Good Night...er...Good Morning!

The Last View of My Room on Elliot St

This day was full of early starts for me. Everyone got home from Kentucky around 2AM. Mark did quite a few things at his old house when he got back (moving out related) but he was staying with me for the next few days so I was awoken at around 4AM. I was having trouble sleeping anyway so I was more than happy to stay up and talk a bit (even though he was exhausted too). After that, I had to wake up again to meet Marty, my landlord, to do a walk through of our apartment. I crawled out of bed at 8:50 and just sat on the floor while he did his inspection. 

Chelsea Royal Diner Menu

When I got back to the apartment, Mark and I were hungry so we met up with Jon at the Chelsea Royal Diner for breakfast. None of us had eaten breakfast there so we were intrigued but after eating there, our interest waned. 

Nothing! Nothing! I've Got Absolutely Nothing For Sale!

I think I trained for a little bit later in the day. Then around 6pm a woman who had taken some stuff from us earlier came back to get the rest from our apartment. She was a GODSEND. She took the ugly white metal cabinet, the futon, a stool and the dining room table! SO happy...less stuff we had to get rid of. It took her a while to get the futon apart because a lot of the screws were stripped but she managed to lug it away. All that was left was the stupid dresser and mirror. Marty told us we could put it out on the street so we did! I put a notice on freecycle.com that it would be there. A little later in the night I got a call from a guy who was there and wanted it. I said it was on the street, he disagreed with me, then I cried out in happiness as someone had already taken it ^_^ Furniture you don't want = stress. 

I Don't Really Need to Write a Caption for This...

After that last bit of sweat was poured into my former apartment, I went to Swanzey, NH with Mark to go miniature golfing. We Putt Putt'ed all the way to Fun Town! Actually, it was called Twinkle Town but we had a good time. There was a really demented sign at the entrance about not swinging your club... Strange. They had batting cages though, which I will be going to before I leave. I want to play baseball so badly and I have no idea why.

I Said What What? In the Putt-Putt

We had Olive Garden for dinner. I haven't eaten there in ages. I had soup and breadsticks and was no longer interested in my meal. Their portions are freaking huge! Blah. Nasty, that's what I said. When I got home I passed out from food coma on the bed. 

Tickets From Heaven!

Suzanne and I in Response to a Picture Text from Amanda

I woke up early to help Suzanne move some of her stuff from her old place to her new place..down the road about 3 houses =P By the time I got there Carolyn and her boyfriend Jesse had already moved 2 car loads. I then proceeded to help with another 2 car loads and a load that went to storage. My lord, this woman does have a lot of stuff (I love you Suzanne ^^ ) 

Poor Andy Hiding from Us

The last thing she had to move was her cat, Andy. She adopted him from Cody, a former teacher at NECCA. He's the saddest cat you'll ever meet.. he's old, diabetic.. and diabetic. They have to give him insulin shots every morning and he's all fat and lazy. He's a good cat but the fact that he has diabetes is just sad. Suzanne was afraid to move him because she thought he'd have a little heart attack. Apparently the move went ok though and he just hid under her new bed for quite a while. Poor guy...

Stupid NH Cop >=(

Later that day I went to Keene again (big surprise). On my way home I got pulled over by a cop for speeding in New Hampshire... bastard. He pulled me and the person in front of my over at the same time. Let's just say that it was VERY confusing what was going on because he was trying to get both of us pulled over. Anyway, it was right on the border of VT and NH.... the speed limit for the majority of the route between Keene and Brattleboro is 55, so I was going 53. But right on the top of the hill before the border it apparently changes to 35. As soon as I crested that bitch, he cop turned on his lights and pulled me over for going 18 mph over the speed limit. SUCH bullshit...I hadn't had any time to really slow down and when I asked him where the speed sign was he sounded like he felt like an asshole for pulling me over while he was explaining it because he knew that it was a bullshit pull over. =( Grumpy Chris. Anyway, he let me go with only 12 mph over the speed limit..whoopey. I now have a $75 speeding ticket and some points off my license. Just what I wanted! haha. Oh well, it's my first speeding ticket so whatever.

