a few jumbled things

check this out

hope you enjoy...it's just a little something that i've been really wanting to do. you can call it an artistic choice if you want to.

now, i can say that tour is over, but i still have one more show to do on the 19th.

presenting, the final version (thus far) of my map.

as some of you may remember, the purple represents states that i have juggled in, whether it was in a performance or just an effort to draw attention to myself (some people have even offered me money for the few minutes I may have juggled).  the orange represents the states that i have been in/through (coincidentally, i have also been pulled over in these states as well).  as you can see, i've been in most of the united states.  it's been a fun ride so far.

anyway, like i said before, the tour is over.  i'm way exhausted and i feel fortunate to be able to sleep/rest for a week until my last FP show.  this one will be my last, i've turned down the opportunity to go on a fourth tour.  with the tour being over, i have a chance to catch up on life, even though i am in hatfield for the rest of the week.  there will be some pictures that i will have online, whether it's on facebook, or on this very blog.  i'm very excited to share what has happened to me this spring/summer.

with the summer upon us, it's also a time for me to get back in the game.  and this time, i'm hitting the boards very hard.  fresh headshots are a must, and it's time to get back to auditioning, so i need to review monologues and songs (at least i think i'm going to get back to singing some).  i have a gigantic plan in order to make all aspects of my life work out for the best.  and really, i feel very positive about this. my life will be changing a lot in the near future. 

even if things don't work the way i really want them to, they will work out in some positive way.  "gotta keep trying, no matter how long that (expletive deleted) take" (c)alicia keys

i got plenty of stories that i will definitely tell, but you know i got to leak it out slowly, not just give it all to you at once.  so stay tuned folks!

do i have a problem with new jersey

"hello there childrens" (c) Chef from South Park.

it's been a long, long while since there was an entry. as per usual a lot has been going on...probably too much to even talk about. but i believe i will give it that "old college try".

today i'll backtrack. we are in new jersey for the night and tomorrow morning and all that i can say about that is...good. we were in maryland for a couple of days and i enjoy maryland. i've been there a few times, it's terrific. earlier this week we went to new jersey and it was horrible. the drive from massachusetts was horrible; it rained a lot and traffic was terrible. once we got to the "new jerusalem", our road fridge died, there was roadkill everywhere (like more than average amounts of roadkill), we had to haul our heavy @$$ soundbox up a flight of stairs, and our gps couldn't locate the town or the school that our show was located in.

so with that said, i feel that i have more than enough reason to not like new jersey. i just don't understand the place. with that said, there's another wrinkle: the audience of children seemed to not enjoy anything. they were just not enthused, it seems like they would rather be in math class.

i don't mean any disrespect to the churn, but it just seemed that they didn't care or even wanted to even try to pretend to care.
maybe my luck will change by the morning. i hope so.

anyway, enough about new jersey (i'm not trying to start a feud with anyone in/from jersey like conan v newark mayor cory booker)...we have a busy few days ahead of us. traveling through nj, ny, and then flying to atl for about 26 hours. we're going to be performing a shortened version of the show for a conference then flying back to massachusetts where we'll finally have a day off.

for those who really want to know how things are really going. they are going well, maine wasn't as bad as i thought it was going to be...it was actually fun and i look forward to going back in the next couple of weeks...even though it's going to be freezing.

anyway, this internet connection sucks...another reason why i'm not liking new jersey. with that said, i'm going to get out of here before i'm disconnected.

before i go: a reason why i like maryland...

i don't even know if this is supposed to be some kids drawing of me, but they are not afraid to show their appreciation. it made me happy.

peace out

my near brush with death and other adventures

here it is...been a long time coming, but it's finally here........

blog entry number 50 (fiddy, to some)

i really wanted this to be a monumental occasion, but i don't really have that much to say (that's at least interesting)

but before i go on, shout out to marco
i appreciate the comment and i like your work. everybody that reads this blog should definitely check out marco's blog

now it just so happens that my 50th entry happens to be during the first week back on tour. the first week back has been a journal all on its own. we started our little journal in delaware. i don't know a lot about delaware, i've been there a couple of times, but that was solely for family.

but anyway, i just want to ask this one question...
who starts a tour in delaware?

let's this one thing straight. i'm am not disrespecting delaware by any means, it's a nice place and all. i just wonder because we had to drive from massachusetts to delaware. the thing is that we will definitely perform in virginia in like november, and we perform in massachusetts later this week.

it's just a little weird to go south...and then north, only to go back south later.

at the same time, i'm not hating on the company and the office personnel that organized this (they do a lot of work and they try to accommodate my needs/wants to the best of their ability). i love them all, they sign my checks. i just wonder why start in delaware?

a week in delaware was a very busy week. 13 shows in 5 days. for those who don't know, we do a very high energy show that involves me juggling, running, jumping, break dancing...basically me sweating about half of my body weight. after doing 3 shows in a day, there's not really much left for me to do...because i'm not able to.

