Bollywood Audition

Today was quite the eventful day!  Well, sort of... I sat around quite a lot, but a LOT happened!

I arrived at 1pm to the Princess Restaurant on the Southwest side of Houston and sat quietly with three other girls in a lounge as we waited for our Bollywood Fashion Show audition.  Although I arrived 10min early, I was the last of the four to arrive.  A woman named Arushi introduced herself and explained that we were still waiting on about 10 girls; then she laughed and told us she usually takes into consideration "Indian Standard Time, but that shouldn't affect us..."  Oye.  (3 white girls and a girl from El Salvador)  We waited a few minutes, but no one else arrived.

The entire audition consisted of walking... of course, it was for a fashion show.  I remembered the classes I took at Mayo Hill in high school and recalled seeing this done on America's Next Top model for casting calls.  They turned on the music, and we took turns walking across the small wooden dance floor... inserting turns and posing at the end of the "runway" as we saw fit.  Initially, I thought the whole audition process was a bit silly... I mean, really... walking, but after watching everyone, I could see that a few of us were more comfortable- whether it because we were in heels or because people were watching us.  We were critiqued and given suggestions for our walk (one man told me to put more bounce in my walk), and then we were all told we were in.  Cool!  I was an inch shorter than the prerequisite height, but sometimes showing up counts for a lot.  :)

By this time, more people had arrived- maybe 2 dozen Indian models who would be in the show, as well.  (They had begun rehearsals a couple weeks ago.)  I sat down and waited for my part of the rehearsal -I was cast in the "tunic section" AKA the tiny, high-schooler section.  Oh well, no complaints from me- I have a solo and am promised something really great to wear.  I am told my walk is very strong and I should really "make it spectacular" because I will be representing the East-meets-West.

I practice, I chat, I eat samosas, and then I head to Nikki's house (coordinator of another fashion show) where I watch rehearsals and wait to go to the fitting at the Kemaya boutique in Sugarland.  One of the guys made the mistake of joking with me to lead the dance I had just watched... I guess he forgot I was a dancer- maybe not officially trained in these styles- but I sure did get up and do it.  Nikki immediately asked me to be in her fashion show this April.  Hah!

The fitting went well.  I was first given a silver set: a long, tulip-style skirt and a dulled, sequined top to match; the designer was very proud of this piece, but our coordinators convinced her I needed something flashier.  I tried on a beautiful black beaded sari/gown... well, I shimmied into it.  ;)  It looked amazing and the coordinators were much more pleased with this selection... I did see a note, however, that our designer may be making something different- time will tell, the show is March 20th!

Guess who's coming to town?

I had to laugh as I was driving down the feeder road to the highway today.... miles upon miles of horse droppings.  LOL!  There was nothing to do but drive right through them just like everyone else!

You might wonder why there was not only horse droppings on the main streets of Houston, but MILES of horse droppings.  Well, ya see folks, it's rodeo time!  Every year, when the rodeo comes to H-town, there is a parade of horses and covered wagons that take the main roads into the city for the big shows.  That is what I was following (along with a few other traffic-lodged vehicles... traveling horses are just no competition for an automobile, I'm afraid.)

Hopefully I'll get to make it out to one of the shows this year.  It's amazing; the rodeo has broadened it's horizons and not only offers huge country stars as a source of big-show entertainment, but artists such as Janet Jackson, Kid Rock and KISS will be performing this year.  (Pretty cool, huh?)

Visajourney

I met another great couple at the crepe restaurant this week!  The girl is from London -with some time in the Netherlands- and the guy is from Alabama...they are absolutely delightful and have been married 3yrs!  I actually spent quite a bit of time talking with them (business was slow when they came in), and besides exchanging jokes (I've got a really good one about super Mario) we exchanged love stories.  :)

They also gave me the name of an amazing website that said was of great use to them when Mrs. was trying to gain her US visa.  (For some reason I felt it inappropriate to ask their names... despite them asking mine.. Hrmph.)  Anyways, this great site is called visajourney.com.  "It puts you in touch with a community of people going through exactly the same thing as you are."  Cool.  :)  Mrs. said it saved them a ton of legal fees and they were able to accomplish everything for about $1,000.  "It was hard, but if we had to do it all over again, we would do it exactly the same way... we definitely think it was the best way to do it."  The world is good.  There is information and friends to be had anywhere... I guess you just have to open your eyes and smile a little bit.

Living in Trees

A couple days ago, Abel mentioned wanting to build a treehouse in the future (Actually, he asked my permission).  The random request led us to researching the most amazing treehouses -and tree restaurants- known to man.

I came across a beautifully original concept- It's called Free Spirit Spheres.  They are pods that hang from the trees (and can be purchased for a mere $50,000).  ...not bad when you compare it to the price of a 'normal' house.  ;)  Anyways, it is a mini-suspended-apartment... very Tarzan and Jane (with basic amenities).  Heh... is it surprising I gave serious thought to this?

 

I guess we could try it out for a night or two; there are rooms for rent in Vancouver!

CoCo's

It's been about a month since I started working at CoCo's... a small crepe and coffee shop located in a cute little shopping center quite close to where I live.  The commute is only 7 or 8 minutes up the freeway, so it's a big plus.

Working at the shop has it's ups and downs.  No, it's not a dream job.  Yes, I get to meet interesting people.  No, there's no dancing.  Yes, I get free crepes at mealtime.  It's a give-and-take situation; a hold-me-over type job.  It's filling the void of some income at the time, and I may be developing necessary skills for the future... I think the biggest is learning from a perfectionist boss.  I really like him -I love that he has so much pride in his work- but he makes me look a little careless in his wake.  Every angle of every coffee bag is exact, his crepes are impeccable, his pots and pans spotless.  I like doing a good job, but I enjoy the interaction with people a thousand times more than straightening sugar packets.

The crowd varies greatly from day to day.  Business is typically slow (thus the straightening of sugar packets), but I do enjoy when it's slow enough to converse with the customers.  I've been invited to sit and join more than one table- regretfully refusing because I'm on the clock.  An old war veteran from Vietnam, a young world-traveler from down the street, a group of high, college-age kids from Austin, a businessman who practices his German with a thin, red-headed woman who orders cinnamon butter crepes... I like the diversity.  I like the fact that I can put a story with my customers.