Tie Dyed Easter Eggs

It’s been almost 2 weeks since Easter, but I wanted to get this out ever since I tried it. This year I stumbled on various ways to decorate eggs other than the standard Paas dying kit from my childhood days. One I found from a friend who did her eggs a la Hungarian style. They are absolutely stunning, but when I heard about the process and figured that each egg may take an hour to decorate I thought to myself “maybe another time, like when I retire.” I’ve been a fervent reader of buzzfeed.com for pop culture and such. One day in my browsing I came across a fascinating way to spruce up my Easter eggs. It was to use silk ties. Yes! Silk ties! This was the ticket. Silk ties came in all sorts of paisley and striped patterns and even some off the wall ones. On an Easter egg that would be worth conversation. So I sought out how to do this. My first batch was a trial and I made many errors. I refined them and the second batch turned out great with still some lessons to learn for next time. Here’s how I did it: 

Step One: Gather materials. You will need silk ties, twine or string, eggs and white vinegar. Find some silk ties. I had some of my own, but I only wanted to use 2. I went to Goodwill and there were a plethora. Any ole silk ties will do as long as they’re 100% silk. These are going to be cut up and pretty much destroyed so you want to get some that you don’t mind losing.

Step Two: Cut the ties up and remove the inner lining. The inner lining is what you’ll use once the eggs are wrapped in the silk to protect the water mixture from becoming a bloodbath of dyes. 

Step Three: Cut the ties up into small pieces so you have just enough to wrap around the eggs. These pieces I found are reusable. :) Set the cotton linings aside and prepare a solution of water and vinegar. I filled the lower part of a glass with an inch or so of vinegar and the rest with cold water. You’ll want to moisten the tie fabric with the solution before wrapping. 

Step Four: After moistening the tie fabric wrap the egg in it with the outside pattern touching the egg. The inside pattern will usually be duller. I wrapped mine in sort of a taffy style with extra cloth at both ends and tied each end with twine after twisting. The picture shows just one end. 

Step Five: Wrap every inch of the egg in string or twine. I used twine. Martha Stewart says you need only wrap enough to make sure the fabric has contact with the egg. However when I did this the pattern only transferred where there was good contact. On my second batch I wrapped every possible area in twine. 

Step Six: Get the water boiling in a sizable pot for the amount of eggs you are dying and in a solution of vinegar and water. I used about ¼ the vinegar area in the pot for vinegar. You really want to force that pattern to bleed so the more vinegar the better. While the water is heating up get the eggs ready (once all are bound in twine) by wrapping them in the cotton lining you saved from cutting up the ties. These can be loosely bound in the cotton.

Step Seven: Boil the eggs for approximately 20 minutes. This is usually a good enough time to transfer the pattern and cook the inner egg. 

Step Eight: Cool the eggs in an ice bath for another 20 or so minutes. Unwrap and enjoy! Remember, the tie fabric is still reusable so put that and the lining aside to dry while you admire your eggs. 

Some lessons I learned are that flimsy silk ties transfer much better than thick silk ties. I guess they just wrap better. The moistening of the ties before wrapping the egg really helped with managing the fabric. 

Here are my eggs:

Here are my favorites:

Here are some from the heavy ties:  














Some from the first batch:

Oh and yes you can totally eat these. Martha Stuart and other professionals don't recommend eating them because the dye on the silk ties is not "food safe" to their knowledge. I have eaten the eggs and nothing has happened. They are perfectly delicious eggs. You may not want to eat them because they are so pretty. I find the prettiness wears off after the holidays as with any decorated edible item. I'm sure they can't endorse eating them because they have a professional opinion and have to stick to the guidelines. Enjoy!

Potato Soup a la Grab Bag....

