The Audition

Auditions were the other day…Saturday the 17^th…St. Patrick’s Day. It ended up being from 11:00am to 7:45pm due to peoples’ travels and whatnot. I started off the day with a blood sugar of 153 mg/dL at 7:45am and pancakes. Mom made pancakes, which was pretty awesome. At 11:15am it was >300 mg/dL. I gave myself ½ the correction because I wasn’t sure what the rest of the day would be like. And my numbers were high for the rest of the day…I never corrected any of them fully because I was never sure what the activity level would be like. I didn’t want to bolus too much insulin then drop really low. At one point Darden, my acro and bungee coach, asked how I was doing when she saw me doing a blood test, and when I told her I was riding high all day (better than being low) she said, “All the adrenalin.” And you know what, I bet she was right (she’s not even a diabetes expert, but she gets it). It wasn’t until the end of the day, when I finally gave myself a full correction, and by the time I got home I reached a better number of 123 mg/dL. Oh well, better to be a little high than a little low. Fainting in the middle of an audition because of low blood sugar doesn’t sound like much fun to me, or a way to make a good impression.

You want to hear about the actual auditions, not just my blood sugars? Really? haha. Ok. So my day started off with the interview, which we did in pairs with one of the coaches. I was paired with Chloe, who is in a few classes with me at NECCA, and Darden was our interviewer. It was nice having familiar faces, but it would have been neat to meet some new people, too. There were 44 audition-ers on Saturday. I did not get to meet and converse with everyone, but it was a really nice crowd. During the tumbling and strength assessments, everyone cheered on everyone else. It was amazing. Ok, so after the interview there was a movement/dance session, a physical theater session, then the acrobatics, flexibility, and strength assessments followed by dinner and open studio time. You could see everyone’s different strengths and weaknesses, but everyone was so good, too. I do not envy the coaches their job right now in having to make these decisions. And, to be perfectly honest, I have no idea where I stand; I just have to wait and see.

Mission Possible 1: Pull Ups

Alright, so here it is, I am publicly announcing that I am making it my mission to do pull ups. Right now I kinda suck at it and can sort of do one. Chin ups are marginally better and I can basically do one of those. Pull ups are something that is pretty basic but pretty crucial for circus work, and pretty much required for acceptance into one of the professional training programs at NECCA. And, being able to do pull ups is pretty awesome. And they make you pretty. I should probably make my goal more specific. Ok:

• · I want to do 2 full pull ups, from a dead hang, by the end of January. That sounds good.

About a month ago I had a training session with one of the coaches at NECCA. At that time I was having major difficulties with the pull ups and told her that I was defeating myself before even trying by having negative thoughts. Such as, “Pulls ups are way hard and I can’t do them.” So, she told me to work on a positive mantra (in addition to working on the actual pull ups). I want something better than the old go-to of, “You can do it!” I’ve heard it’s beneficial to think of it as pulling the bar down instead of pulling your body up. It’s really not as difficult as I think it is.

Got any tips you’d like to share about pull ups? The one I hear most often is just to practice pull ups. Do pull ups and you’ll get better at doing pull ups. Also, pushups help strengthen the muscles used for pull ups. I kind of want something a little more magical, so to speak, like, “Wake up real early, put on your grey sweats, break 3 eggs into a glass and drink it, then run and run and run up some stairs and pump your fists into the air.” Except I’m not so keen on drinking raw eggs.

Then There Were Two

It's funny. Never in a million years would I have imagined that either of my brothers would also be diagnosed with diabetes. But, as it turns out, that beastly dragon was hibernating through the last 23 years, until waking up with a growl and, I imagine, flying through the Islets of Langerhans and burning down the beta-cell villages with a fiery vengeance in my little brother's pancreas. That's a little dramatic, but I like the mental image. Even after all the fire and brimstone, my brother is handling this very well. I'm so proud of him. (Awwww.) He had a lot of information thrown at him by the endocrinologist, and he's taking it seriously and really trying to follow the guidelines. It's going to be tough for a while, and I have to remind myself of that; every day is going to be like an experiment with about a thousand variables. The first few days he called fairly often with questions, but I haven’t heard from him for a few days; I guess that’s a good sign.

What else can I write about? Well, let’s see…yesterday afternoon my mom, my best friend Brittani, and I went to the Mullins Center at UMass Amherst to see Cirque du Soleil Quidam. At intermission, Brittani asked, “So what does quidam mean?” I remembered reading about it, but I couldn’t say exactly. So, here it is from the Cirque website:

Quidam: a nameless passer-by, a solitary figure lingering on a street corner, a person rushing past and swallowed by the crowd. It could be anyone, anybody. Someone coming or going at the heart of our anonymous society. A member of the crowd, one of the silent majority. The one who cries out, sings and dreams within us all. This is the "quidam" whom this show allows to speak. This is the place that beckons - a place for dreaming and genuine relations where all quidams, by proclaiming their individuality, can finally emerge from anonymity.

The show was very entertaining. The clown was hilarious (and no, he did not have a red nose). The acrobatics were astounding, and all the different skills were spectacular. I felt inspired as we left the building. I still feel inspired! Last night I wrote in my journal, “I want to do that.” My favorite part? I don’t know, they were all so good. You might expect me to say the German Wheel act because I am currently taking a class in it at NECCA; however, I might have to pick something else. Mainly because I’ve seen lots of wheel videos on YouTube and have seen some really fancy routines, and the Quidam German Wheel act wasn’t as fancy. Although, he was performing on a rotating stage which was not very large, so that made it a bit more difficult. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed seeing a wheel routine in person! But still, I think I’d have to go with the statue people. This was an act with two performers, one man and one woman, who moved very very slowly and balanced on each other. You could see every muscle on each of them. Then there was the lyra act. Then there was the cord act. Then there was the cloud swing act. Ok, so it was all good.

I don’t want these posts to be too long and time consuming to read, and I know I could write a lot more, but this is it for today. There is also a lot for me to do this afternoon before I head up to Brattleboro for acrobatics (acro for short) class! I’ll try to have another post in a few days with better writing and more details. Thanks and enjoy the weather!