You can change the world…(revisited)

or at least help to change the world! On August 20, this Saturday, Yamagami’s Nursery will host a Hope Services Recycled Bike sale. Due to the success of our March collaboration, we decided it should happen again. The last sale averaged about 25-30 bikes sold in just a few hours. It was nice to see those happy faces (including mine) leaving with a “new” bike.

Now you’re probably rolling your eyes and saying, “Jery, how is a recycled bike sale going to change the world?” And to that my friends, I answer thusly:

First:

Hope Services is a wonderful organization that provides programs and services – including job training, counseling and community living — that assist more than 2,500 children, adults and seniors with developmental disabilities. When you stop by the Nursery on August 20th and purchase a lovingly refurbished recycled bicycle from Hope Services, your money goes directly to Hope Services and they can continue their work in bettering the lives of the people they work with.

Second:

When you buy a recycled bike from Hope Services, you will be helping to save the environment! Yup, you’ll be easing congestion on the road, consuming less of our limited supply of oil, and saving metal from taking up space in a landfill! The folks at Hope Services have put a lot of time and energy into bringing the bikes into tip top shape, and three or four of the display bikes have already been snapped up by Yamagami’s customers! So that’s a great indicator of what we’ll be expecting this weekend.

Third:

Save yourself a heap of money! As gas prices near the $4 mark, how many times less will you need to fill up your tank and what kind of dough does that leave in your pocket? Also, if you do use your car less and your bike more, you may want to check with your insurance agent to see if there’s a lowering of your premium since you use your car much less. I don’t know if it’ll be the case, but it doesn’t hurt you to check, right?

Fourth:

By hopping on your new bike, you are being active and making your body stronger. Bike riding can not only be beneficial as an exercise item, but also a relaxation devise as well. Did you have a stressful day? Ride a few miles uphill and you’ll probably forget all about your problems as you focus on the task at hand.

Maybe your thinking, “Jery, I have three bikes and I can only ride one!” Well, then buddy have I got a great idea for you! Why not donate your other two bikes to Hope Services? I don’t know if they could be utilized as a tax write off, but come on down to the Nursery on August 20th and talk to the people from Hope Services.

What happens if you can’t make it on the 20th but you still would like to buy a bike? Never fret, my dears, for Hope Services holds a bike sale every Friday in their warehouse in Santa Clara. You can find their address and directions on the Hope Services website at http://www.hopeservices.org

I hope we see you at the Hope Services Recycled Bike Sale on August 20th at Yamagami’s Nursery. For those that don’t know, the nursery is located at 1361 S. De Anza Blvd, right off of the 85 freeway. The sale will last from 10 am until 3 pm.

If you don’t need or want a bike, then come on down and just walk through the flowers and plants for the fun of it. You can even check out the winners of our first ever Photo Contest! The top ten photos are on display in our seminar room. I’ve got my fingers crossed that we’ll be doing that event annually. Help us support the community, just by stopping by!

Be Careful What You Wish For…

Well, I guess my “vacation” is ovah!!

Almost a month ago, I put it out there that I would love to live a more creative life.

My first step was accepting the first opportunity with an open heart and to commit to learning from that opportunity.

So, I attended a small seminar that was mainly to learn about a new way of thinking and breaking through personal subconscious barriers. The four columns that uphold this new line of thinking are quantum physics, Eastern philosophies, neuroscience and a trick or two from theatre. I am a science nerd at heart and love this sort of stuff, so if it helps with what it says it does, then great! But even if it doesn’t, I would still love to find out what these people are teaching and how these four methods are combined. There were some interesting stories that were told. My fave was about the natural mind versus the acquired mind. The natural mind is the “empty” brain that we have when we are born. The acquired mind is what we have stored in the brain through experience. They say that the majority of everything you know is learned by the time you are 7 or so. The hostess spoke of turning down more money when it was offered to her. The theory is that she had learned that she was only worth so much and wouldn’t know how to handle this new responsibility. Coincidentally, her sister was also offered a crazy good promotion and turned down the offer as well. When they finally talked about it, it turned out that both offers were much more than what their mother had made as a nurse when they were growing up. The seminar hostess made sure to tell us that both offers were made in different places and times and they hadn’t discussed it with one another at all, AND that they both talked themselves out of taking the opportunity. So the question is: is this somehow a subconscious betrayal that they’ve learned as children and did it truly affect their decision? I am so incredibly excited to be able to attend this 3day workshop at the end of the month!! What will I learn about myself that I’ve supressed? Ugh, in some ways, I don’t really want to know.

