Melinda's Moments Mmprh

Today was a show day, which means teching Traj in the morning, then show at night. In between we watched the video of dress rehearsal in Garrett’s room, ate, and I took a nap (again.) The show went well, the crowd was amazing. They loved us, and it felt so great to have people clap and gasp and hoot and holler… love it. We got to meet the people who brought us here after the show and they were so great… they really went above and beyond to promote us.

Only two out of the ordinary things to mention: all day today and yesterday the stage at the venue was covered in Lady Bugs. It was weird calling freezes to save bugs, but necessary…

Also, I got booed during Q&A. I introduce myself: “Hello, my name is Melinda Ritchie and I’m originally from Seattle, Washington… Go Seahawks…” “Booooooooooo.” You’ll recall I am in North Carolina and the Carolina at Seattle game is tomorrow (6:30pm eastern.)

I fly to New Orleans tomorrow morning, and we are staying at a house in the French Quarter, so internet might be spotty…

Last night, after I posted my blog, I was pulled across the hall into David and Crystal’s room for an apparently mandatory game of CatchPhrase. Then, it was sleepy time. Too bad I didn’t actually fall asleep until maybe 4am – at a generous estimate.

This morning was an early one, and for the first time in a long time, Becca and I didn’t get the luxury of going back to bed after we went down to catch the last few minutes of the continental breakfast. Instead, we had to shower and get presentable for an early morning event on the Davidson University Campus. Becca was doing her door solo in the middle of the student union building to draw attention for our show. Monica, Garrett, David and I were there in our Diavolo gear to be able to answer questions, etc. It was a fun opportunity, but possibly needless, since our show had already sold out in the weeks before we even got here.

After that, and a quick trip to the grocery store, it was nap time until Tech started that afternoon. Nothing new there, tech was tech. I did buy Davidson-colored (red, white and black) scarf from the bookstore cause it went with my logo stuff so well.

Just about the only other noteworthy thing of the day to mention was that Becca and I found a credit card in our room from the previous guest… it’s a platinum bank of america credit card… and though I couldn’t ever really do it, we definitely had a lengthy discussion of where we would use and what for… sigh. Damn this conscience of mine.

The rest of the night will find me watching a movie in someone else’s room (The Fifth Element, I think,) and then for sure calling it an early night since we have an early tech of act two in the morning.

All we’ve done today was wake up to eat breakfast, went back to sleep, walked across the street to Target (where we ran into about seven other company members – all of us had gone separately and then conglomerated there due to the coincidence,) and then came back to the hotel to eat McDonald’s dinner and then watch TV. Everyone else is out bowling, but Becca and I opted to stay in since she doesn’t feel too well, and I’m always happy not spending money and instead kickin’ it with the boob tube. Tomorrow things pick back up.

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Click here to see All my photo Albums…

Or… more specifically:

Tour so far…

Honeymoon…

Bachlorette Party and Shower (I lost my camera an hour into the bachlorette party… So there aren’t that many pix.

Family Christmas Pictures

Shower at the Garage These I already posted the link to, I think.

Those are all the new ones. Still no wedding pictures yet.

For some reason, our new awesome, awesome suite hotel doesn’t have Bravo, even though it has literally every single other cable network. The unfortunate result of this is that I don’t get to see the new episode of Project Runway tonight… oh, the horror!!!!

It’s ok-ish though, because Becca and I did just watch American Idol and Lost (a pretty monotonous episode, boooooo,) while sharing a pint of ice cream. I am so lucky she is in this company with me/we get to room together. I heart Becca.

This morning I woke up to David and Garrett coming into our room to drop off their bags. I’d given them our room key the night before so they could do this since they had to be at a school doing a kids show while the rest of us checked out. They had to be all packed and checked out by 7:30am and the the rest of us picked them up from the school on our way to Jacksonville on the tour bus. I stayed up late last night packing, so when I got up, I didn’t have much else to do besides grab breakfast and get ready. I slept on the 2-hour ride to the airport and read through both flights (Jacksonville to Atlanta, Atlanta to Charlotte – both again on AirTran.) When we got to Charlotte, the presenter had rented us three vans, in to which we all piled and drove the 25 min to Davidson where we’re staying.

