Wow, I sound like a spoiled brat! Is that wrong?

When I started to write this blog my intention was to write about my journey as a performer and the trials and triumphs that come along with that. But I realized that I can't only focus on performing because my life is not only about my career (although sometimes it feels like it). So from time to time, I think I will focus a bit on my personal life and how it gets affected because of the career path I have chosen. A friend of mine recently had a baby and she is thrilled beyond belief, and I’m not gonna lie, there were a few times I felt my uterus tug...and then I snapped back into my reality.

See I’m at a point in my life where many other people have gotten married and are having kids. They have done the things you're “supposed to do” at my age (and they love it). In fact, many of my closest friends are either having babies, getting married or actively searching for a husband (don’t get me started on that one, lol), while I am searching for my next acting job. I’m not at that place now, and there is a tiny part of me that feels like I might be missing out. When I was sixteen and I thought about what my life would be like at this age now, I can honestly tell you, it was a hell of a lot different than the life I’m living. Is that a bad thing?

Recently, it has come to my attention that I SHOULD be doing these things now: getting married and having kids, making my own family. But should we do things because we SHOULD?!! Or should we figure out what and when is right for us? Should I feel bad that my life is not what society says it should be at this point?? Should I feel like a loser, or less of a woman if my goal at the moment is my career, instead of finding a husband? Do I want all those things, the husband and the family? Yes…I think so. But they aren't in my cards now and I don't want them at the expense of my other dreams. I know everyone makes compromises, but there are some things that I just won’t give up on. Why can't I have it all?!! Why can't I make all my dreams come true??! Wow, I sound like a spoiled brat! Is that wrong?

I know people are starting to think there must be something wrong with me. Especially with comments like “when are you getting married?” or “Hey, you really should get on that”. Or my personal favorite, “Oh, you’re still doing that? (meaning acting). Well, good for you”. And I know from their tone, that this isn’t a compliment. I’m also not sitting here and complaining about my life, because I chose it!! The reason I am where I am is because I made it happen; and if I’m not happy with it or want something else it’s up to me to make that happen. A fairy godmother is not going to come down and wave her magical wand (no matter how much I would freaking love that), so it’s up to me to make my life the way I want it to be. I’m on my way…S-L-O-W-L-Y!

And I guess in 10 yrs if I still haven’t found Mr. Right (hell, if I haven’t found Mr. I can live with long enough to get married), and my uterus is still tugging and I'm financially stable enough, I can try to adopt because everyone needs love and a home. But here’s thing, I don't know where I'll be in 10 yrs. None of us to do. We all have our "plan", but sometimes life has other plans. The only thing we have is a path & its our own (and I will not apologize or be judged for mine). I will just have to trust that my path will bring me my happiness. I’ll end on this quote from an email I just read (its about the search for your soulmate, but I think it can apply to all dreams), “Most who are looking for mates that they haven't quite found yet, are so interested in getting to where they're going, that they're missing the fun of going there.” Hmmm, somehow after all these years, I’ve yet to accept that life isn’t a result, it’s a journey.

This is mine! I hope you're loving yours!

-R. Strago

S#*t, that’s selfish!!!!

First, I must apologize for my absence last week. I feel I have failed myself (and you) but I’ve convinced myself that because I was performing in my play I could take a week off (truthfully I can justify just about anything because quite frankly, I didn’t have a show last Sunday, so it wasn’t like I couldn’t sit at the computer). Actually, I did sit at my computer and I wrote a little bit about how the festival was going and how we got through it and I think people liked it and then I stopped. I just didn’t feel inspired and I’d rather write something that I care about than just throw words together that are semi-grammatically correct and call it a blog post. Then I actually thought, “does it really matter if I don’t write one this week? Will anyone miss it?” And then I kinda felt like, I don’t even know if anyone reads this so who cares if I don’t post one and so I didn’t. Looking back on it, I’m disappointed with myself that I didn’t write one, because my goal when I started this was to write one weekly and now I can never go back and have that week again. Writing this now, I figured this out…I can’t write for other people. I need to write for myself and hope that it says something to someone or makes someone think, or makes them, in a very tiny way, feel inspired but I CAN’T do it for someone else. Shit, that’s selfish and soo not me, but there it is.