i do have an issue with delaware. of all the states i've been to/performed in, i never had to deal with a parking meter after 6pm. we went to this one place after 7:30. we left before 10 i believe. the next morning around 7am, we noticed a ticket on the van that was issued at 8:40pm the night before. who reads parking meters at that hour? you can't even see the meters due to the darkness.

but enough of that.
the first week of tour can be weird simply because you're with new people. even though i did rehearse with these two, i don't know them and they don't know me. it can be pretty cumbersome at times, everything is virtually new no matter how many times you may have rehearsed. we're still trying to develop a consistent rhythm to the show and i guess to each other.

i've done this show a lot and new things continue to happen. i nearly died this past week in delaware while on stage. the drawstring from my hoodie went in my mouth as i inhaled causing the string to go down a pipe resulting in me choking mid-show. luckily it was a drawstring so i pulled it out. it all happened so quick and nobody noticed that i began to choke, which happens to be the story of my life in a way.

a few days later we thought we lost a prop. we searched everywhere for it. the "lost" juggling ball happened to be in a magic bag that must be really magic, like harry potter magic because all three of us searched that bag multiple times, i emptied the bag and didn't find the ball. things like this make me hate magic.

all in all, the week has been a good one though. just a long one and we are all tired. we did have a few newspaper interviews, we performed in a brand new school (the stage had never been used before, which was cool to break in).

currently we are in maryland for a few days, so that means crabcakes!

anyway, i've said enough for my 50th entry.

later everyone!

My view

We are in Santa Fe, NM with a few days off...again.
And I just wanted to show people the few I have.




And well, since I feel good, here's a vid from the Monster Slide at the City Museum in St Louis




Deuces

first full week

today is officially march 1, 2009...30 more days until my birthday.

hope you all are making your purchases, hehe.

i think it's been about a week since my last post, and well, a lot has happened...it's all good. and if you are good, you may see some pictures of what happened. what am i saying, you've all been good haven't you?

our first tour stop was at hamilton elementary school in pennsylvania. our very first show and it was a lot of fun...it didn't really go as clean as i wanted, but it was quite good...even by my standards.

we spent another day in pa, performed at another school, which was a lot better...near flawless. the thing about these shows versus my other experiences is that i have never dropped in a performance until i got to this show. drops in juggling happen, in fact if you don't drop, you're not learning anything. but dropping in a performance the very first time was a little disheartening...but life goes on right?

after pa, we moved on down to maryland the very next day. two shows in one school, i think. because of the travel, staying in a city for one day...sometimes not even the whole day. but the wonderful thing about the kids in maryland, particularly the 2nd graders is that they loved the show a whole lot. we
(including the stage manager) signed autographs and I was mobbed by a group of them that should have been eating lunch. it was a whole lot of fun. they were getting autographs for their mothers, their older brothers and sisters...it was honestly sweet. but anyway, we had the next day off so we stormed our nation's capital, washington d.c.

we did a lot of stuff, like juggle in front of barack's house,
we juggled (and passed) on the capitol steps...you can call us dorks if you want, but it was a load of fun. i've been to d.c. before, but i was like 12; now it means so much more to me now. we must have walked almost the entire city. it was awesome...that's all i can say about it. one of the highlights was going inside ford's theatre, where lincoln was shot. here's a pic of the booth that lincoln sat in, it's right above stage left which is a terrible seat to see a show, but when you're the president...you pretty much are the show.




the very next day, a show in va at sacred heart academy. they were just a group of awesome kids...the teachers were great. the only problem i had was the fact that the show was so early...i know 9am isn't that early, but we arrived at the school before the kids. it's just early...but i have to get over it i guess.

our work schedule hasn't really been that heavy which is good given the circumstances. it gave the three of us time to chill and ease into the schedule. va was our last show until tuesday. so thursday we hung out in charlotte, nc. we went to discovery place which is a science museum with some hands on stuff. they had a circus exhibit, where we learned about the physics of trapeze artists, tight rope walkers, etc.

we strapped a harness on and literally walked on a tight rope.

then we strapped on another harness and were suspended in midair and turned flips. quite possibly the most fun i've had in a long time. there was a tiny exhibit on contortionists, plus there was a box. our stage manager/production manager fit in the box. she's not a contortionist...but she is tiny.



there's a lot of space left in the box i think. we saw a lot, experienced a lot...we even saw rats play basketball...it was weird and a surprising draw in my mind

anyway, we've spent the weekend in savannah, ga...and i must say that it's good to be in the south and in a hotel for more than a night. we toured the city...took a ghost tour, ate a lot of candy and southern cuisine (supper at paula deen's restaurant, lady and sons), we say the square where the opening scene of forrest gump was shot (you know, where he's sitting on the bench waiting for the bus). there's a lot of history in savannah, and i think we still haven't caught everything. but we leave for durham, nc tomorrow, for a show on tuesday...i'm sure we'll be all kinds of rusty...we'll just have to wait and see.

peace