Hitting the ground running.

2 weeks into 2013 and I'm already loaded up with projects for the coming months!

We'll start with fitness. After finishing P90X I took a few weeks off to go on vacation. When I can back I started Insanity, and let me tell you the program definitely lives up to the name. After the first week was finished my weight was sitting stable at 141lbs... Way lighter than I want to be. Given this fact I've decided a cardio intense program isn't what's best for me right now. So I've decided to make the insanity workouts a 3 times a week occurrence. Supplemented by muscle building days in between. So far I'm really digging it. I'm happy with where my body is right now, I love all the definition, but I'm hoping to add some real bulk in the next few months! I'll keep you all posted on that.

Next we come to theatre. Last year was the second year in a row that I did very little theatre, while I hate that fact, it was more intentional than the year before. At the end of last year I auditioned for Tick, Tick...Boom!, I did an amazing job in the callbacks, but didn't get the part. I'm totally cool with that for several reasons. The next day I ran into the assistant director of La Cage Aux Folles, I wasn't able to make the auditions for that show, but she asked me to come to callbacks... which I also wasn't able to make. The following week was littered with several calls back and forth between the director and myself trying to find a time I could come in and read for the role of Jean-Michel. I had told him that given my limited time left in ABQ I was being very choosey about what roles I would take. He understood, but also informed me that they had a guy they wanted for that part. I didn't want him to feel like I was demanding something I didn't even audition for, so I told him I understood if they just wanted to go with the guy who auditioned for the part. With that the door was closed. Until Two weeks ago when I was contacted again and told that the other guy had dropped, and just like that I was in the show!

I've also started putting in some major work on my Cabaret. Hal has agreed to be the director, Paul has agreed to be the accompanist, and Christy, A-Mo, and Jon have all agreed to be in it as well! This evening I printed out most of the music I'll be singing, and began typing up my patter. I'm super excited for the potential in this show!

Lastly, I've decided to take the GRE before leaving NM. No direct plans to return to school yet, but if I take the test I can head up to Chicago, get residency, and then decide if there's a program I want to jump into. It's stupid, but I got giddy at the prospect of heading back to school! I miss learning!

Because of all of this I have decided to leave my second job. I'm sad to be leaving this job as it's obvious I'm appreciated there by my co-workers and managers, but it'll be too much to keep up with both jobs. I'm going to miss the awesome people I have come to know at Tomato Cafe.

So there we go... A long update on what my life is right now, and what it'll be in the months to come! I'm looking forward to how busy I'm going to be, especially with everyone moving away.

Madrid at Christmas + HS Reunion of sorts

This is still a goal by the way. I realize I haven't posted about my NM bucket list in a while, but I'm still planning on getting these things done.

Over the past month I have accomplished two of these goals. The first was my drive through Madrid at Christmas time. The town is nothing special, even at christmas time, but one of my favorite Christmas memories as a kid is driving home from my grandparents house and seeing the lights in Madrid. It was like a little Christmas Village in the middle of nowhere.  One Sunday evening after working a double I met up with Christy, we picked up Starbucks, and started our evening trip to Madrid.
The drive was nice, Christy is one of the few people who is consistently there, so the conversation was fun. When we came into Madrid it was almost exactly as I remembered it. Again, the town isn't anything amazing, but the memories it brought up were worth the trip.

It was difficult to get photos that captured the bulk of the street, but those are my best attempt. They don't show off how illuminated the street was unfortunately.

This past weekend I accomplished another one of the items on my list. Antoinette came back in town and wanted to plan a get together of our old group of friends. Amazingly everything worked out! Bobby, Lydia, Aaron, Antoinette, and Amy were all able to be there. It was exactly what I had hoped for, seeing all of them again reminded me of how great HS was. I was am so lucky to still be in touch with them, but I'm sad that it may be a very long time before we're all together again. 

I love Antoinette's face in this one.

Eventually Adam showed up too!

While seeing everyone was amazing, it was especially great to see Bobby. He and I have definitely grown apart since our freshman year of College, but when we get together it's obvious there's still a strong connection there. Definitely going to try to see him more often before I leave.

So there we go! Two more items done! I have a lot more to go, but I'm confident I'll be able to get them done.