this one is pretty heavy

So I just finished yet another weekend of two-show days. It really is interesting to me that for the rest of my life I will have the opposite schedule of the people in the real world. Weekends are my busiest work days! Becuase of this all the weekend entails is shows and a meal. This weekend's meals were Outback Steakhouse and Indian food (which I am currently obsessed with). Other than that, there wasn't much going on. OOOooooo, except the people from New Zealand.

If you've been reading this blog for a while you might realize that one of the things people on this tour like to talk about is where it's going next. Even when they have no idea, there's always a lot of speculation going on about what's to come. Right now we are in Hong Kong. For good. We are here for the next six weeks (actually this leg has officially reached the half-way point as of yesterday) and then we go home. Period. However, there are always talks of extensions, and rumors that this tour will never end, and it will continue until I am actually old enough to BE the Mother Abbess. Since we arrived back in Asia there has been non-stop talk about where we're going next. The latest and most long-standing rumor is that the tour will be picked up again in the spring for an undecided amount of time. Even though we have no official word, there are a lot of rumors, and people are constantly throwing out the "do you believe the..." or "would you come back if...". I guess a few days ago we were hearing that there were twenty weeks booked in mainland China, which makes me want to gag. Not that I don't love China, but I am DONE! Then, this weekend, the New Zealanders came.

It started with just one man, and then there was a huge group. They stayed all weekend, and I believe they saw the show three or four times. They sent someone back stage to look at technical aspects of the show, and by the end of the weekend we were pretty sure they were going to be our Presenters in New Zealand. The Presenters are the people who basically bring the show to their cities, and pay the hotel and everything, and then they make the good money if the show sells well. So the word on the street is that these guys loved the show and we're doing six or more weeks in three cities in New Zealand.

For my old roommate Friesia, who lives in Tennessee and loves to work on cruise ships, this is the best news in the world. She's gonna ride this train until she's 60, or at least until she bags a rich husband and starts popping out her six to nine catholic children. For me, this news made me a little sad. I've been on this tour on and off, since May of 2004. For me, this seems like a whole bunch of time. As much fun as the show is, and as much as I love the people and the lifestyle is so easy to get used to, in some ways I feel like I'm wasting away. I have a lot of big career aspirations, and it feels like I'm being forgotten over here, or just sitting and not making any progress. I can't wait to be back in the states with the people I love, and living back in New York and feeling like I'm making progress toward the rest of my life. I just signed a lease for a new apartment in the city that I can't wait to move into, and I know that I need to get off this tour and start living real life again. However, this New Zealand news makes all that a little harder. I mean, who wouldn't want to go to New Zealand!!!