16 Dollars a Day New Blog

Hey Everyone.

I've started a new blog!

You can find it here!

http://16-dollars-a-day.blogspot.com/

Old post i found on my computer

Flashback to dracula - I found this post. I don't know if I posted it before so here it is.

Rehearsal for Dracula With Director Bill McNulty

I have so much to learn

So I’m here in rehearsal with a director who’s incredible and directed this show for 15 years at Actors. Intimidated, is more than an understatement of how I feel. It’s been about a week since we began and I just had my first rehearsal where it was me, him, Havalah, and the stage manager and I was finally able to let my belt loose a little bit. Let go of the, “I’m a student, you’re incredible, and I’m not doing anything that you want”, mindset. Its really hard to think of myself as a peer with the folks in the cast. As much as we’re told to, its hard to wrap my head around it.

So I just took this rehearsal to listen. To listen to everything he was giving me, and not feel like I had to get it THAT instant to impress him, or show him that there was a reason he cast me. I had a good hour.

Play the action –

Work with what you want the OTHER character to feel –

Work what you want in the scene –

Those are the main things he kept pushing at us. Those are the things I forget about when I’m in my room running lines and working beats. I start talking and think, Oh, yeah, that’s a good line reading. Or, oh nice, that’s a nice bit.

Bill brought this up, recognized it, and kind of made a joke about it. He said you do all that, but then when you get into the room with the actor and they start giving you something different, you have to roll with it and let it happen. That’s the only way to get something organic and valuable.

He just kept on pushing to keep your action in the back of your head; what is your action in this beat. Once I got it, once we both started just leaving these line reads and these bits at the door and just played off each other with our actions in mind- it started to happen. Work, actual, valuable work started to happen. I started to feel, for the first time today, that I was contributing.

Today’s rehearsal got me thinking about a bigger issue as far as my craft goes –

My process –

One of the things Michael and Amy asked us to do when we got here was, “Articulate your process. How do you create a character? What do you do when you get in a play?” I didn’t really know what to tell them.

I don’t really know what my process is- My process of creating a character and a world in a play. I just memorize the lines, find the beats, think about what the character wants and start rehearsals. I want to be able to actually bring ideas into the rehearsal room, not just know where the beats are.

So, today’s rehearsal was good. It’s the first scene study rehearsal I’ve felt good about. I feel good about it because I was able to drop nervous Ryan for a while and just play around with smart actor Ryan, who doesn’t come out very often. J

More later about fight choreography….. 

Cabin and Flying

Ah, ok. Quick post before I go.
This weekend 27 of us are embarking on ANOTHER cabin trip to a cabin not too far from the last one. The cabin is huge. sleeps 15. gona be great.

Then, for Three 8 hour days next week we are taking a FLYING workshop. Like FLYING peter pan style in the theatre. We'll be hanging from ropes and such  learning FIGHT CHOREOGRAPHY.

Website here
http://www.zfxflying.com/

That's the company were taking the workshop from. Awesome folks. Awesome.
Pictures of me FLYING - coming soon.

Thunder

Each year Derby is kicked off by a giant festival called Thunder over Louisville. Basically the whole riverfront area is turned into a state fair. Tons of food, games. And there was an air show going on all day so super loud flybys and all that. The night ended with the most amazing firework show I've ever seen. Super cool.

Kind of a lame post today.

Nap time haha

later

Ryan

Guitar Goals

When I first got here. I set a goal that I was going to write an album, record and perform it. Well, I'm proud to say that all those things are lining up. All the songs have been written, about 14, including ones I'd written previously.

I'm going to record between May 1st and 7th using Actor's Theatre's sound system. (woot) and I just set up my first gig ever. I'm playing at 9pm at Derby City Espresso on Main st. in Louisville Kentucky on 4/29/11.

Amazing. Goal - almost completed. Yay for FINALLY having an album for when I'm out on the street and people ask to buy it. Very exciting.

Almost done

Picture from the Humana Festival opening Party Photo Booth.

 Good party. :) hahha.




Holy cow. I have less than a month left out here. Things got pretty crazy there for a while and time flew by. Fast. Like crazy fast. So -

For these last two weeks I'm working on this project called New Voices. Every year Actors Theatre runs a ten minute play contest that highschool kids from all around Kentucky submit plays to. The plays selected are then fully produced by the theater in mid April. We've just begun rehearsal. I'm in two pieces, The End, and Pass the Canoles.

