We thought we were supposed to have two shows today, but it turned out they were canceled two weeks ago. Only Theatreworks (the company we work for) failed to inform us of the cancellations. So... we showed up at our venue, only to be turned away.
Anyway, long story short, Ben, Ethan, Michelle and I went to the beach (the rest of the girls went and did... something else), swam in the ocean, flew a kite, built a sandcastle and finished off the day in a seafood restaurant with live music.
It's good to be near the ocean. It makes the fact that I have to be someone else, a lot of the time, slightly more bearable. At the end of the day, the ocean is so much larger than the stupid problems that arise out of being surrounded by the same people day in and day out. Pictures when there's a better internet connection, but for now:
Good Night.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Friday, March 28, 2008
Today, I did...
... pretty much nothing.
Originally, I had planned on going to DisneyWorld with the castees today, but when the alarm clock went off, it occurred to me that six hours was not enough sleep for me to run around a theme-park on. And also, I'm coming back here in June with my baby sister to spend four days running around said theme-park.
Plus, I went to Downtown Disney with the kids last night for dinner (and ate at Wolfgang Puck's, which was t-t-t-tasty tasty) and got a mini-Disney-fix.
So, guilt-free, I rolled over and went back to sleep.
Then I lounged by the pool.
Read my book.
Went to Happy Hour across the street for snacks and a beer.
Got in the hot-tub.
I may get a drink at the little bar that's right next to the pool. I may not
Tomorrow? Searching for 'gators on an air-boat!
Originally, I had planned on going to DisneyWorld with the castees today, but when the alarm clock went off, it occurred to me that six hours was not enough sleep for me to run around a theme-park on. And also, I'm coming back here in June with my baby sister to spend four days running around said theme-park.
Plus, I went to Downtown Disney with the kids last night for dinner (and ate at Wolfgang Puck's, which was t-t-t-tasty tasty) and got a mini-Disney-fix.So, guilt-free, I rolled over and went back to sleep.
Then I lounged by the pool.
Read my book.
Went to Happy Hour across the street for snacks and a beer.
Got in the hot-tub.
I may get a drink at the little bar that's right next to the pool. I may not
Tomorrow? Searching for 'gators on an air-boat!
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Celebration! / Show # 32
"Celebration, Florida ... You've got to see this place!"
With a tag-line like that, how could we pass it up? Especially once we did a little research and figured out exactly what it is that makes Celebration, FL such a special place...
"Celebration, FL is census-designated place and an unincorporated master-planned community in Osceola County in the U.S. state of Florida, near Walt Disney World Resort. It was developed by The Walt Disney Company.
Celebration is connected directly to the Walt Disney World parks and resorts by World Drive [ ... ]"
Celebration is connected directly to the Walt Disney World parks and resorts by World Drive [ ... ]"
So, we went. And wouldn't you know, it really does look like someone just transplanted the Mainstreet USA section of Disneyland into the real world! It's got mood-lighting under the trees, a fountain that shoots up over coloured lights and music piping from little hubs in the flowerbeds. All the awnings are striped, all the lawns are perfectly mowed and all of the sidewalks are pristine, neat and polished-looking. It is so perfect and normal that it's actually kind of weird.
Then, today, we rose before the sun did to drive off to the Kissimee School District headquarters and get our finger-prints taken before we drove to our venue (a school, in case you hadn't guessed) to perform. The show itself was fine, I suppose. We're all a little tired right now, which is somewhat counter-intuitive, given that we've had a lot of time to relax during these past few days. Perhaps it's just that we're letting ourselves feel how tired we've been and are still recovering. Whatever it is, I'm either going to have to start drinking more coffee in the morning (a feat that will surely result in my bladder EXPLODING, given how much I'm already downing) or I'm going to have to take up coke. I hear it's good for energy.
I'm totally kidding. I'm not doing coke.
I don't have the money for it.
Anyhow - tomorrow, we're going to DisneyWorld! HURRAY! I love these days off down here, where there's so much touristy stuff to do. The other things we have planned during our days off? Going for an air-boat ride, spending more quality time with that pool and hot-tub and possibly writing a few more postcards.
Maybe I'll send you one.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Shows # 30 & 31, Miami and Fort Lauderdale!
I type this from my hotel room in Orlando - our internet connection hasn't been the best and so it's been a while since I updated.
In Miami, we had our first show with the lovely Ms. Jacobs. For her, it was the first time through the show in its entirety - Hurray for Leah! We were performing in a day school that was attached to a synagogue, had to get security clearance to get into the parking lot (tho nothing like what we have coming tomorrow, but more about that later...) and set up under some of the most beautiful chandeliers I have ever seen. Let me repeat: chandeliers. In a school. These kids are privileged.
They were also a wonderful audience! They absolutely loved the show, although one little boy was so overwhelmed by the Blue Tarantula that he hopped into his teacher's arms and practically wept. He's ok now, though. I think.
