So yes, it has been a while since I posted. I've been on some hard times in MA so I've been busy trying to better my life and make things good again. The new year brings lots of new plans and a great schedule. I apologize to all of those who I haven't been able to contact if you've been contacting me. I'm so busy during the day and weekend that I'm usually too tired at night to call people back. So anyway here is a quick update of my status...
I'm working two jobs..one at a place called Spire and another at a place called Somatic Systems Institute. I basically work 40 hours a week. It's not bad but I"m looking to drop my Somatics job because of a few reasons (even though it's an interesting topic.. www.somatics.org ).
I am going to start teaching in the Northampton MA area (where I now live). I will be teaching workshops and a beginners contortion class at my new studio space. (www.contortionchris.com/classes)
As of January 1st I'm sharing a studio space with a physical theater company called The Zany Angels (www.zanyangels.com). I was able to rig (it's an old cotton mill) which is great. I'm excited to get back to training since I haven't been for a while now. I have many new pieces that I"m going to crank out so I'll be posting them on my website soon.
I've been looking at various traveling circuses who are interested in me so we'll see where that goes.
Colleen is leaving our happy apartment so Amy and I are looking for a new roommate. We think we may have found someone really cool so we're excited.
I'm planning on getting personal trainer certified by the end of March/Beginning of April and yoga certified in the summer with Amanda.
I had stopped posting because the phone on my camera stopped saving pictures! Sad! But I just got a new phone with a 2.0 mp camera so watch out!
That's really it for now. Once I start training and teaching again I"ll be posting.
Take it easy everyone and watch out for this sucker being up and running again soon. Thanks!
So today marks 2 days until our grand Halloween party. I had off so I spent the whole day starting to clean and decorating. I put up the streamers, set up the table and went to Wal Mart for the fog machine and strobe light. I also found black balloons so I bought 60 of those and blew them all up during the night. We'll have around 150 balloons all over the place. It's wonderful. I set up all the pumpkins around the house and they look great. I put up more cobwebs and finally reorganized all the DVDs so they're not all over the floor! It was a pretty lax day all and all.
The Halloween Food Table
I found a great radio station today called Switch 1197 www.switch1197.com. It has some rockin' dance music from Australia. I listened to that while decorating and downloaded some of the songs I heard for the party. I also got a scary sounds CD for only $3 at Wal Mart to play in the kitchen. Amy worked from around 3-9 today. It was her first day and when she got home she said the work was easy but she didn't really like it. =/ Looks like she'll be looking for a new job as well. I'm still waiting to hear back from some places. I'm going to the Northampton Coop tomorrow to harass them about giving me a job.
Colleen brought David, her beaux, home from the airport at night. He's a pretty cool guy and has made the coolest creepy bird head costume for the party! I showed them what the place will look like with all the lights and it's amazing! The fog machine is pretty kickin.
Amy and I both had off from work today so we spent some quality time at Wal Mart getting stuff for our party. I also decided to pick up $5 worth of pumpkins from that cart on Route 9. We ended up getting 20 mid to small sized pumpkins for only .25 a piece! I paid in change because I had to get the cash from my change jar haha. It was awesome. We went home and started to carve them that night. As we were washing them Lee, our landlord, came over with a giant pumpkin and was like "uh, Deana and I thought you guys might like a pumpkin...." as she stared at our 20 pumpkins everywhere haha. They had gone pumpkin picking and had gotten one for us! So awesome! So now we have a Mama pumpkin for all the little ones.
Our Pumpkins!
Amy cooked all the pumpkin seeds the following day and made all sorts of flavors. We have two containers of pumpkin seeds from just 10 pumpkins and we have 10 more to carve! We decided to save the original 4 that Amy bought for people to carve when they get here =)
Started the morning with some pancake making! I had been wanting pancakes forever and I bought a whole wheat mix at the "Dotties" of Northampton. I put some of our frozen raspberries in them and cinnamon. They were delicious! Amy and Colleen liked them too. Mmm nummy num nums.
