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)
I had gone to bed a little late last night so waking up was kind of an issue. Rob picked me up at 7AM and only by miracle, was I ready when he got there. With him in the car was Jena, another member of Forms in Motion. We drove to her place were everyone else was meeting us. We stopped for some DD on the way and mmm that was tasty. Got to the house and everyone slowly started to arrive. We piled in the van and took off for downtown Chicago. We were right in the middle of the morning rush hour so it took us quite a while. I decided to sleep which was great because by the time we got there I was feeling pretty awake.
Team Balzers
We got into the convention center and it looked pretty different from when we left it on Saturday. Everything was fully set up and all the carpets were uncovered. It was pretty crazy. Tons of lights and sounds and things to look at. It wasn't until today that I realized that this whole trade show was based around drill bits and things to do with drilling. Kind of interesting, I guess haha. The vendors certainly did think of creative ways to display their various drill bits lol. We made it over to the Oerlikon booth and had some time to stretch out in the open before people started piling in at ten. I was feeling pretty good after the warm up... no terrible repercussions from Saturday. Our first show was at 11:30 so we waited quite a while up in this eating area that overlooks the entire center. We went over last minute notes and just hung out.
Our Back Stage Area
Our "backstage" area is this tiny little closet behind the main Oerlikon booth. It works, I guess, but there is no area for stretching back there. Luckily they have a conference room that they weren't using so we could go in there and stretch. Then we went and did our first performance. It went pretty well minus some minor issues. It was pretty easy. There weren't many people there but you know, it wasn't bad. I'm not really "performing" because it's basically a gymnastics display. I just do my tricks and style. Even though we were a little early on the first performance and when the guys had me over their heads in a split, waiting for the music to end, I totally turned on my performance charm to get me through that awkward spot haha. Jena said it was hilarious to see happen.
The Ice Booth with Ice Flown in From the Ice Hotel in Switzerland!
After that, we had our next performance at 3PM and then the last one at 4:30PM. We were hoping to get out soon than 4:30 so we could beat the traffic but Rob said he'd try to make that happen tomorrow. We all walked toward the food court area and it wasn't until then that I realized that the trade show was also happening in another building! This thing is crazy huge and I'm kinda confused why. Anyway, I ended up getting a slice of cheese pizza, a medium drink and a side salad for a combo deal of $9.99! Wow, what a great deal (sarcasm). Then we all went back up to the cafe area and chilled. There is free wireless internet here so that is very exciting for my computer and I. Then we did our second performance and that wasn't as good. I did everything ok except when I went to do a back tuck off of Ray's back my feet totally slipped and I just landed on the floor (on my feet). Nothing happened so that kinda sucked. Eh, oh well.
Myra, the Bearded Lady!
After that, Rob, Andy, Ray and I went walking around the convention. We ran into this woman who we had seen early in a big red dress. She was a bearded lady! Well, she was actually a lady but she had a fake beard. She was awesome. I asked her for a picture but she insisted that she tell me about her "bits" first haha. It was so sexually suggested, her whole speech. I liked her a lot. I plan on visiting her tomorrow too =P
Mars Lander | Dragon | Dancers | Airplane
We then walked around the rest of the center. The company was there that built the mars lander and they had a life sized version of it. One company had a metal dragon that breathed vapor. We finally saw some other performers... they were dancing at some booth. It was pretty gay but entertaining to watch. We were some of the only people who clapped when they were done. They were also dancing to a song from Cirque du Soleil's Dralion, which was cheesy. Lots of different things, including a cross section of an airplane from Boeing that we got to sit in. We've been getting a lot of free bags and lanyards though. Oo, free stuff.
Devouring the Pizza!
Third performance was much better. Everything went well except at the end Andy almost hit me coming out of his back tuck. Luckily I just stood as still as a statue and it didn't look like a mistake =P We immediately took off and I slept for a bit. However we also had a bunch of good conversation about random stuff. Every one is really really awesome and they are wonderful to work with. I wish my back was feeling better so I could be totally excited about this trip =P After all of this my back was feeling OK, but not great.
We dropped everyone off and Rob and Jena took me out to dinner at this great restaurant. It was classic Chicago style pizza but it was stuffed with spinach that is grown at the restaurant! Crazy right? It was delicious. Rob, Jena and I had a great time! They are so funny! So after all that driving I came back to my hotel and chilled for the rest of the night. I've been feeling kind of sick so Rob gave me an Airborn to take. The vending machine was out of water so I had to put it in Nestle Iced Tea. Not so tasty... Watched half of The Fifth Element on TV and went to sleep.
So I flew in yesterday and today, I had nothing to do. It was our designated day of rest. I was in my hotel room for the majority of the day. I had forgotten to get my per diem for food so I didn't eat until dinner time. It was kind of lame lol. My body hurt in ways I never knew it could... at least from what I did. We ran the piece so many times that 3X a day should be easy now. My triceps were killing me. I'm assuming this was from the tumbling on the hard surface but meh. I went to get ice from the vending machine for my back. I put it in that little liner bag hotels have for the ice bucket. It worked out ok. The TV stations at the red roof kind blow but I managed.
