Weekender: Sonny Ain't A Lady

What a weekend! I actually managed to be social three nights in a row which has left me insanely tired this cold Monday morning. Totally worth it all, though, since getting out and trying to strengthen my social skills is part of 2007: Kill The Beast. And this plan also involves dancing very vigorously to "Free Your Mind" by En Vogue. Any party atmosphere with me in it involves this.

I went to Under St. Mark's for the first time to see improv. Three groups, all excellent. A heckler, not excellent. Well, the improv that sprang from being heckled was excellent. A scene involving a book reading, the book being a memoir about how the lowest part of the author's life was when he would get drunk and yell things in comedy clubs; the audience of the reading then heckled him and had brutish sex. Highlight of the night: Jeffrey going into the audience (in character?) and demanding the heckler take his picture. It was an explosive night which ended with me actually going to a bar and talking to people. Trust me, going to a bar by myself with the intent of talking to new people has never happened. I usually go home and make new playlists for my iPod.

My day didn't get started until 9 PM on Saturday when I hopped on the D-train to take me to Astoria. Yay 75 minutes on a subway! Becky and Ryan's divorce party was grand; everyone was in fine attire and dancing to Talking Heads and Robbie Williams, watching TV carnage, and having a grand old time. I love hanging out with my former "co-workers" (I don't know if that's the term since intern is not on the same level).

Sunday was my second 201 class and it went better than last week. It feels like our class is coming together and some of our scenes were really exceptional. I was in a coal mining scene with my granddaughter; I said "Now hesh up....and tell me a story." Shannon, instructor, burst out laughing and this totally caught me off guard; I think it was the first time I'd made her laugh. I really fell out of character for a bit after that. We learned about tag outs and heightening game, which I picked up on better than I thought I would. My favorite scene that I was in involved a diner in which everything took way too long, which I named the Slow 'n' Easy Diner. I screwed up by forgetting the gender of a character when I tagged in, changing "sonny" to "mother." But this opened up a dialogue about what to do when things are contradicted, so I feel we all learned something. And I felt skraight up dum. Good things are happening in this class. Afterwards I went to see a show at the Pit, bringing my New Improv Venue Count to 3 (including Magnet).

Whirlwind weekend. Things are shaping up for next weekend as well.