It dawned on me today that I do things for other people (and not like “Oh let me help you cross the street” but more like “wow, they'll finally think I'm worth something if I do this”). I do things for other people’s approval and you know what? That’s utter bullshit!! And you know when I realized it clearly? (I mean, I noticed this trait more than a few times but I didn’t realize that its not okay until I watched the movie Rudy today). Oh I can just hear a few of you chuckling, Rudy? Yes! I’ve never seen the whole thing before and it was one of my dad’s favorite movies. And I can’t honestly tell you I watched the whole thing today either, but I watched the last half hour (pretty much knowing the story of this kid who’s dream it was to play football for Notre Dame even though he was five feet tall and without a huge amount of athletic ability, but he never gave up) until he didn’t make the dress list (which I’ll be honest, I have no idea what the hell that means. My family loves football, I love the commercials at the Super Bowl, but apparently not making the dress list totally sucks). Here’s the part stolen from IMDB that blew my mind…


Fortune: Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey what are you doing here don't you have practice?
Rudy: Not anymore I quit.
Fortune: Oh, well since when are you the quitting kind?
Rudy: I don't know, I just don't see the point anymore.
Fortune: So you didn't make the dress list, there are greater tragedies in the world.
Rudy: I wanted to run out of that tunnel for my dad to prove to everyone that I worked...
Fortune: PROVE WHAT?
Rudy: That I was somebody.
Fortune: Oh you are so full of crap. Your five foot nothin', a hundred and nothin' and you hung in with the best college football team in the land for two years, and you were also going to walk out of here with a degree from the University of Notre Dame in this life time you don't have to prove nothing to nobody except yourself and after what you gone through if you haven't done that by now, it ain’t gonna never happen, now go on back.
Rudy: I'm sorry I never got you to see you're first game in here.
Fortune: Hell I've seen too many games in this Stadium.
Rudy: I thought you said you never saw a game...
Fortune: I've never seen a game from the stands.
Rudy: You were a player?
Fortune: I rode the Bench for two years, thought I wasn't being played because of my color I got filled up with a lot of attitude so I quit, still not a week goes by I don't regret it, and I guarantee a week won't go by in your life you won't regret walking out letting them get the best of you. Do you hear me clear enough?


So now I’m about to cry as I watch this, because you know what, that shit is TRUE!!! Who am I doing all of this for, and I’m not talking about this blog, but who is all of this (everything I do) for? Why wasn’t I overwhelmingly proud when we did our first performance at the One-Act festival? Why didn’t I believe my friends and family when they said they liked it? Why do I never hear applause but I can’t forget the one person who doesn’t think I’m pretty enough for this business?? So, and excuse my french, what the F*#K has to happen so that we feel we have accomplished something? Do we need to win an award to feel like we are successful? Why do I need everyone’s (or at least the people I hold in high regard) to swoon over what I do, for it to mean something? And if they said that it was fantastic, would I even believe them? Shouldn’t I just feel like knowing what I did was enough?

So that is what I’m taking with me from this festival. As much as it would be amazing to hear tonight that I made the Finals, I don’t have to make them to feel like I’ve accomplished something. I wrote a play. I got to work with people I love and then I got to perform it for more people I love (and some people I didn’t even know). And then as a bonus, I got to perform it for members of the industry and that’s enough!

