Act NOW

 

Most of you have been reading for years know E has been a part of Actor's Technique NY since he was around four years old. He hasn't always consistently taken classes, but he started in the Tots class - which is for 4-6 yr olds doing improvisation. He took that a few semesters in a row. Then he moved on to the Kids and Teen level classes which is a three class option on a Saturday or Sunday. They are willing to work with you on how many classes you want to take in a day though. I remember when E was doing it, I had to leave NYC by around three o'clock to be able to get home with relatively no traffic. I will say that I live in Glen Rock, NJ and on Saturdays and Sundays at around ten o'clock in the morning, it only took me about thirty minutes to get me to where ATNY has their classes and maybe forty minutes to get home in the three o'clock hour. I'd use the Park Whiz app to get a good deal on a garage for like six hours and I'd walk around the city while he was in class. It was actually pretty great.

 

He did those classes and loved them. He met new people, gained skills in improvisation, on-camera, monologues, audition preparation, commercial acting, etc. Now, because of being on a competitive swim team and meets on weekends, he doesn't have time for the weekend classes. He still remains connected to ATNY though. He has been doing ATNY's cabaret nights which usually feature around 16-20 performances of all singing genres, approximately every three or four months. He's participated in other workshops too. He did a virtual American Idol style workshop which was a lot of fun. 

HOWEVER, ATNY has come to NJ for both on camera/film/tv/audition preparation classes and full length productions. E was just in their off-broadway production of Mean Girls. There were a few casts- I think there were three in NYC and two casts in NJ. In NJ, they practiced in Ridgewood in HeART in Motion and their final performances were in the John Cullum Theatre, American Theatre for Actors in NYC. It was really cool to perform on a real NYC theater like that. ATNY just announced they're doing Newsies in the fall, which is one of our personal favorites, as E played Jack Kelly in a local theatre production of that in the fall of 2022. This time there will be casts in NYC, NJ, and CT! These productions are being directed and choreographed by a Tony winning team of current Broadway professionals.

There is more info on the ATNY site HERE but below is the general info for auditions and commitment: 

 

*Virtual Auditions: (Pick 1 day)

(1) Wednesday, August 30th (4pm – 7pm) or

(2) Wednesday, September 6th (4pm – 7pm) or

(3) Thursday, September 7th (4pm – 6pm)

*Once You audition, you may leave the Zoom. If you cannot audition during these virtual times, please send ATNY a video clip for consideration. We can invite you to callbacks if selected.

In-Person Callbacks – Pearl Studios, 519 8th Ave. 12 Fl, NYC

Saturday, September 9^th &/or

Sunday, September 10th

Final Cast selections will be made within a few days of callbacks.

REHEARSAL DATES:

October through December 2023 – NY & CT, Saturday and Sunday afternoons; NJ, Friday (after school) & Sunday afternoons.  Only actors who are rehearsing scenes that day will be called for that day.  Conflict Sheets will be provided and honored.  All Holidays off.

Performance Dates/Tech Week:

New York City-based cast: Jan. 6^th, 7^th 

New Jersey-based cast: Jan. 13^th, 14^th

Connecticut-based cast: Jan. 20^th, 21^st

*Tech week encompasses 4 days before performance weekend, approx, 4pm – 8pm.

Audition Requirements:

• All roles open, ages 7 to 18. (If 19 or over, please contact us to discuss.)
• Must provide headshot and resume, online is fine.
• Prepare 32 bars of a standard contemporary or classic musical theatre or song. Pop ok.
• Track or a cappella ok (online only). Accompanist provided at Callbacks.
• May be asked to stay and dance.  All levels encouraged.
• CANNOT MAKE VIRTUAL AUDITIONS? Please email us an initial audition tape for consideration.
  

And don't forget to check out the on camera/film/tv/audition prep classes being offered this fall in Glen Rock in the Gary Stevens Tae Kwon Do studio at 175 Rock Road, Glen Rock NJ 07452. I love that ATNY has come to NJ. As E gets older and commitments with swim and school get more intense, it's hard for us to get into the city. But he can still stay connected to Todd and the ATNY family by being able to do things right in our backyard.  

**If you're still looking for something for August, there may still be room in their week long Mean Girls camp. E is helping out with that one since he played Aaron in the full length spring production!

New Hair Don't Care

 

After Don did my hair 6/30/23

 I actually do care about my hair. I just didn't know I cared so much. I've been going to Don for, I think, like 25+ years (he calls himself Donny, but I was introduced as Don and that's I roll) to get my hair done. From the giant curls to what I started calling movie star hair during my time on reality tv in the early 2000s. I have proof of that hair back on the Iyanla Van Zant show which I think was in 2002. 

