Filed under: A Little Me, Friends, Good Things, Happy Dance Time, Open, Relationships, Roam, Vegas! | Tags: BiSC, Bloggers in Sin City
Oh, crap… my words!
Those words slipped out of my lips at the Farewell Brunch of BiSC this year–because quite simply, there are no adequate words to express the love, the support, the good times and everything that comes from 60+ bloggers converging on Las Vegas in friendship and shenanigans. Of course, I do have words… and I’ll share some about it here.
There’s a reason I couldn’t miss BiSC for a single year after my first adventure back in 2011–these people are amazing and some of the greatest friends I’ve ever had. That, and I wouldn’t be able to live with myself for getting all the jealousies over reading all the Twitter posts about it. And it’s more than worth it.
These are people who usually hide behind their computers writing but got out of their comfort zone to go meet dozens of strangers.
These people will lay in bed with you eating Fuzzy Peaches and Stroopwaffles in the morning, laughing all the while.
These are people who will 8-second hug you… then keep it going even longer. #allthelove
These people will drop “That’s what she said” comments so many times it’s like an automatic twitch.
These are people that you can tell your deepest, darkest secrets to and they will love and support you no matter what.
These are people who cry and keep their eyes open forever in staring contests because they are crazy-awesome like that.
These are people who won’t ever judge you and love you exactly as you are. No liquor required.
These are people who will unabashedly cheer their voices hoarse during the Flamingo Pool booty shaking competition where a couple of their own competed (and lost, but everyone told me I should have won–well, I did… last year.)
These are people that aren’t afraid to grab the most horrendous outfits and do a dancing parade in the middle of an H&M dressing room. Exhibit A:
These people will teach you how to braid because you’ve been doing it wrong your whole life.
These people can be present even when their phones are out… it’s not rude, yo.
These people will people watch with you at a club and speculate on why some belligerent woman is getting arrested outside Caesar’s Palace.
These people will wait in the crepe line with you so you don’t have to stand alone.
These are people who will do a zombie/Christian-Bale-Batman voice unannounced, scaring the crap out of all of us then making us bust into laughter.
These people fear not whether you drink out of their drink or pick off their plate.
These people will talk about sex toys and scary “never have I evers” as though it is completely normal to do so.
These people will discreetly pull down your slip beneath your dress in public when your ass is hanging out of it. And also tell you when that is happening immediately. Same goes for having chocolate dripping down your face from the buffet chocolate fountain (THANKS!)
These people will go out for pizza and heart-to-hearts at 3:30 in the morning.
These people sing The Little Mermaid, Avenue Q and many other things with you out loud in public without shame.
These people will bring you treats and chocolate from their home country (Canada and Netherlands), making your taste buds and tummies sing joyous tunes.
These people will dance you silly, any time, any place… even without music. They make their own.
These people will dress to the nines, whether that’s all in white (“Are you all getting married?”), Mad Men-themed, or black, white, and gold!
These people will make you question your priorities and what you’re doing in your life–making you want to take your own life to the next level.
These people are old friends. These people are new friends. These people are my TRIBE.
These are people who dread parting each other so they find places to relax and chat until, inevitably, time runs out and all the hugs and tears come out too.
(And I feel like I could go on and on and on and on like this about all of the BiSCuits.)
At the end of it all, I feel like I’ve made some of the best friends in the world (and all over the world too!) in only a few days. I miss them so much already. My body and emotional state still haven’t recovered.
A humongous thank you goes to Nicole for putting this on for the past five years. The woman is an effing rockstar and one of my idols. I’ll be doing her 30-day Sugar Detox in June… care to join me?
Yet again, BiSC is the best weekend of the year and I’m sad to know it won’t be back next May. But that doesn’t mean I can’t go visit my new friends and that they can’t come visit me in Utah.
Any of you BiSCuits reading–I have a couch and a queen-size bed! I don’t mind sharing. ;)
BiSC helped break me out of my bubble of over-thinking things. That first year (2011), I started taking more chances and trusting that things would turn out alright even if I just… leapt. And I frickin’ landed among some of the most amazing people in one of the funnest cities in the world.
And like I said in my little speech at the Farewell Brunch on Sunday, “It was the best chance I ever took.”
