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Wayne Pyle ©2013 Dima Otvertchenko

It's that time of year when everyone starts making new year resolutions and then promptly breaks them a few weeks (or in my case, a few hours) later. So, I've given up on making resolutions...much like my partner, Heidi Eklund, says she is doing in her blog Natural Thoughts from a Busy Voiceover Mommy.

Instead of resolutions, Heidi made some realizations about herself and by acknowledging those, she's hoping to make some small changes that will lead to more joy. I've decided to follow her lead and do the same. No more resolutions, just realizations that will lead to small, positive changes that can add up to more joy over time. 

When you fly a plane (in a flight simulator for me most of the time), any large over-corrections cause your plane to veer far off course and if you try to wildly over-correct your previous over-corrections it eventually leads to a virtual crack-up. Thankfully, it's only virtual and the plane resets and you can fly again in just a few moments. 

By making small corrections over time, however, you can avoid cracking up altogether and get your plane back on its proper flight path and land safely (and THEN get back to work instead of messing around with the flight simulator...glad I'm not making any resolutions about not playing computer games). 

I think the same is true in our lives. Making small corrections over time will help us find those paths that lead us to more happiness and fulfillment.

Currently, I work several part-time jobs in academia. I'm directing GLASS MENAGERIE this Spring at SUNY Dutchess. I'm actively seeking film and television work and participating in two new play readings, and raising my son, Willoughby. I'm also trying to stay active in the lives of my other two sons, Alexander and Stephen, who live with their mother in Pennsylvania. Time seems scarce and tensions run high. When I start to feel this way, I know it's time to make small corrections to stay on course.

The first small correction I'm making is getting back on this blog to help clear out the MIND CLUTTER. This is a good exercise for anyone who has too many things on their mind. By EXPRESSING the thoughts you are having, you will find your mind clears and allows you to process those thoughts that are just steamrolling around in your mind.

The second small correction I'm making is reaching out to more people who might be in a position of giving me work or creating work with me in the film, theatre and television industries. I realized that I have not been doing a very good job of this overall in my career and, yet, I've been fairly successful. I'd like to see if I can make a profound difference in my career by making a small, effective, change. Rather than send out lots and lots of emails, postcards, headshots, resumes to everyone, I'm going to target the people I'm interested in working with. I will post how things go here.

The third small correction and the final one for this entry is that I'm going to try looking for new income streams in addition to the traditional ones I've been pursuing. This might mean more publishing, more writing, more getting ideas out there, more trying of new things that I might have not thought of before to see what works and what doesn't. I want to push myself just a little more in that direction and see if any of it can make a difference - small corrections that can lead to greater overall change.

Let me leave you with a connection to a cool blog called Tiny Buddha by Lori Deschane. This entry is about 40 Little Things that Make a Big Difference in Your Day. Try doing one or two and let me know how they worked out for you. Enjoy and keep LLC'ing!

WP
http://imdb.me/waynepyle
@waynepyle 

Day One: First Read Through

I can see through all of your motivations.

Usually on the first day of rehearsals for a play, you get to meet the rest of the cast and crew, exchange pleasantries, look at the sets and costume designs, fill out paperwork, have an election for an Equity deputy with the Actors Equity members in the cast and do a table of the read of the play. Today was unusual because the cast is just me! We still had the Equity Deputy election and I voted for myself unanimously to be the deputy for the production.

When I first came into the theater, Brendan, Brittney and Michael were onstage around the usual "table" and I sat with my back to the audience to do paperwork and say hi to everyone. We did the election, took a "5" and I realized that I was really uncomfortable with my back to the audience, so I asked Brendan if I could switch places with him. It just seemed more natural to be facing out to the house. Plus, I want to start getting the feeling that I'm telling the story to the audience as soon as possible. It's amazing to me, how much more relaxed I was just turning and facing the potential of those seats being filled with people. Brendan said the playwright may come see the show as well. That made me a little nervous and excited at the same time. I'm looking forward to doing it in front of an audience and have them help me create this world.

We read through the whole play, well I did anyway, and I found new things already as I was doing it for the first time and re-hearing it which is what rehearsal actually means, re-hear-sal. The pace was quick and we got through it in about an hour and six minutes, which seems to be about right. There wasn't a whole lot of laughter, but I know we'll get there. I also know I still have a lot of work to do, but Brendan was happy with the overall feel of the characters and where they are going. After the read through we went through the play character by character (there are 40) and I took notes on what to work on with each role. Mostly I want to make sure that the characters have strong wants and are "fully committed" to getting them. I want them to have a truth about them and not just have them be caricatures.

I came back to the actor housing after the rehearsal and started working on the lines again. The memorization still seems like such a bear, but I'm starting to feel like I'm getting a grasp on it. Because I was tired some of the lines I've known for weeks were a bit ragged but I know after I get a good night's sleep tonight and get some food in the morning, I should be good to go.

I did take a bit of a break in between eating dinner and working on my lines and stumbled on this very fascinating web series called, "KIDS react to" and "TEENS react to" by The Fine Brothers. The kids watch viral videos and the Fine Brothers show both the videos and the kids reacting to them at the same time. The multi-cultural kids are bright and funny and make great comments and the videos are well made with comments about the history of the videos as well. If you want to spend a few pleasant minutes watching internet memes and hearing the "darndest things" that kids say about entertainment on the internet, tune into "KIDS react to" or "TEENS react to." If you watch a bunch of them, you see the kids grow up, too, which adds an interesting poignancy to the series.

WP

http://imdb.me/waynepyle