Going Away Party

Several of my my friends brought up the fact that I have great friends, and that I surround myself with wonderful people. They really are, and they made my last night in town a beautiful one. As a parting gift I wrote everyone Haiku. I think I produced some of my best work last night...I hope the pictures in themselves express my joy.


LIFE IS GOOD.
I may have an acting gig in LA!

Felix emailed me back!

Stats.

Packing Status: 50% (of things that need tp be packed, unlike bed and other furniture.)

Carbonated Beverages Consumed: 1

Ice cream scoop count for the past week(counting tonight):5 (ugh)

Bruise Count from tripping over apartment mess(or just running into things): 3

Number of Wild Birds Freaking out in Living Room: 1(well 0, Charlie batted it out with a broom.)

Alcoholic Units:0

Amount left in Savings: $8

Last Unecessary Purchase: Green Envelopes at Papersource. And "The Right Stuff" New Kids single to dance to in the living room.

Pounds Lost in Last two weeks: 2 (pretty good seeing as I am not trying as hard now that I'm in a good place.)

People Expected at Going away Soiree: 20-30

Seats reserved: 15

Days till moving: 2.5

Days till arrival: 4.5

Emotional State: Content

Physical State:Tired

Mental State: Busy

Another Video

I can't help it, I'm in love, and now you can see (though not hear) why. Okay, to be reasonable...I am in love...with a memory. Seems to be a pattern these days.

You Have to See This.

As one commenter said, Freud would have a field day diagnosing this one.

What I need to do is pack..not write a blog entry.

When you're leaving town, your friends want to go out with you and buy you drinks, which is what led to my past week of non stop going out and getting drinks, and frankly I can't have another glass of wine, or vodka cranberry, or ice cream for a while. But I will at my going away party, I suppose, where I will be a horrible mess, saying "gybe" to everyone. Megan and I proved to be dancing machines several nights in a row, and also proved to be the best girlfriend duo, having perfected secret eye contact communication and creepy bar guy rescue.
Me and Lindsey...
This weekend I also got to see Joey again, who was in town visiting Charlie, and who I enjoyed when I first met him months ago (as proved by previous April Blog) as well as this weekend.

Today also marks the end of my Jerome Foundation Many Voices Fellowship at the Playwright's Center. Here is a look at the fabulous group of writers I have been meeting with, and my favorite facillitator in the world, Harry Waters, who teases me about being a princess.


Tonight I also saw Adia for the last time in a long while. It was almost a yr ago we did our horrible Teatro show (pretty neat how our names rhymed), and I have come to love her dearly.


And also, had Ice Cream with Brynn and Jen- two girls who give me hope. Oh God, I can already feel the tears coming on...Just wait till Wednesday.

I'll be Nice.

The New Guthrie Theater is Amazing. I cannot wait to work there in November; and I mean I know how significant it is that I am understudying a role, even if I only go on if the girl gets sick or something, but I kept getting "congratulations" all day that I was running into people at the open house, and Kenny, my old acting coach, even told me that he was informed that I read really well for the part and it was a hard decision to make, (i mean i guess i did it to myself by writing on the resume in the auditions "moving ot LA" really big, but ah well, at least I know they had storngly considered me.)

ANyhow, check out the new Guthrie, for fun or to see a show. It is beautiful. Funny to think that when it was being designed five years ago(my freshmen yr in the acting program) I almost hooked up with one Jean Nouvel's French architects at the Guthrie Gala. Haha. Now there it is, all blue and big and obvious.

I think me and Megan are hitting up the Guthrie Dance Party in the Yellow Box of the building tonight. I dont know if I can handle dressing up and dancing for a third night in a row. We'll see.

Random thoughts in Insomnia or Dry Space

Had one last meeting with The Lighthouse Group tonight, the theatre company I helped develop under Ellen, my now dear friend. And I believe we are producing my play next January, so I had better get to working on it and on writing/researching grants for our Lights Up! Fetsival.

Went to the Times one last time tonight, and the ratio of guys to girls was the worst I had ever seen it. But it was fun, though the whole time I was reminded of Sunday night, and I would smile hugely when a random picture or memory of the night came accross my mind. How can one night make such an impression?

