Home Sweet Home

Hi everyone! This is just a quick note to let you know that I have made it safe and sound to Anchorage. I have my friend Megan to thank for flying down to Minnesota and driving back with me. It was so nice driving with her, and she kept me in good spirits... even though I hogged so much of the driving :) I love you very much Megan!

It's nice to be home for Thanksgiving. As I write this, the tasty aroma of all the Thanksgiving food is wafting through the house. I don't think it's totally hit me that I'm home yet... it's strange to be home, only to turn around and leave for Israel for 5 months. But I'm happy to be here... I have been smothered with dogs, so it's a good day.

I think the thing I miss most of all in Minnesota is my Aunt Shelly. We got to talk on the phone today, and it made me miss her even more. We created a very nice home in Minnesota, and I will always miss this chapter. But for now, new chapters are opening :) G, you know I love you!

So I'll write more about the road trip later and include some pictures as well. For now, I'm on mashed potato duty, so I better go get to mashing. For those who celebrate, Happy Thanksgiving! May you have as much to be thankful for as I do :)

Squinchy Ball

We are safely in Fort Nelson. We went to dinner at a place recommended by the hotel manager, and as we arrived, there was this banging we could hear from inside. I commented to Megan that it sounded like a bowling alley. We were amused, I even laughed at the thing that "sounds like a bowling alley, but I'm sure it's not a bowling alley." We walk into the restaurant... and there's the bowling alley - awesome! But it was only 5 pin bowling, which the waitress said didn't have a separate name. So I've named it squinchy ball - start circulating the term people :) It will be all the rage, I'm sure :)

Okay, we're exhausted, but on schedule! Good night for now!

Lindsay and Megan :)

Oh Canada!

Well, it didn't seem like it was going to be possible, but somehow everything fell into place for me to leave Minnesota the actual day planned :) I can't believe it... It still hasn't totally hit me that I'm not going back, that this is not just a visit.

So, my friend Megan flew down from Alaska and is helping me on the trek back to Anchorage. We are currently in Edmonton, Alberta. This means that so far, we have been in two US states (Minnesota and North Dakota), and three Canadian provinces (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta). So far the roads have been pretty good. We ran into an area where there was some slushy snow on the road, since the winds were high and they hadn't cleared that section. But other than that, we've had clear roads so far... wish us luck with the rest of the trek!

Our first night we were able to stay with a friend of mine from the Bahá'í World Centre, Ailsa, and her family. It was so nice! I got to meet her daughter Aleta and husband Dale for the first time, and it was really nice have a visit, even if it was short! Thanks for letting us stay!


We're on to Fort Nelson, BC, tonight, where we've been promised wireless as well - so hopefully I can get another update in.

Ciao for now,
Lindsay

Western Caribbean... here we come!

As I have no idea if I'll have internet access on the cruise ship, I thought I would send a quick note before leaving.

There are 30 of us going on this cruise. THIRTY! We had some surprise additions to the trip to make a nice even number. It really is great to see everyone. We started to trickle into the Orlando airport in the afternoon, and when the flood of remaining friends arrived, we were most definitely a site to be seen. Luggage alone...


Thank goodness, people in the group had the foresight to plan a shuttle for all of us to ride to Cape Canaveral. I can only imagine how crazy it would have been otherwise. But with such a huge group, we filled a bus... it was awesome...



We stayed the night in a hotel with a great pool and sleep number beds... pretty darn swell :) And about noon today we will be heading over to the port.

Ciao!

In a bit of a panic...

Well, if I didn't feel the time crunch before, I certainly feel it now! When I realized that I have only 7 days left in Saint Paul, this sent my mind reeling! I kind of have a lot to do before then...

I'm currently sitting in the Purple Onion café in Dinkytown (part of Minneapolis), using their wireless to work (and blog, apparently) while my car gets the front brake pads replaced. Considering that I had the whole car checked out in preparation for my road trip up to Alaska, I am extremely lucky that I didn't need more work done on the car. So at least I'm checking something off my list.

But boy, do I have a lot more...

So I'm working through Thursday, and then I am off from work until after Thanksgiving. But here's the run-down:

I leave on Friday for a Western Caribbean cruise with 26 of my friends. I am SOOOOOOOO looking forward to this! But I need to be really adept in my packing for this cruise, because I'm sending suitcases back with some friends. This times out beautifully for getting my clothes and such up to Alaska. My friend Megan is even going to bring my violin back as a carry-on—how nice is that? So my first priority is to make sure I have everything that I need for my cruise, and then filling the rest of the space with clothes and such that I want to return to Alaska... I also need to find someone who has a scale I can borrow to make sure my bags are within weight restrictions...