Ume Enjoying the Sun on Our Porch
Amy and I spent a day together running around and doing stuff. Went to the thrift store so she could pick up stuff for her costume. She's going to be Facebook lol. She's going to wear all white and replicate everything facebook on her body haha. She's amazing. We went to target so she could get sticky notes to "friend" people all night long. =P
The Pumpkin Patch
Found a pumpkin place on the side of the road that was selling tiny pumpkins for only $.25 a pumpkin! They also had some giant ass pumpkins. I love the pumpkins.
OK so here's the deal, I'm going to do a quick update of the month I was too busy to update on here with some random pictures underneath all this text. Enjoy!
Trixie and Monkey Working on Their Klaus Nomi Piece
Living with Colleen and Amy is rocking. Ume is a joy. Amy has been looking for a job non stop and she just recently found one (even though she doesn't like it so much).
Colleen's a Sexy Bitch!
Our house is great but I might be allergic to it. I've been coughing for about a month. Went to the free doctor in Brattleboro and he said I was having allergy induced asthma and that my bronchial tubes were inflamed. He gave me an inhaler but I've stopped taking that as it wasn't doing anything for me. I still cough a little bit here and there but it's not on my chest any more. Most people think it was mold and now that the heat is on it's not as bad.
Rarr!
I did the Residency program at NECCA for about 2 weeks. I was not impressed. I knew it would basically be open studio but the energy wasn't working for me and the fact that I didn't have my own trapeze yet to rig was annoying. We finally had a few good days of working on stuff but that didn't last long. We kept getting jipped out of our time there by either being locked out or having people overstay their morning workout in the space. My back was doing ok and I was stretching well but then I think I overdid it and the right side has been killing me. I'm still taking it easy now. My right wrist is also fucked up from landing a back handspring poorly at the Chicago gig. I can't do a handstand without bending my right elbow. *angries*
Having Fun at a Park in Holyoke
I also started working at the coop again right after residency. Now that I quite residency I'm looking for another job down in Noho. The drive is just too much for me and I'm kind of burnt out on traveling and this isn't helping. Also, Colleen's schedule doesn't exactly match up with mine so I was driving quite a bit at the end and I just wasn't into that. My car is breaking down slowly and I need to get all sorts of shit fixed on it so I don't want to be driving 1 hour every day to Brattleboro and then back again.
I Keep Finding Her on My Bed haha
All this stuff is totally stressing me out. I had quite a few bad days/weeks this past month. I didn't have any money yet was spending so much on gas and training that I didn't want to do. I'm taking steps now to make this all better. I might have found a space at a local cotton mill type place with a photographer who wants to share space. For almost unlimited access I would be paying less then residency. Totally worth it to me. I also had a rockin lesson with Codhi from New Mexico. He was here to do a show and he gave me a trapeze lesson. It reinspired me to create on the trapeze and I loved it. He's a great guy!
Improving
I really like my life down here in Holyoke though. I love the house and I love the area. I'm really excited to get things finally settled and have a slightly relaxed life.
Amy's Bakery Says, "Suzanne's a Chick!"
The General Feeling at Residency
I Added Some Things to Amy's Design
Bye Bye Van (At a Wedding Reception with Amy's Family...Odd)
I woke up on Sunday feeling great to be home. I had a lot of stuff to get to start organizing the house so I went off to the local K-Mart down the road to pick up some stuff. I had tons of time so I stayed there for quite a while staring at curtains and hangers and furniture. It was a good time. When I got home I was so happy to hang up my clothes on hangers in the closet. I've been living out of a suitcase for around two months now and I'm ready to see all my clothes hanging in a closet. It was magical. I also got some nice curtains and housewares for the house.
I'm a Doggie.