Movin' Day / The Dead Bird Saga

The Gorgeous, Old Latchis Movie Theater 

Today was the big moving day! Adam and I officially moved all of our crap out of the apartment and into our respective new places. I will be living the next few weeks at Erin's place out in West Brattleboro. She was gracious enough to let me live there rent free while she's in the country Jordan performing and teaching. It's a beautiful studio apartment and I'll get some pics of it on here soon. Adam and I made many trips to the thrift store and he spent some time cleaning. I spent my time getting all of Keri and Adam's stuff that was left behind on Freecycle... boy was that a pain in the but. I love freecycle but so many people crap out on you. My inbox was overloaded with emails from people wanting this stuff. Lots of people, but no one was following through. I did have a woman come over and pick up some stuff but we had a lot of large items still. I'm sure I"ll figure it out by tomorrow/Monday =/

Dead Bird I Stepped On

After that debacle of moving, I went over to Erin's place to set up my bed and get settled in. When I got there there was a bunch of stuff on the floor and what looked like bird poop on a lot of surfaces. I got freaked out that a bird had gotten in and slowly went around to all the doors to check (while at the same time afraid that I would open a door and a bird would fly at my face). After checking everything I was semi relieved but I still didn't know what caused all of that. So I called Erin and left a message. She's usually very clean so it just seemed out of place. Right after that call I went into the bathroom and opened the shower curtain to look at the shower... everything was fine until I turned around and I heard *CRUNCH* I look down to discover I had stepped on a dead bird.

 After a slight moment of freak out, I called Erin again to tell her what had happened but this time she picked up. To say she was mortified was an understatement. She felt so bad that I had to clean all that up when she had left it so clean. We came to the conclusion that it either flew in while she was packing to leave and she had the door open or through the old stove pipe which she had uncovered for better circulation. I immediately covered the stove pipe and shut the door. I swept, mopped and cleaned everything until I felt better about staying there. I set up my bed and relaxed for a bit.

Uh, My Leg

Adam and I met up with Ed later that night for a showing of "Wanted" at the Latchis Theater. I was really pumped for a violent action flick and that is exactly what I got. I actually like it for what it was. Fun story, exciting action scenes, unnecessary violence... pure delight. I high recommend it for any one in my demographic =) Afterwards I went to Adam's new place to watch the Simpsons and then went back to my new "home". 

Good Bye Richard, Good Bye Hair

Adios Muchacho!

I woke up at the ass crack of dawn this morning to get Richard to the bus station. We all went to Dunkin Donuts to get something to eat then hung out at the "Greyhound Station" aka the double wide behind the Mobile Gas Station. This was the last time I would see Richard for a while! Even though he only lived with my for 2 months he was a really cool roommate and a good friend. He's a crazy mo-fo fo sho so I'm sure we'll see each other again soon. 

Haven't You Ever Wanted to Jump One of these Things with Your Car? 

Seeing how I'm writing this in retrospect, I don't remember a lot of the day... I do know that at some point I went to Keene...again... to hang out with Adam. I think it was today that we went to Margaritas Mexican Restaurant for dinner. It was great food but in the beginning they totally forgot about us. Our waitress was helping people that had come in after us and the host eventually came up to us and was like "Have you guys been served?" ... fortunately for our waitress, she had come over to us before the host but still, that's sad. Adam got a free dessert out of it though. I had no interest in the dessert because I was on the verge of barfdom. 

 

Bad Idea of the Year

OK so no idea why I wanted to do THIS again but I got some black hair dye at Target and decided "wow, what a great idea." Apparently, I don't learn from the past. Some of my college friends may remember the time that I thought it would be a good idea to dye my hair black.. and the aftermath of that bad decision. So with those memories pushed far into the back of my mind I went ahead with it. Dear lord I look awful with black hair. I look like a freaky different person. I rinsed it very hard to make sure the dye didn't stick to my scalp (like the last time I did this) and to make it look not so black. It sort of worked... In any case I planned on buzzing my head the next day or I wouldn't be able to leave the house. Fun times. 

Happy Fun Times

Mmm... My Massage Room

My day started off with a wonderful massage in the early afternoon. I went to Watercourse Way, down the street from me, and they did a wonderful job. I told my massage lady about my back and she did some nice gentle stretching and massage work associated with it. Some guy in the next room kept screaming with pleasure saying "OH YEAH THAT"S THE SPOT!" It was hilarious to listen to but then the woman turned on a fan to drown out the noise. She also had a pretty toe ring on. Afterward I was all greased up and relaxed. I went home, took a shower then laid down for a while to let the massage soak in...along with all the water I was drinking =)

Carolyn Not Ready for Me to Take This Picture =)

After resting for a bit I decided to go to the studio to do some recovery exercises. Carolyn and Adam were there doing fabric stuff so I just laid on the ground and did core/abs for a bit. Then I started working on a sequence for my diabolo act which I was able to get through. All the diabolo is pretty simple but for me it's just serving as a base to build off of. I have about 2:30 of an act and that's without any choreography and more dynamic tumbling/contortion moves I want to add in. I think this will come together nicely for sure. 

