February Layoff part 2
Mar. 6th, 2023 09:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
taz_39Thursday morning, I made myself an extra cup of coffee because I felt it was needed!
I discovered that my flight back to tour is on SUNDAY, not Monday, so this layoff feels way too short now :(
There's still so much to do...mainly, making all those dang caramels.
I got started right after breakfast, but had a scary moment when I poured the cream too fast AND it was still too cold, so the sugar seized. I was afraid it might change the texture of the caramel, but kept going because heavy cream is $4 a pint right now and what if it turned out all right?
The texture did seem normal once it was setting, but we will see when it is cut.
I immediately did the second batch after washing dishes from the first.
It would have been nice to just do a larger batch in a bigger pot, but the new pot would need to conduct heat evenly and this did not seem like the time to test whether our ancient soup pot from Target was up to the task.
So, wash the dishes and do it all over again.
They look identical side by side. And hopefully they are.
Then lunch, data entry, writing two letters, and a little more packing.
I cracked open my box of circus memorabilia...
A large storage tupperware packed with all kinds of things that I gathered during my five years with Ringling Brothers.
Shirts, sweaters, jackets, hats with Ringling logos.
Clown noses, keyrings, patches, cups, and other small souvenirs.
My ID badges, of course. The large ones on the left were specifically for the train yards in Mexico.
Things that many people would think are just junk, but have meaning to me, like the jar full of dusty rhinestones that everyone on the circus contributed to over the course of five years. Or the envelope containing a single elephant hair.
There are large items, like a chunk of our road case that was painted by an elephant, or the huge print of a custom-designed poster of our Human Cannon created for display in one of the arenas that we played.
The things that I find most interesting and nostalgic, personally, are the papers.
In this photo you can see the welcome letter that I got with my new employee handbook, way back in March 2012.
And also the notice of termination that was given to each of us, hand-delivered and signed.
I think I actually read it today for the first time. At the time it was handed out, everything was too overwhelming.
Here's a random notice that was probably taped to the door of our train car, to let residents know they'd be without power during a day of repairs.
And a list of prohibited items handed out before we crossed the border into Mexico.
This one I find especially hilarious because the first time we went to Mexico in 2012, customs came onto the train and threw out ALL of our food, I mean everything. Our train would take about three days to cross the Mexican desert, so after customs left we desperately went dumpster diving in the heat to retrieve whatever could be saved. For three days we subsisted on prepackaged Otis Spunkmeyer muffins and bologna (those muffins still hold a special place in my heart for saving my life lol).
This is funny because the second time we went to Mexico in 2014, we sure as shit were going to hide all of our food AND Pie Car's food so customs wouldn't snatch it!! My neighbors and I absolutely packed our fridges and freezers with stuff, and I hid food in my gauchos (storage spaces), in the cubbies up near the ceiling, under my mattress, under the sink, in the gap where the electrical wiring ran between cars...I was NOT here to play, y'all :P
And it worked. I had just about every food item on this "prohibited" list (except sugarcane) stashed in my room, and customs didn't find any of it. Please note that there was no malicious intent here; we were all on a train for three days straight, in the desert. People gotta eat. Almost all of that food was gone by the time we reached civilization.
I'm amazed that I kept so many little pieces of paperwork, which at the time were ho-hum everyday things, but now offer a glimpse into a moment in time that no longer exists, for anyone. I have some of the backstage passes that were printed for guests, and some of the meal tickets they'd give us on weekends for Pie Car meals. Even an old ticket request form for when friends or family came to the show. Most of these have the Ringling logo on them, too.
People frequently ask what our music was like, so here are a few pictures from my music books which I got to keep.
The cover page of one of the books:
Our "Emergency Music". It used to be "Stars and Stripes" otherwise known as the "Disaster March", but the goal of emergency music is for the performers to know something is wrong WITHOUT alerting the audience, and too many people knew what hearing that song would mean. So they changed it to "12th Street Rag".
This was used when someone got injured, when there was an equipment failure, or simply to fill gaps if an act couldn't perform their normal routine.
Here's a bit of High Wire music, to show what some of our cuts and vamps looked like.
The cuts are the red X's that you see. When an action is performed in an act--in this case, someone on the high wire crouches before a jump--we play a vamp at the first X. When the performer jumps successfully, we cut to the next red X and continue on from there to their next trick, which is likely another vamp.
