New CBD Montage

I have so much fun creating these. This is from the H20/08 show. There will hopefully one for the Christmas Show and I will put up my solos as soon as I get the video. Thanks
-Jen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_38ikDe0ioE

Boogie Woogie Christmas Carol RECAP

BWCC was this weekend. The show went really well. All of the company pieces were good and my solos went well. I will hopefully post a video of my solos on here as soon as I get a copy of the video.

A huge annoyance came from the kids and the parents of the kids. I have never seen Val get that mad. She was absolutely livid at one point and I don't blame her. Here is what happened.

First several of the kids had absolutely no clue how to act backstage. One group in particular came off stage and started shouting and high-fiving congratulations to one and other. If these kids ever hope to be in a show more than just a recital dance then they better learn quickly that you can not do that. I don't understand why their teacher didn't tell them the could not do that.

Second, the parents of the kids!! I have several beefs with them! I was a little upset at first that several of my friends did not come to see the show. One in particular but I will not name names. Although after finding out everything that was going on in the audience I am not quite as upset. I can not believe some of it. I really hope no one of professional caliber came to the show, I would be completely embarrassed.

1. They were treating it like a recital. Granted there are different rules of etiquette at a dance recital as opposed to a professional production. But this was a PROFESSIONAL PRODUCTION!

2. They were taking flash photographs. Okay if you do this in a musical or play you are violating copyright infringement. And for some of them if a flash goes off the entire production stops! I felt horribly for my friend who was sitting next to one of the jerks taking pictures with a flash constantly. Beyond being annoying to the other audience members it is distracting for the people on stage and especially for dancers! A guy gets distracted during a lift and suddenly the girl is on the floor!

3. I heard this from one of our employees and I am completely disgusted. Some parents were allowing their kids to run up and down one of the rows. I can not believe that. What the F&#* were they thinking. I felt really bad for the guy.

I hope that Val talks to the parents although she probably not. It would not be a fight worth waging. I just feel kind of bad for the people I know who did come.

That was my rant. The company was great though I really love dancing with these people. I can not wait to start our next show. Although it will be interesting because I will be rehearsing/performing Caesar at the same time!!! But that is what happens when you live the live of a crazy artist.

So until next time.
;-)

Sorry it has been so long

I guess this is blog has the same problem as my journal. I forget about it for a while unless I have something interesting to say.



Not much has happened since the last blog. Boogie Woogie Christmas Carol opens tonight and I am really excited about it. I love my solos and my costume for the Ghost looks really good on. I will hopefully get pictures from the show and post them. And I get to do some partnering which is always fun. Rehearsals got kind of intense since we only had a short amount of time to learn everything.



I will say that during the tech/dress rehearsal last night the entire company was getting a little ticked off. There are several kid dances in the show so they decided to let the kids run through all of their stuff then bring in the company to run the whole show minus the kid dances (they just played the music so we had an idea of timing). There were 2 reasons for doing this: 1 so that the kids were not stuck at the theater until 11o/c at night and 2 so that the parents weren't sitting in the audience while the company was rehearsing.



The problem was that it took forever to run the kid dances. They ran over their time by at least an hour. One of the hip hop numbers was acutally rehearsing their piece on the stage as opposed to just running it!!! Which ment that we were not able to start rehearsing until later and hence we did not get out of the theater until 11:30!!! Which can be okay for a musical or a play but not for a dance show. Needless to say I was not the only one in a sour mood by the time we started.



okay running out the door now I will finish this later.



;-)

Isn't it fun...

When you start looking over your old posts and start to notice spelling and grammerical mistakes ?!?

Work has been really slow today so I spent most of the day editing a new video for H/S. The rest of the time was spent on Facebook. Wow that makes me feel kind of pathetic...oh well.

Since returning back I did have the dance show. There was not a huge crowd but I think fairly respectable for restarting the company this year. Our first performance went okay. The dancing was fine but there were several technical issues including the music skipping then restarting a minute into the piece. Fortunately it was the comedy piece so we played it off as best we could. The Saturday night show went better. I am happy to announce that my previous conceptions about the personalities of a few of the company members were delightfully incorrect. The company is great, there are no DIVA personalities just some DIVA talent.

Next up is Boogie Woogie Christmas Carol which I am excited to start also because I am going to have a solo in this one. After that i go almost straight into Julius Caesar which has me a little nervous as I have never performed Shakespeare before!!!! I am hoping that Bill will be patient with me. I am going to try and have my lines half memorized by the first rehearsal but we all know how well I do with planning.

Other than that nothing else really going on. I am still waiting for Mandi to post her pictures from my visit **cough**cough** Love you hon!!!

I guess I will right again if there is anything interesting to write about.

;-)

Germany Trip

Sorry this has taken so long to get up but I was suffering from Jet Lag for a while.



