DC is treating me well.

June 1 marked my ONE MONTH in Washington DC. I've (surprise surprise) fallen in love with this place in that short amount of time. I am enjoying the beauty of the location, the excitement of the city, and of course my job.

My commute is pretty annoying, but I only have one more month so no need to complain. I do get a lot of music/book listening time in. I also am enjoying the 30 min walk between the metro station and my house. Weird I know. One of my favorite things at the end of a long day is being able to walk home, think about how things went, and wind down. I've probably mentioned it on here before. This is something I fell in love with when I was in Vanuatu, and something I definitely miss when I'm driving everywhere. (If you know me at all, you know that I don't wind DOWN when I'm driving)

Memorial Day!

For Memorial Day my new roomie and I went to Arlington Cemetery and the parade. It was really beautiful, busy, and hot.

Also, President Obama was there. This is him driving away.

WORK

I don't think anyone will be surprised to learn that I've gotten completely caught up in work again. It's so easy to do when I don't really know anybody else. It is easy to become a workaholic.

We are doing two shows in rep, which means we rehearse two shows at the same time and then when we open they perform each show every other day. I've never worked in rep before so I was a little nervous, but I'm finding it to be a lot more refreshing than it is stressful. One show is The Maid's Tragedy. Which is ridiculously depressing. 4 people die onstage and 2 people vow to return to their homes and die in the last scene. Whenever we are on Maid's days the mood is a lot more mellow, then people start getting testy. It's tough not to be effected by it.

(this is when we were staging where the dead bodies should end up. They have their scripts with them so they know when in the lines they should groan and/or give one final breath and die)

So it's a good thing that we have the light hearted Shakespeare's Love's Labor's Lost to return to. It's funny and it's about being in love and making a fool of yourself. The rehearsals have kind of been going 3 days on 3 days off. So I have 3 days to spiral down, and 3 days to pick myself up again. Such the roller coaster. And we are ALL on it.

New lessons learned in my first month in DC:

Always stand to the right on the escalator.

White short sleeve shirts and backpacks DON'T mean missionary.

When you ask someone what they do for a living and they respond "I can't tell you". Take them seriously.

Old lessons Re-Learned:

I can do this.

Not only CAN I do this, but I AM doing it, and I'm doing it well.

You don't have to feel like a waste of space

You're original, cannot be replaced

If you only knew what the future holds

After a hurricane comes a rainbow

Maybe you're reason why all the doors are closed

So you could open one that leads you to the perfect road

Like a lightning bolt, your heart will blow

And when it's time, you'll know

You just gotta ignite the light

And let it shine

Just own the night

Like the Fourth of July

Cause baby you're a firework.

Today wasn't the first day I rocked out to this song on the metro on the way home. Things are good. Life is good. I am lucky.

Someone out there sure knows a lot more about what's goin on than I do. I just need to remember to trust that.

An expert in at least one thing.

If nothing else, I do feel that I am becoming expert in moving. Especially from state to state.

After being offered a disappointing next season from The Cleveland Play House, I decided to start sending my resume out. Not saying that I won't be coming back, but I'm definitely looking for better offers.

Last Wednesday I saw a posting, and sent my resume in. They called me a few hours later saying they were passing my resume along. Thursday they called again and offered me the 2 month stage management job. In Washington DC.

The weekend consisted of me frantically trying to find housing and decide whether or not I actually would accept the position. It's been very stressful, but I am going to do it.

I have a place lined up to live in DC, so now my issue is what am I going to do with all of my stuff in the meantime. It's hectic, but somehow it's all falling into place.

We are coming into our second weekend of 'Legacy of Light' at CPH, and the crew has been with me all the way in my decision. Every single person I mentioned this to contacted at least one person they know in the DC area to try to find me housing. Wow. I am very blessed to know the people that I know.

A quote from our show, something Voltaire always said, "no problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking." Very very true.

So in 9 days it will be saying goodbye to this:

And hello to this:

It's strange. If I had been offered the same sort of thing in New York City I would have turned it down. I don't know why but Washington DC seems like a better fit for me. Even if it is only for 2 months.