Dreams really do come true

We had three shows yesterday and we’re halfway through our third show for today– but I feel great!  I don’t have to sell tickets before the show– only work as an usher, which isn’t too hard.  I work in the back section, which has the fewest chairs and, for some reason, the fewest audience members.  It is a pretty good section– with the way the big top is set up, you can see everything from every seat, so there really aren’t bad places– but for some reason nobody buys the seats in section J or K!  However we are right next to the general admission seating, so sometimes people sneak in and try to sit in the VIP chairs!  Still, even when the show is crowded and people end up in the wrong seats, it is not a terribly difficult job.  

After the show starts I stay and watch the tiger act, then run back to my room in the bunk truck.  (My own room!  All by myself!  Even if I had a roommate– which I did when I first arrived– the space would be luxurious compared to the 8-person trailer I stayed in on my last tour).  I have plenty of time to get dressed and stretch before the silks act.  After silks I have all of intermission and several more acts before I have to be ready for my swinging lyra number.  I go to the cookhouse, play on my computer, get dressed, try to practice the ribbon dance, and still have time to spare.  I need to get a new hobby!  I don’t like wasting time, and I can only rewatch Sherlock so many times before I will be able to recite it word for word. (OK, I can already recite the last episode word for word!!).

In my copious amounts of spare time I plan to learn Spanish as soon as I can get my hands on a Rosetta Stone or one of Vi’s old textbooks.  I am also working on the show I am writing (Yes!  it is still happening, just being postponed for a little while….).  Any other suggestions?  I was looking into online courses, but my internet is spotty and I don’t know if trying to download classes will use up all of my Overdrive Pro’s monthly data.

 

time to suit up!!

Xan

Let’s pretend I have been keeping this blog the whole time

and I will fill you in on everything you missed.  But I will do that later.  This post is going to be all about The Mud.  This wasn’t just any mud: OK, it was just any mud, but there was a lot of it.  Seriously, a lot.  Just, so much mud, you wouldn’t believe.   I waded out to my silks and pretended I was in Cirque du Soleil’s “O.”  Luckily I had some oversized mudboots, purchased in desperation during the last big rain storm, but even those did nothing to save me during Finale, where we walked through ankle deep water in heels to bow.  Even audience members had to get wet walking to and from their seats! 

 

Yesterday the shows were cancelled because of the damage that The Mud had done to the parking lot.  Frankly I’m surprised nobody’s car got stuck!!!  It was sad not to be doing the shows– even though the time off gave Meatball and me a chance to go to a huge buffet, we would rather be working!  The show is amazing and I am finally getting a chance to do the aerial acts I was trained for.  By the early evening, we had so much pent up energy that we couldn’t sit still.  Since the ring was still too muddy to hang my nice white silks, I played tag with the elephant trainer’s daughter and grandsons.  The tiger trainer’s husband came to see what everyone was doing, and dared Meatball to jump into the mud.  In exchange for two bottles of whiskey, Meatball let us film him running down a hill and diving into a giant mud puddle.  Once the video is on Youtube, I will provide a link.

 

Well intermission is almost over!  Time to put my costume on.  Until next time,

X