Writer's Block and Mysteries

Call it writer’s block. For the last couple of weeks I’ve simply been unable to write anything resembling a post even though there has probably been plenty to write about. I suppose one bit of news, if you hadn’t seen it on the facebook on March 26th, is that I’ve been accepted into the Intensive Program at NECCA. There was also the Showcase of Circus which was held at the studio on March 24^th. Then there was the demo performance at the WRSI Meltdown event on March 31^st. Now that it’s almost mid-way through April, all that news feels like “olds” instead. So, I’ll write about something else.

Do you ever wonder about the lives of people around you? Like in the grocery store, for example. When you go grocery shopping, you see all the other grocery shoppers going about their shopping. There’s also the store employees; the stock-people, the cashiers, the baggers, the people behind the meat counter and the seafood counter. But do you ever wonder what they do in their “other life,” their non-grocery-shopping life? Maybe some of them are artists, lawyers, astronauts, circus performers, doctors, kung-fu masters, Olympic athletes, musicians or any number of other things. And you wouldn’t know by looking at them. This reminds me of an art project I did a couple years ago for a self-portrait class. I made a “quilt” of self portraits which I hung in front of some mirrors with “secrets” hanging in between. It was about what people hide versus what they show. That’s what the photo is of.

Wishin' and a Hopin'

I know you’ve all been dying of curiosity about my circus school application. Well, I handed it in last Tuesday. That’s right, it was Tuesday February 14^th, widely known across the United States as “Valentine’s Day.” For me, it was, “Hand in NECCA Application Day.” I totally should have put some heart stickers on the envelope before handing it in. What was I thinking?

They post invitations to auditions by Friday March 2. I won’t be able to tell you anything more about my prospects until then. The auditions take place on Saturday March 17, and then “Round One Acceptance” is posted by Monday March 26. So…I wait. With fingers crossed. Some days I feel confident. Others I feel…very not-confident. But that’s the way with applications, right?

Peace out and good night!

It's Shnow Time!

Well, it’s snowing. Finally. I’m not one of those huge fans of snow, I don’t hate it but I don’t absolutely love it. I accept it as a natural and necessary occurrence of wintertime. And, yes, it can be fun. It’s a bit of a nuisance when you want to go ice skating on an outdoor surface, such as a pond-out-back, and have to shovel a lot of snow, usually heavy snow, before lacing up the skates. But I was starting to feel a bit unnerved due to the lack of snow. You know that whole “global warming” and “climate change” deal? Yeah, these strange weather patterns make me feel glad to live on a hill…hopefully it’s a tall enough hill, if you know what I mean.

So, this week is the first week of winter session classes at NECCA. I have one class on Monday, two on Tuesday, and one today (Thursday). Hopefully the weather cooperates and stops weathering this afternoon so that the class will happen tonight. Oh, you’d like to know what those classes are, eh? They are: Acrobatics 201 (aka Tumbling), Fabrics 101, German Wheel (love love love) 301or whatever level I’m at, and Bungee 101, respectively. I am also working on putting together my application for the Intensive Program at NECCA. Filming for the short 5 minute audition/application video has already begun, but I’m probably worrying too much and taking it too seriously. I’ve done somewhere in the vicinity of a billion cartwheels, (ok that might be an exaggeration - probably more like 50), because I want them to be very good and if I wobble a bit on the landing, I’ll re-do it. And re-do it. And re-do it. I just need to relax and have fun.

In other news, it turns out my endocrinologist’s officer (diabetes specialist) is not covered under my new health insurance plan. Awesome. That means I either pay for the visit out of pocket, travel more to find an office that is under that plan, or switch insurance plans…again. Whatever, I can take care of my diabetes just fine as long as I know I can’t necessarily count on having competent doctors (“Doctors, Insurance Companies, and Test Strips, Oh My!”) or being able to see my endocrinologist on a regular basis. It just means I need to step up my game a little. No big deal. The big problem, however, is that I can’t write out my own prescriptions or prior approvals for more test strips. Oh well. It’ll all work out in the end, somehow.

If you’re wondering about pull-ups, I’ll have a post with another update soon…I hope. And hopefully with some cool info and diagrams about muscles and stuff. Yay for sentence fragments! That’s the plan, Stan. I don’t know who Stan is.