Becca and I were absolutely ecstatic to see a Target across the street from our hotel as we pulled up… sad, I know, but I love Target. We got to the hotel in time to eat the manager’s reception and save ourselves dinner money. From there it’s just been good TV and ice cream. Also, again: free wi-fi… hell yeah!

Tomorrow: Day off in NorCar. Trip to Target inevitable.

So yesterday we got up and again hoarded continental breakfast and went back to bed. When Becca and I got up again at about noon, we got showered and ready to go out with John and get lunch… but then… we found a marathon of Project Runway on Bravo. I had seen none of the episodes from this season yet, so I was particularly lucky to find the marathon in the first five minuets of episode one. Needless to say, lunch plans were canceled, and for the next five hours, John, Garrett, Becca and I watched the first five episodes of season 2. That meant, that by the time we eventually pried ourselves away from the TV, I had only one unseen episode left.

Sadly, our dinner plans weren’t flexible as to accomodate that last episode. Joan, who is a teacher for University of Florida’s dance program invited the whole company for dinner at her house. She ‘employed’ use of two of her friends who had huge SUVs to come and pick all of us up at our hotel and transport us across town to her house. Where she lived was gorgeous, and I can’t emphasize enough how much I adore the trees and foliage here in north-central Florida. The driver we got explained to my carload that the diversity is because this area is subtropical, so there is are many many more species which can survive here climate-wise, and they have evolved and diversified in order to coexist. Way to go, Floridian plant-life, you’re pretty.

Dinner was amazing. Unfortunately for me the main course was whole-BBQ’d fish, but I was more then satiated by pasta, rice, collard greens, carrots and potatoes, etc. I am getting more used to wine, and am actually really enjoying it… but it still makes me feel very dehydrated… so I don’t think I prefer it to other beverages just yet. Just incase you were all wondering. Right.

Dinner dropped off into conversations, which were followed by a random game of limbo and dancing in the living room. The kids from the dance department (well, some of them anyway,) were also at dinner, and it was nice to hang out with them again. After dinner, we again piled into the cars with our surrogate taxi-driver-friends, and headed home.

When we got back to our room… what was on TV? The exact episode of Project Runway that we had left off on: the only episode I needed to see in order to be all caught up for tomorrow’s episode. AWESOME. So, Becca and I watched that and some other mindless TV and eventually drifted off…

Today, Tuesday, we woke up hella early (obviously much earlier than our other days off in FL,) at 6:30am because both Becca and I had to shower and get ready to be down in the lobby by 8am. We were all invited to go take the university’s advanced ballet class at nine. I, for one, haven’t taken a ballet class since I graduated last May, so I jumped at the opportunity, even though it made for a much earlier morning than I would have liked. The class itself was really great, and I wasn’t as terrible as I was expecting, but I have indeed lost many a muscle that I used to have very well-equipped. It was funny to realize, that even though I have become about eight times stronger in this company than I used to be, I can still wear myself out in one 50-minuite barre in a good ballet class. Mostly: my hip flexors and my ass. Ouch. Tomorrow, it will hurt to walk.

Also: tomorrow, it will hurt to shampoo. Here is why: after ballet, five of us went next door to a studio where silks and trapezes were hung and a stage trick and combat teacher taught us how to work the silks. This, incase it needs to be explained, are just two longs strips of durable fabric that are attached together that the top and are hung from the truss of a stage. They go up about 30-50 feet depending on the stage, and as an acrobat on them, one would climb them to their top or midpoint and do tricks and swing, and just generally use them as a means of appearing awesome.

