Social Lite

So....I've been away for awhile. Blame it on the "Social Lite" activities. This is the name of the group Josh organized by having Happy Hours with faculty and staff in the College of Education. In addition to this group, we've got a strong core group of Arkansas Alumni that we are hanging out with at least once a week too.

Our camera is out of commission, however, some of the things that we've done in the last six weeks or so include going to a couple of Spring Training baseball games (the Seattle Mariners train in our area of Phoenix), a Suns basketball game, mechanical bull riding, various local restaurants and breweries, a rock concert, birthday and going away parties in addition to the regularly scheduled Happy Hour get togethers. In the past couple of weeks, Josh and I have been lucky to have one or two nights at home without going out. This has been great fun...but not so great for the pocketbook. It's like all of a sudden, we have friends in Phoenix. It's crazy how it all just happened at once!

Here are some photos that our friend took at a fellow Razorback's going away party (Mike went to work in Iraq for a year as a civil engineer). These people are crazy and crazy fun!

Top: Josh, Mike (going to Iraq), Jay

Middle: Josh F., Janell, Danielle,

Bottom: Laura

Janell, Danielle, Jay

Danielle was the singer that night and I was the dancer...I love dancing!

Vagina Monologues Recap

The week of February 23-27 was Tech Week for the Vagina Monologues so that meant I had to drive to Tempe on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday in order to rehearse. That was a lot of driving (about an hour each way). It was worth it though because I could really see the show start to come together. Rather than being all these individual bits that everyone had worked on independently, I could see all the pieces performed back to back. In total, there were 17 actresses in the show I’m not sure how many pieces were performed, maybe around 15 or so.

Throughout the week, the production staff would hand out notes if you missed any lines. Yay for me-I never missed any of my lines! Granted, I didn't have a lot, but still, I didn't miss any!

At the end of rehearsal on Friday, I had a small breakdown because for the Village piece I was supposed to walk backward on stage while kinda , stay in the light (because there was no spotlight), and not run into Jessi who would be sitting on a chair saying her lines. Dude, I’m not coordinated! When I got home, I practiced how I was supposed to walk.

On Wednesday of that week, my mom had sent flowers to the house with a card that said to “Break a leg.” That cracked me up. The flowers were really nice and modern in design. Plus, the orange color really went with the decoration in the kitchen/breakfast area.

Our first two performances were on Saturday, February 28th. The first show was at 2:00 or so and it was a beneficiary performance for the women who would be the recipients of the funds we raised from ticket sales. The performance was held in Neeb Hall on ASU Tempe’s campus. Neeb Hall is a lecture hall not a theater so for the show, anytime we weren’t performing on stage, we were sitting behind these black curtain things that had been erected on the sides of the stage.

Before the first show, I found myself saying that I was nervous because I thought I should be nervous. But I really wasn’t.

The first performance had about 40 people or so in the audience. After the opening, my first piece was in the Vagina Workshop with three other women. One of the the ladies (who's a veteran actress) totally messed up the introduction for us walking onto the stage saying our lines. That was a quick way for me to learn improvisation when someone else makes a mistake.

We recovered from the mistake though and people laughed at all the right places. One of the actresses in the show told me that this was the first time she's laughed when she saw The Vagina Workshop performed. We brought the laughs.

Then, I was off the stage to wait until my next piece for the Village. The other ladies in the show were so great and funny! Everyone did a good job and didn't have any major mistakes that I noticed.

When the first show ended, a small group of us went to Chili's to eat some dinner before the 7:00 performance. Everyone I was eating with had lots of acting experience and they were nice enough to say that it didn't seem like this was the first time I was acting.

The Saturday evening show was sold out...which was AWESOME! Just having all those people there to entertain...very cool.

I thought I was going to like performing the dramatic Village piece more since that is my favorite of the monologues, however, I actually much preferred acting in the Vagina Workshop and making people laugh. Getting that validation was really great.

Josh, and one of our girlfriends, Alissa, attended the show and I could see them sitting in one of the front rows. I hadn’t asked Josh ahead of time where he would sit because I didn’t want to be thrown off. After the show, Alissa said I didn't appear to have stage fright...which is good, right? Josh took some pictures (our costumes were supposed to be all black with a splash of color...hence, the red shoes) and then we went to KC Moore’s, a cool bar in Tempe that has a lot of outdoor seating. Josh and I didn’t get home until 3 am (making a pass through the Jack in the Box drive thru to continue our celebration).

