Carry This Picture

I simply love art. Whether it is performance, sculpture, live art, poetry - the list goes on and on - I want to know about and see as much of it as possible. I know that I will not always like or agree with every artists choices, but with all types of art there will always be someone to appreciate it, otherwise it would not exist.

Art is everywhere. Last night was my first live art exhibit and I learned a lot. Someone special told me, "There are no small actors, only small parts," and I found that very inspiring. I hope that I can carry that advice with me into this voyage I am starting out on in the entertainment industry. But for now I want to share some of my favorite photographs that I have taken in the last few months.





A llama at a petting zoo in Central Park on Easter day (left)







Across the lake, from the West to the East, and its cold (right)














Somebody really uses this bike to get around in Bermuda (left) and they use real gas lamps to light the streets in Boston (below)





















I think that every single person is an artist - you only have to believe in what you create.

Hide and Seek

I have finally relocated back to Los Angeles and now that I am settled have found myself in a strange living situation. Let me explain (ok, more like rant about) my first few weeks.

I arrived with an invitation to move into my subleased apartment merely days after the meeting the original tenants -
"You can move in as early as tomorrow if you would like."
and I think "of course... why would I wait to move in if I can just do it now."

I arrive the next afternoon with luggage in hand and ready to mark my new territory. I open the front door to a girl who was obviously not expecting me. I greet the said girl and ask if the other roommate is home. She does not answer and just yells, "JAMIE - some girl is here to move in." I take this as a cue to follow her into the room which she busted into and see that the half of the room that is meant to be mine is currently being occupied by a very unattractive girl who does not introduce herself. I then take the initiative: "Hi, my name is Mary and your other roommate said it would be fine if I moved in today." She responds with a long exasperated sigh and then grunts. "Uh well, I'm kinda busy and I'm not really ready for you to move in yet."

Ok.... so what am I supposed to do now?? Politely I ask, "when do you think you will have time to clear this space out for me so I can bring my stuff in?"

"Tonight... Maybe like 5." She turns away and starts blow drying her hair so she doesn't have to look or talk to me anymore.

I took that as my cue to leave and did just that. Not wanting to face these lovely beings two days in a row I took the next day off to give them some space and came back two days later. I then found a cleared off bed but no other space in the room for any of my belongings... Jamie proceeded to then be out of town for the entire weekend, so... not feeling comfortable about moving her belongings I lived out of my suitcase for that weekend and what turned into the next week and a half.

The other girl - the one who yelled all the time seemed to be some sort of crazy feminist, vegan, lesbian who was always mad and came home drunk every night. One morning, she woke me up at 5:45am screaming to her mother on the phone, "There are people sleeping everywhere MOM! I cant find my keys!" I think she slammed the door about 29 times before I decided to gt up and pee since she was convinced that no one else should sleep because of her issues. As I came out of the bathroom, still sleepy-eyed and drowsy, she came rushing at me with veins popping out of her neck asking (I mean yelling of course) if I had taken her keys. I am sure it was too early in the morning to hide the look on my face - the secret was out I think, she now knows I think she is a psycho. I shake my head no and she runs past me into my room and screams at Jamie who is still (somehow) asleep: "JAMIE! I lost my keys!!! Wake up, have you seen them??" Jamie laughs, rolls over and says something about how she had to use them to move her car the night before as she points to the keys right next to her on the desk. "THANKS" is all I hear as yelling-girl leaves and slams the door the final time that morning.

It has been about a week since those characters have been gone and the new roommates have moved in. Now I have a nice roommate also named Jamie - I know, super confusing. I am still finding traces of these crazy people and nothing that I find makes them more normal. I spent over 4 hours of my life cleaning a kitchen of disgusting proportions with a salmonella infested refrigerator and dishes in the cabinets with so much food on them that I wondered if they even washed their dishes.

They left some fun surprises too, like two completely empty boxes of dishwasher detergent, dirty socks in my closet, some huge bong shaped cups from some shady club, a blue polka-dotted bonnet, a goose with a removable head, Pokemon lights in the living room, and 5 million posters of Marylin Monroe. One of the favorite things I came across while cleaning out under my bed was the remote control to the DVD player which they told me did not exist when I was watching a movie a few days before they left.

They also left all of their pictures, valentines day cards and glow-stars around the apartment. We have thenceforth covered up most of their existence with other strange objects like potato chip bags, playing cards, and our own memorabilia.

