Shanti, Shanti and Om

So because of lack of time and wifi, I haven’t updated in a couple of days. In fact, I’m currently in my room and don’t have wifi, so I came up with the brilliant idea to draft this post in Word and then transfer it to my blog. I’m a genius :p

So Saturday was pretty uneventful since I had three shows to play. However before the last show, Ian, Andrew and I went to a place called the Armsby Abbey. Everything there is farm fresh and grown locally (kind of like The Farmhouse in Burlington) and they have a huge selection of beers and a unique cocktail list. I got the pumpkin and sausage pizza, and it was delicious. It also had caramelized onions and gouda, and they sprinkled sea salt so every once in a while I got a nice salty bite.

Yum!

Ian enjoying his sandwich haha (Look Ian, you made the blog!)

Andrew doesn't look amused

I’ve also been working more on my crocheting and practicing the different kinds of stitches, and I’ve gotten SO much better from my first practice swatch; it’s actually laughable.

My finished half double stitch practice swatch!

I'm currently working on the double stitch

Sunday I played two shows and then I went to the Olive Garden with LaRena, Taylor, Barney, Oscar, Christina, Lauren, and Emily. We had a great dinner, I got an Italian margarita (which was really good, especially when you pour in the Amaretto), and we had lots of laughs. Afterwards LaRena and I stopped at Walmart, and I got season one of Will and Grace! Check one off the list!

Today we had one show in the morning, and then me and Andrew and Ian walked to a nearby shopping center, and I was FINALLY able to get a yoga mat! I was able to get some resistance bands and some Pilates DVDs too some I’m going to give those all a try. I’ve really been enjoying my workout with the weighted ball, and I already feel stronger in my legs and more definition.

I also thought of a couple other things I want to do while I’m on tour. I want to get a ukulele and teach myself how to play it. It’s small and easy to carry, and I hear fairly easy to learn, so I think it could be fun. I also want to teach myself how to speak Italian, so maybe I’ll try out a Rosetta Stone. I think all of this is a better use of my time than just watching TV series on DVD or wasting time on the internet. Thoughts about my new endeavors?

P.S. In honor of finding a yoga mat, I thought this song was appropriate ☺

Substitutiary Locomotion

So yesterday after rehearsal for the clown gag next year, Adam, one of the guys who watches and takes care of the elephants, took me to see them and to tell me all about them!

Elephants! Apparently there are more muscles in an elephant's trunk than our entire body!

Baby elephant!

The other baby! This one's name is Rocky, he's the only male

These two are half sisters.

Not an elephant but I didn't get a picture of him last time haha

We have nine elephants in the show, and they are all part of the Elephant Conservation Program. These are all asian elephants as opposed to african elephants: they have less wrinkles, one finger in their trunk instead of two, four toenails in front and five in the back, and as they get older they go through de-pigmentation. Watching them play and interact was really fascinating, and Adam was explaining all their different personalities. They really are amazing creatures :)

And I've been practicing my crochet more! As opposed to what I posted last time, this is what my work looks like now:

It started out so good...haha at least the stitches are MUCH better

I've now moved on to the half double crochet stitch, we'll see how it goes.

P.S. The library JUST announced that they are showing the movie Bedknobs and Broomsticks for free downstairs starting at 2pm! LOVE!

Music, Crochet, and Tatting

So I've been practicing my crocheting! I need a lot more practice haha but I'm enjoying it.

My practice chain! About two feet long haha.

My first attempt at the single crochet stitch...not that bad haha

After the show yesterday I went to Unos with some of the clowns and two older clowns who happen to be in the area. They were all telling stories about doing PR at different venues and some stories about PETA and how dumb and misinformed they are. Today I've just been relaxing at the library and I have rehearsal for the clowns at 3pm, so I gotta run, but before I do, just a couple pictures of the DCU Arena in Worcester:

Sorry for the really bright light.

This is by far the smallest venue yet.

Now if I just learn tatting, I know Jennyanydots would be very proud :p



P.S. Tatting: A technique for handcrafting a particularly durable lace constructed by a series of knots and loops.

Oil and Gold

So yesterday after leaving the library I took off and walked around Worcester. There sure are a heck of a lot of churches, which consists of the majority of pictures I took. I headed up north and after grabbing a sandwich went to the Worcester Art Museum, which is across from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute. I made the decision to miss the 3pm bus back to the train and decided on seeing the museum and walking home.

