In need of a good weekend

Look! I'm still alive. For now at least. And I come with good news on the progression of my Junior year at New York University. I am currently sitting in on an orchestra rehearsal for "The Fix", which by the way is this killer rock musical that the NYU Steinhardt Vocal department is putting on. You all should totally come see it. It runs Sept. 30th through Oct. 4th and if you are a student it is totally worth the 5 bucks it costs to get in. You can pick up tickets from NYU Ticket Central. Do it. Tickets are selling fast and it is reserved seating. You don't wanna end up in the back of the house.

Anyway, I have two and a half more hours of rehearsal tonight so I will do my best to make this a decent update to my blog. Of course, unlike my friends, my blogs do not contain any substantial information on current events or philosophical notions, not usually.

So... Basically my days all start at 6:30 in the morning when my phone alarm rings and I quickly grab it so I don't piss off my new roommates. I have two roommates this year in the Lafayette dorm down on 80 Lafayette Street (Which is Chinatown essentially). Their names are Min and Li. Anyway, I then shower, shave, and brush my teeth. I send out any last minute e-mails and, if I have time, I watch half of some episode of whatever TV show I'm watching at the moment and run down the stairs so that I can walk the 22 minutes up Lafayette or Broadway to school or work. Either way it always starts at 8am. Monday and Wednesday I have work in the morning and on Tuesday and Thursday I have 8am Intermediate Tap dance. My Mondays are straight work and my only day off of rehearsal. In late September I'll start taking my boss's daughter to ballet at Lincoln Center. Her name is Tiffany and one of my favorite things about my job is interacting with her. (I'm a kid person. I spent my whole morning today on the train making faces at a baby). My Tuesdays and Thursdays are almost identical except that I have my voice lesson on Tuesday at 2. On those days I have 8am-9:15 Tap, 9:30-12noon Vocal Repertoire, 12:30-1:55pm Creative Movement, 3:30-4:45 I used to have Quantitative Reasoning but I just switched into a beginner computer programming class (The good thing about this is that my final will be to create a website which I'd have to do my senior year anyway for my audition workshop class and computer skills will always be applicable where statistic most likely will not serve me well in the future, at least not often). Oh! And Tuesday I also have a Music History I class that I forgot about 4:55-6:35. Not on Thursday. Wednesday I have work from 8am-3:00pm, Collegium Meeting at 3:30, and Music History III from 4:55pm-6:35. Friday I'm lucky enough just to have Tap for 2 and half hours at 4pm to 6:30pm. And every day but Monday I have rehearsal 6:30pm to 11:30pm. On the weekends I have rehearsal from 10am to 6pm. Although tonight I came in late by 4 hours and I'm staying through the orchestra rehearsal until 10:30 so I can clean u for the classes that come in here tomorrow.

If you didn't already see or you are a new viewer I am currently the ASM (Assistant Stage Manager) for "The Fix". I share this job with two other wonderful people, Megan and Drew. So basically I just stick around until someone needs me to run an errand. Usually Alix Claps (Production Stage Manager), John Simpkins (Director), or Stan Tucker (Music Director).

As for my job, I am currently a personal assistant for a professor at the Silver School of Social Work. For this job I do basically everything from grading papers to booking flights to editing video to analyzing quantitative data to writing abstracts and presentations to editing to making copies and to random tasks whenever they are needed (such as writing a Last Will and Testament and filling out Tax Return forms). You know, all those terrible things that you have to do as a personal assistant. But I don't hate my job. On the contrary I love to be busy, I'd rather be doing work then sitting home in my room doing nothing (watching tv on megavideo). And lord knows I need the money.

Also, for the year I've made a list of resolutions. Although I hate using that term because I feel like it will be unlucky in success. So lets call them goals for the new year. I hope to make calendars to post in my room so that I can keep track of myself. I know that nothing can be fully changed right away. It's a gradual process. Benjamin Franklin did the same thing, keeping track of every time he screwed up on achieving his goals so that he could compare and see his progress from month to month. So wish me luck on those. I can clue you in on some of them in a later post I suppose. I'll have plenty of rehearsal time to work on this.

Anyway, so I guess this is good night. I'm on to other things on the internet. I'll talk to you later.

Also!!! I've been trying to listen to a new musical soundtrack every two days. I've gotten through quite a few so far and I'll probably start using this blog to write reviews for them.

And I am looking into transferring my blog over to wordpress instead of using blogger. Let me know how you feel about this.

Except you Ani. I already know how you feel. Thank you.

'Night

-Zach

New York City in the summer

Yes, that is correct. I am back in the city. Yay! So... I am currently working on the NYU Steinhardt production of "The Fix" which is a politically based rock musical. So far I'm loving it. I'm just an Assistant Stage Manager but it is better that other jobs I've had in the past. Hell. It's better than the job I have now. I still work at the Silver School of Social Work and on my first day back my boss had me write a project report for her that ended up being 18 pages and took me 5 hours to create. And then another to hours to cut this down to 13.5 pages. So that is my lovely job as of late.