Pass the Canoles is 5 italian mafia guys playing poker, kidnapping a man, stealing a cat for thier boss, eating canoles, and playing more poker. Its a riot. Super funnt.

The End is about this girl realizing she only has 10 minutes before the earth explodes and frantically trying to finish the book she is reading but she keeps getting interupted by stray phone calls and visits from past lovers. A hoot. It is a hoot.

Then after that closes we have one last workshop. ZFX. ZFX is a rigging company that is coming in to teach us how to work rigs, and how to fly in them. Yes. We will be suspended by harnesses, flying, while our fellow apprentices hold up the other end of the rope. Last year they did a workshop on incorporating flying into jazz dance. This year they are teaching us how to incorporate FLYING into STAGE COMBAT. So - Its gona be freaking awesome.

Summer plans
- Chicago from may 8th-13th
- Davenport from may 14th - 28th
- Mexico from may 28th to june 1st - building a house from the homeless with dad and brother. Amazing.
- Chicago from june 2 - july 31st
- Amana from august 1-Sept 15(ish) - Doing The Woody Guthrie Story with Iowa Artists Theatre Company
- New York   - New update - I'm moving to New York I think. 96% sure. Im going to see how much money I can save up during the summer then move there in the fall. If I don't have enough cash, I'll work a few more months, and then head up there.



Crazy huh?
I can't believe its almost over. Its wierd, thinking that I'm gona be out, waiting tables, and going to auditions so soon. :) For now however, I'm happy working here. Excited about the future, but focused on today. One day at a time.

Ryan


oh. one last thing. If you ever get a chance to be part of a LIVE BAND KARAOKE ---- DO IT. 

Me singing Blue Suede Shoes at Live Band Karaoke two weeks ago.

Promise to Lu

Promised Lu, I'd post a picture of myself today.

There you go Lu.

haha.

Ryan

Tens are over

Hey everyone,

So we closed our ten minute play festival today and went out with a bang. We had a donor night last night where we raised 484.00 for our showcase fund. Which is AWESOME. And tonight we had to turn 30 people away from an already packed house. It was awesome.

I kinda flubbed up a part tonight but it was funny. In my scene I start out with a faux beer in my hand and halfway through the scene I totally dropped it and it spilled everywhere. I just stared at it. haha. finally my scenepartner was like, "pick it up dude!" so I did, and we moved on. But I just froze.

You think of all the good things to do after the moment has passed. At least I do. Like my guy is a total frat boy, man's man. After I dropped it, I should have said, "Oh party foul! Vacuum!" started sucking it up like a hoover. Would have been totally funny, but nope. Just stared at it. ah well.

I really got hit hard by the end of the scene tonight, cause it was closing night. In the scene, I've just decided to let the villan get away so I can go to my best friends wedding and theres this really sweet moment where I grab two beers and say, "to you. I wouldn't miss this for anything" and as I was saying it, I was thinking about doing the scene with him. Like, "I wouldn't miss an opportunity to be on stage with you for anything." And I started to get a little emotional, which doesn't happen alot. After that, he starts to walk off and I come up behind him and say, "Now lets get your sorry ass married." and while that sounds rash, its just thier relationship and he means it with all the love in his heart. and it was just really sweet. Like, "on with the next one man. Lets do this. I've got your back."

It was really great.

So on that note - on to the next one.
Tomorrow - auditions for a scene in our Humana play, "The End" and for one of the actual Humana Shows, "The Devil at Noon". Its for a role where we will understudy an actor, and go on for one show when the actor is out of town. So, its a pretty huge opportunity. I'm pretty stoaked. After that, a quick trip to moline, and then three days of auditioning with the whole company at two or three theaters in Chicago.

Time for a nap. After some work.

See ya.



OH I GOT NEW HEADSHOTS TODAY! THEYRE AWESOME AND i'LL POST A TON SOON.

Back in KY

Hey everyone, So its been a long while since Ive written so I'll catch you up really quick.

Christmas Carol was a hit! I played Young Scrooge.
I put working on my album on hold for about 3 weeks but will be getting back to it mid this week.
Christmas was awesome. It was really nice to just come home and chill. For the first 2 days I did nothing. I left the house for beer and a few cigarettes. That was it. I just sat and watched movies all day. Mmmm good. so then I spent the next 3 days trapsing around Iowa seeing people, went up to Iowa city for a night to see nathan and josh, which was a long awaited, and much need reuniting of the tripod.

