My Month as a One-Legged Ninja

March 11, 2010

I may have said once I’d sooner eat my foot than write a blog.

I lied.

My foot is broken, and writing a blog definitely seems more appetizing than eating my slowly decaying, throbbing and altogether troublesome foot. It’s the left one.

One day after I found out I’d been cast as an immediate replacement for Curious George in the National Tour of Curious George Live and two days before I was supposed to leave on that tour, I tripped down about seven stairs at West 4th Street station because I saw some other idiot running in anticipation of catching a train that wasn’t even there. That’s the thing with the F train. We loyal riders always run to catch it on the off chance that it is there, because if we miss it, we could be waiting for hours. I tripped over my boyfriend’s super long pajama pants, crunched my foot in the five inch heels I was wearing and watched my Nalgene go rolling across the dirty subway floor. And thought how glad I was that Nalgenes are indestructible. Unlike my foot. It’s broken. Can’t dance or jump for four weeks. And that was sort of the main job description of being Curious George in a musical.

That was yesterday.

Today is my birthday.

It’s going well.

Now, there are plenty of people in the world with far sadder tales to tell, but to be honest thinking of the people swept up by tsunamis or living on a few crumbs a day oddly enough does not brighten my mood.

So while I was hobbling in the shower this morning (first shower ever with a broken foot!!), I thought of how I could combat the immensely negative thoughts clouding my newly-25 year old head.

Write a blog.

Well, that’s not entirely it. See, as an actress with an extremely dedicated, loving, wonderful (and thus time-consuming) boyfriend and an equally dedicated, loving, wonderful (and thus time-consuming) family in the city, there’s not much time to pursue the many hobbies that I have sort of begun over the years. For instance, there was the summer I started learning guitar, and only learned about four chords before I decided my hands just weren’t big enough and abandoned my efforts. There was another summer where I was planning a trip to Japan to visit my uncle and took up Japanese. The only thing I can remember today is “Where is the basement?” Chika-shitsu wa, doko desu ka?

Now, my project for these four weeks of broken foot is to take some of these hobbies I never quite mastered and revisit them. And maybe even start some new ones. I’ve always thought knitting was horribly old-fashioned, but I suppose I could be persuaded to get into that. It is a really great time-killer! Photography also does not (heavily) rely on the use of one’s feet. I think this is a good opportunity to work on my singing and monologues which often get pushed to the side and quickly re-memorized before auditions. And I’ve probably said about fifteen times in the past five years that I was going to go watch a video of an old Broadway show at Lincoln Center and have yet to experience this phenomenon.

Unfortunately, I am not a tv or video game person, so I cannot rely on these pastimes to occupy my injured hours. So, I’ve had to result to productive activities that will stimulate me and enrich my days as I let the third metatarsal in my left foot return to its original locale. Friggin’ vacation-hungry little shit. Just kidding!! This will not be a ranting blog, hopefully just a mildly entertaining and somewhat inspirational one.

My list thus far of things to do before April 10th:

1. Write a blog. (Done!)
2. Play guitar
3. Re-learn Japanese
4. Learn a new song and get really good at it
5. Learn 3 new monologues
6. Go to Union Square on a nice day and take some art-y photographs
7. Go to Lincoln Center and watch...hmm...maybe Rocky Horror? Not sure yet.
8. Make a home-cooked meal with my sister
9. Do a sewing project. Not sure I want to commit to knitting, since I still think it’s lame, but I once made a sock monkey and that was fun. I’ll probably steer clear of monkeys, though.
10. I can’t think of a tenth thing, but am very much open to suggestions.

There’s my list, and I will be expanding it and keeping you updated on my progress in adhering to it.

I am also going to be coming up with ways to exercise one-legged. I realize my foot may atrophy, but I am determined to keep the rest of my highly exercised self at least up to par. Any recommendations or suggestions on that front would be much appreciated, as well.

I hope you enjoy my blog and contribute as you see fit. They say, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” I say, “When life gives you a broken foot, kick life in the face (with your other foot) and become a ninja.” Well, maybe I can work on my slogan over the next few weeks, as well. Happy reading. Walk safely.