A similar snippet from a clown gag that preceded the tiger act.
I vaguely remember that the clowns had big foam jars, each one made a different sound when opened (sound effects were played by none other than my Jameson on the keys), and the last jar held a tiger's roar, which was the segue into the tiger act.
Anyway, all of this was to find something that I could give to the person who will be escorting me as I visit my train car, number 39, which was my home for five years. I'm embarrassed to say that there was pretty much nothing that I was willing to give up, and/or so much stuff has personal meaning to me that giving it to someone else would be pointless.
I settled on a Ringling logo pen and a sticker (lame), and I'm going to bring our book of "Rules and Regulations" which was specially written for people living on the circus train. You can tell by looking at it that I never opened it for the entire five years, but now it's a fascinating and hilarious look at what our crazy lives were like (hilarious because we absolutely shattered most of the regulations in that book).
For example, this page. No fighting! I think there was a fight every damn night lol.
And you can see on the right side of the image, every page was translated into at least eight different languages for the international employees.
I think that someone who works on a historical train would appreciate something like this.
(No he can't keep it, but I'm thinking of having it scanned and shared anyway for posterity.)
So that was that.
We went for a walk in the late afternoon, talking about Jameson's upcoming musical projects.
Things in the entertainment world are really starting to get momentum now, and he'll be busy with music directing, programming, teaching, and performing all the way through the end of May. Not to mention his own studies as he continues his masters program.
I'm happy that he's got so many projects, but hope he doesn't overextend himself.
Back at the house we got cleaned up and made our last Hello Fresh kit together.
Cheddar-stuffed meatloaf with potato wedges and carrots.
Jameson formed the meatloaf while I washed and cut veggies.
I roasted the potatoes while he fried some onions for the topping.
It turned out great, though I only ate half because high calories.
----------------------------------------------------
Friday! Already.
Before breakfast I drove to Publix for strawberries and graham crackers for the overnight oats.
That gave me an excuse to stop at Wawa and get a hazelnut coffee :)
Back home and after breakfast, put together the strawberry cheesecake overnight oats.
It's pretty much the same recipe as the chocolate peanut butter; I'm just using a strawberry banana Core Power, cream cheese instead of peanut butter, and strawberries instead of chocolate shell. I also added a little lemon juice because some other recipes had it, and I do think it helps convey the "tang" that cheesecake has.
Tomorrow before serving I'll do a graham cracker crumble on top with sliced strawberries. Yum!
Then it was time to chop up my two big blocks of caramel.
Luckily I still had some precut wax paper wraps, so that saved me time with prep work.
First I cut the blocks into nine squares, then each square is cut into twelve.
I'll divide the pieces into snack ziplocs, each bag getting six pieces.
We have some vegans on our tour, and some people who don't like sweets, so I expect to have a little extra.
Those I'll give to the Cincinnati Dinner Train people.
When that was done, lunch, then I drove Jameson to his eye appointment because we expected them to dilate his eyes but they didn't, so we enjoyed each others' company and picked up his dry cleaning on the way home :)
The rest of the night was spent at our friend Lea's house, celebrating her husband Simon's birthday!
He's 50!
We left around 11 when it started getting rowdy.
I have a lot to do tomorrow, or it seems that way anyway.
--------------------------------------------------------
Saturday.
The strawberry cheesecake overnight oats were very good.
I topped them with crumbled graham crackers and fresh strawberries.
Next time I would incorporate some Greek yogurt for more richness, and a little strawberry jam in the topping.
While Jameson was at the gym I fertilized my bananas, went to the tailor to get my pants, did a load of laundry, and packed.
When Jameson got back I had a tax appointment over the phone and found out that I'd owe (not surprising, I did a lot of 1099 work this year) but it IS more than I expected because one of my W2s is for NY and even though I only spent three weeks or so working there, they want to charge me essentially as though I worked there the whole year.
My preparer didn't feel this was fair and neither did I, so he's looking into it.
After that, a very disappointing conversation with someone that I thought was a friend, but who used my post about circus memories (the photos above) to soapbox about his opinions on animal cruelty.
Did not once ask me how the animals were actually treated.
Did not ask how they are now, or WHERE they are now.