Also, apparently a 'hang out' with a friend last week was a date, and apparently my other friend who's 'hang out' I intended to be a date got very wierd and distant on me when I reminded him I was leaving next Friday. This is understable I suppose.

I barely have begun packing up my place.

Today I had a photo shoot for an Evercare Ad where I played a Nurse Practitioner. The little old lady I was taking pictures with couldn't hear very well, they had to physical move her when they wanted her to tilt her head a little in any direction.

Last night, when having drinks with the Lange girls (and Ana, Danessa, and Mel), I ran into GABE! A friend who I last saw my last weekend in Madrid when I stayed with him at his grandma's house and made Pasta with Laura and Jeff. THAT WAS TWO YEARS AGO.

I can't sleep...I have a dry dry dry apartment and it hurts my sinuses and head.

Shopping Woes.

I hate stretchy clothes. I just bought a couple of tops, and I bought them in small, cause I mean, there's no way I am an XSmall, but now that I have only worn them each once, they are already to big. Don't even get me started about my jeans (that I love but can no longer wear much) because they stretch the minute i take them out of the dryer and put them on. And then I end up trying on clothes that a little bit snugger, but I feel like a fat chunk in that, so I don't buy it- all the better for my starving bank account. Sometimes I really hate shopping.

And lets also talk about how I finally brought up all my great summer clothes from last summer that I got on my trips to NY and DC and Texas, and now they don't fit. So I took them to Stitch N Time down the street to get the clothes taken in and it turns out the lady would have to take apart my favorite dress and pretty much reconstruct the whole thing to make it fit so I don't look pregnant cause that's how big it fits now, and then charge me 130 more bucks just to take my skirts in an inch. And thats only half the stuff that needs repair. At this point, I really have nothing to wear. If you see me more that one day in a row you will see me wearing things twice. But whatever, that's what French women do and nobody cares, and that's how they afford to buy that crazy expensive Parisian fashion wear.

Exactly a year ago, according to my old Xanga blog, I had my horrible horrible horrible West Side Story Audition. I'd forgotten about that nasty day. In my blog I wondered if there was a reason it went so badly despite the odds being in my favor, and a year later I know- According to Everyone who saw it in Chanhassen it was a mess of a show, complete with inadvertent racism and blah amounts of passion delivering not much of what the musical requires. I am glad I didnt' spend all that gas and thirty bucks to see it, and I am even happier I wasn't in it. Otherwise I wouldn't have been able to-Go to London, be in Anna..Tropics, be in Marta Solano, be in Breaking Ice, Go to Mexico, Go to Houston, Go to St. Louis, Go to Go Run, Be in Snapshots, etc. Always a reason....

Donde esta mi gatito de domingo?

12 Days to Go.

About 12 Days before the parents and me drive out to Los Angeles. And these past non-blogging days have been spent tying up life here in the cities, spending as much time with friends before I go, and procrastinating packing.

I must say that lately I have been thinking about the things I will miss about this place, and if you know me you know that is hard for me to admit because I never really allowed myself to settle here, always complaining about the cold and lack of stuff.

So here is a list of things I will miss...(I numbered the list but the numbers only serve as bullets, not ranking)

1. Proximity to wonderful lakes, the tracks that surround them, parks, and trees.
2. Barbette, Amore Victoria, Cafe Brenda, Wuollets, Ecopolitan, Azia, Lucia's, La Bodega, and some other restaurants.
3. The leaves in the fall (Before this, i had never seen a true autumn, or snow for that matter, but that's definitely not on the list.)
4. The Walker and the MIA.
5. Co-ops, protests, picketers, and the prominent presence of all other things granola and liberal.
6. Targets.
7. Cafetto, Spyhouse, Uncommon Grounds, and Cafe Royale.
8. The Mall of America ( I mean I get nauseated if I go there as a pastime, but seriously, my favorites stores can all be found there.)
9. Closeness to Chicago, unfortunately I didn't make it back one last time to visit the friends and fam, and now I will be so far away. :-( I miss Lindsey Pate.
10. The Small but very (as pete put it) sexy skyline.
11. The public transportation system. (hey it's definitely better than houston's and LA.)
12. The Southern, Intermedia Arts, And all the other great performance and dance venues.
13. My African Dance class :-(
14. The TImes, Tiburon, Loring, Babalu, and Lurcat Salsa Nights. (Though I am sure those will be easily replaced in LA.
15. The Lagoon and Uptown Theatres.

