I just wanted a Latte

So the other day I was on my way out of Starbucks with my Venti Latte (one of my greatest weaknesses), and like I do every time I turned over the cup to read "The Way I See it". Now it is not recommended to read and walk... it is much like reading and driving.. but when you are walking it seems to be worse because you feel less responsible for the lives of others, at least that's the case for me... anyway I am walking up Broadway and reading this interesting, yet slightly odd, thought on the back of my cup and as I am in the middle of crossing the street.. which because I was reading I was not completely aware I was crossing without the walking man's permission... a car honks, I read who wrote the opinion, and for a split second I get stuck in the middle of the street... car coming... and my brain trying to get around the fact that I actually know the person with the opinion... Not as a close friend by any means... but I have some rather funny memories of my best friend and I sitting in his church trying to figure out his new theology.. but when the contact cards came around we made up completely bogus names so as not to get junk mail. Why didn't we just not fill them out.. I have no idea. So since you are reading this I lived to blog another day... and learned not to read and walk!

It's what's for dinner!

I have been at Mitch's house today catching up on my blog and watching movies. And he made dinner tonight out of the things he found in his New York artist cupboards... which I must say are better than mine ( I only have ramen) So he comes in and hands me his newest kitchen creation.. I'm not sure what it is called... but it's really good! Anyone want to take a stab at a name?

This is a test

...to see how long it takes to get some comments from my friends in GA about their complete excitement that I will be coming to the ATL area for a week next week(the 11th) to get some much needed rest and relaxation and an escape from the city. Not that I am fishing for comments or anytihng i just want to see how news travels!... If I get nothing I will call of course... just thought this would be something fun and potentially exciting.

My last Ikea trip!

When you live in the city it's very interesting to get furniture I have learned. Especially when you are cheap (or just a money conscious student) and don't want to pay to have it delivered. So a week or so ago I found the futon/bed that I thought would work both for my budget and in my 8x8 space I had to work with. So i trekked out to Ikea in Jersey, I saw the Lincoln tunnel for the first time and I really didn't like it... maybe it was because I was in a bus and not driving, but I was feeling very claustrophobic. Once there I was told that the bus back over the GW Bridge was quicker to get back to my part of the city. Excited I got on and made it back to the city with my Futon Mattress in Tow only to find the blasted A train closed from the bridge so It's 10 at night and I hiked with my matress on my shoulder 1o blocks to the next subway station. My last trip went much more smoothly and here are some pics of me and the final result of all my hard work!

So close

... and yet so far...

I am only about 3 subway trips from completing my move to the new apartment, but I have come to my point of "I don't wanna do any more". Have you ever been there? Upon my last return to the dorm I realized that the wheel was about to disassociate with my suitcase... thus leave me to make more trips with my backpack and small suitcase.. maybe I'm whining... sorry if I am it's just been a long process and I am ready to be there. Tomorrow is the day though and I will post with pics of the new place!

A memorial to my hero

My grandfather passed away this past March and I have been wanting to blog about how amazing he was for some time so I thought Memorial Day would be appropriate. Lawrence J. Stewart my hero for many different reasons throughout my life. As a little girl I lived with him and my grandmother until I was 7 and I have the fondest memories of snow angels and being pulled around the yard in the sled... I actually can remember his one piece snowsuit with the little belt and his hunter orange headband. In my teens it was his constant praise of my driving...my grandmother does most of the driving so he was always so appreciative of a good driver :) As an adult... there was time when I was in college that he would write letters and I feel sad that I don't have them anymore... but he was always so communicative of his love and desire to do whatever I needed. Looking back I think it was his only outlet to communicate effectively to me at the time. He was later diagnosed with PTSD which he had been battling most of his life after WWII. My favorite memory of him would have to be when I was making my move to Atlanta from Tulsa after college and I was kinda freaking out about the move and I was talking to him on the phone and it was like he became a different person for a moment and said.. " Never say goodbye to people Priscilla, just say see you later." It was like this deep wisdom and I think the only really deep thing he ever said to me but it was the one thing that i will never ever forget as long as I live. My grandfather went to war because he wanted to to protect his family and defend his country... he had an option to say and farm with his brother in law... wanted badly to make his life count for something and for that he is my hero!