So I decided to try a little experiment. In a case of inspiration a la Alicia (my friend the gourmet) I decided to stop by the local bodega and pick up 2 cans of chicken stock to mix with the cup and a half or so of garlic mash (with sour cream) leftover from Christmas dinner. I didn't want to buy an onion and go through the whole process of chopping, and I didn’t want to get some bacon to mix in as well. That would involve way too much cooking. It might be better to do that next time. Instead I used the leftover black eyed peas (already flavored with bacon) and used onion powder. I mixed everything together and began to cook. There was some leftover pepper jack cheese too so I threw that in with the leftover garlic goat cheese. I just dumped it in and let it simmer. It started to smell sooooo good. Then I saw the leftover roasted potatoes and pumpkin wedges from the holiday brunch. They were already infused with rosemary, mustard seed and cayenne pepper. I dumped those in and let it cook until soft. Then I pureed everything and added milk. This was now a thick and hearty soup and I was tasting like crazy. It was so incredible. THEN I saw the feta sitting unopened in the fridge from the holiday party. Since no one used it on their salad (the only healthy thing besides the fruit that day) and I didn't know when we'd use it again, I just dumped it in. OMG!! Whoa! That kicked the flavor up a notch. It is soooo rich and hearty. Wow! I must say that I impressed myself this time. Like I said. This will have to be recreated and perfected. Then I will make a recipe of it. Right now it’s a little heavy on the feta and some of the flavors are a little off balance, but it is so delicious I keep tasting it. Nothing will be like the first time though. So much dairy. Oy! I’ve never had a potato soup that tasted like this. A group of us are going to have to have a taste test so I can get opinions. ;)

New York 'Tudes

Wow. It has been 8 MONTHS since I wrote something. Right now what disturbs me about being in New York is the damn attitude that gets thrown around here. People who live here long enough get this attitude like the world revolves around them. Some are not afflicted with this disease. Most are because of the “dog eat dog” nature of the city and the amount of people here visiting. I see it more so since I’ve been working in the customer service side of things. I have been guilty in some cases, and so have my friends, but not to the level of temper tantrum sort of childlike behavior that these people are demonstrating. There are still social rules to follow no matter who you are or where you are from.

For instance; Timeliness. In my realm of work, if you are late, you are penalized. If I am late for work, I get a series of warnings that could lead to termination. If a customer is late for an appointment though, suddenly it’s a different story. In order for our system to work we only hold appointments for a certain amount of time. Just like in the work situation, if you are late after so long you are deemed absent. Yet I have heard all sorts of excuses. On some occasions the customer acknowledges they’re late and reschedules without much complaint other than their own self-bashing for how they arrived late. In other cases, which I have seen a lot of lately, they throw a fit. “But I am here!! I came all this way!! I demand!!” BULLSHIT! You are late! So what! Acknowledge your error and move on. If you are late, we are late. Then you complain even more. Blah blah blah blah. So you’re cancelled move on. Don’t demand from me. The world owes you nothing. I owe you nothing. Whatever. When I see a child throwing a fit and then getting appeased by candy or some other form of “reward” I just scoff at those parents. It’s those children who are going to grow up and continue their temper tantrums into adulthood. I actually had one instance where someone was more than 25 minutes late to an appointment just demand I get someone to help her right then and there. I almost laughed in her face, but just smiled and explained the situation. Then she wouldn’t let me talk because she wasn’t hearing the correct words in her head. I kept breathing and getting in moments when I could. The time was clicking by and eventually I was not giving her the answer she wanted to hear and asked for a manager. The manager gave her the same answer and eventually she rescheduled and went on her merry conceited little way. There are instances like this every day. I just don’t get it. If I were late, I just wouldn’t show up to such an appointment since there would be nothing that could be done except reschedule and that I could do on my own. Another instance of timeliness I saw was at the yoga studio where I practice. Class starts on time for a reason. There is a set series that work in succession and to interrupt would disrupt the peace and focus in the room. Yet people still manage to come late and expect to get in. WHAT!?! I overheard how one person even got in because he made a reservation, he was late, it was cancelled, and the room was full. Max to capacity. Yet he snuck by the sign in desk and went to class anyway. This causes all the other yogis to try and fit someone in that really cannot fit. Why do people do this and not know the repercussions of their actions? Ugh!