Alex Stuck in the Back of My Car

I had gotten a call earlier in the morning from my college friend Alex reminding me that she was coming to Brattleboro today! I was very excited to remember that. Her friend Gaia was traveling with her on the train so I went to pick them up around 6:30 pm. It was really great to see her! It had been a long time. However I had forgotten that they would probably have a lot of luggage (they teach at a camp near Brattleboro for a month called Neringa...a Lithuanian Camp). Sooo we had to get creative because I had everything I owned in my car. Gaia had to sit on stuff and Alex had to be crammed in the back with my unicycle. It was amusing for sure. We went to eat at the coop, hung out downtown, then I dropped her off at camp =P 

HALO 2

Since Amanda was gone, I had promised her that I would spend some time with her boyfriend Ed. We had made plans to play his Xbox so Adam and I went over there at night and spent an hour or so playing Halo 2. I had seen it before but never played. Besides the controls pissing me off, I enjoyed the game a lot. I will definitely be going over again to play Halo at some point before I leave. 

The Beginning of Recovery

A Hello Kitty Dehumidifier? Amazing...

I'm writing the next few blog entries on memory because I feel behind so they will be mainly pictures with some memories here and there but just an FYI, they will not be that detailed =)

Spent the day mainly with Adam. It was our first time to catch up since we both got back from our trips. We ended up going to Keene and sporting around to the various places we usually go. It was nice because I was still a little bit down because everyone left for the KY gig today. I got some DVDs and that made me feel better ^_^

Adam and I Playing with Diabolos at the Park

After we got back from Keene we went to the Commons to play with Diabolos. I was able to teach Adam a few things while working on new stuff for me. I figured out a some neat tricks and decided to use my time off to put together my diabolo act. I've been listening to music and I think, with Adam's help, I've decided on a song but I just have to get it from his iPod. I was happy to at least do something circusy. Not being able to stretch or do trapeze is kind of a bummer. 

Woman Balancing Water on her Head

We went back to the apartment and met up with Richard and we all went to Top of the Hill Grill. Richard owed me a Heidi's Special for making and burning his promo DVDs so I was more than happy to get a free meal tonight. On our way there we saw this woman outside the Hooker Dunham balancing a glass of water on her head. She was balancing on one leg then just balancing it. A little girl tried to do it too. I think the group was all together but it was funny since they were doing it near a stop light. I got a picture of her (see above). 

Political Amusement at the Top of the Hill Grill

We had a grand ole' time at the Top of the Hill Grill. Richard was amusing as usual =) I'd put a quote from him on here that he said while we were at the restaurant but it's a bit obscene heh. We ran into a local named Roger who I've met a few times. We had some awkward conversation with him then when to the pet store next door to look at the rabbits. They were awesome! They were so small and very affectionate. The birds at the store made me realize how glad I am not to own them as pets and how I never would. They're too jittery for me =/ ... and I always feel like they're going to attack my face... not sure why. 

Cute Bunnies at the Pet Store!

Rest of the night was spent watching CELEBRITY CIRCUS at Suzannes with Carolyn, Cat, Adam, Suzanne and Jon. It was so much fun. I love watching that show with circus people. We found out that the middle guy judge was some crazy Olympian gymnast so we have respect for him and Aurelia (AMAZING contortion trapeze chick) but the guy on the end...the overly flamboyant dancer dude with a lisp just makes me cringe every time he has something to say. I think that this week, Christopher Knight did the best job with the bungees. I was surprised he actually did stuff. 

A Day in Thought

Target: My Therapy Office

I woke up rather early with nothing to do. I decided that I needed some time to myself so I drove out to Keene, NH to go to Target and various other stores. It was really nice just to drive for a while and be by myself. It helped me to think about a lot of things. I got the Simpsons seasons 7 & 8 because they were on sale at Target and I got a great Zen book about archery. 

