Life is short.

It's a good day today so I thought I'd put a picture up. Even if I'm dog tired and getting over being sick. That, by the way, is why I haven't put anything up recently. Seriously, I hate getting sick. It just hits my lungs first and it's ridiculously difficult to get rid of anything.

But, hi! That's me! Brooke Harding, in the flesh. Sort of. I figured you guys should know sort of what I look like in an impromptu picture (ignoring the one from Universal because ugh, I hate pictures) since I have people that actually read this. That's still just incredible to me and from so many different countries. My hat goes off to you. Well, if I was wearing a hat. You get my meaning. And just so you guys know, my eyes are actually more blue than that. They look super grey in that picture but whatever. Hi, again, friends!!

I had my first rehearsal Thursday. I was going to post something but again, Brooke was sick. It took me a little bit just because I had absolutely no idea what was going but I got into the swing of things. I nearly whacked the guy who is playing Santiago in the chest with my arm when I was feeling anger at being robbed. He figured out quickly that even though I don't do much movement normally, as soon as I start acting something out, my entire body gets used. I knew that just because of what I've done with the worlds I created in my head. I've thrown myself to the ground, I've run into trees, I get very physical for something that isn't actually happening. 

But I've also discovered how easily I feed off external emotion. I generate emotion on my own, but it is ridiculously easy for me to feed off of someone else's. Which could technically fall under the category of mob mentality but I'd like to imagine that it's just a useful acting trait. My loud voice is inherited and I've had theatre teachers ask me if I'm in theatre. I had to say no because up until this year, I was in choir. I was pretty awesome at it. My claim to performing fame at this point in my life is I have performed on stage during an actual concert with Barry Manilow. I was one of the people on a mic too. That was amazing. I'll have to do a post dedicated to that because wow. (Side note, I just ran screeching down the hall because one of the executive producers of Z Nation (my new addiction and holy crap, I sincerely want to be on it so I need to start talking to people) reblogged one of my posts on Tumblr)

I'm realizing all of these traits that I've picked up over the years and ones that I've had forever that are absolutely perfect for acting and it scares and exhilarates me all at the same time. It's that feeling you get on a roller coaster when you're looking down at a big drop. At least that's how it is for me. It's amazing. I love this feeling. 

Oh, and in case any of you were wondering, I told my parents that I a) didn't want to go into the FBI anymore which is a good thing because I couldn't emotionally take not being able to help everyone (learned that in Sociology today) and b) that I want to be an actor. Which I technically am now. They took it a lot better than I was dreading and I'm getting the familial support and that's incredibly important since part of the reason I'm doing this is so I can help my family. So that's a huge weight off my shoulders. My family knows. My grandma (it's so adorable and a little annoying) is now concerned that I'm going to be used and I'm going to start drinking and doing drugs and it just amuses me because I'm not the granddaughter that she should be worrying about. My addictions run more to books and TV and movies and video games. I don't even like how Advil makes me feel. Why on earth would I do drugs or drink alcohol?

Sorry, really tired and completely excited. I just... I know what can be and I feel like I'm not doing anything to work on it. Yeah, school is important and everything. But I really do feel like it's trying to distract me. And I'm really looking forward to Thursday nights now because I've gotten my first taste of actual acting that's not in English class (or French, but that's a whole different can of worms) and I earnestly want more. I want to break the limits of my horizons. I'm starting with The Alchemist. Who knows where I can go from here?