Oh - so - the trip out there. I left here at noon on the 24th. There was a storm headed right at us. one of the other apprentices, Havalah Grace Backus,has family in Moline, so she rode out with me. We're cruising along fine till just after Indianapolis. Snow. Then more snow. Then more snow. So, the trip is supposed to take 7 hours, but I was averaging 35,40, and it took 13. I got home a little after 1. BUT, got us there safe. I was glad she was there with me, because if I'd have driven that alone, it would have been white knuckled all the way.

So back in Kentucky, we're mounting our ten minute play festival. We open tuesday. There are 6 or 7 plays that we do one after the other for 4 nights.

My play is called Holy Matrimony! (and other things to do in lieu of saving the world)
Its a two person show about a superhero and his sidekick (who is getting married that day) 10 minutes before the wedding, they get a text message from the Mayor saying that The Blue Butcher has taken over s subway train and is going to light it on fire. So - They have to decide if the sidekick is going to get married, or if they are going to save the train. Its super funny, and bromantic. And I get to do a dive roll in it, so, I'm happy. :)

The next two weeks are going to be awesome. We basically have them off because it worked out that we don't have any crew responsibilities for any of the shows playing right now. So, we're planning a trip to Chicago, Cincinnati, and somewhere in Indiana. :) We're going to do a handful of general auditions in each town - Leaving for Chicago on the 20th, so I've got to get cracking on my monologues.

That's it for now,

Oh wait, I'm cooking my first turkey this week. Wish me luck.

Off to a nap to see if i can shake this cold.

Ryan

A Nose Hickey?

What? A Nose Hickey? Yeah, apparently they're possible.

Will Steel and Lizzy Schwarzrock have been dating for about a month now and I walked into my kitchen this afternoon to Will saying - "Ryan! Come look and see what Lizzy did!" I saw his nose and I thought it was broken. I thought that they had been wrestling or, fighting over who got the last strip of bacon or something.

But no.

It was a Hickey. The size of a ping pong ball. On the bridge of his nose.

What on earth? I mean, I'm all for mixing things up and exploring, but....

Best of luck on future endeavors you two.
:)

Ryan

If anyone has any Hickey cures, comment away - I'm sure Will will appreciate them.

Progress

So - One of my goals when I came out here was to write an album and record it here.
I'm prolly never going to be in a place where I can use professional level equipment, software and staff for FREE - So why not right? - The fun part is that much of the work generation for my solo mio was music - me and guitar, several songs - so - I'm officially moving from solo mio to album. I'm now working on an album. Right now its just me and a guitar and I think it will stay that way unless I really want something else in it. I've got 4 songs in the bag ready to roll and just finished another tonight.

I'm aiming for at least 11 by mid January. I know that sounds crazy, but creativity is a funny thing and its booming.

Update on what's actually going on here -

So little did you all know I was a spot op for A Christmas Story (based off the movie) and we ran for a month and closed last sunday. - hah. Go me for not writing about it, but there wasn't alot to tell, just following people with a spotlight and playing dumb games on my phone in between.

I'm currently in rehearsal for Christmas Carol playing Young Scrooge.
Now, several of us have been talking for the last few days about what kind of a play this is. All of us have had some kind of exposure to Christmas Carol before, but its not till we started working on this show that we finally figured it out. Like how great of a show it is and how important it's message is. The way that this production is telling the story cuts to the chase, cuts all the hallabaloo, and says - "This is a story about being a better person, opening your eyes to the world, and doing your best to give it everything you can." It's pretty incredible.
We had a run today and a handful of staff came from other departments. There were alot of laughs, and a handful of tears. It was pretty great.

So - Thats that - chicken strips in the toaster oven are almost done.
See yall later.

I don't think I ever posted this picture - I think - this is all of us.  - This was in October at the cabin.

