Monthly Archive: January 2011
Improv and drinking go hand in hand
I’ve actually mentioned this a few times to friends that I’ve been around as of late, but it seems like improv drives me to drink. Can’t be helped. After every show or class there’s probably one or two pints in my future. Who knew they go hand in hand? Hmm.
Heating patterns
I just got my gas bill for the past month. It’s ridiculous. I don’t know how I let it get to such a high point. Over the month I’ve had it set to a steady 66°F/19°C. It’s not the warmest setting, but it’s enough to warm the place up when things get too nippy. Perhaps I could have set it lower. I mean, over the past few nights I’ve been waking up in the middle of the night covered in sweat. You’d think that would be a clue that I don’t need that much heating. Also, I’m out of the condo most of the time anyway. Work, improv, and running take me out of here often enough and there aren’t any pets here that might require some heat. I only have plants here, and I’m almost certain they can tolerate a bit of chilliness.
The bill has a bit of my heating history. From what I can see, most of the time my gas bill is really low. January is my highest month, followed by February where I only seem to use half as much gas as January. Last year, by March, the heating was off and I toughed things out. By that time spring weather was starting to emerge so I was happy enough to just put on a sweater when I needed to. Fast forward to this year, and it seems like the same pattern is emerging. I can almost see the psychology behind it all.
- With January being really cold it’s far too easy to turn on the heat and just let it run.
- When I get the bill there’s a moment of “what the hell?!” That, in turn, causes me to use half as much heat in February.
- By March I feel like an ace at toughing out the cold, so I end up switching off the heat for the whole month.
I still recall Hui stating something along the lines of saving money shouldn’t mean having to be cold. I guess I agree. All the same, I know what my tolerance levels are. If I can save a few dollars and still feel like I’m not freezing in here, then all the more power to me. I’m happy enough to be curled up here under the duvet.
Being called an athlete
The open door
Without going into too much detail…
Tomorrow could be the first step into the next stage of my development.
Could I be more obvious?
Wish me luck…
The body knows best
The body is pretty good at signalling when it needs something doesn’t it? Last night’s 5K run was great, but it was tough. The sidewalks were covered in a thick layer of soft snow. The relatively warm temperatures caused it to have this semi-slush-like consistency. Running on that seemed akin to running on a beach. I felt my hip flexors and my glutes working overtime just to keep me from toppling over. By the time I got back to store I was kind of tired. Under more sympathetic conditions that 5K route wouldn’t be an issue for me at all. Well, anyway, by the time I got home, I was ready to just sleep. I was fine with that. I just wanted to get to bed so that I’d be ready to wake up early the next day.
I’ve got things scheduled such that I need to get out the door at a certain time such that I get to work early. Getting to work early means that I get to leave early. Leaving early means I get back home early. Getting back home early means I get to leave early for Running Room. It’s a long chain of things that need to fall into place. Unfortunately, this morning that all fell apart when I slept in. I just couldn’t physically get out of bed. It almost felt like a lead vest was covering me. By the time I got up my timing was all skewed by an hour. I wasn’t willing to leave work an hour early, so I just emailed my running group’s group leaders to make sure someone would be there to cover for me. Seemed like the responsible thing to do. Instead I opted to wander around downtown for an hour. Even though I was walking around I still felt like I was somehow recharging.
Anyway, in all honesty I was glad to have a bit of a break. To my group I’ve been an advocate for listening to one’s body. This is an example of a situation where it flat out forced me to take down time. The body knows best. It’s better to listen now than to wait for an injury to happen.
Be normal, be positive
The other night, after improv class I was at the bar with some other classmates. It’s all turned into a ritual: it’s our forum to assess and bitch. Mid-pint the conversation turned to an assessment over what our weak points are and each of us needed to work on. When my turn came around I immediately offered up that I use my go-to characters far too much. It’s true. I have two different voices/characters that seem to make it into the majority of my scenes. The first is a guy with a low voice and a bit of a swagger. The other guy is a bit more low status and has a higher pitched kooky voice. I know that I have to work on some variation. I mean, I do have other characters that see the light of day. I have terrible New York, Australian, and Chinglish accents that sometimes make an appearance. More often than not I like bringing out insane characters. Why? I’ve got expressive eyes, and when they’re combined with a low booming voice and a forceful presence it can take over a room. I use it to good effect, but I know I’ve got more dimensions to me than that. Playing characters is a lot of fun. It was suggested to me though that I should try just playing myself. You know what? The prospect of that kind of scares the crap out of me. I can think of many irrational reasons why it’s not a good idea.
What if people don’t like the character?
If people laugh, aren’t they basically laughing at me?
Am I interesting enough to be able to make a scene float?
See: irrational. I understood my friend’s point. If I try playing myself, I can focus my energy on the scene itself instead of trying to figure out what my character would do then more magic can happen. I don’t have to think about reacting in a way that’s not natural. That can be a good thing.
Later on, it was suggested to me that I have a tendency to make my characters negative or dark. I can see how that’s a valid point. That deep-voiced swaggering dude so easily turns into someone sinister. The kooky guy so easily turns into someone insane. I was challenged to actually make some scenes in the near future really positive. For example:
Other: “I think I just broke my arm.”
Me: “That’s awesome! You’ll get a cast that everyone can sign! So cool!”
It’s not like I never play positive characters. Still I can recognize why such a challenge would be valuable for me. Be normal, be positive. I accept that challenge! Let’s do this!
The culling
How many more of these do I have to see? It brings such a bad energy into the place. And yes, I understand the need for the cull, but man.
Just reminded me of this video:
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