Thoughts on a Birthday

It’s my birthday. I am officially 24 years old and have just had my first cavity filled (with a reaction to the anesthesia so I’m feeling a little loopy). I tend to have bad luck on my birthday, but I’ve decided to look to the positive in the few minutes I have left of it.

For starters, BGSU (my alma mater, Bowling Green State University) has featured me in a small insert in their magazine (better than nothing, right?) as one of their “Successful Alumni.” I’m actually fairly proud as I am the only one of my graduating class featured, at least in this edition.

Sure it’s small, but it means I did something, right?

In other news, I had an epic Twitter moment the other day! I’ve been watching SyFy‘s FaceOff, a reality show competition between special effects makeup artists (which as you all may know, I have a huge interest in, though my work is juvenile in comparison to these guys). If you haven’t seen it, go and watch episodes on their website because it is EPIC! One of my favorite contestants, Rod Maxwell, actually answered a Twitter question I had wondered for a while…

Not even a little ashamed at how awesome I think this is

And to make matters even MORE awesome, he wished me a happy birthday!!!

See! Proof!!!

My birthday has also been a symbol of something else for me: The coming of my favorite holiday, Halloween! And of course, Already Indie is on it as we present our first ever Shocktober series! View the trailer first here —–> Shocktober Trailer!

So I’ve got a lot of things going for me. Most importantly though, I’d like to personally thank my friends and family for getting me this far. I seriously wouldn’t be where I am now without all of you. I am truly grateful, even on days when I’m mood swingy or seem like I just don’t care, let me assure you: I do. More than any of you will ever know (unless they invent a way to show it all in which case you will know then). I really need to get some sleep, work in the morning, and I may still be a little spacy. Good night!

An old photo of me, thanks for reading!

There are three hundred and sixty-four days when you might get un-birthday presents, and only one for birthday presents, you know. – Lewis Carroll

 

Short Update

Hello again,

Alas, Murder in the Cathedral has ended. Though the crowds for each show were somewhat small, the quality of them could not be beat! Honestly, despite the size, I preferred this crowd to many others that I performed in front of, so I definitely considered the show a success. Plus it is always fun to be in shows with friends. I do believe that I will miss the show, but I am ready to move on with other parts of my life and perhaps break away from the Bowling Green scene of things.

Rocking the Rosie the Riveter look while backstage for our final performance

I have already made some plans to do some more comedy now that I have more evenings free. For starters, I will be MCing BG’s Professional Comedy Night this coming Tuesday. Though I have done this a couple of times before, I am a little nervous as I feel somewhat out of practice. Work has made it difficult for me to get stage time, but I am confident that the nervousness will subside rather quickly. As they say, “this isn’t my first rodeo.” Additionally, the DVD for Stand Up Toledo is almost ready to be released! They have already released a few stills from the DVD as teasers (see photo below). The people in charge are hoping to do a public screening of the DVD some time soon, although I won’t lie: I don’t always like seeing myself on camera. Not so much performing, like something with a script, but watching myself perform my own material or just “be myself” always feels awkward. However, this is something I will have to get used to quickly as I begin to do more and more performances for the camera.

Stand Up Toledo DVD still

Another update is that I may have yet another outlet for selling my books! Horizon Youth Theatre has offered me an opportunity to work with them on promoting my book at some of their shows… now I just have to get a hold of some books to sell/promote. So watch for a Kickstarter update! I really want to get this off the ground as I feel that this book is important for any kid who is interested in technical/backstage theatre (and believe me, I have met a few that are!).

That’s all for now, just a short update on the direction in which things are headed for me. As I tell some of the kids I work with before they head out to school: Have a good day! Make good choices, do good things!

“If you’re going to be crazy, you have to get paid for it or else you’re going to be locked up.” – Hunter S. Thompson

New Facebook Page!

Due to a growing amount of networking connections, career changes, etc. I have opted to finally create my own Facebook page (as opposed to my profile/regular page). My main reason for doing this is privacy, but also so that people can follow what I’ve been doing as I begin work in the entertainment industry. Some might say that this is self-absorbed or whatever, however, I want to have people be able to view all the cool things I have gotten to do without having to read my occasional rants and crazy posts on my actual post. Make sense?

In other news, I have recently found out that I sold 50 copies of “Silly Billy’s Guide to the Theatre” in the first quarter! Considering the fact that I was only published for half of the quarter, I feel like this is pretty darn good. However, I do need to work on getting myself out there and promoting so that I will be able to sell more and hopefully convince people that there is a lot more to theatre then what meets the eye.

When you publish a book, one should always have the nerdy picture of themselves reading the published version.

In other news, I will be speaking to my former junior high for their annual “Career Day.” It feels really weird to be going there to talk about my career when it feels like I didn’t even graduate all that long ago. When asked what I should speak on, I was given the answer of whatever you want, so I will be talking about my career as an actress, author, comedian, and makeup artist.

Speaking of makeup art, I have finally updated the makeup section of this site to include photos from Lionface Production’s Winter One Acts 2012! There were three shows performed and though I did the makeup for all of them, I opted to only save photos of two of them (given the similarity and simplicity of the makeup for one of the shows). This time, I was able to incorporate some liquid latex and the result was pretty awesome.

A sneak peek at the nastiness that I have created! Muhahaha, mine is an evil laugh!

Other then that, I’ve been having rehearsals for Murder in the Cathedral (which is going fantastically!) and preparing for headshots on Monday (stay tuned for the exciting reveal of the photographer I’m going to and my new headshots!) I may or may not post again before then, but for now I feel that this is a good place to wrap up.

“Human kind cannot bear very much reality” – T.S. Eliot