So that has become opportunity one.

Opportunity dos came in a Facebook message from the gorgeous Jillian Toby-Cummings asking if I would be interested in working on Aladdin Jr. for Theatre in the Mountains. At first, the thought terrified me. Then I thought about the seminar, so with a big inhale, I replied back saying I would be happy to do it. For a while I didn’t hear anything so I thought maybe it wasn’t going to happen. But then, I got more emails, and soon availability was talking and auditions. So now I can’t wait.

Opportunity three came via email from Nancy Kwong asking if I would be interested in being a part of the performing group at the West Valley Light Opera ERMA Awards. It’s just a song here and a dance there, so of course I’d be happy to do it. The rehearsals have been few and far between and the banquet is at the end of the month. It’s on the last day of the seminar, so I have to RUSH home and change and get to the dinner before the entertainment begins to get all situated. Boy this one is gonna be tough.

Number four: Was one that was poorly planned on my behalf. I wanted to audition for WVLO’s How To Succeed partially because I wanted to do another show, but mostly because I want to stop being so fearful at auditions. There were about a dozen auditions happening within these last two weeks that I wanted to audition for as many as I could. Turns out that the “Succeed” auditions were first. I didn’t think I was impressive in the least, but soon after the callbacks, I was being offered Bart Bratt, the Personnel Manager. Cool, but I said I’d like to get back to them because of the other auditions. The producer, Sergio Pena, is such a great guy and I get along well with him, so he made me feel like I was terrible for not doing his show. He first told me “I totally understand, what you are trying to do as far as creating a career and how it’ll affect shows, but not when it’s my show.” On top of this, he and I spoke about it over dinner one night when we were hanging out AND he said I should try to audition more outside of my little corner of comfort. So he talked me into doing the show. That clever little man! hahaha

And last but not least, number 5: I’ve been taking classes at Zohar Dance Studios for a couple of months now. I guess every year during Christmas they have a winter recital. Now I have NEVER been one to want to join in this, but the teachers are just so nice and fun and enthusiastic about teaching that when they asked me to participate I had to say yes. The number I am in is called Inner Man. It’s me and 3 other guys each trying to be the Alpha Male. The music is tribal and percussive so it’s easy to feel that sort of primal urge, but some of the movements are tricky, tricky.

I told my partner Perry this morning at breakfast: “I know I said I wanted to live this kind of a life, but I didn’t expect it all to just jump right into my lap.”

But I am ever grateful and cherishing every opportunity and moment of it.

Let’s dance!

My good friend and hyper-happy gal Valerie (she’s just fabulous!) is organizing a flash mob for National Dance Day. I am definitely ready to “Shake It.” The video above is the selected routine for the event on July 30 at 1:00. You can find all the details including rehearsal time for tomorrow by clicking HERE. You can also click that you WILL be attending the fun!! C’mon. 50 seconds of your life isn’t going to kill you is it? Maybe the rehearsing will, but not the performance.

I would like to invite all of you wonderful people to please join us for some fun and to celebrate dancing regardless of what “level” you are. Do it to have fun. Do it because you know you love to dance.

I am doing it because of those reasons and because I’ve gotta put my money where my mouth is, right? You don’t wanna dance? Fine. Get outside and cheer us on!

Even if it’s only me and Val, we are gonna tear it UP!!!

If you are nervous about jumping into a NappyTabs routine, there are other choices that I have down below. Val chose the routine because the ballroom was a little too easy and the “intermediate” one was too girly. Personally, I don’t think many people are into ballroom, and the other one is just some recycled Pussycat Dolls moves. It’s pretty boring. So I would have chosen the same routine.

Let’s say you can’t make it to our little shin dig because you live on the East Coast, send me a link to your dance, I would LOVE to see it. I’ll even share it if you’d like. It doesn’t even have to be a big group. If you wanna do a number in your living room, more power to ya! I’ll share that too. Just dance!

Gotta comment, don’t be shy! Let me know what you think and if you are going to dance at all on July 30!