Meanwhile, I'm still in the mindset of how the heck am I'm going to fit the rest of my stuff in my car. I'm going to have 4 days between the cruise and hitting the road, and in reality, most of the work of stuffing my car will go on during this time. I just have no idea how things are really going to fit. I've given stuff to goodwill, sold some other things, but then the fitting of everything else into the puzzle piece of my car is going to be the challenge. The good thing is that there is not tons of stuff that I would cry if I had to leave behind... I just want to be economical and try to not have to replace things when I'm up in Alaska. All I'm saying, is that goodwill might end up with some pretty good things :)

Okay, I've got to get back to work, finishing some things before I take off all this time, so that I can truly enjoy the time off without feeling like I left some things hanging. Sorry, this post ended up being pretty boring. I guess it was more therapeutic for me, figuring out what all I need to do before leaving. So if you got this far, you're awfully sweet!

Ciao for now,
Lindsay

Life Changes

So I have a bit of news :)

As many of you reading this know, I served at the Baha'i World Centre in Haifa, Israel, for 2 and 1/2 years. I loved my time there, and I've missed it many times over. So how fitting, that in the month of September, the month I left Israel in 2004, I find out that I have been invited to serve again at the Baha'i World Centre! This time will be for a shorter period, from January until May, and I will be helping out in my old office. I'm so excited!!!

That being said, this news brought on another life change. I am moving back to Alaska. I have loved living in Minnesota, and the thought of leaving so many friends here makes me sad, but ultimately I am really excited to be moving back to Alaska. It's where my family is, and it seems to be the place that I left my heart. Heck, those who know me here in Minnesota know that I can never stop talking about Alaska :)

Prior to my news of going to Haifa, I was already pretty sure I was going to move back to Anchorage at the beginning of next summer. Since now I will be in Haifa until the beginning of next summer, I've decided to move my belongings back to Anchorage beforehand. Which means my time in Minnesota is short. My friend Megan is going to fly down from Anchorage and drive back with me, and we'll be hitting the road mid-November. This will afford me a month at home with family and friends before my brother and I head over for our Baha'i Pilgrimage and then I stay on for my service.

I'm a whole ball of emotions. Mostly I'm very happy, but of course I'll miss being in Minnesota. It has become another home to me, so I'm sure I'll be back to visit... there better be some couches I can crash on!

On a completely separate note, it has been pointed out that my blog title could be sung to the tune from Smurfs. I leave you with that :)

Shelly and Lindsay go to the Fair

Once upon a time, there were two girls, Shelly and Lindsay, who went to the Minnesota State Fair:



Upon entering the fairgrounds, they encountered the end of a parade, with tiny ponies:



After walking and eating, Shelly and Lindsay went on a quest to find the busts of butter. While they thought it would be nigh impossible, because they didn't know the name of the building they were in, they were fortunate to encounter kind people who had been to the fair before, and could put them on the right path:



With their bellies full of tater skins, and their eyes amazed at the sites already seen, they decided to ride the Ferris Wheel in the Midway:



Ah, but at this point in their adventure, Shelly and Lindsay decided that sitting and watching something would be a nice rest from the walking. So they ventured to the skate park, where they watched some superb skateboard tricks:



To end the day, Shelly and Lindsay ate what any self respecting person at a State Fair in the Midwest would eat - cheese curds!


And they lived happily ever after (with only slight stomach aches from all that cheese).

Ian and Milly's Wedding

Okay, so I think this is the last entry as catch-up from my time in Alaska :) I ended up staying in Alaska a couple weeks more than I had originally planned. The reason? My cousin Ian announced he was getting married! And the wedding date was only 11 days after I was scheduled to leave. Well I certainly couldn't justify leaving! Especially considering that I was working for a company in Alaska that wouldn't mind my presence a little longer :) So I gladly changed my ticket!

Ian and Milly's wedding was very nice. Their marriage was a joining of two families as well - Ian's two boys, Jaden and Elliot, and Milly's daughter, Imani. The day itself was gorgeous, which was nice, especially because the ceremony was outside! The ceremony was on the lookout at Flattop mountain, overlooking the city of Anchorage. After the ceremony (which, believe it or not, was actually almost all just family!), the reception was at the Baha'i Center. There was quite the spread, and there was also an open mic. An open mic is not daunting to our family :) We were soon singing up a storm, which was lots of fun.