Going to bed at 3:30 would have been ok if I was able to sleep in the next day (the first show was at 4 pm) but Josh had to help host the College of Education picnic so we were up at 7:30 or so to go pick up the keg that would be used at the picnic. After picking up the keg, we headed to the park and helped set up the food and drinks.

Then, I was off to get ready for that day’s shows. We had a show at 4 and a show at 7. I grabbed a much needed Venti Starbucks coffee on the way to Neeb Hall. The 4:00 show turned out to be our bad luck show.

Nothing really bad happened, however, we couldn’t get the technology that runs the powerpoint that starts the show to start for 10 minutes or so. A few other minor mishaps but we made it through. We didn’t have time to grab dinner between shows, so our director brought in pizza for us. Onto the final show, Josh came to this performance as well since his picnic had ended. He videoed some of the show but the quality is really poor (and protected by copyright) so I don’t know how I can share it with you guys. I tried to email it but the file is too large.

When the show was over, I was relieved! I wasn’t quite as excited that it was over as I was when I found out I was going to be in the show but pretty close. I don’t know why I felt that way. Maybe because it was a lot of effort being in a show that was about an hour from my house? Maybe I don’t like being on the stage as much as I thought I would? Yes, there are good parts but maybe not so good as to outweigh the bad? I’m really still trying to figure out how I feel about the experience.

Like, I am REALLY GLAD I went out and tried to do something I always wanted to do. But, now I’ve done it. I don’t know if I need to do it again. I mean, I do still want to try to be in commercials. But being on the stage again, I don’t know. If I do this again, I will definitely do it in Glendale or Peoria around where we live!

Another Reason To Love Arizona...

Most of the state does not observe daylight saving time. Sweet! I'll be sleeping in while most of the country springs ahead. Truly, best-place-to-live-ever.

***A blog regarding the Vagina Monologues is forthcoming.

30th Birthday Celebration

So, Josh just celebrated his 30th birthday week. For those who know me, you know that you don't just get a birthDAY, you get to celebrate the whole week! Josh's actual birthday was on Wednesday, February 18th. I started the morning off by giving him his presents....Stephanie Myers The Host book and the Firefly series on DVD. Wednesdays are also the days that he teaches class.

That was a bit of a bummer...but he let his class out early after on night-of-all-nights a student asked how old he was and he said, "Well, actually, it's my birthday tonight and I'm 30." He had about 40 "Happy Birthdays" from his students at that point, and if you know Josh, such support and positivity was so embarrassing for him.

We went out to eat at a couple of different places during the week to celebrate and then Friday was a furlough day for both of us. I started the morning by going to get my hair dyed. I've always wanted dark brown hair but every stylist I've been to said they would not do that, they would only make me red. Well, this girl I've been going to here for my haircuts was like, "I think you'll look good with dark hair." And, now, I finally have dark hair. I really like it, too!

We also went to the dentist on Friday afternoon. Apparently, Josh and I both have cavities....which is highly suspect as Josh has never had cavities. We think the doctor is trying to be preventative by having us fill in the small cavitites rather than waiting until they are worse. Boo on that dentist....who was really young and asked me what I drank...and I was like alcohol-wise or diet soda? I don't know where he was going with that line of conversation.

On Saturday, Josh and I decided to go up to Sedona so we booked a free hotel online with our points. We grabbed breakfast at Mimi's Cafe before driving up. It's only a 2 hour drive to Sedona and on the way there we stopped at Montezuma's Castle which was this really cool cliff dwelling. AWESOME!



Once in Sedona, we checked into our hotel...not too friendly but we got a room upstairs which is what I wanted. Then, we were off to look at the shops and grab some dinner with a view. We went to Oaxaca's Mexican restaurant. The food was just that, food, no real flavor. Ugh, I hate eating crappy, flavorless, cheese-smothered Mexican food. Blah. The view, however, was nice.

This picture below is in a Sedona shop. Josh's self-ascribed nickname is "Bear." Hence, if I could, I would have him taking photos with every bear in sight. Alas, I must content myself with the few shots I can persuade him to take in public! Oh my gosh, it's such a good laugh!

