I voted! Have you?

Being away from home prevents me from voting locally in the upcoming American election on Nov. 4th. However, this election is extremely important. And so ... a few weeks ago I requested an absentee ballot. Today I filled it out and mailed it in to my Supervisor of Elections. I voted!

It’s most likely too late to request an absentee ballot for yourself. However, it’s NOT too late for you to become an informed citizen. Take some time to learn about the issues that concern you and find out which candidate best subscribes to your personal system of beliefs and values.

Whether you’re a Democrat, an Independent, or a Republican, it’s important for you to take advantage of living in this free country and exercise your right to vote.

After all ... if you don’t cast your vote, you have no right to complain about the outcome!

Is God Fair?

Have you ever thought about the fairness of God?

Paradoxically, I believe God actually is fair in that He views all of us equally and that even with all the pain, suffering, and evil in the world, the Order of Humanity makes sense to Him.

I'm not going to comment here on pain and suffering. I believe that to be the disgrace of Man.

Instead (and this is not an indictment of Him), I'm struggling with the fairness of God.

Individual circumstances appear through my miniscule human perspective to be unfair. We’re all born into this world with varying degrees of opportunity. Some people are born into wealth while others are born into poverty which will pave the way to your future: your health, your education, and your overall standard of living. Everything, for the most part, is tied into where, when, and how you were born.


Then there’s ability. The world only has one Barbara Streisand and one Magic Johnson. The rest of us can take lessons, but ultimately, if you weren’t born with the right degree of talent, you just aren’t ever going to become a megastar even when presented with the right opportunity.

Of course, there are exceptions: the little girl with chords of steel who was born into a third world country and will never record a CD; or the famous actor who becomes immensely wealthy but who doesn’t really have the talent to warrant his success.

But in most instances, if you're going to succeed in your chosen field (especially the arts), you must must must already possess the necessary talent.

God places each of us in the world under both positive and negative circumstances. Some people take this as evidence that He doesn’t exist. I don’t. I believe He does exist. I believe He created us. And I believe He loves us all.

I just can’t wrap my head around the apparent unfairness of our individual circumstances. How does He choose who will go where and why? And how? Toss of a die?

Perhaps one day He’ll explain it to me ...

A Weighty Crown

For reasons unknown to me, Royal Caribbean has begun doing weigh-ins. We didn’t have them during my last contract, but now we’re forced to step on the scale on a regular basis. Whatever.

First day of rehearsal, we took our base weight. I came in at 167. Okay. Great! That’s less than I was expecting to weigh, so yay for me!

Two weeks went by, and we did another weigh-in. I thought I would've gained a pound or two from muscle. City of Dreams is all about lifting and partnering, so I figured I was beginning to pack on some major muscle ... okay ... maybe just some minor muscle.

Instead, I came in at 164 and dropped three pounds! WHAT?! That’s awesome! I mean, who doesn’t want to lose weight, right? Especially at my age. Now, if I can just add some major/minor muscle, I’ll be all set. Protein, protein, protein.

In other news ... I have to have my crown replaced. For those of you who don’t floss your teeth everyday: START! A root canal is no fun. The dentist had to stretch my mouth open for about four hours to dig out that damaged root. Yuck!

Anyway, my one-and-only five+ year-old crown has shifted and created a gap which is allowing bacteria to get under and fester. Not a good thing. So amidst my RC rehearsals, I had to go and get fitted for a new crown.

The Ft. Lauderdale dentist then fit me with a temporary crown while I wait another two weeks for the new porcelain one to be created. But guess what? Two days later, the temporary crown popped off while I was flossing, so I had to go back to the dentist to get the temporary crown refastened.


FYI ... I do not have the time to be going to the dentist day-after-day. I'm dancing my little heart out and need to devote the rest of my time to eating and sleeping. So please cross your heart that this crown remains in place.

I’ll just be happy when rehearsals, and my teeth adventures are over. At least I’m skinnier than I was before I began!

Ah, it's the little things ...

Cell Phone Drama

I can’t wait to get a new cell phone!

I currently own the LG Chocolate. Unfortunately, I can’t recommend it. It looks cool, but its functionality leaves a little to be desired. I think the newer version is better, but I was cursed with the first edition. However, the phone was fine. I really had nothing to complain about.

Until last February when I began having major problems with it:

Calls not connecting to my phone ...
Dropped calls ...
Losing info...
Etc.

I went to Verizon (with whom I have received excellent service from in the past) and was, luckily, still a week away from an expired warranty. They agreed to send me a refurbished unit, and I was on my way. Received the phone within a decent amount of time, and everything was fixed. Great!


**Side note** They only extended the warranty another month which is rather unhelpful. What if the refurbished unit is a piece of crap? Then you’re stuck with a lemon!

Anyway ... the new/old phone worked great ... until about a month ago.

I wouldn’t go so far as to say Verizon sent me a lemon, however, calls began not connecting to my phone again. I just received missed call notices without my phone ever actually ringing.

And now the battery is utterly shot. I literally get less than five minutes of battery life before the whole phone powers down. I plug it in, and it charges completely within five minutes ... for another five minutes of battery life. I’m pretty much tethered to a wall outlet. My cell phone has, for all practical purposes, become a miniature land line. So much for mobility.

Luckily, I’m eligible for Verizon’s $100 new phone credit in two weeks, and I can’t wait! Let the countdown begin!

And this time I’m not getting the Chocolate!

Gotta Dance

I’ve been in rehearsals for Royal Caribbean’s Jewel of the Seas for 8 days now. We finally have a full cast minus one girl singer (whom the casting department still hasn’t been able to find). Thankfully we have all our dancers so we can learn our choreography without having an empty space.

So far we’ve learned:

Welcome Aboard
The Farewell Show
The ABBA Theme Night (all of which, I previously knew)

... and half of our first show, City of Dreams:

River of Dreams ... nice, easy, floaty number
Time After Time ... tricky, but not too bad
Like An Eagle ... the first number of the Bollywood section. Lots of fingers and bent wrists
Every Way That I Can ... same as Eagle but with lots more hip action!
Aria ... BITCH of a number! Fast and furious!
Heaven ... fun club finale.


My body hurts!!! My calves. My shoulders. My biceps. But most of all ... my butt! Too much lunging in this show!

My days consist of waking, eating breakfast, dancing dancing dancing until my brain fries from information overload, hot tub-ing my sore muscles, showering the sweat and chlorine away, eating anything I can find for dinner, reviewing choreography, and sleeping.

Sounds exciting, doesn’t it?