My Day Off

Today I had the day off! I slept late- just past noon :) and it was glorious. I shuffled out of my room in about 30 minutes and walked around downtown. I found a great antique shop where I got a lot of my Christmas shopping done :) Only problem is, now I have to find somewhere to keep all the stuff.... after I dropped that all off at the train I headed out again to Brueggers. I got a bakers dozen and a few tubs of my fav cream cheese and a bagel sandwich to go. I found a great park where there is a fairly big pond and 100s of ducks! I had a great time. I was followed the entire time and everytime I would try to sit on a bench and read I would look up and be swarmed by colorful ducks. What a great way to spend the afternoon. I am back at the train now- doing laundry and what not. A group of us are going to go out to eat tonight- not sure where... so far I really like Huntsville. Tomorrow is opening day- 2 shows- 10:30am and 7:30 pm. yuck.

Welcome to the South

we arrived to huntsville, al early this morning. we had the animal walk (a nice short one) at around 2pm and since the arena was so close to the train we were able to leave and walk back. the train is in a nice area- located in the middle of downtown. there are a lot of places to eat (including BRUEGGERS BAGELS!!!!!), antique shops, a mall, bookstores, about 20 churches, etc. we have tomorrow off so i think i am going to hit up some of the antique shops and try to see if i can find the mall. the weather is nice- daytime high is upper 50s and it drops to low 40s high 30s at night. 8 more shows- then we go to fl....counting down the days.....

So Long, Chicago

we are finally leaving chicago! dont get me wrong- i had a GREAT time here, but winter has moved in and i am ready to head south. thanksgiving day was wonderful. i was home for a glorious 18 hours and was in tears by the time my parents dropped us off at the airport. i left with most of the leftovers and 4 pounds of beef jerkey my brother made for me. i was so upset that i had to leave home that i got trashed at the airport bar and passed out before we even took off. :) whoops. the past few days have been incredibly long and COLD. 3 shows friday, 3 shows saturday and 2 shows today plus loadout. i had dinner last night with a friend from college- i hadnt seen her in almost 4 years so that was a lot of fun and a lot of catching up. today didnt break freezing all day. it snowed/sleeted and we had to break out the winter coats for the horses. they look so damn cute in them! i am back to the rain now, showered and ready for a movie. tonight we head to huntsville, alabama where we have out last 8 shows of the year. i am looking forward to florida. though, i think i am ready to be home..... no scratch that.... i am ready to be home....

my friend, julie, came to visit me the past few days. we had a great time and i stayed in the hotel with her which meant i got a big queen size bed! it was so great. she came to the show on sunday afternoon and met all the animals. she even got a picture with julie the tiger and asia the elephant. that night a bunch of people went to a tiki bar- we had a blast! monday i had off and we took the metra downtown and went to field museum. we saw sue the t-rex. it is one of two complete models to ever be found. it was pretty neat. the dinosaurs head weighed 600 pounds and was 5 feet long. we saw a bunch of other neat stuff- tombs, mummy's and a lot of fossils. for dinner we went to a great pizza place. everyone always talks about chicago style pizza and it sure is damn good. we had cheeze and spinach stuffed pizza. mmmmmmmmmmm. we went to the movie, fred claus, last night and made it back to the hotel by midnight. she left today :( it was great to see a friend though! tomorrow casey and i fly home!!! oh i cannot wait. i miss home, my family and of course my puppies. i wont even be home for 24 hours- i have to fly back here thursday evening. blah. on sunday we leave chicago and pack up for huntsville, alabama. we have a short schedule there then we head south for the winter. 6 weeks in florida. how nice......

I have been reading a great book, "Kicked, bitten and scratched" by amy sutherland. it is a true story of a 2 year college program where students learn to train exotic animals. in it, she talks about what it is like to work in the animal industry- ups and downs. here are a few of my favorite passages-

"what 'animal people' do everyday is controversial. though their drams of working with animals may have been born in the innocence of childhood, animal people now find themselves on the front lines of a fight they didnt pick. no matter how good their intentions, they are the declared enemy of the animal right movement"

"most children are drawn to animals, but for osme that feeling does not wane as they grow up but rather it intensifies."

"when you are working with animal poop, getting sweaty, getting huge muscles, you have to do something that is girly. this is why we strap on shimmering belts, pull on socks with pawprints, and clup on silver earrings. some of us even brush on mascara and even nail polish."

