Just Like A Circus

So it's been one year since I started this blog, and I guess I'm pretty proud of the fact that I've been able to keep it going this long! Yes, there were a few dry spells where I didn't update for *cough* months, but I'm still proud none the less.

Since my last post, I made it home from Illinois, went to NYC for a few days, relaxed at home, and joined the circus! I am now working as the keyboard one player for the Barnum and Bailey circus and couldn't be more excited. So my goal for this next year with the blog is to really keep everyone (and myself) up-to-date on my circus adventures, and I'm thinking there is going to be a lot to write about!

I found out I got the job on Monday, and flew out of Syracuse Tuesday afternoon to Detroit, to transfer to Moline, Illinois. Yes, I'm back in Illinois haha. The flights were fine, and then I took a taxi to a TGI Fridays by the iWireless Arena where we will be performing. After a while my boss Wages and his wife Kelli met me there, and we got dinner. We had to stay there a long time because the train still wasn't "spotted", meaning that it wasn't completely set and people are not allowed on or off the train. So we sat at Fridays for a long time, and made friends with the waitress, who we got discounted tickets for her and her son, Seamus. We decide to leave Fridays and head back for the train, even though we can't get on yet. Really close to the arena we see the train stopped, so we decide to hop on and then we wait in the dining car, or the "pie car" until the train is spotted and we can get the key to my room. About, oh maybe 3 hours later, the train is spotted and I am able to get my key and get into my room (later we learned that there was such a delay because someone fell off the train! Oops...).

Sooooo my room...the room I am currently in is temporary, until the current keyboard one player leaves in a week and half. People have described the train as living on a city (after all it is a mile long), but I've heard the ringmaster describes it as a city and a suburb. Well, I am currently in the city, the "ghetto", to be precise, as was labeled by another train member. The car I will be moving to has 8 rooms to it, my current car is the same length, but has 14 rooms, so the whole room is about the size as a full-size bed. What's nice is that there is suprisingly a lot of storage, and the bed converts into a table and two seats! What's tricky right now is that I don't want to unpack since I'm moving in a week and a half, AND I have a keyboard in here with me, that I was given to practice on. Here are some pictures:

Room with bed

Transformed!

Soooo yeah it's pretty tight, but it's not that bad. Once we move the keyboard out later today, it will be much better.

To continue, I woke up yesterday and waited most of the day for Wages to get a rental car so we could go to Target and get food and stuff for my room. I decided to explore and go on a walk, and I came across the Quad City Botanical Gardens! It was very nice and there was a lot of cool plants to see. I also grabbed lunch at a small little mexican place and looked through the show music. We finally got a car, got sushi for dinner, and then went to Target, where I was able to get mobile hotspot for my phone so I could use the internet.

So today Wages and I are moving the keyboard to the arena at noon, we have sound check at 2:30, rehearsal at 3:30, and then my first show at 7! I will just be observing so I can learn how to use the keyboards and learn what all the markings in the music mean haha.

I'm thinking of buying a camera so I can take more pictures easily and be able to upload lots of images to this blog. Also, since there is no kitchen area really, and all I have in a fridge and a microwave, I'm going to try to experiment with cooking with limited means, and maybe post some recipes on here. If anyone has any ideas, please feel free to share! One thing I know I can make in the microwave is chocolate cake in a coffee mug, which I did in Sullivan. I stumbled upon the recipe here: http://hungrybloggers.com/news/2009/03/29/microwave-coffee-mug-chocolate-cake

Well that's all for now, I'm definitely going to try and keep this updated as much as possible. We're in Moline, Illnois this weekend, and then moving on to Kansas City, Missouri next weekend. This is the rest of the tour schedule (I'm the blue dots):

P.S. Every time I say Moline I keep thinking of the Dolly Parton song "Jolene", I wonder if anyone has ever done a spoof on that...

Chega De Saudade

So in less than one week I will be back in New York! YES! I'm really excited, I can't wait to get back home. As much as I do like the theatre and I've met some really great people, I'm ready to leave Illinois and head back to civilization. I can't wait to see Craig and all my family and friends, it's just been way too long.

The last couple days have been really nice though. Ashley is a rockette (YAY!) and we went out on a boat all day yesterday, which was such a nice escape from the square. Sunday was Joseph in the Park and it actually went surprisingly well. We started on time and there wasn't too much wind and the bugs were pretty at bay so all in all, pretty successful. Tomorrow is Tim's birthday so I'm going to makes brownies using a brownie recipe I found on a new food blog I like, called A Bitchin' Kitchen haha.

I've been looking at a lot of apartments online, but it's really hard to try and find an apartment without being in the city. I've been looking and passing them on to Michelle to check out, but I really don't think we're gonna be able to find one until we are all in the city and can go together. We'll see what happens.