I took care of Ume all day because Colleen went up to Brattleboro for work. Ume is the coolest dog ever. She's one of those awesome dogs that doesn't even need a leash when you go out in public. She loves attention and loves to lick you. When you rub her belly her back legs kicks so hard. It's hilarious. She also loves to play ball. It makes me feel more at home to have a dog around. The house also feels more secure, even though I don't know if she'd attack the intruder or lick them =/
Fillin Up The Beast
I also went out to Stop 'n Shop, my new local grocery store. It's pretty rockin. Because of the large Puerto Rican population there are so many cool things in the grocery store that aren't normally there...mainly a lot of Goya products =P We also get a discount in gas for having a Stop 'n Shop card. I love it.
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Trixie Little and The Evil Hate Monkey Present 'Dial P for Pasties'
If I had one word to describe today it would WATER. Water here, water there, water every freaking where. Rob picked me up in the morning and we made our way through the flooding of Chicago. His windshield wipers weren't working so it was a very scary and very dangerous trip in. We started running into all sorts of traffic so the other group had to leave without us. We tried to make it into the city directly but we got stuck in a town where there were cops blocking off roads and flooded streets. We eventually made it out of there but it took us around 3 hours to get to the gig! We had to start out first show much later.
Last Day of Performance
It was fine once we got there. We did our shows and booked it out of there as soon as we could. O'hare airport had closed for the majority of the morning so I was just praying I would be able to get on my flight and go home. I was so ready to be done with all of the shows and get on with the rest of my life. We made it back to Jena's place and her street was crazy flooded. Right in front of her house had a ton of water. When everyone got back into their cars they had to take off their shoes or just accept getting wet. I said goodbye to everyone and Jena and her brother got ready to take me to the airport.
Trying to Get to Their Cars
We took off and tried to make it to O'hare, which had since opened up again. Everything was flooded. The gas station on the corner was terrible and all the parking lots and tons of houses had water up to their doors. The airport is only a few minutes from their house but it took us a long time because everything was closed. Cops were everywhere. We saw a car start to smoke as it went through a deep puddle of water. Crazy! We made it to the airport finally! Woot! I was so happy.
Flooded Citgo
I got to the terminal I was supposed to be at and apparently I was supposed to be at another airline in a different terminal. So after walking there I got my boarding pass, made it through security and into the airport. My flight was on time but then it was delayed about 30 minutes. Colleen was picking me up in Hartford so I called and told her. Eventually my flight was delayed a total of an hour. Bah. The O'Hare airport was kind of weird. It's really long and has no good flow to it. There was a giant dinosaur though. That was cool. I had a great pizza at a fancy take out place. Eventually I got on my plane and made it home. The turbulence wasn't as bad as I had thought.
Dinosaurs in O'Hare!
I was so happy to be home and away from the terrible weather. Colleen came and picked me up and I got to see her and her dog Ume! She was so cute and well behaved. She's a black lab who has the best disposition of any dog I've ever met. Colleen and I caught up and drove home. I unpacked and crashed on my bed. Happy to be back.
Today was an interesting day. It's my last night here so there are plans for going out at some point tonight. The Orelikon people have also been bugging us all week to stay for their happy hour so we decided to do that too. First few shows went well. I was kind of getting tired of doing the shows but it still wasn't too bad. Went to this shady little gyro joint for lunch with Ray and Andy. They didn't have anything vegetarian so I got nachos and pineapple lemonade. Only two guys were working there and they took forever. Freaking weird lol
BATTLE BOTS!
One of the highlights of the day was the Battle Bots in one of the other buildings. Rob and Jena had seen them the other day and found out the show times. So we went over and watched. It was awesome! The first round was four robot car things playing soccer. Each one was run by someone watching. It was really entertaining. Then the second round was even better. There were two battle bots with plows on their fronts so they could get underneath each other. Jena was so excited and volunteered to operate one. She did and she kicked the other guy's ass! My video today is her kicking ass. It's entertaining =P Then the last round was AMAZING! This guy was given control of a little RC car and he had to keep it away from this crazy machine that was basically like a lawn mower. He was doing well until it was kinda busted and the machine went for it. That thing DESTROYED the little car! There were no discernible parts left. Amazing.