Used my comments section to repost the same old PETA propaganda videos and photos...because CLEARLY, having been a circus employee for five years, I would NEVER have seen any of THAT before.
I was angry and hurt, as usual (this happens a LOT). But ultimately, it's just disappointing.
It's disappointing that people really think that poorly of me.
People genuinely seem to think that I would work for a company for five years just standing around watching elephants get bashed over the head.
If you think so little of me--and if you can't be bothered to ask one single question about what being in the circus was REALLY like before throwing accusations around--then we are NOT friends.
Five years of my life. Those animals were, and continue to be, an important part of my circus family.
And if you think that edited YouTube videos, or unfounded PETA accusations, are going to overwrite the things that I experienced firsthand, you're out of your freaking mind. I will ALWAYS defend the professional, compassionate, and skilled vet techs who worked with Ringling's animals. They are good human beings who prioritize animal WELFARE over animal ideology. It was a privilege to see their work, and to interact with these animals.
Aaaanyway. I was in a bit of a sour mood as Jameson and I drove to Clermont.
But the weather was so nice, and the downtown area was so cute and fun, so I couldn't be ornery for long!
We found The Snack Plug, a little shop that had international and unique candy and chips and such.
We picked out some things and took our haul to a park bench to sample.
Three seafood flavored chips: spicy crayfish, garlic oyster, and prawn cocktail.
We liked spicy crayfish the best, and prawn cocktail the least (it was very tomato-forward).
The giant Skittles were good! The texture is a little different than normal Skittles but the flavor was the same, only BIGGER :p
Jameson got a strawberries n' cream Dr. Pepper which was very good.
My Peeps Pepsi was just meh.
We wandered some more and found loads of bakeries, crafts, a record store, thrift stores...really nice shops, and we had fun window shopping. For dinner we eventually settled on Pepe's Cantina because we were feeling nostalgic for Agave in Hartford (more circus memories).
They did tableside guac which was amazing, and we each got a fancy drink.
I had octopus al pastor tacos and they were phenomenal.
The flavor was great, and the octopus was tender, not rubbery at all. So good!
We walked off our meal outside, enjoying the lakeside views.
This one taken at a scenic overlook platform.
Soon it was time to drive back home so I could finish packing.
In the morning Jameson will take me to the airport.
I'm sad to leave so soon, especially with a longer run ahead on tour.
But, I'm trying to appreciate all of this. Because in June it'll be over.
----------------------------------------------------------
Sunday. We woke up early, loaded up the car, and Jameson took me to the airport.
I squeezed him extra hard, because it'll be three months before I see him again.
It doesn't get easier. But I'm glad we have the type of relationship that can withstand this.
Bought some eggs and coffee to go with wheat bread and blueberries that I'd brought from home.
The first flight was a layover in Ft. Lauderdale, but they had people continuing on to Nashville stay on the plane.
I've never gotten to do that before...it's wasn't anything special really, just got to choose a better seat.
In Nashville I missed our first company shuttle, so had to kill time at the airport for about an hour.
Then it was a two hour bus ride to the hotel in Paducah.
I was feeling antsy, so walked around the mall area and then to Walmart for a few food items.
Tomorrow is our first show after the layoff.
I unpacked and took it easy for the rest of the night, chatting with some people that I'll be spending time with in Cinci.
-------------------------------------------------------------
I discovered that my flight back to tour is on SUNDAY, not Monday, so this layoff feels way too short now :(
There's still so much to do...mainly, making all those dang caramels.
I got started right after breakfast, but had a scary moment when I poured the cream too fast AND it was still too cold, so the sugar seized. I was afraid it might change the texture of the caramel, but kept going because heavy cream is $4 a pint right now and what if it turned out all right?
The texture did seem normal once it was setting, but we will see when it is cut.
I immediately did the second batch after washing dishes from the first.
It would have been nice to just do a larger batch in a bigger pot, but the new pot would need to conduct heat evenly and this did not seem like the time to test whether our ancient soup pot from Target was up to the task.
So, wash the dishes and do it all over again.
They look identical side by side. And hopefully they are.
Then lunch, data entry, writing two letters, and a little more packing.
I cracked open my box of circus memorabilia...
A large storage tupperware packed with all kinds of things that I gathered during my five years with Ringling Brothers.