Cute Perky Ear Dog

When I got home I laid on my bed for quite a few hours on my computer, watching DVDs and resting my back with a heating pad. It felt great and was great to unwind. Mark stopped over briefly to print something out and I realized that he was ok with what was happening with the gig so I felt better. Amanda tried to get everyone together to eat but it ended up just being Amanda, Ed and I again. We went to Frankies because Fireworks was closed..BUT we did see the cutest little dog tied up outside of fireworks. It had little perky ears and was so friendly.

 

The Streets of Brattleboro at Night

Then I went home and was waiting for Mark to get home so we could hang out. Adam came home in the meantime from his trip to North Carolina. We caught up for a little bit then I went over to hang out with Jon, Suzanne and Mark. I had a good rest of my night and was overall feeling better about life. =)

Depression, Acupuncture and Ice Cream

GIANT Ice Cream cone!

So today I woke up ready to see if I could finish my act with Mark. We got to the studio and tried some things but nothing was working out. I made the difficult decision to not go ahead with our duo trapeze act because it wasn't working well with my body. So after calling Serenity and talking with Elsie I was no longer going to Kentucky...instead I have a week and a half to hang around Brattleboro with nothing to do and heal. =/ I was very frustrated and I felt really bad for Mark because that means that he had come up here for no reason. Luckily he was able to partner with Elsie and they threw something together for the gig. I was so happy because then he could make some money and I didn't feel like a terrible ass (even though I was).

KEEP OUT OF THE BOILER ROOM!

I went to my first acupuncture appointment after 'training'. My journey into acupuncture took me all the way down my road to Watercourse Way. My acupuncturist's name was Tim and he was pretty cool. I went in and told him about my back and my foot so he did some acupressure then put about 9 needles into me ... four on opposite sides of my ankles, two on the outsides of the knees, two on the outsides of my hands and one on the top of my head. I laid there for about 30 minutes and it felt sooo good. The weirdest part for me was when he turned/flicked the needles until they hit "the spot" where the blockage was. It felt like my muscles were being grabbed or a sharp pain going through my body. Afterwards the pain in my foot had lessened but I have to give some time for my back. Overall an interesting experience. I really need a massage though.

I also went after that to the Colonial Pool and Spa with Mark. We were dying to get into the outdoor hot tub but when we got there the tub's jets were not working =( However it was still very hot and very deep so we got in it anyway. It felt sooo good. We had some really nice conversation and spent a long time there.

Elevator Ed

I was pretty bummed the rest of the day. I felt over all very bad.  Luckily Amanda was there to cheer me up. We went out to the Chelsea Royal Diner for ice cream. I got this monstrosity of a sundae in a waffle cone. I didn't eat it all and boy was I glad I didn't!

Elevator Amanda

We went back to their place where I got to experience the creepy creepy basement of their apartment building. The dark picture on this blog that says "Keep Out" on it was taken on their boiler room door...soooo scary! Then I took pictures of Ed and Amanda on the clunky old elevator that freaked me out too. I didn't realize how haunted seeming their building was until I had gone in the basement. Apparently the basement had been an old Model T showroom. Kinda weird. After that I went home and just wanted to sleep the day away.

From NYC to VT

Mark at Toll Both #1 with the Hot Attendant Lady!

Mark and I took our time getting up in the morning at Cody's place. We got on the road at around 1pm. I had two more pieces of carb on carb ziti pizza for breakfast..oh god. There were many tolls and Mark's Nuvi took us a very strange way through the city that neither of us were familiar with. Lots of traffic but we made it through! Then we hit CT and we needed Starbucks!! Thanks GOD for Nuvi! I put in Starbucks and we found this random little one 1 mile from where we were. It was amazing. ^_^

Traffic Jam in CT!!!

Mark and I listened to all sorts of awesome music on my iPod on the way home. We had a nice Dolly Parton moment haha. Then it started to rain like crazy when we got into Mass. Poor Mark was so sick of driving but we got back safe and sound. He dropped me off at home and I got to take care of some stuff and start to unwind. 

