Getting better everyday :)

Well, our whole cast was finally back at rehearsals today after having 1/2 of our girls get quarantined to a hotel with G.I. (gastro-intestinal something...) for 3 days. First Heather started the throw-up process on Wed. and by Thurs. we had 3 girls sick and they were sending someone to our apartment to disinfect EVERYTHING while the girls packed and headed to a hotel. But, thankfully everyone finally has medicine and is feeling a good bit better. AND I DIDN'T GET IT!!! YAY! hahaha :) I just can't afford to be so sick that I can't go to rehearsals right now. There's just too much that I need to learn and I have to do this stuff over and over and over to really grasp it so...I definitely can't be quarantined to a hotel room...though it would've been nice to have my own big bed, room service and my own t.v. to watch whatever I wanted for a night!
Even though rehearsals haven't been the same without the other cast members I will say that it's given me a lot of opportunity to work on my songs. Since no one else other than Eric and I have been able to sing we've really been able to focus on our songs when we're with the vocal director, so I feel really good about my part of the 2nd show so far. I'm finally starting to get the choreography, so now it's just a matter of making it look natural instead of like...well, choreography. :)
Other than that I should have some VERY interesting pictures to post after tonight because I will be attending our first themed party of the rehearsal period: "WHITE TRASH CHRISTMAS". Don't ask me what I'm gonna wear, but from what I understand everyone is expecting me to be the most creatively redneck because I'm from Alabama...I don't know if I appreciate the assumption, but never the less it should be a very interesting night for all of us! hahaha If you have suggestions please feel free to text or call!
I miss everyone like crazy, but I'm still having a blast down here! Don't forget about me while I'm hundreds of miles away!!!!

With Love,
Kristian

Ballroom Disaster!!

Oh WOW...that's all I can say! Today is the first day that we have actually worked with the choreographer for this show and let me just say that I have more movement in the very first song than I did in all of the country show combined!! I'm EVERYWHERE! Did I mention that I dance a lot and I have to sing spanish while I do it?? This will by far be my hardest show...which I already knew because it's all about dancing anyway, but I guess I really thought most of what I would do is walk around...well not exactly! I actually have choreographed dance steps for about 16 counts...I know what you're thinking, "Kristian, that's really not a lot of dancing." BUT the rest of the song I'm running all over the stage in between dancers like a chicken with my head cut off singing english, then spanish, and then trying to keep from having my head knocked off by high kicks and flying dancers etc. It's a madhouse!!! hahahaha I know, we just learned it and it will come, but WOW...I just keep saying that over and over...and this is only the FIRST of my songs!! I think it's even more challenging because we are learning this with a whole other cast. So, we are sharing studios and the same choreographer is trying to teach it to both of us at the same time. The problem is that our stages are very different so she has to take one group at a time and block us, and then come back to the other group and do the same...so we technically get half the time to work with her and fix any mistakes...BUT I'm sure I'll get it soon enough despite all of that...won't I? haha :)

Other than that things are going really well. Heather got back from the doctor and was CLEARED so she will definitely be staying! YAY! Thanks for your prayers!! Unfortunately, now our boy 2, Aaron, is under the same kind of threats because he went back to the doctor and found out his bronchitis has turned into laryngitis and now he's not aloud to sing either. If it's not one person then it's someone else...so start your prayers all over again please!

The other day I posted a video through facebook without realizing that anyone who tried to go to that link would need a password to access the video. SO, I'm uploading the video to myspace so that you will only have to copy and paste the link to pull up the video. Sorry about that!! Try this one instead:

God Bless the Broken Road during rehearsal with all singers:
http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=32864254

Ok, that's all I know for now! Just trying to keep you updated!

Love,
Kris

Ballroom FEVER!

Well, we've been working on our ballroom show for a week now and things are going really well. I'm really starting to enjoy the show because I don't have a lot of songs to learn, which balances out the fact that 2 of the ones I do have to learn are in spanish! It's coming a lot easier than I thought it would. I guess this is where I should thank Mrs. Stricklin for 3 years of memorizing Italian, French, and German songs for voice! Now spanish is as easy as 1-2-3!...well not quite, but it's not as bad as I thought anyway. :)

We ran the country show today for the first time since Monday and everything went great so I think we are really starting to get that one under our belts. It was nice being able to take a break and come back to it too. It gave us a chance to...well breathe for a while and regroup...