I learned a bunch of basics and then some pretty crazy trick stuff. I felt strangely at home 20 feet in the air with no net or ropes or anything, (thank you, hanging duet,) and felt like the principles and technique to doing silks came rather inherent in my body. Point being, I am totally going to take aerial classes back in LA and possible pursue silk work to beef up my resume and hopefully get me some killer jobs. Also, just to have it said, I think I am my most happy in motion in the air. Diavolo flys and swinging on the silk through space… I just freaking love that feeling. Note: this does not include falling.

After the silks class the five of us (Renee, Crystal, Garrett, Becca and I) walked back through the UF campus towards Chipotle for a well-deserved lunch. Along the way, we randomly (and I can’t stress just how truly random this felt to me,) stopped in a courtyard and played hackey-sack for about a half an hour. This was my first time ever playing hackey-sack, and I was embarrassingly unskilled at this particular game.

After Chipotle lunch, Becca, Garrett and I headed to the post office so I could mail out an ebay package and buy some 2-cent and 1-cent stamps to make my stamps current. I also learned that the cost for priority mail and delivery confirmation have gone up – that’s crap – from $3.85 to $4.05 and $0.45 to $0.50. Bastards. Then we got Ben and Jerry’s and everything seemed a little bit better.

Here comes my one exciting celebrity sighting for Florida: James Cromwell! He is an awesome old-man actor (LA confidential, etc, you would totally know him if you saw his face,) and he is also staying in our hotel because he is in the Scopes monkey trial play that is now playing at UF. So, when we walked into the hotel lobby he was there, and we rode up in the elevator with him. He was asking us about Diavolo, and finally at the end of the elevator ride, my cool facade popped, and I told him I thought he was great, giggled, and left, like a small little idiot. Oh well… he was awesome. Apparently Ed Asner is also in the play and is also staying in our hotel, but I haven’t seen him.

Cut to: Hotel rooms, after a nap.

Garrett walked me to Lake Alice, a wildlife sanctuary on UF’s campus that actually houses Alligators! I didn’t see any, but just seeing the signs to beware of them made my day. We got to the lake just in time to see the bats all swarm (SWARM!) out of their bat house at dusk. It was crazy, and I went a little bit weird from an unknown fear of swooping flying creatures en mass. Bats = not scary. Hundreds of swooping bats at dusk = terrifying.

From my close encounter with the bats, Garrett and I went back to the UF dance complex and met a number of other company members so we could see the concert showing the UF dance kids had invited us to attend. They had some really solid pieces, and we finally got to see them dance in their element. Some of them are really, amazing, beautiful movers. The whole process made me really nostalgic for college, and really sad that I won’t ever get to go back to LMU. Unlike a lot of college students, I totally comprehended the crazy extent of how great I had it while I was going to LMU, with the wonderful faculty and classes and resources… and I’m so glad I appreciated it while I was there… but it’s still hard to not get that anymore and miss it…

After the showing we walked to the #1 voted best burrito place as voted by students: Burrito Brothers, bought some burritos and walked back to our hotel, where we all settled into Garrett’s corner room to eat our food and watch the remainder of the beginning of American Idol… classic.

After burrito-idol time, about ten of us (three UF kids,) played Catchphrase for about three hours. What and amazingly fun, hyper, crazy game. Good times with just people. I need to buy it, and so should you, and you, and you. (But make sure you get version two: the electronic one.)

Now I am back in my own room, avoiding packing, because as per usual, my bag a-sploded in my room during our stay here. We have to be in the lobby by 10am in order to catch our bus and our plane to North Carolina in the morning…

I’m in bed again. I love being in bed. Exactly like this, too: with my computer, the TV on (and the remote within reach, and it’s got cable,) having nothing to do tomorrow and full of ice cream. The only thing that could make it any better would be the babers to snuggle. Sigh.

Yesterday was our show. We performed at the big campus theater at University of Florida. I celebrated gator-pride by wearing blue and orange eye shadow for the show. It was kind of hideous, but whatever. Sometime during our stint in Korea, I grew bored of just doing the same make-up and someone came up with the idea that I should do my makeup to a different theme each show… The girls of diavolo (and the occasional guy) name the theme each night… it’s been everything from ‘anime girl’ and ‘geisha goes hollywood’ to ‘bird in a midlife crisis.’ As you might imagine, sometimes my makeup therefore can look pretty ridiculous. Good thing we play huge venues and the audience can’t see my ‘innappropriate ninja scenario’-inspired cosmetic journey.