After dinner, we headed back to the hotel and hit up the outdoor hot tub before going out to a local Sedona bar for the evening. This is Josh and I pre-bar. It reminds me of the pictures we'd take before going out for the night at the resort in Mexico.

Ye Olde Sedona Bar and Grille was a joke when it came to the "DJ" playing (seriously, our car stero, let alone our home stero, is better) and the "Security" checking IDs at the door. Josh counted no less than 3 restuarant employees we'd seen in town earlier during the day at this bar. I guess the locals need a place to hang out, too. The beer we ordered was flat, too.

The funniest/saddest thing was this middle aged lady trying to sell herself on the dance floor. At some point, you have to let it go, don't you? I mean, drink a glass of wine at the bar and let the guys come to you, don't dance like crazy exposing your abdomen when you're at least 40 years old! We were back to the hotel around 11....Sedona is much to small town for me.

This morning we woke up and grabbed some of the free breakfast downstairs. After checking out of the hotel we went to some galleries. This sculpture called, "Self Made Man" was our favorite. We love how he is carving himself out of the rock...too cool!

Here are more pictures of the shops in Sedona:

This is obviously a cathedral, not a shop, but still really cool to look at.

After looking around the shops, we were in the mood for more Mexican food so we headed to Jalisco's Cantina. This food was so much better than last night. It was fresh and flavorful! We also had a great view...granted, to reach the restaurant we did have to walk past a shop where people were meditating on vortexes with golden triangles on their heads dressed in white robes(I'm not joking...Sedona is the "New Age Capital of America").

The drive back to Phoenix was crazy with rude drivers who kept cutting us off, however, we made it home safely. Back to work tomorrow :(

Contiki Holidays

So, I was a bit nervous to post this as it regards me going on an interview while I'm currently employed. However, my two good friends, Aimee and Elizabeth, gave me such good feedback regarding the detailed-ness of this email I sent them, that I thought I would share it with the world.
___________________________

The Contiki interview was held in Anaheim, California. They did not cover airfare or meals, just offered a free (shared) hotel room one night. I decided I wanted a private room and paid for everything myself. I went for two nights (Mon and Tues). The interview was on Tues and Wed during the day. Anaheim is beautiful! It's like Phoenix but with bigger palm trees and the ocean (the way the palm leaves fan out so wide it's as if you're looking at green fireworks explode)!

There were five of us interviewing while I was there. Walking into the lobby of the Contiki office building, three of the other applicants were already there sitting down. There was one seat left for me and the last girl, when she showed up, was left standing. I swear, it was like walking onto the set of the first day in the Real World house! Everyone is interviewing because they are friendly and outgoing so of course we were all BFF in like 2 minutes.

The first thing we did was learn about Contiki and who they typically serve. Also, the pay...which is ridiculous if you're a professional with a mortgage. You earn minimum wage, tips, and make commission off of selling the optional excursions. This is great if you are straight out of college or are still living with mom/dad/roommate. So, no health or retirement either. After listening to the company info, it was our turn to present.

I volunteered to go first. We had to give a 10 minute presentation on a pre-assigned topic. My topic was Santa Barbara. We had to hold a microphone to show we were comfortable with that. I was nervous but apparently "smile-y" as one of the girls put it later on. I included info in both miles/kms and inches/centimeters for the fake international travelers in the audience. I told them about the history, things to do, places to shop and eat.

The second girl to present was okay (she was a communications major). Her laugh seemed fake and she came off as somewhat insincere. The third girl was so freaking nervous! She started off strong but she melted into a pool of nerves. She had to stop twice, drop the mike, and run over to her chair to get a drink of water because she hadn't carried her water over to where she was speaking. The fourth person was a guy and he talked about San Francisco except that he got tied up in talking about how Italian San Fran is and how he's Italian. It was like the Italian version of My Big Fat Greek Wedding (everything Greek is so wonderful)! Plus, he got cut off by the supervisor at 13 minutes. The last girl to go was really good. She talked about Lake Tahoe and gave good examples of how to visualize how big the lake is. She didn't seem nervous either.

