Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Performances and a Blessing

Thursday was our tech-through at Moving People. We didn't perform our acts at all, but worked on the cues for lighting and music. It took much longer than intended... that and we started an hour late as we are apt to do. We finally got done around 10:30pm. Avery came home with us and we went in the hot tub for a little bit before bed.

It was kind of hard for me to sleep, but we got up at 9:15am anyway to have time to run some errands and eat breakfast before our first full dress rehearsal with tech that morning. The dress rehearsal went well and during it I still wasn't really nervous yet. Afterward, I met my mom and Ben at Randi's house and we went out for some lunch before the first show that evening. I was back at Moving people at 5pm and had a couple hours to get ready for the show.

Randi and I had the very first act of the show and so were very nervous. We were warming up from 6:15 to 6:45 with the whole group and I was about to lose it. I still had to finish make up, put on my mustache, go to the bathroom, and calm down before the show started. I was able to do all those things, but thinking about making time for all of them was a great amount of stress on top of being nervous.

The show went very well. It was our best acro act of the run, and my fabric act went pretty well too. We rushed around the entire time changing and getting ready for the next act and soon it was over and we couldn't believe it. Afterward, my mom took me out to meet Ben and my friend Tim for some late dinner and a drink. My mom headed out to Albuquerque soon after to get my sister at the airport. They stayed in ABQ, so I stayed with Randi again. That night I could hardly sleep at all. I couldn't stop thinking about the show, at least I could stay in bed a little longer because the show started later than rehearsal had.

I went with RJ and Ben to breakfast and got to Moving People a little early. I was not nervous for the afternoon show Saturday. I was hot and tired. Unfortunately it showed. Acro wasn't so great and I felt bad because it was the show that a bunch of Randi's friends had come to see and I couldn't get her into Cathedral for the first time in two weeks. Sigh. It turned out alright though and afterward I grabbed some foods with my mom and sis at Chocolate Maven, which apparently does High Tea because that's what we got. It was tasty and not too filling.

Saturday night's show was the bomb dot com. Acro was great. The performance aspect was great. My fabric act was phenomenal (I think) and the whole show went really well. I had been really nervous before the show because my sis was there and I didn't want her to be disappointed after coming all that way. She was not. She said I was amazing and that she is very proud of me. :')

That night we headed out and met a bunch of people at the Cowgirl for food and drinks. I finally had a decent margarita in Santa Fe and some tasty tacos. I ended up staying with Randi again because my mom and sis went home a little early to go to bed. The next day we met with Ben and his dad and my fam and Randi and RJ for breakfast. It was good, but sad to be leaving.

The car had been having issues, so we decided that if it started right up, we'd leave, if it didn't my mom and sis would get a rental and I'd stay and have the car fixed and drive it back later. It started right up, so we picked up my stuff, said goodbye to Randi and RJ and Leslie and Bob and hit the road. We got all the way to Holbrook, AZ on our first tank of gas, but when we stopped to get gas, the car wouldn't start again. It started raining and we had no idea what to do. Holbrook is small and we would have had to get towed 77miles southwest (about 45miles out of the way) to another small town where there was a AAA approved mechanic. We would have had to wait there 2 days until after the 4th of July to even get the car fixed. Thankfully, miraculously, while looking under the hood, a man walked up and offered to help. Turns out he is a mechanic. He found the problem and fixed it enough to get us back to LA and wouldn't take any payment. It truly was meant to be though because we'd decided to continue on to Holbrook without AC instead of stopping in Gallup because it was overcast and starting to get rainy, so not too how. We stopped at this small gas station in Holbrook because mom thought it looked family run and could use the money. The man had only come out to see the rain because it was the first rain in 6 months. His wife happened to want a candy bar while they were out, so they went to that little gas station that was owned by his cousin. Crazy. We can never thank those people enough, but we will never forget how their kindness got us out of a real jam.