Oh hey there! Long time no talk! Want to know why?
Essentially my life exploded. I burned the candle at more ends than were readily available and after inhaling at some unfortunate moment when someone was exhaling or sneezing out some bug, I won the prize! If by prize you mean viral pharyngitis. I've been sick for eight days and had to perform for three of them.
The thing that really stinks about viral pharyngitis is that because it's viral, there aren't any antibiotics they can give you to cure the bug. I typically don't promote or enjoy pumping bodies full of antibiotics, but when you have to perform and your throat swells so that you have trouble breathing as you normally would, that's when exceptions are made. The doc ended up prescribing me zithromax in case I have strep and also gave me a steroid to decrease the swelling in my respiratory system so that I could perform. I luckily made it through this weekend but it was definitely the toughest performing while sick experience I've had thus far. I'm not accustomed to my voice acting out so suffice it to say it was an exceptional learning experience.
What I learned from being sick and performing: if you keep your energy up and commit to your character, the audience won't know you're sick (even if you sound sicky-poo when you talk). I'm also an expert at using a neti pot now, which I was a little squeamish about trying.
I have two or three days until closing weekend of the show begins. The show has been so successful that we actually added two performances, so we'll be running the show five times in four days. I'm hoping I'm at least back to 80% by then. I can get through the show now but it would be nice to be a little more comfortable physically.
If you're in town and are interested in seeing the show (or if you're out of town and just interested to know more) here is the interview they aired on our local PBS station. The segment I'm in starts at about ten minutes into the interview, but our darling director and friend Craig Bond is the first chunk and it's definitely worth delving into. Click the link! Do it! Pretty please?
http://www.infocustv.org/infocustv/episode_archive/Entries/2011/5/20_in_focus_with_eden_lane_315_Grey_Gardens.html
The show has been great and I will write a new blog post about it. I have pictures from the dress rehearsals and some other cool tidbits that I promised I would write about! Blog catch up time!
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| Backstage during dress rehearsal with a Crazy Sexy Salad! Curly hair was added the next day! |
In addition to being sick I have some bad news: I have to drop out of yoga teacher training. It's been extremely transformative already, but my family and I just can't afford it right now. What's sad is it's one of the cheaper programs in the country and it's a phenomenal one (I can't emphasize that enough). I don't know when I'll have the opportunity to finish, but I plan on keeping yoga a big part of my life. It's been my center for the last couple of months! There will be a whole section on things I took away from my time there this summer once I'm not a sack of sick and have some energy again. My body woke me up at 4 AM this morning in a coughing fit.
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| Yes, that is a giant gallon of water! Sick supplies! |
I realize that this isn't a happy, glittery blog post, but sometimes our bodies have to slow down and heal so we can reclaim our sparkle. Since I had to stop my cleanse part way through when I ran out of money (my first yoga payment was just under a grand), I plan on re-starting the program from the very beginning once I've healed so I can get whatever leftover steroid-ness and medications floating around my body out of there!
Here's a sampler plate of the blog posts to come this summer:
- Closing night of Grey Gardens the Musical, complete with kleenex and photography!
- A dating exposé!
- Kayaking!
- Kangoo class!
- En pointe work in ballet!
- Fitness goals!
- Adventures with our secret guest, MBFF!
- What goes into learning an opera role!
- And, of course, attempt 2 at the Adventure Cleanse!
Thanks for sticking with me! I won't leave you again assuming this bug kicks the bucket!
All my love and namaste my darling friends!
Miss Maggie
