1. I got into the Williamstown Theatre Festival’s apprentice program! It was completely unexpected because I had called them a week or so before I found out asking if they had notified all of the selected apprentices and the guy I talked to said he was pretty sure they had. Crazy times. So, I’ll be in Massachusetts from June 14th to August 20th. I’m so excited.
2. Hopefully I will have secured an apartment by the time I leave.
3. Being home has been extremely lazy, but knowing that I will be doing things pretty much nonstop for two months (without air conditioning) is making my current sedentary/hermit-like liftesyle seem sort of acceptable.
4. I have ventured out into the world on a few occasions, however, mainly to catch up with friends and get my hair cut and ride my bike. Okay, so not totally sedentary. But I have spent an incredible amount of time in my bed (both sleeping and doing nothing of importance on the internet. Exhilarating.)
5. Today I was in Old City with my dad and we found this vintage store that doesn’t have prices on the clothes (most of which are in huge cardboard boxes), but instead the cashier puts the clothes you want to buy on a scale and charges you based on how much everything weighs. Like a salad or frozen yogurt! So, I got two dresses, a shirt, and a pair of shorts for $20. Amazing.
6. I’m getting my wisdom teeth out on Monday and I am actually terrified.
train rides and memorizing lines and Words With Friends (and family) and delicious food and I wish I could eat my aunt’s stuffing every single day and psychedelic music and Philadelphia and beautiful weather and Stephen Sondheim and walking and hanging out with Seamus and laughing and Retrospect and AIDS Thrift and procrastinating as usual and trying not to feel weird and sneaking into Gallatin through Tisch to rehearse even though the former is technically closed on Sundays (which was thrilling) and costumes and progress and not wanting it to ever be Monday.
I love the cast of The Comedy of Errors more and more every day. I especially love talking about musicals with Brent, how Rose is always willing to do my eye makeup because I suck at it, making faces at Daniel, and all of the silly things Robin and I do constantly. It’s going to be depressing as hell when the show is over. But then I go back to New York a week later, so I’ll only be in mourning for a few days, hopefully.
Yesterday I saw Seamus for the first time in a while and today I saw Thomas for the first time all summer, which doesn’t make any sense to me considering he really doesn’t live very far away. He, Amanda, and I walked all the way to the Franklin Fountain to get ice cream, among other things. The past two days have been so lovely, filled with friends and Shakespeare and not having to go to work.
Tomorrow after the show I’m going to New York until Monday night because I miss it too much and can’t wait all the way until the 27th to see it again. Also, I’m going to meet my pen pal, which I am very, very excited about.
So, everything’s pretty awesome and now I should really go to sleep because I need to wake up and clean my room tomorrow before my dad gets back from the beach. It’ll be a shame not having the house to myself anymore; being devoid of parents for a week has been the best.
On Tuesday I had rehearsal until about midnight and then The Comedy of Errors opened on Wednesday and it went quite well! After the show, a bunch of us walked in the rain to Robin’s apartment in South Philly, where we met his housemates who are also actors at UArts. The night was filled with beer, Super Smash Bros., a roof with a beautiful view of the city, good jokes, fake swordfights, and great people. It was so, so much fun and Robin was even kind enough to walk me home at 1:00 in the morning.
Since then, we’ve done two more performances and it’s getting better each time. The audience tonight was particularly responsive, which is always awesome. One of my good friends, Zoey, and her mom came to see it and I had no idea until I saw them after the show. So, that was nice.
I’m getting slightly less angry about having to wash off boatloads of eye makeup each night. But only slightly.
And there is definitely a joke in the fact that I am an actor playing a waitress in a play. Practice for real life, or something.
pretty confident that a class trip to the giant walk-through heart is a required part of growing up in philadelphia
When I was little, this thing fucking TERRIFIED me. I would always run past the room it was in; I couldn’t even look at it, let alone WALK INSIDE OF IT. I don’t remember how old I was when I conquered my fear of the giant heart and finally traversed its cramped passageways with the dull thump thump going in the background, but it took a while.
The Decemberists / We Both Go Down Together
“A song about joint suicide, ladies and gentlemen!” Colin Meloy said so nonchalantly during the show at the Academy of Music earlier.
I would write more but I am in such a state of post-Decemberists euphoria that I can’t focus long enough to form extended coherent thoughts.
(via nefffy)
Saw a dead squirrel on the bike path today. First reaction: “Fuck. Shit. Fuck.”
Really not a fan of dead animals.
On Monday I went for a bike ride for the first time since last summer. Coming back on the nearly-deserted West River Drive, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros in my headphones, I looked behind me and the entire sky was orange and blazing. The sun was hitting the water and hitting the buildings in that particular way that it does when it’s setting. It started raining, just a little, and with everything in that sunset tint, it felt like absolutely nothing had changed since the very first time I ever rode my bike on this path by the river.
I could not even handle how beautiful the sky was on Friday.
Well, at least the day after the Rapture is supposed to be decent.
1. My diet has primarily been reduced to bagels and cookies.
2. My main activities are watching Arrested Development on Netflix and waiting for it to stop raining.
3. I have woken up past noon more times than I would care to admit.
4. I have realized once again that Philadelphia is just a smaller, less exciting version of New York.
5. I still have only unpacked one suitcase.
6. I can’t decide if the word “home” is accurate anymore.
Anyway.
It’s a sad day in Philadelphia, as our worst fears have become a reality. Tastykake is no longer Philadelphia-based. The maker of delicious dessert foods like the Butterscotch Krimpet and the Peanut Butter Kandy Kake has been mired in financial debt for the last few years after moving from their location on Hunting Park Avenue to a sparking new facility at the Navy Yard in South Philadelphia. In addition to those costs, traditional ingredients such as flour, milk, and eggs are now much more expensive and Tastykake had trouble keeping up.
While we are unsure whether this means that the company will no longer produce Tastykakes in Philadelphia, what this does is change things forever. While the company is still universally loved in the Delaware Valley, it no longer something that is exclusively Philadelphia owned, operated, and consumed. This sale will likely make Tastykakes available up and down the east coast, if not nationwide.
It was a good run while it lasted. Thanks for being such an important part of our childhoods and of the city we love, Tastykake.
Tastykakes are about to go mainstream, guys. Let’s have a moment of silence.
Went home for the weekend and hung out in the city with Alexis, Adam, and Thomas. I like Philadelphia a lot more now that I don’t live there. I also kind of miss living in a house.
I really want to go for a hike.
On Spruce Street.
