My Lovely Thanksgiving

Well, to tell you the truth, my Thanksgiving started out horrible.  Wednesday night I couldn't sleep because I had the biggest headache ever.  And I kept trying to sleep, knowing that if I'm asleep, I can't feel the headache.  Nothing was working.  I knew I had to be up early, as I was doing living statue at 10am.

I couldn't call in sick.  First of all, Thanksgiving is a big money day for statues, plus, if you call in sick on a holiday, you need a doctor's note, so I'd be out the money I would have made, plus the money for the doctor's visit.

At 6:30, the headache finally lifted and the angels sang.  I was exhausted but pain free. I couldn't go back to bed at that point because it would have made it worse when I did get up. So I drank about a pot of coffee and got ready to go.

Now being tired for a normal day of work is difficult, but being tired while you have to stand absolutely still is a monster. Somehow, I managed to get through the shift. Luckily statue shifts are four hours and I was done by 2.

When I crawled through the door, the boyfriend had Thanksgiving cooked and on the table.  I'm so grateful it was his turn this year to cook. He prefers ham over turkey, and if he's making it, he can make whatever his heart desires as far as I'm concerned.  He had ham, corn, rolls and a wonderful bison-green bean casserole topped with cheese and tater tots. Of course there was apple pie for dessert.

I'm am currently waiting to hear from the Guinness judges on whether I have taken the world record in most weight gained in a 12 hour period.  I'll keep you posted. lol.

The "Joys" of Halloween

I think every year I post about how much I dislike working on and around Halloween. Now, don't get me wrong, I love the holiday itself, I just don't like working on it.

You see, as a performer (or enviromental entertainer as my job description says), I have to stroll around doing magic in costume at the Venetian.  Now for 51 weeks out of the year, this is fun, and it is very obvious that I work there... but then there's that one week where everyone thinks that I'm dressed up a little too early for the Halloween festivities. People come up and ask me where they can get a costume like that, or when I need to move people out of the way of the stilt walker, they just look at me like I'm nuts, when all I'm trying to do is keep their children from being stepped on.

Now as a kid, I loved dressing up, going door to door and getting candy, and having my parents pretend that they didn't recognize me in costume.  And today, I still love giving out candy at the door (unfortunately my neighborhood doesn't have very many kids, but I keep the goodies stocked just in case). I don't dress up anymore, unless I'm going to a party. Dressing up every day kind of kills the thrill of the Halloween costume.

This year, I'm off on the actual day, but I do have to work the day before, which is slightly less bad, and soon I'll be back to working just another regular day. Hopefully more than 2 kids will come to my door this year... I give out huge handfuls of candy so I don't get stuck with so many sweets the next day.

It's a Desert Out There

It takes me a while to get settled back in Vegas.  I had a massive headache all day yesterday. Going from super humid to super dry is really difficult and my sinuses were rebelling.

Despite all that, I did manage to get everything on my to do list done.  There was a lot of lying on the couch with the dogs in between tasks, but I still managed to do it.

Today is my first day back working at the Venetian.  I have a huge list of to do's to accomplish in between the shows.  Sometimes I think I'm more productive at work doing things on our short breaks than when I have a whole day off.

That's all for now. Got to finish my computer stuff and put on my make up... I haven't worn make up in 2 whole weeks...wow!

I'm on a Billboard!

I've always wanted to be on a billboard.  To be driving along and look up and say, "That's me!"


Well, it finally happened.  I did a photo shoot for the Venetian, and now the image is plastered all over the hotel, plus there's a billboard on Spring Mountain Road right near the Strip!


Unfortunately, I am wearing a mask, so even my mother wouldn't recognize me.  But at least I know it's me.  Plus many of the other performers know since they have seen me in that costume on many occasions.  


So here it is, me and my billboard:

Me and my Billboard at the Venetian

I'm the one in the red shirt, lol, plus the one in the picture doing the same pose.

Gigs and Exhaustion

Ok, so I'm skipping my running today.  I'm just too exhausted.  The past two days were so chalked full of work, plus I have to do living statue today, that I don't think I can make it.

Performing at Sinsations.  Just got free from my handcuffs

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, I was in a show called "Sinsations". This is, of course, in addition to working at the Venetian, so I would finish my last show there, do my hair, drive over to the next theater, get set up and do another show.  