Rules in general are in place for a reason. I recently read an article in the paper about a Jet Blue employee who flew off the handle because a customer went for his bag before reaching the gate while the plane was in motion. COME ON!! I don’t blame him. He went up to the gentleman to ask him to return to his seat and wait for the plane to stop. The man mouthed off and told him to “fuck off” and the bag hit the steward on the head. The cabin steward then went nuts and told everyone to “fuck off” on the loudspeaker. Then he grabbed a beer and went down the emergency chute. Granted the employee went a bit too far, but I can see where he was coming from. What gave that man the right to think he was special above everyone else and just get his bag. The rule is there for a reason. Safety. What if there was an accident, a jolt, or anything that caused that man to fall and drop his bag on someone. People do not think. They are just in too much of a hurry to think. It’s just like when the subway pulls into the station and the idiots are lined up outside the doors to get in before you get off. I had to push some people out of my way the other day since they didn’t give me a clear path at all to get off. Usually people stand to the side to at least give a path. This time they just crowded. Come on people. Show some respect here.

These are just a few instances of New York madness. I’m sure it happens all over, but I think because of the density of the city I see it more frequent. My limits are being tested everyday. If I didn’t have my yoga, I would be in the same boat as the guy who just lost it on the plane.

Religion = Sexist, Egotistical, Lying, Hypocritical Bigot

What has awaken me from my blogger sleep? Right-wing religious fanatics. I don’t understand it. I grew up in a time when religion meant community, fellowship and sharing a common belief to relate old stories and lessons to current situations. A feeling of good. Now religion is as dirty as the Las Vegas whores who patrol the streets getting anyone they can to buy their goods. I once learned in school that the government was formed to rule as a separate entity from the church. See, there was this big problem in history using mystical beliefs and stories passed from generations to rule lands based on an ethereal being and killing people for not having a unified belief. There needed to be some separation and based on what is happening today I don’t see it. I see religion now as a group of people clinging together to preach hatred and discrimination. White power. Arab rule. Sexism. Racism. Terrorism. That’s just to name a few hot topics that come up regularly in the press. What gives Norma Jean of Hillbilly, KY the right to tell me how to live my life based on her version of God? What if I believed in the Wiccan version of God and Goddess, which has NOTHING to do with her Christian values. Or what if I were Buddhist? She has no right to tell me I’m going to hell if I believe in rebirth. This is really getting sickening seeing how much Christianity and Mormonism in particular are influencing our government.

What am I really peeved about? Marriage. First of all, marriage should NOT be defined by our government at all for any 2 people regardless of the union. Marriage has many definitions based on the individual religious belief. The government should be formulating a law of Civil Union. If they (as in the government) are going to give tax breaks and special benefits to people who commit themselves together in monogamy over a period of time, it should be a license of Civil Union. Such license would give each partner the ability to act as each other’s security blanket in a crisis instead of calling on distant family members who may have been removed from the partnership for whatever reason and are now making claim because they are “family.” Two people who love each other should be considered “family” anyhow. Why do we deny these rights to particular individuals? At one point rights were denied to people of different races. Why?!?! They ARE human and they DO love each other. What is so wrong with the color of their skin?!?! Now we are denying same sex partnerships the right to a recognized family. Why? Once again. Dirty religion. Religion that has become commercialized and bastardized. Any God would be ashamed of Its people who shouted such absurdities in Its name. So the egotistic, racist, sexist and hypocritical bigots of our nation who would deny two humans the right to a loving bond who themselves abuse marriage can tell everyone else that marriage is this Holy sanctity that only certain individuals are allowed. If marriage is so sacred and precious, why do we have places in Vegas where you can get married like ordering at a McDonald’s? Our country is just so backwards anymore.

If we could just accept that when we decide to enter such a partnership that we get a license of Civil Union (no exceptions) our world would be a better place. Let the church decide if it will recognize the union as a “marriage” under their God. Let’s not define marriage in our judicial system at all and give that definition to the churches. That way those churches that want to be more exclusive and right-wing can have such a right to do so. After all we do live in a country where we have freedom of choice in religion. This way it is group-specific and not law. You can choose to belong to such a fellowship of people who don’t recognize your union under God or not, but they MUST recognize your union under the law. So if your doctor belongs to such a group, they can’t legally impose their beliefs on you and deny your partner rights as “family.” To do so would be injustice. They can however keep their precious “marriage” definition and say they do not believe in your union under their God. You can then acknowledge their belief and express your own under your God. Both parties can then agree to disagree, but no one is shortchanged of their constitutional right as a partnership.

