Vintage Lynchburg

Vintage Lynchburg is a festival downtown where local businesses all gather together in downtown Lynchburg to show off their products. While I was there I didnt really buy anything but took the opportunity to watch all of the interesting people who normally find them selves downtown and other who were just there for the festival. What I Mostly noticed was that there was a very distinct difference between Lynchburg Locals and everyone else mainly college students. It was very apparent that many of the elderly, and by that I mean forty and over, were not to happy that the festival was so crowded with so many from the younger generations. And you could see it in there posture and in the way they would talk to others and members of there group. Its nice to learn how to read people especially when there upset because it will help you gauge how to enter a conversation or not to start one at all.

Bachelor Party

A friend of mine from is getting married and so as custom he wants to go out and have some time with his friends before the big day. He chooses to go white water rafting of all things so we went to the white water center in NC. It was a pretty fun trip I guess. I dont consider myself a close friend of his more of just a high school friend who still keeps in touch. So most of the time I hung back and observed the rest of the group. He has a guy who he considers his best friend and he also has an older brother and I think it was very interesting to watch the dynamic of those relationships because it almost seemed they were both fighting for the number-one spot the whole time. I mostly observed it whenever we would walk around and they would both try to get by his side and steel his attention. I definitely learned the importance of being close to what you consider is important to you on stage shows even when you think it doesnt.

The Wedding

Last weekend I went to the wedding of the high school friend who I mentioned above. Over all it was a pretty short wedding. To me the most interesting this was me as a person treating it like it was some sort of theater show. There were parts when it would drag on to long and I would think to myself man the need to pick up the pacing here or they could cut out part of this song. It made me realize also how much in theater we cut out all of the unnecessary parts of events to cater to the emotions of those watching. Because if we truly showed real life events it would be a lot of waiting for something to happen.

The reception

The reception to the wedding I attended was an hour away in Roanoke, which no one quite understood, but no one questioned to the familys. My favorite part of any party is when the music plays and the dance floor is opened up. I consider myself a pretty good dancer but I usually like to watch everyone else struggle with whether or not to dance before I jump in. As soon as music starts people find something to distract them as if they never knew dancing had started. The one by one people enter the floor and those people then turn there attention to the dance floor and participate by watching others dance which makes them feel included. Id say I learned most that when people feel insecure they look for something to hide behind whether its sitting at a table, or talking to a person, etc.

The Secrete Garden

Over the weekend went to see the secrete garden at the LU tower theater. I normally try to just focus on the show but Of course I cant help people watching before the opening speech is made. What I realized is how people think they become invisible when in a large crown. I saw people do the weirdest things. I saw one guy sneeze into his hands and then look around and then wipe it onto his cloths then shake hands with another guy saying hi to him. I saw a couple being very physical, to much for the setting I think, I saw people doing the weirdest thing they would never do in a smaller setting of people. I guess I learned you can apply thins to scenes when you do have large crowds of people to bring more life to the scene instead of everyone just starring at the stage.

Starbucks on Wards Road.

I used to work at the Starbucks on wards road in high school and so I will stop in occasionally to say hi to old friends that still work there. This one time I came in you could just feel tension in the room. Also I noticed a group of middle-aged adults walking around the store inspecting everything. I went to the counter and asked my friend Nathan what was going on and he whispered back that people were visiting them from corporate and everyone was freaking out. SO I sat down and observed the rest of the visit. You could see that every barista was very uncomfortable and very tense by the way they were moving and standing. And the majority of there focus was taken of customers and put on the corporate workers. It is cool to see how people will change here whole body when someone they considerer powerful enters a room.

Hallway at Lu

I was leaving class one day and I passed by a couple talking by a doorway. I could tell something was up by the way they were standing so I ease dropped and walked a little slower to get some context. The girlfriend was telling accusing him of cheating on her with another girl and the guy was not having it. She seemed very self aware and he seamed where confident in his posture and speech when he gave his rebuttal. Its interesting to see how you can tell a relationship between two people just by how there standing next too each other.

The drive thru at Starbucks

I work at the Starbucks on Boonsboro and there was this one time where a woman and her husband came in through the drive thru and you could immediately tel that something was not right. The womans posture was slouched and she had red cheeks and she had on sunglasses. The man was facing away from the woman and he had an Ipad out and was playing a game. It was very easy to tell without even hearing dialogue that they had been in a fight and the man had said something hurtful and did not want to speak up to apologies so instead he pulled out a distraction and checked out. While the woman not wanting to be seen crying put on sunglasses and tried to act normal. Its weird to see just how much you can tell about a relationship just by how people are sitting in a car.

The downtown mall in Charlottesville

There is a very nice outdoor shopping mall in Charlottesville about an hour away from here. I was there a couple of weeks ago with a friend of mine and she of course dragged me into all of these womans clothing stores where I was made to sit and wait for her to try on cloths. One store we went to was interesting because the girls working wee pretty cute but also it was funny to see how they were talk to each other and how they would talk to there costumers. There tone of voice would raise and they would should a lot less genuine when talking to people who came in and then they would talk very relaxed and use more slang when talking to one another. Its interesting to see how we change our vocal pitch and mannerisms when trying to come across as welcoming and friendly.

Auditions

When I was doing dance auditions for LCAs high school show it was very interesting to watch all of the different groups that were there. The seniors all sat in the back and were much more relaxed as opposed to the younger kids who were upfront or to the sides and were on the edge of their seats and very tense. It was interesting to tell that you could pretty much see what was going on in there minds just by how they were sitting.

Open mic night

Liberty host open mic night about once a month by the Tilly I went to one last month because I had a friend playing. It was fun to people watch and see all the different kinds of people who where attending. One thing I could tell since I got there pretty early was watching people who came in and sat down alone looked very uncomfortable and the when there friends got there they loosened up a lot and you could tell they were much more at ease. Its interesting to see how much more self aware people are when they are alone as opposed to having people to talk to. Its why we try to focus on partners in acting so that we can escape our own thought and stop trying so much and being self aware.