I'd like to take an acting class because I think it would increase my quality of life. I program computers all day long and I need different activities to keep from becoming a total zombie. I compare it to my Grandfather taking dancing lessons because he was paralyzed during part of his youth. Acting might help me be a little more outgoing, extroverted, or less shy. However you want to call it. First Class − September 23rd, 2003 Went over structure of class, did some stretching, exercises, and got to know each other better. Did some ad libbing hich was really fun − we went from acting out being at the zoo where a father's child fell into the lion's cage to going camping in the woods to losing a contact lens. Our homework is to buy a monologue book, choose a short poem and attach an emotion to it, then pick a story from the newspaper and choose a character from the story to role. Also, I said two things that define me: father's death, computers, falling through roof at Govt Ctr T station; word to describe me: deep, Matt thought I was like a rock or like a train. Second Class − September 30th, 2003 Did more breathing, voicing and stretching exercizes. We did a cool secret exercize where we knew a little bit about the characters we were acting out but had to, in character, find out what the other person was hiding. I had a poem from Ogden Nash's "Zoo" entitled "Manhattan Monkey". I ehibited jealousy and found that everything the audience responded to was embodied in my voice. I would really like to learn how to speak better. I also did a piece about Arnold Schwartzanegger which was poor but I just rushed through it to get home by a reasonable hour. Need to memorize my monologue for next weeks class. Third Class − October 7th, 2003 Need to know my monologue! Try reading it out loud sometime this weekend. This class was kind of lame, I think the teacher was a little out of it from travel to and from NYC the day before. We started late because Coleen was late arriving. I also didn't know my monologue which was bad. We did body language exercizes with a mask which I thought was king of wierd but tried to do it well anyway. When teacher asked me to act out the feeling of being open and vulnerable, the first thing that came to mind was that the only way to act open was to be open. I think that's probably the way it is for everything. Need to have 2 paragraphs of the monologue memorized by next class. Also need to try to get together with Matt on Tuesday for rehearsal. Fourth Class − October 15th, 2003 Worked on a practice called levels where we raised and lowered the intensity of emotion. That was OK. We talked about the acting business and I liked that because I like business! Then we worked on my monologue which was great − changed the feeling from serious resentment to evil insanity. Much better effect. Fifth Class − October 21st, 2003 Did this awesome exrcise where we had to carry on a dialogue with only 3 words for each statement. Also performed an open ended skit with Matt where I was the party animal and Matt was the nerdy guy. I came in late after partying all night and acted still drunk. Need to practice a play scene for next week's class with Colleen. Sixth Class − October 28th, 2003 Didn't perform scene because we didn't have one worked out. We instead did sad scenes and my and Lee's was really good. Lee was impressive. Colleen was very late as usual, but she did make a point in her skit about a father dying young that I really enjoyed. She said that it doesn't matter how long you live − that's not an indicator of how good of a person you are or how accomplished you are. That made me think of Al III and how he died young but really gave his all to the world (but also took as much from it as well!). Seventh Class − November 4th, 2003 Perform scene again.