I, A Student

Last night, I had myself an improv performance. They are becoming more frequent, so while they remain notable experiences, they are becoming less severe as triggers of anxiety. Sometimes circumstances make them a little more or less so. In this case, I was in a somewhat different situation than I usually would be, as this was a different class in a different place. The people and the culture were a bit different.

A friend had ensnared me in the class he was teaching, and I decided it would be a very worthwhile thing do to, because even what I think I'm good at in improv is probably not beyond improvement. So it was that my late Saturday afternoons were taken up by this class and that I never caught the second half of a Florida Gators football game. Even preoccupied by their journey this season, I made some progress in class.

I was a little apprehensive in the first weeks, but soon enough was at ease with my friend the teacher and the fellow students who endured past the initial phases of the class. We developed a bond which was marked by inside jokes and a familiarity of each other's inclinations on stage and in general conversation. By the end, we even began to learn about each other as people outside of the performing realm.

By the time our graduation show came around, we were comfortable with each other, and had developed well enough what is sometimes called a "group mind". Following our performance, we agreed that we had been less than perfect, but that we had done something to be proud of. The drinking we did was, therefore, in celebration and not in bitter regret. I went home happy with our achievement, my growth and my new friends.