Cross-Country

With my Summer of Love having come to a close, I packed up my little truck, hugged my family goodbye, and began to make one final pilgrimage back to the Midwest and the place that for the majority of the year I call home. Having already made the trip either coming or going on three previous occasions, I'd become accustomed to riding for 16 hours with no one to accompany me but the greatest hits of any randomly picked old school pop band. In previous trips such lucky companions have been The Spice Girls, Queen, and most recently Journey. Leave your judgements at the door...or in the comments box. Thaaaaank you! This time though, there was an actual breathing body (although sometimes what I wanted most in the world was to halt that breathing) next to me. My friend Garrett was flying back to NYC the day that I was leaving, so instead he came with me and arranged to fly back from Indianapolis (which later became Chicago).


Along the way we stopped in St. Louis for the night to be guest to hostess extraordinaire, Catherine. She and I did theatre together as teenagers in Dallas and though we never thought we'd see each other as adults, she's become a staple in my traveling life. She took us out for Sushi and then to a house party where, oops, the a/c was broken. One round of beer pong and we were glistening (read: sweating like pigs). Done. We went back to the house and discussed methods to return Catherine's famous red hair to its former glory after an earlier mishap at the salon, before calling it a night.


The next day it was on to Indiana. After a solid hour of maneuvering and..."creative storytelling" with American Airlines, Garrett was able to get his flight departure moved to Chicago, so upon arrival to my house we dumped the contents of my truck into my bedroom, threw down some sleeping bags, grabbed some shut eye, and headed to Chicago. Gar had never been, and I've never done the really touristy things, so we headed to Millennium Park where, just our luck it was "Family Fun Day". I instantly remembered WHY I hadn't done the touristy things. We meandered over to the Sears Tower, now renamed Willis Tower thanks to a pricey purchase by Bruce Willis. Ok maybe that part isn't true, but i'm sure it's better than whatever the actual story of that renaming might be. Finally Gar headed to the airport, and we said adieu.

Some friends of mine just moved into a new apartment in the city over the summer and they were eager to entertain a guest, so Roger's Park became my residency for the next two days as I flitted about town soaking up the wonderful summer spirit in the city. I've been many times before, but it's always in various stages of winter when everyone's shut inside and the streets are dead but for the feet moving frozen bodies from one building to the next. There's such a liveliness in the summer. It was beautiful. I also got to see "Spring Awakening" while I was in town. It's surprising that I hadn't seen it yet, but a few random circumstances have prevented it in the past I guess. This time though, there was no stopping me. I was at that box office before it opened and surely did get Courtney Love crazy when a bitch tried to get ahead in line. Don't mess with me when I'm trying to get theatre tickets, lady. I grew up in the ghetto (read upper middle class suburb) and surely will shank a ho. The show was incredible, despite it being geriatric hour with a snoring santa on my left and Nana from the Muppet Babies on my right. I wish there were more musicals running currently that had as much of a voice and point of view.

From Chicago twas on to Ohio via the worst possible toll road that ever existed. I-90. Avoid it like the plague. I didn't realize I would be on the toll for literally the entire trip, so my coinage was shortly gone. Luckily the next two booths took my credit card no problem. At the very last though, when I handed my card out the window the lady refused it. "But they've accepted Visa all day," I said. "Well you weren't on the Ohio Turnpike ALL day." Um...could we turn the bitch meter down to a one you hairy cunt! With no cash, no checks, and 35 cents in change, I was forced to hold the line up for a good 10 minutes as I was questioned like a common criminal and then given an unpaid toll ticket. Welcome to Ohio. Awesome.

The rest of the Ohio adventure was in fact awesome though. It was good to see Eric and we promptly went to the pool and caught up on all the hot gossip and happenings of the summer. The next day I went to Cedar Point to see his show and ride them rides. Which...were fucking awesome. I told everyone I knew that everything is NOT bigger in Texas. Rollercoasters and Sno-Cones...bigger in Ohio. Sorry YALL. By the days end, we high kicked it over to a local pizza place with Eric's friend and fellow castmate Tim for the park entertainers' farewell dinner and then onto Club X. Seedy Ohio nightclub on a Saturday night? Yes please! There was a foam party, but being how the only attractive people were the people I was with, I steered clear.

Traveled out and ready to sleep in my own bed, I headed home yesterday and after an ungodly number of hours unpacking and arranging, now sit in my up-and-running room. Home sweet home.

O What A Beautiful Mornniiiiinnngg

A friend, http://abovethesepeople.wordpress.com/ , shared this with me a few days ago, and I've since become obsessed. Sure it's Taylor Swift and Coldplay songs, but whatever you're thoughts/opinions on either of them might be, it cannot be denied that the arragement/mashup of these two songs by the pianist in the video, Jon Schmidt is absolutely stunning. For a while now my morning wakeup song has been "Another Day" by Jamie Lidell, but several months later i've been in desperate need of another "perfect" wakeup song, and this has become it. Happy Friday, enjoy!

Recap: Summer 2K9

Four years ago I started dreaming about living in Austin someday. Considering I lived/schooled in San Marcos for two, one could surmise that this would be an easy task, just a hop, skip, and 20 minute drive away. It wasn't. Two years in, just when the opportunity arose to make the move, another opportunity arose: Admittance into on of the top musical theatre programs in the country. Being an intensely career-minded person since the age of 5, the latter choice won out, and being so excited that my tears smudged the type on the congratulatory letter before I could read anything beyond the first paragraph, I shortly thereafter found myself singing showtunes in the middle of the cornfields of Indiana. Two years of high kicking it next to scarecrows and cornfed girlymen (who I love dearly!) though, I found my way back. For 2 and a half months Austin residency, true Austin residency in the 78704, was mine, and I loved every minute of it...well in hindsight at least. SO, in memoriam of a dream long dreamed and finally come true, I thought a summer recap would be appropriate. The lights please, Alfred...

