Life on the Road

2008-07-28T18:06:00.002-05:00

Katie's Bday party...had to dress up like starting with "K" or "T"

The cast!
"K"iss and a "T"errorist

2008-07-28T18:03:00.002-05:00

In Juneau going down the Mendenhall River fed by the melting of the Mendenhall Glacier:)

They thought cars would stop the erosion...nope!

That's the glacier behind me!

2008-07-28T17:58:00.002-05:00

In Ketchikan I had the opportunity to visit the Potlatch park and see tribal houses and totem poles and learned a lot of the history of Native Alaskans...very cool.

A soaring eagle:
When the water from the river rushes over the rocks it produces this foam:
Eagles tearing some fish apart:
Can you find all fifteen eagles in the trees? (hint: white heads, but young ones blend in the trees and all brown)

2008-07-28T17:55:00.002-05:00

A couple of weeks ago in Sitka I had the opportunity to go on the Captain's Choice shore excursions. A small boat with only 15 other people going whale watching and then landing on one of the many islands and exploring....here's some of the really cool things:

2008-07-28T17:52:00.003-05:00

One bear:
Two bears:

2008-07-14T15:34:00.002-05:00

This past week in Ketchikan I had the opportunity to go snorkeling. We wore pretty thick wet suits, gloves, boots, and a hoodie...only our lips were really exposed to the cold water....so it wasn't too cold.

I saw so many sea stars (starfish) it was ridiculous. They were so beautiful too....bright orange and purple!

This is where we went snorkeling...Mountain Point Cove. It was such an amazing experience and totally free thanks to Holland America!

2008-06-23T20:24:00.001-05:00

My birthday presentation from the Oosterdam Cast is now posted on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_L993kTnGrc

2008-06-11T14:35:00.002-05:00

To finish off the educational week I went on a wine tour where we paired wine and chocolate...yummy!

The sun setting on the ship:)

2008-06-11T14:30:00.001-05:00

In Sitka I visited the Raptor Center where they heal raptors (meat eating birds). Of course the biggest attraction is the bald eagles.

Beautiful and educational (what can I say, it was an educational week!)

2008-06-11T14:17:00.002-05:00

Last week in Juneau I went on a very educational shore excursion to a closed gold mine. I learned all about mining for gold and mining in general...all new info for a Georgia girl. At the end I got to pan for some gold and ended up with a few flakes:)

They had a railroad to get the guys up to the top and here's the superintendent's house...they haven't touched it in a few years.
Above is the after picture and below is the before:
This is what the guy's in the mine used...interesting:
Here's the huge ore rock that they dump on the conveyor belt to take to the crusher to get some gold!

2008-06-11T14:15:00.001-05:00

Here's some beautiful nature pictures from Juneau, Alaska:

2008-06-11T14:06:00.002-05:00

This is my room on the ship and what it looks like after Irawan has straightened and cleaned:)
To the direct left is the closets and bathroom..the room extends only about 7 more feet to the left!
These are the magician's, James Cielen, dogs...two french poodles. Look familiar?
This is me and Shadow hanging out in the room (the white one is Koda).
Here's some of us eating at the Pinnacle Restaurant on board...I try to eat here once a week!

2008-06-02T17:36:00.002-05:00

Victoria, British Columbia

A great city...

These are some of the float houses in the harbor
A cattamaran ride through the fjords at sunset.

2008-06-02T17:31:00.002-05:00

Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau. It's the largest glacier that you can drive to in Alaska. This picture was taken from the visitor center, a pretty site, but I wanted to get closer. So I trekked to the waterfall...had to climb over some crazy rock formations to get there.

Did I mention on this beautiful Memorial Day the Alaskan kids swam in the water!?!?!?!

2008-06-02T17:28:00.000-05:00

The Great Alaska Lumberjack Show in Ketchikan (yep, it's just like the stuff you watch on ESPN). We had a blast even in the cold (but at least it wasn't raining). I plan to go see another show before I leave Alaska!

2008-06-02T17:27:00.000-05:00

2008-06-02T17:24:00.002-05:00

In Sitka I went on a Sea Otter and Wildlife Quest where we saw bald eagles...

humpback whales...
and sea otters...
and more sea otters...
and more whales....
Wow!

2008-06-02T17:14:00.002-05:00

In Juneau I had the opportunity to go on a three hour cattamaran ride through the waters. It's one of the best tours I've ever done...here are some of my favortie pictures out of the hundreds that I took...

This is the head of a humpback whale that was hanging out on the water...notice all of his nobbins:)

Our tour was extremely lucky and came across a pod of about 15 orca whales. They put on quite a show for us for about 30 minutes.
I was able to take so many pictures of not just the whales, but of the whales against a beautiful back drop!
The pod had one bull (head male), some females, some juveniles, and even some babies.
Like I said, the orcas put on quite a show of breeching (jumping out of the water), tail slaps (like above), and pec slaps (side fins). I'll try to put a video up on youtube.

2008-06-02T17:13:00.000-05:00

Hubbard Glacier & the surrounding sites...like a postcard!

2008-06-02T17:10:00.001-05:00

Beautiful Juneau!

