And thus concludes another brilliant holiday

I brought Winston to Texas for a big crazy Southern hillbilly suburbian Christmas! It was super super fun. More to come later.

I've missed ye, blog. But I have something exciting planned. It has to do with comic strips and daily updates.

WOOT

Exceedingly tired,

I stand here at Queensboro Plaza waiting to catch the N train home.

Math quiz, women's studies, a voluntary biology seminar on the genetics of peat moss (which I fell asleep during,) then two hours of volunteering, where I tutor kids in English and Writing.

Sometimes I miss sleeping on a tour bus all day. But I really do enjoy real life better, no matter how hellish both can be.

Photo 1: I have new headphones and look like I've been sent through a tornado. (no Dorothy references)

Photo 2: here on the above ground station, you can see the manhattan skyline in the distance.

The price of eel

went up! Therefore a previously $9.95 Grilled Eel Fried Rice is now an absurd $15.95.

Are they endangered? I certainly hope not. Because dammit, they're delicious.

My typically insane Monday was made a little better by sleeping in through math class. (don't listen to me, kids)

Anyway, ignore this post's content; I'm exploring the blogger mobile app and it's photo capabilities. Bear with me, readers. Oh, wait... I don't have those ;P

The nice thing about writing

is that it doesn't necessarily matter if anyone will read it. It just feels good to get out there.

For example, I should be sleeping right now. I have to pay my electric bill tomorrow morning before an 8:30 a.m. math class, then I have a coaching, then a voice lesson, then costuming, then tap class, then a few hours of volunteer service tutoring kids. But this will eventually become a normal Monday for me. I'm still getting into the swing of that.

I am so weak.

Most people wouldn't complain about being this busy; that's why it makes me feel like such a weak person when I find myself feeling tired or self-piteous. I have no right to be self-pitying! My life has too many good things in it to feel overwhelmed. Right?

I think the real issue is that I have to spend a lot of time on trains, which drives me batshit, especially at rush hour. It's the noise. So much noise. So very loud, this city of mine. The trains are so. Very. Loud.

At night, I get a few moments of peace and I let myself fantasize about New Mexico spas and my dogs back in Texas and Christmas and crazy Tibetan monasteries I'll probably never be able to see. To be there. To be then, actually. Then and not now. Now is insanity. Now is restlessness and lack of sleep and so very much noise from loud, loud trains and so many people. Then is somewhen else.

But now is the now, so I have to work with it. That's all we can do, right?

Ahh! Real blogging!

It's been too long! But... I'm going to start doing several smaller blogs instead of waiting weeks to make one big one. Not that my blogs are ever particularly nice or anything. Unless I draw stuff.

Anyway, I don't really have anything lucrative to say so here's a picture of some iced coffee from Starbucks after I gave my name as "Dr. Awesome."

Rush rush rush

It's another crazy day!

I had two classes this morning, then had to rush home to feed the lizards and grab my shoes before tap class. Well, I have to leave in the next few minutes and my tap shoes are nowhere to be found. Oops. This'll be a fun class.

I'm trying not to let my overly hectic schedule get the best of me. I just really wish I had some days off to learn music.

Right now I'm sitting in my kitchen eating a pop tart

before I run out again.

Peeeace.

Untitled ramblings

Auditions are a source of stress,

or maybe it's just that I'm often

an uncontrollable mess.

I work at a pet shop that isn't really a pet shop,

it isn't cruel like pet shops are.

We sell bird cages and amphibian terrariums

and reptile lighting equipment.

We also have caiques and lizards and snakes.

I love all of them.

Especially the dart frogs.


My life has been hectic,

and I'm running in circles

and I spend every day doing things

from morning until night

and I spend a lot of time on trains

and even though I want to read on those trains
and always bring a book,

I usually let my brain go comatose and stare at the advertisements
above the windows.


I read a poem today about the iphone

and how it is a cocky machine.

It is.


I want to return to nature and sit under a tree.

But I'm afraid of bugs in the dirt.


So I sit in my apartment instead.

The life

What have I been doing with my life lately?

I got a baby bearded dragon, whom I've named Targaryan (Gary for short) and he is awesome and adorable. I've been taking care of him and making sure he grows up healthy, which is really fun for me, as taking care of pets is one of my favorite things to do.

I've been working on my apartment, getting things taken care of, and finally arranging my life together.

I've been stretching and working out (not as much as I need to be).

I've been making food for myself.

I've been organizing and cleaning.

I've been traveling lots every day around NYC, and spend a lot of time reading on the subway.

I've been meeting up with friends and having a great time.


So, have I gotten another acting job yet? No, but I will one of these days. It's even harder to get a normal job (coffee, retail, restaurant or otherwise) but I'll work on that too. I applied at various clothing stores, five different Starbucks, some bakeries... soon I'll apply at an exotic pet store. Anything to keep the Ramen in my cabinet. Haha.

