part three - i live in a bubble

what is going on in the world? still a war going on? how's our dollar? anyone famous do anything worthwhile lately? seriously, i am completely out of touch with reality.



the captain said on the first day that this ship has a tendency to roll through the bay of biscay (we go through it every time we leave southampton), but i have never experienced swells like this... the floor just drops out from under you every eight seconds or so... if you're wearing a dress you float a little. it's pretty, until you throw up all over your fancy shoes.

everyone in the medical centre knows me by name, since i came close to fracturing my leg on a moving set piece, and then had a serious allergic reaction to something in the dressing room three days later. they know pretty much our whole cast... darrius threw up from being seasick between every number on our 'cinematastic' opening night, and maryann broke her nose when the ship hit a huge swell. as dramatic as this sounds, we have so far opened three shows without too much drama, and they were all very well recieved and looked (according to our director) great. we open our fourth show tonight, and then start rehearsals for the fifth at midnight...

we woke up this morning to discover that we had to be out of our rooms by 9am. all our suitcases are re-packed and rammed in the costume storage, and hopefully when we get back on the ship today we'll have a place to sleep.

the issues with contracts are slowly being resolved... short of them misplacing our paycheques for two weeks. hm. they're found, and we're paid, and all is well...

as we keep reminding each other...we're healthy (for the most part) and are in a beautiful part of the world (which, hopelfully, we'll actually get a chance to see once install is over). and we all get along. and we can eat whenever we want. life is good. in all seriousness, despite the chaos and the exhaustion, i am having a wonderful time... we laugh ourselves hysterically into tears at least twice a day, and that makes everything completely worthwhile. and you all know that how much i love being onstage outweighs any drama in the wings.=)




i miss you all. please, please, please feel free to send me updates about your lives... i am completely out of touch with reality, and would love to know what is going on in the real world.

part two - ships are...special

where to start.

we left london at 6:15am with the intention of embarking at eight, but the ship was five hours late because of a medical emergency in france... we sat in the crew cruise terminal for six hours on the cement with our luggage in a big pile. we played a lot of cards.








once we got on the ship, we figured out that somewhere, someone's lines were crossed, and none of us were expected to arrive that day. so far a few of us still don't have rooms. also, my name was caroline kelling on the manifest, and as such, on the program, medical card, and my nametag. which is making it hard to replace since everything went missing from backstage during a run of a show on the second day. as such, i'm not allowed off the ship; not that we have time at the moment.

there was a shipping error, and our costumes, wigs and shoes, we're told, are somewhere on the ship. we're just not sure where. they've bumped back our opening night until thursday, in the hopes that everything will be sorted out by then...

other than that, things are pretty good. i can tell that once things settle down and i have a place to put all my things that i'll be very happy. we're thrilled that courtney (our first director/choreographer) is back to install our shows, and rehearsals are going well, even though they're usually early in the morning from midnight to five am (it's the only time the theatre is available). as entertainment we get almost the same privilidges as guests, short of the uber-fancy restaurants, and we only have to dress up on formal nights (i'm particularly happy about this one!). the cast is still in good spirits, and the food is great, so i'll be just fine. =)

part one - london is excellent

we flew on thursday afternoon, a day and a half early than when we thought we would leave, so we were all frantically packing on wednesday night. only one of our cast members lost their luggage (it arrived later that day) and since we left early, we got to spend a whole day in london, ta daa!

london is excellent. i decided to just wander aimlessly and ran into things that were interesting. i fell asleep on the lawn outside westminster abbey, which made me very happy. the pictures really speak for themselves... and i am oh so enthusiastic about waking up at 5 to go to southhampton (insert hint of sarcasm here).

love you and miss you all!