2008-06-02T17:08:00.002-05:00

Alaska Schedule:

Saturday Seattle

Sunday At Sea

Monday Juneau, Alaska

Tuesday Hubbard Glacier

Wednesday Sitka, Alaska

Thursday Ketchikan, Alaska

Friday Victoria, British Columbia

2008-06-02T16:44:00.002-05:00

So my 28th birthday started with a great whiteboard right outside my door:) Lots of good wishes. I then got to open my package from my family....lots of goodies!
Some members from the cast took me to dinner at the Pinnacle...yummy! Bradley (the head chef) made some chocolate covered strawberries for me....but wait, it gets better!
The cast surprised me with a birthday party in the crew mess. The cake was so good (finally some sugar icing and straight dessert, nothing fancy).
They put on quite a show for me. I found out they had been rehearsing for weeks to put on a showcase for me. For the showcase they wrote a song and used 12 Days from the Radio City Christmas Spectacular and used choreography from all of our shows on the ships. It was AMAZING!!!!! I'll try to post the video on youtube soon. Our M1 also put on quite a show...he dressed up like a showgirl from the 40s (maybe one of the Andrews' sisters) and did a dance to "I Wanna Be a Rockette". The show was such a wonderful surprise and blew me away. Although....during the kickline a shoe did fly off a foot and hit my in the eye....and here it is.....
Ouch!

2008-06-02T16:23:00.002-05:00

On my last Saturday in San Diego, my friend Sarah and I decided to visit the famous San Diego Zoo. Here's some of my favorite parts:

The famous pandas were quite the treat...so cute, especially the baby in the tree (below).

The hippos were so cute...moving through the water on their tippy toes:)
As we were wondering through the monkeys we ran across this baby mouse...wow....tiny!

2008-05-05T18:48:00.002-05:00

To say goodbye to Mexico I got up really early one morning (6am) and watched the sun rise as we were pulling into Cabo San Lucas. Above is the sunrise and below is the moon over the rocks that separate two different seas. Beautiful!

Mexico has many, many agave plants. They're everywhere. Above is me in the middle of an agave plantation. Below is the part of the plant that makes tequila...the agave pineapple. yummy!

2008-05-05T18:38:00.002-05:00

In Puerto Vallarta I got to do "Rhythms of the Night". We had an hour ride on a cattamarran out to Las Caletas...a private beach that's only accessible by boat.

We were welcomed by locals playing on very cool instruments. After an amazing dinner we got to watch a phenomenal show. I was expecting tribal dancing and we got that and more! The modern dancers were great!
The ride back to the ship was beautiful! The sunset was amazing and by the time we got back to the ship it was nighttime and the ship was lit up beautifully!
This is one of my favorite shore excursions that I've done! It hit all the senses.

2008-05-05T18:28:00.002-05:00

In Mazatlan I had a chance to go ziplining. Wow! I haven't been since I was in South America a few years back. It was amazing! What made it so unique was the environment. I also had a blast hanging out with our passengers!

Notice all the cacti around. Some were even taller than the trees! The locals say that during the rainy season the cacti are directly next to the other green trees. Pretty amazing.

2008-04-16T14:29:00.002-05:00

Last week in Puerto Vallarta I got to go on a horse riding shore excursion. We took a bus into the mountains and were hooked up with some horses to ride on for an hour. Here's what followed:

Me and my horse: Cannario (cannery)

His favorite thing to do was race. Keep in mind I haven't been on a horse in a few years...this proved to be quite interesting, especially when trotting or kicking (thankfully no galloping!)

We also had the opportunity to ride bareback and swim in the river...not very comfortable, but quite the experience.

Throughout the trail we had plenty of opportunities to cross rivers...really cool

A great way to see the countryside...luckily I wasn't too sore the next day (we had a show).

After the ride we went back to the house and had some tequila tastings (the Mexicans sure do love their tequila). The best of all the tequilas was the peach flavored tequilas...flavored tequila is quite big down here, but they aren't allowed to export yet...too new I guess. Be on the lookout thought, especially for pomegranate or peach tequila.

2008-04-16T14:15:00.002-05:00

On Monday the shore excursion team from the Oosterdam put an excursion together for our crew. About 30 of us went to swim with the dolphins in Cabo San Lucas. Probably one of the coolest experiences of my life! When we got there and were sitting around the pool waiting for everyone else the dolphins decided to put on a show for us:) Dolphins are one of the most amazing and fun of God's creatures! We spent a little over half an hour swimming with our dolphins. Here's some of the highlights:

This is me with our amazing dolphin Risho. He was our 2nd dolphin; Jenny, our 1st dolphin, didn't want to pay attention (she's only been there 4 months).

Risho's finale: notice he's jumping right over our ship!

Risho's such a great kisser!

This is one of the best parts of the excursion...taking Risho for a ride:)

I highly recommend this for anyone who has the chance to do it....DO IT!!!!!!!

2008-04-12T17:13:00.001-05:00

Here's the link for the video from the whales:)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EY9bNBfMYE

2008-04-07T14:39:00.001-05:00

I missed explaining one of the pictures...those way too cute 2 little boys are some of the passengers that I hung out with on the excursion.

2008-04-07T13:46:00.002-05:00

Shore Excursion 2: Pirate Ship with some snorkeling

-the ship...pretty cool!

-me steering the ship...even better

-the amazing whales that we saw...one mommy and one baby...this is the baby who decided to give us a show for over 30 minutes with some amazing jumps. I'll try to upload some video to youtube and then post the link:)

It was AWESOME! I also had a great time hanging out with passengers.

2008-04-07T13:41:00.000-05:00

Shore Excursion 1: Salsa y Salsa

You can see how beautiful the resort was! This is my table that I sat with...it was a fun bunch and we had a blast!

2008-04-07T13:33:00.001-05:00

Picture One: Biking in Mazatlan. Crew can rent bikes from the ship for $2. A few of us did and had fun biking around the city.