So, here’s the deal…I’m gonna continue to write this blog, even if no one reads it because it makes me feel good and it makes me a better writer. And I’m gonna keep writing plays and such, because I want to share things with people and I hope that others feel and think about things when they get performed. And I’m gonna keep acting and singing because deep down in my soul that’s what I feel like I was put here to do, and I’m sorry if I’m not at as good as Meryl or Barbra or Idina or anyone else I will inevitably compare myself to, because I only have to be as good as me! I will continue to try to be as good as I can be, but I can’t be someone else and I can't do it for anyone else’s approval!!

Whew, now this selfish bitch needs a glass of wine! ;)

-RoxyS

It's Not a Test?

So if you’ve been reading this blog, you know that I’m slightly nuts, lol. Okay, not like a total crazy person, but I have some “issues” (I like to say that they're all part of my charm), but sometimes, if I don’t deal with them head on, they can have the tendency to hold me back. One of them is stage fright. Most of the time I get so freaked out about it, I want to throw up. And right before I go on, I always ask myself, “Self, why do you do this to me?" (meaning: why do you make me go out there with the possibility to screw up royally and make an utter ass out of myself?) Now while I’m waiting in the wings as it were, I can’t find an answer to that question. I usually don’t want to go out there and if I could pay someone to go out instead of me I would (crazy right? I told you). But of course I go out there. I force myself to because I promised that I would. In a way its almost like jumping out of an airplane (not that I’ve done that or ever would) but I can just imagine myself in that plane before the big jump sweating, with my heart pounding so hard it could possibly break through my chest and my stomach in pain. And then me asking myself again “self, what have you gotten me into again?” Cause that’s what it’s like before I take the stage.

You might be asking yourself “self, if she gets so scared that she feels like she might die, why does she bother”? Good question!! The only answer I have is because once I’m out there I freaking LOVE it!! Last week before I sang at the cabaret, I was nervous. I just wanted to get it over with (some performer right?) but when I got up there and started to sing, I started to relax, something comes over me (remembering the first lines of the song usually helps, lol) and then when I did my patter between songs and people actually laughed, well that was it. I had such a great time. I don’t do drugs but performing is the closest thing to being high that I have experienced. It’s addicting!!

Now I NEED to remember that when my play opens in a little over 2 weeks (because I can just imagine the kind of wreck I’ll be beforehand). I think its the perfectionist in me that causes this. I want it to be perfect. I want to be perfect and then that little voice comes in and says "wow if you screw up you will be humiliated forever". But let's face it, what's the worst thing you can think of happening? Death right? Well if I screw up, I'm not gonna die. I will survive. I know this, but man, I still want to be good!! I read somewhere over the past week something that I felt I needed to remember. I wish I wrote down where I got it from but its about a woman who speaks for a living. “She stops asking, how am I doing? and moves to, are you with me? Instead of worrying, will they like me? She considers, what can I offer them? ‘The difference now is that I do not see it as a performance. I see my role as a sharer,’ says Shakin. ‘And when I share . . . my listeners are up there with me.’"

So I’m not going to see my play as a performance (although it is) but more as sharing a part of who I am. I love what I do, so I need to do it and I need to ENJOY it!! I can honestly sit here as I write this and tell you that I’m still gonna be nervous that I’ll forget my lines or that people will think the play is cheesy, but when I get out there and open my mouth I’m gonna enjoy every second of it because its what I love. And its an honor to be sharing an experience with those people in those seats. It’s not a test!! I need to remember that!

I usually feel like I've accomplished something when I write each blog, but I'll be honest with you, I'm not sure that I have here. It almost feels unfinished or somehow not cohesive. I guess it's because I'm not entirely convinced that I won't have a breakdown before the show, lol. I'll keep you posted. Its all a learning experience I guess. Thanks for listening! I hope you do what you love, because life is too short!!

-RS

I'm Just Gonna Try to Try!!

"With everyone born human, a poet-an artist- is born, who dies young & who is survived by an adult." -Charle-Augustin Sainte-Beuve.