Anyway, we had a good show, a quick load-out and then went back to the hotel room for a bit before we all went out to dinner at a place called.. something Opa. Taverna Opa, I think. I could double-check, but I'm too lazy to do that right now. Anyway, it was a fun Greek place, where the music was pumped up, we ground our own humus and the patrons (and waiters) were dancing on the tables.
After dinner, we realized we were just across the street from the beach. So we went for a stroll on the beach, which ended up turning into a night-time dive into the ocean in our underwear - incredible.
After our swimming adventures ended, however, we went back to the hotel and slept as soundly as possible before the hour-long drive to Fort Lauderdale, where our next performance was.
This brings me to yesterday. We drove to Fort Lauderdale and performed in the War Memorial Auditorium, loaded out quickly and went to lunch. During the lunch break, I swept a HEAP of sand out of the vans (which had gotten there after the hijinks of the night before) and stripped the front of all of its garbage. Now it's actually a place we can ride in comfortably, as opposed to being a complete sty.
Anyway, we finished lunch and hit the road to Orlando, where we checked into our La Quinta, ran across the road to get pizza for dinner and then came back. Once at the hotel, the castees and I hopped into the hot-tub, made friends with the bartender and had drinks bought by a new friend at the bar (which is poolside, incidentally). So, now we are caught up to today!
This morning, the girls and I got up for breakfast, where we met the boys, ate enough to tide us through lunch and then I headed out to the pool, where I have just spent the last two hours or so swimming, laying out and reading my book.
It's a hard life, but someone's got to do it.
As for dinner tonight, Ethan and I have been talking about driving out to Celebration (which is the town Disney built) and maybe getting some grub while we're there. Just to say we've been.
In Miami, we had our first show with the lovely Ms. Jacobs. For her, it was the first time through the show in its entirety - Hurray for Leah! We were performing in a day school that was attached to a synagogue, had to get security clearance to get into the parking lot (tho nothing like what we have coming tomorrow, but more about that later...) and set up under some of the most beautiful chandeliers I have ever seen. Let me repeat: chandeliers. In a school. These kids are privileged.
They were also a wonderful audience! They absolutely loved the show, although one little boy was so overwhelmed by the Blue Tarantula that he hopped into his teacher's arms and practically wept. He's ok now, though. I think.
Anyway, we had a good show, a quick load-out and then went back to the hotel room for a bit before we all went out to dinner at a place called.. something Opa. Taverna Opa, I think. I could double-check, but I'm too lazy to do that right now. Anyway, it was a fun Greek place, where the music was pumped up, we ground our own humus and the patrons (and waiters) were dancing on the tables.
- the things that we didn't wear into the ocean
This brings me to yesterday. We drove to Fort Lauderdale and performed in the War Memorial Auditorium, loaded out quickly and went to lunch. During the lunch break, I swept a HEAP of sand out of the vans (which had gotten there after the hijinks of the night before) and stripped the front of all of its garbage. Now it's actually a place we can ride in comfortably, as opposed to being a complete sty.
Anyway, we finished lunch and hit the road to Orlando, where we checked into our La Quinta, ran across the road to get pizza for dinner and then came back. Once at the hotel, the castees and I hopped into the hot-tub, made friends with the bartender and had drinks bought by a new friend at the bar (which is poolside, incidentally). So, now we are caught up to today!
This morning, the girls and I got up for breakfast, where we met the boys, ate enough to tide us through lunch and then I headed out to the pool, where I have just spent the last two hours or so swimming, laying out and reading my book.
It's a hard life, but someone's got to do it.
As for dinner tonight, Ethan and I have been talking about driving out to Celebration (which is the town Disney built) and maybe getting some grub while we're there. Just to say we've been.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
My Rampant Stupidity...
... struck again, this morning, in a flash of fury and fire. Well, so to speak.
What happened is this: in my idiocy, while entering the elevator at the last hotel we were staying in, I tried to take my cell phone out of my bag, fumbled, dropped it and watched it slide towards the elevator door and, to my horror, fall into the crack between the elevator and the wall and heard it bounce and clunk its way down the elevator shaft. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this morning, my phone was at the bottom of an elevator shaft.
S!Q("091N&*%o34~~!!!!!!!!!!
At any rate, after it had been established that the phone could not be retrieved without the help of the company that installed the elevator (and, this being Easter Sunday, they could not be called until tomorrow at the earliest), we hit the road with our sights set on Miami. The drive was mostly beautiful. We noticed palm trees, rivers that snake alongside and underneath the I-95, the fields, the towns we passed through and what at first appeared to be pretty clouds.
However, they soon became threatening clouds and, before we knew it, we were pelted with rain and mist. After what seemed like hours of rain and fog, the weather lightened up and we rolled into our Quality Inn down in Miami. I promptly stripped and changed into a swimsuit, dove in and played Marco Polo with a couple of kids in the cast as well as some kids from Wales and Germany, whose families are staying at the hotel. Our rooms look out onto the pool:
I will definitely be back there tomorrow as well =) As long as there is water, I'm happy.