"i have always considered myself an animal persons, meaning i not only felt at easy with most things furred, feathered, scaled, even fanged, but moreover, i found them an endlessly comppelling and integral part of the world. a life without this passion has alwasy struck me as a lesser one, and i admit to being a hard judge of people who do not share my love for the animal kingdom."

A NOT So Family Friendly Circus

We had a mix of tigers here- breeds and both sexes. This past week our female cats were in heat which caused quite the rise in some of our boy kitties. During one of the shows Shear Kon (a male) mounted one of the females and wouldnt get off. Now if you have ever seen wild cats mate it is not a pretty sight- very violent and raunchy. We had our very own circus animal porn for all the families and kids to watch. Needless to say- Shear Kon was not allowed in any of the shows the rest of the week and was quite pissed about it- roaring as loud as he could the entire time the other cats were gone. If you have ever heard a cat roar it is quite chilling. Pretty cool. We are playing at the United Center the next 2 weeks- I think all cats will be a part of the show. Rehersal tomorrow- we will see if he is still "in the mood"....

Our Animals Are Spoiled

proof our animals are spoiled:

today we were stuck at the building all day- management ordered us a bunch of pizza's in return. the horse barn actually stays pretty warm since we keep the side walls drawn and run a heater through most of the day- so we chose to eat the pizza in the barn. the horse's apparently LOVE pizza.... anytime one of us would walk by a stall the horses would kick the stall door as loud as they could until they got a bite of OUR food. champ the mini pony has been eating pizza as snacks since he was born 10 years ago. he was running in circles in his stall and making so much noise i suppose as his way of saying, "what the hell do you think you are doing eating pizza in front of me!?!?" we of course shared with him too. spoiled. now the elephants- i was admiring them today as i do everyday. joe- the head trainer- brought chipolte back for lunch. it was so funny- the minute after he unwrapped his burrito 6/10 elephants turned and faced him and walked right up to the end of their enclosure. and i watched as he gave 1/2 of his burrito to each of the elephants. SPOILED! i am back at the train now. nicky- my neighbor gave me a little toasted oven the other week- tonight i tried to toast a grilled cheese and tomato sandwich in it and ended up starting a fire. whoops. looks like after 5 months of not cooking in a kitchen i have lost my touch a little bit. and YES- FIVE MONTHS! tomorrow is my 5th month of being in the circus. crazy. hey- at 6 months i get a TINY raise. woo-hoo. well- time to watch the usual suspects and go to bed. early bus again tomorrow. gotta love being animal crew.......

What a WICKED Night!

last night i got to see wicked! what a great musical. i have had the soundtrack on my ipod for over a year now and i can finally picture what it actually going on :) the theater was beautiful, i got an $8 magnet (yikes) to add to my traveling collection, and had chills throughout the entire performance. if i could afford it- i would go again. but unfortunately i make less than minimum wage so what can ya do? today we had only one show- i had practice in the morning then came back to the train and watched a movie. winter is fast approaching- it is already 10 degrees colder than it was last night. ugh. not too much else going on- i bought a new book last night- "kicked, bitten and scratched- life and lessons at the world's premier school for exotic animal trainers"- i think i will sit down, sip on some vodka and enjoy my book.

love,

me

Damn This Wind!

so far i really love chicago. i have spent entirely too much money at the target across the street from the arena- but what the heck else am i going to do when i have a 5 hour break from work and cant go back to the train? today we had a dark day. dark day = day off! woo-hoo! i actually woke up early- 9am- did laundry, had a great chocolate shake at some mexican restaurant and went to see the movie, american gangster- great movie. i was asked how i can stand to have a cold shake when it is so cold outside- i think the high today was about 40. i informed the person that 1. we arent even close to the lakes yet, so they better prepare themselves for real winter and 2. i am from minnesota. i am back at the train now- casey and i are going to catch a bus- hop on the red line and go into his old neighborhood and eat dinner at a hole in the wall italian restaurant that he fell in love with when he lived here. tomorrow i have to go into work to muck out- alex said he would let me ride asia tomorrow!!! so i am bringing my camera and this time i can get a real picture- not just one on my phone! tomorrow night we are going to WICKED!!! oh man i am so excited for it- i should get back from work around noon- i think the plan is that we will catch the train into the city and go exploring. i really want to see field museum- so hopefully we have enough time to do that. the play is at 7. cant wait. well- time to go eat dinner

xoxo