However here in America we are governed by the ole greenback. Everything is money. Church groups provide money and endorse politicians in their backhanded ways. Huge corporations impose their beliefs and give funds to sway votes a certain way. Nothing is fair is it? Not in our country. We may have free enterprise, but capitalism and greed run our country. No politician really looks out for the people, but only for themselves and their pocketbook. They keep their job based on what groups they favor rather than what the collective people need in our country. Until a true humanitarian steps up to battle and wins, we will be forever lost in a country of bigots and scandals based on religious fanatics, fear of change and power hungry idiots. The sad reality is that true humanitarians are knocked down and scandalized by the bastards fighting to keep their power base. Just look at our former president. A prime example. Meanwhile we sit here in America falling behind on the movement of social progression around the globe. Other countries have already accepted it. Hell, even a few states like IOWA have already accepted any couple who wishes to be united. As a country we are weak. We let our fears run our political system. The biggest culprit being fear of change. It just frustrates me that people in our country who think “travel” is going into the next county and staying in a motel as an idea of vacation and exploration are deciding our social order. They have no idea of what else is happening in the world other than what news stations tell them, and with stations like FOX news out there that is just scary.

I stand patient now since I have no rush to be united with someone at this moment. However I feel frustrated for my close friends who have found that someone in their life and cannot be recognized as a union. They have no rights under law as a partnership other than best friends. This doesn’t hold any clout in major life decisions as in purchasing a home, making medical decisions, joint medical care or liquidation of assets (heaven forbid). Emergency contact? The only substantial one to make a decision would be the closest living relative who may be thousands of miles away and have no idea what to do.

As we approach Martin Luther King, Jr.’s memorial we can be thankful and honor his words that MOST of what he fought for has come to fruition. We have our first colored president. Yet, we are still fighting for equality in different ways. It took us 41 years to get that far. I hope we don’t have to wait another 40 years or longer for same sex equality in our future.

Wasted...

Time has a way of eluding you in New York City. The months just pass by and 6 months later you’re still sitting in your apartment almost as undecorated as the day you moved in. It has been a slow process placing things in my room and out in the common areas to make it feel “homey.” After a busy audition season where I was spending a max of 7 hours a day being in my apartment other than sleeping to now just a mere 3 hours a day. That’s with an average of 5 to 6 hours of sleep. Other than the day job I have classes, social events, and travel time. Travel time is what really makes the hours pass by. Getting from A to B you can lose up to 2 hours of time or more. That’s a lot when you have multiple destinations. Needless to say, my apartment is still not where I like it and apparently I’m not the only one. A friend of mine has just put curtains up after 2 years in her apartment and they have been sitting there for a while. The abode is more of just a sleeping quarter than anything here in the city. Occasionally a place to have a gathering. It’s no wonder people live in closets. Why get a large space and worry about it all the time when you only spend 2 hours of wake time there?

Once in a while I do miss the slow lifestyle that accompanied my time on the cruise lines where I could spend a whole day lounging, working on projects, or just meandering through my place of residence (an entire ship). Especially when I’m twiddling my thumbs with no work in a cold office here in New York. Meals prepped and ready to eat, room cleaned on a daily basis, a new city every day even if it is repeated every week, and time to kill. There are drawbacks to every situation though. In New York I see time whisking by at an unbelievable pace, but I have my friends at my fingertips with many social events happening around me. I could visit family whenever I choose to (only lack of funds keep me from doing it so often). On a ship you have all the time in the world with a lax lifestyle, but there are rules, inspection, and lack of communication with the outside world. I guess there’s no ideal situation until retirement.