Please feel free to take a look at more photos from Ian and Milly's wedding. They had at least 5 people taking photos that day, so there was easily over 1,000 shots to choose from... I narrowed it down to about 60 :)

Congratulations Milly and Ian!!!

Go Elizabeth!!!

This morning I had the pleasure of dropping off my friend Elizabeth for the Breast Cancer 3-day walk, which I mentioned she was doing in a previous email. It made an early morning, setting out before the sun had even started to rise, but it was great fun driving out to the starting point, getting a chance to talk and catch up, and also giving me a chance to see her and her friend embark on their adventure. They are walking 3 days, and they have raised a substantial amount of money--Elizabeth met her goal of $2,200!!!

Way to go Elizabeth!!!

The most amazing weekend....

So this last weekend I traveled about 2 hours outside of the Twin Cities to a summer camp near Onaimia, Minnesota. A Baha'i summer school was happening, and I was able to go for an extended weekend, driving out Friday morning.

I had SO much fun! The summer school was set up as a get together for people in the area - I met people from Minnesota, naturally, but also South Dakota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois... and even someone all the way from Oregon! It's a family event, so there were programs planned for all ages. I was in the adult classes that focused on a couple different topics, including true encouragement and how all the religions really come down to one common faith. There were some very interesting discussions and presentations!

When we weren't in classes, we were socializing with everyone. There were a lot of youth at the camp, and many of them had been in youth study classes during the year that I went to as well - so during breaks for meals and such, I was soaking up as much time with them as I could. I love you guys so much!!!

We also had a talent show Saturday night which was loads of fun - there were participants of all ages involved, which was cool. After the talent show was a dance, and it was soooo much fun to dance. Even though I didn't get to the gym that weekend, the dancing definitely counted as a workout - my feet were cramping by the end, I had been dancing so much!

The only down side is that the weather over the weekend was pretty wet and chilly - so there was no jumping in a lake for me! But the lake was absolutely gorgeous, so at least it was pretty to look at :)

I didn't take any pictures, because I was enjoying myself too much, and I'm horrible about taking photos when I'm "in the moment." But the whole weekend was a blast, and it was such a wonderful chance to get to know lots of people on a deeper level than just in passing. Hooray for summer schools!

The blur that was June

Okay, so I've had it on my list of things to do to share some photos with you guys! It's just been a little crazy :) Although not as crazy as my month of June in Alaska! Seriously, when I think of June, I cannot believe that I came out the other end - and successfully as well!

Pretty much every bit of every day I was involved in something. I was either working, rehearsing (Renaissance Fair, New York plays, Valdez play), performing (the three things mentioned in rehearsals), sleeping, and sometimes eating :) Oh, and sometimes seeing my family as well :)

Okay, so I shared some photos from New York, but I wanted to share a few photos from Valdez! I had sooooo much fun in Valdez. The full length production that we brought down is called "The Head That Wouldn't Die"... and boy is it a comedy! We all had trouble not laughing at what was happening in rehearsals, long after the time when most shows stop being funny to the actors and they can focus on what they're doing. Heck, there was stuff I wanted to laugh at during our performance! It is such a funny play! It was really well received, and we had a wonderful audience that just went with us for the entire show. It was such a success, that it looks like we might possibly remount the show next summer... boy was it fun :)

The photo at the top of this entry is from that show, but I'm also including a link for more photos here. From that link you can view all the wonderful antics of being in Valdez for the Theatre Conference, whether it's readings of new plays, workshops, or dance-offs in the classroom at night, all was lots of fun. There are also some photos from the final Gala celebration, and of course, photos from our production of "The Head That Wouldn't Die". Enjoy! I just wanted to give a shout out to TBA Theatre, because they were the ones that made all of my blurry month of June possible, and I love everyone there! And while I'm at it, I should also thank my family for being so patient with me too - I love and miss you so much!

We're okay

Dear friends,

I just wanted to post a quick message to let people know that Shelly and I are okay. Neither of us were on the bridge that collapsed in Minneapolis. Thank you for your calls of concern.

I would just like to share a portion of a prayer for those who lost their lives by this terrible accident:

...O my Lord! Purify them from trespasses, dispel their sorrows, and change their darkness into light. Cause them to enter the garden of happiness, cleanse them with the most pure water, and grant them to behold Thy splendors on the loftiest mount. -- 'Abdu'l-Baha

A Worthy Cause

My friend Elizabeth has been gearing up for the Breast Cancer 3 day walk. A major component of doing the walk is to raise money for cancer research. She has been training all summer long, and while she has been working on fundraising, she is still falling short in her goal for the walk.

