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[hthomas145]

Hashimoto Roullette: Part 2 fuck dairy

So this is week two of my diet experiment. If you read last week’s post then you saw that I cut out gluten for a week. I started cutting it out on Sunday, and Wednesday night was the first night of dress rehearsal for the show I was in (by the way I was in a MainStage show lolz). I played two characters in the show, one who wore jeans, a t-shirt, and a hat, and the other character who wore a yellow polo short and black dress pants. When I first tried the jeans on they were snug enough where I didn't need a belt, and the dress pants were loose enough where, even on the last belt loop, they could have been pulled down if someone was trying hard enough (shout out to myself for losing weight since my fitting). The costume fit consistently from then until Friday night, then Saturday, I went out to an early dinner with my parents before they saw the show, in addition to an early lunch at Chick-fil-a. I ate gluten at both meals, then that night, I tired my costume on. The jeans were straight up tight on me, and the pants were no longer loose on me either. Based on the short experiment, I'm going to be cutting out gluten from my diet for the foreseeable future (except gluten found in alcohol ;) ). 

This week, I'm cutting out all dairy which isn't super hard because I don't eat a ton of it anyways. I also weighed myself yesterday and discovered that I have lost three more pounds since last Wednesday, which makes almost fifty since August *high fives self*. This week is going to be easy, but next week I'll be cutting out cruciferous foods, and that’s a food that I have heard gives a lot of people with Hashimoto’s disease trouble. Guess we’ll find out!

[hthomas145]

Hashimoto Roulette

I know this sounds like a Japanese gameshow, but stay with me on this.

So back in August I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s Disease which, if you’re familiar with hypothyroidism, is just like that but on steroids. My thyroid doesn’t naturally produce enough of the hormone that kickstarts your metabolism (among other things), and because of that, I have to take a synthetic version of the hormone.

I’ve decided that my Collo project this semester will be testing out and discovering how my body reacts to various diets and exercise routines because of my Hashimoto’s Disease. At the beginning of the school year, I started weight training three times a week for the first time since being put on medication for my Hashimoto’s disease. I have already seen changes in my weight and in the fit of my pants. My plan moving forward from here is to add and subtract different types of foods from my diet in order to see how my thyroid takes to it. This week: GLUTEN! I'll stop eating foods with gluten in them for a week in order to see if it affects my body at all. After this, I will do the same with dairy, cruciferous foods, spicy food, and other common food allergens. I will put together some sort of a spreadsheet to track this process so I can more easily see any change. 

I am no science major, but this seemed like a fun thing to do in order to discover more about my own body (because no one else will do it for me).

[hthomas145]

Reece Museum: Deadly Medicine

The gang and I went and checked out the deadly medicine exhibit immediately following Quest a couple weeks back. The exhibit gave me a new perspective on the approach the Nazi party used to try and take down the Jewish community. By taking a “medical” angle, they were able to get more people on board with the idea of the “perfect race.” It was really just......disturbing. I don't like the fact that they could boil down humans to mere measurements, as if we’re brands of cars that they can put themselves at the top of. Idk, that metaphor seems a little off but the whole thing just left a bad taste in my mouth, especially with the people who got off with a slap on the wrist. Man some people are just fucked up.....

[hthomas145]

Playhouse Creatures

So I got to work on the dresses worn by the actresses in this show, but didn't even see the storyline until the night that I saw the show. The show was a really interesting blend of period entertainment and post-modern realism, questioning the realities that these actresses had to sustain just to make a living. It was also super interesting to watch the play from a feminist perspective as well, because the writing of reminds us of the struggles that women have been going through for centuries. The set was super cool, even with being really simple (I was grateful that the strike was so short). I’ve gotten to know the girls who were in the show after I saw it and it’s really interesting looking back on the performances they gave compared to their actual personalities (the wonders of theatre huh). Overall, I love the show and want to buy a copy so I can read it on my own.

[hthomas145]

Volunteer? More like Volun-Queer!

In my journey to become the gayest man on this campus, I wanted to volunteer my time to something that will get me in touch with my roots. Up until coming to college, I had only done theatre roles that involved the creative process of the performer. Once I realized that I wasn’t going to be performing anything for a couple of months, I decided that I needed to get involved with other skills of theatre. So, I started volunteering in the costume shop. Not only have I gotten to help with the creation of various clothing items in the shop, but, through the couple hours a week I've gone in to work all semester, I’ve developed a strong relationship with our costume designer, Beth, and gained skills that I will be able to express myself with moving forward.

