Well another year has come to an end. This seems like a perfect time for a little reflection.
First of all, I’m pretty sad that the holidays are over. I had a pretty great stretch there from Thanksgiving till now. My younger brudder came out from Cali to spend Turkey day with me and the BF and we had such a great time. Then it was full blown Christmas season. One need only look back to a year ago, or 2 years ago to be reminded how much I love that season.
But I’ll be honest this was a bit of a rough season for me. I think that I was letting a lot of the stresses of my life get the better of me so for some time I felt like I was constantly walking around with a weight. It’s still there but the pressure of the holiday has subsided and that makes things a little easier. But it leaves me with a sadness that my favorite time of year has passed and I almost feel like I missed it.
So analyze this I must start by going back, how about 12 months back.
Last year started out incredibly auspiciously. I had had a very negative personal and professional experience that was followed up by an incredible one. On this day a year ago I was (5 days late) traveling down to Vero Beach to start the second leg of rehearsals for Guys and Dolls. The entire experience ended up being a positive personal triumph and set the tone for the beginning of the year.
After that I came back to New York with all the fears that usually plague an actor. But I continued to get work and it filled me with a sense of value that I had not felt before as a working actor. Twas quite nice 😉
Another highlight then came, spring vacation 2011! For this, the bf and I flew out to AZ then drove out to Cali for a couple days. We stayed with my younger brudder in Pasadena and got to see a whole slew of friends who we hadn’t seen in years. We got to meet the brudder’s friends and see a bit of his (ending) college life (he was a second semester senior). We even got to go to Disneyland with the papa who flew out just to spend some time with his boys!
After Cali we drove back to AZ to spend some time with my family. It culminated in my Grandparents joint 80th birthday party. The whole two weeks we were there were probably on of the HIGHEST highlights of 2011. It’s actually the happiest I think I’ve been in recent memory. I’m enjoying this look back [insert contented sigh]
I think we are all so happy in this picture only partly because it was ungodly beautiful in Arizona in March.
After the trip we came back to reality in the form of New York City. I actually left soon again for another short job and came back to a need for money, which is when I started working my survival job. It’s been good to me and I can’t complain because in reality I haven’t been there very long.
We are now up to the summer months, which unexpectedly turned in my favor. June I got to shoot up to Boston for awhile with the bf’s family for a wedding. I even got to experience my first gay pride event (I’m always out of the city when it happens)
This picture will NEVER not be funny. It was raining in Boston the day of pride, and we were just in for the afternoon to see the city. Eventually we broke down and bought ponchos, but somebody thought they were too boxy, and in this captured moment can be seen trying on the infant sized ones and is clearly contemplating whether he likes it better. The other person in the picture is clearly in it to win it for pride day.
Then in the beginning of July I very quickly got an offer and started rehearsals for Footloose up in Massachusetts. It was an incredibly unexpected turn for my summer and I am truly grateful it happened. It got me out of the city and working for a bit, and it allowed for my family to come out and visit, pretty much right when I needed it.
It was a long contract but fortunately turned out to be a very positive experience in the end.
This photo was taken from the night we as a cast went to a bars 80’s night. We were the only ones in costume and there was a band that I don’t think played a single song from the 80’s. It was great, but not quite footloose.
I got back to the city end of August just in time for the years low point. Moving day 2011. Or as we like to call it not moving day 2011. I’m still so angry about the whole thing I’m going to not rehash it, but suffice to say we got screwed by about 3 different parties, and ended up locked into our old lease for another year. Voodoo dolls have been made and ripped apart.
The end of September meant another highlight of the year. It was the bf’s brudders wedding! The bf and I went down to Maryland about a week before the wedding to make sure that we were there to help out with anything that might come up leading to the big day. Everything was so well planned and so streamlined that it was just a little break for us. Sure there were a lot of errands and chores but it set up a fantastic wedding 🙂
I actually just realized I have about 300 unedited photos from that week that I haven’t even touched yet! Boo to me.
Since then there hasn’t really been all that much going on. Like I said the brudder came for Turkey day, and now Christmas has come and gone. I will be working tonight, but I hear that this is a good omen. Working on New Years should mean you have ample work during that year.
I will call 2011 a roller coaster. I had some highs and definitely some lows. Harry Potter ended, and with it my childhood. I am filled with optimism right now because I am ready for a New Year. A new start, and fresh pallet, a clean plate. I have my own personal resolutions but they are mine, so if I follow through with them, you all will probably know.
Taking down these holiday decorations in the New Year is probably the thing I’m dreading most of all.
I wish you all a wonderful and safe night, hope you spend it with someone who means something to you 😉 and I hope that 2012 turns out to be the positive and great experience I’m hoping for.
Life In Hyperbole 
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