I've had highlights, lowlights, blue hair, magenta hair. I've had long, past the shoulder hair, for most of my life, but there was a stint in like 2012 when I went for that magenta bob. It wasn't a short bob but it was significantly shorter than I've ever gone. I liked it. B wasn't really a fan. He liked the color, just not the shorter hair. 

 

2012 Magenta bob

 

Gray had been coming in, but it really was a slow process. I'd also almost always had some kind of blond highlights, so I don't know- I didn't really see it. It certainly wasn't, and still isn't the kind of gray where, if I don't get it colored, it's like, a gray part. It's more like, gray highlights, and more and more of them as time goes on. There are more of them in the front and they come in faster. 

I always got my hair done every four months. Then I started going every three months. About a year ago- maybe last September, I started doing just a single process to cover the gray. I went darker than my usual blond-ish highlighted summer hair. I didn't LOVE it, not because it was done correctly or it was a bad color- it was just boring. I didn't HATE it either. I just was sort of resigned to this being my hair now, because it was just too expensive for me to cover the gray and do highlights. I was having to come in more like every eight weeks just to cover the gray. 

Before Don did my Balayage 6/30/23

 

I work from home now. I felt like- ok, what's the big deal, no one sees me really. Especially in the winter. I just happened to be scheduled for the beginning of June for my cut and color. Don saw me and he was like- Listen. Your hair needs to be blond and gorge. This isn't you. Let me do a balayage. 

Like I said, I know Don forever. I consider him a friend. I trust him. Summer was coming. I didn't want to be dark brown for the summer. We made me an appointment for a few weeks later. He wanted to do it separately from my gray and haircut. 

What he did was a teased balayage. He was literally teasing it, and then doing whatever else is done. It's for diffusing the roots for an overall lighter color but a softer grow out. Can't argue with that. Sounds good to me. 

When it was done, it looked awesome. I didn't write this right away because I wanted to see how it would look in a few weeks. I actually had it done June 30. It's now July 27, so it's been almost a month. Usually, after I've been out in the sun, in the chlorine, not really taking care of it, the color can change a little. But this actually looks better now. It looked great that day, but what I am really impressed with, is that even the gray around and/or interspersed in my hairline isn't as pronounced. You really don't notice it. 

I've been styling my hair with the Beach Waver S1.25 curling iron, which is another story- it's the best thing I've ever used on my hair. That is saying a lot because it's really the only styling tool I've used consistently, aside from a flat iron. I don't use the flat iron anymore. Just the Beach Waver because it's so quick and easy. I can do my whole head of past the shoulder hair in like ten minutes. The pics I have here of of Don styling my hair, but I'll add pics of my hair currently having styled it myself and I get compliments every time I do my hair. My point, though, is that I WANT to style my hair, because whatever Don did, you can REALLY see it when it's styled. 

It's hard to feel pretty when you're pushing fifty and can't afford plastic surgery. If you can just feel good about your hair, it's pretty nice. I am LOVING this hair. I haven't felt like this in quite awhile. I forgot how important it is to be able to love your hair. You don't get this feeling just covering grays or box dying your own hair. Sometimes, you need that little pick me up of a great, skin complimenting, hair color. 

Don is always moving and shaking, he always has plans. These days, he's in New Milford and here's his info to make an appointment. Hair By Donny - it's awesome to be able to book things online. I wish every place had this kind of system, including doctors. Go see him and let him make you movie star hair - everyone needs movie star hair every now and again!

My more natural hair color in 95/96/97 just for fun. It was boring.

 

New photo a month after initial balayage 7-28-23

Wegovy Update: 8.5 weeks

 

I'm in the third month of Wegovy. I upped my dose to 0.5 from the original 0.25 at five weeks. Every four weeks you go up in the dosage until you reach the maximum. It goes 0.25, 0.5, 1mg, 1.7, then 2.4 is the maximum. HOWEVER, there is a shortage, which I didn't know about when I started. The 0.25 and the 0.5 wasn't difficult for me to get so I had no idea what's been going on. I kept checking my CVS app and it still said out of stock. I asked for the prescription to be called in a week before I actually needed it. 

The 1mg has been on back order since June 15th at my CVS and any in the immediate vicinity. I went a week and a half without taking it. I thought it would at least be in by the time I was about due for the second injection. Nope. 

I got a tip that a pharmacy about twenty minutes or so from my house would most likely have it. I drove there to at least set up my information- give my insurance, all that. I wanted to find out in person if they had it before I had my doctor's office call it in. I didn't want to be stuck with another pharmacy, this time, far away, where I couldn't get it either. Long story short, they didn't have the 1mg, but they had the 0.5. I was able to get that for another four weeks. They expect to get another shipment soon, hopefully.