The show went well. The only drawback was that the theater didn’t provide us with food they’re usually supposed to for dinner, so we all went without (no time by the time we found out to go get some before the show.) So, no food plus Florida muggyness made for us all feeling like we were going to pass out by Traj. My legs felt like they were going to give out by the end of the women’s quartet (the first thing I do in the piece, requiring the least amount of exertion.) This worried me seeing as how I still had the double eagle fly coming up and it was my first time doing it onstage since Korea (fourth time ever overall.)

After the show some of the dance students from the UF dance department came backstage and hung out with us after Q&A and we ended up meeting them for a much-needed post-show pizza run. We went to Leonardo’s, which is across the street from the hotel. I ate what is probably the singe biggest and thickest piece of pizza I have ever encountered – it was covered in pepperoni, sausage, cheese, and every veggie suitable to good pizza. Ugh, now I’m hungry.

Then, I got talked into continuing the evening at the club in downtown Gainesville called the Rue Bar (too crowded,) and then got roped into continuing onto a college party. I felt old.

Thankfully the dance kids drove us everywhere so no cab fare was involved and I was surronded by good friends (Garrett, Crystal, John and Becca saved my ass from some pretty ghetto jerks at the club,) otherwise I might have considered the evening a bust. We got home around 4am, and I went straight to bed.

The next morning, Becca and I woke up specifically to horde more breakfast food from the continental buffet, packed our ice bucket to serve as a mini-yogurt fridge and then passed out again til maybe 2:30pm, when we got up and enjoyed our spoils. Our lazy sunday (no cupcakes involved) was visited by John and passed along nicely until we went to dinner at about 6.

We met everyone in the lobby and all walked over to a locally-famous restaurant called The Swamp, whose walls were covered in flat screen TVs showcasing football playoffs, and whose massive swampy-trees were adorned in twinkle lights. I really don’t care much about football, but Ed, our technical director, said he thought that this year’s superbowl would include the Seahawks, so maybe I am going to have to start caring a little more. Look at me as I jump on a bandwagon. No shame here.

An amazing buffalo-chicken wrap later, we all walked back to the hotel to change and re-group for bowling. We lost Ed and Benji, but otherwise the whole dinner group (the whole company minus Leo) shuttled to a local alley where we played 2 solid hours of some pretty killer bowling. Boys beat the girls in two face-offs, but the girls proved to have a much more astute learning curve.

We were joined at the alley by Matt and Nic (no k,) two of the UF dance students, and they drove us back to the hotel when the bowling alley closed, via a nearby Ben and Jerry’s. A note for the future: David promised that if I bought it, he would take the Vermonster Challenge sometime while we’re on tour. That involves 20 scoops of ice cream, 4 bananas, 4 ladles of hot fudge, 1 brownie, 2 cups of whipped cream, 4 scoops of peanuts, etc and one hour’s time. I am sooooo excited. It will be glorious and I will take many pictures.

Maybe not a monsoon, but while we were in Chipotle, the rain started coming down in sheets. It looked like someone turned on a faucet. It’s so nice and muggy here. I’m told, if this were summer, that I would, in no way, ever be able to enjoy the humidity in the air because it would be so stifling that I might just keel over dead on the spot.

The trees, air, plants and atmosphere here are the closet ever (that I have physically been to, at least,) to the idea of what the swampy south/ the bayou is like in my head… and we’re only in north-central Florida, we haven’t even been to New Orleans and Lafayette yet. I can’t wait. I love being able to see all these parts of the country that are the actual counterparts to things I’ve seen in movies or depicted by cultural stereotypes (no negative connotation implied).

