My Auditions

THANK GOD THEY'RE OVER!!!!!!
Yes, as Daniel mentioned, I auditioned at Yale two weeks ago (Tisch - the Theatre and Performing Arts School of NYU - the weekend before), and Juilliard last weekend. So, here is how it all went down...
NYU
My first audition, my worst audition. I had been rehearsing BRILLIANTLY, and I even blew Daniel away (who I had never REALLY been able to impress with my acting, but I REALLY impressed him in my last few rehearsals). He said he thought I was COMPLETELY ready, that I'd knock their socks off. I felt good.
until the day of the audition. For the first time in my LIFE, I got nervous. I mean, REAL NERVES!!!!! I've never even had stage-fright or even butterflies in my tummy, but THIS day I was suffering ALL SORTS of nerves. I couldn't control my breathing, I was shaking, I felt sick to my stomach (like, REALLY sick - in PAIN) and I could NOT get my breath under control. And, did I mention that my breathing was all over the place?? So, needless to say, I TOTALLY screwed up that audition. I went in there, RUSHED through my first piece, oh my GOD, so fast. And then, for the LIFE of me, could not get back into my body for the second - which had to be calm, composed and in control!!!!! It was a disaster!!!!!!
So, the plan for the coming week was to work on relaxation techniques and also to get a second opinion that these two monologues really were the best ones to start with.
So, then there was...
YALE
My father's Alma Marter and the best Acting School in the COUNTRY!!!! I didn't even KNOW how much I wanted it. Daniel and I planned a road-trip for the audition weekend so I wouldn't have to race up to New Haven on the morning of the audition. We took the scenic route to New Haven (We went North so we could see Sleepy Hollow - as Daniel mentioned, which is actually North of New York City and in New York State, and then cut over East into Connecticut and then headed south into New Haven). Daniel LOVED the town. He really loved it. We stayed at the Omni Hotel, which was beautiful, and we had a view of the Campus Green (which is the main Quad of the campus - a beautiful park - and what the picture is of in Daniel's blog, that was the view from our hotel room) and we walked all downtown, getting a feel for the city and the school... Daniel and I really loved it there. Daniel didn't even want to come back to New York on Sunday (although that could have just been him loving a holiday!!!). He did say, however, that he could TOTALLY live there for a couple of years.
So, after that reaction (which I realized I was subconsciously waiting for) I felt safe to get really excited about the prospect of going to Yale.... And I got SSSOOOOOOOOO excited!!!!! The beauty of the school and the town really put a spell on us. But, Daniel helped me stay calm - guided me through some relaxation exercises and gave me a really great full back massage the night before, and a neck rub just before I went down to the audition rooms.
The auditions were IN THE HOTEL.... so I just had to get in the elevator at 11am... It was so relaxed, it was great...
Because Daniel and I showed all my pieces to Brandon, and with his help we actually decided that I should do my other two pieces first, I felt really comfortable and confident. The pieces we chose were more emotional, more intimate and in their opinion I LOOKED more comfortable and natural doing them...
So, I went in there, just me and the head of the school and I did my two pieces. He said "good, check the bulletin board in about 45 minutes to see if we need to call you back". And that was it, my name wasn't on the bulletin board and that's all she wrote!!! I feel like I did really well though, so I'm trying not to loose all hope. Unlike Juilliard, Yale doesn't say ANYWHERE that if you don't get called back that day you are out of the running, so I guess I'm just hoping that even though he didn't want to show me to the other professor I could still be called back in March.
I felt SSOOOOOOOOOO comfortable there. The students (who were helping with the audition sign-in and stuff- all 2nd years I think) were SSOOOOOOO my kind of people. There was no pretension, like I had imagined there could be and had seen a week earlier.
So, after no call back, we went for a drive. I showed Daniel my elementary school I went to in New Haven, while Dad was a student there, and we found the street we lived on but I couldn't find the house. We drove ALL around the neighborhood that I lived in, and I showed him the grocery store where had my first snow-ball fight out the front of and everything. It was great.
Anyway, all in all, it was a good weekend. We had a GREAT time and have made a belated New Years Resolution to do a road trip, even if just an overnight one, every month or two (hopefully planning for a big one down to Alabama towards the end of the year!!!!)
The Juilliard School
Well, this audition was this past weekend and it went fine. I did very well. But, I didn't like the school and they didn't like me...
Juilliard was completely not me. From head to toe, the place was everything I don't want. It was EXACTLY like NIDA in how it felt and how they talked and even in what they were looking for, obviously. Mostly though, and call me a snob if need be but, I didn't like that I was auditioning and would have been attending class with all those kids. Children, some of whom hadn't even graduated from High School yet. Now, some of them could have been AMAZING actors who I could have learned a LOT from and I am NOT discounting that but... I just.... I need a graduate program, one in which all the other students have ALSO taken undergrad theatre or film and get the history and theory of it all, have the exposure to different works and the KNOWLEDGE of what's out there. I just didn't feel like I belonged in that group of people at the Juilliard audition. So, it's totally fine that they didn't want me... I didn't want them either.
So, now, I just wait. Wait to hear from Yale or Tisch (yeah, right!!) about whether or not they want to see more of me. They both hold big call-back weekends in March or April. I pray Yale wants me, I just PRAY!!!!!!!! And I wait to hear from Brooklyn as to when I have my interview/audition with the head of the graduate acting department there....
So, I'll keep you all up to date but please, PLEASE keep a finger crossed or say a little prayer for me???
I love you all and it is with the strength of ALL your love that Daniel and I achieve the things we do!!!! Thank you!
Always and forever, Taliesen.