ANd more to come.....

PS I was at this random party last night sitting on a porch with some guy name Alex who'd just returned from Iraq when a drunk shirtless guy walks out the door and starts running his fingers thru my hair and messing it up saying "I love the way Asian hair feels." HAHA

India takes Ibanga from Mexico, the day after Mexico takes the game from Iran.

One of my dearest friends left this morning for India, where he is relocating to work for some big time company (I don't knwo which), but he'll be there and I don't know when I will be able to see him.

I saw him last night, at dinner (we are dinner buddies, always trying new restaurants and things...) and realized how much I was going to miss him... I love him so much. Ibanga is one of the most holistically intellgient people I know, all while being a real human being with crazy moody days, questions, problems, highs and lows. But the boy can do anything, well a lot of things... SUch as make me one of the best dinners a friend has made me, from scratch, because he's worked as a cook. Or consult me in starting a business. Or even try salsa dancing with me for goodness sakes! When that didnt work we had our own little dance party where we acted like fools.

There was also the time we went sailing (me, tarlene, nate, ibanga and nate's little brother) and the sailboat capsized in lake harriet cuasing us to fall in, the mast hitting me on the head pushing me further down, until Ibanga reached out from under the boat and pulled me out.

And the time we got dressed up to go to the capitol in the middle of the night.

And the time we made of fake occupations to tell people when we went to the pretentious "Independent".

Or how about how we created the pretentious group the summer we had no jobs, but a bit of money, and a whole lot of time to do nothing but philosophize, sail, learn tennis badly, and go out every night ot eat and drink.

I love him, and will miss him sooo much, and I hate that yet another one of my close friends, or another kindred spirit, will be moving halfway accross the world, too far from me.

Last Minute Friends.

It seems that it's usually right before I leave somwhere, or right before someone leaves, that I meet someone who I wish I coudl spend more time with, but the timing is all bad. Perhaps that is the Universe trying to tell me it's not the right time, which I believe, but indulging in a little human connection (sometimes through the form of swinging on swings in a park in the middle of the night.) is nice.

First of all, I met Brian not too long ago(this is not the "date" Brian of previous blogs.) And we had BBQ yesterday. He really helped calm my recent death/hypochondriac nerves of the last week. Perhaps it's his joy, kindness, and humor, despite the fact that a tragic bike/bridge accident not too long ago left him in a wheel chair, he's now only 24 or 25, and like runs Theatre Mu.

Then there is David, my salsa dance friend who I have had fun dancing with, and who I consistently see at every salsa sancing Venue I go to (Lurcat is now the favorite.)

And then there are both John and Angela who I met through my bud Charles. And I only wish there was more time to be spent with those two, because they are good people,

And then there's Peter who I met through them. And who I enjoy very, very much, and at least got to spend some time with him last night (As I mentioned before- partly in the form of good conversation and swinging.) it's unfortunate he and I don't likve in the same town, we'd have fun.

Maybe what the Universe is trying to tell me is that I have good people to come back to here, if LA turns out a mess, if Texas won't elect me into office, or when I come back in the fall to be at the G.

I am actually going to go through the Master Cleanser starting now, so don't invite me to dinner, I won't be eating.

And I figure if I type it here I have to stick to it- I am practicing Abstinence. Of the Sexual kind, and of the intimate spirit kind and that is it, and now i am accountable to alllll my readers.

Ailments & Allergies

My throat is prickly. Not like Strep.
I think I am allergic to something.
I think it may be soy (in the form of milk.) :-(
I hope that's all it is.
Pray for me.
Va male la gola.

Limbo Moving.

Witness Ye the mess and toil of Limbo Moving. What is Limbo Moving? It is when you are sorta moving things out for three weeks while still living in your space.