Then we took a quiz on American history, politics, and the states and capitals. I'm embarrassed to say I did not get all of my capitals correct, however, when I saw my test results on the second day of the interview, I felt pretty good about it all. I told the two people interviewing me that I was happy with my results and they agreed that they were definitely on the higher end of some tests that they've seen.

So, that was the first day. The girl who presented really well, Stacey, gave me a ride back to the hotel because she had her grandpa's car and I'd taken a cab to the interview. She and I made plans to meet up for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory later that night.

When we met up at 7, we had such a good time. It was really hard for me to believe that she is 22 because she's very mature. She said she wouldn't have thought I was 29 based on how young I look! Anyway, we had a great dinner conversation for 2 hours where we ranked everyone's presentations. She was my number 1, I was my number 2 and she ranked me her number 1 and herself as number 2. She has tour experience because her mom takes Jewish people on specialty cruises, so she's been all over the world helping her mom out with that. I was like, can I do something like that with Southerners...that's my cultural heritage!

The next day was our individual interviews. Stacey was scheduled to interview at 1 and I was scheduled at 2, so after hanging out at the pool together in the beautiful Anaheim sunshine reviewing the "Western Highlights" itinerary that the supervisor had told us to study, we drove over to the office and I waited an hour rather than paying for a cab or walking to the office.

My individual interview started off by the supervisor and one other person asking if I had any questions. So, I went down my list. What if someone's always late, can you leave them? Who cleans up the puke if we're on the bus? How do you take passengers money for excursions?

Then, they asked me some questions. I completely spaced on two: What song would be the theme song for your bus trips? Dude, I don't know music! Where would you tell your passengers to go shopping if they were in Anaheim? I told them I hadn't seen any shopping areas in all the walking I'd done in my free time but they proceeded to tell me where the mall was.

Overall, I felt good about the interview. I think they could see I'm both fun and responsible which is ultimately what they are looking for in a Tour Manager. I want them to offer me the position so I can feel validated in a way...like, hey, I'm good enough and they like me sort of thing. But if they do offer it, it means I'll have to make a tough choice because of the money. There's just no guarantee for the earnings.

So, that was my trip. Quick but fun and I'm glad I made a new friend. I do hope they offer Stacey the job because she was really good. They said we'd know by the end of the week, so I'll keep you guys posted.
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Note: They did not offer me the job. They did not offer Stacey the job either. What the heck, ya'll. This world is madness!

Rehearsals

Saturday, February 7, 2009

I just wanted to say that I feel like I need more rehearsal time for the Vagina Monologues. I went to Tempe today for "rehearsal" and we spent about 45 minutes blocking the entrances/exits and doing two run throughs of the group opening and one run through of the group closing. We then spent another 45 minutes or so making Valentine's cards for the women in the shelter who are the beneficiaries of the proceeds generated from the ticket sales of the show. I'm not knocking making the cards, I just feel like it would be good to spend more time practicing when we get the cast together.

But, I'm an actress, not the director.

I have rehearsals again on Wednesday for my pieces "The Vagina Workshop" and "My Vagina Was My Village." I'm looking forward to that. I've got my lines memorized at this point. It's just about acting out the words not just saying them.

Next Saturday, Valentine's Day, the cast is going to the shelter to meet with the women. The last week of February is Tech Week. That means from 6-9 on Mon, Tues, Thurs, and Fri we do complete run throughs of the show. Our show runs two days, February 28 and March 1. I'm excited as the time gets closer!

On the way home from rehearsals, I stopped by Last Chance to see if there was anything special on sale. I got a gray cardigan (so soft) and a pair of brown high heeled sandals. Josh is out of town this weekend so I'm going out tonight with Kym, a new girlfriend I met during a church small group Super Bowl party. She has a couple of friends who are coming out too.

I must tell you all how much I love Phoenix. Driving to Tempe this morning, it was just gorgeous with the sun and mountains coming up all over the valley.

Oh yeah, we must talk about furloughs at ASU. So, I HAVE to take 10 days leave without pay before the end of June. Josh must take 12 days without pay. Ok, that's fine...whatever. But, then, ASU gets totally shady by offering something called "Voluntary Pay Reduction." So, instead of taking 10 random days off without pay (where you're not supposed to look or answer your work email, take phone calls, etc.) with the Voluntary Pay Reduction your paycheck is reduced by, let's say, 8 hours per pay period, so that your paycheck is consistently reduced rather than one pay period I lose 3 days of pay, for example.