This Year I get to live in Chinatown which is fun. ... Not really. I have a 22 minute walk to campus and I know that will be hell when it starts to snow. Luckily I can make 22 into 16, I'm a fast walker. And my mother is still running for city commision and teaching music at a high school in Ponte Vedra (Although she is short on intstruments and pianos and books and chairs, etc.), my dad is working full time as a teacher and part time as a private instructor, my older brother is finishing up his last semester in college, and my younger brother is on the start of his senior year. The fun part about that is that I get to help him with all his college applications. Yay again!

Well, I had planned out like 20 posts while I was at home and never actually got to typing them up so I'll have to catch up at some point but I just wanted to make sure that everyone knew I was still trying to keep this alive. Hope everyone's summers were fantastic and I'll be seeing you all soon I'm sure. Good night!

-Zachary Longstreet

Stuck In North Carolina and out of Spain

So... I have to end up saying that I actually miss Spain. I mean, when I think of it I don't really miss the people or the food or really anything like that. I just miss the relaxed feeling of the city. Of the country really. I really wish i had had the opportunity to stay and hang around the country for a week or so. But alas, life waits for no man and I had to come home to start on the rest of it.

Currently I am stuck in North Carolina, which really isn't a bad thing except that I have no phone signal and the only time I have internet is when i go into town, 20 minutes away, to the cafe. But I really do love it here. My dad and I are building a deck and we're having a nice dinner every night and watching older flicks. I come back to Florida on Tuesday and then I can contact anyone I want to. Any time. Which is good because I have had to do a hundred and one emails to the school and financial aid over the past couple of days. So I can't wait to get all of that over with and do everything else that has had the patience to wait for me while I was away.

Also, I'll go ahead and let everyone know that I will be moving back to New York on August 22nd. I have to move back early because I am working on the Fall Steinhardt show "The Fix". This means that even though I will be in the city I will be in rehearsal all day and most likely will not be able to hang out very often if at all. And this will follow all the way to the end of September. Starting at the beginning of the school year I will be going to school or work from 8am until 6:35pm Monday through Friday and then going to rehearsal from 7pm to 11pm and then I have a 25min walk home. And on weekends I'll have rehearsals from 10am to 6pm. And I will still be helping my mother with running her campaign back home in my free time. So I hope I do get to see you all this semester. I will do my best and I hope you guys will give me a little leniency on this. I promise I am not avoiding you! I'm very excited to be so busy. Cross your fingers that I pull it off well.

Finally, I just wanted to state my new goal for the year and I will later expand upon it. My goal for the year is to be more open and friendly. I want to make friends with the people that I am in class with. They are all good people and I've been too busy to get to know them very well. But this year I want to make the time and stop being so anti-social.

-Zach

Anyway, I'll talk to you guys soon I'm sure. Have a great evening.

Friends

So... In a last desperate attempt to avoid doing my Spanish essay for tomorrow I will go ahead and start the blog that I've been planning to write.

I'll start off saying that I am currently in Madrid, Spain on a 6 week study abroad for NYU. So far I am having a great experience and I'm doing reasonably well in my intensive Spanish class. And to my surprise, I have also made a lot of new friends, which is what this particular blog post will be about once I actually get to the point. Other than that though, my life is rather good at the moment. My mother just found out that she got hired for the new music position at Ponte Vedra High School which is awesome news. Also, my brother Josh just got a his old part-time job at Publix back for the summer and my younger brother, Max, just ended a wrestling summer camp and is now about to head off to New York City for a film acting workshop with NYU Tisch. Hopefully this will be another great opportunity for him to learn and grow in order to prepare for college auditions. On top of that, my mother is running for City Commissioner for the city of St. Augustine Beach and has just started campaigning. So all in all I'm doing swimmingly. So here comes the odd part...



I feel extremely odd about my life here in Madrid, even though it has only been 4 weeks. And the reason I feel so odd is because I actually have friends here which is not that common for me. Now, I'm telling you... I'm not being down on myself or sending a warning to these people that I'm some sort of weirdo. It's just that... During the year I go to class early in the morning and go to one after the other to then go to work until rather late hours and then usually go to some sort of internship or show rehearsal or some work related event. That is how that last two years of my life have been spent. And I haven't had the time to go gallivanting off with people to have fun or talk or even to have lunch. So I find it really odd to think that I actually have free time and that, with that free time, there are people who actually want to spend time with me. That is the whole reason that I have only been hanging out with Kadeen and Ani and how we became so close. We have our long exhausting day and just need to come back to the dorm and chill. And after a while, after people ask you to come to lunch once or invite you to a party that you can't attend they stop asking and they stop inviting and eventually stop talking to you thinking that you don't want t get to know them or want to be their friend.

