Melinda's Moments Mmprh

Similar to how Des Moines surprised Megan, I am also surprised by how much I loved Birmingham. The presenters at the Alys Stevens Center and UAB were so wonderful and fun, and they went out of their way to make our stay enjoyable. Sarah took us yesterday to her favorite soul food diner, Niki’s West , which was a 20 minute van ride from our hotel and located on a side-side street, it was set up like a cafeteria – you get a tray and a huge plate and point to what you want to eat – and it was delicious! I tried fried green tomatoes, fried okra, the amazing mac and cheese, grilled chicken, 20-bean casserole, collard (how do you spell that?) greens, sweet potatoes, apple pie, corn bread, steamed okra, pasta, and a bunch of stuff from other people’s plates… I left too full for a show day, but very pleased nonetheless.

(Non-sequitur set up:) Earlier that morning at Lucy’s Coffee for my last morning there, I randomly asked if they had other kinds of cream cheese besides plain. I was told no, and I laughed about my question, and said I figured, but I for some reason was thinking about cucumber cream cheese, and just thought I’d ask. I ordered plain, and went to my table. About ten minutes later when they brought me my (sundried tomato) bagel and cherry italian cream soda, the wonderful lady also brought out a small dish of cucumber cream cheese! I was rather confused, (and amazed and grateful;) she said she went next door to the subway and got some cucumbers and made it for me. I was blown away, and so excited. So, I tell this whole story 1) because it was awesome of her, and 2) because that’s what our entire stay here has been like: people going way out of their way just because they can to be nice. How refreshing!

Last night after our fourth (1 YPC, 3 regular) show, the venue hosted a masquerade reception and party in the building. We all got sequined masquerade masks and drink tickets and were treated to a yummy appetizer buffet and great conversation with friends of the arts program who had just seen our show. Our costume lady, Lisa, the educational liaison Kim, and most all the really genuine and nice, wonderful people who brought us here were there too. It was very enjoyable… Also, our demo reel was playing, being projected onto a wall, which even two years later, I still can’t keep myself from watching.

Right now, I’m sitting in the Birmingham airport, using the free wi-fi… we had to be up at 4am this morning (after getting to bed about 2a, last night after the party, showers and packing.) We get into LA at about 12:30pm, and then we have to pick up our passports, re-pack for Korea, see Dr. Hersten, and do any and all errands we need to all before we have to be back at LAX tomorrow morning at 9am. Geh. I’m hoping to save time for myself tonight to go see ‘Stranger than Fiction,’ but, we’ll see how the rest of the day goes/if I can find someone to see it with me who hasn’t already seen it. If not, I’ma see it when I get home. Or, maybe I will wait on purpose, that way hopefully Mom, Dad, Jerry and I (and Megan and Mike too!) can all go together and do Applebees.

Ok, off to check on the progress of my iTunes downloads… they’re going slow and I REALLY want Grey’s Anatomy to be finished before we have to board!!

I’m back at Lucy’s Coffee. After our class on Monday, Briana, Philip, Nick and I all decoded the Birmingham dart system (awesome trolleys that costa quarter a ride,) and found our way further downtown to the civil rights district so we could go to the Civil Rights Museum. We were dropped about two blocks away, and had a walk through the city’s civil rights memorial park to get to the museum which was kitty-corner away. The park is filled with statues, memorials and tributes, and, while none of them is necessarily self-explanatory, the theme and subject matter are easily understood. Just as we were about to exit the park, we heard someone coming towards us, talking to us, so we picked up our pace, until we were able to discern his words more clearly. I turned around to see a middle-aged african-american gentleman approaching us, using a cane, and giving us a history lesson. We stopped. When he saw he had our attention, he had a seat, and proceeded to tell us his experience living in Birmingham during the height of the civil rights movement, and additionally the full story behind all the memorials, and the story of each block and building within eye sight of where we stood.