I hope when one of the original girls gets back next month things aren't completely awkward... especially since she will be living in my room. But until then I will try to make the most of my findings keep you updated on the other ridiculous things I stumble upon in my new apartment!

Old Deuteronomy

Yesterday was the second official week of the new TV show The Cougar!

In this epic chapter of reality television series we get to watch the lovely Stacey (the cougar) hopes to meet, date, and even fall in love with the new man (or I guess we should say BOY) of her dreams.

The first week we got to meet all of the guys who are all under the age of 29. My favorite is the military guy who called her "too old" to be a cougar at their first interaction. They all made their first impressions to try to be the first to accompany middle aged Stacey into the mansion first. Travis, the surfer dude somehow won... maybe it was because they have similar hair styles.

Last night was the celebration of Stacey's 40th birthday. I have to give it to her - she does not look 40. She looks like she could be the sister of these boys not the mother... oh wait, she has a daughter that is actually older than some of the people she is now dating. But wait - only one of the 15 people left know that she has 4 children! The suspense builds.

I am excited to see how this twice married, four time mother finds the boy of her dreams in the weeks to come. Next week the boys have to pick out a dress for our little debutante - I can't wait to see who wins! Best wishes Stacey!

I Am Missing

So I have obviously been MIA for quite a while now, and I would like to say that I just have not had anything to write about or nothing notable has been happening. That however is simply not the case. I have been crazy busy, not sleeping enough, and stretching muscles that I did not even know existed. And I am afraid that I do not even have time for an amazing life changing post now - since the consequence of reading one of my posts is usually life altering - I know. So I will keep it short and sweet.

Some Notes:

I have seen a man jabbing a pen into his ear on the subway.

It is possible to read more than three plays in one day, and it is not likely that any of them will not use profanity to make a point.

"Mi Pizzichi, mi stuzzichi, mi pungichi, me mastiche!"

Is what I am doing Kind, Constructive, and Honest?

"Sometimes, in a movie the heroes doing all this stuff that's dangerous but you know, because of the type of movie it is, that he's not going to get hurt."

Rosie Thomas: Listen to her music

Don't do something knowing you are going to fail. Do something with the intention to succeed.

"An Ounce of behavior is worth more than a pound of words" - Sandy Meizner

The Hunger

In December I attended a fun and festive Christmas Party where we played a good old fashioned white elephant gift exchange. I brought something that I thought was really cool and that people would certainly want to steal - a FEED 100 bag. I ended up looking like a weirdo when I stole it from the girl who had picked it, thinking someone would surely steal it from me as well. I stole it pretty early in the game and was disappointed when no one stole it away from me. I ended up going home with the same present I brought to the party - talk about the worst giver ever. I felt lame for a full few days, but its not like it was on my mind all the time or anything. A few days before Christmas (while I was using my new bag that I got for Christmas from myself) I visited The Natural History Museum. The man checking bags to make sure no one brought knives or explosives into the Night at the Museum museum asked me what the 100 on my bag stood for. At that moment everything changed - I was the proud owner of a FEED 100 bag. I took a few minutes to explain the cause to him and he was so excited about it. Instead of a long winded explanation from me now, here is an actual excerpt from their website. Please visit it and buy your own bag - its a really good cause.

Feedprojects.org

The Problem:

Hunger and malnutrition kill more people than AIDS, malaria, and TB combined.

The global food system is imbalanced and people are sick and dying due to lack of good quality nutrition.

Almost 400 million children around the world go to bed hungry every night. In fact, every five seconds a child dies because he or she is hungry.

There are still over 77 million children not attending school (60% of which are girls), 150 million children drop out of school before attaining a basic primary education, and 50 million hungry children are not receiving any form of food aid.

The Solution:

School feeding is one of the most effective solutions to stopping hunger and breaking the poverty cycle.

In 74 countries, the UN World Food Program (WFP) offers a nutrient-packed meal to children in school. This food gets kids to school, who might not attend otherwise, and gives them the energy to learn and empowers them to better their lives.

When boys and girls are given a free, nutritious meal in school, research has shown that attendance increases by 100% and performance improves greatly. Girls with just a few years of education have fewer children, have them later in life, and are better prepared to care for and educate them. For many children, a school lunch is the only meal they will receive all day. Learn More: www.wfp.org

Our Product Values:

All FEED products are made as eco-friendly and fairly as possible. Our bags are produced with high-quality,100% organic cotton and natural burlap. We work with only audited and certified fair labor facilities. It's important to us to visit the places our products are made AND the places our donations are going.