Let me Explain -

Ok - so posts have been far and few between.
Let me explain -
Today - I got up at 9, at the theatre at 10 for a Shakespeare monologue showing. 10:15 - 10:45 costume fitting. 10:45 - 1:30 Christmas Carol Rehearsal. 1:30 - 2 prep for solo mio performance. 2-3:30 solo mio performance. 3:30 to 5:15 Christmas carol rehearsal. 5:15 - 5:45 - desperately nap in the green room with the least amount of people in it. 5:45 - 10 Christmas Story spot op duties during the performance. 10:30 - 12 - Try to - Do laundry, eat - something, anything - Drink a beer, Shave, maybe shower, read a book - at least a couple of pages, check facebook, check personal email, check theatre email, then finally at 11:38 - blog.

Dear lord, why did you not make 36 hour days?

This, however, is a better day, because this entire week, AFTER the Christmas Story show, I've been rehearsing my solo mio. so I'd get home around 12, get to bed around 1:30 - and just die for a few hours.
I love my life. The body is an amazing thing.

So - my solo mio went up today and it was great. I mean great. Its beautiful. I'm so damn proud of it. - If I can manage it - I'm going to post all the drafts - there were 6 from start to finish, but for now - Here is the final draft, the script. here is the script.

There's 4 characters - and I did them all. Each character addresses on side of the audience. its a thrust stage so there is audience on 3 sides of you. And the "ME" character always addresses the front, along with "Ryan"
The only movement, aside from my head turning back and forth was a step down stage every time "Ryan" spoke.
Thank you Rachel Paul, my director, for showing me how simplicity is beautiful.
Ok folks. Good night.

Honest Air – Last and 100 Final Draft – Ryan Westwood Solo Mio                               November 18, 2010

Me:        Make a decision

Lies:       Stop right now. Don’t say a word. Leave the room. Get married, and be happy. All you have to do is lie.

Ryan:     Dad, I’m so tired. I just don’t know where I’m at anymore.

Lies:       Why are you saying this to him? You’re not going to tell him because our plan is perfect. It’s flawless. You’re going to forget this. So just dig a little deeper, bury it down a little further, and it will disappear.

Truth:    You are not going to forget this. You think about it when you get up in the morning, you think about it all through the day, and then you dream about it at night. It is not going to disappear.

Ryan:     Dad, I don’t know if I can tell you this.

Lies:       I know you want to tell someone. It’s natural. It’s a natural reaction to a natural action that several normal people have taken and worked through. It’s normal. So just work through it like everyone else.

Truth:    Normal? It’s normal to lie to your fiancé on a daily basis? Well that’s a new one. See I thought that normal people, healthy people, people who are in love were honest with each other - But that just me.

Ryan:     Dad, do you lie to mom? I don’t mean like, little things. I mean – do you ever lie to mom? Yeah I didn’t think so.

Lies:       Look, you love her right? You know what’s gonna happen if you tell her? You’re gonna break her heart. You know how much she’s gonna cry? Don’t break her heart. You love her too much.

Truth:    If you love her then you’ll accept the fact that you’ve already hurt her - That the damage is already done. And every day you sit here and lie, you twist that dagger a little more. So make this a break up instead of a divorce – or a custody battle.

Ryan:     Dad, I need you to tell me that Ashley and I will not work out.

Lies:       Whoa whoa whoa what are you doing? You will not fuck this up. You stop right now.

Ryan:     Dad, I need you to tell me before I change my mind.

Lies:       Do you realize what you’re doing? If you tell him you will never marry her. It’s over. Game Over. She is your soul mate. If you don’t marry her, you will never be happy.

Truth:    Ryan, you’ll never be happy until you’re honest with yourself, and everyone else. Now I know you don’t have the courage to tell her, but you do have the courage to tell your dad and once he knows, courage won’t be a factor and you’ll have to tell her.  I know you want to do it. So do it.

Ryan:     I know you don’t understand this Dad. But as soon as I tell you we are done. Ashley and I are done. Wedding done. And I want to tell you but I can’t do this by myself and I know you don’t want to promise me something that you can’t control but just trust me and do what I need you to do so I can tell you.

Lies:       Listen, before you do this – Think about what you’re giving up. The perfect girl, the perfect plan, the perfect life.

Truth:    Ryan, there is nothing perfect about waking up next to a wife that you lie to every day for the rest of your life.

Ryan:     Dad, if you love me, tell me that Ashley and I will not work out.

Me:        And he told me.

                And I told him.

                And I told her.

                And I took in the first breath of Honest Air I had tasted in two years.

                And I’ll never forget how sweet it was. 

Good Night.

Good night Ashley. Good night.