The Group at Panda North

Later that night Jon, Cat, Richard, Mark, Carolyn and I went out to PANDA NORTH for great Chinese food! I had some great Teriyaki tofu mmm... Then I was able to get some great rest on my own bed! It's been a short day! =D

NYC and The Mayor's Picnic

The Blessed Maryland House Starbucks

So after a late night at the Otto Bar I was in no mood to get up this morning at 6am and neither was Mark. We got our stuff together and headed out a little before 7am. We hit the road and stopped at the first Starbucks we saw. The Maryland House was a rest stop where we were able to feed our chai addiction. It was quite refreshing. Poor Mark was exhausted and had no desire to drive...I wanted to help him drive but with that van... not so comfortable driving me thinks. I also got a bagel from this bagel stand at the Maryland House from this cute little Indian girl who was all soft spoken and well...cute. She toasted my bagel very well! ^_^  Unfortunately Sbarro was not open. I really wanted pizza for breakfast but c'est le vie. It was freaking packed at that place too. All sorts of characters. This trip has made me realize how much I miss

 diversity around me. 

We then finished our journey to Cody's place in Brooklyn around noonish. She has a great little apartment on the fourth floor (omg fourth floor when you are tired...boo). Cody was Mark's partner on tippy lyra when they were in Cirque Productions and Cody's boyfriend Erin was the 'plant' in the audience during their show. Cody and Erin are both amazing people and really fun to hang out with. We chilled until Bronwyn and Patrick got their so we could go to the gig. We really didn't know anything about it except it was aerial atmosphere, we had to have 1970's glam rock costumes, it was on Randall's Island and our shifts started at 5pm. 

We started to put our make up on around 1:30ish and none of us knew what to do. I kind of went ape-shit on my face and it ended up looking god awful but whatever haha. Then we all piled in Mark's van and headed to the Bronx to pick up our shuttle. We parked and had to carry the trapeze and lyra through the crowded streets and try to figure out where the bus picked us up...with our make up on that was ooooo so interesting... in the middle of the Bronx haha =P Luckily we ran into some more performers and together we figured it out. 

Warming Up Before Going Up

So we got there and went through security and realized how HUGE this event was! It was the Spring Picnic for Mayor Bloomberg and what we assume were all of his workers form the government offices and their families. They had ferris wheels, live music, karaoke, food, carnival games, racing toilets, electronic bull rides, merry go round and a bunch of other crazy crap! There were thousands there. 

Map of the Event - We Were at the Top Right Near the Water

We were stationed at the entrance of the event with a crazy ass custom built rig that was three stories high. There were around 12 aerialists and we all took turns doing 10 min shifts. I did my first shift on lyra which was interesting because I had no idea what to do haha. The rest were on trapeze which were great fun! It was so high up, I was not used to being that high so I kept all my tricks simple...as did everyone else. They had some great techno music so that was fun. The best part was being around 20 feet above pavement... the excitement lol. 

All the aerialists were great fun and I met a lot of cool people. Around 8 o'clock we were given all white costumes and went to two free standing rigs in the middle of the event where there was a DJ and a huge dance stage and lights. I was on the lyra/single point trapeze rig and basically there was a giant dance party after the fireworks went off and I just rocked oooout! It was so much fun! I danced with people when I was on the ground and went up in the air and just partied like I never have before on the trapeze. Everyone loved it! That was the most entertaining part of the night. By the end I was EXHAUSTED and ready to go..as was everyone else. I was so happy to do the gig with Mark, Cody and Bronwyn though... we had a blast together. 

The Rig - The Trapeze is Dead Center Where the Two Girls Are Standing

Three interesting people during the party... 

1) Tall Thin Effeminate Black Man - Wanted me to "teach him" how to do trapeze. When I told him there were schools in NYC he totally lost interest lol

2) Crazy Drunk Chick - Had hard liquor in one hand and was rolling around the ground in a dress. Then when Mark started to de-rig she ran under the trapeze and stared up and waved her hands around like a hippy. I had to forcibly remove her. She reminded me of a Cirque character though so it was amusing. 

3) Shy Indian Guy - Watched us the ENTIRE time then came up at the end and shook all of our hands saying how much he admired and enjoyed our performances. Nice guy but a little strange =P 

We then booked it back to Cody's place where Mark and I ordered the carb on carb love fest that is a large baked ziti pizza. We downed that after we showered the day off and went straight to bed. I've never slept so well on a hardwood floor before =) 

Fish n Chips Burlesque Super Friday

This morning was pretty relaxed... Mark woke up early and took off to take care of somethings so I just lounged around and did very little. Trixie and Monkey were getting ready for tonight's show so I was thoroughly entertained. I went with Monkey before the gig to Whole Foods and picked up some snacks for the night. It was Friday and OMG you know what that means at

 Whole Foods?! Asian Food Hot Bar Day!!! It was the most delicious thing everrr! So many vegetarian options, yum! I got some fake sesame beef, sweet and sour fake chicken, veggie pot stickers and sautéed green beans! See the picture below for the awesomeness...