Picture Two: Some of the girls in Cabo with our ship in the background...notice the ship size...that week was also interesting cause of all the spring breakers down there!

Picture Three: Cast picture...this is our bumper...the short show that we do on the first night passengers come aboard:)

(Did I switch pictures 2 & 3?)

2008-04-07T13:20:00.001-05:00

Here's my ship...it's huge! It's also hard to get it all in one picture.

Second one is the cast photo after our opening night of Rockin' Road! Notice the amazing costumes we get to wear:)

2008-04-02T19:37:00.002-05:00

2008-04-02T19:36:00.000-05:00

Shore Excursion #2

I went on my second shore excursion today in Puerto Vallarta. I boarded a Pirate Ship at 8am, had breakfast, and watched some pirate shows on our way to a private beach. The shows were great and included singing, dancing, and even some sword fighting. Once we reached the beach (about 2 hours later) I went snorkeling for about 20 minutes...saw some beautiful jelly fish (don't worry, i didn't get stung) and some beautiful fish and took some pictures that hopefully turn out. AFter snorkeling I hung out on the beach for an hour and a half while the others went wave boarding, banana boating, swimming, kayaking, volleyball, and the kids went on a treasure hunt. On the way back we had lunch and contests. The best part of the day was when we spotted a mom and kid humpback whale and watched them swim for about 30 minutes. The kid kept breeching (jumping out of the water)...it was pretty amazing. I got some great video and pictures. I'll post them on youtube and my blog when I get to a good internet connection. Once again all the food and drinks I wanted and adventure and all for free! I LOVE MY JOB!!!!

2008-04-01T16:52:00.002-05:00

First Shore Excursion

Just wanted to write a quick word about my first shore excursion. I've finally gotten on the ball of things and went today (for free:). My tour took me on a bus ride on the coastal road of Mazatlan to a private resort where we were given lessons on how to make 6 different types of salsa (don't worry...I'll share some recipes later) and then taught salsa daning. There was plenty of food and drink for all! After the salsa lesson we were given a couple of hours to chill by the pool and ocean or shop. It was AMAZING and did I mention it was FREE!?!?!?!?!
I'll post pictures later (I'm on an anitque computer in the terminal right now).
I'll also put bigger and more pictures up when I can get my laptop to some high speed stuff.

Miss everyone!

2008-03-29T12:51:00.001-05:00

Descriptions to come!

2008-03-29T12:50:00.002-05:00

Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover

With all this time on my hands, I’ve already been able to read a few books. This is one
that is definitely hitting home. I have such an amazing opportunity to save up and I have
NOT been taking it. This book has so inspired me to get my act together and use this time
that God has blessed me with. The book has also inspired me to stop using my credit
cards for a few months. Ramsey says that according to studies, we tend to spend 12%
more when we use our credit cards versus cash. I’ll let you know how it goes.

2008-03-29T12:50:00.001-05:00

Week Three: Regular Week…finally

Our third week brought us our first regular week, well almost. Saturday brought our
normal passengers to our ship (although we did have over 400 kids on board this week...
thank you spring break). We performed our bumper (just a short little show); the middle
section was taken out (the game show section) which resulted in me not performing in the
last section, so I was done a little early…happy, happy, joy, joy. The weather has been
absolutely beautiful this week, so I’ve been trying to spend more time outside. In Cabo
the cast had reservations to swim with dolphins, but unfortunately the crew was not
allowed off the ship. Cabo has no dock, so ships tender (take their own little ships to the
port) and because we docked with other ships that needed to use Cabo’s tenders and some
of our tenders were not working so we had to cancel the reservation…so maybe the next
visit. We all decided to spend the day laying out be the aft pool. No worries, I wore lots
of sunscreen. On Mazatlan me and our male dancers rented bikes from the ship and biked
around the city. It was a blast and cost only $2…this will hopefully become a weekly
occurrence. In Puerto Vallarta we walked to a local resort and spent the day laying out by
amazing pool with some fun music. Met some college students on spring break from
Mizzou…hmmmm. As I do my duty in the library on this beautiful sea day I realize that
God has handed me yet another amazing experience. I’m definitely blessed.

2008-03-29T12:49:00.001-05:00

My Schedule

Here’s my schedule right now…all times are west coast

Saturdays San Diego 10am-4pm (this is the exciting port: I can use my cell
phone and the Target and grocery store are quite close and free internet…CALL ME!)

Sundays At Sea (we perform Rockin’ Road)

Mondays Cabo San Lucas

Tuesdays Mazatlan

Wednesdays Puerto Vallarta

Thursdays At Sea (we perform Escape)

Fridays At Sea (Master Chef)

2008-03-29T12:48:00.000-05:00

Week Two: Charter Cruise = Vacation!

Our second week of the cruise was a charter cruise. Charter cruises are great because they usually bring their own entertainment, which pretty much means vacation for the cast. Our charter was the Rosie O’Donnell r Family Vacations cruise. They cater to LGB families…so we had lots of kids on board (a very odd thing to see on Holland America cruises). We also had TONS of Broadway talent and other talent on board to entertain. It was amazing to see Soshana Bean perform Defying Gravity! The comedians were also pretty funny!
I had IPM two of the three ports that week (in port manning, IPM, means you have to stay on the ship for safety reasons…in case of an emergency I’ve been trained to help). But I did get to enjoy Cabo San Lucas…just sat on the beach. Mexico’s been a little crazy because of spring breaks…I’ve seen a few too many high schoolers and college students. I also had library duty…not the greatest job in the world, but it doesn’t totally stink, gives me time to write blogs, emails, and read.
The only job the cast really had was Master Chef…ugh. This is where we do a little dance with the dining stewards in the large dining room on the last night of the cruise. An interesting concept that can’t really reach it’s potential for multiple reasons, the biggest one being that the design of the dining room hurts the performance instead of enhancing. I try to have fun and think of other things, but if you ever want to send a little prayer my way on Thursday evenings from 5-10pm west coast time, I’ll take it!