I walk around the city a lot. It’s what you do here. Who needs a car? The subways and busses (cough) take you everywhere. Subways mainly. The busses are just about as bad as having a car. Traffic. Traffic underground is far less worse than traffic above especially with the new pedestrian extensions in major tourist areas. In my walks I find several annoyances that just don’t make sense to me. One major gripe is the litter. I know a bit of it can be caused by overflowing trash cans with high winds (especially after major events). This is no excuse though. There either should be more cans (I often find myself walking several blocks before finding one) or more pick ups. Some of us are TRYING to be respectful and put our trash in a bin, but it’s difficult when the slimy mess is piled up and over and falling all on the streets and walks. Besides factors that are uncontrollable because of city budgets and high traffic areas there are the litterbugs. Because the trash can situation is such a problem to see someone just let a plastic bottle just fall to the ground or pitch a wrapper out of their car window is just flat out rude. I will hold on to my trash until I get home if I can’t put it in a city bin. Is it that hard? Lollipop sticks, hamburger wrappers, soda containers and gum even just dropped to the ground. Disgusting. It makes me despise the comforts of food packaging that we create so much garbage and don’t even dispose of it properly. Another big annoyance is the water issue. Mostly I find this annoyance around high end stores or apartments. Why is it that in California there are bans on water to prevent people from watering their lawns and flower beds and wash minimally yet here in New York City its okay to water the PAVEMENT? Concrete is not a living/breathing organism. Why does it need to be watered? Power washing is the worst? Why? To look pretty? It’s Concrete!!! Such a waste. I am not only trying to walk on the sidewalk and there’s some putz working for a rich shmuck watering the damn sidewalk. One morning it even rained (and I mean hard) and after my yoga class of 90 minutes the sun was out. The pavement was still moist and some idiot was watering the pavement. Watering the PAVEMENT! I saw him water the flower beds at least, but not like they didn’t just get a drink 90 minutes ago. Oy!

In general I think Americans are just wasteful. At least that’s what I’m finding. On a recent trip home we went out to a restaurant where everyone was walking out with Styrofoam containers of food. First of all, Styrofoam. Need I say more. The portions on this menu matched most of the clientele in size. I mean, whoa! It was a beer brewing place and you could tell by all the guts pouring out over the belt buckles. Reason? Because an appetizer was more food than I could imagine. An APPETIZER!! Something people usually order in ADDITION to their meal and I was carrying home a doggy Styrofoam of leftovers. How is this possible? How can an appetizer be more than a meal? Granted I took it home and it was consumed, but how many people just leave it? Or forget it? There are several buffet style lunch places here in the city. Some within a few stores of each other. In fact in the area I work (and I’m sure several other places) there are 2 right next door to each other. There’s a lot of food and at the end of the day where does it go? Then on a totally different matter from food I was listening to NPR radio this morning and there was debate about military spending. OMG!! Let us just not dive too deeply into that wasteful spending. Evidently in this instance there is a plane that took a quarter of a billion dollars to build and $50,000/hour to operate. $50k per hour?!?! What!?!?! What kind of plane is this and what do we need it for? The defense wants to commission 7 more! Holy #&$@!!! We’re in a hole so deep financially and the defense thinks we NEED this plane and 7 of them to top it off? Obama is threatening a veto, which the broadcasters said would start a Senate battle. Good! Go Obama!

I just don’t understand our mindset sometimes. In Europe there are some fabulously clean cities with excellent trash management and people actually respect the land. There are small and decent portions in restaurants. It also seems to me that Americans in general have poor money management. Credit cards and the housing bust. Need I say more. Plus our hotheads in the defense. Also they seem to have the ticket on an effective work day where people have time to just lounge during the day and still work efficiently without spending 8 hours in a cold dark office at the beck and call of some superior. We need to step up here and stop being like locusts eating up all of our resources or we will end up being led by a major corporation and leaving the planet while robots attempt to clean it up. Wall-E is not far from the truth that could be our destiny.

Funnel Cakes & Fun...