Dad drove back to Texas a lot of the stuff I didn't want to drive to California, so I had to dig through all my things, and decide what went, what stayed and what would be sold. The above pile of clothes by the kitchen is a pile of clothes i need to sell cause it's too good to give away, and too out of season for Everyday People (Believe me, I have already sold them enough to stock both their stores.) And then the books, oh the books. I have an absurd amount of them, and sent so many more. But I like them around. Can you name any books in the pic? One of them is one of my favorites.

I am in the middle of tidying up, so it shouldn't look like this by the end of the night. Thank God.

Many Voices

Last night there was of reading of my work( Trinidad or Trinity for the non-bilingual) and the seven other writers in the Many Voices Fellowship (05-06). We all got to have professional actors read 10 minutes of a play or a ten minute play or well, whatever.
My dad and his co-worker are in from Houston for a conference and so I invited them. They flitted about talking to EVERYBODY and being crazy. A good night.
Afterward his co-worker, I can't even begin to spell his name, said that he wanted to sponsor/produce my entire play in houston, and that he , as producer, would also help to find other investors. Dad says this man's got some money, I mean they are in the oil and refinery business, so I am going to bug him till we get the show done :-)
So as it turns out now, though I move at the end of the month to W. Hollywood, I will be back here Nov/Dec at the Guthrie, and then maybe Houston putting on a show.
I should get to writing.....

LA Stories

Claudia is back...but let me tell you, I did not want to come back at all. But the good thing is I move there in three weeks, and I found a place in West Hollwood with a roomate. Very excited about all that.

One of the managers/career developers i met with seemed to be interested in workign with me so that all went well...and head shots came out great...


It's funny being around all my houston buds again. I love them, and I definitely miss the lifestyle I lived in texas, although beign around the friends again in LA brings all that back. ANd seeing Justin after five years was great, and felt very comfortable.

One night Ellie and I went out to third stop, this bar on third in West Hollywood, where i met a lot of her friends and other interesting people. I even met the guy who's company makes and distributes the hard iPod covers, the ones at the apple store and target and soon best buy. This kid is awesome and smart and laid back. Made his first millions at 22, now at 28 is still running his company and doing other crazy electrical engineer things. The plus is he's very kind, and laid back, and generous and fun, and does all sorts of things like yoga, so its unfortunate i am on a break from dating cause he was interested. My friend thought maybe he was jsut making all this mess up, but he wasn't speaking for himself, i found out about all he did through his friends, not himself, he never had to tell what he did cause he's actually doing it, not like most people in LA who fluff up what they do big time.

Ellie's boy is also a screenwriter for FOX and for Paramount, and she introduced me to her friend Beth (Broadway star and NSync backup dancer) and her roomate Connor who's on a show coming out this Fall that's being called the next "friends."
All in all, met a lot of ineteresting people, went to some interesting places, and had a lot of allergic reactions to the pollen in the air.

Phone broke there too, so I got a new one, a razor, for 50 bucks! Last year they were 300, but now I am just behind the times.

here are some fun LA times.

Betsy bellying dancing at the MOroccan Restaurant we ate at.

Here were are again

Me at Fred's having lunch in Los Feliz with Justin

Tony and his friend wearing Betsy's balloon animals at the 24 hour starbucks...

Justin overlooking Studio City from Muholland Drive.


One of many headshots (pre-touch-ups..)

La La Land

For now, I am in LA visiting, and it feels so comfortable- like home. I have been living in Minneapolis for five years (minus months here and there) and I still feel like a visitor.

I was afraid I would come here this week and realize I didn't really want to be here, but no- now I can't wait to come back, make my life here, be surrounded by the cornucopia of eccentrics, and leave my MPLS life behind. Or at least bring it with me, but expound on it in a new environment.

It's also good to see Betsy, who I missed.

I got my headshots taken today; Paul took them. Paul the guy who had his little puppy Louis (as in Vuitton) attached to a wire attached to his belt. Paul with the awesome house overlooking the city off of Muholland Drive. Paul who was raised Jewish, converted to Christianity, and is now being talked into Kaballah (judaism) by his used-to-be-catholic friend, and seems to be on a continuous search for spirituality, or some connection. I'll post the pics when I get them. We did everything from Sweet Claudia, to Bad girl Claudia, to Ethnic Claudia, haha.