The shows went great, but now I'm so tired.  One of the Statues at the Venetian just got married, and I told her I would work her shifts so she could go on her honeymoon.  It's not as altruistic as it sounds, statue is one of the best paying gigs over there and I got bills to pay.


My next running day is Wednesday, I'll be sure not to skip that one.

Meeting Jordin Sparks

The Venetian just opened its "Winter in Venice" attraction for Christmas.  There's a show, a tree lighting and ice skating open to the public, plus entertainers strolling around during the day.

Me, Jordin Sparks, and some of the Venetian Cast

On opening night, some of us had to go and work the event after we finished our shows inside.  They knew there was going to be media there, and they wanted as many of us there as they could.


For the opening ceremony, Jordin Sparks sang a couple of songs and then went off to meet and greet in the VIP area.  They chose a few characters to come and join her for pictures.  


While the cameras snapped away at us, I said, "I'm so sorry, the paparazzi just seem to follow me everywhere."  She laughed and thought it was funny.  


I'm the one in the funny hat...

The "Joys" of Halloween Performing

Now don't get me wrong, I love Halloween.  I love seeing everyone dress up in strange costumes, love the candy (except the candy corn) and love having kids coming to my door saying, "Trick or treat?"


However, I do not love performing around Halloween.  Where I do magic at the Venetian, I play a character, and as such wear a costume... year round.  However during the month of October, I am stuck with people asking me, "Where did you get that costume?"  

Of course the average person is going to think I'm dressing up for the holidays, but the worst is the people that work there also think so.  They see me every day and yet in October, they forget and say things like, "Aren't you a little bit early this year?" Did they not have conversations with me last month or the month before?  You might think they are joking, but when I remind them that I always wear this, they say, "Oh yeah..."


Sometimes in the break room, the dealers ask me if they let me take the costume home for Halloween... and yet they don't think it's funny if I ask them if they get to take their uniform home so they can be a dealer for their trick-or-treating.


Don't worry, little kids, I'm not a Scrooge, and though I won't be dressing up for Halloween, I will have candy by the door, and will enjoy each and every one of your costumes.

Back to Work

I feel like I'm going back to work this morning after a really long vacation.  It hasn't all been vacation though, I've just been working for the same company in a different location.  Who knew magicians could be transferred??!

There was a shopping area/town square that opened up here in the beginning of summer, and to help drive business to it, they had all sorts of entertainment there.  I was pulled from the Venetian to work there for a bit (well, most of the summer), and now is my first Saturday back on the strip.

After doing strolling magic for 4 + hours per day over there, doing six shows at the Venetian feels like nothing.  And where before it seemed like a lot, to have that kind of structure (and longer breaks), it kind of feels like a holiday.

I'm visiting my mom next week, and when I get back I have a full week waiting for me over there.  I'm thinking that by the third day I'll be complaining that the 6 shows a day are hard all over again.

In Treasury News:

Yesterday's treasury, Get your knits before you need them, so far has 94 views, 17 comments, 26 clicks and 3 admirers.  If you haven't had a chance to look at it yet, please show these artists some love.

Working Marathon

I just finished a marathon of a work week... 6 days in a row, and all but one 8 hours plus!

I know many people work 40 hour weeks regularly, but as an entertainer, I'm kind of soft in that respect. Of course when we're rehearsing, we put in a lot of hours, but time performing takes a lot more out of you than practicing.

I picked up two extra days at the Venetian, and one of those days we had two extra shows and were there for nine hours. Then my regular days at the Venetian. Then I had a day at Tivoli village where I juggled for 6 hours (my arms are ready to fall off), then back to the Venetian for another day.

...Whew...

Now my boyfriend came back into town last night and I have 3 whole days off! Yay!!! There will definitely be some couch time with the fur monsters today...a lot of it.

Lost in Translation

So, I work with a lot of Russians, and sometimes, though they understand what's going on, they mis-understand the words...

Well, our manager had a replacement in for the first half of the day, and I thought my friend, Sasha, didn't like her for some reason. This was weird, since he always likes the lady managers. He kept calling her "crazy manager".

After a couple of shows, I realized what had happened. Here name was Gracie, and here he was trying to figure out why someone would call themselves crazy.

Sometimes I forget how close some of our words in English sound...