Snow and Stuff

Hi All,

Daniel here. Just thought I'd give you all a quick rundown of the adventures we've had over the last week.

Well it all started when we FINALLY got snow. Yep winter is back with a vengence. Tomorrow it is supposed to be only 20F, with a wind chill in the negatives. Negative Fahrenheit equals very bad. However the upside is snow.The other morning I just woke up and looked out the window and there is was. So we giggled put on our clothes and proceeded to the park to have a snow fight before work. Here is a pic.







We also went on our fist USA road trip to New Haven for Taliesen's Yale Audition. I'll let her disscuss the auditions she's been going to but for the rest it was a very interesting weekend. It was amazing how quickly your brain adjusts to driving on the wrong side of the road and by the end of the weekend I drove straight into Manhattan. Very interesting, on top of the fact that, as we've disscussed before, there are some things that you do in NY that are just magical. For me driving into the city at night was just like in the movies. AMAZING! on one hand you are scared to death that you will surely be killed by the other drivers and on the other your speeding into the glorious mass of lights that spell 'This is the World'. But back to New Haven, what a beautiful little town and Yale is just as impressive as you would imagine. In fact all of Connecticut is stunning, we even stopped by Sleepy Hollow. Here are some pics.



Well I must get back to work but just for fun here is a pic of the Ghostbusters firehouse which is just around the corner from Taliesen's work.





Love you all.

You know you can call yourself a "New Yorker" when...

1. You pound on the hood or boot of a cab with your fist because it almost runs you down when you're crossing the street. This is instead of the "New Arrival" or "Tourist" response of squealing or yelling "Oh My God" at the shock/surprise/fear one feels at almost being run over. A seasoned "New Yorker" is not only very NOT surprised but also duly angry at the cab driver's lack of concern for pedestrians safety - so much so that the need to violently strike out at the cab, physically, is instictual!!!!

2. Going to see a movie, you know to go buy a "Papaya Dog" instead of eating the hot dogs you can buy at the Cinema Concessions Counter. This was actually a joke on a seinfeld episode (Kramer insisted on going across the road for a papaya dog instead of a movie theatre hot dog - mayhem ensued) but after eating both, several times, a seasoned "New Yorker" knows how big the difference is and really, just doesn't settle for any old hot dog any more...

3. You watch shows or movies set in New York and get annoyed at the inaccuracies of scene locations. Only a seasoned "New Yorker", and possibly only a pedantic one like Daniel or myself, will watch a movie and say "That cafe is on 14th St!!! You can't run from there to Lincoln Center in 5 minutes!!!" or "Wait a minute. That's the cinema on 63rd Street... That's nowhere NEAR Union Square!!!". Equally, when watching something, like say, Sex and the City and they are PERFECTLY accurate, for some reason it makes you really happy... "OK, so she was just at that little park opposite the Lincoln Center, then she ran into Aiden on a typical upper-west side street, then walked past the Food Emporium and then she's in front of the huge cinema on 63rd!!! Awesome"...

4. You sit next to a VERY smelly, homeless man on the subway because it's the only seat free. I did this last night and it occurred to me that several months ago, I would not have sat there and probably would not have even been able to tolerate standing too close. But now, a seasoned "New Yorker", I realized that I could breath through my mouth and it was far more important to sit for the duration of my ride. This actually reminds me, to a much lesser extent of a story Dad told me about his time here. He was SHOCKED one day to get on an empty subway car (when all the other cars of the train were chockers) only to see a huge puddle of blood, steaming (ie:fresh) under one of the seats. Slowly the car started to fill up, as people had to sit and stand closer and closer to the blood, until finally the car was packed and the only empty seat was the one over all the blood. Then, a seasoned "New Yorker", much to my father's shock and surprise, got on the train, put newspaper down over the blood and sat in the seat - feet on top of the newspaper!!!!!! THAT New Yorker understood the importance of getting a seat on the subway, too.