I started reading Julia Cameron's 'The Vein of Gold" and that quote struck me. Mostly because I totally believe it's the truth. So what happens to us as we get older? Does our creativity die? No, but sometimes it becomes buried. Maybe it's because of all the stuff we have to do or maybe it's because all of a sudden we have homework or jobs or a boyfriend or bills and responsibilities, and friends and parties, or FEAR?? I think we let fear come in as we get older. Little kids don't care about making fools of themselves, that doesn't enter their minds, they just do! And yeah, I'm kinda afraid of EVERYTHING!! I hate it, but I am. Where did I get all this fear from? I read a few months ago that what happens in the womb affects a child for the rest of his or her life, so I'm going with that. I'm totally gonna blame my mom, since she perpetually worried for nine months as I was a "surprise" when she was 40 years old (yeah, let's not talk about that lol). I also think that I'm a bit of a perfectionist. So if I can't be 100% fabulous at something (or pretty close to it) I don't want to do it. It's kinda like when I took piano for 5 or 6 years, but it was sooo frustrating for me because no matter how long I practiced I couldn't get everything that was on the page into my hands (yeah, I quit the piano. Man, I still wish I could play, I mean really play.)

The only thing that I'll do over and over without being perfect is performing. I mean, don't get me wrong, I want more than anything to be perfect at it, but I know I'm not and maybe there is no such thing as perfect when it comes to that. I guess I love it so much its okay if I'm not a 100% spot on genius at it. However, I don't put out 100% effort to my career because there are auditions I don't go to because I'm scared. You may be asking yourself, Why wouldn't she go to EVERY audition she could go on and hopefully get where she wants to be? Good question!!!! I have absolutely NO freakin' idea. I can only think of one thing and since I'm no genius, I'm sure I heard this somewhere and remembered it because it resonated with me. But here's what I think: if I don't do what I'm afraid of, I can't fail. If I don't fail, I'm golden, almost perfect. Except, I'm sure as hell not moving forward. So I'll just be the perfect stuck person. I'm starting to really not like this!!!

I've been thinking about this a lot lately actually. Especially about my writing. I wrote a first draft of a play and had a reading of it and got some really good feedback and that was last January. Sure I changed some stuff here and there but I haven't made any real progress in about a year. And why did it take me over 6 months to write a second entry to this blog? Yeah sure I'm busy, we all are, but I can't tell you how many times I've sat at my computer and wanted to write but instead I went on PerezHilton.com, or People.com, or (my personal fav) Facebook, or I checked my email, oh and wait, "I LOVE this movie, I'll watch that now, I'll write something later". Negativo on the progress. You see my blog was perfect just as it was because there was nothing on it to be criticised. My play is perfect because its not finished, hence I won't show it to anyone and no one will tell me it sucks because no one will read it. I so want to write a comedy sketch and my next cabaret but I haven't because what if I do and people don't like it? What if I suck?? So I don't do anything. I'm just stuck.

So what am I gonna do? See a shrink? I'd love to, but my insurance doesn't cover it and God knows I cannot afford to charge another cent lol. So I've decided one of my "resolutions" (the quotes are because I hate that word) but irregardless of that fact, one of my resolutions for 2010 is to be a little bit kinder to myself' and just do things, things that scare the crap out of me. Even if I fail and totally humiliate myself, I will TRY! I have no idea how good I'll be at trying, but I'm not gonna pressure myself about the trying. I'm just gonna try to try! I'm gonna try to audition more and just write, even if it sucks!! Like Nike, I'm gonna just do it, as corny as it sounds lol!! And I think you should too! I'll let you know how I'm doing! I'd love to hear from you too.

Btw, I can't tell you how many times I've read and reread this entry, because I'm still worried that it's not perfect and that people will hate it (yep, I'm totally nuts, ha)! But now I'm letting it go and pressing publish. Do what you will with it! My 'trying' starts today! And if you like any of what I wrote please follow my blog and we can 'try' together! :) Yes, I'm a corny, nerd! It's just all part of my charm!!!!

Blessings!
RoxyStrago