And the Search Continues!

Hello again.

It has been over a month since I've last checked in, because I really hadn't experienced much worth sharing. But since some time has passed, things have changed.

I am anticipating next week's callback for a vampire film in which my involvement is wanted (no word on which of the two parts I've landed that I was considered for), and in between bouts of anxiously gnawing my foot in a fetal position in the corner, awaiting the news, and sifting through listing after listing on Craigslist.org looking for hired work and/or internships, I decided it was time to indulge myself once more in my favorite form of self-medication: writing.

So here I am, abscessed molar and all, again. When I'm not marveling at the literary wonder that is Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, I'm slaving over pile after bottomless pile of college essays, research papers and term papers, proverbially cramming monologue print-outs for Theater down my own throat, and having staring contests with Elmo, my grumpy 7-year-old silver whiteface cockatiel (psst... I'm winning!).

I am actually having a great time this semester around, and I have encountered loads of fascinating new faces around campus and interesting new hideaway hangouts I'd had no idea even existed. I've been carousing the campus library, and I was pleasantly surprised at the unexpected (and albeit sometimes bizarre) variety the shelves are endowed with. Christ, they've even got tomes filled with huge, glossy prints of "illegal street drugs" (the authors' words, not mine) and their up-to-date names, effects, and the estimated prison time in each State you'll likely serve when caught using or distributing said drugs within State lines.

And don't you love it when someone forgets they've something personal pressed between the pages of a borrowed book? A found a particularly snotty, accusational letter from one former friend to another that read something like an episode of Jerry Springer. By the letter's end I was blushing like a hooker in church.

I am still waiting for my copy of Higher Spirit magazine with my short story, "The Angel", published within to arrive at my house as the publication's submissions overseer promised, but so far haven't seen it or heard word one from anyone who may know anything about it. The wait continues.

I suppose another trip to Barnes & Noble is in order, since that's where I happened upon the magazine to begin with.

Still banging out more short stories, poems, and even trudging onward in my novel these days as the weather grows increasingly ominous and forboding. The idea of buying a Snuggie, clutching a piping hot cup of mulled cider, and cuddling up in my beanbag chair to a Harry Potter movie marathon is sounding more enticing by the second (my favorite is The Goblet of Fire, for obvious reasons *cough* Robert Pattinson pre-Twilight craze *cough*.

Another day, another photo shoot

I am back in college again now, and stressed over my painfully disorganized schedule (it seems that whoever was in charge of assigning me the correct professors and classes either fell asleep or died on top of their database thing whilst creating our schedules) but this past weekend, at least, I had a very rewarding shoot with the talented Victor Ramos. Check out his site here.

Below, some of the fruits of our labor (I will update this post with several more at a later time):

Check out some more on my MySpace! Click here.

Another sleepless night...

My insomnia took advantage of me again last night, but at least I can say I used my time wisely; I've penned out quite a few more pages in my book. I work best at night and in the wee hours of the morning, so perhaps it's actually a blessing in disguise that I can't sleep; otherwise, when the hell would I actually make myself write?

I just remembered that I never posted the photos taken of me from last weekend at a cemetery/churchyard up in Garrison, NY. It is such a beautiful and serene area (that's the real reason I like cemeteries so much, by the way. They're deliciously quiet, since all of their inhabitants are well... you know...)

Anyways, here are a few highlights.

Hmm.

Okay, so for some reason the audition listing for The Little Mermaid is no longer posted online, keeping me from acquiring the audition location and details, and therefore keeping me from going today!

Pretty bummed about it, because The Little Mermaid was my favorite thing ever as a kid, and I was looking forward to trying out for a part. There will be other opportunities, but still...

The photographer I was supposed to meet with has also rescheduled our meeting to a further date, but is still interested on having me come to work for him, which is good.

So today, I have begun working on two new short story concepts and attacking other stacks of research papers I've collected to get them rolling.

Both involve ghosts and the dead.

Are any of you out there familiar with Ireland's Hell Fire Club and the Black Cat of Killakee? How about Scotland's Glamis Castle Horror, or the Earl of Strathmore who played cards with the Devil and lost? All of my upcoming stories I am working on will be variations of those legends. I have been in love with macabre mysteries since my childhood. I have always been fascinated by the unknown.

I got a letter from High Spirit confirming that they will indeed be printing my story, and they will personally send me my own copy. I am very stoked! I will be returning to college a published writer! :)

Tomorrow, my mom and I are going to take a drive up to these cute little towns called Garrison and Cold Springs, just to take some pictures of their churches, cemetery, and greenery. They are such adorable little towns. It's so funny to think that one could still live a small-town life in a busybody State like New York.

In the Hotel Robby

Back from Crystal Springs...

And still trying to get over how great the massage and the champagne were.
Check out the inside of the spa I got my massage in:

The resort was absolute NIRVANA. I had been there once before, but now that it's green and lush out there, I got to see it the way it was meant to be seen. It rained like crazy on the way back, but I actually love dreary weather in mountainous settings; it makes the greens and the other colors of the landscape pop out, and it creates kind of a Zen vibe in me.

It was beautiful, and I'm glad I got to share that time with my Mom.

I am not really nervous (yet) about my Broadway audition, but I'm sure I won't get very nervous even on the day of. Tomorrow I have a lesson with Johanna (my voice instructor and friend), and we're going to run through my two song choices for the audition, and I'll finally get a chance to show her the new Lacuna Coil sheet music book that showed up in the mail a while back. I can't wait to see if Russell and I can figure out the songs for ourselves so we can cover them in the future.

I am going to be submitting some glossy prints of myself to Gothic Beauty magazine tomorrow and see if they respond. Still waiting to see if I have a photoshoot lined up with that fantasy-style photographer in NJ on Sunday.

Hope so. His work is fantastic.

And by the way, the Crystal Springs Lodge's golf shop has one of the coolest chandeliers ever:

Plans for the rest of the week

So, as I write this, I am gearing up for a Broadway audition this weekend, and I may also have a photo shoot with a great fantasy photographer on Sunday in New Jersey. But tomorrow night is all about relaxation: I will be staying in the beautiful Crystal Springs lodge and having a wonderful massage.

Today we have students from Estonia and France visiting, and they're both very nice girls, and we're glad to see they are getting along. I still very much miss Satu, Benjamin, and Tero.