Jesus brought me to Bethlehem

I woke up to sunlight in my room today and the smell of clean air drifting in through my window. My first thought was "well I'm definitely not in New York anymore." Yes kids I'm in Pennsylvania. Bethlehem, Penn to be exact and yes they have an enormous star of Bethlehem that sits atop an enormous hill and is lit at night. Just in case you were wondering. Today will be my first day of rehearsals. I met the cast and some of the crew last night and everyone seems awesome thus far. the director especially seems really cool so that is good news. There are nine of us in total and we are split into three houses. Somehow I managed to get the awesome house which is four floors shared by five people at the moment and eventually only three. It is pretty nice so I can't complain. The best part is the moosehead bar that was just right in the middle of the living room amidst about five or six couches. No joke. Also I am still finding little presents from the professor all over my clothing...just try to get cat hair completely off your clothes...JUST TRY!

confessions of a procrastinator

Alright friends. I leave on wednesday. So far I still haven't packed. But mostly because I have no idea what I'm going to bring with me! Ack. This is me being really organized. I'm super excited and nervous and also having some panic attacks at the thought of leaving nyc for a while. It'll be great I think. hope. ugh.

I had my last weekend at Bikram this past weekend and was a bit sad to leave my lovely Bikram family. I will miss you guys mucho! Thanks for being such a wonderful support system to my life in more ways than one! I can't wait to get back into the hot room.

I'm hoping to put aside enough money to go to the Bikram seminar in Philly in October. It will kick my behind but will be totally worth it.

In a way I'm kind of looking forward to leaving a bunch of my "things" behind and just living out of a suitcase. I really resent the importance we all place on objects and things in our lives and can't wait to reduce that dependence in number. woo!

On a bit of a sadder note, my grandad is in the hospital again as of this weekend. Any good prayers or thoughts would be wonderful.

so as of today i have less than two weeks before I leave for pennsylvania....eeeek! i'm super nervous and mostly so because I will be leaving and going away from some much loved faces for too long. this was mostly noticed today around 1pm when I sat down to a lovely raw lunch of sprouts and some sunflower seed pate that I had concocted and all I could see in my head were all these new people who will quite possibly think I'm absolutely nutso. Yay for nutso! Yay for sprouts!

Also the prospect of not having bikram yoga for three months makes my toes tingle with fear. Dear Jesus, please let erica not go crazy by the end of these three months because she is not able to sweat out all the anger and frustration in her life. love, erica.

And I believe that I have decided to stay as long as possible in europe in january through february. this is really scary because of the whole "omg what am I doing with my life if I'm not auditioning and pursuing my acting career???" and because of the "holy shit I am so flat broke it's not even funny..."But scary or no, I believe this opportunity has presented itself as a source of living and creativity in my life and who knows, maybe I'll even start to paint again when I'm there. The professor will be very angry with me for leaving him with strangers for the next six months, but I do think he may get over it.

Tonight I go to bikram. I've been going everyday since I got back mostly because I think I'm terrified of not having it. home practice is poopy...

Bloggy Blog Blog

It's official. Chris Coyle has saved the day. So after about seven days or so of eating the same quinoa that was stashed in my pantry because of the absence of money in my account, Mr. Chris Coyle, though overseas has still managed to save me from myself. I waited and waited yesterday for a supposed "present" arrival, and after hours on end of torturous waiting and getting no clues at all as to what the present could be, (I think I should mention here that I am not one of those people who feels the surprise is ruined if I guess what it is. In fact one of my favorite games is guessing the surprise before I get it and I'm quite good at it. I also like to know the ends of books and movies before I read or view them. Weird I know)Dominick calls from upstairs to say that I have three packages! Woo! so I go up to their back porch where they endlessly spend their days and find three little boxes labled Fresh Direct. He bought me groceries. For God's sake even in Brazil he bought me groceries. Also, Dominic gave me lots of fresh figs from his fig trees and made me the happiest little girl in the world. Needless to say, quinoa has now found it's way into the realm of oatmeal in my mind...meaning foods consumed in times of financial despair, never to be eaten in the real world again. ugh.

Also I think it is now time to unveil the new pattern of life for me. I have been trying to go vegan for a while now but putting it off for various reasons, mostly reasons that are basic crap. Ladies and Gentlmen, I have gone vegan. Yes yes. Let me say, I believe it to be the best for my system so far and plan to stick to it for as long as feels correct.

Also, Professor FuzzyPants has started to sleep in my sink. Boy oh boy if that isn't the cutest thing I've ever seen then I don't know what is.

being high tech is the new little black dress

Ok so after realizing I have been unaware of several of my overseas friends' blogs for the last few months and feeling the pangs of their missed presence, I have given in to this large block of metal and plastic and decided to go high tech. Forget the notebooks and pens of my youth! The satisfying click of the keyboard is my new utopia. And besides, this way I am absolutely barred from dissappearing off the face of the planet like I usually do....(I don't always do it on purpose I swear!)

Update: Last week marks the final dispersment of the Swindell children into real life. Also, my brother looks like a grown up. weird. Where are the army suits and indian costumes of the past? He will forever be frozen in my mind as the kid in camouflage pajamas holding a plastic weapon of some kind pointing it in my face. Well, he kept the gun but changed it for a metal one and now he keeps his camouflage pajamas under wraps. Pretty damn good skeet shooter though...he's all growed up! On the bright side of things, I saw my mom cry for the first time in my life after leaving him at college. I guess it would be more aptly described as tearing up...

That's all for now...I'm gonna go sweat my socks off at Bikram now....