Okay so the trip story. I got to Frankfurt no problem. Although I had been getting no sleep the few days beforehand so by the time I got there I was almost fell asleep where I was sitting, Mandi then told me to go to bed. I am sure that was fun for Mandi! First of we had a calm day just walking around the village where she lives.

The view from her upstairs window. The weather was beautiful while I was there! Plus it was just becoming autumn and the tree's were just beautiful!

'Knowing I'm on the Street Where You Live'. Sorry burst into song for a moment! This is the street where Mandi lives. Don't you just love European neighborhoods?!?

A little closer to downtown. I love these houses. They are so cute!

Cute little waterwheel!

This cute little guy was following us around! Here he is eating some lunch, I think some of it got in his mouth!

The next day we went into Frankfurt to have lunch with Arnold and a few of his co-workers. I had my first German Beer, which was yummy! Then after lunch we wandered around Frankfurt for a little while catching some of the sights. We went into a few churches and the Frankfurt History Museum that had the weirdest exhibit ever. Downstairs it was a special exhibit to 1960's culture! Really not something I am all that interested in seeing while in Frankfurt, unless the year happened to be 2060! But the upstairs was kind of cool. They had these old church paintings as well as some stonework carvings that might have come from a church wall.

Opera House, Frankfurt

This is my favorite pictures of Mandi and Sam. Candid shots are always the best!

Outside Leonardo's Church in Frankfurt.

Me by a pretty fountain! I noticed there were a lot of fountains, I don't really know why!

Some cute little birdies I saw when we went to lunch in Frankfurt.

This is downtown Frankfurt, the financial district! Arnold works in one of the these buildings!

One night we left Sam with a babysitter and went out to an Authentic Frankfurt restaurant. Mandi was adorable, I didn't know if she would make it the whole night without calling home!! It was really cute! The food was excellent and they had this apple wine that tasted better with the second glass ;-).

The thing I noticed that was kind of weird about German restaurants though is that there is not really a hostess. You just kind of go in and sit down where you want, and sometimes you even share your table with other people. I just found that kind of odd.

That night Eddie, a co-worker of Arnold's, took me out to see the nightlife of Frankfurt. Pretty much like the nightlife of the US but a lot more walking involved.

The next morning, Arnold, Mandi, Eddie, and I took the train to Mainz.

Mandi and I thought this was terribly funny picture. Firstly Sam laying across Arnold's shoulders while he was holding on to an arm and a leg. Then also the fact that Eddie was the one pushing the stroller, while Mandi and I stood back and watched. Probably something that only Mandi and I would find amusing but that is why we are best buds.

In Mainz we went to see the Guttenberg Museum, I would defiantly recommend to anyone traveling to the Frankfurt area. I was so excited to see a book from 1410!!! Plus seeing the old style of Bible right next to a Guttenberg bible it was really cool to see the differences. They also had a printing demonstration. It was in German so Eddie translated for me.

While in Mainz we also saw the Dom Cathedral (the single most beautiful church I have ever seen). Unfortunately you could not take pictures inside so here are some exteriors.

After a bit of a rest on Sunday we were going to go to Kassel on Monday to see the Grimm Brother's museum, however, we missed the connecting train and decided to go into Hanau (which is closer and where the Grimm's were born) and see the statue and wander for a bit.

The Grimm Brother's Statue, Hanau. I did also notice while I was there that scarves are immensely popular! Plus you would be surprised how warm a scarf can keep you!

When traveling back to the train station we must have been on a flight path because there were a ton of plains overhead. We spend about 10 minutes trying to get a picture of Sam pointing to them. Sorry it is on it's side but this is the best, I think!

That night we bought our tickets to Kassel online and headed off the next morning.

I saw this store and could not stop laughing. Then I felt really bad because as I was standing there mocking it some people went inside!!! Oh well! I think it was just that funny because it was in a little town in Germany!

After a few little detours we found the Grimm Brothers Museum. Inside was cool, it had some rooms set up that were decorated in the style of the stories as well as the complete history of the Grimm's (I didn't know that they got so involved politically). While looking around the gift shop Sam made a mad dash to the door not knowing that there was a glass door blocking the way and ran straight into it, he was okay. They about 5 minutes later he goes and tries to do it again, that time I caught him! Still it kept me and Mandi giggling for a little while.

After the museum we wandered for a while. Pretty much just took the long route back to the train station. We saw a few cool things. It was really weird because it was very evident that the city had been bombed. There was one thing that I wish I would have taken a picture of of an old building CONNECTED to a modern one! It was a very strange sight.

This is Germany's first permanent theater.

According to the guidebook this is the second oldest museum in the world, next to the British Museum!

This was just a building I though was pretty! Reminded me a lot of Notre Dame in Paris just a much smaller scale!