I'm really proud of Elizabeth, because she has been working quite hard to train for this event. An added benefit to all of this is that she's able to shed some of the baby weight she gained having some of the most beautiful girls in the world :)

I'm including a section from her own email below, but if any of you feel inspired to donate to her walk (which is tax deductible and earns extra karma points, even if it's just a little donation), please visit the following website: http://www.the3day.org/twincities07/ezconklin

An excerpt from Elizabeth's email:
"My due date for fundraising is quickly approaching, July 25th to be exact. I'm still $600 short…. You can see where this is going, right? :) Please support me as I take an amazing journey in the fight against breast cancer! The Breast Cancer 3-Day is a 60-mile walk over the course of three days. Net proceeds benefit the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and the National Philanthropic Trust, funding important breast cancer research, education, screening, and treatment.

I'm also happy to report that the training is going very well. I walk to/from work on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays - that's 7 miles a day. And I do strength training and yoga Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. All of this has lead to my favorite part - a 27 pound weight loss and just over 3 inches off my waist.

So, even if you don't care to support the Breast Cancer 3 Day event, won't you consider donating on behalf of my personal health?"

Way to go Elizabeth!!!

New York, New York

Well, I finally feel recovered enough to put some updates on here. I'm sorry, blogging community, to have failed to be up to the minute with this stuff... but I was busy :) Of course, that's not much of an excuse, because my friend Erin managed to blog while we were in Valdez. All I can say, is you're a much better person than I :)

However, I have compiled some photos for your viewing pleasure (I hope!), and so I wanted to place some of them here on my blog. I'm horrible about actually taking pictures, so I'm hoping at some point to acquire more from friends. But, as you can see from these photos, I had a blast.

Here's a photo of me and my friend Berglind! She was able to meet up with us for the first day we were there - it was so great seeing you Berglind!


She was also with a small group of us that went to walk by the UN, followed by a search for breakfast. We ended up eating at a diner that was VERY good. I think it was my favorite breakfast food the entire time, although that is colored by the fact that I was on very little sleep and was hungry :)


Our first day consisted of the walk by the UN, breakfast, and then checking out of the replacement hotel (long story short, when we arrived at our hotel, there was a mix-up and they didn't have all of our rooms. In the end, after much debating between the online booking company and the hotel, the online booking company took fault, and the hotel found us another, pretty swanky, hotel for the evening - but this caused us to have to move our stuff the following day), checking into our original hotel, walking around Times Square, and then waiting in line for tickets to a Broadway show:


We ended up with tickets for all 11 of us at our first choice, which was the Terrance McNally play "Deuce", starring Marian Seldes and Angela Lansbury:


Here's a photo of our crew waiting outside the theater doors where we performed. This was right before our tech rehearsal for the first show:

Most of the photos that I've put up here I've gotten from other friends (actually, mostly from Leif!), but I have a set of my own photos up on facebook in a New York Album. Please take a peek! You don't need to have a facebook account to look at them.

I'll slowly but surely catch up with events! I still want to post about my Valdez theater conference experience, so I'll try and make a point to do that soon. Meanwhile, I was originally supposed to have left Alaska about two hours ago, but I decided to extend my trip when my cousin Ian announced his engagement! The wedding is only 10 days from now, so I could not pass up on being here! So I'll be heading back to the Twin Cities on July 25th.

Ciao for now!

Back from the Big Apple

Well, our hilarious troop has returned to Anchorage, Alaska, and we had a blast! Let's see... what has happened since my last update?

Okay, we had our second night of performance, and it went really well! I think all of us were a little more relaxed, since we had performed in the same space the night before, and the show was good. I was so grateful, because I really didn't want to fall flat on my face in front of a New York audience! The theater itself had a loud air conditioner, and I was worried that in our effort to remain loud enough for the audience to hear, we would destroy the mood of the play. Luckily, I think we struck the right balance, and it all went very well. One of the judges even stopped Shane on his way out and told him that if it was strictly up to him, the play would be in the finals.

Unfortunately, we were all a little sad when it became apparent that we had not been chosen for the finals. Then came some great, unexpected news. The first show that we had performed was chosen as an alternate for the finals, and we were asked to perform Sunday night! It was such a mixture of emotions for all of us - of course, we would want both shows to be selected, but we had all been so happy to even be a part of the festival. And then one show WAS selected, and we had to get over our sadness of the other show NOT being selected. When all was said and done, we were all thrilled to have a chance to perform in the finals. And of the two shows, this was the play that included the whole cast, so it was certainly a nice send off for our group.

