Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Hi. My name is Alycia and I am addicted to extracurricular activities.

I really think the title says it all, but seeing as how this is a blog and er'rythang, additional details are probably warranted.

You know that friend everyone has who's always running around like a crazy-escaped-from-a-mental-institution-person because s/he is so busy s/he barely has time to breathe/sleep/eat/pee?  You know, the one you want to just smack around a little bit so so s/he'll become slightly disoriented and stop moving long enough for you to have a decent conversation about more than just "OMG I'M SOOO BUSY I NEED CAFFEINE SO I CAN FINISH MY 200 HOUR WORKDAY BEFORE GOING TO METALWORKING CLASS FOR 15 HOURS STRAIGHT!!!"

You know who I'm talking about.

Me.  *hangs head in shame*

I should probably start by blaming my mother explaining that, as a small child, I was...encouraged to participate in a plethora of activities outside of school.  Here's a nice little list of examples:

1)  I started dancing at age 2.  I was in the Worcester Youth Ballet by age 10 and performed in The Nutcracker twice before I hit puberty.  Winner.

2)  I started playing the violin at age 3.  You could wear big-kid underwear and not shit in your diaper?  Yeah, well I was playing Mozart.  Fuck you.

3)  I started playing the piano at age 4.  Sensing a pattern yet?  Apparently I was a musical goddamned prodigy at the piano.  Almost went into the Conservatory instead of high school. (<----not my idea, btw)

4)  I started horseback riding at age 5.  I was in my first horse show at the tender age of 6.  I won both my classes.  Under ALL the judges.  I still have the trophies.  Pathetic?  Maybe a little.

5)  Joined the Worcester Youth Symphony Orchestra at age 10.  Second violin, first chair.  Age 10.  Almost went to school for violin too, but apparently I was better at piano.

6)  Mental breakdown at age 12.  couldn't....handle...all...the activities.  Quit everything except horseback riding since that was the ONLY thing I hadn't been "encouraged" to do.

Keep in mind that I did all of the aforementioned crap simultaneously.  As in I went to school (where we had to perform in concerts and yearly musicals from grades 3-6 also), then went to my other school and did all of that every day.  Except the horses part...that was at a barn, but moving right along...

Fast forward to senior year of high school.  My main activity outside of school has been horseback riding and I've been doing pretty damn well at it.  The highlight of my show career hit my junior year when I ranked 5th in my age category in the US and Canada.  Mel wasn't kidding when she said I rocked my extracurriculars.

Anyways, senior year hits and I've realized that I can sing.  Pretty well, too.  So I join chorus.  I audition for the select chorus and make it into that too.  I audition for Central District and make it in.  My score qualifies me for All State auditions, which I also make.  I also get cast as leads in both straight plays and the musical that year. 

Fuck.

Heyy there, extracurricular activies.  It's been awhile, how ya doin'?

Move on to college.  I join the Rowing team, which succeeds in eating up ALL of my free time.  All of it.  I remember one night when one of Mel's friends dropped by our house and asked if we were going out later in the evening.  We both gave her what must have been an extremely perplexed look before asking, "What exactly do you mean by 'out'?"

It was 8:30 on a Friday night.  Losers.

I graduate college, come back home to my (now retired) horse and get that fancy thing called a "real job." 

I'm so. Effing. Bored.

A year passes and I decide, Hey!  Let's go to Vet School!  One small problem, Alycia - you majored in Psychology.  That does exactly NOTHING to help you get into vet school.  Congratufuckinlations, you get to go back to school so you can go back to school. 

I start taking night classes 4 nights a week, which succeeds in eating up my "free" time.  I feel more normal, having less of this extra time on my hands. 

Soon though, it just isn't enough. 

I get the acting bug again.  A friend of mine from high school founded a theater company, so I start helping out with that on occaision.  I audition for a show and get cast.  I remember that I LOVE acting/singing/dancing/being musical and mentally start pummeling my existence into nothingness for quitting everything a decade ago.  I audition for MORE shows, which eats up MORE of my time.  I am content.

I get a new horse.  Now I have something to show again, so there goes some of that other time I had lying around. 

I decide, HEY!  Ballroom Dancing looks like FUN!  So I take a lesson at a studio near my house to see if I like it.  Surprise, surprise - I'm hooked. 

That brings us up to the present where on any given week I work 40+ hours in my pharmaceutical research job, take a night class at Harvard, have two Ballroom lessons, rehearse for my current show, ride my horse when weather permits and somewhere in there run errands and sleep and stuff.

Anyone in need of a hobby?  I have enough to keep a small city entertained for years.

3 comments:

  1. + you can now add blogging to your list of things you probably don't have time for. Wow though! I am probably on the opposite scale of things in that I only did very few activities growing up (horseriding was one of them though).

    These days I try to do more personal activities that don't have other people relying on me so that if I fail, I'm the only one disapointed.

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  2. Fair point on the disappointment aspect. I have unfortunately just become so accustomed to doing too much that when I do finally get the chance to just sit and relax, I either find myself being completely useless for days on end, or I become a heinous bitch because I'm bored to tears. Not the healthiest life pattern haha.

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