2008-03-29T12:46:00.000-05:00

Week One: Hell Week

The first week on the ship is always the hardest. You board the ship bright and early Saturday morning, San Diego for us (which was brilliant because this allowed us to pack as much as we wanted cause we bussed it from LA). You go to all kinds of meetings (safety, orientation, etc.), have a random coast guard drill (lucky cast), have costume fittings, boat drill, staging rehearsal, tech rehearsal, dress rehearsal, dinner, performance, costume fitting for the next show, and some more staging, then you can sleep. Whew! The rest of the week doesn’t get much better. Our hours in the theatre are quite odd, because there are still activities and other shows being held in the theatre (sadly all does not stop for us). All in all we had a pretty easy hell week. I was able to get settled in my room pretty quickly. My roommate is Mary and since her fiancée has a room and bed that is twice the size of ours, I won’t see her until Rini leaves the ship. I gave the room a thorough cleaning (a whole tube of Clorox wipes) and a good straightening. The ladies before us left plenty of hangers and some plastic shelves, but sadly no fridge. But have no fear…one of the best things about my itineraries is that there is a Target and Walmart always close by.
Crazy week done…now vacation…

2008-03-29T12:44:00.003-05:00

The Cast & LA

The people that surround you on a cruise ship make it good or bad. I really lucked out with my cast (the people I see quite a bit every day until Sept. 20). Rehearsals were full of fun. It’s been a while since I’ve learned new choreography (three years of Rockettes), so it was a challenge and lots of new stuff! The ms Oosterdam is a vista class ship for Holland America (which means it’s HUGE) and has 2 singers, 2 singer-dancers, and 10 dancers (last time my ship had 10 performers total). Of the six female dancers, 4 have never done ships before and their ages range from 19-23 (younguns). The other veteran is Mary…this is her sixth contract and her fiancée is an engineer on our ship (her and Rini are getting married on New Years Eve…awwww). Our M1 (male singer) David and three of our male dancers stayed on the ship from the cast before us. They’re great and it’s a small world. David’s done quite a few ships, Eric & Wil have danced with some of my friends in Vegas, and Mario agreed to stay three extra weeks while our real male dancer learned the shows (Nathan just finished a contract with a Phoenix dance company and could not start rehearsals until a few days before we left for our ship). Today (Sat.March 29) Mario is leaving us (sad) but Nathan is joining us (woohoo!). Our fourth male dance is Jesse, who was in the Radio City Christmas Spectacular in Chicago/Des Moines with many of my friends. All of our dancers are quite talented and professional (thank goodness). Our F1 (female singer) and M2 (male singer-dancer) are engaged. Katie and Aaron met doing a ship and are getting married in November! (That’s 2 engaged couples so far). Last, but definitely not least is our F2 (female singer-dancer) Brenda. This is Brenda’s first ship, but she’s worked in other places with more of my friends. Brenda got engaged during rehearsals…that’s three! Her fiancée is performing in Universal Japan. So a lot of time is spent looking at bridal magazines and discussing weddings. (After discussing, planning, going to, and reading about so many weddings, I think I have a fair of idea of what I want….if I ever get married.)
Rehearsals were fun, challenging but not too crazy. After Rockettes, nothing seems quite so hard. One of the best parts was going to see Wicked. One of Pam’s best friends from high school is the universal swing and she was able to get us discounted tickets. If you ever have the opportunity to go see the show…DO IT! It is one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. The music is brilliant and the writing amazing. Rehearsals were fun, but at the end of those three and a half weeks I was quite ready for the ship.

2008-03-25T15:40:00.000-05:00

Coming soon.....

blogs about the cruise ship!

2007-06-21T19:25:00.000-05:00

Back in Singapore

So I'll come back to Bali, but time is limited so we'll continue with Singapore.

Wednesday was spent catching up on emails, blogging, and of course shopping. The sales on still going strong and there are some great stores where you don't even need the sales (reminds me of H&M). The evening was spent doing dinner and a movie. We went to Holland Village for dinner....this is considered the ex-pat place so we actually saw many Westerners (it's interesting being in the minority, puts a new perspective on things). You can find pretty much any kind of food here. Pam was craving hummus, so Lebanese it was. (I think it's called Holland Village b/c of the windmill, but that sucker is small!) Off to the movies in a taxi. New Yorkers, you're going to die...the movie cost....drumroll.......under $10 for BOTH of us. And the theatre was very nice with great seats and small. We saw Ocean's 13; awsome! I had to get used to the Chinese subtitles, but that didn't take very long. The best part was when the little guy spoke Chinese, no English translation, but none needed for anyone except my sister and I, everyone else understood Chinese. So my sister and I just sat there while everyone else was laughing. Hmmm.
The best part of the day was by accident. I was coming home from Orchard Road on the bus and missed my stop. So I went one stop up and walked back. As I was walking along I ran across a monkey just haging out and eating some leaves. I got some great video and pictures and followed him into Macritchie Reservoir (my sister lives right by it...it's like a huge park) and watched even more monkeys, with lots of babies. They were just hanging out and eating. Crazy!