I am planning ahead!

Yes.... can you believe it? I have my Feb 6, 2011 Super Bowl plans already in the works... becuase today was the big announcement..... The new Cowboys stadium will be housing the Super Bowl! Now if we could only guarantee that we will also be playing in that game as well... I'll start fasting once a week beginning now!

This post should be read as though I was whispering...

Well this week has been quite interesting in that on Wednesday morning I woke up to find that my body had decided to have it's annual allergy fit and I had absolutely no voice. My intone was in the lowest bass register immaginable, so low in my chest it was scary! I'm not sure what note it would have been but it was loooowwwww. I proceeded to go to all my classes and not try to talk if I didn't have to. But my speech class was a disaster. You can't speak Shakespere in that condition. So since Wednesday my allergies have adjusted daily I still have a raspy voice and only speak when necessary... now it's a horrible cough and the stuffiest nose, but finals begin tomorrow so this should be interresting when it comes to performances and all my characters have become men :) This is however convenient for tomorrows Angels in America presentation where I play Louis. I'll let you know how it goes.

Final Demos finally!!!

Well... almost! We just saw our final demo schedule today and it's a crazy one. Jam packed Tuesday and Wednesday but after that life will slow a bit. The only one that I am really dreading is our 5 1/2 hour dance demo! Can you believe it? What takes five hours? I have no idea other that the head of the dance department loves to talk and wow is he ever a character... sadly more irritating than funny. So think of me Wednesday afternoon and say a prayer if you think about it!

Up and running...

That was me this morning at 9:17! After a long evening of Character and Scene Analysis and trying again to work through my personal blocks.. I guess I was exhausted enough to sleep in until 9:17 for my 9:30 class! I am at school though.. made it by 9:26! That was after the 10 block sprint. I have on 2 differnet socks and my bra was so twisted I don't know how it was even doing it's job... but I made it and that is the important thing! It is however not suggested to break into a sprint a minute or two after waking up...

I win!!!

NO.. not an oscar... yet... but I was looking over my blog this morning and see that I have made more posts in the Month of May so far than I have ever made in a month since beginning this blog. Which I understand is sad, but the good news is I seem to be catching on and getting better! Keep checkin in on me every once in awhile... Who knows what you might find!

The exsistance of God at a late night Mac attack

I love that the Mac store in NYC is open all night, and that you can play on the computers! I was out walking and memorizing my monologue for film class (from The Abyss if anyone was curious) while walking around Times Square tonight and thought that I would meander over here and post something quick. I love this computer it is a Mac Book Pro at a whopping $2700 that I can not afford but I can come here and play any time I want and the middle of the night is the best time, but there are quite a few people here. Anyway life is great I have one full week of classes before final demos AHHHHHH.. This has been a long and very emotional semester for me. Lots of personal discovery in so many areas of my life that I am not even the same person I was when the semeser began in February. I still pinch myself regualry when I am walking around the city bacuase I can't believe how amazing God has been all throughout my life'sjourney. It was funny last week in my Acting Technique class the teacher said that none of us can 100% believe in God... or whoever we believe in... it was just a statement and not presented as a discussion topic, but it made me think about how I felt, and I came to this conclusion...

I wouldn't be alive were it not for God. That alone is a big enough one for me. I am breathing today becuase God protected me in my mother's womb! For those of you that know me you know I could write forever on the topic of my life, but please no one comment that I should write a book... I know I know... Back to the 100% belief topic... yes I have those occasional thoughts, especially when Christians behave ignorantly, like "what if we are all wrong" But at the end of the day when I am still breathing and I can look back through my entire life and say....I Believe not 95 % not 99.9% but 100% that God is real it all comes down to Faith! God draws us to himself but we must have faith to believe He is real and then as we journey along in our "faith walk" for lack of a better term, He proves himself real... sometimes obviously, and sometimes we just know but for me the exsistance of God is an undenialble truth in my life. And that is that! Ok I have a long walk back home tonight but this was great fun!