Also the job search hasn't been going too well either. I've applied to a handful of places, but because I'm not in the city I don't think it's gonna happen. Again I think I have to wait until I get there. Oh well...

I've been thinking more and more about it, and I think I want to go to grad school for arts administration. There are three schools in the city that I can apply to (Pratt institute, CUNY Brooklyn, and NYU) and I think I would really like it. I still would like to be able to try it for a little bit though so I give it a chance first. We'll see what happens.

I sometimes just wish I had money so I could have my own apartment in the city and just be able to live with Craig and do what I want to do. Alas, this is not the case haha.

I can't wait for Christmas in NYC!

Taking a Chance on Love

The last two days have been so pleasant. Yesterday was our day off, and today I had the whole day off. The only thing I have to do is one show of Joseph tonight at 8pm. Score!

Yesterday me, Ashley, Jane, Doc, and Ryan hopped in a car and drove to Champaign, IL, which I had been to on a previous day off. It was nice to get away from Sullivan, and we had a lot of fun. Out of everyone here these four are some of my favorite people here, and we always have a good time.

We walked around and did some shopping and browsing, and we ate dinner at a place called the Flat Top Grill. It was pretty good, I think you go there more for the idea of creating your own dish more than anything. Basically you have a ton of stir fry options, so you load up your bowl and give it to them and then they cook it and bring it out to you. It's pretty good, but not my favorite by any means. Then we drove back and we watched The Devil Wears Prada because Doc had never seen it before. Such a good movie! Especially since I kind of feel like I'm in Andy's position of looking for jobs and maybe taking odd jobs until I get my dream job, whatever that is haha.

This morning I got up and Janie hosted a TYA brunch for everyone at her house which was nice. We had eggs and pancakes and bacon and toast and I brought a pineapple. She had the slip-n-slide out, but it was soooo hot so I stayed in and played bananagrams haha. We had a production meeting at 1pm for Joseph in the Park (which will be interesting if anything else), and then I've just been lounging around and applied to some jobs and stuff. Craig had his interview today in the city and he said it went really really well. I really hope he gets this job. He deserves it. Michelle has been looking at apartments so everything is slowly starting to come into place, and it seems like Craig will be in the city sooner than later too which makes me happy.

I think normally I would hesitate to live with a boyfriend after dating them for only about 7 months, but I'm not worried at all. Craig and I get along so well and we've basically lived together any time either one of us would come and visit, so I think it will be great. I'm just really excited to spend much more time with him than I've been able to in the past.

I've been applying for these more administrative jobs and it makes me a little nervous because it's out of my comfort zone. I just put together my first real person resume and have been writing cover letters, and I have no idea if what I'm doing it right or not, but hopefully I'll get a chance with someone because I think I could really succeed at any of these jobs I'm applying for. The job descriptions seems right up my alley and are definitely things I want to be doing in life. It would be SO nice to finally be on some kind of salary too, it would just take off that looming presence of uncertainty and instability, if only for a little bit.

I was looking through pictures of Oxford earlier and I miss it so much! It was such a great trip and the country is just stunning. I will definitely go back some day.

Well I'm going to take a nap before the show tonight. Ashley, Ryan, and I made a s'mores bar and it is DELICIOUS! I'll have to remember to find the recipe and make it again.

Words of wisdom for today:

Give with a truly glad heart, Chris, for the sole purpose of the good it will do, and whatever you give shall return to you, multiplied, as if on wings, covered in sparkles.

Richly,
The Universe

Anddddd a picture :)

Hypothetically Yours

Soooooo basically my summer is done! We opened the last show today, Alexander and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, and we are using tracks so I got to watch it which was nice. Also I don't have to go to each show! Woohoo! So after the show I ate lunch, watched some TV, laid out in the sun, sang in the studio (which I haven't done in a loooong time, it's always interesting to re-discover my voice), went for a walk, and made dinner. Such a laaaazy day. There is Joseph tonight at 8pm and then I don't have to do anything tomorrow until Joseph at 4! I'm not sure what I'm going to do with all my free time! I'm definitely gonna try and get to the gym more often. I was really good earlier this week, but I kind of slacked off yesterday and today (though I did go walking). Tomorrow I'm definitely going to go.

Craig has an interview Tuesday in NYC! I'm so excited for him and I REALLY hope he gets it, especially because it's in the city. Tone also has a final interview for a teaching job next week, and I really hope she gets it too! I just can't wait to see everybody, especially my Craigles :)

One of my favorite pictures of him :)

I just realized this but I kind of took my note from the Universe to heart today apparently haha.

Baby souls follow.

Young souls lead.

But old souls, Chris, are happy to dance alone.