Performing in the finals went really well. We had a chance to improve on the previous performance, and it really was a great time. Apart from participating in the short play festival, we had all sorts of adventures in the city. I'm hoping to compile a bunch of photos to share at a later date... now I'm just trying to get over jet lag and master lines for the next play I'm doing at the Last Frontier Theatre Conference in Valdez, Alaska (I leave this Friday for that!).

More updates to soon follow - I hope!

New York Update

While I had a moment, I thought I would quickly send an update on New York so far! We've got one show down, and one more to go! Last night's show went pretty darn well. There seemed to be some fairly good audience response. At this point we know that the show was not chosen for the finals, as we would have had a call from them last night. But really, we felt like just coming and performing was the awesome thing. The building that the theater is in is really cool. However, the theater itself has an air conditioner that is pretty loud, so it makes it a little uncomfortable to act in, as you are always keenly aware of being heard. I'm perhaps a little more nervous about it because we don't get tons of time on the stage, but the group of us performing are pros, so last night seemed to go well in that regard. Here's to hoping tonight goes even better!

On my way to the Big Apple!

Well, it certainly has been an eventful couple of weeks! I've been working during the day and rehearsing for our New York shows and our play for Valdez as well. So blogging has been at a minimum :) But now we are officially on our way to New York! As I write this entry, I'm sitting in the Seattle airport for a brief layover. But by this evening, we'll be in the Big Apple! It's kind of hard to believe...

The past two weekends I was part of the Three Barons Renaissance Fair in Anchorage, and I'll make an effort to put some photos up sometime soon. It really was a lot of fun.

Last night we had an Anchorage performance of the short plays we'll be doing in New York. It was VERY well attended, and we had to add a lot of extra seats. But it was so wonderful having such a friendly audience to send us off. After performing the shows, it finally felt real, that we would be performing these for an audience in New York. Needless to say, it was hard for me to fall asleep last night from anticipation :)

I don't know if I'll have easy access to internet while in New York, but if I don't post from there, I'll definitely post updates once I return. Wish us broken legs!

-Lindsay-

Over 10,000!

Well, I officially have had over 10,000 visits to my blog!!! That's amazing! Here are some of the stats:

• Started tracking: 9/17/2005
• Current average visit length: 1:11
• Current average visits per day: 11
• Of the last 1,000 visits, 73% were from the US, 7% Israel, 4% United Kingdom, 2% Canada, 1% each Australia, Colombia, Italy, and Sweden, and 10% was Unknown.

Of course, I set my counter to ignore my visits, so it wasn't counting lil' ol' me :)

Also, what I think is most impressive is that a great many of you who actually read my blog receive the entries by email (around 60 of you!), and most of you normally don't click on the link at the bottom of the email that takes you to the site. So even though the site counter is not completely reflective of my readership, it still hit 10,000, which I thought was blogworthy. Especially because I don't have kids :) Those kids, they draw the blog world in with their cuteness (they certainly do me!).

So thanks everyone! And blog on!

My Welcome Moose

I don't know why this is the case, but it seems like in recent years, I have always seen a moose within the first 24 hours that I'm back in Alaska. One time this moose was standing next to the "Welcome to Anchorage" sign that you pass on the way out of the airport, so I started calling this phenomenon my Welcome Moose.

Well, my Welcome Moose did NOT show up within 24 hours of my arrival this time, which was highly strange after a long string of times with this occurring. It was even a topic of discussion with my parents. But, not to fear, my Welcome Moose did appear within my first week... so I'm not too angry :) This was out behind our house:


I officially feel welcomed to Anchorage :)

Ah, the dogs :)

One highlight of being home is being around the family dogs! I've been getting some quality time this Memorial weekend, and here are some shots from a couple of our outings. The two Bernise Mountain Dogs (black, white and brown) are Abby (larger) and Bailey. The bulldog is my brother's dog, Winston. Oh, and the humans are me and my dad, Gary (my brother, Colin, was behind the camera for all of these).

And, of course, there was a rock in the middle of the falls that I just HAD to go get on :) So my brother tooks some photos of that as well :)

Watch out New York, here I come!