First things first, I got a job as an assistant at a Passport Distribution Center. Sadly I had to turn it down for what turned out to be a hellish alternative.

Getting a job, take two landed me at Trudy's (I dunno...Mexican Cantina?). Trendy, previously knew some of my co-workers, good food. What's not to like? EVERYTHING. As it turns out I really am anti-communisim. Sorry, Lucille Ball.

Since I wasn't working much at my actual job, I decided to take on "getting hot" as a part-time gig and got a membership at 24 hour fitness. After moving clubs twice, upgrading once, and then cancelling it all, I seemed to get "oh god not him again" stares from the staff as I walked in everyday, but I loved the gym and will miss it upon return to the north. I failed to gain a "rack" but my calves finally match my gymnastics-made thunder thighs. Success 2.0

With two part-time jobs in place and the temperature regulary exceeding 100, I settled on sno-cones as my summer treat of choice and joined forces with one Miss Samantha Watson on our "2009 Sno-Cone Stand Tour of Austin" It's amazing how many free sno-cones you can get when you tell people you're writing an article about them for The Chronicle. Molly's on S Lamar was deemed best AND all their profits go to charity. Win.

Jobs, hobbies, new and old friends in place, the next place to turn was "romance". Prior to my ATX arrival, the Virgin Mary and I were competing for this rolling year's longest dry spell. I refused to win and set out on a passionate mission to make sure that didn't happen. I unbuttoned that top button and said "no more being shy, it's time to get slutty!" Then with a frightening determination I manuevered my way through the social networks and wound up on 3 dates. Each was fun in it's own way and left me glad to have met them, but each also left me going home a proper lady. Epic fail. Fortunately that wasn't all she wrote and as summer comes to and end I can say, Mary won. Poor old bitch.

Of no less import, but in order to keep this from competing with the 7th Harry Potter book in length, other events of note are as follows:

• Went to a Studio 54 party with my best friend wearing a cross and coke vile. Blast.
• Went with Michael to a Jay Brannan concert(who I previously knew nothing about) and found a new non-musical theatre artist to enjoy. Always welcomed!
• Saw "Love, Janis" at Zach Theatre. Blown Away.
• Took my shirt off on the dance floor for the fist time ever. Trash.
• Had to have my truck towed from West Lake to N Lamar after it broke down on a lunch adventure with Michael. Emmmmmbarrassing.
• Went swimming in a rooftop pool with some girls from high school and woke up the next morning in one of their beds with my shirt missing three buttons and no underwear...which I later found in the apartment complex's elevator. WTF.
• Went to the Zilker musical "The Music Man" and had the most incredible Bourbon Freezes.
• Dogsat for one of the prettiest dogs I've ever seen, a chocolate Shar Pei named Lola. Miss her.
• Floated the river numerous times with some of the best people I know. Incredible.
• Saw "Legally Blonde" with my mother and later had dreams about being in the tour.
• Went on a whirlwind trip to San Antonio and had my first Whataburger Taquito.
• Danced at Ballet Austin.
• Went to Barton Springs for the first (and second) time ever.
• Ran Town Lake (that's right I REFUSE to call it LadyBird Lake) multiple times and was stunned everytime by the beauty of the city.
• LIVED WITH MY BEST FRIEND.

There's more, but those are several (more than you wanted to read I'm sure) of the highlights. It really was a summer of dreams, and i'm definitely sad it had to come to an end. I caught up with old friends, rekindled friendships that had gone stale, met some absolutely brilliant people and in general just had a blast. I'll remember it and the people who made it special for always! :)

New Beginnings or Old Habits

If I was to tell you this was my first blog post, I'd be doing what I referred to throughout my childhood as creative storytelling. I've since come to find out creative storytelling, unlike actual storytelling is in fact not enjoyed by the masses world over and is in short, just lying. Who knew? I will tell you, however, that the words in front of you do mark my exciting first venture into this new home I've decided to make for myself and my various writings. [Sidenote: Please interpret the usage of the word "writings" in a way comparable to any Hollywood starlet's vagina, loose. I don't want to start out giving false impressions just when I'm starting to see the fine line.]

I actually started this thing months and months ago but until recently have been less than inspired as to the things I should put in it. Not that I know what I'll be putting in it now, but the inspiration for something is there, so together with smiles and frowns, a little in-the-mouth vomit and hopefully the frequent sound of laughter, we'll watch it unfurl. God that was dramatic. I can't help but feel though that at least one English teacher somewhere along the line of my schooling would be oddly proud of such structure. Perhaps that one from Jr year that covered all the windows with black butcher paper and dressed like a widower throughout the 4 week reading of Eli Wiesel's "Night". She clearly had a flair for the dramatic.

Mostly what's kept me from writing though, is my absolute desire to keep anything in here from sounding/looking/feeling remotely like something Avril Lavigne or one of her fans would write. That being said, if such tragedy does begin to strike, I will absolutely pretend to take your criticism and notice of it to heart, and will do everything in my power to write a witty (cue bitchy) rationalization back to you in my own self defense. Welcome to the menagerie!