Personal Diagnostics. No Doctor Required.

   It's currently 1:38 P.M. I'm sitting in my empty dorm room listening to the sweet sounds of the soundtrack from Guardians of the Galaxy and thinkin'. I never realized how wonderful it can be to sit down for a little bit and check in with myself to see how I'm doing. I don't do it nearly enough, and it's terrible!

Me on Tuesday Nights

  "So Brendon, what are you thinking about?" Oh, well thank you so much for asking! Right now I'm thinking about Rabbit Hole rehearsal last night. It didn't go bad, but it wasn't great either. I suppose I could word it as, it wasn't the best run I've ever had and it feels like I took a couple steps back. It wasn't anything to major. I simply relapsed into some of the old mistakes I made earlier in this rehearsal process and it took a toll on me. I know that I can't focus solely on these mistakes however...that way madness lies. I also need to acknowledge the fact that some things went great last night! The way that I highlight these things are in personal diagnostics. I actually dress up in a white lab coat and hold a stethoscope to my chest. (Just kidding....only on Tuesdays). Personal Diagnostics are just simply going over in your head what went well and what you could improve on. (I never say what went wrong, Opens up the door to victim land).

THINGS THAT WENT WELL 

• I showed up with a positive, go get em' attitude 
• My line delivery in my first scene was a lot less fragmented
• I finally got to the softness for one of my lines that I had struggled with (Can't tell you which one...Don't want to spoil anything for ya!)
• I filled up my water bottle with Gatorade before the run, so I got that little bit of deliciousness in my life 
• I had a ball spending my time backstage by dancing to Pitbull, MayDay Pararde and Ariana Grande (that stays between us.) 

However, if I neglect the fact that there are still things that need to be worked on, then I'm going to halt any chance of progressing forward in this role and growing as an actor.

THINGS I NEED TO WORK ON 

• Didn't live as fully in the moment as I should have 
• How I'm Going to Solve It: I'm going to let the technical work I've done go, and work on effective listening and responding with the other character
• Fell victim to many a word burger last night
• How I'm Going to Solve It: MORE VOCAL WARM UPS!    
• Messed up on two lines 
• How I'm Going to Solve It: Rehearse the lines more! 
• Ran out of Gatorade....
• How I'm Going to Solve It: Drink slower

  All in all, it was a pretty solid run. I know that it's not the best that I could be performing at. I'm not going to let it get me down though. I can't let the fact that I'm not performing at my peak allow me to assume the role of a victim. That's the easiest way to send myself on a steady slope down from the mountain of everything I want to achieve in this role. Now's the time that I put my big boy pants on, tighten the belt and remind myself that even though I slipped and slid a little down the mountain, I'm not gonna let gravity win this one. I'm gonna push harder and make my family and most importantly, myself proud.

IMAGE: Vitro Diagnostics. Digital image. EDMA Diagnostics for Health. Med Tech Europe, 2014. Web. 5 Mar. 2015.