Today was a pretty normal tech day. Becca and I didn’t wake up until noon Florida time (9 am our time.) We probably slept in so late because we didn’t go to bed until 2 am last night, which sounded late to us until we remembered that that would be 11 pm… an early night. Whatever, yesterday was a travel day, that always poops me out.

After we got up and got ready, I walked to McDonald’s for a $2 ice cream cone and cheeseburger breakfast, (eewww, I know) then we walked all over looking for a grocery store. Finally we asked the hotel for a shuttle, and a very nice driver took us pretty far out of his way so we could buy cereal, fruit and toiletries we forgot to pack. By the time we got back, we had just enough time to chill out for about an hour before we had to meet everyone in the lobby to head to the theater.

We got there, Chad led warm-up, my socks got ruined (a normal occurrence,) and we got our standard Ed-led tour of the space and backstage. Then we ran through act one and I read my book (currently The Narrows, I just finished Memoirs of a Geisha, again) whenever I wasn’t onstage. We got done an hour early (unusual) so we all raced home to try and get to Chipotle before it closed at 10. Refer back to paragraph #1 to note that we, in fact, did make it to Chipotle just fine. Now I am very full of vegetarian fajita burrito yum. SNL is on E! and I have wireless internet and I am contented even though I miss Jerry and home and I feel pretty sick. Boo.

Now I get to go plan two one-hour warm-ups that I have to lead tomorrow. Boo again.

I might be in Gainesville. Either we flew into Gainesville and bused to Jacksonville, or we flew into Jacksonville and bused to Gainesville. It’s kind of sad that I have absolutely no idea. We have tomorrow morning off before we have to tech Act One in the afternoon/evening. We had one dancer miss the flight this morning, which was one of a handful of random/stressful situations that took place getting us all here today.

When we got to the TransAir counter (which, by the way, none of us had heard of before…) we promptly found out that their computers were all down, so the line was moving maybe, at a generous estimate, 10 times slower than at a standstill. We all totally thought we were going to miss our flight, but luckily, since everyone on our flight was in the same boat we ended up making it okay.

For the flight, however, since there were no computers, there were also no boarding passes (instead a creepy handwritten piece of paper) no bag-tracking (instead pink “transfer” tags and again handwritten destinations — very assuring,) and no assigned seats, (instead a mad-dash for not getting a middle seat, and a lots of whiny, whiny bitchy people.)

Thankfully, our bags all got here just fine (shockingly navigating our Atlanta stopover okay.) The only real snafu, in fact, was the fact that at LAX they had taken our creepy-boarding-slips and so once we arrived in Atlanta we had to seek out new boarding passes for our second flight at the last minute when we realized we were without a way to get on board.

Once we landed in Gainesville/Jacksonville we had a two-hour bus ride to Gainesville/Jacksonville where the hotel and the venue at which we are performing are. After we all got to our rooms, we headed out to dinner at a Bistro that is across the street from our hotel. I paid far too much for chicken pesto pasta that was remarkably good – very well made from fresh ingredients – but with the small downside of it having about a pound of salt in it somehow. After about three bites, I had had my sodium fill for the next three days. It really sucked because I literally couldn’t eat it it was so salty – and now I’m uber-dehydrated from both of the flights and my dinner, and I’m starving just over an hour after I “ate”.

What a whiny post. I think I am just in a bad mood from missing home and having gotten no sleep the couple nights before I left. I’m going to stop before my little black rain cloud shorts out my keyboard.

There’s one bright ray in my day: the hotel has free wi-fi. Yippee!! Also – we have three days off after our show, we get to spend them here in Florida…

Being home again was so nice, and Jerry and I really, finally constructed a home by moving a lot of our wedding presents and nesting supplies into our apartment. I can’t believe how happy and proud I am of our apartment… it looks like we’ve been a successful couple for years already, but in reality, we’ve just been crafty and good planners. I am so happy with everything we’ve bought over the years and all the things we picked out for our registries – it all came together crazy well. I’m hopefully going to have a photo gallery on my photo blog up by the end of the night, depending on how quick Jerry gets around to taking pictures and sending them to me… But really, when I walk in and see how awesome everything, I can’t believe I live there. *update* : Jerry went above and beyond and made a cute little homage to the stuff I miss about our apartment, he put it up temporarily on his web page: http://www.jerrykansky.com

Next on the upgrade list: getting an actual bed (or wait it out until I move mine back from LA) and buy another dresser to keep some of my clothes in. Also buying the rest of our towels, cookware, glasses, etc. from our registries. Not because we NEED it, but because I have an irrational “fear” of not having the same number of things that go together (salad plates, bread plates) and also the things we picked out not being made anymore — which has already happened to some things. Tragic, I know.