I had one of the greatest weekends away in a while. This weekend a bunch of us took a day at the theme park. Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, NJ. I hadn't been to a theme park in a few years and I was totally excited about being on some thrill rides to boost that adrenaline rush. The weekend started out calm and sketchy. All week the forecasters were predicting thunderstorms and rain for the weekend. It figures. A weekend at the theme park always spawns some threat of rain. Well the Thursday night drive down to the Jersey shore with my friend started to make that threat a reality. When we arrived it was cooler and there was a fog rolling in for the evening promising lots of moisture and cool temps for the next day. Upon awaking the next day, the forecasts were confirmed. A thick fog had settled on the area and it was drizzling and cold. Boo. Thank goodness that Friday wasn’t the day we were going. My friend and I only went down early since he was expecting a furniture order to arrive the day before we all met for Six Flags. I hadn't seen his beach place yet and needed a get away from the hustle and bustle. No computer and no TV. While he waited for the order I went for a walk just before noon. Suddenly the fog was lifting and even though I bundled up for the stroll I started to sweat. By the end of my walk the sun had peered through and the fog dissipated to nothing. Suddenly it was around 75 and sunny. I guess the forecasters were wrong about Friday or the rain got pushed to the next day. Oh no. It was still a wonderful day on the beach and the weather was absolutely stunning all through the day. It got cooler again at night and the fog rolled in. The worry started over.

I was up bright and early on Saturday. We were meeting at the local Wa-Wa before heading into the safari portion. It didn't look good. Rain, fog, and cold. I bundled, but brought extra light clothing just in case. It pays to be optimistic. By the time we were on the road it had just become cloudy and the fog was almost gone. No rain. The sky looked promising. All those times as a kid I woke up every hour or so to check the outside weather in anticipation of the next day. Here I was doing in many years later and still excited. We got to the Wa-Wa and met up with the rest of the group. By now the sky was just patchy with bits of sun and definitely warmer. No more jacket. Yay!! We went through the safari in 2 cars. It was good for the first 45 minutes and then I was ready to ride. We all were. The safari was fascinating especially since they come right up to your car. The more dangerous or "damaging" animals (baboons) were caged up. I guess at one point in time the baboons were free and jumped on people's cars and such. We did have some elk blockading us in at one point though and some very curious giraffe sniffing at the windows. We were through the safari. We only got busted a few times for having the windows down. Oops. Now on to the thrill rides. We had our park passes and another one of us got the fast passes. These enabled us to cut through the lines and make appointments for rides. We also discovered it gave us updates on broken down or temporarily closed rides. Neat. The threat of weather kept away enough to keep the park half full. Still enough, but not crazy. The fast passes worked very well on some rides. We got in and started off slow for some of our beginner riders. It turns out that our first encounter was broken down shortly after we got there. Boo. So we went to Nitro. The big guns. Oh well. 300+ feet on the first go. Let's do it!!! That ride was like an elevated Millennium Force. It seated 4 across and the seats were kind of elevated above the car. Freaky!! Awesome!! We made our way around movie town hitting the various thrill rides and then the arcade. We headed across the park to ride the great El Toro, but we were deterred by hunger. After a nice healthy meal or pulled pork, ribs, slaw, baked beans, and over ripe fruit, we were ready to tackle some more. A few of us went on the mine ride right away despite the ingestion of all those delicious morsels of theme park goodness. It was fine. I as a bit jostled, but okay. We took a reprieve and saw a masterpiece of theatre that only a 4 year old could have written at the dolphin arena. It was only 15 minutes, but I swear we had a full 2 hours there with intermission. The sun was baking us now and there wasn't a cloud in sight. Hurrah!!! It was a theme park dream. We made sure to douse ourselves in sun block to protect our fair winter worn skin from the sudden shower of UV rays. It was off to El Toro (a new wooden coaster at the park). The first drop was nearly straight down. There appeared to be no safety brakes throughout the ride and it was smooth. I rolled side to side at the end like a bucking bull. It was AWESOME!! We did a few rides on that one. We took in the rest of the rides including a vomitous spin on the ole teacup ride. Some of that was my fault, but I had a compatriot who was just as guilty and we were spinning that teacup like mad. I felt sorry for our third passenger. I never really get sick on those kinds of rides, but after putting out the effort of spinning it AND getting spun, I was even feeling nauseous. So if I was feeling nauseous, anyone a little squeamish was feeling worse. Oops. After a totally fun day and 2 more fast pass rides on Nitro in darkness (YES!!!), we all were spent and headed home for a good night of sleep. We were all going to sleep so well.

Today I woke up to the same dreariness, only this time it was a reality. No more fog lifting. It was cold and stayed that way. It was all good. I just took in my book and enjoyed the peace. My friend and I fell asleep in the car on the drive back. I felt bad for the driver, but that always happens to me in the car anyhow.

