

Leaned via a friend's facebook post: "It never occurred to me that the word confidence literally comes from the Italian word 'con fidare' meaning 'with trust.' It's not how most people understand the word but it's a kinder meaning I think."

Couldn't agree more. From now on, I will too be looking at the word 'confidence' from a different perspective.

73. March 12, 2012

It is 100% possible to drop your phone on your own head. Wanna know how I know? I just did it myself...

72. March 11, 2012

Sometimes it's ok not to start rehearsal on time... Especially if this time "wasted" is being used by director, cast, and SM to gossip about everyone's love life... :)

71. February 23 - March 10, 2012

Whoa... So it really has been a long time since I posted. So although I didn't learn one thing every day that I can retroactively go back and write about there is one thing I learned in that one period of time: when working 30 hours a week at a regular job, plus rehearsals for 2 different shows, plus choreographing a dance piece for another show make it so it's hard to blog about the new things we learn every day... Will try to be better, I promise!

54. February 22, 2012

Nothing like finding out what someone close to you is going through to put life in perspective. <3md

53. February 21, 2012

I have to stop whining! 34 points a day is plenty to remain full! (Over the weekend I battled with this notion). I just need to stop making excuses for "but I like chocolate" or "just a little bit". Also, it's easier to keep on point when you're busy and you plan ahead. Much harder when chilling on the weekend.

52. February 20, 2012

Critics can be mean both on paper and in person. On the same token, they can be just as commending both on paper and in person as well.

51. February 20, 2012

When dad craves shwarma he drives all the way to the valley. This is convenient because he buys a TON of Israeli dairy goodness for me to take home. Don't mind if I do.

50. February 19, 2012

Find it hard to keep promises... Told mom I'd wait to watch Downton Abbey Series 2 finale til next day. What do I do? Watch it tonight anticipating I would fall asleep within the first 10 minutes to find myself compelled for the entire 90 minute episode!

49. February 18, 2012

In the USC MFA Rep rendition of Shakespeare's The Tempest it seems that Caliban and Stephano have a homoerotic relationship happening. Not saying that I mind, but I don't know that Shakespeare wrote it that way. Regardless, 'twas fun

48. February 17, 2012

Working when you have to, sucks. Not being able to work because you've exceeded the weekly hourly allotment is frustrating... Catch 22.

47. February 16, 2012

If 3 people do otis for 300+ students, we can collectively achieve a 1pm deadline as dictated by USC Payroll... I don't enjoy early deadlines - but they are possible!

46. February 15, 2012

I understand why USC has mandatory new hire training for it's new staff... But I don't know why it is mandatory for new staff who claims USC as his/her Alma Mater. I did not need to learn about DPS, Campus Cruiser, or Trojans Alert because I already know how to use it... Others - SURE! Me? No thanks...

45. February 14, 2012

No date on V-day? No problem! All you need is Amy, Meghan, & Aroma Cafe to feel like a million bucks :)

44. February 13, 2012

No matter how much you enjoy your choreography and your dancers, some rehearsals will just be kinda blah...

43. February 12, 2012

So this is not so much a piece of wisdom to last a lifetime, but a piece of wisdom that will make a wonderful evening: I learned that Eddie Izzard is performing in LA this coming week. Gonna go see him on Thursday night!

42. February 11, 2012

My car easily fits a large bike. Easily... :)

41. February 10, 2012

I know I've already said this, but I am reaffirmed that: no matter how much my plans include leaving my parents house after Friday night dinner, all I do is end up falling asleep on the couch. Without fail!

40. February 9, 2012

Sometimes, extremely persuasive arguments will make you change your minds despite how stubborn you are. I mean, I am clearly against Marriage Equality and against "those homos" getting married if this is what the world is coming to: http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/welcome-to-a-world-with-same-sex-marriage

I mean, if Ryan Gosling becoming fat and bald and a universal Nutella ban are underway as a direct result of Same-Sex Marriage, than I am definitely now against this matter!

I have said my peace.

39. February 8, 2012

With every day that passes I find that Miranda and I are very much alike. Given that I want to write a book about her life, I'm gonna go with "this is a good thing". NAY - this is a GREAT thing :)

38. February 7, 2012

It might just be that directing/choreographing is also a calling of mine. Yesterday I learned that I have some of the best people dancing in my cha-cha (which is really exciting!) and also they challenge me as a creator. They ask for motivation for their movement which is so exciting and conducive to creating :)

Now, I know that I just said that I learned this yesterday, but I really realized this today as I was making a "script" or "breakdown" of all the steps we've worked on so far and I realized that I worded it in a way that they would understand in the sense that they helped me create this language for our dance. I know this might not make sense as I'm tired, but I'm hoping that you still kinda get my drift!

Ok, artsy fartsy moment, over. For now... :)

37. February 6, 2012

Turns out that Benedict Cumberbatch is (a) not only appearing on this blog twice, he (b) isn't just a man, but a situation. I dig it. You should too.