The museum was a decent size with several nice pieces on display, but it cost $12 for admission, and that's WITH my student discount (I'm so glad I still carry around my Geneseo ID). I paid the fee and took a walk around. At most museums usually I feel a sense of calm, but since there were not too many people there, and they had a lot of security on staff, I felt very uneasy and felt the eyes of all the guards following me. Usually I would have taken more pictures (if allowed) but I didn't feel right in doing so. I did however take a picture of...one of Monet's Waterlilies paintings! I have found another one! After my disappointment in Kansas City it was such a surprise to stumble upon one. That's one more I can cross off my checklist!

A church

The Hanover Theatre

Small courtyard across the street

Other side of the courtyard

Back side of City Hall

Another church haha

Worcester Art Museum, and that is NOT the front door, which I discovered after attempting to enter haha

Water Lilies!

Kind of dark but some nice houses on the street.

After visiting the museum I walked home, which was kind of farther than I thought (it ended up being around 3.5 miles) but I knew it would be good to stretch out my legs from working them out the day before. I stopped at Walmart to see if they had restocked their exercise section, and unfortunately did not. I really need to get a yoga mat, and then only had two left, a purple one with flowers and a pink one with flowers. I don't need a mat THAT badly...yet.

Today we open in Worcester at 7pm. I need to head out back to the arena to do sound check, but I wanted to share this: I still get Notes from the Universe from my email every day, and I used to share them in my blog, especially ones that inspired me or happen to really touch on my life that day. Well this was my one for today:

ADVENTURERS WARNING:

Sometimes, being your true radiant self, living in the moment, glad for all you already have and who you already are, Chris, isn't always easy.

Nope, such conditions create the precise moment in one's life when the floodgates of physical abundance swing open the farthest, giving rise to that persistent, nagging "issue of the ages": where to put it all.

Really -
The Universe

Thanks Universe.

Small Umbrella in the Rain

Well I made it to Worcester, MA! I got back to the train Sunday after the show, and when I woke up Monday morning, I thought we had already gotten to Worcester (being that it's only about an hour and a half drive from Manchester). Well, at 10am, when the train gave the biggest jolt EVER, I realized that we hadn't even left...we didn't get to Worcester until around 9pm. HOW DID IT TAKE ALL DAY?!?!?! I'll never understand...

I passed most of the train run playing a card game called Munchkin in the train car, which is a really fun card game, that's kind of like an RPG almost. And just like Fluxx, there are lots of different kinds of Munchkin (last night I learned about Space Munchkin and Pirate Munchkin). After that LaRena, Taylor and I watched The Secret Garden, you know, the one from like 1993 haha. I had seen it fairly recently, but I still always enjoy watching it. It completed our double feature; the day before we had watch A Little Princess haha.

Lately I've been feeling really uninspired and unmotivated, especially when it came to writing this blog. I decided that I needed to start a new project, or do something new, something to revitalize myself. So yesterday I walked to Walmart from the rail yard, which is only about a 20-30 minute walk, and I bought myself an 8 pound workout ball and a book to teach myself how to crochet.

The ball came with an exercise DVD which I did yesterday, and today I am DEFINITELY feeling the burn, especially in my legs. I found that I could do all the standing exercises just fine in my room, but the ones that required laying down proved to be an issue (I had to open the door so that I could extend into the hallway). My next step is to get a yoga mat so I can bring the ball and DVD with my to the arena and do the exercises there.

It's definitely took me a while to start getting the hang of crocheting, but after practicing for a couple hours I've finally got the hang of the simple single crochet stitch and I'm pretty quick at making a chain. I think this is a really good hobby for me to have since it will require practice, I can use it to make useful things, and it surprisingly passes the time quickly. Now that I have new goals and things to accomplish I definitely feel much better.

Oh, did I mention that yesterday it rained ALL DAY? My walk home from Walmart was a very wet one, especially being that my travel umbrella is pretty small and only partially covers me from the rain. Also, carrying an 8lbs. ball back along with other groceries was not the best idea I've ever had.

So here I am in Worcester at the public library, which is really big and really nice (and, of course, free!). On my walk here I was able to take a couple pictures, and I noticed that to me Worcester kind of looks like a little mini Boston. I think it's all the brick.

A view from the train on our journey to Worcester

The Walmart parking lot had wind turbines on top of the lamp posts!

Front of the arena in Worcester...ugliest building to date

City Hall

Memorial in the Worcester Commons

Awesome looking church that I might go explore later

Well that's all for now. I have all day free as we don't open until tomorrow so I have a lot of time to walk around and check out the city. Oh and right across the street from the arena is an Uno's! Yes!

P.S. I'm now in the middle of reading Jane Eyre, but in honor of me finishing Little Women and all the rain from yesterday...