So that's all. Not too exciting, but I'm finally getting a nice little life carved out for myself here, and it's all right.

A video from tour

I just found this in my iMovie archives! I wish I'd put it up earlier. This is from a dressing room in-- somewhere either in Canada or Georgia, I want to say (I know, they're so similar, right?) but anyway, I decided to make myself a Korean pop star for some reason. This is before Act I, I think we're at ten or something. Seems it, since we're all in full costume/makeup. Anyway... here goes.

Thoughts of a non-equity actor at an EPA

5:00 am
*Korean pop music begins blaring from phone*
SHUT UP SNSD IT'S EARLY AS BALLS zzz
5:10
...damn, I guess I'd better get up. Sucks I have to wake up the poor sleepy boyfriend to drive me to Flushing. I'd have stayed at my apartment for a shorter commute but we got home so late from the trip upstate that I crashed... Wait, what? He's already ready? How does-- nevermind. Where the hell is mah metrocard? Let's rock this shit.
6:30
Wow, I'm the only one here. This is weird. The doors are locked. Am I even in the right place?
6:40
Oh sweet, someone else. I guess we're supposed to form a line outside the building.
6:45
Yup. We do form a line outside the building. Now I feel bad texting Jen at the crack of dawn.
7:00
Need Starbucks. Need yogurt.
7:15
I made a joke about getting out of line and now I'm number four instead of first, but none of these other three girls laughed. I think they think I'm being passive aggressive. Now I'm self conscious. I will no longer try to make conversation and crack open a book instead.
7:30
I like Tolstoy. I'm going to tweet about Tolstoy and auditioning and how I'm sitting in the street.
7:35
Great, I'm that girl. The one obnoxiously curling her eyelashes. In her phone reflection. In the middle of the sidewalk.
7:42
Wait, there's dudes here too. I thought this was just a female call. Now I'm confused. Maybe they're having a call for another show today as well.
7:46
Talked to the girl behind me about how neither of us have been to an EPA in ages. ...great, now I have to... Er... well, uo yao bang sai. Bu hao. Very bu hao. (for those who are unfamiliar with the Chao Zho dialect, "bang" means to, er, "make" and sai is... well, "shit".
7:48
Can't get outta line, but desperately need to bang sai. Considering running back to nearest Starbucks.
7:55
I am entrusting a complete stranger with my stuff while I run south two blocks to the Marriott Marquis. It's bringing back a lot of memories of when I used to come here as a little kid with my grandma and mother. ...geez, what a spoiled kid. Aw look, tourists, how adorable, they look confused.
8:00
Returning to line. Bang sai completed successfully! Ten points for Ravenclaw!
8:01
Omg we're going in
8:05
AAAAUGHH I SIGNED THE 'CAMELOT' FORM INSTEAD OF THE RIGHT ONE AND CROSSED MY NAME OUT and now they're going to think I am sufficiently mentally handicapped that I can't read the right form. Maybe I should bring in War and Peace to prove that I can read big words and am not actually mentally handicapped.
8:06
I'm first in the list for this show! This never happens. Maybe this is an unpopular show. Wait, it's brand new.
8:10
Sitting next to the same girl I sat next to at the Godspell open call. What is my life
8:15
Holy balls she's from Texas and has done Casa Mañana work. WHAT IS MY LIFE
8:25
I am slowly realizing that I'm way too young to be auditioning for this role. Why can't I be like those girls who look thirty and sexy in their teens? I'm doomed to play preteen roles for eternity.
8:45
And now we play the waiting game.

Simple wisdom from an outsider

Back in the saddle, y'all.

It's summertime, and that means lots of auditions for those of us who didn't get summer stock jobs (or, if you're like me, never, ever seem to get a summer stock job. Ever.) which is really great because it opens up lots of opportunities. It also means, though, that now I have to actually go on said auditions, and it has been more than a year since I've been to any audition. The last audition I went to was for the Wizard of Oz tour.

So I found some auditions, unearthed and brushed the dust off my rep book, and found my go-to dress and whatnot.

I started talking to the boyfriend about going to four auditions in a week. (Mind you, if you are new to this blog, my boyfriend is a science major. He has no knowledge of theater, nor does he wish to, to any extent. I think that's just fine.)

Me: "Wow. This will be my first audition in more than a year."

Him: "Hm, back in the saddle. How does it feel?"

Me: "Feel? Uh... kind of strange, I guess. Maybe I should be a little nervous. Like I'm out of practice, you know. I'll be rusty."

Him: "What? You're just going into a room and singing. You do the same thing at karaoke or the shower."

And then I laughed because I realized, yes, it's true, that's all auditioning is. You just walk into a room and sing part of a song. When you think of it that way, it's the simplest thing in the world.

