life update

romeo & juliet went out with a bang last monday. before the show, the director told us, "if you want to do something on stage, go for it. follow your impulses." the result? the best show of the whole run. and the most fun. everyone went deeper with their characters, they made riskier decisions, and it paid off big. awesome.

the company's next show is uncle vanya, which will run the last two weeks of october. i auditioned for it—and came more excited and prepared than i had to any previous audition—but i didn't make the cut >.< i did volunteer to help out, so now i've been dubbed "stage manager". rehearsals just started up on wednesday.

i've started studying for the jlpt, which i'll take in december (in los angeles whoo!). i haven't done much with japanese in the last three months, and it feels good to be reading, hearing, and using the language again. i added a japanese introduction page (タヌキって誰？ is actually a button now).

most exciting of all (for me at least): my mind is being blown away by the power of now (i mentioned this in an earlier post). literally. i don't feel there's one book or one philosopher / religious teacher that has all the answers, but this makes my list of awesome words to live by. for your reference i've included the list so far:

• tao te ching
• the bible
• the book of mormon
• the tao of pooh
• the power of now

i suspect i'll add the qur'an once i read it. something by rousseau might end up on the list too. i may pick a good shakespeare to throw in as well.

oh. and here's a picture update:

despite what the picture may seem to convey, i'm actually feeling quite good about life! this may be related to the fact that i just bought a bottle of sake.