Motivation Monday

Acting is standing up naked and turning around very slowly.

~ Rosalind Russell

Me and Alex Hurt in the SF Playhouse production of A Behanding in Spokane. Photo by Jessica Palopoli

Beer Week

SF Beer Week is a celebration of Bay Area breweries and lasts about 10 days. While there are countless events and activities that take place during that magical stretch of time, we usually reserve our energy for the Closing Party. This past Sunday we gathered up a group of friends and headed to Berkeley, where Trumer Pils was the host. We have a few friends that work in the industry and were able to get discounted tickets. It was a great evening filled with beer, fried pickles, and buddies.

Waiting patiently for our next train.

bart

Downtown Oakland.

Enjoying the free espresso!

I ran into a dear old friend who worked with me at Pyramid.

All along the edge were the beers. 

If you're ever in the Bay Area during mid-February, check it out!

Instagram Roundup

Sunrise at Stanford University

Sparkle Bandaid!

One of my new sweaters that I got on Ebay. This was only $2

Karaoke for a friend's birthday.

It was a blue day.

Foggy morning.

My temporary desk.

Valentine's Day nails and scent.

Valentine's Day sweets from a sweet co-worker.

This week has been full of new experiences. As many of you know, I work at Stanford University as a Standardized Patient. This allows the medical students to practice bedside manner and diagnosing without the high pressure of real patients. They've asked me to help out at the front desk for the month while they interview canidates. I've learned that I'm actually terrible with a computer, but Google has been my best ally in figuring out what I need to do. Especially with Excel!

Thanks for reading!
Melissa

Good Sport

During my 'career' as an athlete, I was constantly reminded to be a 'good sport'. Be proud of your success and congratulate others on theirs, even if it meant you coming in second, or not placing at all. So when the Patriots lost to Denver, I donned some Navy and Orange to show my support for the Broncos in the Super Bowl (can I write that? Am I going to get sued?). I had a coach in high school, who told us to always root for the team who beat you. When they win, then you know that they truly earned it and to not be upset about losing to them. Of course, if they lose to a team who completely DOMINATES them, then you can rest with a different peace of mind. The peace that you weren't the team to get destroyed...
I believe that playing sports has helped my career and ambition as an actor. The intensity, practice, and set up for disappointment despite your best efforts, are all things shared by artists and athletes. It also helped that my parents would say that I was going to 'play practice', and intermission would mistakenly be called 'half-time'. Truth: They still say these things.
So when another actress gets cast instead of me, you can be damn sure that I'm rooting for her to kick ass and give a fantastic performance, because if she doesn't, then what kind of audition did I give where they thought she was the best choice? So be a good sport and root for the one who 'beat' you. Oh, and congratulations Seattle!

Melissa

Instagram Roundup

Obligatory bathroom selfie.

Podcast with friends. It's terrible; no one listens to it.

Sunset view from the Berkeley Hills.

New Canadian friends we had dinner with.

Religious wall in a home I was visiting.

Sorry for the small photos! I forgot that I was doing this post, and 'cleaned up house' on my phone and laptop. I won't do that for next week! Happy Sunday and Australia Day.

Melissa

Find your spine

With my sleep back to normal, I was able to focus on the TBA general I had on Monday. For those not in the Bay Area, TBA stands for Theatre Bay Area. It's a great group that I am a member of, and among the countless things that they do, they host general auditions for the Bay Area. It's all weekend, with Equity being seen on Monday. You are asked to prepare material no longer than 3 minutes, being two monologues or one monologue and a song. I obviously choose to do two monologues. Casting directors from theater companies come to watch, and it's a great way to be seen by a bunch of them in one day.

So many Me's

Many actors I know and have worked with, have their own warm-up routine that they do. I don't. This is not necessarily a good or bad thing, but there are some days when I wish I had a routine to calm me down and focus. What's one to do? YOUTUBE! I punched 'actor vocal warm ups' into the search box and the first one that popped up was the one for me.

How relaxing is that?! I love her pep talk at the end. 

Paper towels are my secret weapon. So, so sweaty.

I felt really good about my monologues and the general vibe of the whole day. Cole and our friend Anthony, met up with me after for a drink and then we caught The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug on IMAX.

The following night, I attended the premier of 'Looking', the HBO show that filmed in San Francisco. I was allowed to bring a guest, so I let Cole tag along (I'm so kind). They played the first two episodes, and we were able to see my face, but my lines were cut. That's how it goes, and you can't get upset over it. The after party was a blast, and the free booze was a lovely touch.

This guys job was to just dance all night. I helped him out a bit.

Thanks for reading!     

Melissa

New Year, New Challenges

What's good for the Goose is good for the Gander. Or in my case, what's good for Jay-Z and Beyonce is good for me and Cole. Right before we started our gestational tour of Australia (we ate kangaroo!), Cole thought it would be a good idea to do a month long vegetarian diet once we returned. Well, wouldn't you know that one of the world's power couples had just finished their own 22 day vegetarian challenge, and I was all for it.

Many of my life's decisions are based around theirs. Courtesy of Bey's tumbler.

San Francisco is a fantastic city to live in if you're a herbivore, with all of the specialty stores and restaurants (one aptly named Herbivore) that cater to the diets. I've gone farther with our challenge and am going Vegan. Of course, if a box of Cheez-its comes across my path, I'll destroy it with my mouth.

I've woken up in my bed covered in Cheez-its. Dirty nomnoms. Courtesy of amynameisamy.com

I'm not a fan of New Years Resolutions, because who actually keeps them? I'd rather do a challenge that has an end and that I feel good about completing. 

Thanks for reading!

 Melissa