Here's the shady part: If you take the voluntary pay reduction, you're supposed to also get your 10 days off, however, it's all in-house in your own office. There's no tracking to ensure that you actually took 10 days off although you had 10 days worth of pay withheld. This is also shady, because when you have a voluntary pay reduction, you don't have any rights to unemployment, etc. It's just like, "Oh yes, please reduce my pay and I have no rights because I'm doing this of my own volition." Not going to happen here.

My boss was like, I'll be sure to give you guys your ten days off, etc. But, I said, "Sharon, what if something happens to you and we get a new supervisor?" There's too much trust being placed into the institution by taking the voluntary pay reduction. I can't have that. If I have to do this, I'm doing it the manner that's best for me.

Not to mention the fact that if I were to quit my job before the furlough time frame ends at the end of June, the university is going to garnish my wages up to the amount I owe them for my 10 furlough days. Does this make sense to anyone?!?! I OWE the university money if I quit working there?!?! WTF?!?! I asked my boss if I should just cut ASU a check and have them leave me alone.

First Vegas Trip of 2009

To recap, we left Phoenix on the morning of Saturday, January 17. The airport was hopping...by far the busiest we've ever seen it. What's this, a line for security? That's never happened here before. Onto the flight. We waited about 15 minutes for our turn to depart and as we sped down the runway we passed over 12 planes waiting their turn in line to take-off. Madness.


The flight itself was a brilliant 39 minutes long. No turbulence. Sunny skies. I saw our neighborhood as we flew north as well as snow covered mountains and the Hoover Dam. Very cool. We grabbed some Starbucks breakfast (muffin and coffee...the cashier complimenting my Walmart earrings saying they were, "very becoming") as well as our bags and we were off to stand in line for a cab.


We didn't have to wait too long and we off to the Wynn. I tried to ask the taxi driver, who spoke limited English, if tourism was down in Vegas. The driver proceeded to roll my window down as he clearly didn't understand what I'd asked. Josh gave me a funny look and I quit trying to make small talk with the driver.


Ahhh, the Wynn....along with the Palazzo, my favorite hotel/casino in Vegas. Walking into the Wynn, it smelled so familiar and pleasant. I love this place. No line to check in at 10:30 am and we were able to get a room on the 52nd floor with a view of the golf course (I'd never seen the golf course before so that's the view I wanted).


Well, the Wynn room was very nice and lived up to expectations. There were electronic blinds to cover the floor to ceiling windows. Robes are provided but Housekeeping had forgot to leave us slippers so I called to get some brought up. Wow, the girl answering the phone was seriously THE MOST PROFESSIONAL person I've heard on the phone. That was impressive.


The bathroom was huge with double vanity and a place to sit to put on makeup. There was a separate shower and bath area. For how nice it all was, the water pressure in the shower was abysmal.


Josh and I played some slot machines at the Venetian before returning to the Wynn for the buffet. The buffet still lives up to expectation but I only managed to eat 4 creme brulees this time!


After our late lunch, we met up with Tara and Mike to head Downtown to play. After waiting a millennia for the Deuce bus to arrive, we opted to split a cab which was $10 per couple. Downtown we started at Fitzgerald's which was a huge let down. Annie, our roulette dealer, was literally yawning as she spun the roulette wheel. The cocktail waitress service was no existant so after a few minutes at roulette and the craps table, we were off to Mermaids.





Let me tell you about Mermaids, it is the craziest place to go if you want fast and cheap drink service. When you walk in, a girl gives you some beads, a coupon for their hourly $10,000 drawing and takes your drink order. Two minutes later, as you're ponying up to a slot machine (there are no table games) another waitress is asking what you'd like to drink (remember, your first drink hasn't yet arrived).


The four of us spotted a row of penny slots that we could play while getting our fill of Miller Lites and Vodka Diets. At one point, we had a line of plastic drink cups extending from Tara's machine down to my machine. We were feeling good and having fun with our penny slots. Then, they announced the $10,000 winner.