It’s Time to Ante Up…

“I will not die an unlived life. I will not live in fear of falling or catching fire. I choose to inhabit my days, to allow my living to open me, to make me less afraid, more accessible, to loosen my heart until it becomes a wing, a torch, a promise. I choose to risk my significance; to live so that which comes to me as seed goes to the next as blossom and that which comes to me as blossom, goes on as fruit.” – Dawna Markova

A friend of mine once told me, even after I’ve read it in other places, “If you want it bad enough, just give it to the universe. It will help you.” I wish it was that easy. But it’s not. Shucks! You have to help move the process along.

I’ve finally dug my heels into the ground and have signed up for my first acting seminar up in San Francisco! It’s quite exciting. A lot of useful information can be learned but here’s the catch, it’s a one hour introductory seminar. Still, I will be moving in the right direction and I have to walk before I can run, right? And what might I be running to? Well, dear reader, my goal is to have some sort of representation by July of 2012.

So I’m “giving it to the Universe.”

In addition to the seminar tonight (7/21), I am hopefully going to score some tickets to the City Lights “Nine” preview that will have some opportunities for networking. I am a horrible schmoozer, so I can’t quite say I am excited for the show, but *cheerleader kick to the front and raise hand overhead* “Goooo…get’em!!” Aww man, the jittery hands are already starting. I hate it when I freak myself out!

Okay, Mr. Universe, you and me are gonna make it happen! Not the bodybuilder guy. blech!!

Here goes everything.

✸✸ Jedi Mind Trick ✸✸

“This IS the show that you want to see this weekend.”

Last night we went to go and see the One Man Star Wars Trilogy at the San Jose Rep. I am not sure why, but I told Perry we should leave much earlier than normal so we find parking. He thought that we should be fine because it was a Thursday and nothing really happens on a Thursday in downtown San Jose. So we hop in the car around 7:20 and head over to the theatre. When we get off the freeway, I notice that there are a very large number of high school age students out and about. I mean a lot! I mention this and say maybe there’s something going on. Turn the corner on San Carlos and we can hear Music in the Park is happening. On top of that, the next performers were the Neon Trees. I love the Neon Trees. Bummer! Then we get to the parking garage and it’s full. So we have to park over near the freeway exit and power walk to the Rep. I don’t do that so well.

We had 13 minutes before the show started.

We get into the building with 2 minutes to spare, and as we walk down the isle the cell phone reminder is playing overhead. We squeeze past the people we are sitting next to just as the house goes pitch black, so I keep trying to go farther than I need to stepping on Perry before realizing I am right in front of my seat.

Then a single spotlight begins to light up the stage as Charles Ross vocalizes the opening music of the Star Wars movie. He is a tall fellow in a black jump suit that only makes him look taller. There is nothing else on the stage, and as he get more and more into the movie, you find there doesn’t need to be. Your imagination begins plugging in the movie images he creates with his body. At times, I remember thinking that it felt like I was watching a kid playing on that stage trying to explain to his friends a movie they had never seen. You could see that he genuinely enjoyed being a fan of the franchise and performing this show.

Mr. Ross takes only the essential parts of the script that move the movie along and uses those in his show. So some things like the iconic Jedi Mind Trick “These are not the droids your looking for” and the Han Solo vs. Greedo scene aren’t in the show and Leia’s “Scruffy looking, nerf hearder” line is also omitted. Although, I am very interested to hear his take on the Han v. Greedo scene.

The transitions from scene to scene are fluid and dissolve into one another with ease. The lighting tech and the actor have this show down the a science.

My favorite parts, aside from the little talk session he had at the end of the show, were the Death Star blowing up (Twice), the Luke attack by the Wompa, and his dead on impression of an AT-AT Walker. Oh yeah, and his Chewbacca reaction at the end of A New Hope. Oh, oh and his dead on impression of the Emperor at the end of Return of the Jedi. HILARIOUS!!!

You really do want to see this amazing show. It’s only an hour long, but I feel like the tickets are totally worth it. He has crafted a truly funny love letter to the original Star Wars Trilogy that every fan boy/girl can love and appreciate. For more information on show times, click HERE.

You can read an interview with Mr. Ross in the Metro.

Check out what I mean.