While walking back we also saw this really pretty tower that looked like it might be a church. It was also surrounded by a very old cemetery. The interesting thing was that when you got up to it. There was only this one tower remaining! It looked like the interior had been turned into a restaurant. It was just interesting that the rest of the building was gone but this one tower remained.



The last day there we just hung around the house. Mandi was very tired and rightfully so. We just went to the store so I could buy some German chocolate and i packed. It was kind of good having a mellow day because the weather was not very happy. If we had gone out it probably would have started raining on us.



The next morning I left for home, :-(. I got to the airport and on the plane with no problems. The beginning of the flight was fairly uneventful. I did find it funny that I was sitting next to a woman only spoke German!!! Needless to say there was not a lot of chit-chat between us! We had just passed Ireland when the pilot come over the intercom saying that we had to head back to Dublin!!! Apparently there was a 4 month old baby on the flight that was traveling to Dallas to have a heart transplant or just an operation (no one was really positive). But the baby was not getting enough oxygen so we had to turn around and make an emergency landing. Pretty much long story short I spent about 15 hours in the plane (4.5 hours longer that I should have)! The good news is that I finished the novel that I started reading on the flight there! Plus you really can't be mad when it is a baby that is suffocating!



So that was my trip. I hope you enjoyed my retelling. Thank for putting up with me Mandi. Love you and miss you!


;-)

Things Are Happening...

...and in some respects a little too fast for me to handle. Here are the updates literally from this weekend.

A. CBD, the dance company, has finally got a hold of me. Here is the interesting thing...they said that because of my germany trip I may not be able to be in the October show, but that one of the choreographers had not set his piece yet so I might be in just that one. Well on Friday she finally sent out the cast list for the show. Well the piece that she told me about was in fact still not cast but, and here is the kicker, I had been cast in both the other dances. THEN I go to our first rehearsal/meeting and we do a little 16 count dance for the other choreographer...now I am in his piece AS WELL. So in the course of a weekend I go from possibly not being in the show at all, to being in every CBD number!!! What's up with that?!?

B. Okay I wrote it but I deleted it again because I am still a little hesitant to put it on the web. The basic plan is that I am helping to start a new Theater company with some friends of mine. We are going try to be on the cutting edge of theater performing original works and more edgy material. I will post more when i can. I don't know it is one of those discretionary things. Don't want to say too much in case it doesn't happen.

Other than that not much else is going on. Not that I really have time for anything else!!! I am sort of wishing I was an insomniac so that I could stay awake and get stuff done! I hope everyone out there is doing well. I love you all.

:-)

Knew It Would Happen

I knew I would write several blog enteries and then stop. Oh well story of my life!

In my defense I have been very busy the last two weeks. Forum closed without to much drama. Oklahoma was a huge success. There was a bit of stress since we only had 11 rehearsals, and by the time we did the show I was absolutely exhausted! I was just exceedingly happy because Ava got to come and see it (her first musical). Since the show was outside she could be up and moving around. The only bummer is that I wish I could have been sitting there with her to see what she did. Mom told me that during the music numbers she was up and dancing around! I wish I could have seen it.

There is a little bit of happy news. I have been accepted into the Contemporaray Ballet Theater company. Although, I may be pulling out if their artistic director does not respond to my emails and give me some definative information.

There is also a possiblity of another project that I may get involved in. But I am going to keep quiet on that until things start to happen.

That is all for now

:-)

Discoverd a Dilemma

Normally when it comes to things like this and writing in my journal I will keep it up for a few days then stop. I am proud that I am still going here.

Not a tremendous amount has happened in the last few days. We had a few more performances of Forum, had some great audiences for some of them. I auditioned for a dance company, still have not heard back. People have made me smile and pissed me off, as happens with everyone.

I have discovered a slight dilemma with this blog though. Although I will always be comfortable complaining about my family, because I will generally tell them what I think to their faces ;-). I am not okay talking about the other things that irritate me. Mainly because I don't know who will read this and I don't want anyone to be offended. Sometimes it sucks being nice!!!

So on that note I will say there were several things that annoyed me over the last week and several people that I would like to tell off but I can't. Just when it comes to certain people I am sick of the drama, the backstabbing, the pettiness and just want to be left alone. Then you have everyone asking if you are okay when you are really just tired and it all goes in a vicious circle until you die!...sigh

On a positive note, my dear sweet best friend Amanda called me before the show on Sunday and put me in a fabulous mood. I always like it when I get to talk to her, it always brightens my day. Thanks Mandi I love you to pieces, and miss you!!! (she mentioned that she has read my blog so there)

Not much new on the career front still trying to figure stuff out (I know I have been saying that for years). I really do need to just take the leap and see where I land.

That is all for this installment, I'll be back with more once something interesting happens in my life.

;-)

And the boredom seeps in!