We've had a lot of sickness in the cast so I'm gonna go ahead and ask for prayer that I don't get sick as well! Everyone knows I'm the world's worst at catching any kind of cold, virus, etc at the drop of a hat... And please pray for Heather (girl 2 singer) because she has been struggling vocally since we started due to a mild case of laryngitis (sp) and they are now threatening to send her home if her doctors visit doesn't go well Monday...I'm really upset too because I LOVE Heather and I don't want a new girl to come in!!! Our 4 singers are amazing and we all mix really well together so we can't mess that up now! So...PRAY PRAY PRAY!!!! Thanks! :)

Ok so I couldn't get my video to upload to the blogger site, but I wanted you guys to hear a little bit of us while we rehearse. Here's the link for "God Bless the Broken Road". If you can't just click on the link then copy and paste it to your browser and it should go there. Keep in mind that this was the first song we sang full out that day so it's not perfect by any means!!! This is one of my favorites!


http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=510640816119&subj=156800509


His,
Kristian

Got my hair did! hahaha

So, I went to make an appointment at this salon at the mall and the next thing I know a small puertorican woman is sitting me in her chair to "work wonders" on my boring hair...hahahaha It's not really that different, just a little shorter and a little...brighter, but I love it! Just wanted to show ya! What do you think?

Well, your Alabama pageant chick is official a spanish singer now!!! ha I started ballroom yesterday...we've already covered everything we're supposed to be working on so now it's just up to me to remember it all! "Me das tu fiebre!" = You give me fever! hahahaa I have 2 big spanish songs and then a few other random spanish speaking parts...it's gonna be a really beautiful show though. It's just a really big challenge for me to memorize the spanish so say a prayer!

Things are going great!! I'll keep you posted as time goes on!

His,
Kristian

Oh yea I forgot!

So, I have more pictures and I just wanted to post them. :) Meant to yesterday, but my battery died before I got a chance...Let's see if I can name everyone...top picture L-R: Me, Alex (ballroom guy), Sam, Teegan, Heather, Marshall, Roland, Shauna, Melissa. Bottom L-R: Melissa, Teegan, Heather, Me, Sam, and Shauna. Do you feel like you know most everyone now?

Had our last official "Pure Country" run through today and some of the office workers came in to be our audience. I think things went really well, but there's always room for improvement of course... Well, just trying to keep you guys posted on things!

Love,

ME :)

God speaks...

It's funny how you grow up being told how good you are at what you do, and whether you think you believe it or not at the time I guess it really sinks in. You know, I've been singing for as long as I can remember and I've always gotten by with just standing up and belting out a tune for someone to hear. I never had to throw in a little dance break to keep people's eyes on me or tell a joke before I began to sing so that they might be interested in what I was doing...I just stood up and started singing and people listened. They seemed to enjoy it too! haha
Well, I have officially learned something about myself after being here surrounded by talent. If you want to be an entertainer you can't just stand up and sing...you can't barely go through the motions in rehearsal and know that when the real performance comes you'll give it your all...you can't halfway perform it and expect people to be pleased just because you have a pretty voice...that doesn't cut it here. These guys want to see your "process". They want you to act out every single thing that you're singing almost to the point where if someone were deaf they still might have a clue what your song was about. This is not an unbelievably hard concept for me to understand, but what has gotten me is trying to take down my own walls of insecurity enough to be able to act these things out in front of my peers...in a rehearsal room with any where from 5-15 people...no applause or happy faces to build up your energy...just do it full out every time as if you're in front of thousands. (It's harder than it sounds, I promise!) I've just always been able to show up the day of a performance, walk through it and barely sing or move at all, and then give it everything I've got in the actual performance...
Well, I finally had my first break down during a rehearsal...It could have something to do with the fact that it's "that time" for me...I don't know. BUT there we were: Loren (vocal director), Eric (my singing partner), and myself in a studio rehearsing the opening number. Loren wanted more acting from me in my first song because it is the first time the audience will meet me and it needs to be great...makes sense right? Well, I bet we rehearsed the first 15 seconds 50 times before I finally cracked. He kept asking for more and I thought I was giving it everything, but apparently it wasn't enough...he kept pushing and pushing and the next thing I know my eyes are welling up with tears and I had to leave the room! Silly right? I know that now, but at the time it was just too much to take! :) After all the random thoughts running through my head like: "I shouldn't be here...this isn't what I thought it would be....maybe I'm not cut out for this kind of performing...why am I such an idiot?...why can't I just quit judging myself and do what he's asking??...ETC" I went back in there for him to tell me that I've created a block and I have to get over myself in order to push through and do this well. I can't sit there and tell myself that my animated acting looks stupid, but instead I have to go over the top and wait for him to tell me if it's too much or just enough...I heard and understood everything he was saying, but I guess it didn't really make me feel much better because I still felt like I was doing my very best...
So, I just did the only thing I knew to do...I started praying that night for answers...guidance...strength in myself...confidence...basically anything God could do to get me through it because Loren was just stressin me out! :) To show you how amazing God is sometimes...I just happened to get on facebook the next day for about 5 minutes when I saw the new Bible verse posted on my profile page:
2 Timothy 1:7 (Whole Chapter) For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.
I mean, if that is not God trying to say "BE BOLD" then I don't know what is!!! So, after reading that my heart was lifted. We did a run of the entire show and Loren said I got the gold star!! He said I looked like a completely different person - so much that he almost teared up a couple of times because he was so proud of me for letting loose! And it wasn't just him that commented on it - my other cast-mates noticed the change as well!! THANK YOU LORD FOR ANSWERING ME IN MY TIME OF NEED!!!! :) (As usual!) Keep praying that I can let go of my insecurities and be bold in Him as I perform. That's all I have to talk about for tonight...I gotta go to bed! We start at 8:30 am tomorrow!!! YUCK!