So pretty much… yeah… my words. All the words can be summed up in this: BiSC is the very best. Ever.
Filed under: A Little Me, Good Things, On Stage, Plays/Musicals, Updates | Tags: 9 to 5, audition, cast, dolly parton, doralee, perform, rehearsal, show
You don’t know awkward until you’re talking with your company’s head honcho about if you’re going to be dressed like the “well-blossomed” Dolly Parton for a show… and then having him say, “We must have a Chamber night out to see it!”
I’ll be playing this! Guess I gotta go blonder…
Yep, that happened. And I was trying to not look down at my own chest, thinking about how I’m not sure I’ll need the padded bra the director of 9 to 5 suggested for the girls cast as Doralee (aka: Dolly Parton’s character).
I guess that’s my way of saying that I’ve been cast as Doralee in Empress Theatre’s production of 9 to 5 for the summer.
The support and excitement about being cast as Doralee is amazing! I’ve had several people say I’m perfect for it, and I definitely think I can relate to the character a lot, considering I’ve run into some similar situations as Doralee has in the past (judged because of how she looks, rumors spread that made her feel like a “bastard at the family reunion”). Let’s just say I’m super excited to step into this roll!
From the first couple of rehearsals, I can tell this will be a fun bunch of people to work with and this will be a completely different theater experience for me. There’s going to be a lot of character development (super excited for that!) and journaling apparently. I already journal, but whatever floats the director’s boat!
Another thing that’s different is that the lead roles are double cast. So that means, seven of the 14 performances, I’ll play Doralee. For the other seven, I’ll be a part of the ensemble and sing Backup Barbie in Backwoods Barbie (PS: That song is one of my favorites!). Should be a jolly good time, but if you want to get tickets… talk to me first so you get them for a night that I’m Doralee (as you should want to do!).
Do yourself a favor and go find the soundtrack on Spotify. The music for 9 to 5 is pretty much awesome… I don’t think people give Dolly Parton enough credit. The woman is a genius.
Under this hair is a brain, not that you’d ever care.
And you only see tits, but get this, there’s a heart under there.
Yep, pretty much. :)
Filed under: A Little Me, Music, On Stage, Plays/Musicals, Try | Tags: 9 to 5, addiction, audition, legally blonde, perform, performaholic, performer, rent
So… you know how I was going to take a break from doing a show for a while so I could work on some professional development stuff?
That promise may not last long.
Reason being: three shows that I would love to be in and have some of my dream roles in have auditions coming up in the next couple of weeks. The shows?
- RENT – Maureen is a dream role of mine. Even ensemble would be awesome in this show though. If all else fails, I want this one.
- 9 to 5 – Doralee has my name written all over it. Blonde-check. Country girl-check. Double D’s-check, check.
- Legally Blonde – Do I really need to elaborate again?
9 to 5 auditions up first on April 30/May 1. RENT on May 5. And Legally Blonde on May 20. So technically if one of the first two doesn’t work out, I can hope for Legally Blonde. And if none of them work out, I may fall into a hysteric depression and think that I’m not good enough.
Haha, that won’t happen. The hysteric depression might, but not the negative thoughts part. But it would still be disappointing. If I don’t get cast in RENT I may do the lip thing. You know… that lip thing.
But gah… why must I have all these things that I want to do and then a show I want to be in comes up and I’m just like, “I want it all!” It’s a problem and I have a feeling I have major ADD.
I want to be in all the shows all the time but I simply haven’t the time! (Alice in Wonderland, anyone?)
Well, we shall see what will unfold after I actually audition for the shows. Wish me luck!
Hello, my name is Mikael and I’m a performaholic. This meeting is now adjourned.
Filed under: A Little Me, Dork Stamp, Good Things, Movies!, RaNdOm, Remembering | Tags: dinosaurs, fantasia, john williams, jurassic park, jurassic park in 3d, obsessed, obsession, soundtrack
My fascination with dinosaurs started with Fantasia.
You know animation sequence where the dinosaurs are living and being joyous? And then all that is quickly squashed in the rain with a huge meat-asaurus (they say it’s a T-rex, but based on the animation versus bone structures I’ve seen, I beg to differ–the jaw bone is completely different) coming in and eating the poor stegosaurus. Which also happens to be one of my favorite dinosaurs, but I digress.
