May 29–June 4, 2011

No softball this week as it was Memorial Day weekend.  However, I got a chance of a lifetime.  A few days earlier, my friend Sandy, asked if I wanted to join her for the Prince concert as the person she’d bought the tickets with could no longer attend.  I couldn’t say no to Prince!  He’s a legend and so very talented!  She had to work earlier in the afternoon so I met her at Disneyland and then we headed to the Great Western Forum in LA for an evening of incredible music! 

After some interesting people watching in line we were let into the arena.  We grabbed some food and headed to our seats – and they were some amazing seats – on the floor, eye level to the stage (which was a raised platform in the shape of Prince’s symbol).  The show was scheduled to begin at 7:30; well, the opening act didn’t even take the floor (actually they performed in the tunnel opening at the entrance level – very strange) until almost 9pm.  They did a quick 3 numbers and then we waited another brief amount of time before Prince took the stage.  He did not disappoint!  It was quintessential Prince – the outrageous clothes, the heels (oh the shoes – first gold pumps and then knee high fuzzy wedge boots with lights in the heel), and the awesome music!  He played all the classics and then some.  Overall he played until after midnight – 4 encores, and we think the 4th was unplanned – the crowd just wouldn’t leave so everyone came back out and just jammed for another 10 minutes or so.  An amazing night – I’m so glad I got to share it with Sandy!

Monday (Memorial Day) was closing night for Join Jack’s Crew.  It was bittersweet – I understood the reasons for closing but am going to miss everything about the show: the cast, crew and laughs we shared.  I was Entertainment 1 that day but spent all of my time with the pirates.  I helped set up the tables & chairs for our potluck, got the food organized, and then enjoyed & shared stories with my amazing group!  We took a cast photo before the first show of the evening.  And since I called the first two shows, I thought it fitting to call the last two shows.  I so much didn’t want it to end that I let the opening improv banter go on an extra 5 minutes for starting the “show”.  I was just having to much fun and laughing too much to make it stop!  Needless to say, all great things must come to an end.  I will, however, always hold a special place in my heart for my pirates on Join Jack’s Crew!

Here’s Kevin hanging with his buddies ready for 3D…Waiting for the daily goat parade…Yeah! The goats are here…The men (and women) in black, otherwise known as my awesome Crew!!!Some of the creative and production staff with a few out of dress pirates…More food being enjoyed by the cast & crew…Catching up and sharing stories…Ralph & Traci – he missed the cast photo but I captured him here!Traci & Knuckles – he’s a funny guy…Glenn, Sharon and Furgus…Crow’s Nest & Knuckles (leashed!)…You can climb a gate but can’t escape!

Keeping the spirit of busy going, on Wednesday, it was time for the next production in our season line up at OCPAC (SCFTA) – Burn the Floor.  I met up with Sarah beforehand for dinner at Claim Jumper.  We ordered the same meal and enjoyed lovely conversation.  And for a change, we even splurged on dessert.  We then walked over to the theater to meet up with Karen & Jamie.  The show is an amazing ballroom dance concert with 2 live singers and a cast full of talented dancers.  And my sister got all excited when she realized two of her So You Think You Can Dance stars were in the show!  After the show, Sarah and I ended up chatting at our cars for another couple of hours.  It was a great night out!

The rest of the week was a typical work week – time spent on The Magic, the Memories, and You! and Magical fireworks and Grad Nite.  Nothing too exciting or out of the ordinary to report on this week.  

September Nights!

Rick passionately relating some story, while hanging out at the Uva Bar at Downtown Disney.

Anna & Ryan listening to Rick relate some impassioned story, hanging out at the Uva Bar at Downtown Disney.

Tim kissing me as we ignored Rick, hanging out at the Uva Bar at Downtown Disney. We had such a good time Thursday night! I haven't seen Tim or Rick or Anna or Ryan in such a long time, it was so much fun to catch up & tell stories. I was kinda glad that the Park (Disneyland that is) closed at 8pm that night so we could spend quality time together just chatting. And it's even more fun when those around you get tipsy while you (and Ryan) stay completely sober, enjoying the increasing lightness of character of the others (whatever that means! - I couldn't come up with the phrase I really wanted, oh well - I think you get the point!). Definitely need to do this more often.

Sarah at the Night Flights Summer 2008 Concert Series at the new Orange County Great Park on Saturday night. She'd been told about this concert from an audio guy friend of hers - he'd said that an Irish folk modern group was playing & she thought of me. So we headed out to the former El Toro Marine Base and the new Orange County Great Park. It's really fantastic seeing this park finally taking shape. Check out http://www.ocgp.org/ for more information. And the concert & balloon ride are completely free. We saw the concert but didn't have time for the balloon ride - maybe next time. Eileen Ivers & Immigrant Soul played for 90 minutes and they were great! She'd formerly played for Riverdance so she knew her stuff. There were kids dancing in the aisles, good times being had by all - except for the lady next to us who "shushed" us near the end of the concert for talking. We're outside, at an upbeat, rocking folk music concert and she wants us to not talk - seriously! Whatever... not to be judgemental or ageist, but she was older and not exactly the proper demographic for the setting. Check out http://www.eileenivers.com/ for more info on what I heard that night.

On Sunday evening - Rick, Camille, Ryan, Anna, Eric, & Breanne spent the night playing at the Resort (Disneyland & Disney's California Adventure [DCA]). We started over at DCA on the new Toy Story Mania. Then I got to play on all the big kid rides I haven't done in a while due to the fact I seem to always spend my play time at the Resort with my nephews (which I love, don't get me wrong!). So I played on Soarin over California, California Screamin, Space Mountain, and the Nemo Submarines. It was my first time on Nemo - it was cute, not worth waiting hours in line cute, but worth waiting the 5 minutes on Sunday night. See one of the folks I went with has a medical condition that allows them to get a special card to bypass the lines at all the rides. Wow, do I want to always go to the Resort with them from now on! Yikes what a difference not waiting in line makes on your mood and all that you can do!

But now it's back to the grind of work. At least right now, it's a good grind. I'll get my summary of the past two weeks of the Emerging Leader experience up in the next few days - it's still totally awesome! Oh and last weeks Melissa Etheridge concert was fantastic! She's quite a storyteller & the people watching was SO much fun! Ask me about it sometime for a good laugh.

Totally Random!

I won a radio giveaway today! I know! Completely hilarious - the local adult contemporary station does a "My 5 at 5" thing (the station is 104.3MYfm) where listeners can submit their favorite/top 5 songs & if yours is chosen you win! Well, I happened to be listening at home the other day at that time, figured I could come up with 5 songs, logged on & submitted. I had heard a fav song of mine recently - Life in a Northern Town by Dream Academy and figured I might be able to find other 'directional' songs to submit for a theme. My final list also included West End Girls by Pet Shop Boys, Wild Wild West by Escape Club, Morning Train by Sheena Easton (I know I cheated a little), and Paint the Silence by South (again cheating, I know!). Well, the station substituted Rag Doll by Aerosmith for my south choice but I'm totally okay with that because I love Aerosmith! And the kicker is I got two tickets to the Melisssa Etheridge concert on Friday at the Greek Theater in LA, plus admittance to the private patio pre-party! Don't know who I'm taking yet, I'm not a huge Melissa Etheridge fan but it's a free concert - heck yeah! I love totally random!