Springing Forward

We need to update you on so much. Last week I (Nathan) went to an audition for the production of Rent the musical which would perform in Media, PA. It would be an equity contract and it went pretty well. I sang a song, got a call-back and came back to dance. Rent isn't a 'dance' show but they wanted to see what kind of honesty we brought to the moves... really? I was so annoyed because I hate doing dance calls - they teach you soo fast and then expect you to bring some honesty to the moves? What does that even mean? I think I need Kate Al Shamma! They told us that they would give those who got the job calls later that week. I got no calls, bummer. Then I went to the EPA (Equity Principal Audition) for the National Tour of South Pacific and didn't get seen. So last week wasn't that exceptional. However, I did get a promotion for my Make painting pottery job. The manager upped my pay a little and is making me a key holder.

Sunday was spring forward which means we lose an hour. Whitney and I didn't realize this until we woke up and noticed that our cell phones were an hour ahead. Thank God our cell phones pick up the time digitally! We were determined to get up and go to church but the weather was awful. Walking in the rain with high winds in New York inquires to get completely soaked even with an umbrella. So we ended up sleeping in another 2 hours. Sunday was a great day because we welcomed Aunt Teddie and Abby into our home. They have stayed with us this week and left today. We have loved spending time with them. For the first time since moving here, Whitney and I got to do some touristy things. We went on the Staten Island ferry and saw the Statue of Liberty; we went to the MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) and went to eat at all the great restaurants. The MoMA was soo neat! They had a Tim Burton exhibit which was of course quirky and did you know that Johnny Depp and him have done 7 movies together? Alice in Wonderland, Sweeney Todd, Corpse Bride, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Sleepy Hollow, Ed Wood, and Edward Scissorhands.
On the top floor of the museum they had what Marina Abramovic calls "The Artist is Present." This was.... weird. She had live nudist standing around and videos of nude people doing specific repetitive movements. Now, Whitney and I understood some of the experiments, completely unrelated to being nude however. In acting class we would sit across from a partner and stare into each others eyes and just breathe in the other individual. Much like this picture:

It's in the moment, they are breathing each other in and anything can happen. It is live, it is real. Open vulnerability. How often do we truly look into someone's eyes and not say anything? This is rare. Naturally, Whitney and I understood this exercise. However, the top floor was completely different.
Here are a few photos of what was happening. It was very hard to take seriously.

This literally was present! Two people completely naked
standing in a door frame and people were supposed to walk
through to get to another room. Now there was another
entrance to this room so not everyone had to take this route
but it was an option. We chose the exit sign:) The crazy thing
about all of this was that anyone with a ticket could witness
this raw art. Right when we got into these rooms Whitney says,
"it smells in here," and Abby responds with, "of course - the
naked room smells."

This was a video of
two people screaming
their heads off
at one another....

            Eating Sylvia's! Soul Southern food:) Whitney got her sweet tea!!!

 Haha! There is 21st Century for ya:)

We had such a great time with Teddie and Abby!