Movin on up!

No... not to the East Side... I am on my way uptown to 157th street! It is in the bourough of Washington Heights I went uptown today with two of my four roomates to clean the apartment before we all start moving in next week. It is so cool... It will actually be like a home! I'm so excited. I have a month to get everything up there so I can take my time. Other than that my life remains very intensely on the school, rehearsals, memorizing, and working vein... but June 1 I get a nice 3 week break so that is coming sooner than I feel it is :)

Clever [Art]

Please check out my friend's new photo blog Clever [Art] and share it with all your friends. He is a great photograpther! It's a very new blog but I love it already.. he has an amazing ability to capture things and sometimes put words to them and other times let you decide for yourself what they mean to you. So check it out!

Walk or get off the sidewalk!

OK.. so this is something that has been occupying my mind occationally as I make my way to and from school on foot each and every day.... I think people walk the same way that they drive. It first came to my attention when I was desperately trying to get past a meandering weaver, who is someone that seemingly has no place to go, but is out walking down the center of the sidewalk and as soon as you think you have a space to get by... they wander over to that side and because they are in the middle the slightest movement leaves you behind them.. dancing like a boxer from one foot to the other to see where they are headed.

Now... when I walk I am going somewhere at a nice clip... I attibute this to my friend Becky who would leave me covered in East Texas Red Dirt(a whole other topic) as I practically ran to keep up to her!

So fast forward 10 years and here I am in NYC and I have places to go rehearsals to get to and MW is in my way... what do I do??? I rage! I turn into some type of human car and walk like I drive... desperatly trying to pass only on the left to the point that I stay behind even when there is space on the right... once I notice there is space and I have that inner dialog conversation to step on the gas I fly past the MW and weave in and out of foot traffic for 100 yards and then... (screeching Nike's)... Crosswalk with the hand(the pedestrian's red light)... and cars whizzing by.... Oh how I miss driving :(

So... the moral of this weird blabbering post? You are not a car... just relax get where you are going and do try to avoid getting sidewalk rage... What an interresting idea I'll have to try that on the way home!

A relaxing start to my week? HA!

Most people wake up Monday morning ready to go for the week and I do my best to be prepared for my Mondays because I have classes from 8-6! But this Sunday night, at Barnes and Noble in Lincoln Square, desperatly trying to read the play for my Technique class, something overtook me and I thought " I need coffee to be able to finish this tonight." Not looking at the clock(10:30pm) I downed a Venti coffee, finished the play and returned home around midnight. As I laid down to sleep the coffee kicked in and while trying periodically to sleep, I ended up reading the entire play Angels in America, watching An American in Paris, playiong 3 games of Soduku, and actually cooking breakfast before leaving for class at 7:30. Being a little tired, but doing ok I climbed the 3 flights of stairs to class and sat down on the floor, ready for morning warm up... and all of a sudden... the instructor yells at the top of his lungs... "Lay the F*#$ down I am not your F*#$ baby sitter.... Lay down and relax" Now you have never seen 50 people get flat on the floor so fast in your life... and relaxation was the furthest thing from any of our minds for the next 30 minutes as he lectured us about how we need to be doing these warm ups daily if we want to be professional dancers... which I don't remember signing up for... And the moral of the story...... Always look at the clock when thinking about coffee after dark:)

Have you heard the new theological discovery?

Yes... there is something new that we have all been missing in our Bibles friends and I have learned about this on the streets of NYC!

So, tonight while walking up Broadway, 2 girls from the Elohim Academy ( at least that's what I thought they said) walked straight up to me and asked, " Do you study the Bible?" Being a bit taken back by this strange way of starting a conversation... but intrigued by what would ensue I answered," Yes I do." They went on to ask if I had ever heard about the feminine God. I guess I didn't hide my disagreement well becuase they started laughing and told me that so far every Chiristian that they had talked to responded in very much the same way. I asked them where this is mentioned "everywhere" in the Bible and they metioned Gen1:26 for starters.

26 "Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness..."

To which I brought up the Trinity and they countered with verse 27..