Okay you know it is a slow day at work when. You are playing around sending messages to people on facebook while the other woman in the office is asleep, and one of the guys is off working on his house. I feel bad for my dad he is the only one doing some acutal work ;-)

It felt good to get the last post off my chest. It is surprising how much you can figure out in your life by simply writing down your thoughts.

Not much else is going on right now. The show last night went well. Wasn't as full as our usual crowd but they were responsive. Definatly better than the show a couple of nights ago where the audience was like energy vampires. I had never felt that before where the energy is just being sucked out of you. But somehow they did it!

I do have some friends coming this week so that will be nice. So long as they stick around after the show to say hi! I was so ticked at my friends last week for just leaving! ARGH.

Well I could sit here and ramble on and on about nonsense, but I won't subject you to that right now. ;-)

I QUIT!!!

Well acutally I didn't but I have never been so close!!!

To bring you up to speed, over the last few months I have been unbelieveably frustrated at work. I am bored out of my mind with the meanial day to day tasks in the office. My mom, who works with me, does not help this matter. If I don't do things by HER timetable then she gets all pissy and bent out of shape. What she doesn't understand is that by changing things around maybe working on a new project for a little bit before I do the old stuff is what keeps me sane and not throwing my computer through the window.

She is also bitter because I was wanting to change the way we do something, and for anyone that knows her, they know how she digs in her heals about change. Even though this chnage is not going to affect her in any great way but will make my life much easier doesn't matter. Fortunatly dad came to my rescue and saw things my way. Although he was ticked off at me this morning for coming in late again, but it is really hard to be on time to a job you can not stand doing. I would love to have my own office where I don't have someone looking over my shoulder and treating me like a child. It is driving me nuts!!!

I have never need a vacation so much in my life.

I also suppose that doing a Professional show, where I am getting paid more than my cost of gas, is contributing to the problem as well. I guess I am now starting to realize that although I tried to do the whole business thing and have a normal job like everyone else, I really can't. Even as my mom says of having dancing and singing and acting as a hobby doesn't work anymore. I am capable of more than just a hobby level of performance. People are willing to pay me to do this stuff and I like being paid to do it. And beyond that I have, what many people have called, an excellent screenplay that is just sitting gathering dust!

My dad has always said that you need to set out your goals in life and figure out what steps are needed to achieve those goals. I finally feel like I know what I want out of life, now I just have to figure out how to get there.

Wish me Luck!!!

Good Morning All!

Here I am again. I had to go back and edit the last post...bad grammer abounded!!!
I promised some pictures so here you go.

This is me, well my most current headshot.

This is the love of my life. Her name is Gwendalyn Elizabeth Obeney! She is a 6 year old Lhasa Apso that I got from Operation Kindness 3 years ago. She is a total princess!!!

Here is the other love of my life, my niece Ava!!! She is aboslutely adorable and is going to be a real heartbreaker when she grows up ;-)

This is me with my best friend Amanda. She moved to Germany this year with her husband and son. She is now expecting her second child. I am excited to go and visit her later this year and I am sure I will have lots of picutres for you when I get back.

Here is a picture of me with my mom when we went swimming with the dolphins in Cabo last year!!

Here is my dad with Ava and my brothers dog Max!

This is from a ballet I did recently. It was a contemporary version of Romeo and Juliet, I played Mercutio.

Here are all the fabulous courtesans from the show I am in now. It is 'A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum', I play one of the Gemane twins.

I don't know why I wanted to include this one I guess so that some of famliy can see me in a wedding dress, since it might never happen for real ;-)

I still have not thought of a funny way to end my blogs yet so for now

;-)

Welcome To My Life

I am starting to feel a little left out that I am one of the few people that does not have a blog site. This is mostly for my family and friends scattered to the four corners of the globe since I don't get to see or talk to them very often.

Anyway I don't know why I decided on 'The Life and Times of an Obeney". I guess it is just because I love my last name. Seriously to any future husbands sorry but my last name isn't going to change ;-).

As you will come to discover over the coming days/weeks/months/years/millenium (if only I live that long), I am a very bizzare person. This blog will be filled with the various excursions that my brain takes on a daily basis so it should make for a good read.

I am an actor/singer/dancer, not necessarily in that order. That might explain some of my weirdness. I am excited that I am currently in doing my first PROFESSIONAL theater performance. I will say it is awesome getting paid to perform. I LOVE IT!!! Although the 5 weeks with performances 5 days a week can get a little stressful.

I my spare time (not that I have much) I usually just sit around doing nothing. I play with my dog. Sometimes I work on the 10 writting projects I have in the works. If I ever finish any of them I'll let you know.

I do have a full time job to pay the bills but you will probably only hear about it when I am complaining about something or someone, I do afterall work with my family ;-)

I guess that is all for now. Next time I will post some pictures from the show and might go into a a little more detail. But until then... (okay I want to put something cute that I will then say at the end of all my blogs but I can't think of it right now so give me some time!!)