"We all sat around and prayed. Or rather, Aaron prayed, and we agreed with him."

Courtesy of Walter

Vacation

Hey, ho, Kermit the frog here...

I'm blogging from Waco. Ashli and I decided to take a break from taking a break. All our other cast members wanted to "do things" on their days off. We opted to take the truck down to the Scobell's Bed and Breakfast. So all day today we've done as little as possible. Some laundry. Some emailing, postcarding and (for me) updating my spending logs and ledger. So far everything balances, and I'm able to pay next months bills yet again. Thanks be to God.

Wednesday we head to Big Springs, where we'll speak to a camp about what we do. Then Thursday it's off to Las Cruces, NM. We picked up one show last minute before we have to be in Tucson.

I think I would be more inclined to do things if we weren't going back over the route I've lived and driven. As it is, highway 20 is my old stomping grounds. Not even a roadrunner to break up the monotony!

Give me some time to apologise to the people I've offended, and I'll try to explain myself better than I did. I'm debating whether or not to delete a post...

Last night was our most interesting performance to date.

An East Indian Church was our audience. Originally we were supposed to be at their church, but the pews weren't movable, so they rented a community center. I don't think they knew what they were getting into. It was hot and bug infested. We spent a good amount of time cleaning during set up. The weather yesterday was well over 90, with very high humidity. No air conditioning at first, but at least they figured out how to turn it on before the show started. Scooping the rice from the kettle was torture!

The contact was late (probably because we set off the alarms in the building going through an unlocked door) and we were sweating like crazy. All of the girls turned their jeans into capris. We were told, when he arrived, that Indian women don't show leg, so we would have to roll our pants back down before we came into contact with the audience. We were worried because Balangaos wear skirts just below the knee, and in one scene I wear shorts playing a child. They said their congregation is somewhat acclimated to "Western Theater" and would understand that these are only costumes.

Then, we were short on circuits, so three of our nine lights wouldn't work. The air conditioning was loud, and our mics were cranked up, without much effect. Well, most of our mics were. Mine I turned off to run to the rest room, and forgot to turn back on. So I spent all of act one mute. I can project, but in a gym.....

That was the bad stuff, here's the good. The audience was one of our most responsive. Many of the congregation had recently moved here from India. They wore the most beautiful Saris (I think that's what they're called). They had two missionaries to India that they support, and the couple stood up and told of their experiences translating the Bible for the past 25 years. One man gave his life to Christ, and almost a dozen want to do missions work. One 8-year-old girl wants to be a missionary or a doctor. We told her she could do both. Afterwards, we got to talk with some of the ladies washing dishes. We had men standing around, but no one was sure if they would help in the kitchen, or take orders for a woman. They would, but we minced around that issue for a while. Julie said she did the same thing tearing down the stage. It was a very long night, and we got home well after midnight.

Tonight we're at a black church with 7,000 members. What a difference a day makes...

Reconciliation is a beautiful thing.

Recently Overheard (idea stolen from Elfin Ethicist):

"We called her on Christmas Eve to wish her a happy Easter..."

Courtesy of Walter

Here I am blogging from the crazy land of Waco, TX.

Adrian came up to Dallas this morning to give me a two day vacation. So far I've talked to VC and eaten at Bangkok Royale...Yellow Curry! My favorite! Oh and I went to use up some of my credit at the used bookstore. I still have $36 left, so there's plenty more to be bought. Today I sprang for Idylls of the King, The Last Temptation of Christ, Devil's Advocate, and Women in Love. That should keep me going for a while!

Last night's goal was to be packed up by 10:15. The kitchen crew locked the doors on the trailer at 10:13:15. Am I stoked or what? I have the best crew ever!

How many things can go wrong?

Our show last night was sloppy. The audience loved it, they were responsive, but little things kept going wrong. I almost missed and entrance. I was camped out by the side of the stage and realized that my cue was being said. I made it, but just barely. Also, there was a strange vacuum happening towards the audience. We lost one prop off the front end, and two more went sliding that direction. The button popped off my skirt, and I was trying to keep it on the whole first act. And finally, I got so tired of all the food we waste after a show that I scooped large portions of adobo. The last five servers didn't get full portions after all, and two of our cast had to eat peanut butter sandwitches. Tonight I'm supposed to be less zealous. And we ran out of veggies, but that wasn't my doing...It's a process, learning how much to make for how many. Our recipes are way off, but not all the same direction. Our fruit cocktail recipe is almost double what we need for the amount of people it says, but the vegetables always run the closest to the margin.

Ah well, the things you learn. On the plus side, kitchen crew got done in plenty of time with set up, and finished with the stage crew in tear down. Last night we were almost an hour behind them.

I looked at the calander, and it's September 11. I completely lost track of days. you know how you hear people say they'll never forget what they were doing when Kennedy was shot, or the space shuttle crashed? I was sleeping in when my sister called and asked if I could get any information on a plane that had crashed into the twin towers. I tried to get online, but couldn't. I called my family and a few college friends to try to find out what was going on -- since I didn't have a television. My friends and I skipped classes, went to Matt's apartment, ordered a pizza, and spent the day watching the news reports unfold.

I assume tonight at the show we'll pray for the survivors and their families...