Ford F150's

So today after lunch we had a brief hang up as the Senator from Montana (Max I don’t know his last name) stopped by MCT (Missoula Children’s Theatre) and also a representative from the Ford Motor Company. In case you don’t know MCT has for the past several years sent all of their tour actor’s out on the road in Ford Rangers. Not the most comfortable ride, since they are packed to the gills with stuff for our show, but not as awful as the Toyota trucks they used to have. So in the past year MCT has started to convert the fleet into Ford F150’s. Much newer, bigger trucks. Please those of you who are concerned about the gas we are using, if you saw the amount of stuff that we had to CRAM into these trucks, you would be grateful for a bigger truck also, no matter what the gas. ANYWAY, the Ford Motor company donated 5 BRAND NEW Ford F150’s to MCT and the Senator helped in the process. Ford also gave them a deal on the lease rate for the rest of the trucks to help save MCT some money since it is a non- profit organization. AWESOME!!!!! Today we had to take a picture in the parking lot with all of our trucks, the senator and the founders of MCT. It was fun and a nice break from working. Today we also had to inventory our sets/ the contents of our trucks. Not so much fun. Hot, sweaty work. Lots of hauling huge, heavy bags full of stuff, and running around the parking lot asking if anyone has an extra Nasty wig or “Have you seen my tomato?” (We use giant wooden vegetables in the show. One of our songs is entitled Veggie Stew). This process also involves truck switching. We got our temporary trucks on Tuesday, and my tour partner and me had one of the newer Ford F150’s, but today WE GOT ONE OF THE BRAND SPANKING NEW ONES!!!!!!! We got into our truck after we packed it and it only had 33 miles on it! Crazy! I’ve never driven a vehicle with that low of mileage on it. So when it all comes down to it, we have basically everything we need for our show, it’s all sitting in the back of our beautiful new Ford F150. Also if you ever see a Big Red Truck that says Missoula Children’s Theatre on the side and has a license plate of MCT 53, THAT’S ME. So you better wave.

REALIZATION.

I realized today at the end of our strenuous, sweaty day that I haven’t said anything really positive about my experience here. I can’t imagine doing anything else with my life right now. It is amazing that all day I get to run around being a Nasty (yes that is the name of one of the characters in our show) or a Cook or a Gingerbread man or a big Wallybird. IT’S UNBELIEVABLY AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can’t believe it. Right now I’m in a large room at the dorms, discussing whether or not our Grannies/Grandpas should have German accents or not and also if Cousin Wallies should be German, Minnesotan or just nerds. It’s really interesting. It’s just a children’s show and our characters only have to be broad and have lots of energy so that the kids feel it and it builds their confidence. I LOVE it. I’m exhausted and weary, but it’s because I’m doing THEATRE. I know it’s just children’s theatre, but it’s still something in my chosen field rather than verifying insurance. Yeah!!!!

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am on information overload!!!!!!!!! I’VE ONLY BEEN HERE TWO DAYS AND IT FEELS LIKE TWO WEEKS. All I’ve been doing is sitting, writing and also running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Boo. We have rehearsal from 9:00am to 9:30pm everyday with about 45 minutes for lunch and about an hour for dinner. It’s just exhausting. Then we are supposed to find some sort of time to look over all of the information that we’ve learned in a day and all I want to do is go to bed on my rock hard mattress. (I shouldn't really complain, since they are housing and feeding us for free) :) I understand their method of madness, but it is tiring. We have to learn our part, learn all of the blocking, choreography, music, costume changes, set changes, lighting changes for the show and ALSO learn how to teach it all to the children in one week. It is a lot of information to take in so of course training will be grueling, but boo. I’m tired and it’s only then end of day two. It was pretty amazing today. We had a teaching theory class for two hours taught by the founder of Missoula Children’s Theatre. He is the MOST passionate man that I’ve ever met in my life. He was teaching us how to teach and the way he spoke, you could just tell that this is exactly what he wanted to be doing with his life and he was so thrilled that he could change the life of ONE kid. It’s amazing. I can’t even describe the amount of love that this man has for what he does. Wow.

Disclaimer Alert!!!!!

So I know that the address for my blog looks like Kotlarek Swings, HOWEVER, I just want to clear the air and state that it is really meant to be Kotlarek’s Wings. I wasn’t able to use punctuation in the address and didn’t realize what it actually looked like. So no judging. And I don’t swing.

Wow. First entry. Saying goodbye is probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done. WTF am I doing!? I’ve just left all of my friends and family behind for a year to drive around the country in a pickup truck!?!? I know that in order to feel the joy and ecstasy of hello, you have to say goodbye, but I don’t approve. I’m going to arrive in Missoula severely dehydrated because I can’t stop crying and they don’t let you carry your own water bottles on the plane and the ones in the airport cost $4.00!!!!!!! Ridiculous. I’m done, that’s my little rant on the stupidity of airline regulations. I feel like I’m going to vomit. Boo. It’s just nerves. Ick. I hate waiting. If this entry gets dumb, it’s purely because of the fact that I’m bored. I really wish that your loved ones could still accompany you to your gate to say goodbye. Although it was good to just get it done with. It was like ripping off STITCHES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Boo.
Thanks Dad for the first class ticket. I had a wonderful chicken Caesar salad for lunch while enjoying my cushy leather chair that was actually wide enough for my butt. During take off we came up through the clouds and I said to myself in my head, “ It’s like Narnia!” Don’t judge . I talk to myself all the time and usually it’s out loud so I was lucky that that particular phrase was in my head. I just finished reading all seven Chronicles of Narnia and was a little disappointed at the ending. (Don’t worry if you haven’t read them I won’t spoil it) If you haven’t read them you should because they are really good books and really quick reads. If you don’t like fantasy, cool, never mind. I love clouds. I wish sometimes that I could fly and then when I got tired I could just curl up in a cloud. You know like the Zeus character in the first Fantasia movie? Nice and soft and squishy.
So day one is almost over and everyone I’ve met so far is really cool. There isn’t an internet connection in the dorms where we are staying so you’ll have to bear with me as I find random internet connections. It’s funny you don’t know how much you use the internet until you can’t use it. Guess where my first tour spot is. I bet you never will. Where’s the one place I didn’t want to tour? You guessed it The MIDWEST. Our first stop is FARGO NORTH DAKOTA!!!!!! Boo. I’m bummed. The rest of our tour is in Wisconsin, Michigan and Illinois. Luckily that is just for the summer. Hopefully, HOPEFULLY, I will be touring somewhere a little more interesting come fall. Not that the Midwest isn’t great, it’s just that I live there and would like to explore a new region. Also get this. They’re putting us up in the dorms and we have a sink in our room. Cool, no problem there. But, when you go to the bathroom lo and behold….no sinks. They just have a little dispenser of hand sanitizer on the wall. WTF? If anyone can explain that to me, I’m listening ‘cause I don’t get it and it’s weird.