Fun with Decorating (How to torture your roommate)

Hello all! I've been quite busy recently. You see, I am moving with my friend Lauren into a beautiful two bedroom apartment in Queens. It's a very exciting time, but moving always comes with a lot of stress, not to mention expenses.

Today I took a little break from furniture shopping and getting our electricity provider set up to play the Sims. But you see, this was not to play the Sims just for fun. I had the idea to recreate our new place in this little virtual world, make characters of ourselves, and to experiment with decorating. Because, if you've never played the Sims, it is TOTALLY possible to recreate your own life and living space, and then mess around with it. Which is awesome.

Before they let you make a Sim house, you have to design characters. I gave myself messy brunette hair and the traits "childish, excitable, bookworm, artistic, virtuoso." Lauren, with her blonde locks and Flight of the Conchords vest, is a "neat, vegetarian, bookworm, workaholic genius." My career goal is to be a composer and Lauren, an author.

Here in our front lawn, we seem to be discussing vegetables.

And then I tried to make the general layout of our apartment.

Err, it isn't exact. But whatever, I do wha' I wan'!

So first I recreated our kitchen, which isn't quite this huge, but left an accurate amount of space in this little nook we have back here. I put a little black table there to see what it'd be like with an Ikea breakfast table there.

Unfortunately, this left no room for chairs, because Sim people apparently can't shimmy into a small space. So I took that out, decided we don't have to eat and put in a sweet sound system for dance parties instead.

*UNS UNS UNS UNS UNS*

Moving on! I then made my bedroom, which, in retrospect, looks a little like a prison, and the living room

Which left only one room.... Lauren's.


Now, I have known my roommate for quite some time, and know her tastes in decorating. However... she is not in control of her bedroom in this virtual little world. I am. So, what is a good roommate to do?

Heh heh heh.

Oh yeah. This isn't the real world. This is Sim world, and I am God.

At first, I just filled it up with garden gnomes

but then decided I could get a little more creative with it. So, I transformed it into a pond! Because who doesn't want a pond in their apartment? Nobody, that's who.



Or a zen garden!



How about a gym? Lauren can just sleep on one of the treadmills. I'll even lend her a towel.


Or, you know, she might have a baby one day
Never hurts to be prepared, y'know?


Ok, ok. Time to be serious.

And make the room how she obviously would decorate it herself....

TADAAAAA!!!!!

PINK FRILLY GOODNESS!!!

Because Lauren, the communist hipster tomboy, should obviously want to live in something that makes the Barbie dream house look like a tool shed. I am just the best roommate ever. Look, even the lamps are pink. And see? There's a pink teddy bear! I think I'll name him Tiffany.

In the end, all that matters is that you know your roommate. I've made the best room for my best friend, all that she could ever ask for.
And as you can see, my character promptly started writing her theatrical memoir

and Lauren is happy as a clam with her surroundings. See, she's even cuddling Tiffany. And all is well.
:)

Book

Hello everyone: It is here that I shall announce it officially.

I am writing a book! A memoir, to be precise.

Yes, I am going to compose a memoir of my travels on the yellow brick road. I don't have a working title for it yet, but I do have a general outline and very good idea of how I want the book to be. The title must be something snarky and comical, perhaps even a pun (the lowest of all types of humor) but, regardless, I am writing a memoir.

I figured if people buy boring autobiographies all the time (the most narcissistic type of book out there, gotta love 'em) then why shouldn't I write one? I know there's lots of books out there about the journies of working actors, including one by my professor's wife and another by a Producer's tour ensemble member... But anyway, there should be more. I've got two friends in my class who went on actual equity tours, Hair and In The Heights, and I'm thinking of letting them write passages too. Perhaps we can write a collaboration memoir. I'll propose the idea.

At any rate, yep, I'm writing a book.

Granted, I've started books before. There's one quasi-novel idea I've been flirting with for a few years-- a post apocalyptic world in which the female heroine travels to what is now "Old York" to live with her bohemian professor uncle, and they have to travel the world in search of the last remnants of nature and eventually find the "Orca Sanctuary", an underwater garden below the massive steampunk city in which a bunch of flying orca whales live who are actually reincarnated ancient philosophers. ...Yeah, you can see why I've only flirted with it.

A memoir is much easier. And who knows? Maybe trying to get this memoir published will pave the way for me to finish this Orca Sanctuary philosophers-reincarnated-as-orca-whales book. Or something.

Until then, I've got a lot of things I've been doing with my life. I'm trying to move into an apartment with my friend Lauren, so I've been alternately packing my things into boxes and looking up how to feng shui a place. It's gonna be good, y'all.

K

Oh, and

P.S. my hair is brown again. You're welcome, mom.

And thus it ends

Almost as quickly as it began, my friends, my leg of the Wizard of Oz tour comes to a close.