Basically home was great. Busy, but great. Mom and Dad took me and Jerry to a movie and dinner, and I finally got to have dinner with the Kanskys and Steph post-wedding. I love everyone.

Ugh, I’m putting off packing, because it is an entirely frustrating experience. I wish I could have four bags, and a bag-monkey to carry them so I would have to pick and choose what I bring.

And now, because I am realizing that nothing I am saying is of much worth, a present one of those damn surveys:

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20 years ago I was…: Begging my mom to ask Miss Emily to bend the rules and let me start dance earlier than the normal minimum age. It worked, but I know no details of the story.
10 years ago I was…: Just starting my 7-year career at the International school… at the old campus, off of main street.
5 years ago I was: Freshly graduated and trying to desperately hold onto my High School friends and life in Seattle, while falling head over heels in love my new life and friends in LA.
1 year ago I was…: Starting my last Semester at LMU, working on my thesis and my duet that I choreographed for the Student Dance Concert.
Yesterday I was: Having a really hard time saying goodbye for a month (again) to my new hubbers, my mom and dad and my new favorite place, my Sammamish apartment.

5 snacks I enjoy: Chips and Salsa, snack plates, Ramen, cinnamon graham crackers, Munchies Mix.
5 songs I know all the words to: everything on my iPod (which is more than 5 by a long shot.)
5 places I would run away to: My new home, my old home, the Salish lodge, disneyland, Las Vegas.
5 things I would never wear: gold lamé, spurs and chaps, 70’s ferra hair, sports jerseys, and shitty halloween costumes.
5 bad habits: procrastinating, overspending, justifying bad ideas, drinking too much soda, and sleeping with my TV on (I just learned today it means I have made myself much more susceptible to cancer… yikes.)
5 biggest joys: The babers, my family and friends, dance, good music, a good nap, and good food (that was six.)

1) Was 2005 a good year for you?
Best of my life: Graduated LMU, got married, got into Diavolo. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to match it.

2) What was your favorite moment of the year 2005?
Getting married and my first show with Diavolo, and learning the eagle fly in Korea.

3) What was your least favorite moment of the year?
Anything stressful.

4) Where were you when 2005 began?
Being proposed to by Jerry in a gazebo on top of Somerset hill.

5) Who were you with?
The Babers, and then later mom, dad, Megan, Mike and Char and Rob.

6) Where were you when 2005 ended?
Standing on Lake Union, newly married, watching the fireworks.

7) Who were you with when 2005 ended?
A whole slew of people I love – all my wedding guests.

Did you keep your new years resolution of 2005?
I don’t remember what it was.

9) Do you have a new years resolution for 2006?
To be much better with money than I have ever been before and to get as far out of debt as I can and pay my mom back as much as I can.

10) Did you fall in love in 2005?
Again, with the same guy. This happens often.

11) If yes, with who?
The hubbers.

12) If yes, do they know?
… I hope so.

13) Are you still in love like with them?
More than ever.

14) Do you regret it?
No. Man, this survey is totally made for the 14-year olds with a crush demographic.

15) Did you breakup with anyone in 2005?
Nope.

16) Did you make any new friends in 2005?
Yes! I even made what I would call a new family with my Diavolo peeps. AND! I even legally gained a whole new family with the Kanskys.

17) Who are your favorite new friends?
Obviously, my company.

18) What was your favorite month of 2005?
October and December.

19) Did you travel outside of the US in 2005?
Ko-rea.