I'm...Drinking?
We finished our last shows for the day and then had happy hour. We were supposed to bring something nice to wear but I didn't bring anything like that because I wasn't expecting to have to dress up. I know I should bring a set of something nice on gigs but I was too frantic when I was packing at home to think about that before I left. Anyway, that just meant I had to wear my performance outfit and everyone else looked nice. Boo. That sucked. Everyone was drinking and I was a little bored. With a lot of persuading I got Ray a drink. I felt weird doing that. It was the first time I have ever gotten alcohol. Andy was being kind of a dick about my not drinking. It was rather obnoxious and very unprofessional. Oh well. The whole happy hour thing was rather boring. I just wanted to go. We got to see the Silk Sisters before we left. They were wearing some very sexy outfits (see below).
Fifth Element Sexiness
After that we went into downtown Chicago to some place called Ed's Diner or something like that. The whole way there Ray had to pee soooo bad. He was dancing in the back seat. It was really funny. When we got there he ran in and asked for the bathroom. The woman showed him then said "God, what are you, 9?" I was like uh, ok. Then some other waiter was like, "Man, he's so dumb." I was so confused. I told Jena about it and she told me that the whole point of this place was that the waiters made fun of you. haha. Strange. We had a great time though. I had a milk shake and a veggie burger and lots of cheesy fries. Mmm. The waiter was funny and ridiculous. He threw straws at us. Then all the waiters got up on the tables and danced. It was amusing haha. Andy was still a dick for the majority of the night. By the end of the night I was totally ready to go home.
Dance, Waiter, Dance!
The drive was a long one back to my hotel. When I got there I crashed sooo hard...after I finished my burger and checked my email of course =) I also watched part of The Craft haha.
I was pretty out of it today. Everything went like it always does except I was really starting to cough a little more and I was tired all day. In the morning we were able to catch an aerialist that usually works for Forms in Motion. She did an act for the Silk Sisters because they had a schedule conflict? Seems kind of strange but whatever. Anyway, I really like how this chic performed. She was built like Caroline at NECCA. It was awesome. She had a really great personality that showed on stage. The act wasn't anything too impressive but still, it was nice to watch.
Our Daily Activities Between Shows
We had our first performance shortly after that. Our choreographer was there to make sure everything was still going well. She video taped our first performance which is always nerve racking because I never know if I'm fully warmed up or not because we don't have any room to do so. Anyway, it went pretty alright. We got to watch it later and we were told to smile more. I hadn't really been doing that because I was thinking of it more as a gymnastics demonstration then a performance. Hmm.
More of the Trade Show
Then we had our long ass break between performances. I didn't really walk around much today. I just stayed at our table and updated my blog. Oh boy what fun. I did a lot of it though. I also got pictures from my Saltimbanco street performing gig. They were pretty rockin! It sucks because I'm not that flexible but you know, contorting for 11 hours will do that to your body haha.
Jena's Ever Growing Lanyard Collection
The last two shows were pretty good. For some reason I keep not following through with my back tuck off of Ray's back. In the video I lifted my hands half way then tucked instead of throwing my hands directly up. I do it the right way when I'm on the ground but I think I freak out when I'm higher so I tuck in for safety sooner. I'm trying to fix it but it's not going great. So because of that I'm not sticking my landing well. I mean it's not terrible but it could be better. *sigh* I have to do it well! Grar! Frustrating.
I also decided that I want a lyra act so I emailed Bronwyn to see if she'll work with me on it. I feel I should have one. I got inspired by a song for a lyra act. I think it would be good to just have and so I have more experience on the lyra. Once I do that I'll be trying to put together a fabric act. I decided I needed to be more experienced in everything so I'm going to give it a try this year.