I have so much to write about the entire process. And believe me, it will come.

It began with the audition: just another playbill.com open non-equity call, which my boyfriend encouraged me to go to.

Then callbacks. I got bronchitis, and the boyfriend's mom made me some kind of magical Chinese crack tea which made me sing well.

Then the call that I never expected, which changed my life entirely.

Then waiting for the contract, which almost drove me nuts.

Then rehearsals, which were a challenge, mentally and physically, and an adventure all in themselves.

Then the leaving, which was sad and exciting all at once. Then the great process known as the tour.

I am so, so lucky to have known with all of you wonderful actors and become your friends. I am a better performer and person after this wonderful, insane, sometimes awful, sometimes hilarious, crazy time of my life. Thank you to all of you.

fin.

Swag!

Hello everyone! Today marks our final show in the United States. Tomorrow we head back over in to Canada to finish out this leg of the tour.

But more importantly, our swag orders came in!
I'm feeling a little under the weather, so I'm sitting in my hotel bed at 4 in the afternoon. But nonetheless, I'm wearing this sweet green track jacket everyone got with the WOZ logo.
KEEP ON FIGHTING
wooo

109 down, who knows how many to go

I'm back in the Northeast!

So it's cold again.

A week and a half left!

107 shows down, 10 to go

...I am not entirely sure if that number is perfectly accurate or not, but it seems to be correct from the chatter backstage, so I'll go with that!

Tonight's subject for blogging will be skyping with the boyfriend.

(He is absolutely the cutest.)

Our typical skype video chat conversation, which typically takes place around midnight, usually goes something like this:

Me: Hi baby!! What's up!
Winston: Rmph. Not much. Just eating some noodles.
Me: Oh that's cool! So today we had a show, but most of the day was free, so I slept until noon and then went to the gym for a whole hour! It was so nice!
Winston: *continues munching on noodle soup*
Me: And then we had bus call at five, and that was that time that I called you, but you said you were busy, so I said I'd call you at intermission, and then I went to do the show and it was totally a train wreck and nothing went right but whatever-- (*continues yammering about the day*) ...So, what did you do today?
Winston: Nothing.
Me: What? Really, nothing?
Winston: I had class and then I did homework in the library for nine hours.
Me: Oh. Jesus.
Winston: Yup.
Me: Oh yeah, you've been up since like six this morning, right? That's when you texted me! Wow. So, anyway, after that...
Winston: *begins nodding off at computer*
Me: WINSTON PAY ATTENTION TO ME
Winston: *starts awake* SORRY sorry I'm really tired.... *eyelids start to droop again*
Me: You really aren't a night owl, are you?
Winston: *zzzzzz*
Me: Dammit
Winston: *zzzzzzzzzzz*

On a luckier day when I'm able to catch him during daylight hours, we have intricate lengthy conversations about things like summer plans or Batman villains. Either way, even though he has a hard time matching up to my excellent sleep-avoiding skills, he's probably the cutest thing ever.

Also, here is a random photowhoring moment that has nothing to do with anything except the fact that I saw my bestest friend and love of my life KELLY WEAVER the other day on one of our two-show days in Florida, and not only did she pay to come see the show and then go out to Ihop with me afterwards, she also gave me back a sweater that I had been missing for more than two years. Turns out I left it in her car the last time I visited her, back when she was still working at Disney.I'm so vain, I bet I think this blog is about me.

And here are the badasses in action, at said pancake house:

As you can see, she has gone platinum sexy blonde and I've gone jet black. Barbie and vampire girl. ^_~

Not only that, she and her mom gave me a beautiful gift of a set of Japanese tea cups. How does she know I've been wanting fancy tea cups like that for EVER?? Because she is the greatest of great, that's what.

Love is all around me. <3

Over 100 shows later...

Hello all! I have officially sung "Over the Rainbow" more than two hundred times. This includes rehearsals, all performances, sound checks at every new venue, and publicity with news stations. We've performed the show more than a hundred times now, and as we start heading toward the finish line, I can't help but reflect on how quickly it's all passed.

It's been a crazy ride. And right now, as I sit in my hotel room in Roanoke, VA, with Glinda sleeping soundly on the other side of the room (as I should be too, but the internet is more fun) I'm thinking about all the things I've missed about real life. I miss my boyfriend, and my family, and being able to cook real food. I miss sitting on a couch and watching a movie. I miss using a library. I miss having a closet and not having to dig through a suitcase full of wrinkled clothes. I miss having a real life, and deciding where I want to go for myself every day.

But there are things about tour I'll miss too. Like not having to do my own sheets laundry, or having clean towels every day. And free breakfasts (sometimes) and those amazing, wonderful beds at Hiltons and Radissons. (Seriously, have you ever been to one? The beds are like clouds. But anyway)

I have to go to bed now, it's so late! Goodnight.