jeudi, janvier 20, 2011

2011

To join in with those brave enough to publicly declare what they would like to accomplish in 2011, I hereby give you my list of 11 things I would like to get done this year. Eleven for 2011. I am so creative!


1. Get a French driver's license. I have been saying this for years without doing anything about it since it costs a ridiculous amount of money, and even though I already know how to drive, I must complete a driving course of a minimum of twenty hours. This rankles, but it must be done. I have to set aside the money, find the time, and bite the fucking bullet of pride and just do it already, jesus.

2. Stay with the recent motivation to do an exercise DVD twice on the weekend. I can see the difference already, and that is even more motivating. I can do this.

3. Spruce up the apartment. I'd like to paint a book unit thingy, get some swanky grey curtains for the bedroom and replace the sad ridiculous curtain rod in the dining room. Maybe recover the sad Ikea chairs? Oh, and finally redo the kitchen and bathroom floors. Bye-bye linoleum!

4. Keep some goddamn plants alive in the window boxes. My goal of doing this last year sadly failed. I am toxic to plants. But I do keep insisting on trying.

5. Continue with the positive internal monologue. One of the most useful and relevatory things I have learned in acting class (I think I mentioned it earlier in my post about the dance performance in front of 900 people) is that what you tell yourself is what becomes true. If I say to myself that I can do it and I know what I'm doing, I give that off to people and they respond positively, which gives me confidence, which helps me actually do the thing well. It might start out sounding like utter bullshit, but it ends up coming true. In any case, it's a hell of a lot better than berating myself for all my shortcomings.

6. Get my varicose veins fixed. I've had some little ones forever, but recently I have noticed one on my calf that is getting really ugly. Must eliminate.

7. Do one hard thing every day. "Hard" can be loosely defined. It might mean, taking today as an example, picking up the phone and calling the stupid nurses at work for my 2 year check-up. They are ridiculously alarmist. One told me I was near obese (so not true, especially five years ago) one told me I was going blind in my left eye (had it checked out by an optometrist and she just laughed) and the other one basically tried to scare me that my moles were cancerous. Yet again, the dermatologist I went to just rolled his eyes and told me to keep doing the excellent job I'm doing of protecting my skin from the sun. So, yes, it will be hard for me to pick up the phone and call the silly ninnies, but I have to do it. And then it will be done.

8. Do one kind thing every day. It's amazing how much one small gesture of kindness can make somebody's day, especially in a big grumpy city like Paris. I once helped an old man bag his groceries and he couldn't stop saying how nice it was and that no one did anything nice anymore. That sort of broke my heart.

9. Finish fixing my acting resumé, send it in to the new casting director, get her to pick the best head shots and SEND THEM OUT.

10. Go on at least one casting call. God.

11. This is really shitty of me, but I'm keeping this one to myself for a while.