I haven't mentioned it on my blog before now, but my plans heading up to Alaska also included auditioning for TBA Theatre's touring shows that are being taken to New York in the middle of June. I didn't want to jinx my audition :)

But, as I'm sure you know from the title of this blog, I got cast! I even was so lucky to get the part that I dared to dream I would get! How great is that?

So I just thought I would have a moment: WOO HOO!!!

Now the wonderful work begins :)

Some show pics

Well, I wasn't able to get any photos from the actual show performances, but I had some friends take backstage shots, so I thought I would share these photos from "The Madwoman of Chaillot" cast:

Here's Amanda and me. Amanda played the singer, and I played the violin lady, so we started off the show with me harmonizing to her singing "La Vie en Rose"[thanks Mara for the spellcheck!].


The last two are of us evil ladies, who get killed :) L to R: me, Amy, Corey, and Patty:


Too funny :) The show was lots of fun, and it still hasn't completely hit me that it's over! But I'm already memorizing lines for the next one! So acting life goes on :)

One week!

Well, I am now officially a week away from being in Alaska! I can't believe how quickly time has gone. With the days being longer, I'm finding myself doing things later and later... but I love it :)

Here a couple recent events:

Earlier this week, my friend Megan's parents and aunt were here in town. Naturally, we took advantage of the time and went out for the evening. Amongst the evening activities was a nice walk along the Mississippi, where we took these shots (Aunt Rosie and I trading out) :)



Last night was a really nice Baha'i Feast (a monthly Baha'i community meeting), and afterwards I went out for tea with my friends Diane and Sheida. We managed to take this one, long-arm shot before my camera batteries wore out :)



So now I'm in my final weekend of performances for "The Madwoman of Chaillot." It was a four-week run, and it's just raced passed! We're having a cast party tonight, which should be loads of fun.

I have no idea if I'm going to update my blog in the next week - the next post may very well be from Alaska! I hope you're all well, and I'll be seeing you Alaskans in the very near future!

Official first rollerblading adventure!

Okay, so the weather has been getting absoultely gorgeous here in the Twin Cities, so I have been wanting to get outside more. I love taking walks, but I wanted to be doing something else. So the decision? Rollerblading!!!

Baseem and I decided to embark on our first rollerblading adventure together--first stop: Purchasing rollerblades. We ran into a little hiccup when the first place we checked didn't HAVE rollerblades (I'm not going to mention where, but their initials are REI). Luckily we had success with the next place and were fitted and ready to go.

We decided to go on a path along the Mississippi (for the record, I had to pause and repeat to myself how to spell that darn word) River. Hmm... how to put this gently?... We were definitely beginners :) It's not a good sign if joggers are passing you! But it was great fun, and we're both determined to get better.

We were so proud of ourselves that we went to have ice cream to celebrate. While eating, we walked through the neighborhood around the ice cream shop and came along a very patriotic house - so like everyone, I had to take the requisite ice cream cone as torch in front of the statue of liberty photo, of course!


All in all, a very successful first rollerblading adventure... especially the ice cream :) Here's our horribly-framed-because-we-had-to-put-it-on-the-car photo at the end of our ride. For the record, it was very impressive that I got in the shot in time!

Homeward Bound

Sometimes I feel like the luckiest person around! Believe it or not, I'm heading back up to Alaska for my very favorite month of the year!

What does traveling up to Alaska for the month of June mean? It means that I can be in Alaska for the longest day of the year. It means I can participate in the Anchorage Three Barons Renaissance Festival and the Last Frontier Theatre Conference in Valdez. All that aside, it means that I get a lot of time with my friends and family, which I'm forever grateful for! And the best part is that since I'm working for a company in Alaska, I'll actually still be able to work while I'm up there (which my bank account really appreciates!).

My ticket is purchased (thank you mom and dad!), and so it's official--I'm homeward bound!

Deciding what to do with your tax return?

I have a worthy cause :) TBA Theatre just recently found out that TWO of the plays they submitted to the XXXII Annual Samuel French, Inc. Off-Off Broadway Original Short Play Festival have been accepted! How amazing is that? The play festival has been going on for over 30 years, and many of the playwright participants in the past have gone on to become award-winning. So it's a great opportunity! TBA will be bringing two short plays to the festival in New York City.

But here's the thing: TBA Theatre is not a big organization. They are doing well, but this is an unexpected opportunity that has surfaced, and it will cost the company a pretty penny to bring the productions to New York.