And finally, The fifth way you know you can call yourself a "New Yorker" is when

5. You make fun of New Jersey (they made that stink that wafted over the city last week... Hahaha - Smelly Jersey!!!!) and look forward to a weekend trip to Connecticut!!!!! The day after tomorrow, Daniel and I take our first ROAD-TRIP!!! Yes - it's just to New Haven, Connecticut. Yes - it's only for one night. But we are getting out of the city and heading up to Connecticut!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!! We're off to the Hometown of Yale University, where I am auditioning this weekend for their Graduate Acting Program. Wish me luck, All. It's very exciting, and we are both very excited about the drive and seeing BEAUTIFUL Connecticut. I'm also going to show Daniel the elementary school I went to in New Haven. We're hoping for snow... but not too much.

As always. Love to you all from your little Aussie "New Yorkers".... Seasoned New Yorkers!!!!!

Love You ALL!!!!!

SO MANY PHOTOS!!!!!

I had to just show you the kind of food Daniel is indulging on.... This is his faverite - The Chili Dog. That's a hot dog topped with Chili. And THIS one is the one he got from the resteraunt in Macy's when we were christmas Shopping.... LOOK AT THE SIZE OF IT!!!!!!! And, yes, he finished it, people.


This is our beautiful Christmas Tree at home, everyone. Daniel surprised me with it one day.... Isn't it beautiful????


However, THIS is the Famous Rockerfeller Center Christmas Tree. This is what we went to see on Christmas Day. It really is HUGE - very impressive.


And this is me at the Tree - it was quite cold.... but unfortunately no snow.


This is Daniel when we were at Rockerfeller Plaza. That's Saks Fifth Ave behind him - it's amazing walking down 5th Ave during the Christmas season because all the Big Stores, like Saks and Cartier and the like, ALL dress up their stores. Cartier puts a huge big sparkly bow around the entire building.... And Saks puts snowflakes all over theirs.... Unfortunately, those were the only snowflakes we've seen. This year has, actually, broken the record. The latest snow of the season EVER recorded in New York was January 4th (and that was in 1846). We STILL haven't seen a flake and it's the 8th!!!!!!!!!!!


This is just a nice shot of the ice-skating rink at Rockerfeller Center. The line to get on the ice was all the way around the block!!!! But it was soooo pretty. I am still very glad we only stayed 10 minutes and went ice skating in the Park. It was just perfect...


We technically weren't allowed to take our camera on the ice.... but here's A picture of Daniel ice-skating...


And me ice-skating... It grew dark while we were on the ice and it was lightly raining... it was so quiet and so beautiful and the first time either of us had been ice-skating outside. It was so lovely.



Then we celebrated our first COLD New Years Eve!!!!! It wasn't as bad as it usually is this time of year, but for Daniel and I, it was just weird wearing coats and hats and scarves and gloves... Here we are in Brooklyn about to ring in 2007!!!!!!!!!!!


Here's Daniel with the friends we celebrated with... Our good friend Ben (who Daniel used to work with), who was unfortunately alone as Iris went to California to spend New Years with her family. We did have them over to dinner last week though and indroduced them to Laksa - LOVED IT!!!!!!! And the other two with Daniel and Ben are our new friends who had us over for dinner on Christmas Day - Catherine (she's an Aussie from Melbourne) and Luke (who's from Florida). I was really happy to be bringing in the New Year with these three because I think they will probably become our best friends here in NYC.


Ben getting "Fresh" at midnight!!!! hehehehe...


Here's Daniel and I with Catherine and Luke - it was a really fun night!!!


Me with Luke..


And me with Katherine...

It was such a fun night, Daniel and I hope you all had as much fun and we really do wish you'd been here with us...
We send you all of our love and hope that 2007 brings you all success and happiness, love and laughter, and maybe a little closer to our side of the world.
All our love, as always,
Taliesen.

OH MY GOD - A New Year!!!!!!