Betsy and her roomate and me also went to Karaoke on Sunday and met some guys in a band. It sounds exciting telling people I am an artist in Minnesota, or an actor, here it feels like that is what everyone is, and thats because its true, and although I feel I have based myself on more than just my acting career, I think living here will really help to solidify my indentity outside my art- if there is one, heh.

I am excited to move on and away from the Midwest, to change things up, especially after my last six months of continual mistakes.

LA!

Ibanga's moving to India. He'll be gone when I get back.

Today I leave for Los Angeles!!!!

Don't let Bird Flu get you down.

I was at the dentist today, who by the way is such a nice guy, everyone is that office really, and I saw a pamphlet filled with pictures of children with cleft lips, those poor things. And there I am sitting in the Dr's chair having them finish fixing my already fine teeth (I am officially done with the Invisalign process, they removed the four porcelian bracket dots that were making my side teeth look yellow, and even gave me a touch up whitening set for FREE, cause I am going to LA and I need a good smile :-) ) and I couldn't help to remind myself how blessed we are, that we can at least have the opportunity to have good dental hygiene, when there are people out there living in dental pain. Call it a sappy moment, but whatever.

And now a list of things I am thankful for, sans the obvious things ofcourse like parents, food, health, etc:

1. Trader Joe's (I went today, although they do not have good produce, but the rest, yum. and cheap.)
2. The BFA (though normally I am complaining about my acting program they did hook me up with a casting director who just informed me yesterday i have a meeting next week in LA with a manager, and have more meetings being set up as we speak...)
3. Othello, not the character but the game, for providing oodles of fun as I spent some time with a buddy yesterday.
4. Betsy...for calming my nerves.
5. Airborne. brilliant stuff.
6. Harry Waters Jr. I wish he read my blog so he knew this, I'll just tell him tonight.
7. Market BBQ Karaoke night. woohoo!
8. Mom's clients.
10. Dad's Frequent Flyer miles.

P.S. The first case of person to person Avian Flu has been suspected in Indonesia. It is predected that if it spreads, it might be as deadly or worse than the Spanish Flu which killed 40million people worldwide in a year in the early 20th century.

Indentity Crisis.

Today I dropped off my retouched publicity photos at Digigrafix to make copies for my trip to LA next week. They made me choose a font for my name, which has to be printed ont he picture, and all of a sudden it became an issue about identity.
You may not know her, because no one really does, but there is a little actress in Princess Diaries and Raising Helen, who spells her name exactly like me. Which means that when I join the screen actors guild, I have to change my name. ANd because I will be establishing my name, already when I go over to LA next week, I need to have my new name on these pictures.

AN IDENTITY CRISIS.

I like my name. It's solid, and unique, and ethnic. I don't want anything else. So I thought, okay I will just throw in my middle initial (E). But then will people pronounce my name in Spanish but say the initial in English? Becuase saying "E" in spanish sounds a mess.

Mom's helping me come up with a possible new middle name. Dana knows that if all else fails, I will go as Claudia Mexico. And I am not Claudia Mexico. So, any suggestions?

Help me figure out who I am...Name-wise.

A Much Needed Weekend.

I spent this weekend in Chaska, MN at a conference hosted by The White House Project. For three days I was surrounded by strong, aware, willing, and wonderful women, and the entire experience definitely helped to refocus my short term goals, figure some of them out, and rekindle some passions I had let burn low. It gave me a retreat from my Minneapolis life, and allowed me to me ground myself and reflect (and eat a dangerous amount of food.) Just kidding, but it always seems that at conferences, food is incessantly being offerred. Not only did I meet great girls, like my new girlfriends from Wilmar who share my love of Kumbia Kings, but also I saw women that I had met before, mainly met through theatre connections, which was interesting. The woman who started the White House Project is most popularly know for creating "Take your child to work day." In the political world she is known for so much more; she's so in the mix that she got Geena Davis to come talk to us and meet us a for a bit. Here is a picture of Geena and me, who I spoke to very little as I noticed the familiar look in actor's eyes- the one that cries "please be brief, i just got off a plane, I am getting on a plane soon, and though I play a President on television I dont have all answers to your political questions." So we all let her go. She was lovely though.

Me and Marie, thge founder...
Me and the Wilmar
Geena and me looking really really bad.