So that's where the title of this blog comes into play. Everyone in the United States just passed the tax deadline - and maybe some people are getting a bit of a refund :) And since many of you just got done doing your taxes, maybe you know that donations to non-profit companies are tax deductible :) So if anyone would like to deduct a donation to a charitable organization on next year's taxes, here is a worthy opportunity!

I, personally, am getting a tax return from the state of Minnesota, because they give people who rent a certain amount of what they paid in rent back as a return. Since this was totally unexpected money to me, I'm now pledging it towards TBA! I'll let them know the specific amount, but I think that they will agree, that no matter what the amount, every little bit can help! If you are interested in making a donation, you can contact them directly - just go to the TBA Theatre website for contact information. Another possible way to help could be to donate some of those airline miles you have accrued... just a thought :)

Congratulations TBA Theatre! This is such a wonderful opportunity!

Isn't this always the case?

You know, I lost my watch close to a year ago. I really liked the watch. It wasn't expensive--quite the contrary, it was very cheap! I bought the watch while I was in Turkey at the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. It was one of the street vendors outside, and I bought it for 5 million lira (close to $5 American). He sized it for my wrist and everything! My other watch had a dead battery, and I had been using my cell phone as a watch in Israel, but while I was in Turkey I decided it would be nice to have a watch on the trip--and heck, for $5, if it only lasted as long as the trip I would be fine!

I actually grew to really like the watch. It fit perfectly, and I liked the look of it a lot. It lasted quite a bit longer than my trip in Turkey. In fact, I still had it when I returned to Alaska, and sometime during that year back in Anchorage I had to have the battery replaced. I went to a jewellers in a department store I was shopping in. It cost $12 for a battery and installment. I thought it was kind of funny that it cost more to put a battery in the watch than it did for the watch in the first place, but then again, I was in a completely different market.

So then, sometime in the last year, I lost the watch. I kept thinking, "oh, it will show up. There's no need for me to get a new watch". "Besides," I added, "as soon as I bought a new watch, the old watch would show up!"

So I waited...an incredibly long time! And no watch showed up. So one day a couple weeks back I was in a department store, and I saw a watch that I thought looked okay. It was reasonably priced, so I decided that enough was enough, that I would finally succumb to buying a new watch.

So... I bet you can see where this is going. Maybe a week and a half pass by with my new watch. It works well. It's a bit of a pain to put on, but overall I'm happy. I then go to adjust my couch cushion. And what do I see wedged up against the wooden frame of my couch? My Turkish watch, of course! Naturally I was quite thrilled and rather amused. But there was no question about which watch I was going to wear--the Turkish watch went right back on my wrist.

So my question is this: Would I have found my watch sooner if I had bought another one earlier? I'm just wondering...

Of Particular Concern

Dear friends,

This article has just been posted on the Baha'i World News Service, and I just started to cry. As you may be aware, I've mentioned in the past some concern in the rise of persecution of Baha'is in Iran. This recent article brings to light that now it seems that children are being persecuted in school. How can something like this be happening now? Have we not learned from the past about persecuting a religious group?


Baha'i schoolchildren in Iran increasingly harrassed and abused by school authorities

NEW YORK, 5 April 2007 (BWNS) -- Baha'i students in primary and secondary schools throughout Iran are increasingly being harassed, vilified, and held up to abuse, according to recent reports from inside the country.

During a 30-day period from mid-January to mid-February, some 150 incidents of insults, mistreatment, and even physical violence by school authorities against Baha'i students were reported as occurring in at least 10 Iranian cities.

"These new reports that the most vulnerable members of the Iranian Baha'i community -- children and junior youth -- are being harassed, degraded, and, in at least one case, blindfolded and beaten, is an extremely disturbing development," said Bani Dugal, the principal representative of the Baha'i International Community to the United Nations.

"The increasing number of such incidents suggests a serious and shameful escalation in the on-going persecution of Iranian Baha'is," said Ms. Dugal. "The fact that school-aged children are being targeted by those who should rightfully hold their trust -- teachers and school administrators -- only makes this latest trend even more ominous."

Ms. Dugal said the Baha'i International Community has been aware of scattered reports of abuse directed at school children but has only recently learned that young Baha'is are now widely being forced to identify their religion -- and are also being insulted, degraded, threatened with expulsion, and, in some cases, summarily dismissed from school.

"They are also being pressured to convert to Islam, required to endure slander of their faith by religious instructors, and being taught and tested on 'Iranian history' in authorized texts that denigrate, distort, and brazenly falsify their religious heritage," said Ms. Dugal. "They are also being repeatedly told that they are not to attempt to teach their religion."