27 "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them."

pointing out that he mentioned female... if I didn't have somewhere to be I would have loved to have that conversation and pick their brains about this, in my opinion, off the wall idea.

So that is a little bit about the interresting people you meet on the streets of NYC.

Other than that my life is amazing! I have nothing to complain about and I love what I am doing. Being in this city is so much fun, and educational with every step you take. Just walking to school or riding the subway, I am given something to ponder; whether it is a belief I have that's being challenged or a new idea being introduced... nearly everything I see or hear changes my view on the world and I absolutly love it!

Six hours of Oscar Bliss Begins...

2 Hours of E! has already begun! and I have learned about the necessity of Spanx!

E! will be followed by an hour of The remarkable Barbara Walters...

and finally the 79th Annual Academy Awards will be underway.

It's another Oscar night and the day has been the perfect day for me and Oscar.... for an at home viewer of course... when I am actually a participant... the sleeping in and laying around will not be a luxury... such a small sacrifice to be a part of such an amazing event.

Wow... 1Million dollar Harry Winston necklace.... Sorry...... that is a beautiful necklace....
I'd be terrified to lose it!

So I am all set up in my friends Upper West Side apartment manning the VCR, I have my NY Pizza, my Mich Ulta and my Chips Ahoy.... now that I think about it those Spanx might be necessary after tonight!

So here are my pics for tonights Oscar

Leading Actor: Peter O Toole (This is his 8th nomination and in 2003 he was given an honorary Oscar... but how great to see him get one this year for Venus

Supporting Actor: Eddie Murphy

Leading Actress: Helen Mirren

Supporting Actress:Adrianna Barraza.. but Jennifer Hudson was amazing so it's a toss up

Director: Scorsese for The Departed 7 nominations is enough.... it's time for a win.

Best Picture: I'm going to go with Babel

Not the complete list but so as not to bore my readers I keep the rest of my ballot to myself.

Well I am off to watch the rest of the show....

One more Day!

ONE.... singular sensation.... (AHHHHHHH) all that dance and movement rehersal just took over my brain for a moment!

Yes it is true I am one day (1 monologue and a 4.5 hour dance final) away from completing my first semester at AMDA! It's been a fantastic semester, but I am exhausted and very excited to be able to take a nap, catch up on my books, movies (I already have 5 from the library just waiting for me), plays, oh yea and laundry! And my blogging of course. I hope to be able to post daily on my break for those of you who still check to see if I will EVER write anything :) I promise I will... but until Firday when all classes are finished and I am all moved into my new room you will all have to wait... I am sure with bated breath!

Adios off I go into the FREEZING cold to watch my classmates perform thier Stage Combat fight at Fight Night... sounds cool huh? IT ROCKS! I'll have to let you know how it goes.

End of the semester non-sensical ramblings

Yes I am alive and I know I have been a horrible blogger. I had no idea what going to school at 28 would be like, but I have learned.... It's not at ALL like 18! I look back and have absolutely no clue how I lived and worked the way I did back then. I spent most of my 18th summer with 2-3 hours of sleep a night! And no that is not because I was out living the "wild" life... well, I guess I spent alot of that time in a place we lovingly called the batcave and bats are... wild... so whatever ! Maybe they were wild times... anyway I digress. It's intriguing to look back to where I was 10 years and where I am now simply in environment (physical and spiritual). They are so 180 degrees different. Yet if I wouldn't have spent that crazy year in Texas I would not be in unique New York today! The other night was a reminder to me as well of the journey that I have been on these last 10 years , and where I have come from. I went to dinner with some friends to celebrate my friend Mitch Stout's Birthday, and all of us sitting around the table had the common bond of Teen Mania/ORU, and we have all branched out and followed the dreams and goals that God planted or grew in us at those places. It meant a lot more to me in that respect because I live day to day with very little Jesus around me... I have been excited to be a "light in the dark", but have always lived in a church bubble, and this adventure is challenging me in so many ways.. of course in my acting, but so much in my faith and how I live my life to the glory of God. I am learing new things about me and my relationship with God all the time and well... it's hard sometimes but the journey of faith... I wouldn't trade it for the world!