Confessions of a Struggling Actor

It's been a good week overall.  I've got some important things done and managed to keep my spending down.

I finished off the admin work in my room and it's made a huge difference.  Just getting rid of the clutter (and knowing where everything is) has, for some strange reason, given me freedom and a sense that there's no need to get stressed about anything.  I always see these times after a show as low periods - wondering about my performance with hindsight; guessing what the next thing to happen acting-wise; the running around meeting friends as you've been rehearsing for weeks, but not getting to catch up properly with them - but this seems to have gone great!  Maybe as I know that R&J is coming up and the stress I had around the performances (flat etc.) has gone, I'm not feeling the post show blues as bad.  I've got plenty coming up at work and play, so perhaps I'm just allowing myself to rest up and recharge the batteries.

I had a to-do list at the start of the week and the only thing I failed to do on it was 'JOG'.  I'm definitely going to get into training this week as I'm feeling very sluggish and have a mini-belly.  I looked at myself in the mirror last night and I'm looking older all over.  The hours spent sitting in an office, as well as the lack of any regular exercise since the one man show finished, means what was once a toned and sleek body now resembles a sad sack.  I know that age takes away your youth, but it's not taking mine!  Maybe I'm getting vain or maybe I want to feel better about myself by doing exercise - I don't care, I just need to get into shape.  One thing that the past week's been good for is showing me how much I can get done in the evenings when I just set my mind to it.  Exercise is a bigger task to set my mind to, but if I don't get started tonight, I won't for the rest of the week.

I spent a fair bit of time on the phone this week - some top and very funny chats with Rance, Muzz, Laura, Biz, Andy and Sue.  It's always nice to catch up with people's news and funny stories.  (Hint, hint...) The rest of my time was spent relaxing, reading something other than a script and listening to music with only the sporadic need to leave my flat - I had a really nice time at Mono's birthday and have agreed to meet her for lunch soon (also going to Ads' place to watch an England game/barbie later in the month) and had a blast helping my mate Jim with auditions on Saturday.  It was very interesting seeing them from the opposite angle for a change.  The big things I noticed was 1) the amount of stunning women came in - not that it had any effect on our judgement, no no... and 2) you never know what the standard of acting is going to be like.  There were some crackers and some cracked...  Sunday was spent at home watching cricket, football, listening to music and playing playstation.  Felt like I was back at Uni for a while, esp as I wore my dressing gown til 3pm...

I've got a few things on this week that I'll need to be wary of, as far as the pintage is concerned.  There's a presenters' audition thing for Sue's work that Laura and myself are going to on Tuesday, a friend's stand up on Thursday, drinks to celebrate the end of the book editing process on Friday and the World Cup starting.  Still, if I keep focused and disciplined over the next week, it'll stand me in good stead to become lean and mean...  I might get noticed by girls then!