36. February 5, 2012

One would think that watching a movie over and over again would really get tired, and mostly yes, this is true, except when the movie in question is Dirty Dancing. Watching Patrick Swayze, and OF COURSE Miranda Garrison and Jay Fuentes are the highlights of this movie, especially when it comes up on TV as a surprise :)

Playing "Spot Jay" is the best game ever!

P.S.
The director's cut of this movie is really cool! Some things even I've never seen before...

35. February 4, 2012

Short version:
My boss can cut open a champagne bottle with a sword, or "saber" a champagne bottle, if you will.

Long version:
My boss's friend went to Butler school in Switzerland for six, that's right SIX, years. Once he became a professional butler for various castle dwelling families he got married and gave up professional butlering so that he could be a stay-at-home dad for his newborn child. For his wedding, he requested only one thing of the groomsmen (my boss being one of them), that they could saber a champagne bottle successfully. Apparently there is a meticulous technique for sabering a bottle of champagne and if done incorrectly could shatter in your hands so while practicing you should wear protective gloves.

34. February 3, 2012

According to the history channel (that is currently obsessed with ancient alien programming) there is a speculation that aliens who come to earth are not necessarily creatures from another planet, but us from the future, from when we've been able to develop time travel. That's actually something that I don't find farfetched as, often, the descriptions of said aliens are very "humanoid" in shape.

Regardless, I never believed that we were alone in this universe; whether "aliens" or "time travelers" I just don't believe the probability that we are 100% alone in this universe.

Also, this helps me believe that I could actually achieve my goal of traveling with the Doctor... Hopefully in the form of Chris Eccleston or David Tennant...

33. February 2, 2012

If certain days had the power to make you pick up smoking or binge drinking, today would be one of those days...

32. February 1, 2012

Today I learned very many things, like all the things I could do if my name was Benedict Cumberbatch.

31. January 31, 2012

You do not need to eat a lot and pay a lot to enjoy yourself! First trip to Bacaro by USC proved both pretty healthy, satisfying, and economical. Yay for tappas type place with DELICIOUS food! You should go there.

30. January 30, 2012

Despite how awesome I am and the fact that feminism rocks, both Amy and I are too weak to cut her stuck bike-lock with a bolt-cutter... Also too proud to ask any of our man-friends to help out... Oh, pride.

29. January 29, 2012

Sailing is really fun! Lucky for me, Uncle Hal is willing to teach me how to sail for real :)

28. January 28, 2012

Turns out that "drinking chocolate" is best eaten with a spoon.

27. January 27, 2012

According to TEDx, the annoying "human verifying" words that are written in all squiggly lines and even hard for humans to process--known as captchas--are now being used to help digitize old books that a computer scanner cannot recognize. Furthermore, this technology is now being developed to help translate different articles on the internet. The company that is launching this technology is called DuoLingo (www.duolingo.com) and is currently in Beta stages. This site will offer free foreign language education in exchange for the user's time in helping translate different words, sentences, and phrases, which will ultimately help translate articles to and from different languages.

26. January 26, 2012

Once again I learned many things today... Here are selected few tidbits:

1. Antiquing is a hobby that began only after the French Revolution when the aristocrats had no money and had to sell their furniture and other belongings (under the table, of course) to the English in order to survive.
2. When requesting Google's help in reminding us how to say "cheers" in German, Amy and I came across a "Common German Phrase Book" link where one of the most common phrases translated is the legendary Monty Python's "my hovercraft is full of eels" from the Dirty Hungarian Phrasebook sketch... Oh, and in case you were curious, the interwebs reminded us that "prost" is the proper term for "cheers" in German.

25. January 25, 2012

So today I learned very good things as well as not-so-good-yet-valuable things as well. We'll start with the good:
1. On average, a stagehand working backstage or work-calls will burn 265 calories per hour.
2. On average, dancing salsa for an hour straight will burn 442 calories.

Onto the less "good" but still valuable lesson I learned today (which is more advice, really):
As many of us already know, there is nothing less attractive than insecurities. But let's be honest, there's not one person out there who is 100% secure about everything they do or who they are. What I discovered about myself is that I really get turned off by overt insecurities that are written all over someone's face and expressed in how they carry themselves and in how they behave. It's ok to be insecure, really, in fact it's healthy and keeps you grounded and in check. The irritating part is when your insecurities are written all over your face and I don't even know you. People who don't know you and can tell you carry baggage will not want to get to know you and volunteer to be your therapist. So... don't impose it on people who aren't asking, whether purposely or not. Instead, it's ok to pretend you're confident until you start to believe it... Really believe, think, and know that you are confident and people will naturally start gravitating toward your positive energy and they'll then be happy to be your sounding board--your shoulder to cry on. It's really ok to be yourself... You don't have to try so hard to please everyone, or anyone.

24. January 24, 2012

According to my bestie (thanks Eran), cars are now starting to be manufactured with "auto pilot" as a standard function, just as cruise control is now a standard function in recent models. So soon enough, not only will our cars drive themselves, they'll steer themselves, decide for us where they want to go, and we'll be obsolete. Charming thought, ain't it?

