Kit Kat
I first want to congratulate the entire cast of Cabaret. It was an incredible show, perhaps the best at Albion in a long while, which I'm sure you all know. I was amazed by all of the talent, especially those of you who I've seen grow up on stage. Really fabulous work to all of you. I've sent notes to a few cast members, and I also sent a note to Starko this morning, both to congratulate him and to send along a note to the entire cast.

Things have been a bit hectic lately. Last week I found out the water damage in the basement of Ingrid and Michele's is rather extensive, and I may not be able to stay there. I've been sleeping downstairs, but also looking for another, cheaper place. One problem I keep running into is that some of the places I see are not in good areas and so I'd rather wait it out a bit longer. Andy Carroll, no relation to the fabulous Alexander Theodore, has been really helpful in letting me know the areas to avoid as well as making suggestions. I did not get as much done on the job search front as I wanted to last week, as I flew home Thursday and worked the other days. The flight is a story itself. I hadn't flown on a plane since I was five, and we visited my aunt Julie (now Jua) in Vancouver, and also went to the World's Fair. That was in 86. Robert still had blonde, curly hair and I was wearing pictures of animals on my sweatshirts. I didn't remember it particularly well, I just remembered looking out the window and seeing how people looked so small. I left downtown at around 12 and took a ride on the Metro to West Falls Church, where I needed to catch a connecting bus to another station, to finally get to the bus to Dulles. Dulles is in Virginia, and for some reason, its almost like the Metro was built away from Dulles. There are three airports in the area, and only one has a Metro stop, National (I refuse to call it by its other name). The other is BWI. I arrived at the connecting station about 15 seconds too late to pick up the connecting bus, and had to wait an hour for the next one, which wasn't as bad as it could have been. When the bus arrived and dropped us off, I had to call my dad to coach me through the process of getting my boarding pass and checking my luggage. Everything went fine, and the flight was good, despite some nervousness on my part upon take-off.

I can't describe how good it was to see the show and to be in Albion to watch it. To see Andy and Mike finishing their careers, which started with Lear, end so beautifully, to see Karen Green take the role of Sally Bowles as her own, and to see those who I hadn't seen in anything since Company perform so well made me so incredibly proud, not just to have seen these actors and actresses grow-up, but to literally see lines of people going outside the Dow to see the show was incredibly gratifying as a former participant. I also was impressed by a lot of other things too, such as Gretel's incredibly frustrating form of doing responses and her inability to think before she says things.

I also got to see John, which was great because I hadn't seen him since I went to Basically Awesome, and I hadn't talked to him since just after I got here. He seems focused now on finding a job, as well as perfecting his craft, which is good, because you need to pay the bills as well as make art. We, and by we I mean John, Bohne, Chelsea Sadler, and Kopec talked for a really long time after the show, just about the department and a lot of other things. I really missed those kind of talks. I used to have them all the time with Laura and Susan at Porter, or with the two of them, Nick, Andy, Amy, Audrey and Alison over in Burns. Those were really the happiest times I'd had here, and talking like that again was great, though a little bittersweet. With Andy, Bohne and Nick graduating, along with guys like ROb Murdock and Steve Fish, suddenly all that's left of that great young Lear cast will be graduated, and they seemed young when I was in it. Once Karen, Audrey, Stephanie, Stefani, Rachel, Amy Feder and Chelsea Sadler, and all the other juniors graduate next year, my links to the school won't be there physically, which kind of saddens me, as well as giving me a great since of pride to see the men and women they are becoming and have already become.
I also got to see my grandmother Saturday which was great because I hadn't seen her since before I left. She had been in Florida with her sister Norma, and it was good to see her home safe. I got out Sunday morning. My parents woke me up at 4 for my 6 o'clock flight, and I spent most of the rest of the day tired, but it was certainly worth it.
I will blog more about the show(s) tomorrow, both my impressions of Cabaret, and my love for the one show no one probably would ever think I'd like, Project Runway