It was a fabulous weekend all around and I wish I could do it all over again. Now I'm feeling a bit of the low of such a high weekend as the new week approaches. At least this weekend for me was the kick off to summer. A start to festivals, outings, and skin burning weather.

The College Try...

Easter came and went. The audition season is about to fizzle out for the musical theatre jobs and I still sit with no gig. I DID give it my best effort though. I must have gone to over 100 calls for various things. I got good responses, but for the most part it was a luke warm response. A lot of it had to do with the crashing of the American economy. Quite a few Broadway shows, mostly musicals, closed in January and February. As I showed up for auditions more and more I noticed the Broadway folk were showing up for anything and everything. Summer seasons were packed at chorus calls. Principal appointment times were next to impossible to get unless you were in line at 6am. It was just insane. As the season began to fizzle so did attendance. One of my friends suggested that most might not be hiring because they already found people they wanted for this season from last season. I have no footing here in NY and from my observation it was mainly about whom you know and whom they trust. I know no one really. I saw lots of hugs and recognition of important people behind the table with my fellow peers. It was also about resume. One suspected that if you knew the show they were doing, your chances of getting seen for that show were greater. Theatres wanted shorter rehearsal periods to get the shows up making them cheaper. Also fewer contracts are being offered to union members since it is an expense to hire us. All these factors come into play in my first real audition season in NY. I've been here before for other seasons, but I've taken it casually since I had so much debt at those times. My survival (temp) job came first and it was 9 to 5. Almost all auditions happen right at peak working times. Just after 9 to 5ers start and just after the lunch break. It rarely goes into post work hours. You have to have an evening job, no job, work from home, or a VERY understanding employer to take full grasp of the audition season. Auditions are still happening, but now far and few between. From now until October is a time to train, make money from a survival job, and rethink material for next season. So it's back to the drawing board for next season. I'll try again, but this season really hit hard on the ego. When I lived in San Diego it didn't take me long to get on my feet and once I was in it, I networked like crazy and made connections. New York is a much bigger playing field with a plethora of players and they just keep flocking here every year. I hope to find something soon. Otherwise my next plan of attack will be to travel at sea for a while if possible and then settle somewhere. I've discovered I can only take so much of this constant pressure lifestyle before the Midwest in me surfaces and says: "whoa, what's happening?" I think those that grew up here are used to it all through life and can take more. The rest of us have a bigger battle.

So now the weather is perking up and it's time to shift focus. I DO have a show coming up at the end of the month with some friends of mine. We decided to call ourselves Harmonic Proposal and our show Enjoy The Journey is about living life to the fullest throughout and experiencing new things. It was fun and frantic to put together, but now it's finally coming along and we have just over a week before it's presented. I'm excited and nervous since it will be my first gig in the city taking place in the gayest part of town, the West Village, at the Duplex. For years we have been playing around at the piano learning parts and singing our favorite musical theatre songs and now we get to have a venue for it. Other than a small apartment and once in a while at a themed party. It was a learning experience getting to this point with promotional material, composition, and just pure business. A crash course so to speak. I hope to see it successful.

My yoga classes in the city are what has been keeping me not only sane, but fit. I started Bikram Yoga class in November after studying it in Seattle every Sunday I could over the past summer. Once I got into it after my intro month, I decided to take a plunge and work/study for my classes. In short I clean house for 5 hours every Friday and I get 5 classes in return (a savings on my budget of $180/month). I managed through my 30-day challenge this way. 30 days of Bikram yoga in a row. It was definitely challenging. More so on the scheduling side than on the physical side. Although the physical exhaustion came into play roughly around day 20. I was in the home stretch and feeling it. Every muscle was changing in new ways and I was working through it all. Now I practice at least 5 times a week or try to. My heart rate gets up so high and I sweat so much there's really no need to go to the gym. Especially since I take dance classes as well. I just need to focus on getting more protein now so I don't lose my muscle mass. That 90 minutes of pure focus though and escape from all that has happened throughout the day does help mentally. I always come out cool and collected and ready to face all the distractions of the city. Without it, I would have probably run out of here screaming.