[hthomas145]

Where am I going?

So this conversation in class was an interesting one because I had had a guest speaker in my Acting class a couple of weeks beforehand who had talked about similar things. His name is Michael Legg and he is the director of the Professional Training Company at Actor’s Theatre Louisville. During the lecture, he warned us of the monetary issues involved with acting and also gave us some job statistics that were kind of a bummer, but once he got through that, he told us that if this is really what we love then there’s not gonna be anything we can do to change that. He gave us some advice on keeping your sanity in an artistic business, and one piece of advice really stood out in my mind. He told us that we need to define two words for ourselves: career and success. My idea of a career has always been doing what I'm passionate about, and success just being the fact that I will be acting. After hearing him speak, however, it has transformed into something clearer. I still want my career to involve theatre, but success for me will be knowing that I am doing something to help the world through my art. I want to use this craft to speak out hope and change into the air, and because I have an idea now of what my success should be, I can pursue it with an even greater force.

[hthomas145]

What do I value?

Carrots

jk what’s up y'all.

This semester has been one of ups and downs. If I were to go back to the Hunter who started this semester out, then the only thing I would be able to say to him is to expect the unexpected. I don't think that I would have expected to have had the falling out that I did, do be this close with some of my professors, or to have moved dorms, but I especially didn't think that I would gain such a supportive group of friends after losing a group that I thought were in it for the long haul. One thing that has stayed consistent throughout the semester, however, has been my instinct. My gut feeling on what is happening has always been a helping factor toward me acting in a way that I need to, so i would say that I value being able to listen to your instinct.

[hthomas145]

Who am I? No, really, I’m asking

I think it’s hard to confidently say who I am, because it’s a terrible imbalance between the experiences I've had and the experiences I’m looking forward to. But then again, isn’t that what we are all made up of? I know that I am more of a cat person than a dog person. I know that I am a proud gay man. I know that I have an unmatchable passion for performance. What I don't know is what that mixture means. I’m currently on a journey of discovery, so that is what I want this blog to be as well. It may have taken me a hot minute to figure that out, but at least I'm here now!

To anyone who doesn’t know me personally, I am currently a theatre major at East Tennessee State University within the University Honors program. The motivation for this blog is actually for the class, but I am going to challenge myself to make it more than just that (lol let’s see how long I can make it last).

Prompt of the week: What is one thing that you brought to college with you that has an importance to you, and what was the reason for bringing it?

Back in high school I had a lot of trouble relating to people because I had a different set of priorities than others. Not that mine were better or worse, just different. They focused more around theatre and my goals for the future. Enter, Laura Maynard, a junior at my high school who did theatre with me and also wanted to go into the entertainment industry. We slowly got to know each other through various productions and by winter of 2014, she was my best bud.

Because Laura is two years ahead of me in terms of schooling, she also graduated and left for her dream school in Chicago before my junior year. We still keep in touch and are able to pick up pretty much right where we left off, but seeing each other in person is rare. 

One of the things we have in common, besides theatre, is a love for film. Laura is the only person I know of to stay after every movie in theaters to read through the credits. Every. Single. One. Before she left for college, we saw a retro movie every week which ended up being my first time seeing West Side Story. I was amazed by the movie and we ended up developing a bunch of inside jokes about it which extended after she officially left for school. The first time I went and visited Laura in Chicago I got to meet (and become friends with) her roommate Elana, who had never seen the movie. Laura realized she didn’t have a copy of the movie, so she acted out the entire fucking plot, characters and all (I had a recording of it for the longest time but deleted it by accident with no backup).

That following Christmas, Laura came home for a couple of days and we got to have a fun dinner where we exchanged gifts. My gift included a copy of Brighton Beach Memoirs, a copy of A Raisin in the Sun (which I have yet to read), a framed photo of us, a U.S. Army Engineering badge (because we have a sense of humor that extends into intentional irony), and a hand written letter. Now there is no way to express the meaning that that letter had to me, but essentially, the letter explained how much she loves me and the friendship that we have. It was a physical example of the relationship that we had developed over the past year and a half, something seemingly impossible had just been handed to me. The part I love about the card so much, though, is that it was written on the back of a miniature West Side Story poster. That letter sits in my room right at this moment, and every time I see it, I am reminded of the transformation of friendship into family that we had somehow managed to transpose.