I remember in First Year Acting at York our instructor made us keep a journal in which we were meant to record our answer to the following daily question:
What was my risk today?
HAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!! Oh, theatre school - the four year wank fest of life. GOD, I loved it!
At first, I took this assignment very seriously. What WAS my risk today? It was first year university and I went to a school where I knew no one - as a shy nerd, risks came thick and fast at the beginning of the term.
Was my risk trying to make friends with someone new? Asking the scary Pasta Pronto employee to please not ash in my linguini? Wearing my Disney Villains t-shirt without knowing if the other students would know I was being ironic?
It all seemed very dire. But as the term progressed, my risk taking also progressed - in a creative sense. While the first month or so had entries like:
"My risk today was waving hello at Michelle, even though we only talked for a minute yesterday. She smiled and waved back and it made my day. Somehow, in the course of waving, I managed to scratch the inside of my nostril really hard [this is true - I still have no idea how this happened but I had a nose-blood stain on the cuff of my jacket for years later] and my nose just started gushing blood. It was really cathartic."
by the end of the term, my journal went more like:
"My risk today was walking down the stairs at Winters College without holding the railing. There were some dicey moments, but I got down okay."
or
"My risk today was that the date on my milk was April 4 but today is the 6th. I drank it anyway. Now the whole dorm is saying that their risk today is going into the bathroom after I've just been in there."
For a guy who now makes his living in funny t.v. commercials, my acting teacher didn't really have a sense of humour. I believe I got a C+. That's right - I WAS ROBBED.
After a weekend of extreme theatre nerdishness, I've been reminiscing about my university experience and specifically the "risk" exercise. I decided I should start cataloguing my daily risks.
I took a few risks yesterday - I applied for a couple of Fringes, let the dog paw at the bushes even though the bitchy Park Services guy was working 20 feet away and - and this is the BIG one - waited until we were on the last roll of toilet paper before going to the Costco for more.
I know! It's like non-stop action over here! Taking risks is fun! In fact, I'm already planning my risk for tomorrow - wearing my new jeans WITHOUT WASHING THEM FIRST. Stay tuned!
You can get in on this action too, people. What was your risk today?
