Just Keep Swimming, Just Keep Swimming....

So call-backs went well ...NOT. No, there is no story about how I tripped over my own feet again - there's actually no story at all because I couldn't make it to call-backs and no one bothered to tell me that no alternative arrangements could be made even though the director said they could blaaarggghhhh. I was supposed to reschedule the audition for today but I checked the cast list this morning and everything's done, before I even got my second shot. It's not a huge deal that I'm not in the show; the reason I'm pissy is the reason WHY. They told me they could schedule me in some other time if I couldn't make it to call-backs on Sunday, but they never got back to me about it and went ahead and cast the show anyway. Here I am memorizing the scenes I needed to do and singing the songs in my head for the audition and nothing's going to come of it. Timing, AGAIN (or perhaps, in this case, simple unprofessionalism?). From now on, whenever I audition for anything, I'm going to cancel all other commitments for weeks so that I can fit into the show's schedule because that seems to be the only way I can get myself a part in a play or musical or what-have-you so I can be on stage.

Since I've got all this free time sans-musical now, I can go ahead and keep trucking along with the other things I wanted to do this semester. I'm still pursuing voice lessons though I haven't had a full one since my first assessment nearly two weeks ago. My singing voice didn't up and leave my sorry ass behind after all it seems, but after being sick and talking all day at the Universities Fair on Friday, I still sound like steel wool in human form (thanks Alex, for that astute observation).

I'll also be spending lots of time in the pool this term as I really want and need to learn how to swim. My first self-lesson is tomorrow and I've got some friends who offered to help me out later on. Swimming is a pretty important life skill for some, but seeing as I've never lived near swimmable water it wasn't a big deal to me as a kid. Now that I'm a big beach bum who's been introduced to snorkeling, surfing and other boat-type sports, I've realized that I need to be able to survive if I like being on and in the water so much. Truthfully, here's the thing: I joined the kayaking association on campus. The white-water kayak association. I know, I never saw myself doing something like this either, but what the hey. I'm all for new and unexpected things.

I went kayaking for the first time on Cape Breton Island during my family road trip out east over the summer and I loved it. I'd only ever been canoeing before and kayaking was this new, ultra-cool thing. Little did I know... what I did then was sea-kayaking - the kayaks are longer with a rudder and peddles to control them and you use them on lakes and generally calm water settings. What I'm doing now is with white-water kayaks that are super short and used on rapidly-flowing, generally very angry rivers and such. There is no way I'm going into white-waters without knowing how to get the hell out. So, swimming lessons, here I come.

During the first kayak session last week, one of the instructors was having some fun with me and tossed my kayak around, threatening to tip me over. "Don't do that! I don't know how to swim!"

"You don't know how to swim?! *pause* Then what the hell are you doing here?!?"

I survived the session anyway because I know how to, as I call it, "survival swim". Throw me into some water and I'm fairly certain that I can get out, though not gracefully. What I need to work on is getting rid of the anxiety that comes with being near the deep end and having the confidence to brave a surprise push over the edge of the pool. Also, knowing how to tread water might help too. You will be proud to know that I do know how to do a successful wet-exit (when you tip over upside down into the water and no one's around to help you back upright) despite not being a swimmer. I'm working on my hip-flicks so that I can do a roll as opposed to just getting out of the kayak and leaving it upside down in the water. The way I see it, at least it's not me that's floating upside down in the water.
9:40 pm