Patience, My Dear

So ... when I was younger, my mother thought I had ADHD because I was a "wiggle worm", couldn't sit still and asked endless questions usually beginning with "why?". My father was a little less worried about my spastic behavior and would always just respond with "Patience, my dear."

I have been auditioning in my hometown for the last 3 years (not counting that year back in '01 before I decided to ditch the town for the city of Chicago) and I've finally been cast. And it's going really well. It has shown me just how long it takes before people start to know who you are and will give you a chance (valuable lesson to learn before moving to a town where it's even harder to be given a chance).

But I realized I had been bitching a lot (too much, really) about not getting cast here and I was starting to become a little jaded about the whole thing. I went into rehearsals really guarded. I didn't really talk to anyone those first few days of rehearsal because I had a chip on my shoulder. It's not my fellow actors' fault I'm not being cast here, so why should I bring all of my bitter baggage into rehearsal and dump it onto them?!

Thankfully, the people involved with show saw through my psuedo facade and are starting to compliment me on the work I'm doing in rehearsals and asking me for my story, why haven't they seen me in shows around town before. If response to my performance is this nice just during rehearsals, I wonder what it will be like in performance (that is, if I stay on my game).

I'm a little humbled by all of the praise, but ashamed that I had such an ill opinion of the community here. I know it was just my jealousy and bitterness talking, but it's a good lesson for me. Less bitching. Less worrying about what other people are getting that I'm "not". More focus on what I can do to improve me. More focus on remaining positive. Less bitching. Period.

Daily Activities for My Career:
Thursday: sadly, nothing. I'm lazy here.
Friday: Attending more shows at our Fringe Fest. Meeting local theatre people, networking (still hate that word)
Saturday: working on voice over job for Monday, research on show