Simple wisdom from someone who has never been to an audition and never will. (But if he does, it would be hilarious.)

Time to start singing again.

Apologies

I'm sorry, I've been doing some serious blog neglect.

But I'm back, all four readers! Or three.

Anyway.

Currently I'm in Texas. I have been for a while. After tour, I spent a lot of time apartment hunting, then moving in and getting things settled. Now I'm spending a month with my family and my boyfriend here where it's roughly 101º every day and there are killer wasps the size of chihuahuas.

More later. Peace.

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.

Sorry!

Good lord, you have no idea how busy I've been these past few weeks. I've been meaning to blog up a storm, but we've begun a horrible stretch of one-nighters and most of the time I don't even have phone service on the road.

We left San Diego... lovely, beautiful southern California... for Vegas, where we had a surprise golden day. I can't really do much in Vegas, which I've dubbed "Disneyland with hookers", but I went to Margaritaville, the mall at Caesar's Palace, and walked along the strip a bit.

Then we went some other places in the middle of the country and I typically don't even know where I am. In fact, I didn't even figure out where we were going all day today until I looked at my GPS just now after being in the hotel for half an hour. Dayton, Ohio.

Look for an upcoming blog about what may possibly be our jankiest show yet, yesterday: on a tiny stage with next to no backstage area, the poor folks of Muskegan, Michigan had to put up with one hell of a rocky show. It was really interesting.

Talk soon (I really promise),
-Kate

Bus bus bus

Wow, thank you everyone. I really didn't know I had more than four readers. So... Thanks. :)

Sorry for not updating. I've been in Vegas.

Actually thats not entirely true, as I was only there one night. But still, it was really cool.

So this past week, we made the trek all the way from south Dakota (we had been in Canada, again, just recently) down through Utah and into las Vegas last night. Seeing as there are only three of us in this tour who are underage, Anna, Alicia and I made our own adventures and walked up and down the Strip (Las Vegas Blvd) exploring. In fact, Vegas is a lot like Disneyworld. It's a lot of fake things, and gaudy and touristy things, but that's sort of okay because no one is expecting it to be anything else.

Now I'm traveling through the Mojave desert and it's really something. I took lots of pictures that I promise I'll put up later. I am really excited about San Diego for a whole week. Maybe i should celebrate by dying my hair a crazy color or stealing one of the orcas at sea world and freeing it into the ocean Free Willy-style. Or maybe I'll just have an In-N-Out burger.

The Secret Day Off

First off: I don't blog often because I am discouraged by it. I only ever get like two comments, which leads me to believe that the only people who read this blog are... my mother. And maybe Lauren or Joanna. So please. If you're out there, reading even a little, maybe you can leave a comment so I know that people actually exist who read this blog. Because a blogger with no readers has no purpose in blogging.

Anyway. Time for the post.

So, last week, we were still up in the northeast, and they gave us one long travel day into Boston, then a golden day in Boston, then a brief travel day into Schenectady.

Well, about four of us with loved ones (or Spiderman tickets) decided to blow off Boston and return to NYC for a glorious few hours.

I was finally going home for a little bit!!

First things first: I saw Qi Qi, my boyfriend's adorable little niece who had grown up a lot in just a few short months.

The next morning, I went to Pace very, very briefly to meet up with Wins so we could go eat delicious New York food. Pace was heavily snowed upon.


Then: Japanese food, of course. At my favorite place of all time, Udon West on Astor Place.

Our feast that afternoon, curry and rice
Hungry lovers
The feast is consumed.

Then, later, we went to Bryant Part (Winston's wonderful idea) for ice skating, to commemorate our one year anniversary that I would miss on Feb 19. Because, hey, what's more romantic in winter than ice skating? Not much.
On our way to Bryant Park

A friendly tourist couple watching the skaters took our picture

"HUG" hehehe

But this is probably my favorite picture of all...

Anyway, later that evening we met up with mah bestest friend Bird and Leslie (Picture will come later. For some reason my iPad found it too difficult to email it.)

After a [free] feast at the NYU cafeteria, thanks to Leslie's mad RA skills, Wins and I went on our date to Cafe LaLo on the upper west side, another of our favorite places.
They had a bunch of Christmas lights still up, which was lovely in the dark cold atmosphere outside.

Cake and cappuccinos are consumed.

Delicious day.

More on the second day later...

New app, and lots of snow

Hey all. We've been in and out of internet service over the past few weeks, going in and out of Canada... and a lot of what we've seen is just rural landscape, where wifi has yet to venture. So it's been tough to get around to blogging.





In other news, I got a new iPad app that lets me make little journal pages for every day, so I thought I'd share some of those from the past few weeks/days to make up for my lack of blogging.