The Bungalow

Nutcracker is done for another year. It's always a bittersweet time. I'm kinda happy cos I have my life back now and can finally get started on Christmas shopping and all that other stuff. But I'm sad, cos it's such a great group of people and we're all really good friends and now I won't see them for another few months, at least. :-( *sniff* Like, even the professionals are so, so great. We've been very lucky and had the same Sugar Plum and Cavalier for the last 3 years now, and they're just wonderful. Cos sometimes when you get up to their level, egos come crashing in and it can be very awkward. But not them. They were hanging out with everyone last night in the dressing room drinking beer, as we do after the last show. Sharing stories and all that. Great, great folks. We keep talking about making a road trip out to Cincinnati to see them perform one summer. I think that would be awesome and I really hope we do it this year.

And no more tormenting the butlers! :-( LOL The butler is played by two of the older kids and they have to be super serious, cos they're the butler. So, we always do whatever we can to try and get them to break on stage. Cos, ya know, that's what you do. Usually it's just a couple of the guys, but I decided to get in on it this year since there's this one part where he brings me a couple dolls for the little girls and my back is to the audience. Hehe. So, I made some funny faces, got a snort and shoulder shake from one of 'em. Good times, I tell ya. :-D

But it all went really well. A few minor incidents - the prince ended up puking on stage one night. Uh oh. Luckily, it was near the end of the show so it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Unluckily, I ended up standing in it for the bow. But, it looked like it was pretty much just liquid. So, yeah....

I was able to get a lot of work done on the McShep vid I'm working on. I'd say I'm probably about 85% ripped, which is great! And I'm working from home today so I could get a couple extra hours sleep, so I might be able to make some more progress on that. After I finish a little something else, first. ;-)

So, I'm back! See you all around. :-D

I GOT MY BRACES OFF ON TUESDAY!!! YAY!!!!!!!!! I'm so excited, so happy to be done with everything, finally. It was a pain in the ass, but definitely worth it in the end. :-D :-D

And tonight, the Nutcracker madness starts with two dress rehearsals and the shows start tomorrow morning! We do 3 shows in the mornings for local school kids. I think it's really cool to get kids exposed to stuff like this. But it's also a gigantic pain, cos I'm going to have to get up at 5 am since it takes me about an hour and a half to do my hair and I'll be driving through morning rush hour traffic to get to the theater, so I want to give myself an hour at least to get there. Oy. I'm going to be exhausted. This also means I won't be around much if at all this weekend. But, I'll be back Monday. Have no fear. :-D

But I need to vent or whine or something.

My shins are dead. Just completely. I had to leave rehearsal early tonight, which I've never done. I'm starting to get really, really worried that I might have to stop dancing. It's been two solid months of them acting up when usually it's 3 or 4 days. This is just bad. It's so bad. I don't know what I'm going to do. I'm seeing the physical therapist tomorrow and I'll see what he has to say. I don't want him to tell me I have to stop. I really, really don't...

First rehearsal of Nutcracker tonight. Earlier this summer, the director said she probably wasn't going to change any of our dance. For the last 4 years, it's been fairly consistent. Little changes here and there, but nothing major. This year, EVERYTHING is different. Not one little thing is the same. Except for my "husband." LOL And it's good. We're, like, actually dancing. It feels more like dancing, anyway. I mean, we're doing a rond de jamb en l'air. We've never done anything more complicated than skipping. LOVE IT! But, man. It was hell on my shins. Ugh. I don't know if I'll be able to make it to class tomorrow! And that'll be two weeks off in a row. Blech. Anyway, so, I'm in pain again. Yipee. Oh, and two of the wives were missing. And one of them doesn't really know much about ballet. She's gonna be so lost next week. Guess I'll be doing a lot more practicing in the kitchen. :-D

Yes, it gets both a happy and sad smiley as the end of the Nutcracker run is always bittersweet. It's nice to not have to be running all over the place anymore. :-) But sad because now I don't get to see everyone every day. :-( But the men are doing the company's spring show (no parts for us women), so we'll go see that. And then there should be a barbecue this summer, too. Oh! And a house warming. At some point. So, we do try and get together during the year, which is nice. So, that's all. I'm back from that craziness. Now I have to start Christmas shopping.....

My feet are killing me this morning. Rehearsal went for two and a half hours last night. Ugh. This is my fourth year doing the Nutcracker with this company. I'm one of the Party Adults. Every year, the one main dance we have has been exactly the same. But not this year! She's changing it. A LOT. The only thing that's the same are the first 12 counts. And while it is a pain to try and learn all this new stuff, I think I like it better. It actually feels more like the dancing that would have been done back then. I'm not quite sure how to explain it, really. Like, all we really do is walk around in patterns mostly. But there seems to be more partner work and switching and this kinda funky arm twisty thing. I think it'll be good when it's all put together.

Now we just have to wait and see what she does with the Champagne Dance....

Well, the Nutcracker has started. 1 down, 14 to go! Woo-hoo! On the plus side, this does give me time to do a lot of the writing I need to do. Since I'm just at the beginning of the first act and have to wait through all the second act to the bow. This is good cos I do have mucho writing to do. Gah! But I think I'm almost done with one of them. Yay! OK. Now, errands to run before tonight's show. Later!

Tonight begins rehearsals for The Nutcracker. I can't believe it's that time of year already. It'll be good to see everyone again. The guys are always such a hoot. Can't wait to see what pranks get pulled this year! :-) And we have 14 performances this year. Man, my feet are gonna kill me by the time December is over. Ugh. Oh, well. I'm pretty sure I remember the first dance we have to do. Apparently, the "Champagne Dance" is being changed this year. (I'm one of the "Party Adults" in case you care) So, we'll have to see what Camille does with that.