In Knitting Knews:

I finished making the Summer Dog Sweater. Now, if you are so inclined, you can buy a Human Summer Sweater to match your doggie one.

I know matching your dog isn't something for everyone, and the pieces are sold separately, but it's something I would do...lol

Money: Yay!...but I'm tired

With 3 inches away from finishing the sweater edging, I could do no more as I had to go and perform my magic at the Venetian, and then off to do the one woman show. Venetian went well, the show, not so much...

I understand wanting to cheer someone up by taking them to a comedy show, but maybe...just maybe...the day after someone's sister commits suicide, might just be a bit too soon. So half the audience came in depressed and stayed that way.... (I didn't know about the suicide part till after the show, but I did my best anyway).

Today it's 6 shows at the Venetian and then the one woman show at night...the longest work day of my week. I usually tell people that my 5 day work week is smashed into 3 days, but since so many performers are sick, insured or on maternity leave, I've been averaging about 4 or 5 days a week... New computer, here I come!

...oh wait... taxes here I come...

Singer? Or Puss in Boots?

So, even though I usually perform as a magician at the Venetian, yesterday I got called in to work to be a singer. One singer called in sick, one is on maternity leave, and one got insured on Saturday... I had to fill in one of the male parts. That doesn't mean that I had to come in and start singing baritone, I just filled in the blocking for the male singer. I got to wear our female-in-a-male-costume, which made me look like puss in boots without the tail or the ears. It was so HOT! It's a polyester shirt, with a velvet jacket with a polyester cape...under the hot lights, I think I lost five pounds in water weight. Any more layers and I would be at the sweat lodge trial in Arizona!


In knitting news:


I'm working on a summer vest-like jacket that I designed. I got the back finished last night while watching "Be Kind, Rewind" (a really funny movie, by the way) and got started on the right front. It would be really nice if I could finish it today, but with all of the edging I have to do at the end, it's probably wishful thinking.

Submissions and ... What's a Day Off?

I didn't post yesterday, because I had my only "day off" this week. Though technically I had Monday off, it didn't count because my dad was in town and I spent the whole day doing touristy things with him and his girlfriend.

Yesterday, it was all about the laundry, and the bills, and the cleaning, and the shopping, and the relaxing... wait a minute... there was no relaxing with all that other stuff to do!

One of the performers at the Venetian is doing another show this month, so we are all covering for him. Yes, that means more money for me, but I'm also working a lot more than I'm used to. I wasn't even able to list anything in my etsy store this week.




Submissions:

Since there are many clouds in the sky at the moment (which for Vegas is a rarity), I'm going to go with a white theme for this week.

For those that don't know, every Friday I put together an etsy mini of some of my favorite items made by other sellers, post it on my blog and call it the "Friday's Favorites"!

This week's theme is white. If you have any white items in your shop, then post the link to them in the comments and check back tomorrow for the Friday's Favorites!

OMG It's Early...

I'm sitting here right now at what I consider the butt-crack of dawn, and I'm totally not used to having to be up this early.

Today I have to go to the Venetian for a photo shoot. I'm not really sure if it's for advertisements or what..though the egomaniac in me is hoping for advertisements. I am on a few of the billboards at the moment, but it's one of those pictures that unless you know it's me, and unless you turn your head and squint a little, you wouldn't recognize me. We shall see... At the moment, bed is sounding a little better than fame.



In other news:

My dad came to the one woman show last night. I was positive that he was going to hate it as he doesn't usually like the things that I'm in. He also doesn't know how to watch things as a dad (he's a director and theater critic by trade), and so is overly critical.

He actually really enjoyed it, and actually told me that I was good! Even the few times he has thought I was good, he's never said it to my face...I usually have to find out from my sister.

He's in town one more day, so after the photo shoot, sleep will be out of the question as I'm sure there's some sightseeing that he wants to do.

Relapse? Or Fatigue?

So, I'm thinking that if you just got over being sick, then running through the Venetian (which must be a mile at least though I haven't measured it out), is probably a bad idea. I had just finished my last show at the Venetian, so I walked over the bridge to Treasure Island to meat my dad for dinner (did I mention he was in town?). Well, on my way back I realized that time had gotten away from me and if I didn't hurry, I was going to be pushing it to get to my one woman show.

So off a charged through the grand canal, my only thought being, "please don't let there be a line at the Coffee Bean, so I can get a cup on my way to the car!" (Yeah, I have my priorities).

