The Wacky Wacky Road - Baltimore Maryland

I am always talking to you guys about The Road and how difficult it can be. I make random references to the differences between home and out here, yet I don't think most of you really understand what I am trying to convey. My blog is filled with the fun things I do in each city, with a smattering of the dramas that arrise. How many times have I written something to the effect of "That's life on The Road." Now is a perfect time to really explain that.

Last Night brought an evening filled with turmoil. After the show Mike let me know he would be leaving to go home. He has some personal issues that need to be dealt with, which of course, I can't go into. This shakes things up a bit. As I have said in earlier posts, the relationships between the wardrobe/hair departments with the props/carpentry departments have quite a history on this tour, and I think the stress of that has added to Mike's need to go. I haven't been out here long enough for anything to really bother me or upset me, but there is a great strain on you if things are not right at home AND not right at work. Everywhere I look on this tour I see great potential. This could easily be a great tour. All the elements are there. Good show, some awesome people, good cities. For some reason though, it just hasn't manifested itself. Yet. I am still very optimistic about that. We shall see.
Also, our fair Jaki has been mad sick the past couple of days, peaking with a crazy fever on Wednesday. So needless to say, Wednesday was hard. But Mike can't help the things that are going on at home, and Jak certainly can't help being sick, so you just soldier on. Again, as I have said before, when you are on the road, these things, which normally would be only 25% of your personal day, are now 85% of your day, because you are not home, but in a hotel, and your work enviornment isn't at the same desk, or theater everyday, hell, it's not even in the same state.
Imagine something going on at home...something arbitrary...the toilet breaks down. Now instead of just walking to the kitchen and calling the plumber and waiting for him to come over...you have to get back to the hotel, call people to make sure the house isn't flooded, call the plumber and arrange between him and SOMEONE to meet at the same time at your house to fix it. Then of course the plumber will need to come back, because THEY ALWAYS DO, so you have to AGAIN call everyone in the free world to meet the plumber at your place.
Even just getting my mail is a exercise in patience. At home, you walk to the mailbox and get your mail. For me, I have to call Jim to let him know where the hell I am. Jim has to box it up, find some time in his hideous schedule to mail the box, and then I have to go online and track the thing, because if you leave it up to the hotel to let you know when it comes in, you will never see it.
Something as simple as getting the mail is a multi phone call situation.
A co-worker being sick isn't just sending them home early and then they are in the hands of their family, who will care for them. Your involvement is at a complete minimum. None of us out here are travelling with family, who will nurse us back to health. In a normal situation, the sickee, would call out for a few days, lay in bed, someone who loves us would make us soup, or even just change our ice packs when our backs hurt (shout out to kricka!). You can't call out sick for days when you are on tour. You just can't. There is no one to cover you. Tony, our sound guy, has been sick, really sick for at least 2 days. I asked him yesterday why he was still here, and he said because the locals can't do his job. I mean, if Tony was on death's door, of course someone could fill in, but that's for some debilitating disease, not a fluish type of thing.
It is a wacky wacky thing being on tour. Kricka says "It's kinda what I guess having a whole pack of kids is like. There is always something that needs to be done. ALWAYS!!!" She is right. It's a travelling family, complete with the dysfunction that any family with 45 members might have. LOL
But that is also the beauty of it too and one of the things I love about it.
So yes getting your mail can be a total drag, and when things go wrong at home, it can be a nightmare of helplessness, but it is also a wonderful opportunity to create lifelong friendships like no others. War Buddies are the closest things that come to it, without all that machine gun fire and killing people stuff.

winks.