You will take a risk in the near future and win

"You will take a risk in the near future and win" says the little slip of paper in my fortune cookie. It's a day before I leave for Los Angeles, and I'm being ultra superstitious. At the time, I took it as an auspicious start to my summer. When I got to LA though, I realized exactly what risk it was referring to: improv.

I went to see Harvard's short form improv troupe, On Thin Ice, so often freshman year that I secretly considered myself some sort of groupie. To them I was more like that weird quiet girl who was at all their shows but that no one actually wanted to meet.

Someone did notice how often I went though and suggested that I try out next year. Oh no, I couldn't do that I protested. I have no experience with improv: I have never been involved in a theater production or taken a drama class. All the experience I had was growing up watching inappropriate stand up specials on Comedy Central and wondering why my parents never blocked that stuff.

You know what, I thought, I'm in LA. You can't throw a shoe without hitting an aspiring actor, director, writer. No one even calls it the entertainment industry here, it's just The Industry. I might as well take advantage of these improv classes and meet a few actors along the way. With that, less than 24 hours after landing in LA, I bolted out of my loft and to the nearest improv theater that still had space in their class. That's how my weekly Sunday improv class at IO has become the thing I look forward to every week.

So remember: take chances y'all and stay golden. Also, believe everything your fortune cookie tells you.