Halloween Pictures

Hey yall,

Its super late but I thought I'd post a few halloween pictures.

Will and I went as Rockem Sockem Robots. I was Sockem, He was Rockem.

Good - Freaking - Night. Nothin like wearin a box all night.

Im the guy in the Blue.
Marc Bovino, who played Renfield is the Pumpkin on the Right
Simon Kendall, who played seward, is the Pumpkin on the Left
Will Steel is the Red Robot. Rockem.

Back

Ok - I admit it - I'm really bad at keeping promises I make to myself, especially when I get really busy - this blog, I just forget about it - Sorry everyone - Sorry Ryan.

So - Dracula closed. Bye Bye - just like that - Friends move back to New York. :( its funny - what we put ourselves through as actors - we make a new family every 3 months, then we say goodbye to them. then we start over. Its funny really. Why do we do what we do? I guess cause we can't picture ourselves doing anything else.

My solo Mio is kicking off. 2 rehearsals in - I've already re-written it completely. I guess that's how it should be.

So - Get this - for the last month, several of the apprentices have been working on a 1 hour, Romeo and Juliet where both Romeo and Juliet are women AND they performed it on 2 levels of the Actors Theater parking garage. They did it in what is called promenade theatre - Where you walk around on foot, and follow the scenes as they unfold. So - the famous balcony scene was done where Juliet was on floor 7, on a staircase, and Romeo was 2 levels below that leaning out the side of the level, over a wall. Hope that makes sense. It was really intimate, and really wonderful. We were 5 feet away, and on the same level as them most of the time. So the play just unfolded before you. Really neat. Here are some photos.

Kerri Alexander - on the Right - Romeo
Dinah Berkley - on the left - Juliet

Balcony scene - The audience was standing right where the person taking this picture was

Shawn Michael Palmer - left - Friar, Peter Vigari - right- Paris

Dinah - Right - playing Juliet leans out of Romeo's car window begging her to leave so she isn't killed.

That was my favorite scene in the whole show.
The two of them pulled up right into the crowd in this car the scene started - in the car - and then Juliet jumped out of the window, begging Romeo to leave.

So - that's whats going on in this neck of the woods - sorry it took me so long to get back to yall -

Ryan

9 Show Week Down, Charlie is in town

10-17-2010

Hey Everyone,

The last 3 weeks of dracula are all 9 show weeks and we just finished the first one. Hoooray! It's crazy to think about it ending, its been going on for so long. It hit me today that I've been performing it for a month. Over 30 performances. Crazy. So we're headed out to Knoch Bar to celebrate the beginning of the end. :)

CHARLIE IS IN TOWN

Charlie, is Will's brother, and as far as I can tell from the hour Ive hung out with him, just as great. He's here until Tuesday so I'm gona try to spend a bunch of time with him and Will. Will talks about him all the time and I felt like I kind of already knew him when he showed up today. It was kind of great. So, I'm stoked that he's here. Will is elated. They're best friends and its really neat to see that.

No word on Christmas Carol yet - couple more days I guess.

At any rate - thats whats up!

Talk to you all soon,

Oh - we went camping last sunday night and monday  - and it was great - More to come on that

Exhausted - Life Is At Our Fingertips

October 16th, 2010

I've been up till 3 am rehearsing a mock audition scene all week. Kerri Alexander is my partner and we don't have time to rehearse except for after both the shows are done at night. So, by the time we meet up and start working, its like 12:30, 1, and then I crash at like 3 am and get up at 7. Too many days in a row haah. We just had a back to back 2 show day where we had 1 hour between shows and I'm exhausted.
Nate, Sarah, and Cory were here this weekend and when I got home tonight, they had left me a note on the brown paper that is taped up all over my room saying how proud of me they are and how much they missed me and I just started crying when I saw it.

I've been really trying to let myself experience my emotions when they come along instead of just pushing them back for the sake of it. So I just stared at it and said to myself, "I miss you too, and thank you so much for coming to see me." and cried for a little bit. I looked around at my room, full of Solo Mio work generation, realized why I was so tired (because I've been working my ass off on this scene all week and because I just did a two show day at one of the Mainstay regional theaters in the States) and just said, "I love my friends. And I love my life. This is my life."

