Flew to Chicago...

The Couple I Talked to on the Plane

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. 

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