Day 6

Today we channeled a previous memory using our senses and a cookie. The memory that came to my mind was one that happened at the end of last semester – my friend Mike, who has financial aid from the school, depleted his funds a month before they were to be replenished. He had carelessly spent his last few bills on food, beer and the like, and didn’t feel the reality of the situation until he actually ran out of money. He texted me in a distressed tone one day. We conversed until I understood the situation. I was resolved to not become his financial crutch – as I’ve made that mistake with another guy many years ago. However, I care about him, and I didn’t want him to fail his finals just because he was food-deprived.
I decided to buy him a meal. I picked him up. I’d brought a cookie with me but he only nibbled at it, mumbling that his body needed real food. I’d planned to buy a sandwich anyway, so we pulled up to the gas station and when I was done gassing up my car I went inside to buy a sandwich. I spotted one that had the brand name “POOR BOY” boldly printed all over the sandwich. I bought it and brought it out to him, and he couldn’t help but laugh at the name of the sandwich. I’d never seen someone make such a crappy looking sandwich look so delicious … but he choked it down like it was gourmet Thanksgiving cuisine. He didn’t ask me for a meal again after that, which I appreciated.
In acting out the scene, I learned a little bit about my acting. I think I need to find a way to “surrender” though this was my first attempt at acting (unless you count third grade plays). I learned that I had a harder time acting out the scene when it took a direction that diverged from reality – the Professor said, pretending to be Mike, “How much money do you have?” Instead of doing my best to picture Mike asked that, and responding to it (In real life I may have responded with a “why?”) I lost the image of the moment in my mind and didn’t know what to say. Just because in real life Mike did not actually ask that, he could have asked it in a play version. Acting involves some make-believe and I need to learn to go with it.
Anyway, my favorite part of the class so far is the warm-ups. I bet some professors would be surprised at how much more engaging their classes would be if every single class – regardless of the subject—began with warm-ups. Sometimes a little exercise is all it takes to make the difference between an attentive, centered mind and a scattered feeling of absence. Props to the professor on the warm-ups.