We auditioned for Christmas Carol 2 days ago and I was one of the 2 or 3 guys to get called back for Young Scrooge and I nailed the audition. I mean when I walked out of that room I wanted to do a jumping, praying mantis kick because I felt so damn good about it. So, we haven't heard anything yet, but If I don't get it, it will be alright, because it wont be because I didn't show them I could do it.
I don't ever want to leave an audition without that feeling, because it's ultimately freeing.

Will's brother Charlie is coming into town for the week and I can't wait to meet him, because if he's even 1/3 as wonderful as Will, Its gona get crazy great around this apartment complex.

My dad and I were talking the other day and he said that he and mom decided that this apprenticeship is just an extension of college, with all the partying and learning you could handle in 9 months. I think thats pretty accurate. It's like being back at college, but its more than that. And maybe its just where I am in this part of my life, but I'm going to be different when I walk out of here. Not just in theater, not just my career, but this place, these people, this atmosphere is changing me and changing how I look at things. Like, saying its ok, and lovely to cry when you feel it coming on. And realizing if you want something, all you have to do is start doing it - Life is at my fingertips.

Life, is at all of our fingertips.

Another day at the office

Hey everyone,

Just got a new phone! Yay!
I literally danced the other one to death. By that, I mean, it was in my pocket while I was dancing at a bar, and it broke. :( But now I have this new slidy/flippy one thats purdy neat. So, no biggy.
Nothin crazy is happening right now. This weekend, 26 of us are all going camping in a 3 bedroom cabin at Red River Gorge, however.

So, we're all kind of briting at the grind to get out there. Well, I am at least haha.

We're officially halfway through this enormous 59 show run of Dracula. We have a dance party on stage every friday night before the show and the song was, Livin on a Prayer by Bonjovi. So there were about 20 people jumping up and down yelling, "OH! WE'RE HALF WAY THERE OH OH LIVIN' ON A PRAYER" haha. It was great.

I'm seeing The Mystery of Irma Vep tonight. Its Actor's next mainstage production. It sounds crazy funny. Its a 2 person show, and there are like 15+ characters.

Thats all for now!
Ryan

Luther at Dracula

Hey all yall,

I just wanted to post this picture of Luther after the show at Dracula!

He doesn't stand a chance.

Waffle House, a Road Trip Without a Map, and a Pumpkin Patch, and an Apple Orchard all in 36 hours.

10-4-10

Ok. So, the last 36 hours of my life have been incredible. Like, absolutely perfect - These past hours, they're what dreams are made of.
So - Last night we get done with Dracula and I'm sitting there with Will in the green room and Havalah and Emily walk in and offer to take us home, and maybe to a dance party at their house that the four of us were going to create. . . haha. Well, we stopped at the gas station, Havalah got gas, I got a 12 pack of Busch Light, King of beers :) and as I got back in the car Havalah says, "Oh my god guys can we please go to Waffle House?" Will and I were super stressed out from a meeting we had had about 20 minutes ago and weren't totally in the mood to go but the puppy faces on Havalah and Emily convinced us. :)
So, as we're driving to Waffle House, which is in Indiana, Will and I crack some beers. Now, I don't know if it is legal in Indiana to have an open container in the back seat or not, but Havalah was driving, and she didn't drink a drip, so I'm not gona worry about it.
The trip there was amazing. Emily was playing DJ and pulling out some crazy sexy songs like Bonnie Ray's, Love Me Like a Man the whole way. We got to Waffle House, ate, and as we were walking out Havalah says, "So, I really feel like driving out to the middle of nowhere to find some stars." We didn't go home. :)
We just took off. Will didn't know yet. So we'd been driving for about 20 minutes before will sees a sign for Indianapolis and says, "Oh, we're not going home are we?" and I said, "Nope, adventure time" or something crazy like that.
So we're driving for what feels like forever and I look at Will in awe and say, "This is our life man. This is our life." then Havalah shouts back at us, "East or West?" "West!" I say, cause It always feels right to be heading west for some reason.
We get off the highway and get onto this backass road and drive till there are no lights. Then get out of the car, it was prolly 40 degrees. It was the first time I've seen my breath in the air all year, and we just stargazed. All four of us. Talking about everything.
Will and I got on this huge tangent about where the north star was and that the two out points of the big dipper's dipper point to it. We could see the little dipper, but there were too many stars to see the big dipper, we thought. Eventually, we came to the conclusion, that the big dipper was down past the horizon, and headed further around the other side of the planet. About this point, Havalah and Emily start cracking up because Will and I had left on our own little Bromance stargazing discussion and were getting really into it.
I know it doesn't sound funny, but just imagine two dudes, standing there in the freezing ass cold talking about where the hell Ursa Major is in relation to the horizon.
We got in the car, and drove home using back roads. I mean we just said, "We're north west of Louisville so lets just keep going north west till we hit the river." We had no maps, no phones, no anything to guide us. I just kept looking up, finding the north star, realizing what direction we were headed and we'd turn the way we needed to go. Havalah and I both had a really good sense of where we were at and we just kinda tag teamed the rout home. We got home around 3.