My "Costume"
I actually spent the majority of my day playing WoW because I finally figured out that I had to re-sign into my account and choose the realm that I wanted to be in. I thought they did that for me but apparently not! So I dorked it out for a few hours... played with Jen and Aaron. Not too much to do. Eventually went out to Baja Fresh and got some food for my belly. I'm not too in love with Baja Fresh. I prefer Moe's for sure followed by Chipotle. Either way, it was a burrito and I liked it. Getting ready for tomorrow. Should be interesting.
Chicago! The place I wish I wasn't really going to. After only being at my place less then a week, here I go again with the traveling lol. I love it but common, let me get settled for a bit! Jeez! Anyway, Kevin drove me this morning to the airport so I could catch my 9:49am flight. Not too bad. First flight was fine. Connected in Philadelphia. Thought I was going to have to run to my flight but turns out it was cancelled! Ho ho! How wonderful. The next flight I got took off 3 hours later. I called Rob, my contact in Chicago, and this really threw off the days plans. I just wanted to get out of the airport before the huge storm hit Philly.
Oerlikon Booth
Got on the plane and I was sitting between this older couple. For some reason they didn't want to sit next to each other...ok then. Then the man, who was around 80, talked to me for about an hour. Oh jeez. It was interesting but not at the same time. So here's a rundown of that conversation... he's a veterinarian, he was born in Dummerston and knows Brattleboro very well, he was in the military in WWII and did something that involved skiing, he taught skiing, he has 4 children of his own and 4 adopted children, his wife died in 2000, he just married the woman who sat next to me 3 weeks ago, they met on the internet, three of his children are in the military, he made the police put one of his children in jail when he was 15, he loans his children money with a 6% interest rate, he believes the arts are for leisurely pursuit after you work hard at a "normal career", he thinks circus is more popular now because kids are ADD and always need something more to look at, he's designed and built 6 of his own houses around the country, he was visiting his new wife's family near Chicago then he's going back to his house in Florida afterward. Interesting right?
FYI the plane ride was really shitty because of the weather but I got there safely.
Trade Show Under Construction
The owner of the company that hired me, Rob, picked me up at the airport. We bolted for the trade show place because we had to rehearse quickly. We got a call that the client was very anxious to see the whole thing. I was also told that I was "coming back to Chicago from another gig that I was doing for Rob." Interesting. We got to the space and the choreographer informs me that the client thinks that we've been rehearsing this and that we've done this before. So much craziness! This gig keeps on unraveling more and more information as time passes. Sheesh!
I Wouldn't Want This Associated With My Company
I got there and met the two guys and two girls that are doing the "partner acro." It's more like some lifts and the guys tumble. They're all pretty nice though. I had 2 min to warm up then *bam* I started to go through the sequence. To make a long story short, we changed a bunch of crap over a period of 3 hours and ran the piece lots and lots of times. To say my back was aching is a bit of an understatement. The client was watching us and started to have direct input in the end. Overall it ended up being a rather easy routine but with my back the way it is...maybe not so easy. Either way, 3X a day should be ok. I get tomorrow to rest so that will be nice.
Chicago!
Afterward, Rob drove me to my hotel. He is a really cool guy. He offered to take me out on one of the nights when we're done with the show to show me the sights around Chicago. That's totally generous of him! He also does trapeze and has been doing circus for quite a while. He's a really down to earth and personable guy. Rachel, the choreographer, and him have made this a nice experience. I just hope it all goes well this week! I have tomorrow off so it's time to ice my back and relax. I am staying at a Red Roof Inn and I had yummy food at Baja Fresh tonight. And so beginneth my time in Chicago.
I had a wonderful wake up call this morning... very loud and angry Spanish coming from my next door neighbors. It's funny until it won't stop. haha. So I got up and started to prepare for the day. My landlord called early and said that she was going to bug bomb our apartment around noon and that we had to vacate by then. Hopefully that will get rid of those fleas! Gross.
Kevin and I left the house and went up to Brattleboro to meet up with Christopher. We went to the Coop for lunch where I got to see my coworkers again yay! This time my old boss, Chris was there and we were jokingly discussing me coming back but apparently they really do need the help. Out of the four people they hired after me, three were fired and one walked out. This was great because I need some kind of part time job and he was totally willing to work with me schedule. So it looks like I might go back to the Coop for around 3 days a week when I'm up there training already. We'll see how that works out.
Amanda Does Flips
I also ran into Erin at the Coop which was great and we were able to catch up a little bit. She leaves for two weeks of performances and visits so by the time I get back she won't be here! Ack! Someday this craziness will stop! haha. When food was done I called Amanda and started to head over to her place. She had a gymnastics lesson at 3PM so I decided I would join her and Carolyn. Amanda recently got a new, larger apartment within the same apartment complex so I got to go see it! It has a much better layout for Ed and Amanda's needs which basically means larger kitchen and office for Ed! Woot.