Deliciousness in the form of Whole Foods Asian Hot Bar

Trixie, Monkey and I met up with Dr Donut, Dr Lukki and DJ Momotaro before leaving for the gig. We got there really early so I just lounged back stage and watched the news on my computer. I ended up not doing my Klaus Nomi contortion act because I wanted to take it easy on my back so I sang a rap that I made and I did the "Baltimore Gladiators" sketch as Captain Elastico. I had done this sketch before but we changed all of the challenges so this time I challenged the random audience member to put as many clothes pins on their face as they could... I ended up getting 24 and beating that random guy from the audience!! Woot. Apparently it's not cool to put them on your ears though (which I thought was fair game) because the audience booed me when I started to do it. =/ 

Practicing putting clothes pins on my face back stage...21 in this picture... 

I was certainly the weakest cast member that night because I didn't have an actual "act" that I did but oh well. Everyone else was amazing. Dr Lukki did a..umm.. potato fetish piece... She basically peeled potatoes, started to rub them on her, poured the juice all over her, put them down her pants then married Mr. Potato head at the end...then put him down her pants too. Pretty interesting stuff. Trixie performed her Mermaid act which she won second runner up and most innovative at Exotic World 2008 in Las Vegas. It was a lot different from when she was working on it before but I loved it! Monkey built her this awesome treasure chest which really made the act whole. 

Monkey practicing his Monkey version of "Heroes" by David Bowie at the Otto Bar

The show went really late so right after I was done I booked it with Mark and his friend, Eric. I was exhausted and we had to leave for NYC by 6am ... and we didn't get to sleep til around 1am! Ick. I said good bye to Trixie and Monkey before I left and wished them luck on their appearance on the Gong Show the next week (yes, it's back on Comedy Central). I don't know when I'll see them next but they are certainly amazing people that I'm happy to have in my life so I'm sure I'll see them soon enough.

The Thursday that should have been good...

The day started out pretty great...went out to breakfast with Mark at a really cool little diner. I took a picture of our orange juices because Mark's small was pretty small and I thought it was funny =P Then we made our daily stop at a Starbucks and I went into the nearby radioshack to get some sort of device to transfer the pictures from my phone to my computer so I don't have to keep sending picture messages to myself. I found a wonderful card reader/USB device so now I can take as many pictures as I want! I can also use it to put music on my phone..sweet! 

We then went thrift store shopping for our "1970/1980 glam rock" costumes that we both need for a gig coming up this Saturday in NYC. We ended up shopping in the women's section for quite a while. I was a winner with the outfit you see to the right...bright green pants, pink undershirt and a tight shimmery top thing. I'm thinking about cutting the legs of the pants off and wearing shimmery leggings but we'll see. Mark was not so lucky. We tried going to another thrift store later in the day but he didn't find anything he liked there either. 

We made our way over to training a little bit later. By the time it gets to the evening when we are supposed to train I have been extremely tired and not wanting to train. I think I've just been overwhelmed with the new place, all the walking around and the stress from scheduling/my back. We got the rig and ran our hand to hand sequence which worked out ok. My back was starting to feel weird but I kept going...of course. As we worked on rope trickes my back started to spasm and I had to get down. We called it quits for the night and I fell into a depressive slump for the remainder of the night. I bought a heating pad at CVS and some medicine/food at Whole Foods on our way home. To say I'm a little frustrated is an understatement. I'll be taking it easy tomorrow and doing some conditioning to help this get better. Oh well. The rest of the night was just relaxing.

Oh and the last picture of the blog... we crossed through a park on our way home and they had two very large flags but they were certainly missing some stars (see picture). We were both kind of confused by this...any suggestions as to why? Curious indeed! 

A Great Day in B-Town!

I woke up this morning in good spirits! I was ready to get the most out of the day and boy did I! After a refreshing shower, Mark and I sauntered down to the pier and ate at "The Daily Grind", a great coffee shop that I had eaten at with Monkey and Trixie last time I was in Baltimore. They had a drink there called Orangina, which of course I mispronounced... hilarity ensued.  I also saw an ad for Trixie and Monkey's show "Fish 'n Chips" which I will be apart of this Friday. On our way down to the pier I noticed the large quantities of roof top decks which I decided to take picturesof. They look like so much fun. Some were "decked" out and some were plain but what a great idea!

