I don't know what happened to gung-ho Julia, but she is sure MIA.  I have felt so lazy, unmotivated, lacking any sort of drive in my life whatsoever these past few days.  This is completely abnormal for me - I'm usually gogogo, doing a million and one things, constantly full of adrenaline coursing through my veins making me find a purposeful outlet so I don't go crazy.  But seriously, guys, there are next to no auditions, and the season is getting to me - I want to buy lots of unnecessary things, celebrate every day, see my family, ride horses in the snow, write, and generally not care about life/my career at the moment.  But as I've recently learned, just because I'm not seeing/feeling improvement/success in my endeavors at the moment doesn't mean I'm not growing.  I should be doing at least 1 thing everyday that pertains to my career. I have three songs I need/want to learn.  There are an endless amount of plays I could be reading.  I need to take a look at my resume and probably take some unimportant credits off it.  Look at agents I want to represent me.  There are a myriad of things to do.  And yet I find myself glued to my bed every morning, sleeping later and later.  I might rouse myself in the afternoon to a sitting position, drag my laptop onto my bed, and watch some tv.  In the late afternoon I might actually drag myself out of bed and over to the couch, to sit some more, putzing around on my computer, not actually getting any work done.  I hate this feeling of listlessness.  I was born to work, not sit around on my laurels doing absolutely nothing worthwhile.

Well, maybe I should've done this earlier today seeing as how there was a spike in visitors this afternoon, but that's what gave me the idea to write a little somethin' somethin' on this day before feasting. 

Well, it has been a stretch of time, my dear readers.  This past week and weekend were pretty hectic. 

Last Monday-Wednesday encompassed the Passport to Broadway/Japanese TV thing with AKB48.  It was an awesome experience.  5hr audition/introduction Monday, then 13hr days Tuesday and Wednesday - learning all the music and choreography for the 20minute show, and performing it Wed night for an audience of Broadway folk - including composer (of such fame as The Civil War, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Bonnie and Clyde, Jekyll and Hyde, Wonderland) Frank Wildhorn.  It was great meeting him, as I'm a huge fan of his music and hope to tackle some of his songs one day.  The whole process was quite intense, but I didn't have a problem with any of the work, and found out a bit about myself. 

Ok, well, not JUST me, but that's what the show is going to be (a one time, and one time only, sensation) and it's going to be filmed by a Japanese television company because 6 girls in the cast are from the Japanese Pop Girl Group AKB48.  There are 12 American performers from Broadway and beyond (or behind - is there anything BEYOND Broadway, I ask you, dear readers?).  I am one of those performers.

I've been watching a lot of films about food, recently - documentaries, reality shows, movies centered around food, etc.  Most recently I watched Forks Over Knives and The Engine 2 Kitchen Rescue (about the Engine 2 Diet).  They're both in the same vein, though Forks Over Knives goes way more into the science of stuff, so it became very dry and boring to watch.  I enjoyed the Engine 2 Diet show because it showed a guy going into 2 families homes and taking them through their 'fridges/pantries, taking them on a grocery trip, then making several recipes with them.  The point before FOK and E2D is to Go Plant Strong - cutting out meats, fats, processed foods, and only using Whole wheat and Whole grains when it comes to breads/pastas/etc.  It sounds like a nice idea, and the recipes they use sure look tasty (and apparently are), but some of the things they said surprised me.  Like olive oil is bad for you, since it's all fat.  I'd always heard Extra Virgin Olive Oil was good for you - but it's on their list of things not to use.  And apparently we don't need meat to get protein and nutrients - and (here's where they got into scientific stuff) eating meat products leads to an increase of cancer growth, among other nasty diseases.  They stress reading food labels, because even if the packaging claims it to be something, that's not necessarily so. 

Slowly, but surely, this city is getting back on its feet.  Power has been restored to much of downtown Manhattan, but subways are still not running below 34th st.  Many of the Broadway shows opened on Halloween, but theatres downtown were without power until yesterday - so they are just beginning to check everything and hopefully open today and tomorrow. (I hear The Public (425 Lafayette St) is giving away free tickets to Giant today and tomorrow - if you can, go! It's an absolutely terrific show.) The road to recovery will be a lengthy one, but we are on our way.  The NYC Marathon was cancelled.  I understand why Mayor Bloomberg wanted it to go on - rally the troops, show things getting back to normal, etc. etc., however, I'm glad they finally saw sense and cancelled the race.  They said it wouldn't take away from relief efforts, but that's just not true - and all resources should be going to helping those devastated by Sandy.  For an interesting look into the New York attitude of things, check this out.