Thursday...the Zoo!

Singapore is the best zoo I have ever seen. They don't do cages or glass walls or fences. It's all about the moats. The only thing that separates you from the animals is some water, so you really get to see and smell them. They had pretty much every kind of primate you could possible imagine...so many monkeys! And there were babies galore! The other thing that the Singapore Zoo is great at is the shows. The are quite entertaining, and you get to see the animals up close and personal and in action. I saw three different shows and loved every minute of each one. The zoo also offerss elephant rides, not needed for me:) But fun to watch kids and foreigners get really excited. You also have opportunities to buy food and feed some of the animals...not horses and sheep mind you, but manatees, elephants, kangaroos, oraguntanes, and more! What fun! Early evening was spent at the Orchid Garden right down the street. So beautiful. The best part was walking along and seeing butterflies, birds, other flowers, snakes, and monkeys. All the animals and plants look so different from what you would find in the US. The monkeys were just hanging out in the tree, running along the branches, swinging, jumping from limb to limb, and falling. It's crazy to watch them fall from the tree. They look like cats when they land...on all fours. The evening was spent at the Night Safari...a nightime zoo. The park is devoted to animals of the dark. We started the evening with a burger, fries, and some really good Ben & Jerry's ice cream (they're everywhere!). Our table gave us great seats for the show that followed. A tribe from one of the islands around here (I think it's the one that malaysia & Indonesia share) performed some dancing and fire eating for us. It was great! Definitely the most entertaining portion of the evening. Inside the park you hop on a tram and it takes you around the park. The lights are dimmed and almost have a green tint to them. The best part of the ride is listening to the announcer speak. I guess she's trying to sound mysterious, but between the accent and the whispering it kind of makes you a little uncomfortable...she comes off trying to be sexy but not succeeding b/c she's talking about animals...at night. There was also a show here; once again...very entertaining. Zoo managers and creaters should come to Singapore to see how it's done. The last part of the evening was spent going on the trail that led us to "The Bridge of Suspense"...yes people, this is what they call a suspended bridge. But the worse part was...it sucked. When you think suspended bridge, you think movement as you're walking across...no movement unless you jumped and made it move, and nothing to see underneath...not quite sure what we were suspended over.
All in all the day was pretty tiring, but quite enjoyable.

Picture highlights of these days are soon to follow:)

2007-06-20T04:09:00.001-05:00

Bali...coming soon

Think total relaxtion

Oh the places these feet have been!

2007-06-20T03:35:00.000-05:00

Pictures:
1. Pam & me in front of the National Monument
2. View of the gardens from the top
3. Lunch
4. Crazy Motorbikes!

Jakarta=Traffic, Lots & LOTS of Traffic

So Thursday night we made it to Jakarta. The flight was short and easy with lots of leg room since we were sitting in the exit row (my sister didn't appreciate the leg room, she was too worried about the responsibility of the exit row!). Some of Pam's workmates and friends picked us up and took us to our hotel room. Another blur (I'm sure I was sleeping), it was pretty late, esp. for me still trying to get on Asia time. The place was a great, think Bed & Breakfast, and the breakfast was very tasty. We ate with 2 couples that are doing missions in the mountain region. They were in the city to get their pilot's license to fly planes (which from the way they told it is halting English and some greasing of palms). Out "host" picked us up bright and early to show us around. (Asians are amazing when they host, they take care of everything for you & you're just along for the ride!) We got a small of overview of the city, it's quite big and spread out. Some things that hit me...traffic (you cannot even begin to imagine it), so many motorbikes (they were everywhere & could pretty much go wherever they wanted), medians with lots of U turns (which caused even more traffic hangups), and squatty potties (the biggest nightmare you could ever imagine!!!!). The squatty potties are pretty much holes in the ground, you don't flush them...there's a bucket of water with a cup that you pour down the toilet and it causes everything to go down, there's no toilet paper, and most of the time if there is a sink, no soap or paper towels. Needless to say it made everything quite interesting. After the overview we went to the national monument. It's a tower with a flame on top, a beautiful way to see a 360 view of Jakarta. The best part was watching the inveiling of their declaration of independence (not sure of the correct name, but you get the idea). I'm trying to get the video up on youtube. I'll let you know when it happens...it was quite the highlight for the trip. The countries indepndence day is coming up shortly, so they were working hard getting the gardens ready for the celebration, but already they were quite beautiful. The city is very interesting...tall buildings next to shanties and crazy smog. The architecture is beautiful, but set next to poverty. An interesting contrast. This was my first experience with the squatty potty (oh yeah, did I mention the heat and humidity with no A/C? UGH!)...hmmmm. The basement held some great exhibits of the history of Indonesia, I loved it but the sister was quite bored so we moved on. Next was some traditional Indonesian food. They brought about 30 plates out to our table, and we got to pick what we wanted off the plates...but...you had to figure out which plates you could buy one thing of and which ones if you touched it you bought the whole thing. The tofu and chicken was amazing...pretty much everything else burned my throat. Did I forget to mention that Asians LOVE hot and spicy..everything comes with some pepper sauce on it. I chugged my guava juice down ASAP and ate plenty of rice. The meal was also cool cause we ate everything with our hands. After lunch, the shopping experience began. Indonesia has crazy amounts of malls and they're all 8 stories tall with 2-3 malls interconnected. We started at the cheapest one, very overwhelming...not stores, just hundreds of booths, in doors. This place was all about the bargainning. The next mall(s) that we went to were a step up. Booths had more space in between and there were actual stores (walls and all). The last mall that we ended up at was the nicest of all. I felt like I was back in the States, with A/C, stores (no booths), regular bathrooms with toilet paper & paper towels:), and great food. The Indonesians were controlled by the Dutch until the mid 1900s, so i got to eat some of my favorite Dutch food...their little pancakes....yumm. So we ended the day on a good note.