The number was something like 320221. We all looked at each other because we were like, "One of us must have one." As it turns out, my number was closest at 320222. Only one number off-DAH! No worries...more cheap drinks and then outside to watch three guys ride motorcycles around in a circular cage a la Homer Simpson in the Simpson's Movie. That was pretty wicked cool.


We walked down to the Fremont Street casino where Josh and I were comped for playing in April. Josh and I played craps while Tara found a slot machine and Mike went to blackjack. I was quickly down $60...so much for the Don't Pass line having the best odds. Josh was up and several people at the table went on long runs throwing the dice. We made friends with Ron and Ellen from Hawaii, an old guy name Wilfred, and Janet and Abbey who were sisters. Needless to say, we had a lot of fun.

Gary, the pit boss, comped me $23 when I had lost my $60. I went to the cafe and bought about 7 muffins and 5 orange juices. As the evening wore on, and Josh's luck was slowly winding down, I began to take some of his chips to the cashier's booth to make sure he didn't lose all his winnings. We left the casino around 1 am with Josh getting another $13 in comps from "Big Gar" as we called him. We bought some more muffins and Chinese food to go as we left.


We were all feeling pretty good at this point and Josh and Mike managed to talk a guy driving a cart around Freemont Street to give us a lift to the Deuce bus stop. We piled onto his cart, held on for dear life, and made it to the bus stop just in time to catch the bus without having to wait.


On the bus ride back to the Strip, Josh was dubbed the "Muffin Man" due to the fact he was carrying a plastic bag full of muffins and orange juice. That was a fun bus ride. Of course, when we got off the bus, and were walking back to the Wynn, the plastic bag broke and all the contents scattered everywhere but we managed to make a nice recovery of our items.

Back in the hotel room, I took my contacts out only to realize that I hadn't brought my contact lens container. So, I did what I always do in such circumstances, I fill a cup with saline solution and plop my contacts in the cup.

Well, I must have been really thirsty AND really out of it in the middle of the night because when I woke up in the morning and went to put my contacts in....they weren't in the cup!!! The cup had water in it now, not saline solution! I DRANK MY CONTACTS during the night!!!

Fortunately, I brought two back up contact lenses whereas I normally only bring one extra lens. I grabbed some fast food at the Fashion Square mall for lunch and Josh and I placed a bet on the Cardinals game in the sports book at the Wynn. We watched the game in our room and it was a close call during the third quarter but ultimately the Cards came back to win!!! Which meant we won too!!!

Later that night, Josh and I ate dinner at Grand Lux Cafe before meeting up with Mike and Tara at the Palazzo. We played some penny slots before catching the Deuce bus down to the Stratosphere for a 80's rock, vampire, topless show called Bite. The Stratosphere is so depressing and no fun for gaming...totally skip this place.

Now, why did we go watch Bite? Well, ever since Josh and I went to Vegas last April, he joked about going because he's always been into the whole vampire thing (Buffy, Underworld). Plus, we've seen most of the Cirque shows so we wanted to see something different and the tickets were definitely affordable. As far as the show goes, I mean, you get what you pay for. At least the girls were beautiful and talented and there were some unexpected acrobatic parts and parts with this guy singing that were really good. For what it was, I thought it was fine.

After the show, we left the Stratosphere and saw two people start to get into a fight as we were getting onto the bus. Crazy. We said bye to Mike and Tara when we exited at the Wynn and then Josh and I called it a night.

The following morning, I wanted to check out the pool so we put on our bathing suits and went downstairs. Oh my goodness. It was such a fine sunny day. We sat in the hot tub under the blue sky and it was so pleasant. I even went into the heated pool for awhile and then laid out. It was completely lovely.

Next, we headed up to the room to get ready for check out and to eat lunch at the Wynn buffett again. This trip, we experienced the longest lines for the buffet. Strange. The food was as good as usual and we took our time eating. After our meal, we walked over to the Palazzo to play the penny slots we like there before heading back to the Wynn to pick up our bags to go to the airport. The flight home was completely uneventful which is super great. Side note: I haven't freaked out about flying in a long time now...well, about 9 months or so. It's such an awesome experience NOT to freak out.

Josh says he is not going back to Vegas again for a long time. I headed back to Vegas from January 24-27, so now I have my second Vegas trip of 2009 under my belt.