I find it really strange that people want to have lunch with me or want to be my friend. And I find it extra strange how most of us reacted to it. Along with the accelerated program, our friendships have been accelerated to beyond what would be expected after 3 or 4 weeks. And it makes it even harder to believe that someone would like me period at this point. I mean, with everything that I have shared about myself and how I act. Speaking of which...

Because I haven't been around friends a lot recently I have been a very flustered person around these people. (I'm saying these people as if it isn't likely that I'm probably referring to one of you readers). The first week I wasn't really able to contain myself. I felt like I was in high school senior year again. And I was hugging people and flirting with people and slapping people on the back and telling dirty/silly jokes and hopping around the room like a fool. I suddenly forgot all the rules that I had put up for myself on how to behave around people. So I'm sure that I looked exactly like that, a fool. I know that that kind of behavior is off and makes people uncomfortable. And yet people stayed there. After that I calmed down a bit in my actions at least, although I probably still do much more than is necessary. And then I moved on to telling everyone my life story and asking them questions about their life story. And of course I told more than I should have (although I was able to avoid some good ones along the way by sneaking away from the initial conversation) and I pried for information that wasn't right for me to have asked for. And yet they stayed. And then it got to the point where I see that people are able to talk and so I initiate conversations. I text random people or facebook or AIM or call them. And I do it more frequently than I should. And I'm sure I've freaked out at least one of them and appeared desperate for attention. Truth is, out of all of this, I have just forgotten what it is like to have friends and how to act around them. And yet, they have all stayed so far...

And besides how much that has scared me so far, some of us have talked about hanging out in the future. Like back at NYU in the fall future. And I think at first it felt like a half heart invitation on the not so likely possibility. But now it seems that some of them are really as serious as I am in suggesting it. There are people who actually want to hang out with me in New York City, where they actually have communication with their own friends and family and most likely have no need of one more. And I am terrified that it won't happen. That they're not serious or that I'll go back to my life of "not being able to" until I am once again forgotten. And will I even realize that it is happening as college is passing me by?

This blog has suddenly taken a turn for the morbid and is definitely going much further than I originally had intended. In fact it has probably become the next step of awkwardness that I am going through in my friendships with these people. But all I can really do is thank them and wish it the best. And wish them the best as the next few weeks trudge onward. And I'd like to specifically acknowledge some people who I became friends with really quickly and who have stuck through the last couple of weeks with me and my oddities. Starting with Liza, Mikey, Francis, and Sophia. And of course my two best friends in the Big Apple, Kadeen and Ani. It's been a freaky couple of weeks and I think you guys for being patient and letting me get away with it for a while.

I'm on the verge of not posting this when I consider how much more awkward this makes it but either way way I guess we'll always end up the way that we are meant to. See you guys in class tomorrow and thank you everyone else for sitting through another random tirade about my life. Although I definitely think this fits the name Little Otter.

Until next time.

The first post of my new blog

Hey!

So this is the first blog post of my new official blog... I have attempted to blog before on myspace and livejournal and neither of those attempts were very successful, nor did they last very long. So here I am to start anew. The point of this is to be a sort of online journal for me when ever I feel like I need to write something and don't have the creative power to put it into something that would probably be more productive. Plus I'm sort of jealous of other people who actually have blogs that they can keep track of. Let's see... Where to start? Ah, yes. Why not introduce myself with an extended version of my "About Me"

My name is Zachary Longstreet, most people choose to call me Zach and it is really no problem for me which you would like. I've also had a myriad of other nick names that we won't go into today. I have a really low self esteem and believe several different, contradicting things about myself at any given time. I believe that I’m a rather average person person on the whole and pretty boring, at least when you first get to know me. I also believe that I have lived a fascinating life that one day I might be able to use to entertain others. Sometimes I do now but I am very insecure about my past and, although I am an over trusting person, you can bet that I'm hiding something from you because I have this idea that people will use information against me (which I have realized that they do). I have pretty extreme paranoia at times and if you hang around me enough you will realize how superstitious I really am, I'm just good at hiding it. I'm also a very gifted liar. Most of my lies will come out on impulse and I'll have to retract my statement and start over when I'm telling a story. Of course when I tell people that they automatically believe that any story I tell is a direst lie when, in fact, the more it is about my specific life and the more interesting it is the more likely it is probably true. I have lived a lot of life for a 20 year old (in my opinion) and I have a lot of anecdotes. I'll warn you though that if you ask be ready for a storm full because I can be kind of resentful about some of it.

On a better note, I just recently evolved back into a pescatarian after being a vegetarian for four years (previously having been a pescatarian for the 12 years before that). I also have more allergies than you could count on your fingers or toes combine. My main three of these (as far as food goes) are oranges, garlic, and pork. But even though I have these allergies I do not refrain from consuming/being around them (except for orange). What would life be life without ice cream and kittens?