Off to Bali...woohoo!

2007-06-20T03:24:00.000-05:00

Indonesia=Little to No Internet Access...so I have much to catch you up on!

So first: Did I succeed in staying awake until 9pm on the first day? Almost. I made it til about 8:30, but the last 3 hours are a blur, including eating some amazing sushi.

My second day in Singapore was spent taking a nice little bus ride around the city, a great way to get an overview of everything. I also did a little shopping. Singapore is having a huge sale right now, so off to Orchard Road I went (think 5th Ave). Orchard Road is a little overwhelming with all of its shops, but I got some cute things at a great price. The evening was spent starting my travels. This was the itinerary:
Thursday night: Fly from Singapore to Jakarta, Indonesia
Friday: Tour Jakarta
Saturday mornig: Fly from Jakarta to Bali
Sunday: Ride some elephants
Monday night: Fly from Bali to Jakarta
Tuesday: More shopping in Jakarta
Tuesday night: Fly from Jakarta to Singapore

Wow! I don't think I've ever flown, or will ever fly that much in one week again! (The week also includes my flight to Singapore). I wasn't sure my ears were ever going to recover, but I think they have...so on to Jakarta.

2007-06-12T22:08:00.000-05:00

Off to Asia!!

So I left on Monday night, June 11 for Singapore (my flight was supposed to depart at 11pm, but I was flying our of Newark...of course we left after midnight). I arrived in Singapore this morning. It is Wednesday, June 13 (what happened to Tuesday...I'm not quite sure...it's all a blur). I flew on Singapore Airlines, considered to be one of the top airlines in the world (and you'll read all about why in a few lines) direct, a 19 hour flight with NO stops. That's right, NONE, not even for fuel. So you must be thinking, which way did you go...east or west? The answer (drum roll please)........ NEITHER....we went OVER. From Newark we went directly north over Canada, across the North Pole (so I have now flown over the top and bottom of the world), and then down through Russia and Asia to Singapore. Think upside down U. Whoa. So what is so great about Singapore Airlines? First let's talk seats. Keep in mind I flew economy. The seats are the width of first class in domestic flights. There is tons of leg room. There's a foot rest on the bottom of the seat in front of you and a calf rest pops up on the bottom of your seat. The reclining ability is also quite crazy. I also lucked out and had an empty seat next to me. So window to my right and noone to my left...so much room and noone to contend with if I need to get out of my seat. Next, food. I signed up for the seafood meals. Dinner...white fish, asparagus, potato, fresh fruit, chilled shrimp on salad, rolls, and oh yeah, for dessert, how about some Ben & Jerry's Cookie Dough icecream. Delicious! For the next, oh, 10 or so hours they had all kinds of snacks in the back room. There you can stretch, walk, and look out the window at the North Pole (sorry, no Santa sightings). The snacks were unbelievable, esp. the fresh fruit. For breakfast I had an egg omlette with salmon, steamed carrots, hashbrowns, yogurt, blueberry muffin, oj, and roll. Wow...even thinking about it makes me full. So for once my exerience with airline food was quite good. Then let's talk entertainment...tons of new movies, all on demand, tons of tv shows, all on demand, I made my own music play list, and best of the best, got to play a little original 1985 Super Mario Brothers. I didn't have to go to my laptop at all (but if I did, there's a place right in my armrest that I could charge it if I had to). Three movies, four shows (including a little Planet Earth), and so much more! And then the service was great. I had heard of the beauty of the stewardesses...true. They look like they stepped right off the stage of a beauty pageant...french twist and all. They were all so nice and they treated everyone with so much respect and courtesy. So my experience was quite good, esp. since I ended up spending almost 20 hours on the plane. My best experience on a plane so far in all my traveling experience;)

So now my goal is to not go to sleep until tonight...9pm at the earliest which is 9am NY time. I think I can, I think I can.

Lunch was eaten at the "coffee shops"..a line of cafes/venders. Eating was good and cheap. Ate at a Thai place, had prawn cakes and pineapple fried rice.

Pictures are of the north pole, sunrise?, and the coffee shops with my sister.

More will be coming later, including an elephant ride, mokeys, fire eaters, and Balinese dancing.

2006-07-20T09:40:00.000-05:00

I'm a Rockette!

I received the wonderful call yesterday, and I will be spending m Christmas season in Chicago and Boston...brrr....woohoo!