Erin Stilt Walking for NECCA
Then we went to Woodman's Gymnastics for the lesson. My back was still feeling pretty funky but I needed to practice some moves for my gig next week. I got there and Tosha and Colin were finishing working out and cleaning. Carolyn was there too yay! It was nice to start seeing other people I knew. Keri, the coach, is fantastic and I obviously got to see her too. She took Amanda and Carolyn over to the trampoline while I warmed up my back handsprings and tumbling passes. I needed to work on "dolphin rolls" which are back handsprings to your belly. I had never done them before so I wanted her to watch me do them. I started to do them and UGH, my full of food belly became nauseous blarg. I could basically do them I just needed to slow down my handspring. Then I went over to the trampoline and started working double backs. How fun ^_^
American Gothic Goes to Frankies
Then I went with Amanda to her Physical Therapist appointment down the road. I decided then that my back was too messed up to perform at gallery walk for NECCA so I called Serenity and told her. While there I also decided to make an appointment. I'm so sick of my back hurting me, it's just not right. I need a professional to help me =/ Unfortunately the appointment isn't until I get back from this crazy gig ugh! I got to go in and talk to Amanda while her arm was having electricity pumped into it...it was really funny because she couldn't control her own arm. (see video below)
Britta Doesn't Get How to Use the Cotton Candy Machine
The rest of the night was hanging out with Ed and Amanda at Gallery Walk. We went to Frankies for dinner and had a huge pineapple pizza. Then we made our way to NEYT where there were some circus performances going on. There were so many people in Brattleboro, holy crap! I've never seen so many in my life. It was like the place was an actual city or something. A lot of hooligans, I admit, but there were also legitimate people. The whole circus community was there at NEYT. I got to say hi to everyone I hadn't seen in a while while also meeting Aimee Hancock, the new trapeze teacher who was so freaking nice and amazing. I can't wait to take lessons from her later this year! It was nice to feel like part of a community again.
After that Deena, Danny, Ruby, Ed, Amanda and I all went to Frankies for ice cream (even though they only had 2 flavors left!) I passed Eric, Mark's friend from Balitmore who is doing Pro Track now and a few other people I know. By then it was late and Kevin and I drove back to Holyoke where I was more than happy to go to bed!
I picked up Christopher early in the morning from Jack's so that he could come back to the Northeast with me. This time I came prepared! I had my iPod fully charged so we listened to my music haha. It seemed like a long trip even though it's really easy to get to my place from my parent's house. It's actually half an hour shorter then driving to Brattleboro which is nice.
Buddha Diving
We got there and Lee was inside taking care of some things. We went over a bunch of stuff and she gave me the key to the house which is an old school skeleton key! It also has a dead bolt but the main key is amazing. I'll put a picture up of it tomorrow. The house looked totally different now that it was empty. The floors were in bad need of a mopping though...there was a layer of dirt on top. The girls that lived here before obviously didn't know how to take care of such a nice house! Luckily there was electricity too. I couldn't get any ahead of time because they required you to come in with a photo ID to get it switched over and they were closed today (Labor Day). I guess we'll see when I can turn that on!
My Next Door Neighbor. SWEET!
I picked my bedroom and started to move my stuff in. OMG it was so nice to unload my car! I've had everything I own in my car for the past two months. I have a car again! How exciting. I took a look around the house and there is so much stuff I have to get. I can't wait for Colleen and Amy to get here so we can all get stuff together because I'm certainly going to need their help doing it. Overall I'm really happy about the place and I'm thrilled to be living here. However it is in desperate need of a Chris Oakley cleaning. It's not quite up to my standards yet ^_^ hehe.
Ma Crib
After that was all done, Christopher and I headed back up to Brattleboro so I could drop him off. He's still having housing issues so I hope those get taken care of before the week ends. I offered my place to both Christopher and Kevin until I leave this Saturday. We'll see how that works out. We got up there and I met up with Woolley and Kevin. I was pretty hungry by then so we all went out to Friendly's for dinner. I'm going to have to watch myself when I hang out with all of them because everytime we eat somewhere we end up going somewhere that isn't that great... health wise. I'm going to have to be persistent in trying to keep myself healthy.
Kevin's Phone and Denny's
After Friendly's, I had to head home so Kevin decided to come with me and Christopher stayed with Woolley. We got to my place and I started unpacking. Kevin and I had our "future contortion partner" bonding time as he practiced and distracted me from unpacking. It was at this sad time I realized I didn't have any furniture to unpack into. I don't even have hangars! So we went to Target and I got some cleaning stuff and a shower curtain. When we got back we went across the street to the Chinese food restaurant to get a menu. Then we were really hungry after all that so we went to DENNY'S! OMG THERE IS A DENNY"S 1 mile from my house! Amazing. Then home, cleaning, unpacking and I called it quits for the day.