Everything was fine, got my coffee, got to my car and headed out to the theater, when all of a sudden, waves of nausea hit me. Now all that's going through my head is that I have to stand up in front of a bunch of people for over an hour, making them laugh and not letting them know that I wanted to throw up, and how was I going to do that.

Luckily fate was smiling on me, and there wasn't enough people to do the show. For the first time in my life, I was happy that a show was canceled.

Still a little queasy today, but I'm not planning any sprints in the near future.

In other news:

My Tube Top made it into this treasury!

Updates on Dogs and Things

Dog update:

The doggies are adjusting well to each other. They've even started to play, which amazes me since Bess has never really been the playing type, but I guess Gibbs brings it out in her.

Gibbs is still sneezing and coughing a bit, even with the antibiotics he's on. If it is still bad by the time we finish them, then I'm taking him to my regular vet to see if the other vet missed anything. My vet wasn't listed on the free-medical-for-15-days list.

On a happy note, his incision has healed from his neutering.


Show update:

One of the performers at the Venetian will be going out of town soon, so for the month of March, I'll be there an awful lot. Good for my pocket book, bad for my feet. 4 out of 5 podiatrists do not recommend cobblestone as an optimal walking environment. (ok I just made up that statistic, but it sounded good to me).

The one woman show is still going, although audience numbers have dropped significantly. Many of the brokers won't carry it because of the title. The producer is now weighing the cost he's spent with promoting it to the cost of changing the title. Though I like going in every week and getting paid for performing, it really is no fun to perform for 4 people... especially when there's a lot of audience interaction.

Weekend? What Weekend?

My life is kinda reversed right now from most people. I'm always happy when Monday comes, because that is the beginning of my weekend...and while everyone is looking forward to the upcoming weekend, I'm preparing for my work week to begin.

Saturday is always the hardest for me... 6 shows at the Venetian, then off to the theater to do my one woman show... it's a good 12 hour day. Sunday is the easiest, I get to relax all day, surveying the mess that accumulated on Friday and Saturday, then off to my one woman show at night.

Not that I'm complaining... I'm living the dream! It just seems kinda daunting on a Saturday morning when I'm on my first cup of coffee... Couple more, and I'll be raring to go.

Surprise! ... It's Showtime!

Yesterday, the plan was, go to the Venetian, do 3 shows and then go to rehearsal as the one woman show was supposed to re-open today. Right after my final show at the Venetian, I received a call saying that they'd sold tickets and we were having a show THAT NIGHT!

Now I hadn't done the show in 2 weeks, so this was quite a nerve wracking phone call...on the flip side, I hate rehearsals but love doing shows, so it was good news as well.

We did a "quick" run through before the audience arrived and then I was on. Once the lights went up and the phone started ringing (that's my cue for coming onstage), I forgot about all the anxiety and just became the character and did it.

Tonight will be a bit more difficult as I have a full day at the Venetian (6 shows), plus the one woman show straight after... I'm gonna sleep well tonight.

No show... :(

Last night there were not enough tickets sold for the one woman show, so it was cancelled. Though I was sad not to be able to perform, it is a bit of a releif too. The show is really draining, since there's no one in it but me...it was nice to have a rest, but I'm hoping that we have one tonight!

In other news:

A couple of security guards came up to me at the Venetian and told me they'd watched my magic online. I was kind of suprised, since in order to find it, you need to know my first and last name...and at the Venetian, none of us go by our real names (we all have to be "Italian"), and Joan does not sound like I'm from Venice.

After thinking about it for awhile, though, I realized that they might be facebook friends with one of the performers and there's always pictures popping up of "people you might know"... So as of yet, I don't think I have anyone stalking me...lol.

English Confusion

I've told you that my friend is working on studying for his citizenship test. He speaks English, but has trouble with complicated words, especially things that don't come up in everyday conversation.

So, the other day he came up to me, so proud, and said, "I learned a new English word! Sofanajury!"

Now I had to make him repeat this a few times before I understood. Finally I said, "That's four words: serve on a jury."

He had been listening to the audio version of the study material, and they spoke so fast, he thought it was only one word. Once I explained this to him, he realized that he knew all of those words and though, was bummed that he didn't learn a new word, was happy that he understood the concept now.

Language can sure be confusing.