20) How many different states did you travel to in 2005?
Haha! I can actually answer this with fun answers: Washington, California, Colorado, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Missouri, New York, West Virginia, etc. etc.

21) Did you lose anybody close to you in 2005?
Thankfully, no.

22) Did you miss anybody in the past year?
Goodness yes. But, I live my life in kind of a perpetual state of always missing someone or someplace.

23) What was your favorite movie that you saw in 2005?
Whoa, I see so many movies!! I might actually want to say Jarhead, but that might only be because it was so recent… I’m sure I saw something I liked ever better earlier in the year that I’m just not recalling.

24) What was your favorite song from 2005?
The whole new Death Cab album and Rihanna – Pon de Replay. Cursive – The Recluse, and Arcade Fire – Rebellion (lies,) neither of which are new, but whatever.

25) What was your favorite record from 2005?
Oops. See above. Then add the new Coheed and I’m sure some others.

26) How many concerts did you see in 2005?
A lot.

27) Did you have a favorite concert in 2005?
Bright Eyes in February with Cherie.

28) Did you drink a lot of alcohol in 2005?
Yeah, I guess… but not in a college-binge drink kind of way. It’s more that I’ve finally found a few drinks I actually enjoy and therefore order drinks on a whole more often.

29) Did you do a lot of drugs in 2005?
I’ve been high *almost* every day. (right.)

30) How many people did you sleep with in 2005?
Whoa there, survey.

31) Did you do anything you are ashamed of this year?
I spent too much money that wasn’t directly mine to spend. Plus, when I don’t feel good, I’m too much of a class-A bitch to the people I love.

33) What was the worst lie someone told you in 2005?
Ugh, I try and block that stuff out so I don’t dwell.

34) Did you treat somebody badly in 2005?
Yes. See #31.

35) Did somebody treat you badly in 2005?
Probably. Sometimes people really suck.

36) How much money did you spend in 2005?
Well, first off, there was the wedding, and even above and beyond that monetary behemoth, way, way, way too much. Except in Korea, where it was justified.

37) What was your proudest moment of 2005?
Having a rad wedding, graduating from LMU, getting into Diavolo, doing my duet, being in Holly’s piece, winning honors for french and GPA… first shows with Diavolo, getting to do what love for a job, getting our first apartment together with the babers… did I mention it was a good year?

38) What was your most embarrassing moment of 2005?
I can’t even get into it. Buh.

39) If you could go back in time to any moment of 2005 and do it over what would you do?
Probably not, because it all turned out pretty darn well. I would stop some other people from doing certain things, but that’s about it.

40) What are your plans for 2006?
Continue to tour. Plan honeymoon/first anniversary trip to Tokyo, hopefully go to Yellowstone with my parents (they don’t necessarily know this yet,) try and choreograph something, re-learn/brush up on my French and Japanese, and teach myself to play the drums. And! get out of debt and save as much money as I can. And! Go home and see the babers and the family as much as I can. And!! Kick dance ass. And!!!! Read the million books I bought. Okay.

I should write more in my blog, but I am too tired to do so now, so I am using the urge I had to post something to post the following which I wrote at the Salish on my honeymoon and for some reason never posted…

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Sunday Morning… Totally at the Salish Lodge.

Jerry and I are pretty stoked because they have wi-fi here. That means, y’alls get an update. This place is totally sweet. Last night was awesome, and I can’t believe how much people helped and did nice things for me… thank you thank you thank you.

Jerry just ordered room service and they called him Mr. Ritchie (cause I reserved the room in my name.) We found this ironic, because, ya know, it is.

Ugh, this update is going to be short, simply because I have too much to say about last night. Too big of an undertaking right now. So in short, I love my parents, my sister and my bridesmaids so crazy much… thank you guys, you’re all sooooooo great. Really.

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Also, today at rehearsal I did the big eagle fly again for the first time since Korea (aka – the fourth time ever. Man, that shit is so fun.

Aaaaannnnnd, goodnight.