Shirts, sweaters, jackets, hats with Ringling logos.
Clown noses, keyrings, patches, cups, and other small souvenirs.
My ID badges, of course. The large ones on the left were specifically for the train yards in Mexico.
Things that many people would think are just junk, but have meaning to me, like the jar full of dusty rhinestones that everyone on the circus contributed to over the course of five years. Or the envelope containing a single elephant hair.
There are large items, like a chunk of our road case that was painted by an elephant, or the huge print of a custom-designed poster of our Human Cannon created for display in one of the arenas that we played.
The things that I find most interesting and nostalgic, personally, are the papers.
In this photo you can see the welcome letter that I got with my new employee handbook, way back in March 2012.
And also the notice of termination that was given to each of us, hand-delivered and signed.
I think I actually read it today for the first time. At the time it was handed out, everything was too overwhelming.
Here's a random notice that was probably taped to the door of our train car, to let residents know they'd be without power during a day of repairs.
And a list of prohibited items handed out before we crossed the border into Mexico.
This one I find especially hilarious because the first time we went to Mexico in 2012, customs came onto the train and threw out ALL of our food, I mean everything. Our train would take about three days to cross the Mexican desert, so after customs left we desperately went dumpster diving in the heat to retrieve whatever could be saved. For three days we subsisted on prepackaged Otis Spunkmeyer muffins and bologna (those muffins still hold a special place in my heart for saving my life lol).
This is funny because the second time we went to Mexico in 2014, we sure as shit were going to hide all of our food AND Pie Car's food so customs wouldn't snatch it!! My neighbors and I absolutely packed our fridges and freezers with stuff, and I hid food in my gauchos (storage spaces), in the cubbies up near the ceiling, under my mattress, under the sink, in the gap where the electrical wiring ran between cars...I was NOT here to play, y'all :P
And it worked. I had just about every food item on this "prohibited" list (except sugarcane) stashed in my room, and customs didn't find any of it. Please note that there was no malicious intent here; we were all on a train for three days straight, in the desert. People gotta eat. Almost all of that food was gone by the time we reached civilization.
I'm amazed that I kept so many little pieces of paperwork, which at the time were ho-hum everyday things, but now offer a glimpse into a moment in time that no longer exists, for anyone. I have some of the backstage passes that were printed for guests, and some of the meal tickets they'd give us on weekends for Pie Car meals. Even an old ticket request form for when friends or family came to the show. Most of these have the Ringling logo on them, too.
People frequently ask what our music was like, so here are a few pictures from my music books which I got to keep.
The cover page of one of the books:
Our "Emergency Music". It used to be "Stars and Stripes" otherwise known as the "Disaster March", but the goal of emergency music is for the performers to know something is wrong WITHOUT alerting the audience, and too many people knew what hearing that song would mean. So they changed it to "12th Street Rag".
This was used when someone got injured, when there was an equipment failure, or simply to fill gaps if an act couldn't perform their normal routine.
Here's a bit of High Wire music, to show what some of our cuts and vamps looked like.
The cuts are the red X's that you see. When an action is performed in an act--in this case, someone on the high wire crouches before a jump--we play a vamp at the first X. When the performer jumps successfully, we cut to the next red X and continue on from there to their next trick, which is likely another vamp.
A similar snippet from a clown gag that preceded the tiger act.
I vaguely remember that the clowns had big foam jars, each one made a different sound when opened (sound effects were played by none other than my Jameson on the keys), and the last jar held a tiger's roar, which was the segue into the tiger act.
Anyway, all of this was to find something that I could give to the person who will be escorting me as I visit my train car, number 39, which was my home for five years. I'm embarrassed to say that there was pretty much nothing that I was willing to give up, and/or so much stuff has personal meaning to me that giving it to someone else would be pointless.
I settled on a Ringling logo pen and a sticker (lame), and I'm going to bring our book of "Rules and Regulations" which was specially written for people living on the circus train. You can tell by looking at it that I never opened it for the entire five years, but now it's a fascinating and hilarious look at what our crazy lives were like (hilarious because we absolutely shattered most of the regulations in that book).
For example, this page. No fighting! I think there was a fight every damn night lol.
And you can see on the right side of the image, every page was translated into at least eight different languages for the international employees.
I think that someone who works on a historical train would appreciate something like this.