Anyway, I am currently a Vocal Performance major with a focus in Music Theatre at New York University Steinhardt. I have a love for many things, most predominately kayaking, cannolis, art, and animals. I recently finished a Directing Internship for BILLY ELLIOT at the Imperial Theater on Broadway in New York City. And currently I am a personal assistant to Dr. Yuhwa Eva Lu, professor of ethno-cultural social work at the NYU Silver School of Social Work. I also do my best to take on other opportunities that come near, especially ones involving theater or music. I continue to participate and volunteer for activities with St. Johns County Center for the Arts, St. Augustine Beach Arbor Day Committee, The NYU Steinhardt Players Club, Steinhardt Music And Theater, Boy Scouts of America, the St. Augustine High School Wrestling Team, and various other groups on and off.

When I am in Florida and not in the NYC I live with my mother, Hester Longstreet, one of the brightest stars in my life, and my dad, Michael Longstreet, one of my biggest supporters in my musical journey. Both of them are music teachers in St. Johns County. Also, I have 3 brothers (2 blood and 1 adopted) Max(17) and actor at SJCCA, Josh(22) a Bio major at FSU, and Erick Hagen(21) an Assistant Manager at Staples and student at FSCJ. My best friends are Riley Keshner(20) who just graduated from Full Sail University for Digital Art and Design, Kadeen Griffiths who is a Journalism major and avid movie/television fan, and Ani Alexander who is a Journalism and Politics major, workaholic, and coffee addict. Erick, Riley, and I have been friends for 4 years now and are founding members of the Klazotskis. Kadeen and Ani are fellow NYU students and we will be celebrating our 2 year friendship anniversary this September. We are three founding members of the Diversiteam at NYU. Both groups are very differnt and I love them both, and the four people that make them exist, for accepting me into their worlds.

My favorite poets include Dylan Thomas, Pushkin, and Li Bai, each for different reasons. My favorite artists are Goya, Greco, Picasso, and Wolf Vostell. I love al types of music. Yes... Even country and even rap, my favorites being Rascal Flatts and Reba McEntire for country and Lightfoot for rap. I also love Dean Martin, Jack's Mannequin, Billie Holiday, Journey, Gershwin, and Ottmar Liebert. My favorite movie is Stand By Me because my brothers and I can each identify with one of the four characters as much as we hate seeing some of our worst traits in them. Favorite authors include Gregory Maguire and Scott O'Dell. The first being an adult fiction writer and the later being a young adult writer that I read when I was younger. I'd like to believe that I would still love his work even 9-11 years down the line. I don;t have a favorite color, just a bunch of colors that I like in certain shades. I also love politics and culture. I could spend hours just listening to someone talk about religion or cultural influences or political drama. Although I would probably start to argue on the later, even if I support it (I like to play devil's advocate just to see how much thought and study someone has put into something). Nothing makes me more angry than someone who would persecute or accuse another person without trying to see the other side of the coin. Well... That and still frame shots at the end of televisions shows or movies. Those make me crazy.There's just no point to them! They're retarded!!! I mean, really! Who wants to see Fran Drescher's face in wide, gaping laughter for a whole 3 minutes as the credits role by?!? ... Speaking of which... I tend to convert to escapism when I actually have free time and my favorite thing to do with this time is watch fictional tv shows. I watch everything from dance contests to sci-fi to spy flicks to teen shows to anime to the History Channel (one of my favorites). And when I feel up to it and no one is around I put on a good song and I just dance. I can dance for hours, alone in my room...

As far as the future goes I have a dream of being a director and either owning my own theater or being the head of a high school for the fine/performing arts. Of course, before all of that I want to be on Broadway, working backstage and on stage and maybe win a Tony or 2 while I'm at it. It'll be a lot of work, but if you know me at all you’ll know that I will always work my rear end off for what ever I set my mind to. For now my passion is performing and I spend a lot of time practicing to be the best I possibly can be.

I also am an American Indian (one quarter if you really wanna get specific) and spent a good amount of my childhood on a Cherokee state reservation in Georgia. I get my heritage from my mother who got it from both of her parents (although technically it passes down the female line since the Cherokee are a matriarchal society). I have a tattoo on my ankle of a mountain lion paw print with the Cherokee letters for tlv-dat-tsi (mountain lion). I got this because the mountain lion is one of my spirit animals and represents the strength and courage that I need to bring into my life in order to be a great leader. I am of the Wind Clan and therefore will be ever-changing and will one day carve a legacy in a world of earth and fire.

I would like to go further and show my excitement about other events that are currently going on but I'll save them for a post where they could be better highlighted. If you made it this far than thank you very much and I hope you will choose to continue reading my further posts. :D Talk to you again soon!