So Apparently It's For Crocheting and Stuff lol
Our last show was actually video taped by some company. I don't know where that footage is going to be but I hope it looks good haha. When Rob drove me back to my place we went by a Thai place I hadn't seen before. I ended up walking there for dinner. It was really nice! The guy was super nice and started talking to me about Saratoga Raceways in Upstate NY because I told him where I was from. He even gave me a glass of water while I was waiting. How nice is that! I got Panang Noodles. They were delicious. And a thai iced tea to go! I crashed at 11PM and had such a good night sleep.
I woke up at 7:15 this morning from a text message that Rob sent me. He said that he was illin' and would pick me up at 9:30 instead of 8:30. Woot! I slept in an extra hour which was wonderful. When he picked me up we were able to drive right into the city which cut about 40 minutes off of our daily trip. Rob said that he was starting to get congested and had trouble sleeping. I of course felt responsible because of whatever it is I have right now. I feel fine except for the cough on my chest but it could totally affect other people differently. On our way there the traffic was God awful. There was even an ad on the radio from the workers and companies who deal with infrastructure telling people that things need to be done in Chicago because they are falling behind the times. Crazy!
Sleeping Andy
When we got to the booth Andy was also feeling like crap. He had a terrible headache. Arg, I'm getting everyone sick! After that I officially became the plague carrier of the group =/ We got the conference room to warm up in which was really nice. My wrist still feels funny from landing on it weird during our last show yesterday. It just feels kinda bruised in one spot. The shows went well today... the first one totally a warm up and after that it was pretty easy to go through the act.
This Picture Wasn't Meant for Me to Take But I Did Anyway
Andy ended up sleeping on the floor between each set. Even that didn't really help his headache. Poor guy. Ray and I went off to the other building to try and find food. Rob and Jena called us and, from what I heard, there was free ribs and BBQ stuff in the South building. So we went over there and I kept getting lost. I called Rob a bunch of times and never quite understood his directions. When I finally figured it out I realized that we had gone in a complete circle since entering the South Building. It's crazy because this convention is in four different buildings. I also just found out that the official name for the convention is the International Manufacturing Technology Show www.imts.com Nifty. Anyway, when we found them, Ray went to get a sandwich at the stand. I was looking at what they had and when Ray moved to the right he revealed that there were prices! I totally misunderstood Rob and Jena. Oops. So Ray payed $7.50 for a tiny school lunch portion of a BBQ rib. =/
Dude, Where's Our Car?
After the shows Rob and I took a long walk back to the car. In our attempts to find a short cut, we ended up adding about 15 minutes to our journey haha. Oh well. We asked 4 different people directions and it wasn't until the fourth person that we were told to do what we normally do to get to the parking lot. Oo la la. The trip home was quick. Not too much traffic. Rob dropped me off because we all needed to get our rest. It was nice to be back at the hotel early.
Sears Tower and What Not
I relaxed for a little bit and "rented" Mean Girls from iTunes to watch at some point this week. It's been referenced so many times in the past month that I thought I should see it. As that downloaded I took a shower and headed off to find something to eat. I talked with my Mom all the way through the strip mall and ended up going to Baja Fresh again. This time I got my burrito "enchilado style" which is basically cheese and red sauce all over the top of it with chips and cheese and veggies. Totally awesome. I went back, watched the Simpsons, ate, played Wow and crashed while watching Family Guy. Oh what an exciting life I lead. =P
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Mickey Avalon - My Dick
(One of my fellow performers made me listen to this and I thought I'd share. She said her kids won't stop listening to it and now she listens to it too lol)
This blog entry is dedicated to my friend Amy's van. After a long and interesting life in the hands of Amy Gardiner, it has crashed into a hill today, never to be resurrected. Luckily Amy was fine but it must have been an extremely scary thing to go through. Let us all have a moment of silence for the van.