23. January 23, 2012

It is currently colder in sunny Southern California (43 degrees Fahrenheit) than it is in Boston, MA (50 degrees Fahrenheit). It is mid-to-late January people... This shouldn't happen, yet it just did.

22. January 22, 2012

1. According to Facebook, the #4 song on the day I was born was "Pour Some Sugar on Me" by Def Leppard.
2. If anyone ever calls anyone a "pussy" I challenge them to a roller derby match as they have clearly never been privy to the ass kicking that goes on during one of those. We'll see who's the "pussy" then.

You Learn 1 New Thing Every Day

So it's been a while since I've posted anything on this blog, but let's be honest, I've been busy writing a thesis, so hopefully I'm off the hook. The purpose of this new experiment is for me to prove the theory that "you learn something new every day" either right or wrong. I'm personally under the impression that it is right, so I would like to put forth a small challenge for myself and note every day for one year at least one new thing I have learned each day.

Since we are 2/3 of the way done with January, I will try to recap the things I learned since the beginning of the year. These will be in a much shorter format (a.k.a. one to two sentences) but blogs starting what I learn today and all future blogs will hopefully also provide a deeper, more thought provoking explanation of what it is that I learned that day. The goal is to ultimately come up with a list of 365 new things I would have learned in 2012, before the Mayan prophecy comes true and we all get incinerated...

Here goes:
1. January 1, 2012
- Four-year-old boys can be players, not just adult males.

2. January 2, 2012
- Being sick is one of the worst things you can be. You feel useless and powerless. Also, when you're not sick you never think about how useless and powerless you were, are, and will be when you do catch something.

3. January 3, 2012
- You don't need a ton of drugs when you're sick. All you need is a little homeopathic boost, plain decongestants (no need for medicine if all you have are stuffed sinuses), and good television. Oh yea, some tea will always help!

4. January 4, 2012
- Being in bed for 3 days straight will make you go mad. This is why I will never understand lazy people.

5. January 5, 2012
- Despite everything you do correctly, bureaucracy in the health care system will always find a way to convince you that you are incompetent, but hanging out with a mentor and puppies will always erase such anger from your heart.

6. January 6, 2012
- A second cortisone shot hurts less than the first one for a few reasons: 1. You know what to expect, 2. You are (ideally) in less pain to begin with, and 3. The nurses pump your blood stream with sedatives. Oh yes, and your bum goes numb for a couple of hours which is altogether an interesting experience.

7. January 7, 2012
- Sleeping all day might prevent one from learning anything new. Although, I did learn just that today, so I guess I just contradicted myself.

8. January 8, 2012
- Playing solitaire on one's phone will distract from any television program that is on. Thank god for DVR...

9. January 9, 2012
- Despite saying that I will be going back to my apartment, squeezing one more night of being spoiled at home by mom and dad will always win (usually in form of Jewish guilt, but I'm ok with it).

10. January 10, 2012
- You can talk the talk but only when you walk the walk you realize that you not only have to do what you said you will, but that you can do it. It wasn't until I showed my choreography concept that I realized that I could actually pull it off.

11. January 11, 2012
- A doctor told me I would have lower back pain my entire life. I do not believe him, neither does my physical therapist.

12. January 12, 2012
- I can still dance without being in pain. I just have to insist on taking many breaks to allow my body to rest as it heals.

13. January 13, 2012
- Friday the 13th is nothing but a date in the calendar. Oh! Also, turns out it's possible for your eyes to change in different paces. Turns out my right eye has not changed in the past couple of years, but my left eye has.

14. January 14, 2012
- Background checks for employment can take unreasonably long to be processed.

15. January 15, 2012
- Walking on the beach is one of the most beautiful ways to exercise.

16. January 16, 2012
- Theatre is my calling. Not sure in what capacity, but it needs to be part of my life.

17. January 17, 2012
- Reading a play for the second time can be 800 times clearer than after reading it for the first time. I mean, I know that reading it for the second time clarifies many things, but such a significant clarity is rare. That's when you know your cast is talented, and your director knows what he's talking about.

18. January 18, 2012
- It is possible to both plan my entire food intake the night before and actually eat it all without being hungry during a 12-hour tech day, and remaining on the Weight Watchers plan is possible. It isn't easy, it requires much planning, but it is possible.

19. January 19, 2012
- Two extremely important things: 1. If you hold it for so long that if you don't go to the bathroom you think you'll actually start to cry, you will, and 2. That my theory that states that the truly talented actors are also good human beings and that bad actors make up for their lack of talent with attitude is correct. I had nothing but truly talented actors on a play and it was both refreshing and enlightening.

20. January 20, 2012
- So many things learned today:
1. Only the USC Department of Performance Venues can create a magical gnome dwelling forest over night.
2. I am loved and will be missed.
3. (potentially the best piece of knowledge I had acquired tonight) Brown with multicolored bracelets indicate "bear lovers" in the gay community. This was the most surprising piece of knowledge to me because I thought I was extremely familiar with the gay community. Turns out, you can always learn more.

21. January 21, 2012
- Even I can lose more than 1lb in a week. If I can, everyone can.