His Eternally,
Kristian

Nothin' else to do...

(last night @ about 7:30)Well, I'm feelin' a little ...WET right now. haha I just walked home from a lovely, short rehearsal and about 1/2 a mile from the house the bottom decided to drop out. I guess God was just lookin' down laughin' as I took off running in the pouring rain with all my expensive equipment in my bag and no umbrella! hahaha Just proves that the Lord likes to play jokes too because about the time we got inside and stripped off the SOAKING wet clothes and took everything out of our bags we looked outside to see the sun shining again...Very funny Lord!

Today is my day of rest...hehehe because the girls don't have to be there until 7 tonight!!! We're working for an 1 1/2 hours and then we're going to run about 8/10 of the show from top to bottom - no stops. It should be interesting to see how that goes! Let's see...other than that our ballroom couple arrived a little earlier than planned. So, we have new friends to hang out with! I don't have any pictures of them yet...sorry. :) But we've been watching videos of them dancing and I can't wait to start working on our Ballroom Fever show so that we can really see them in action! We should be onto it in about another week and a half. I think I sing about 4 songs in Spanish so hopefully all those years of singing in other languages for Mrs. Stricklin will come in handy for that show! haha

We have officially put in a request to have someone come spray the apartment because I keep finding those wormy things all over the house, but the cleaning lady said they've been having problems for a long time and nothing really helps...Oh well, I guess that's the price you pay for a free place to stay. :)

Other than that I had a sappy night Sunday night. I really started missing everyone and got kind of sad about it...I guess because we're only in rehearsal for such a short time right now the days seem to drag on forever! So, I feel like I've been gone a month and it's only been about a week and 4 days....Anyway - I'll just ask you to keep me in your thoughts and prayers because 8 months is a long time and I'm figuring out pretty quickly that I'm more of a homebody than I thought!

I miss everybody!!!

His,

Kris~*

Too much! haha

You know, I really like being here...the people are great...the music is rockin'....plenty of good places to eat and hang out...but I do have one complaint right now. My apartment is NASTY!! "Please cleaning lady...I BEG you! Come and clean my place!!!" Let me tell you my story...

So, was taking a shower the other night...minding my own business. I take my scrubby sponge off the faucet to bathe and just happen to look down before it actually touched my body...guess what I found?!?!?!?! An inch long black worm squirming it's little head at me!!!! AAGGGGHHH!!! I thought I was going to have a heart attack right then and there!! Of course I killed it with my shampoo bottle and bought a new sponge....but still...Since then I have found 2 or 3 more of those little boogers just crawling random places in the house. Now every time I get in the shower I feel like if I close my eyes a whole bucket of them is just going to dump on my head!!! EEEWWW! So, please say a prayer that our cleaning woman finally comes so that I can find where these things are coming from and kill them all!!!

Other than that disaster, things are still going really well..just trying to get my steps down and memorize my songs. We will be finished with this show and on to the next in about a week and a half so I'm definitely on a schedule here! Seriously, say a prayer that my mind retains all of this information because it's a lot to learn in a very short amount of time and they do not tolerate slow learners around here. It's good though because it makes me work harder. :) I need to be pushed like that I guess.

Keeping you posted!

Love,
Kris