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Chicago Pad Thai *drool*
I was picked up at 8:30 this morning which was much better than yesterday. However, I am to the North of the city and and we have to meet everyone at Jena's place which is to the West of the city. It took us about 40 minutes to get there then about an hour to get into the city from there. The traffic is OUT OF CONTROL! I've never been in such a congested city before. There is construction everywhere and really long blocks of cars. It's nuts.
Man or Monkey? | Silk Sisters | Techno Ladies | Lanyard Heaven
Got to the convention and did our first show. We weren't able to get into the conference room all day today so I had to stretch in the tiny back room which really sucked balls. I never really stretched out my straddle split which made the straddle lift I had to do look like crap but oh well. The first performance was a little shaky. I didn't nail my first handstand because I hadn't done one yet so I felt like an ass. Everything else went fine though. It was totally a warm up performance.
After the first performance we had about 3 hours to the next show so Andy, Ray and I went out into the city and walked around looking for a place to eat. I got to see some of Chicago, even though it wasn't the nicest part of downtown. We eventually came to this little area that had a Subway and some other places. They went to Subway and I bolted for the Thai restaurant and got Pad Thai to go. It was a ton of food for only $6. It was very good too. It pleased my gurgling stomach.
My Burrrrito! | Salsa Plate | Rob's Food | Wall of Hot Sauces!
Went back and did our second show. My stomach was a little full still from lunch so my tidal wave rolls didn't feel too great, to say the least =P Then we all decided to walk around and see more of the convention. We went and watched a few different performances. The ice lady was making a thinking man and Andy asked if it was going to be a man or a monkey and she totally freaked out on him and threatened him very subtlety with her ice shaver. It was weird... we couldn't tell if she was joking or not. Across from that were three girls all decked out playing violin, viola and cello. It was like, electronic pop classical stuff. We all watched three songs because we couldn't tell whether or not they were actually playing. We came to the conclusion that no, they were not =P
Fuego Loco Fun Times
Then holy crap, we came across aerial rigging at one of the booths! Rob was pissed because he was told he couldn't rig. So I asked when the next performance was and it was in 10 minutes by the Silk Sisters from Las Vegas. We watched their double lyra act. It was good... clean lines, good technique.. nothing too interesting though. The music was way too low. One of the chicks had HUGE HUGE HUGE boobs! I couldn't believe it. The announcer said they were from Russia but they were also from Circus Smirkus at one point. Rob approached them and gave them his info. They said they would come watch us later...oh God.
Haha Dick Pond Athletics
Jena was collecting lanyards from every booth that had them. By the end of the night she had 17 different ones. The convention is in four other buildings so she's going to hit one every day haha. I shall be posting pictures everyday of the progress. We did our third performance. It went well and the Silk Sisters did come and watch. It's not that our performance is bad it's just that it could be so much better if we could add some circus elements to it and better music =P Oh well, it's enjoyable.
Mmmm. Drugs. For My Body.
After the performance, Jena, Rob and I went out to a great Mexican Restaurant called Fuego Loco. It had a really great atmosphere and all the walls were lined with hot sauces that you could just grab and try. It was awesome! I had a burrito with veggies topped with a red sauce and cheese. It was delicious. I asked them for their hottest sauce and they got it out of the fridge for me. I took a tiny drip and ate it. It burned my tongue and roof of my mouth for quite a while. I eventually worked up to using a little bit on my food. It was really hot but still enjoyable in tiny tiny doses. I liked it so much, I bought a bottle =) We were in a small town called Elmhurst and it was really nice. Had all sorts of cool places like a sporting goods store called Dick Pond's Athletics. haha Gross.
Got back to my place and b-lined it for the grocery store. I got some Advil for my back, an ice pack, Robitussin for my cough and Airborne. I drugged myself out, watched some TV and crashed at about 11 o'clock. I was so tired!
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Dir En Grey - Obscure
(F'ed up video from one of my favorite Japanese bands)