Oh, but then it goes through the extinction of the dinosaurs where the music actually totally creeped me out for the longest time. I’ll give Stravinsky his dues–he’s a musical genius–but man. That does not sound like springtime to me. More like Halloween…
MOVING ON.
From there, Jurassic Park came out when I was five and what did I get for my sixth birthday? The VHS. Yep, we’re talking retro 90s videos. I still have it in my movie collection.
Growing up, I never really gave up on my fascination of dinosaurs. Love natural history museums but only if they have dinosaur bones. Love documentaries and TV shows about dinosaurs. Whenever there was a dinosaur project in school, I was all over it to the point where I did a whole clay layout of a maiasaura and her nest. And I totally downloaded the Jurassic Park Builder game as soon as I realized it was available just so I could have a dinosaur park!
I mean, come on! They were the first living, breathing creatures on Earth (as far as we can tell) so the fact that these magnificent beasts lived at all is amazing. And then humans sprung out of the earth 65 million years later and all we can find are bones and footprints.
God creates dinosaurs. God destroys dinosaurs. God creates man. Man destroys God. Man creates dinosaurs.
Dinosaurs eat man. Woman inherits the earth.
My question is how can we not be fascinated by dinosaurs?
Oh, and I used to think that mountains got their shapes from the backs of dinosaurs. Like brontosaurs or brachiosaurs. Driving to Bear Lake was always a treat because I’d be watching out the window at the Wasatch mountains and thinking, “Man, dinosaurs were huge! I wonder why no one’s dug them up out of there yet.”
Young minds–gotta love them.
Now I’m not sure if you know, but Jurassic Park recently hit the big screen again… this time in 3D. And I saw it and loved it even more than I did as a kid. It literally was like a brand new movie. Looked amazing, sounded amazing. All the above.
First off, the soundtrack is seriously one of the best parts of the movie. It’s one of the best in cinematic history (next to The Mission and Titanic). John Williams is just a magnificent genius. I’ve listened to the soundtrack probably 50 times in the past month.
And the dinosaurs look SO REAL. It’s like I really think they’re alive and I want to go to Jurassic Park and almost get eaten by raptors. Now that would be the adventure of a lifetime. And the IMAX 3D kind of helped make it seem that way.
And because it’s now 2013, I felt justified in updating my collection with the collector’s edition Bluray/DVD/virtual copy Jurassic Park trilogy. It came with an awesome hand-crafted/painted T-rex figurine. Check it out:
Now a fire has been lit under my butt for me to go buy a stupid HDMI adapter for my Macbook Pro so I can actually watch the movies in all their glory.
So I may be just a tad obsessed with dinosaurs. And Jurassic Park. And … yeah. My co-workers have noticed my insane enthusiasm for Jurassic Park and its soundtrack lately. To the point where one let me borrow her magazine since it had some inside scoop on the movies. And another started humming the Jurassic Park theme song too.
Some obsession is healthy though, right?
What’s your current obsession?
Filed under: A Little Me, Friends, Magic, Try, Updates | Tags: Goals, hobbit, new adventure, new podcast, peter dewolf, podcast
After a show, it’s usually a harsh adjustment for a performer to get back in the swing of things (aka: a life that isn’t as good as it is when involved in a show). So what did I do?
Launched myself into a new project… a podcast!
One of the best gifs ever, btw…
Technically, it’s not mine–it’s my blogger buddy Peter‘s baby. I just happened to be the first guest and the resident audio engineer for the time being.
If you want to take a listen to what Pete and I discussed in his first podcast last week, you can find all the magic here. Pretty sure that making a podcast is super fun!
The second episode is up as of this morning too! Sarah from Metamorphocity was the second guest and, though I wasn’t present, it was fun to listen to the two Canadians banter about everything from what got them into blogging, to running for Miss Canada, chicken fingers and crop circles. Tell me if you can hear their Canadian accents too.
This is not to say I’m not pursuing my new goals, I’m just adventuring into new territory, getting new experience and having a good time.
For if you can’t get off the path ahead of you to check beneath that unexpected rock, you may not ever find the treasure.
… That’s a good one. I think I’ll keep it.
Peace out!