I woke up at 10, (This is October 4th now, the next day) and we met several other apprentices at about 11:15 to head out to a pumpkin patch/apple orchard in Indiana where you pick your own stuff.
So Me, Havalah, Lizzy, and Marc Bovino (Plays Renfield in Dracula) hop into Mama MJ.
Mama MJ in Will's van. There are no seats in Will's van, just a matress in the back. So mark is in front with will and Havalah, Lizzy and I are just hanging out on the mattress. It was like a rollercoaster ride. Especially once we got int other back woods, winding roads.

We hit the farm and ate at this fantastic mom and pop place there. It was huge. Like, tables big enough for 25 people all over the place. I got Fried Chicken. My first, actual fried chicken from Kentucky and it was suuuuuuuper. Just like, greasy, and a little spicy, and yum. Just yum. They had these rolls that they deep fried and they gave you apple butter. Like a huge, ketchup bottle full of apple butter. They'd bring out a basket and they we're gone in a minute.

After we ate, we went and found pumpkins. We rode a tractor out to the other end of the farm and stopped at this pumpkin patch that was bigger than any I'd seen before.

(From left to right: Dinah Berkley, Mark Bovino, Brandon Peters, Emily Kunkel, Devin Olsen, Ellen Haun, Lizzy Schwarzrock, Will Steele, and Me)
Hundreds of pumpkins all over the place. It took me a good chunk of time, but I finally found the perfect pumpkin, and I love it. haha. Its almost perfectly round, and a bright orange color with a bit of yellow in it with green speckles on one side.

The apple orchard was right by it and there were probably 60-80 apple trees. So. Many. Apples. All. Over. I got like 13 I think. They were super cheap. 69 cents a pound. And they're the best apples I've ever had.

We stopped by the Soda Pop Shoppe on our way out and I got a Carmel apple and a pumpkin flavored ice cream cone to share with  the group. It tasted like pumpkin pie with ice cream. Perfect.
Then 5 of us snuck into the back of this corn maze for kids and walked through it. It wasn't a real corn maze. The corn stalks were like 2 feet apart, but it was for kids, so I get it I guess. BUT COME ON! I WANTED A REAAAAAL CORN MAZE hahah.
We got to the middle of it and cut through the field to this enormous water tower. Like 30 feet in diameter at least, and 11 stories high. It was the biggest damn thing I'd ever seen. just massive.
When we got back to the car, we were all pretty tired, so we were crashing in the back on the mattress and Will put on Bethoven's 6th Symphony. The whole drive home, watching trees and faded leaves fly by in the windows we were listening to Bethoven's 6th Symphony. It really was incredible. I felt like I was in a movie montage. Everything was so beautiful and the violins were blasting in my ears and I was just so happy. So damn happy.
When we dropped Marc off, our first stop, the Symphony ended as we stepped out. We listened to the entire thing, and it ended in synch with the end of the trip. Blew my mind.

We got home, dropped our pumpkins off at the apartment, drove Mama MJ back to the parking garage and on the way back, we started talking about my solo mio. I won't get into the nitty gritty, But I finally know what issues I want to tackle. One, being that It's really hard for me to accept that I am a good person, despite my past. That the fact that I cheated on Ashley doesn't make me an all around bad person. It does mean that I made some terrible decisions, and its part of who I am but it doesn't make up the whole of who I am. It's really hard for me to believe that, but I've gotta get there. There are two other issues, but that's the main one.

After that, I played him a song I'd been working on, and while I played it, I finished the last two choruses off the top of my head. Some times it just comes out, and thats what happened. It was fantastic.

So, 2 songs on the album are basically in the bag. :)

Now, off to movie night.

I'll post Pictures of the farm later tonight.
Later.