By the time I was able to get medication, I'd been off it for almost two weeks. I would've been nervous after almost two weeks to move up to the 1mg because you never know how you're going to react to the next dose- of anything. I wasn't too upset, at that point, to at least stay at the same dosage I'd already been on. I also would rather have something than nothing. 

I also emailed Novo Nordisk to let them know how negligent it is to have people who have started a treatment not be able to get their medications. It doesn't matter what the medication is, they are the ones paying for commercials every five minutes on network television. The bigger issue is that medication shouldn't be marketed to people like you can just choose to be on it. You can bring up a medication you see advertised to your doctor, and your doctor may feel like you're a great candidate, but that doesn't mean your insurance will pay or that it will even be in stock! Novo Nordisk just sent me a generic email back, basically saying - we're trying but talk to your provider about what course of action to take. They don't care.

Here's the skinny on how it works-

You get a box of four needle pens that are prefilled. They stay in the refrigerator until you use them. Every week on the same day you do your injection. It's really easy and doesn't hurt. 

I was tired the first four weeks. I didn't know that was a side effect, but a friend of mine mentioned feeling exhausted. Then, an acquaintance told B that his wife is on it and she is really tired all the time. For me, it's not unbearable, it's just annoying. It's like, no matter how much sleep I get, I'm still really tired in the morning. 

Let me try to explain how food feels these days. It's really weird. It's like, nothing is...really, GOOD. It actually feels a lot like when I was pregnant.

Prior to taking Wegovy, I really looked forward to eating certain things. Or eating at all. Bread and butter especially. That's one of my favorite things. We normally go out for a "nice" dinner every weekend. Nice, meaning, not a Factor meal in the house. Someone serves us somewhere, usually our local pub. Now, on Wegovy, I really don't care about dinner. I feel hungry but then nothing seems appealing. A few Saturday evenings ago, I would've normally been super hungry by the time we went out. I'd have wanted a "real" dinner- like a salmon meal. With rolls. B asked me where I wanted to eat and nothing seemed appetizing. 

I'd actually had Tito's Burrito's tacos like six months ago or something, for the first time. I remembered they were good. I suggested going there. It would be much cheaper than one of the typical meals we would've eaten had I not been on this shot. B was surprised but he doesn't care about a fancy meal so he was all about it. I ordered three tacos. I ate one and a half and gave the rest to B. I wasn't that into it, and I really couldn't finish the second one, nevermind the third. 

It's hard to even explain the feeling. I LOVE candy. In my mind, I still want certain things. I have my favorite blue raspberry licorice in the house. Normally, I have to really stop myself at like four pieces- I can totally eat six and they're not small. I would have to put the bag far away from me so I wouldn't be able to eat anymore. I've had a bag of them for over a month and the thought of eating another one is kind of gross. 

I've never had this feeling before, where my body signals me that I'm full and I just stop eating. Not only do I stop, thinking about food is kind of nauseating. I don't know if this feeling lasts, but it's good for me. I've always had trouble with willpower and now, it's a non-issue.

My life revolved around food and what I'd be eating. Not as a foodie or anything, but just being hungry, thinking about what I might eat next, eating things because they taste good versus being genuinely hungry. When we have dinner with friends, I don't really care what kind of food or what time we'll be eating. Before Wegovy, I was all about the what, when, where of it all. Now, I can take or leave any of it and just really don't care. 

I miss liking food but I don't miss thinking about it or trying to regulate it. I'm definitely eating way less of whatever serving I get. With cereal, I measure out my cereal in a one cup measuring cup. I use to make it a heaping one cup. These days, I'm at a cup or under and I usually don't want to finish.

I haven't had any other major side effects. I have migraines to begin with. I think I had a bad headache the first week. I definitely had a major migraine the day after I upped the dosage. I don't know if it was my normal headache or if it had to do with the shot. I feel less nauseous these days than I did in the beginning but that could be because my body is used to being on the 0.5mg dose for two months instead of going up to the 1mg. I don't know and won't know for at least another three weeks, assuming I'll be able to get the 1mg when it's time for that.

 It's been about eight and a half weeks, I think, that I've been on it and I'm down approximately sixteen pounds- which I didn't realize until I just typed that. I'd been struggling for so long and still gaining, so this is a giant relief. Am I "skinny"? No. I've had a kid. My body is that of an almost fifty year old woman who had a kid. But I'm back to where I was during Covid quarantine. My old clothes fit. I'll take it.

I would definitely recommend trying it if your doctor prescribes it, and you don't have any preexisting conditions or family history that give you a higher probability of dangerous side effects. The only issue is being able to get it. So if you do get a doctor who will prescribe it, I'd ask for a physical prescription. That way, you can take it to whatever pharmacy has it in stock.