Anyway, Leah and Ethan and I went out for dinner at a little French bistro place, where we all ate enough salad to feed the 3rd World (and where I nearly left my cardigan, which would have topped the day off very nicely) and now we are back, with a call time of 7.15 am tomorrow morning. Why 7.15? Because the free continental breakfast starts at 7.00. So this way, we can chow down really fast before we drive out to whatever school it is we're performing in tomorrow. Goodnight!
What happened is this: in my idiocy, while entering the elevator at the last hotel we were staying in, I tried to take my cell phone out of my bag, fumbled, dropped it and watched it slide towards the elevator door and, to my horror, fall into the crack between the elevator and the wall and heard it bounce and clunk its way down the elevator shaft. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this morning, my phone was at the bottom of an elevator shaft.
S!Q("091N&*%o34~~!!!!!!!!!!
At any rate, after it had been established that the phone could not be retrieved without the help of the company that installed the elevator (and, this being Easter Sunday, they could not be called until tomorrow at the earliest), we hit the road with our sights set on Miami. The drive was mostly beautiful. We noticed palm trees, rivers that snake alongside and underneath the I-95, the fields, the towns we passed through and what at first appeared to be pretty clouds.
However, they soon became threatening clouds and, before we knew it, we were pelted with rain and mist. After what seemed like hours of rain and fog, the weather lightened up and we rolled into our Quality Inn down in Miami. I promptly stripped and changed into a swimsuit, dove in and played Marco Polo with a couple of kids in the cast as well as some kids from Wales and Germany, whose families are staying at the hotel. Our rooms look out onto the pool:
I will definitely be back there tomorrow as well =) As long as there is water, I'm happy.Anyway, Leah and Ethan and I went out for dinner at a little French bistro place, where we all ate enough salad to feed the 3rd World (and where I nearly left my cardigan, which would have topped the day off very nicely) and now we are back, with a call time of 7.15 am tomorrow morning. Why 7.15? Because the free continental breakfast starts at 7.00. So this way, we can chow down really fast before we drive out to whatever school it is we're performing in tomorrow. Goodnight!
Saturday, March 22, 2008
South of the (North Carolina) Border!
Today's trip from Fayetteville, NC to Jacksonville, FL was delayed by three hours, due to the fact that the red vehicle was indisposed:
Once the tires were rotated and replaced, Ethan and I went to go pick up the glorious passenger van and set forth, this fine day, to the next destination on our quest to Miami.
We also picked up the rest of the cast so they could set forth with us, too.
Anyway - it was a primarily uneventful drive. It's Easter weekend, so the cops are out in full force, pulling over speeders and writing plentiful tickets. We stopped for lunch somewhere off the I-95, just into the Georgia border and ate at a Perkin's. It was a first for me, and I was happily satisfied with my meal of green beans and carrots. Wow, you know the drive was uneventful when I actually detail what I ate for lunch.
"How's touring?" Oh, you know, I eat green beans.
Um Gottes' Willen, how boring.
Anyway, we pulled into our luxurious LaQuinta in Jacksonville, FL about an hour ago, and I'm shacked up with the boys, while the remaining ladies all share a room next door - we've split into two groups on these nights where we literally pull in to the hotel just to go to bed and then get up and go again. So, because we are a total of seven people, - and two divide someone into 0.5s would be painful, not to mention necessitate another replacement cast member - the rooms divvy up into one room of three and one of four. It sort of ends up being randomly assigned, with all of us rotating who we stay with. Tonight we split such that the two girls who are going to church tomorrow morning to observe Easter Sunday are sharing a room, and the rest of us are split off haphazardly. It works.
Our call time tomorrow is 9 am. So, like the little old lady I already am, I'm going to go read some of my pulps and then drift off.
Tomorrow: Miami.
Once the tires were rotated and replaced, Ethan and I went to go pick up the glorious passenger van and set forth, this fine day, to the next destination on our quest to Miami. We also picked up the rest of the cast so they could set forth with us, too.
Anyway - it was a primarily uneventful drive. It's Easter weekend, so the cops are out in full force, pulling over speeders and writing plentiful tickets. We stopped for lunch somewhere off the I-95, just into the Georgia border and ate at a Perkin's. It was a first for me, and I was happily satisfied with my meal of green beans and carrots. Wow, you know the drive was uneventful when I actually detail what I ate for lunch.
"How's touring?" Oh, you know, I eat green beans.
Um Gottes' Willen, how boring.
Anyway, we pulled into our luxurious LaQuinta in Jacksonville, FL about an hour ago, and I'm shacked up with the boys, while the remaining ladies all share a room next door - we've split into two groups on these nights where we literally pull in to the hotel just to go to bed and then get up and go again. So, because we are a total of seven people, - and two divide someone into 0.5s would be painful, not to mention necessitate another replacement cast member - the rooms divvy up into one room of three and one of four. It sort of ends up being randomly assigned, with all of us rotating who we stay with. Tonight we split such that the two girls who are going to church tomorrow morning to observe Easter Sunday are sharing a room, and the rest of us are split off haphazardly. It works.
Our call time tomorrow is 9 am. So, like the little old lady I already am, I'm going to go read some of my pulps and then drift off.
Tomorrow: Miami.
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