He stayed with us for quite some time. He was genuine and charming, and not looking for anything more than to share his story with four kids who obviously wouldn’t have known much beyond the history-book facts we’d read. It was overwhelming to hear his personal story, and his interpretation of the events. It was so much more of a complete and in-depth learning experience than going into a museum and reading the captions posted below photos…

I can’t say for sure what the Civil Rights museum is like, because after we left Juan, we found out that all the museums in the city are closed on Mondays. Instead, we headed back to our trolley stop, and on the way found Birmingham’s version of the Seattle Science Center. We decided this was the best idea ever, and spent the afternoon making movies, capturing our shadows, standing inside tornados and laying on beds of nails. There was an iMax there too, but no space movies, so I declined the additional cost.

After our foray into the world of hands-on science, we re-trollied our way to the five-points district in Birmingham, (the really cute bars-restaurants-and-shops section) and had dinner at the Five-Points grill. This meal constitued my most expensive meal on tour, mostly due to the $12 martini. OUCH.

After dinner everyone in the company piled into our rooms and we all watched ‘Heroes.’ We have a group addiciton, and regular discussions on what the hell exactly might be going on. So far, we’re proving to be quite the awesome decoders, because quite a few of our predictions have come true.

Tuesday was tech. I got up and went to Subway for lunch, and unimportant as it is, I feel the need to mention I got a spicy italian sub, because I always get turkey. Good job Melinda, you tried something new. Well not really, because when I was much younger I started out getting that kind of sub at subway, and then I switched somewhere along the line, and have been a turkey girl for at least ten years now. Why the hell am I talking about this?

Tech was tech. We re-changed knockturn again, shaving another five minutes from its total running time, I think it’s a good change, it makes the whole thing flow much much better.

Yesterday we had to be in the lobby at 7am so we could get to the theater and tech the kids show, tech D2R A, do a 11am kids show, then Tech Traj, then run knockturn, then Do our regular show at 7:30pm. Needless to say, it was a long, long, long day, but thankfully, Sarah, our amazing presenter here got us delicious hot food catering for dinner (we usually get deli trays…) Chicken, rice pilaf, salad, green beans and carrots, bread pudding and biscuits. I think I gained about 10 pounds of in-my-belly food weight right before the show…

Other than all that yesterday was highlighed by a bad head-hit (and subsquent woosyness,) a great eagle-fly for me, and a missed flag-spectacular in Traj, which I am so glad I have on tape…

Today: another show, video review at 4, and perhaps going to view jello-wrestling after the show… (I’m not kidding.)

Awesome. I’m so tired.

I can’t believe what a lazy blogger I’ve been. I don’t want to bother recapping. Right now, I’m in Birmingham, AL, and one of the world’s cutest independant coffee shops called Lucy’s Coffee… it reminds me of my absolute favorite coffee shop ever, which was in New Orleans, (and I blogged every morning from there as well.) I think that’s what reminded me to get my ass on here, thinking about being in NOLA and having these relaxing mornings at a coffee shop and then teaching classes (like I’m off to do in about five minutes…)

Next door to here is a Starbucks. I love Starbucks, but I hate how they purposely try and eat up places like this one. I’d choose here any and everyday, even it if meant no more shaken ice tea lemonades or frappucinos ever again.

Birmingham is pretty damn cool. It reminds me of LA or Philly in terms of the economic discrepancy that is separated by blocks, not towns. We drove through some pretty run down places last night to get to the movie theater (we saw Borat,) and ended up at a High-Class nicer than Redmond Town Center-ish shopping town destination.

And, it was all decorated for Christmas. I get my most home sick when it’s leading up to Christmas… all I can think about is coming home. But we have Birmingham and Korea before that, and Korea is going to be a whole year’s worth of scary and a whole year’s worth of work stuffed into 10 days. I wish, right now, it was Novemeber 22nd and I was home prepping my belly for lots and lots and lots of food.

Soon… (sigh.)