Beginnings

Tuesday morning I saw the bone doctor. Everything is hunky dorey, and no more follow-ups needed. It will always look slightly peculiar because some of the muscles, particularly on top of the tibia, were sliced by the fractured bone ends. The shin looks a little odd. The bone has healed, though it will continue to build up material and break it down to smooth out the fracture, but thanks to the reinforcement supplied by the rod running the length of the tibia it is less likely to break than the other leg. It still needs to get stronger, and remains tender in several places.

That very afternoon was our orientation for ETI. I plan to keep a separate journal for ETI which I've started in another blog, and haven't decided if it will be electronic or not. Probably a bit of both, as there are things I would not want to write, even for a secure blog. In the electronic journal (blog) I will not write anything specific and possibly private about other people in class, simply chronicle my internal experience. A rather dull and tedious thing for anyone else I would imagine, so I don't plan to make it generally available or indexed for searches. Simply a personal captain's log for my journey. I may never read it again, as the act of writing helps things sink in for me.

That reminds me. Several weeks ago I went and read the very first entry for a few of the blogs I read. Very neat. Something about those first entries is indicative of things to come. There is a bit of pretense in some including mine, but it is an initial glimpse and a bit of a personal exposition for most people. For most it was the first time I'd read those long ago blogs, and I could feel how the introduction in those first entries resonate through what I have been reading later on. (By the way, my first entry was in 2004, the 2002 entries are items I archived for but didn't want to post for some reason, I should probably clean them up.)

Back to Tuesday. I met the rest of the class and was delighted with the new and old friends. The class introduction was designed to get us excited and a little fearful. Always that balance.

Yesterday I took Gregory to the airport. Another signal event. I'm more than twenty years older than Gregory, and I never think of it that way. He did Meisner and ETI several years ago (after earning a BFA) so he has been one of my mentors, and a very good friend. He's starting his MFA program at Rutgers. Yup, I'm still a little raw, feeling delighted for my friend and sad I won't see him much, though we may stay in touch through correspondence. I didn't have many close friends in the past, now I've quite a few, and they touch me deeper than those in the past. Making yourself open creates increase in both numbers and quality of friendships.

I asked him what sort of training they do at Rutgers. Well, most of the faculty came from the Neighborhood Playhouse (where Sanford Meisner taught). Right now, according to Gregory, Rutgers is the most Meisner based program around. That really appeals to me. If my goal to attend an MFA program in several years solidifies, I could be once again following Gregory, getting there the year after he finishes. If I still want an MFA, if I audition well, if I am accepted... The future is an adventure for it's own time, which I look forward to. Can't ask much more than that.

PS - I turned on word recognition for comments, rather than disabling anonymous comments. Let me know if it drives y'all crazy and I'll go with the other setting. I'm hoping it stops the spam, though I've only had three so far...