I hope everyone has a beautiful Christmas today. It's a time to look at your life and see if it's headed where you want it to go. I know I spent some serious time in front of the Christmas tree-altar last night, thinking about the New Year and making specific requests!
Be happy and be healthy!
Love, Claudia

...however I have not seen much of him lately. Mostly just a bunch of "House Hunters International" , the only TV show I watch (even though I can't stand the way the lady who does the voice over say's "dollars", I have no idea why it makes me crazy) while I lie on the couch and feel sorry for myself with a box of Kleenex and a pot of ginger tea.

The flu is reaching it's bitter end which is good since I work on a game Monday doing a voice match which is where I have to sound exactly like the actress who played the role in the film, sounds easy but it takes a lot of focus which is hard when you have a head which feels like it's the size of a Macy's Day Parade balloon.

I am hoping that everyone has a beautiful Christmas. I am heading off to Colorado to see family and play in the snow which will be divine since yesterday here in SoCal I was sweating in shorts and a T-Shirt! It's more than a little disconcerting to drive past a Santa melting on the street waving his Subway Sandwich advertisement board whist having the air conditioner blasting..December should be at least chilly, that's just my opinion. It's funny how many of my friends who live in California are taking their Christmas Holidays in some tropical local...I mean how much sun do you need? I could understand it if you lived in England or Alaska but California??

I have decided to try to take some nice photos this year, David has been patient with me but frankly I am not grasping the whole aperture thing..I'll have one more lesson before I leave...last year I used the little Leica you see above but this year I'm all grown up and am taking a D5000!

It's funny about learning things when you're older, I had all of these dreams about learning multiple languages, sculpting, painting and such and somehow life got in the way, well that and the fact that I have little discipline besides my work ethic and hiking. I am proud of my cooking skills but that's just because I love to cook for people and I love food, so I taught myself to cook. I suppose one has to have an incredible amount of passion in order to learn something just for the fun of learning it.
I hated school because there was nothing in it I could apply to my dream to act so what was the point in me dissecting a frog?

I am reading the unbelievably brilliant Mary Karr's LIT and she has a wonderful line in it "what hurts so bad about youth isn't the actual butt whippings the world delivers. It's the stupid hopes playacting like certainties". We all had so many dreams and plans and so many of us have had to settle out of fear or laziness into a life less colorful or imaginative than the one we saw in our mind's eye as a child.

Perhaps it's time for one more New Year's resolution. I shall endeavor to take out my guitar and make an effort to at least learn one song all the way through, then I shall finally finish learning the Moonlight Sonata on the piano.
Small ambitions to you perhaps but mighty big to me.

Happy Holidays to all of you, drive carefully please..it's crazy out there this time of year!

To all of you sci fi fans in the UK; Star Hyke is available at all HMV stores and the show's creator (Andrew Dymond) would be really chuffed if you would snap a photo of yourself outside of the HMV where you purchased the DVD set...he will then post all the pics on the Star Hyke site to see what towns people were in etc.

In other news I am on Tamiflu for this marvelous kick ass bug which has been going around so please excuse my dearth of blogging!

My offer of free photos was a great success and I continue to get about 20 pounds of mail from folks a day! My postmaster isn't terribly pleased but i have dutifully sent out each and every free 8x10 :)

I hope you are taking some time for friends and family...we don't need anymore gifts and it adds a terrible burden to the Holiday. WE need more time with the people we love, more good long talks, some nature, a break from the tediousness of our days and maybe a pat on the back from someone we love.
I think even kids would appreciate someone reading them a book as opposed to another trinket. Time together.
xx claudia

This just in from my producer Jonathan Brown:


If you post to your blog in the next few days, tell everyone to get over to the Starhyke website www.starhyke.com where they can win a framed prop from Starhyke or a copy of the DVD. I’m happy to ship the prize internationally, so anyone can enter.

Also, they can follow us on twitter (http://twitter.com/starhyke)

so once again....thank you for being supportive
xx

I think that David does a really good job of showing us wanna bees-photographers a bit about how to light something simply and elegantly.

I found a great quote today from Ruth Gordon (1896-1985)

"I wanted to be an actress in 1912; I want to be an actress today. That walk from the darkness backstage through the door or opening in the scenery where I make an entrance into the bright lights with that dim mass out beyond, which bursts into applause, then the first terrifying sound that comes out of my throat, which they describe as a voice, but that first instant it is the siren of terror and intention and faith and hope and trust and vanity and security and insecurity and bloodcurdling courage which is acting."

It makes me want to do a play again and it reminds me why I have traveled the path of the gypsy performer, it is raw and indifferent and kind and cruel and it is ME. I love my job....and that in itself is a curse and a gift.

I am also reminded of the sparse words from "Proper Library" : "I am in silent love in a loud body"...what an eloquent way to describe this need to perform.

The image is me as a Hamlet-y character re-used for this entry...thank you Ran.

:)

xx cc

here's the link to the new Star Hyke promo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJHCy4xg8k4

I know what you're thinking; why does she keep making us watch new promos and links and scenes from a series I've never even heard of??

Well, it's because of this: I cannot think of two more deserving men then Jonathan Brown and Andrew Diamond to finally catch a break. So if I have to get out there in a chicken suit and an armful of balloons then by God I will! Please support the low budget, brilliant CGI on a shoe string-endeavor which we all would like to go another season-called Star Hyke!

I saw the film "Precious" last night and it was as dark as I expected it to be but without the "hopeful" ending I had read about in reviews....I saw nothing hopeful about that kid's situation in the end.

A lot of people went on about how great Maria Carey was in the film because she is sporting a mustache and ugly clothes, I thought she was a bit over the top with the accent, etc. but then again the whole thing felt a bit contrived with the "nypd blues" camera whips and shaky hand held shots, glamourous fantasy scenes and all of that stuff. Perhaps I should have gone when I was in a different sort of mood.

It did make me appreciate my relationship with my Mother, watching a woman beat her kid for a few hours will do that to you. My Mom and I have had our problems and our times when we drifted apart. I have done things that she is not thrilled about and visa versa but the overwhelming feeling I have about her is that she is the most important person in my life and I love her with all of my heart. I speak to my Mom most everyday and we send each other little packages of books we have read and loved, chocolates or spices to cook with or something nice smelling or warm to wear.

We talk about life a lot lately, about expectations and the difficulty of enjoying life when you "want" so much more...more work, more respect, more money, freedom, friends, land, vacations, love, etc. etc. We talk about the fact that we have never been the sort of people to be able to be happy with what life has dealt us and we constantly strive for more and how really sad that is. We both try to "smell the roses" but it seems like we have not learned to just sit and "be". My Mother and I are impatient and passionate and I suppose as long as I am aware of these qualities I can attempt to relax them when they get in the way of enjoying the simple things in life. This photo was taken by David on Thanksgiving and I love it, it's a photo of my very beautiful, elegant Mother who taught me to suck every drop from life and still want more...it's a quiet, simple moment..the kind she and I keep beating ourselves up to find each day.