Not that I'm spying on you,
The Universe

P.S. I got the new Sophie Madeleine CD off of Spotify thanks to Craig and it is so good!

Embraceable You

I wish it was Christmas. I love Christmas.

That is all.

You've Already Won Me Over

So, I am officially determined to stay up-to-date with my blog, at least for the last three weeks of the summer. In going back and reading old entries, I realized how great it is to have a document of my life and past experiences, and I really want to try and keep that going.

So a quick summary of the summer so far: We started with Cats and U Bug Me, then we did Footloose, Oklahoma and Rescuing Rapunzel, and now we just closed The Producers yesterday. Joseph opens Wednesday, Alexander opens Friday, and that's it, then we just run those shows until August 14th. It's hard to believe there are only three weeks left, but I'm really excited to get home and see everyone, especially Craig. But now that we are only running shows after Wednesday, we will have SO much more free time, and no more waking up early! So I am determined to go to the gym for these last three weeks and get into shape.

I realized I also haven't put any pictures up, so I am going to post some! I have a couple pictures of the theatre and the square at night, I should probably take some during the day too haha.

This is the courthouse in the middle of the square:

This is the outside of the theatre:

This is the outside of our apartment building and also the dance studio:

This is what the pit looks like. The ceiling is about four feet tall haha:

This is what the stage looked like for Footloose:

This was our set for Oklahoma:

This is the dresser in my room. Each room is a different musical, I'm in "Bombay Dreams" haha:

So there is a large Amish population in the area, and we see horse-drawn buggies all the time. I took this picture because it's a bug next to a buggy haha:

This is the home of Phil and Nina, two of the patrons of the theatre. They like to have parties for us in their GIGANTIC MANSION. It is literally the biggest home I have ever been inside of.

This is the huge main foyer, where they have a grand piano and a baby grand. Phil plays piano and he is incredible:

This is their huge game room on the lower level:

This is one of my favorite rooms, it's like a library, but we like to call it the "Gentlemen's Room" haha:

Fourth of July fireworks as seen from our rooftop:

And in honor of Producers closing, I'll post this, which is a picture of a sign we had hanging in the lobby haha:

I'm running out of time so I'll have to update more later. Off to the gym!

My note from the Universe today:

Generosity and gratitude, Chris, turn good into great.

Thank you, you're welcome -
The Universe

Once I Walked in the Sun

Wow once again I have failed at keeping up with this. I think I just forget about it. I mean, I am really busy, but there are definitely times when I could sit and write. Idk things seem to move so slowly, and yet so quickly here.

So I have less than a month left in Sullivan, and I must say I'm really excited to go home and see all my friends, and more excited to see Craig. This is the longest we've gone without seeing each other, and while it's manageable, it's hard too. I miss him a lot. I miss all my other friends too. For some reason I haven't been as successful as making really great friends as last summer. Maybe I just didn't click with as many of the people, or maybe it's because there is internet and cable here, so we are not forced to spend so much time together as last summer.

Regardless I still do like the theatre and enjoy working here. It really does suck though that we are literally in the middle of nowhere. I miss civilization, or really just good places to eat haha. It will also be nice to not be somewhere conservative after I leave Sullivan.

Speaking of leaving, I got a message from a friend saying that he is looking for someone to rent his room for a year in Washington Heights. It's $900 a month, and has an elevator, laundry in the basement, two bedroom apartment, two KITTENS, and a block or two from the subway. It seems like a really awesome apartment, and I think I am going to take him up on it. Two concerns: one is that he's looking for someone to fill it until July, and I have NO IDEA what I am doing with my life once I actually get to NYC. Which brings me to point two, that I'm kind of nervous about taking it because it means another step of my life after the summer will be complete, and again I won't have a plan at all. I'll know that I'll be moving, and that's about it. I guess I'm not worried about getting a job in the city, as long as I can keep pursuing my career. I think my mom is worried about me not having a job in my field while I'm there, but I think I'm going to have to have a day job and a night job, but we'll see. I guess my goal though would be to be in the city for as long as possible, unless something amazing came up. I'm kind of sick of moving and traveling and just want to be in one place near the people I love.

Craig had a job interview yesterday for a graphic design job in Washington DC, and I really hope he gets it. I just want him to have a job and be happy with it, even though it's in DC and not NYC. It is easy to travel back and forth, though of course it would be much easier if we were in the same city. I hope he does end up with me in NYC somewhere down the line though.

I do have some pictures to post of the town and the theatre and of some of the places we've been, but I don't really feel like doing it now. I'll probably do that towards the end of the summer when I have some more free time. Well it's time for bed, rehearsal at 10am tomorrow.

P.S. I've been listening to the Jane Austen and Becoming Jane soundtracks all night, and I'm really enjoying them :)