Manchester, England, England

So it is now Sunday, the last day that we are in Manchester (New Hampshire, not England), and I'm going to be a little sad to see it go. The downtown area is really lively and has a ton of awesome restaurants and places to go, and I didn't get to nearly experience all of them.

I'm currently in a cafe called Republic that uses all fresh, local ingredients, and it definitely pays off. As a snack I got an order of arancini (because I had to of course!) and man they were good! I mean they were nothing like the ones we make at Christmas, but these ones were delicious in an entirely different way. Even the chai latte I got was the best chai latte I've ever had! Maybe I'll come back here after the last show...

So back to Friday: I took the bus in for sound check (it takes about 45 minutes for the bus to get to the arena), and then after sound check I walked around the city since it was a beautiful day. As it turns out, about a block from the arena there is currently a U.S. Chili competition happening. So the main street is blocked off and there are tents of food and people giving out free things, so it was pretty awesome.

After grabbing a sausage sandwich I walked more around Manchester. Here are some pictures:

Elephants on the hill!

The Palace Theatre! I know a couple people who have worked here :)

One of the parks in the area

The arena!

This weird statue thing is in front of the arena

Lots of people

Sailors?

PETA protestors getting yelled at by a cop

Yes, there have been PETA protestors at every city we've gone to so far. I feel kind of bad for them because there are usually just like four people and they look kind of pathetic. I feel more bad for Adam who takes care of the elephants because he is such a nice guy and would never do anything to harm them. Actually Ringling Bros. has a whole Elephant Conservation program to help preserve the Asian elephant species, so I'm not really sure what PETA is complaining about. Yes, maybe 40 years ago the elephants were mistreated, but I don't think so anymore.

So yesterday Craig came to see the show with Katie, Sami, and Sami's family. I met them at Portland Pie Co. where we had really good pizza, and then they saw the 7pm show. It was nice to have people watch the show who I knew in the audience since we could talk about it afterwards and it motivated me to stay a little more focused than I normally would have been, especially at the end of the three-show day. Mrs. Credit was sooooooo excited to see the show, and it was such a pleasure to play the show for them and take them backstage afterwards.

Well it's about time to go get ready for the last show in Manchester. Maybe I'll stick around afterwards and do the elephant walk with the clowns since we close so early today. Regardless I'll probably have this song stuck in my head :)

Wake Me Up

So I am waaaaaay overdue for a blog post! I had a pretty busy week so not a lot of time to update. But hey, at least that gives me a lot to write about!

So this past Monday I flew into Machester and picked me up from the airport. We then proceded to go on a date night, and he took me to a restaurant called The Common Man. Well, there's nothing common about it. All the food was DELICIOUS! We got mussels for an appetizer, and I got the lobster macaroni and cheese, which was utterly amazing. Craig got the haddock oscar and that was delicious as well. For dessert we split a white chocolate creme brulee, and THAT was to die for. I'm not a huge white chocolate fan, but man this was good. I guess white chocolate is their specialty, and they have been making it for a long time. They also gave us crumbles of white chocolate with the bill, kind of like a fancy Andes candy haha.

The next day Craig had to work at the bank, so I drove in with him in the morning, and then explored Laconia, New Hampshire. This is what I did for Tuesday through Thursday so I'm going to kind of lump it all together.

Laconia is considered a city, but it's a very very tiny one. The area is really nice; there are three lakes connected with rivers that go around the area. The "downtown" area of Laconia where Craig works is cute and tiny, and has more consignment and thrift shops than I've ever seen in one area. There are probably about six, and then a Goodwill and Salvation Army on top of that, and also a HUGE antique center that is basically like walking around a museum. Clearly antiques and collectibles are very popular in this area. I spent a lot of time using the wifi in a cafe called Awakenings and the public library, which is very nice, and I also walked through all the shops and the little park by the river. There is also the oldest mill in the United States which has a little museum area you can walk through. Enough typing, here are some pictures:

One of the two mills

The other mill

View from the bridge

The dam gateways

The was a crane or heron just chilling

That's the park on the other side of the river

Back of the mill

The gazebo in the park

This was at the antique center. Look familiar?

On Wednesday I went to the Tanger Outlet Mall and got an AWESOME blazer that I can't wait to wear! I'm really excited about it :)

Thursday Craig and I drove to Manchester in the evening. We had dinner at a Carrabba's and then drove to the train yard, which was really hard to find and is completely out of the way. Good thing I'm only in Manchester for the weekend, the 45 minute bus ride to the arena is annoying. I have pictures and more info about Manchester, but I'll end this post here and dedicate a separate post for the city. Peace!

P.S. Happy October everyone!