Home again, home again

Well, i'm home. It's all done. Back to real life.

I probably won't be updating this site much (i.e., at all) from here on, seeing as i'm no longer "elsewhere."

I want to thank everyone who followed my wanderings over the past weeks. I appreciate all the kind comments, both on the site and in person. Knowing y'all were out there made me feel a lot less alone while on the road.

I suppose i might resurrect this thing eventually (who knows, maybe someday there'll be another trip of some kind to document), but for now, i'm signing off.

Take care, everyone. I'll be seeing you.

Exeunt, with flourish

..and that's that.

The last show felt like it was the best. The audiences today were among the biggest, and the theatre at the school this afternoon (the only proper theatre in any school we've seen in Newfoundland) was among the nicest we've seen in any school. The crowd was awesome.

It's drizzly but warm in St. John's as we go through the final steps, finishing things up. Our sense of satisfaction and accomplishment is being dampened with annoyance at a lot of little things that aren't being handled well by those in charge, preventing this moment from being as relaxing and fun as it should be. But that time will come soon enough. In general, things feel good right now. We've done the job, and done it well.

The rest of the cast is going to be partying pretty hard tonight. Not me. I'm going home.

Last Night.

Last stop. Last hotel room. Last leg of this journey, bringing me back where i came from.

Two shows tomorrow, and that's that. In 24 hours i'll be on a plane, somewhere between Halifax and Saint John.

The show this morning in Gambo was great. The audience was totally attentive, and the post-show interaction was fun and lively. Afterwards, the stage was swarmed with students, talking to us and getting us to sign their programs. What strange fun.

We're hoping to videotape at least one of the shows tomorrow. Somewhere in my mind is the idea of making some kind of video resumé thing, so potential future employers could see some of the acting i've done (mental note: must get Second Stage DVDs). I guess that means i'm thinking seriously about trying to get more work as an actor at some point. Maybe.

It's weird to think that in a few days i'll be right back in the call centre. Right back at the old job. Right back in the old life. How's that going to feel? Is that where i belong? Is this?

Hey, i'd love to sit up all night pondering it, but it's a long drive to an early show tomorrow. I should probably get some sleep.

Hopefully i'll be seeing some of you soon.

Three to go.

Into the home stretch now.

I'm sitting in the Albatross Motel in Gander, Newfoundland, for the second time this week.










Friday night we had dinner at castmate Jack's parents' house in Grand Falls. Their hospitality was amazing, the sort of people who, five minutes after meeting them, you feel as if you've known them all your life. Having heard that one of their son's coworkers was a non-meat-eater, they had prepared a delicious vegetarian lasagna for us for dinner. After eating in restaurants and hotels so much lately, it was amazing how good a home-cooked meal tasted (even if it wasn't, strictly speaking, my home).

After that it was a pretty uneventful couple of days in Grand Falls. Director started feeling really under the weather on Friday, and as a result she missed out on dinner Friday night (although Jack's parents did of course send some food back to the hotel for her - what's with these people?). She also hasn't been to any of the shows since then, which isn't as big a deal as it sounds. We've done the show so many times at this point that everything always goes smoothly (which also means that the actual job is now pretty much the least interesting part of this job).

Sunday we made our way to Gander, Marlon's hometown. (I'm now the only member of the cast who hasn't been able to have the group over for some home-cooking. Fortunately i don't think they blame me for the fact that we didn't do a show anywhere near Saint John.) Marlon's family, too, were warm and welcoming. We even gave a command performance of the show in Marlon's parents' family room.

Yesterday morning we did a show in Wesleyville, and afterward we went to Twillingate Island for some sightseeing. Twillingate is the epitome of Newfoundland's scenic splendour, but after having travelled the length and breadth of this beautiful island, i'm pretty near scenic'd out. Even so, it's pretty hard not to find the cliffs on the island's coast impressive.


(I assure you that at no point while taking these photos did i fall to my death upon the rocks below.)





Tonight we're back in Gander. Matter of fact, i'm right back in the same room i was in two nights ago, although at this point they're all starting to look the same. I never thought i'd live to see the day, but i'm actually getting just a little tired of staying in hotels. There are definitely some things about coming home that i'm really looking forward to, but i'm not going to let that cause me to neglect or underappreciate every moment that remains of this experience. I may never have another opportunity like this again; i don't want to look back on it and find that at the time i was always looking somewhere else.

We have a show in the morning in Gambo, then two on Thursday in St. John's. Thursday night, i'm on a plane for home.



From here on,
every stretch of road
brings me closer to home.
Wherever that is.