According to Ms. Dugal, one Baha'i has reported that the school-age children of a relative in Kermanshah were called to the front of the classroom, where they were required to listen to insults against the Faith.

"Another student, accepted at an art institute, has been followed by the authorities and on three occasions seized, blindfolded, and beaten," said Ms. Dugal.

"While a few of these may be isolated attacks, the extent and nature of this reprehensible activity has led the Baha'is in Iran to conclude that this is an organized effort," said Ms. Dugal.

Of special concern, she added, was the fact that a high proportion of the attacks against high school students have been against girls.

"While the attacks reported to have taken place in elementary and middle schools were leveled evenly against boys and girls, those at the high-school level targeted girls to a far greater degree: of 76 incidents, 68 were against Baha'i girls," said Ms. Dugal.

The reports of attacks on innocent Baha'i schoolchildren come at a time when a growing number of older Baha'i students seeking to enter Iranian universities have been expelled solely because of their religion.

So far this year, at least 94 college-age Baha'i students have been expelled from institutions of higher education. That figure is up from 70 as reported in late February.

Since the Islamic Republic of Iran was established in 1979, the 300,000-member Iranian Baha'i community has faced ongoing and systematic persecution. In the early 1980s, more than 200 Baha'is were killed, hundreds were imprisoned, and thousands were deprived of jobs and education, solely because of their religious belief.

At the present time, more than 120 Baha'is are out on bail and awaiting trial on false charges, solely because of their religious beliefs and activities. Over the last year, as well, international human rights groups have expressed concern at the Iranian government's efforts to step-up their covert monitoring and identification of Baha'is.

February trip to Alaska

I know, I know, why the heck did I move to Minnesota? It seems like I'm always up in Alaska! Well, this trip up was for "business" in a sense. TBA Theatre brought me up to perform in a Folk's Tales show--the latest installment? Rail Tales! Songs and Stories of the American Railroad. Some of you may recall last year the show's theme was stories about the sea and pirates.

These shows are just so much fun. I'm friends with the whole cast, and the rehearsals for these shows end up being just as fun as the performances. This whole crew has the perfect mix of professionalism and goofy-ism to make the process enjoyable. What do I mean by that? We can definitely get off course with our sillyness, but we're able to ring ourselves back in to get things done. And we laugh a lot!

I touched down around midnight Wednesday night/Thursday morning, and then Thursday mid-morning I was recording a radio show with Wayne, one of the other Tales cast members. We were recording a show that airs on the local NPR station call Stage Talk. I think it went pretty well! I was worried that I would sound a little daft owing to jet lag, but we actually had a good time, and it didn't sound too stupid when listening to it.

From then on out we had rehearsals most evenings, as there was really only a week before we had an audience! The rest of the cast had already been rehearsing, and I had been working on Orange Blossom Special on the fiddle... let's just say that I wasn't performance ready yet when we first started. But everyone was patient with me, and we figured out where to place me in stuff they had already arranged, and then we also got to come up with some killer harmonies while I was there as well. And yes, I did end up playing Orange Blossom Special in the show... it wasn' t too painful for people :)

Another highlight to these rehearsals were that they were in the new TBA Theatre Studio. TBA Theatre has its own space! They are using it for offices, rehearsals and classes, and they are renting a theater for actual performances. It looks great, and they just continue to make it nicer. My last weekend there I got to participate in a big open house they had celebrating the new space. I had no idea so many people would show up! It truly was a lot of fun, and it was a great way to kick off having the space.

Hmm... other highlights from this trip? I actually had quite a bit of down time. That drives some people crazy, but I'm one of those people that actually thrives on down time, so it was really great to spend some time at home, chillin with the dogs.

My one regret, as always seems to be the case, is that I never get enough time with my extended family. I see my parents a lot, since I'm staying with them, but I don't get to see my brother or my cousin's family nearly enough. Most of my downtime was during the day, when people were at work. It's one of those things where you always think there will be time and then the time is up! I'm going to have to make an effort to actually schedule time ahead on my next visit, just to make sure I don't continue to have that regret.

This trip was particularly hard to come back to Minnesota from. I think because I just absolutely love all the people in my life in Alaska. Don't get me wrong, there are great things about living in Minnesota, and there are some great people here as well... but there's something to be said for family and for friends that have been your friends for years. I love you guys!

Here's some shots from the show that my brother, Colin, took:



Oh, and here are a couple shots that Tony Batres took, including the necessary Dr. Pepper ad photo: