Home Bird

Of course my journey home would have to be exciting =)  Let me tell you about  the  first half.  So I get out of rehearsal at 10:30 last night, rush home, change, have some chocolate milk, say my good byes, and head to the airport! I type in the airport’s address into Maggie - my GPS system... she actually is a story all in herself! She previously belonged to my dad and is made by the company Magellan.. which is how she gets her name.  She actually is sexist... and I am about to prove to you why =) See she has a crush on my dad... hardly ever gives him any trouble.  My mom and I don’t like her much but since I’ve adopted her we have become good friends. Another thing you should know about Maggie is she has throat cancer.  Lots of times she completely loses her voice, she went through chemo and got better, but then the cancer came back! It was a sad day.  This time she got radiation treatments and has been fine since.  But last night she decided that she did not want me to get to the airport and refused to find my location and show me where to go! So I freaked out for a minute while I’m driving down the 15 then I just called my friend Walter who lives in Corona and he got me there... no thanks to Maggie!!  So I arrive at the airport and park after searching for the parking lot for 10 minutes.  I unloaded my stuff and start walking towards the terminal. As I’m walking I’m realizing how far away I parked.... THEN I realize that I’ve gone the complete wrong way and Continental Airlines don’t fly out of terminal 4 the fly out of terminal 2! So I turn around retrace my steps and finally make it inside the airport.  From here, pretty smooth sailing.  Made it through security and found my gate just fine.  Got some twizzlers, pretzels, and root beer and boarded my plane!  So now I am sitting on the plane in seat 11A... which Greg tried to steal from me...  but don’t worry I got it back! I’ll tell you about him later.  I think night flights are my favorite.  I like the view of the lights when you take off.  It’s kinda exciting cause you know whenever you are looking at the stars and you’re like OH! A shooting star! ... and then it’s just an air plane?  That’s me right now =) On a side note, I think I might like to be a flight attendant one day.... they get to travel cool places.... plus they get to walk around when the seat belt light is on!  Back to the star thing another                                                                                                                                                                                                     REALLY cool thing about night flights is that you can look straight out... not up.... OUT and see the stars =) it’s like I’m in the stars haha.... but really the big dipper is RIGHT there! Now Greg.... Greg is the lovely man snoozing next to me =) He is a man probably in his late twenties and is on the larger side.  When I sat down he informed me that the last flight he was on had sounded like there was a midget running around with a weed wacker on top of it.... I dunno how he could tell what a midget sounds like..... He is from Maine and he was in California visiting a friend.... unfortunately it was colder the past 2 days and he only brought shorts and t shirts... shame.  He loved the beach and he now loves the Young Americans.  On the aisle next to Greg is a woman whose name I don’t know but I’m just gunna call her Wendy cause she looks like a Wendy... She’s in her early twenties I think  and she has a cute hippie hat on.  She immediately let us know that she hoped we had no turbulence because she hates turbulence and she might have a panic attack and proceeded to work on a word search.  Well we did have turbulence upon take off... she held on to the seat in front of her with one hand and placed the other across her heart and looked like she might cry any minute.  The word search was forgotten and she looked over at Greg and said that she was having a panic attack.... Greg asked if she wanted to hold his hand, she did not...  Everytime we hit a little bump she gasped and mumbled something bout how she hated planes or flying.  Worried Wendy... now she’s playing music from her phone... out loud....  it’s ok though I kinda like them both =) Anyway, it’s almost 2 am! I’m fixin to catch some sleep.... more updates in Houston!!!

Tennessee Gem

It's Thursday morning and I am procrastinating on finishing a paper for my psychology class. It's my midterm exam grade which means I'm already half way through the semester! Time is flying and casting for my show in November should start soon! But the big news of the week... I'm coming home!!! I fly into Nashville at 9 AM on Monday! Because of rehearsals I can't make it home on the weekend so Monday and Tuesday will just have to do!! I'm so excited! My dad said it feels like Christmas and I have to agree! I hope I get to see everyone while I'm there so everyone let me know when you're free and I'll come say hello! On another note.... The head directors of the Young Americans, Bill and Robyn Brawley are in Corona as we speak... they are currently in hiding =) but are scheduled to show their faces at our rehearsal this weekend.   I'm so nervous! We've been working all week to be sure that we are ready for them to come but hopefully we won't mess everything up =) I went shopping this week at the COOLEST outdoor mall.  It's hippie to the max and it has an Urban Outfitters and a Buffalo Exchange (which is this cool consignment store that's like Goodwill on acid) and a bunch of other store that I can't remember the name of and then this cool cafe called the Gypsy Den that is like Starbucks/Dumplins meets California =) I got some cool stuff! Anyway, I just wanted to make the quick announcement and hopefully tomorrow I will be posting with pictures of my new family here in CA =) 

Love You All!!!

One by One

Wow wow WOW.. So i had to wait until this morning to talk about my day yesterday.  First of all let me just say... without all of you mom's out there freakin out, that this week has relatively been a bad week =/ Classes have been overwhelming and just plain hard... I have discovered muscles I didn't know I had! And well I don't know if you know how I feel about school... but I don't like it (be proud of me for not saying hate! ) =) But actually classes are kinda fun and a lot more interesting than high school classes... but anyway! I have left the warehouse every night with a bad headache! And I've just been plain frustrated this week.  Well last night/yesterday was our Sunday rehearsal which is 9 hours long... and I went in not excited about it at all.. expecting to leave with this horrible headache AGAIN.  We started out the afternoon working on 42nd street.... the big tap number! I was scared of it because I am NOT a tap dancer... but actually I got it really fast and I even learned my triple time step!! One of our directors, Ross, came up to Alisha and me and told us we were doing really good and actually asked us if we were tap dancers (which i don't know if I mentioned.. we are NOT!) so that kinda made my day =) So thats just the beginning... NEXT we learned the Beatles medley!!!! After we learned the choral part they asked if anyone knew the solos (which I do happen to know since I LOVE the beatles!) So before I knew what I was doing my hand shot up and I hear myself saying "Me, me, me, me, me!!" hahaha Well Nick (director) looks at me and goes (get ready for your heart to melt =P) "You're so cute.. come sing!" So I'm like OH NO! haha but actually I think I did pretty good I sang "If I Fell" and It was really exciting... and of course when we sang "Let it Be" everyone cried because we're Young Americans and that's what we do.  BUT HERE, is what I really want to talk about.... 

Wow wow wow... We finished the night by doing Lion King.. Which is, to me, what Young Americans  revolves around almost... they have done it on every tour I've been a part of and it is absolutely my favorite.  I was BORN to do Lion King =) So I told you yesterday we learned all the songs and today we finished learning the dances... And they are all very emotional in that in every dance you really have to be breathing in time with the person next to you and there is someone ripping his hands off playing the djembes and you all have these massive bamboo sticks in the beginning and you're creating this heart beat that goes throughout the whole song! SO the other thing about Lion King is while your dancing.. your friends are behind you singing in a choir... It's like there would be no music if they weren't behind you supporting you.  So let me describe the order a little bit... It starts out with one guy on stage and he starts the "heartbeat" along with the djembes.  The choir starts singing as the dancers come on stage "One by One" (which is the name of the song) Next is "Shadowlands" and thats when the land goes dry and it's the dance where you have to absolutely be breathing in time with everyone in the dance... I can't describe it it's like you're one person dancing in that song... so then the choir starts singing at the same time that the dancers turn around and do this part where you're breathing in and out in and out for like 8 counts and on both sides you look out and see your best friends dancing for you or singing for you and it is just this pivotal point in the dance where there's this crazy connection with your friends.  ( I know I'm getting intense about this number you'll see why lol) So next it goes into "Circle of Life/He Lives in You" This is the crazy African dance that is the happiest/funnest/craziest/breakyourneck dance ever! And when you're in the choir you get so excited watching them dance that you can't help but just scream "He lives in you!!" when it's time haha.  So then the choir comes down off the risers and joins with the dancers and everyone stands in the middle and sings " 'Till we find our way, on the path unwinding in the circle... circle of life" And then the dancers go forward and do one last crazy jump then fall to the floor while the choir sings these crazy beautiful high notes.  ALL that to tell you because last night we did Lion King 6 times in a row! ( That has never been done before EVER) I know it doesn't sound like a big deal to you but Lion King is the most intense dance vocally, physically, and emotionally.  So we did it with 6 different dance groups and everyone else sang in the choir.  So the first 2 times Nick Titus (director) directed the choir.  He gets sooo into it when he directs so obviously the choir is getting into it too.  So the third time I'm singing again... for the third time.  And this time Nick asked Melody (director) to direct the choir.  Also, the guy who came in to do drums for us hands his djembes to one of my friends Walter... who had learned the drum part earlier.  So the last part of this go round is that one of my best friends here, Erin (random right? but not my sister =P) is dancing and Tara (director) gives her the mini solo at the beginning.  So Melody starts out before we start singing by saying that she has never directed Lion King before so "bear with her" We start the song.... my friends are dancing... my friends are playing the drums... I'm singing in a choir of 75 people... it comes to the part where the dancers turn around and look at the choir... Erin caught my eye... (I am so my mother) she loses it... I lose it! And I don't know what it was other than the fact that... I AM A YOUNG AMERICAN!!! I'm doing Lion King and it's not old kids telling us what to do or doing the solos ... it's me! and it's my friends! Well I couldn't sing I was so overwhelmed with this realization.. so there I stand on the front row crying and attempting to sing.  I was a sight =) I look over and Erin is still crying and then behind her stand the drummer guy and he's crying and beside him is Nick Titus and HE'S crying!!  And Melody is crying because she's never directed this before and later said that we as a choir just overwhelmed her! So after we had a 5 minute break and apparently it was ME that made Nick Titus cry he came up to me and said "Lindsay! Can I just say thank you so much for that in there, you just completely let down all your guards and I totally connected with that, thank you so much you're absolutely amazing" ?!!!! Of course I cried again... And then we did Lion King 3 more times =) I got to do the dance and then sing one last time and after talked to the directors for forever and finally I feel like the directors are connecting with us (or at least I connected!!) and they are great mentors! And reading back over this I know we sound like a big bunch of emotional basketcases.... BUT the thing about this group is EVERYTHING is a lesson of some sort, whether it be a dance or a song or just a story... there is always some sort of insight from Ross, or Nick, or Melody, or Tara.  And I sat there talking with Melody and Tara afterwards and told them that I can't wait to be the one teaching a kid and get to pass on the insight they are giving me... because they are SO brilliant in the things they say to us! All that to say... I left the warehouse last night with no head ache at all... happier than I had been all week and so thankful for the place God chose to put me this year.  

Circle of Life

OK! don't kill me! I wrote this amazing..  I mean AMAZING blog entry where I had pictures and introduced you to my roommates and other friends here... and for some reason it didn't post and is floating around somewhere in cyber space.  So I'll save that for another day when I'm not dead tired and ready to go to bed.  Nothing too exciting is going on right now... I'm finally into the swing of classes I think, we already had a paper to write!! Other than spending a beautiful day at the beach nothing really exciting has gone on.  That is unless you count the toilet overflowing.  YUCK and not only did we use every towel in the house... but then our washing machine broke.  OH yeah... we had like 2 clean towels in the house. But both are fixed now thankfully! rehearsals are getting INTENSE! They want to teach us every dance in the Young American repertoire before they decide what numbers they want to put in our show! So far we have learned 

Dances:

Sing, Sing, Sing

Jump Jive

Beach Medley

Hair Spray : 4 dances in Hair Spray

Decades: 10 short dances in Decades

LION KING!!: 3 dances

Choral Music (etc.):

Morning Has Broken

Shenendoah

Take My Hand

Most Unusual Day

Bunch of Christmas stuff..

LION KING!!!: 3 songs ( all in crazy language ie: eeh bah bay nee jo lee bah kintz ze ning din waaaah) (looove it )

Notice the Lion King in all caps =) we learned Lion King today and it is the most intense dance and music ever in the history of Young Americans.  I think I broke my neck and back doing all the african jumps and turns and stuff like that and then when you get to the music... wooh! I don't even know what I'm saying =) An Alumni named Adrian came in and taught us the music and she is incredible! We keep meeting these crazy amazing people, not to mention our new kid directors are AMAZING... did I mention that all four of them are the most beautiful people I have ever seen ( oh and today I got to do the partner dance for the Swing number with Nick Titus (one of our NK directors) everyone was HATIN! haha don't tell anyone I said that) ANYWAY I'm sorry I have been slacking in the whole updating everyone thing... I'll work on it, maybe I can write more during my Psych class.... just kidding! ( but really =P) 

LOVE YOU ALL I'll post gain soon!!

Feelin' Groovy

I know I haven't posted in a while but my week has been less than exciting up until this weekend when I started my classes!! My teachers are pretty cool for the most part.  My Vocal techniques teacher is 4' 8" and she's from Alabama, and I can't remember her name but she is southern and sweet and very talented! My Dance technique's teacher is named Kate and she's a great teacher! Improv is a super fun class where we basically just play games and then last thing on Saturday morning is Choral... with the whole new kid class and David Listenberger... he's an amazing conductor and we've learned some beautiful songs already! The 2nd half of the day and Sunday afternoon-night consist of rehearsals for our  New Kid Show!  We started out with an intense dance number called "Sing, Sing, Sing"  which was really fun and did some other choral stuff too.  Then on Tuesday we started weekday classes.  They're night classes that consist of 3 different courses: Music Theory, Stage Craft, and Psychology / Psych Discussion.  My Theory teacher is a guy named Michael who looks like he stepped out of the 70's... complete with an afro, alligator boots, flared pants, and floral print button down shirts.  Guy is crazy and fun... and semi confusing, but very smart and knows his stuff.  Stage craft, unfortunately, is a very boring class, but today we got to learn how to tie some knots! Woohoo!  Psychology and Psychology discussion have 2 different teachers.  My regular Psych teacher is a guy who has his doctorate in psychology and used to teach at Pepperdine and a hundred other schools too.  He's awesome and a very good and interesting teacher.  Then on Wednesdays we have Psych lab which is a totally a hippie class where we sit on the floor in a big circle and talk about our feelings.  Fridays we have a 5 hour health/human body class... I'll let you know how that goes... sounds horrid.  Also on Tuesdays and Wednesdays I have Jazz, Ballet, Tap, and Hip-Hop classes and also a voice class.... so I'm pretty busy.. But I'm having a blast!!! I must say I'm still overwhelmed that everytime I get on the free way there are HUGE mountains on everyside... and that he beach is like 20 minutes away.... blows my mind.  I'm also looking for a job which is proving to be impossible so pray that God will send one my way soon!  One last treat for you before I go on to bed... Click here!  Wait 30 seconds and I'm second so you can hear me sing and watch me dance a bit.. it's short but this is what we did at our "Meet and Greet" a couple weeks ago and someone happened to film it!! And you'll get to see some of the talent we have here... this isn't even close to everybody... there are some other AMAZING singers and dancers in the group..but the last girl that is a rockin tap dancer is my roommate Alexis!! so Enjoy!!

Electric Feel

I'm sorry it's been so long!

A lot has heppened in the life of me =) On Sunday we performed a short show that we worked on all weekend for our directors and some other people that were at the warehouse.  I got a dance solo! and I got to do the swing number, it's a partnering dance.  That was really fun and a good chance to meet the rest of the new kids that I haven't met yet.  This group is the most emotional, soulful, crazy group of people.. and I think I may have said that before in so many words, but everyone just cries all the time here haha! They tell us not just to sing words on a page or dance the choreography we're given, but to dance and sing with feeling.. which causes tears mont of the time =) SO.. On Monday I get a call saying that Chelsea is gunna be going to Universal Studios! So I grabbed Erin and Rosalie (2 girls from Canada that I'm friends with) and we make the drive to Hollywood.  Chelsea ditched her soccer team and Rosalie and Erin disappeared at some point so we spent the whole day just me and Chelsea... it was wonderful and so much fun! I got my country accent back and everything! We got matching bracelets that we got engraved to say "sunshine" and "say-say" (because we did originate those nicknames)  And even though Chelsea spent part of the time upset because her boyfriend is a meany face... it was still wonderful to be in the company of someone I was completely comfortable with... I left with my love tank full... and with a couple of Christmas presents =) (Jackson watch out!) Oh I also left with a tube full of 3 foot long twizzlers from this gynormous candy store!!  On Tuesday we made a trip to GoodWill, which is amazzzzzing here by the way, and after at about 4 we decided to make a trip to the beach.  We ended up on 9th street in Newport, which just so happens to be a completely deserted beach which was BEAUTIFUL.  And of course I forgot my camera,  but we had a great time there.  Then we walked down to the pier and ate at this restaurant called "Rubie's" AMAZING food people... you gotta go there if you come visit.  It's just a burger joint/diner on the end of the pier but it was SOOO good :)  Yesterday my roommates disappeared to go to some dance class and the East Coast cast left for their 3 month tour... This meant that no one, not old kids, not roommates would be coming through my door... So I took my chance and cleaned our dirty house! I must say that it looks amazing! That brings us to today.  It's actually cloudy here in sunny California which is quite depressing.  But it's only 11:30 so maybe it will clear up! Today I'm going to go get my car fixed and maybe get a job :)  Yesterday I got to video chat with Molly, Anne Wallis, and about 7 of my guy friends that are going to MTSU.  It was awesome to see their faces, I didn't really realize I would miss all my guy friends as much as I do :), but the funny thing is is that this little apartment is starting to feel like home! And I would be very sad to leave the friends that I've made here too! It would be weird not to see them everyday! Don't worry I'll still be home at Christmas!!! 

Time to start my day.... Bye!!

Here Comes the Sun..

This morning my friends and I got up at 6 AM to watch the sunrise! It was beautiful =) It rises over the mountains here and sets over the ocean... what more could you ask for? The Europe cast got on a plane and flew into Germany today which means the warehouse (common name for our studio) is much less crowded than it has been.  On Wednesday night and Thursday night we all went to the warehouse to watch the Europe tour and the East Coast tour do dress rehearsals of their shows!! They did incredible!! More tears throughout the building! My big sister Cassie is off to Europe but my big brother is still here for another week! Tomorrow morning we are doing a workshop with the East Coast tour.... they're gunna teach us the whole second act in 2 days! It's gunna be CRAZZY! Just for those of you who aren't exactly sure WHAT exactly it is that I'm doing out here in California... I'm a part of a group called the Young Americans.  We send out outreach tours every fall and spring and basically go into to school systems and work with kids doing workshops... ie: teaching the kiddos a show in 3 days and then and performing alongside the students in a 2 act show... all trying to get music integrated back into the school systems.  I train here in Corona for 2 semesters and then I can start heading out on tours in April! I am taking classes here while I'm learning all our repertoire though.  So I'm in school at California Pacific College of Performing Arts... but really I'm a member of the amazing Young Americans =) BUT.. today I got a break from it all and got to get a little bit of home! Chelsea Elkins (aka my "Sunshine"), her mom, and her soccer team all happen to be staying about 30 minutes from me while they are in California for a soccer tournament!!  I went to watch them play today and got about a 5 minute hug from my Chelsea! I miss her lots! Hopefully I am gunna be able to see her again before she leaves on Tuesday! It was also nice to get a hug from a mommy... even though it wasn't my own =( Anyway! I should get some rest! I have workshop tomorrow! Love you all!! 

P.S. : SOOO sorry to anyone I haven't had a chance to reply to on facebook! I don't ever have much time to reply, only to check it and read the sweet messages ya'll send! Thank you to everyone for your love, thoughts, and prayers! 

P.P.S.  I officially decided that I support McCain/Palin!! My roommate got a job as an intern at UC Riverside and she is in charge of registering people to vote... and although she's a democrat that's ok! EVERYONE REGISTER! I found out today even though I live out of TN I can still vote in Novemeber =) And so can you!!!