More on spending time between gigs

You guys. You’ll never believe this, but I wrote most of this post before I learned about the latest #ShowbizChat. Reason number 102 why I love Green Room Blog.

Sadly I was unable to attend due to my lovely survival job. (And if you’ve never read my blogs before, whenever I use the word “lovely,” I usually mean anything but lovely.) I definitely recommend checking out the transcript on the #ShowbizChat page.

As the weather starts to get cooler (at least for those of us who live in states which include the tortures of colder weather), I’ve been reflecting on summer. This year is different than previous years. Usually I start to think about all the parties and late summer nights I got to enjoy.  This year I thought about what projects I worked on, as well as progress I’ve made with acting and my career since the previous. I’ve found a lot of things I’m really happy about, and then some things that could use some improvement. But that’s not what this post is about.

Right now I’m in between projects. I have a couple of things on the horizon, but none are extremely time consuming. And my summer had some points where I was doing nothing but rehearsing, performing, and auditioning. It was wonderful. Now, I’ve reached that dreaded point where I’ve realized I have much more free time than I’d like. I can fill it with going to Starbucks, burying myself in my notebook as I write different things that I need to work on (which is a great thing to do, by the way), but at the end of the day I still feel the need to be running around, getting stuff done when I really don’t have a whole lot I can do. Yes I need to order headshots. I need to finally get business cards. But that’s not something that is going to fill up five nights of Starbucks outings.  So….what on earth does one do in this situation??

Let’s backtrack. Recently my friends and I were celebrating a friend’s birthday. It was my first time hanging out with these friends on a Saturday night pretty much all summer. We started the night at an apartment right down the street from my own that a few of mine friends live in. It was a usual starting point for our evenings. Because it had been so long since I had been there, I had forgotten how much fun we all had. It was great to spend time with them again.

Backing up a week or two earlier, I had a night where I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to get done. There wasn’t a whole lot on my plate for the evening. My roommates had decided they were going to put a movie on. Anytime my roommates had an impromptu movie night this summer, I would respectfully decline. And then would fill my time either at Starbucks, going to the gym, or simply getting work done in my room. That night, I decided to do the opposite and enjoy the evening with them. By the end of the night, I was laughing so hard my abs hurt.

I could keep going, but I think you get the point. When life hands us those moments where we’re not running on five hours of sleep and our schedules are filled with survival jobs, ENJOY IT! Take the time to catch up with your friends. I’m sure they miss you.

That being said, I don’t want to give off the wrong impression. This doesn’t mean going off and going to the bar every night of the week. (Though if you can afford this, please let me know the next time you’re in Chicago.  I could use a night of free drinks). While it’s great to enjoy ourselves, this is also a great time to cross a bunch of stuff off that to-do list. Here are a few that are on my list, just to give some examples:

–Buy all those things (new headshots, business cards, etc.) that I’ve been putting off. Admittedly, money has been the main issue for this. So I’ll likely have to do this one at a time. Luckily right now I have the time to remember to get these done.

–Catch a show. I recently made up a list of theatre companies that I want to work with. Going to try to see some of those shows as money permits.  

–Spend more time at Starbucks. My friends will tell you I spend FAR too much time here. I also have developed a bad habit of posting on facebook when I’m here – usually accompanied by a funny/interesting story that has happened before/during my stay here.  But I get far more work done here than I do anywhere else. It’s also right by Second City. Speaking of which…

–Catch some Second City improv sets. I’m going to get into Second City and the Chicago improv scene in a future post. But I do want to mention that the Second City mainstage has shows six nights a week, with a free improv set following all shows except Fridays. I used to go see these a lot more when I took improv classes. Recently I realized I miss the sets. They’re always hilarious, and they’re FREE. Definitely something Chicago artists should take advantage of. And why wouldn’t you want to go when you’re in between gigs and could use a good laugh? I can always use a good laugh, but can use one more so when I don’t have a current project.

So that’s on my list right now. What’s on yours?