So.... Who's not ready for the New Year????
I'M NOT, I'M NOT!!!!!!!
Daniel and I are happy that 2006 is over... Overall it was NOT a good year.
We sold/got rid of all our possessions.
We said goodbye to ALL the people we love and care about.
We were apart for about 17% of the year.
We both put on "America Fat".
We've "lived" on peoples couches - feeling pathetic and useless - for more than a quarter of the year.
We've both had jobs that made us want to KILL ourselves, that we thought we would not be able to survive for ONE MORE DAY, for about a THIRD of the year.
And WE'VE BEEN ABSOLUTELY BROKE FOR AT LEAST HALF THE YEAR!!!!!!

But here's what we DID achieve or get in 2006 (things to be thankful for, I guess)...
We ONLY had to be apart for two months (when we thought it would at least take three or four, and feared it would take up to 6).
We made some REALLY good friends here in New York (and I re-kindled some TREASURED friendships from years ago).
We both found jobs in the Television Industry within 3 months of looking.
We are both now on salary, WITH health insurance (something very hard to achieve in this country).
And...
We survived (not only survived, but LOVED) our first Christmas away from our parents and families.

But NONE of that is NEARLY as exciting as what 2007 is GOING to hold...

1. This Month and next I have my auditions for Graduate Schools to study Acting. On January 21st, I audition at Yale University. On the 27th, I audition at The Juilliard School. I have my Tisch audition (that's the fine arts school at New York University) on the 13th of this month. THE THIRTEENTH!!!!!!!!!!! I am so scared. Please pray for me, or cross your fingers or speak with your angels!!!! Whatever it is you do... DO IT, PLEASE!!!!! Then, next month, I audition at Brooklyn College. I am getting more and more excited, having chosen my monologues and am now working on them with Daniel. Having chosen my song (and a back-up if I can get my voice up to scratch) and I'm starting to really feel good about the auditions. Keep ALL fingers crossed for me, All. It's very scary!!!!!
2. Daniel has started working on his Midsommer's. This year he hopes to get through enough of his ideas and concepts that by next winter he can shoot a trailer for his Midsommer Night's Dream, set in New York. This time, I'm NOT going to be his producer, but am definitely in it... That will be AWESOME fun.
3. We are both going to get more involved in a short-film festival that Daniel worked a little on, here, last year. We both are VERY keen to get in with that crowd because it's actually a festival (I think by-annual) that is FOR people in the industry, something for them to do for fun, in their spare time, to collaborate with OTHER people in the industry on a professional-level, small project. It's so cool.
4. We ARE going to get our own apartment. WE ARE!!!!!! Hopefully, by about April. Although we do have our own address at the moment, we are sharing (actually sub-letting) the apartment we're in. Our place is actually a VERY large room in a fairly large apartment (which has two other bedrooms, rented by other guys) and we share the bathroom and kitchen... We DESPERATELY want our own place. I think I have a savings plan by which we'll have enough to move into our own place by April. (You just need so much money up-front - first and last months rent, deposit - which is usually another months rent, as well as an EXTRA deposit if you don't have a rental history in the US.... So much money). But that WILL happen this year.
5. I WILL show Daniel another city in this great nation... Whether it's Tuscaloosa, Seattle, or L.A., I will take Daniel somewhere this year, for a nice little holiday.
6. Finally, I hereby SWEAR that at the end of this year, we will be in a better position than we have EVER been in. That's the goal, anyway.

Something, someone once said to me sticks with me today... "You can not discover new oceans unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore." Well, Daniel and I have definitely left the shore and now, every sight of it. We are on our way, folks... and this year is going to be GRAND!!!!! It's about ACTION. Making your dreams come true, and not waiting for something amazing to happen to you but GOING OUT THERE AND MAKING SOMETHING AMAZING HAPPEN!!!!!!! For we truly are the masters of our own destinies... and we have the power and strength and ABILITY to make our lives grand. Daniel and I started that process last year by taking the BIGGEST leap of faith, ever!!!! And, this year, we continue that journey, that trek we have undertaken to, together, make our life wonderful.

So, with this New Year under way, I leave you, once again, with a few inspirational quotes to get us on our way!!!!!

Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.
- Will Rogers

The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time.
- Dean Acheson

If you risk nothing, then you risk everything.
- Geena Davis

Success has a simple formula: do your best, and people may like it.
- Sam Ewing

We choose to go to the moon, not because it's easy but because it's hard.
- John F. Kennedy

Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for: it is a thing to be achieved.
- William Jennings Bryan

Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try.
- Anonymous

When we walk to the edge of all the light we have and take the step into the darkness of the unknown, we must believe that one of two things will happen. There will be something solid for us to stand on or we will be taught to fly.
- Patrick Overton