2006-07-05T22:29:00.000-05:00

Fun on the Fourth

My first July 4th in the city and it was definitely a fun one. We ended up at my friend Beth's apt. (white kitty from CATS) on 20th & Park (wow!), played some cards (Euchre!), ate some fabulous food (the famous Taco Ring...yummy!), and then headed up to the roof for some fabulous views. From up there we could catch the East River fireworks clearly with an okay view of the other two fireworks display by Macy's. The first pict is the group up on the roof (not quite sure what building that is behind us). The other pict is of the fireworks over the east river...the Chrysler building is to the left. It was so amazing to be up on a rooftop in NYC watching fireworks! WooHoo! After the fireworks we headed back down for a rousing game of Scene It! A great time was had by all:)

2006-07-05T22:15:00.000-05:00

So I'm finally back in NYC, in my beautiful apartment, and enjoying my new job. People come from all over the world to the Big Apple and some choose to take a tour of the fabulous Radio City Music Hall. The best part of the tour is getting to meet a famous Radio City Rockette....me! I sit in my little room behind the gold door with a star on it and wait for the knock on the door. When I hear the knock I come out and meet the crowd;) I give my little speech, answer some questions, take some pictures, and then back into my little room. I have a lot of time to read the paper, read some books, of course I do my sudoku puzzles, and I'm taking up Spanish. Hopefully I'll get a lot accomplished in these next two months. I also have a lot of time off and have decided to experience the city...there are a lot of free things to do in the city in the summer and I hope to do many of them. I also am looking to do some volunteer work, and take classes and voice lessons. I'm just gonna have to be pretty smart with my money.
I'm gonna try to update the blog with all the funny questions I've been asked. One of the most frequently asked questions is "how old is the oldest Rockette?" I've been asked for hugs and been mouthed a "call me."
Enjoy the picts!

2006-05-09T17:41:00.000-05:00

I'm on a roll!

So yesterday a few of us decided to stop sitting around on our days off, so we walked downtown and went to the botannical gardens here in Rock Island. We were thinking it would take an hour or two...ummm...maybe 20 minutes? It's a pretty small place, but nice. The best part was feeding the multisized koi in the pond (some HUGE ones with crazy suctioning mouths that would come out of the water to grab the food) and petting the tortoise, she's 20 and pretty big. I guess the $3 wasn't money horribly spent, and my roommate and I decided to buy the pass for RI ($20) that lets us go to 6 different museums, zoo, etc. around town. It should all prove to be very intersting, at least for a few minutes.

(picture is of the pretty spot...we're proud of ours guys, they almost look straight! although the purple shirt and plaid might give it away;)

2006-05-09T17:33:00.000-05:00

More prom:)

So, of course as performers we have NO money! It's amazing what you can do with crepe paper, ballroons, construction papar, and tape! Oh the joy!
(Notice the fan decorations, everyone's favorite decoration once it was on! Watch the paper fly!)

2006-05-09T17:20:00.000-05:00

Prom 2006

So, one of my fellow castmates is in high school and missed her prom on Saturday night....so....we decided to throw a prom night in the Actors' House..."The Jellicle Moon is Rising" (ref. "CATS"). We had a fabulous time with lots of fun memories! So, without further ado...PICTURES!!!

My date was our ASM Russ....he's awesome & so much fun!!! Notice the awkward exchange of the crosage and boutinerre (spelling....agh!!!!) and the fabulous prom pose.

The other two picts are our girls and our guys...notice the numbers;)

2006-04-30T13:28:00.000-05:00

How to act like a cat...

When we first arrived at rehearsals the cast had a "cat class" where we learned different catisms. We talked about how to sit, walk, get up, get down, run, lay down, and just move in general. Not too hard and a lot of fun! Especially all the stretching part. But the harder part of learning to be a cat in the faces and head movements....how to yawn like a cat, how to use your tongue, how to listen...you have to make it automatic. Because it has become such a large part of the show and an automatic thing with your body, it's hard to let go of. Some things we find ourselves doing...not on the stage....are yawning with really weird faces and the tongue out, jerking the head to the right or left, quite quickly, to listen to someone or something, making really weird stretch faces when there's an itch, and the best...sniffing of the nose, just quick ones, but they're there just the same. So if you see me after the show, be prepared. (one nice thing is that my reflexes have improves:)

2006-04-28T16:08:00.000-05:00

My birthday bash at the baseball game proved to be too much fun. I'm sure the Swing of the Quad Cities have never had as many gay boys in their history as there were last night. Because it was to celebrate my bday pretty much the whole cast went, including our boys who have NEVER been to a baseball game (WHAT?!?!?), I'm sure the $1.50 beer helped. I had a blast with everyone, talking, dancing, rooting for our boys, eating tons of junkfood, and taking lots of picts. My name was announced and put on the screen....as a 21st bday, I wish! And I got my pict taken with the mascot, a HUGE monkey...interesting. My felllow castmates also tried to get the centerfielder's number for me, with no such luck. Sadly, I don't know if we even won or lost...we decided to leave at the end of the 12th inning. It kind of reminded me of the Bravos, the Swing were up 4-0 when our relief pitchers fave up 4 runs in the eighth and ninth innings. But I had a blast...great start to my bday weekend.
Went to the mall today, got my cookie cake, had some YUMMY Chicfila (have introduced many of our Northern castmates to the fabulous chicken sandwich), got my haircut, and hit some fabulous sales. Also got a birthday package from the rents, but alas I must wait until my actual bday, tomorrow, to open...ARGH!

I've been told I'm slacking on my blogs, so my next few days will be devoted to a blog a day....I've been told a blog a day keeps Eric away;) What you have to look forward to....black squirrels, how to act like a cat, kidney stones, concussions, & more!!!:)

2006-04-16T23:11:00.001-05:00

My first single A baseball game...what a fun experience. The Swing of the Quad Cities play right across the river in Iowa, just a short five minute drive away. The baseball was not all that great or talented, but what a blast! The tickets were $7! Wow! We sat in the outfield, which is just a grassy hill...hello blankets & picnics. A group of us went and enjoyed the beautiful weather (until the sun went down...brrrrrr). It's a beautiful stadium with a beautiful view of the Mississppi and the Centennial Bridge. Of course the wind was whipping...bbbbbrrrrrrrrrbbbbbrrrrr (insert shiver). Lots of hotdogs, sodas, popcorns (all $1 each....can you get it!?!?!?!?!?!), and many errors later, we were ready to head home with a loss:(
(got a little view of some BC from some TT that decided to sit in front of us...TT who left trash all over....argh!!!!)
A WooHoo for small middle American towns!