We then went home to get our training stuff for the day and headed down to the aquarium! OMG it was so much fun! The Baltimore National Aquarium has so much fun stuff. We saw a wonderful dolphin show and the best part was when one of the dolphins threw a ball at the trainer and it hit the fish bucket, which spilled all over the stairs...it was really funny =P The top right corner of my picture is my friend Earl... we had a bonding moment in the tank so I

 took a picture of him. The bottom left is Mark and I going down the escalator from the Amazon exhibit. The bottom right is a great picture of a Cayman crocodile. They also had a 4D movie experience theater thing. It was part of Blue Planet and there were 3D glasses, bubbles, things poking me in the back, bursts of water and air and lights. It was kinda fun and cheesy. After the first 5 minutes half of the audience left because their kids were crying.

We followed that fun time up with a visit to Ben and Jerry's in which I got a wonderfully calorific smoothie. Then training time commenced. We got our hand to hand sequence figured out and starting putting the bar stuff together. It's a little frustrating because I'm not used to doing partner stuff and it's windy and I haven't been training a whole lot as of late and my back kinda hurts. So yeah, complain complain but we're getting it. We should be good by the time we have to perform =) 

We ate at a great burrito place afterwards and went to our recently discovered "spot" on the water. We got harassed by a free stylin' "homeless man". He said I had nice feet. ^_^ But basically was asking for money. He did his rhyme twice then left. THEN THE COOLEST THING EVER! We were walking home and a bus passed us and this chick opened the window and started screaming "OMG it's Justin Timberlake!!" She was talking to me which was hilarious! Then the whole bus screamed so I waved to them and they screamed again. Then the bus almost hit another car. I managed to take a picture of the bus. Good times. 

Celebrity circus was on tonight. Everyone sucked but Rachel Hunter. She was the only one who actually did tricks! It was wonderful. She even based a guy with one arm! Go her! I voted for her 5 times. I feel strongly for this woman. I hope she wins ^_^

First Day of Training in Charm City

So today was my first day in Baltimore after arriving late last night. I slept in which was great then Mark and I made the grand journey to Denny's for lunch (my favorite place woot!). I met a lovely lady named April who asked if I was from upstate New York because I had this "glow about me". Turns out her and her manager are both from Ithaca so we had some lovely upstate talk. 

I also sent out all my promo materials to Circus McGurkus today so I'm hoping something works out with that. It would totally be my dream job ^_^

I followed that exhausting trip up with a nap. Then Mark and I took off toward the pier area to train. Downtown is pretty awesome but the way there was kind of scary. I've felt safe in almost every city I've been to but Baltimore...is a different story. I wouldn't say I am a fan. I don't know what it is but it just rubs my energy the wrong way.

To the right you will see the training area that Mark and I used to work our duo trap. It was pretty windy out there so being on the trapeze alone was an interesting experience. It was right on the water though which was really nice, especially when it got darker out. Our practice when ok. My lower psoas region on my back is really hurting me...I totally overtrained it this weekend and I'm paying for it now. I need to take a long rest from contorting for the next few weeks I think...but we'll see how that goes. I was also a little distracted and tired so our practice wasn't the best in my opinion. We did figure out some stuff though. 

 We stopped training around 10pm and made our way back to Trixie and Monkey/Mark's place. But on our way there I had to make a desperate stop at CVS to get some "Back Aid" pain relievers and some icy hot. This whole back thing is making me frustrated but I'm just going to have to take it easy. After that we went to this pizza place called Bop. It was AWESOME! You could get a single slice with anything you wanted on it! You could also get soda with added torani syrups. I got ginger ale with coconut! Yum! To the left is a picture of the coolest pizza I've ever seen. I had to take a picture to prove that this thing existed. It works out to $18 a slice! Niccce. 

Doing the Blog Thing

Now that I have officially quit my job at the Brattleboro Food Coop to pursue a money making career in circus, I've decided to keep a blog about my activities to keep my friends, family and fans up to date on my doings. This will probably be the easiest thing for me to do so I hope everyone enjoys this.

Unfortunately, there will be no deep dark secrets revealed here so I apologize in advanced to those looking for such information. If anything, it'll be a daily blog about everyday awesomeness. If it's anything like me talking to someone in person, the stories on here will go on and on and have no real point to them. 

So enjoy!

d=(^_^)=b