Part 1 - Surfing

Hello lovely people,

Only 12 more days until this year is a memory, and there's so much dancing around my head as it draws to a close that I'm going to do something I've never done before - a two-part newsletter. Yes a tad self-indulgent perhaps (!), but I do love writing to you all and the end of a year is always a very reflective time. Better to break it up than having you scrolling forever. =)

I have fallen in love - my sister bought my dad a new puppy for his retirement last January, and I am completely, shamelessly smitten with her. As a result I have been forcing her picture on all of my friends and co-workers. Her name is Rosa (I named her after Rosa Parks and my late grandma Rose) and she's the most perfect baby yellow lab in the world, but she's not quite a baby anymore! She just turned one and no longer looks like a puppy. She looks like a - well - dog. I truly believe that she may have the cutest face on the planet. (Note to all: When you get a Retriever, be prepared to have her constantly retrieving things that you didn't ask for.) She also has entirely too much energy and thoroughly enjoys jumping on people and trying to eat everything she sees. "Rosa! That's not your bone! That's the remote control! Rosa chew your toy, not my toes! Rosa put down those boots! " Oh well. At least she's not pooping & diddling in the house the way she used to. When she curls up in her bed and looks up at me, I'm done for. Putty. A puddle of melted cheese.

I was recently a featured vocalist on the upcoming album by Toronto band Lovejoy. The tunes are fiercely catchy and I think the CD's gonna kick. It was fun in the studio because I got to do what I don't do nearly enough, which is really rock out. Ah, what a good place to put all my suppressed rage! I also got to do something that I do in my sleep, harmonize. I barely even recall singing melodies to songs on the radio past the age of about 12. I remember being in about grade seven and wondering why I was bothering to sing the same part as the person on the recording when they were already singing it... I am a self-professed Harmony Ho - give me any melody line and I'll do it!

I decided that this year was going to be the one in which I dared to do things that I secretly longed to do within the artistic sphere but hadn't the bravery to try. I've been doing it, and the universe seems to be rewarding me for the effort. I am loving my Theatre program so much and it feels like such a natural fit that I can't even imagine myself not having begun it. It's like surfing and stumbling upon the biggest and most beautiful wave... I know though that had I not lost my job early this year I probably wouldn't have felt the intense desire that I did to unearth more of myself. I'd have continued to audition for things for fun, but I certainly wouldn't have discovered the amazing level of belief in my work that I found in my instructors and fellow actors. I had an amazing semester that just ended, playing characters in Proof, Night of the Iguana, Brighton Beach Memoirs and getting to perform an absolutely wicked monologue from The Accused. Then there was Improv, all about creating something out of nothing. They use two very different parts of your brain and it's a total rush going back and forth.

I realize that I'm simply an artist who craves more colours in her palette. Aren't we all? I believe that every other artistic endeavour I embrace will make me a better songwriter and a better vocalist, because each one will create a more experienced human being. And what is songwriting if not putting the life experienced to music? Although I still have a lot to learn and much growing to do, I'm beginning to truly feel like an actress now, in my veins, and I didn't a year ago. I can't even begin to explain what that does to my blood. Everyone needs a feeling like that. It should be a New Year's promise made to yourself. Find your wave.

So ends Part I,
Tanisha