2006-03-30T10:13:00.000-06:00

Previews

We had our first preview last night and I think it went very well. My favorite part of Cats is now the the overture where we get to go out in the audience wearing "green eyes" that light up and scare the audience...oh yeah! The cast house is going pretty well...noone else has gotten scabies or chicken pox yet. The picture here is from press day...is wasn't much fun putting the makeup on, taking it off for rehearsal, and then putting it back on for dress rehearsal, but I have gotten my time to put on the makeup to about an 1.20 hours:)

2006-03-26T23:26:00.000-06:00

And it all begins...

So...to bring everyone up to date, it's been an interesting week to say the least. First our Grizabella (the cat around whom the story focuses) got chicken pox, for the second time. The owner of the theatre did some research and found some bad facts that wouldn't be too good for a cast that hangs out with each other ALL the time...so her contract was terminated. So our Bomb got moved up to play Griz...and they flew in another girl to play Bomb (Thursday night). So she's learning some of the show (mainly Macavity...the best song EVER) and we're reblocking the rest. So that's fun and exciting.
Not done yet....
On Friday, we found out one of the cats has scabies...what!?!?!?! Little mites that suck your blood under your skin and make you itch like crazy! So we all got scabies cream to prevent an outbreak among the cast. What is up with all the skin probs in our cast?
This morning we went to move into the theatre finally (the show before us closed on Saturday night), but the set was not up...so we had an easy day...maybe. Of course this is the day we move from the hotel to the house. And of course the fridges were full of junk and so gross. So we all had to get moved in and clean up and go to SuperTarget. but hopefully tomorrow (Monday) will go well. I'll let you know:)

2006-03-20T19:33:00.000-06:00

The New Me

After about an hour of Stephanie (my director/choreographer who played the role of Cassandra (my role) on the national tour for 2 years and Broadway for .5 year) doing half of my face and me the other, here's the results...not too bad, but it's gonna get better. Steph told me the quickest she did...after TWO years...is 40 minutes. Prep time for CATS is gonna be crazy between warming my body up and the makeup, at least the costume shouldn't take much time...ummm...a unitard. We're almost done with the show. We finished Act I a couple of days ago and that has more dancing with the opening and Jellicle Ball. Second act is much easier with a lot of special acts, so the next couple of days is gonna be pretty easy...and...we get a day off! WooHoo!
Last night the most of the cast went out because of makeup day today. We had a lot of fun, and I'm so looking forward to moving into the house and getting to know and hang out everyone (and I'm sooooo looking forward to having a kitchen:)
Beth (our Victoria, the white cat) and I went to church on Sunday...it was kind of like of stepping back in time, maybe to the nineties...I must confess that I saw a woman with a mullet...yes, I had a moment. The church was great, praise songs from Passion's first couple of albums, fun because I haven't sung those songs in a while. They had breakfast and lunch, so that was nice. And the pastor was a great speaker...I lost him a little when he was talking about duck hunting...but got him back when talking about James. Some other people have expressed interest in going to church, so I'm excited!
Once again god has given me such an amazing opportunity...Go God!!!

2006-03-15T17:56:00.000-06:00

3 Days Down...

3 days down and 2 weeks to go until we open. I can still move, so that's a good thing, but I am stil very sore. We've learned the hardest stuff..the opening and the ball...try singing and running at the same time and that's about what I feel like. I've gotten to know everyone a little bit better and I'm really excited!! I'm actually looking forward to moving into the cast house. I love CATS so far!!! The choreography is so much fun and I'm dancing like crazy!
On the other front...I'm rereading "The Bible Jesus Read" by Philip Yancey...good stuff. He brings an interesting perspective to Job, especially considering theologians consider it the first book written and yet it still talks to so many people's lives. I'm excited to read more:)

2006-03-12T20:36:00.000-06:00

Day One in the Middle of Nowhere

First the plane...of course I was one of the last gates in the terminal...walking to the plane was even more interesting walking down the steps and out on the tarmac to get to the plane, which was only 4 people wide and 12 rows, not even full...WOW! It was a wee bit bumpy, but overall not too bad. The airport I landed at was very nice, all 4 gates! The plane was too small to fit both of my bags, so my second bag caught a ride on the 2:30 flight from ATL. I'm at a hotel right now with 6 other cast members. It's not too bad...two queen size beds, a small fridge, a microwave, and it even has a Denny's across the street!! FUN! My roommate is great...Erica from NYC (originally Cali) and the other four are guys are really great as well (all gay so far). We all made a fun trip to the Super Walmart down the street...I got to drive the LONGGGG 12 passenger 1980's van...it was very fun to park. So, I'm set for food some. Rehearsals start tomorrow morning bright & early at 10 am to the fabulous hour of 9 pm, with some breaks thrown in of course. I'm excited, a little scared, and a little nervous...prayers would be greatly appreciated:)

2006-03-10T18:11:00.000-06:00

My first post...not really sure what to do but will hopefully be learning fast and easy:)