(No he can't keep it, but I'm thinking of having it scanned and shared anyway for posterity.)
So that was that.
We went for a walk in the late afternoon, talking about Jameson's upcoming musical projects.
Things in the entertainment world are really starting to get momentum now, and he'll be busy with music directing, programming, teaching, and performing all the way through the end of May. Not to mention his own studies as he continues his masters program.
I'm happy that he's got so many projects, but hope he doesn't overextend himself.
Back at the house we got cleaned up and made our last Hello Fresh kit together.
Cheddar-stuffed meatloaf with potato wedges and carrots.
Jameson formed the meatloaf while I washed and cut veggies.
I roasted the potatoes while he fried some onions for the topping.
It turned out great, though I only ate half because high calories.
----------------------------------------------------
Friday! Already.
Before breakfast I drove to Publix for strawberries and graham crackers for the overnight oats.
That gave me an excuse to stop at Wawa and get a hazelnut coffee :)
Back home and after breakfast, put together the strawberry cheesecake overnight oats.
It's pretty much the same recipe as the chocolate peanut butter; I'm just using a strawberry banana Core Power, cream cheese instead of peanut butter, and strawberries instead of chocolate shell. I also added a little lemon juice because some other recipes had it, and I do think it helps convey the "tang" that cheesecake has.
Tomorrow before serving I'll do a graham cracker crumble on top with sliced strawberries. Yum!
Then it was time to chop up my two big blocks of caramel.
Luckily I still had some precut wax paper wraps, so that saved me time with prep work.
First I cut the blocks into nine squares, then each square is cut into twelve.
I'll divide the pieces into snack ziplocs, each bag getting six pieces.
We have some vegans on our tour, and some people who don't like sweets, so I expect to have a little extra.
Those I'll give to the Cincinnati Dinner Train people.
When that was done, lunch, then I drove Jameson to his eye appointment because we expected them to dilate his eyes but they didn't, so we enjoyed each others' company and picked up his dry cleaning on the way home :)
The rest of the night was spent at our friend Lea's house, celebrating her husband Simon's birthday!
He's 50!
We left around 11 when it started getting rowdy.
I have a lot to do tomorrow, or it seems that way anyway.
--------------------------------------------------------
Saturday.
The strawberry cheesecake overnight oats were very good.
I topped them with crumbled graham crackers and fresh strawberries.
Next time I would incorporate some Greek yogurt for more richness, and a little strawberry jam in the topping.
While Jameson was at the gym I fertilized my bananas, went to the tailor to get my pants, did a load of laundry, and packed.
When Jameson got back I had a tax appointment over the phone and found out that I'd owe (not surprising, I did a lot of 1099 work this year) but it IS more than I expected because one of my W2s is for NY and even though I only spent three weeks or so working there, they want to charge me essentially as though I worked there the whole year.
My preparer didn't feel this was fair and neither did I, so he's looking into it.
After that, a very disappointing conversation with someone that I thought was a friend, but who used my post about circus memories (the photos above) to soapbox about his opinions on animal cruelty.
Did not once ask me how the animals were actually treated.
Did not ask how they are now, or WHERE they are now.
Used my comments section to repost the same old PETA propaganda videos and photos...because CLEARLY, having been a circus employee for five years, I would NEVER have seen any of THAT before.
I was angry and hurt, as usual (this happens a LOT). But ultimately, it's just disappointing.
It's disappointing that people really think that poorly of me.
People genuinely seem to think that I would work for a company for five years just standing around watching elephants get bashed over the head.
If you think so little of me--and if you can't be bothered to ask one single question about what being in the circus was REALLY like before throwing accusations around--then we are NOT friends.
Five years of my life. Those animals were, and continue to be, an important part of my circus family.
And if you think that edited YouTube videos, or unfounded PETA accusations, are going to overwrite the things that I experienced firsthand, you're out of your freaking mind. I will ALWAYS defend the professional, compassionate, and skilled vet techs who worked with Ringling's animals. They are good human beings who prioritize animal WELFARE over animal ideology. It was a privilege to see their work, and to interact with these animals.
Aaaanyway. I was in a bit of a sour mood as Jameson and I drove to Clermont.
But the weather was so nice, and the downtown area was so cute and fun, so I couldn't be ornery for long!
We found The Snack Plug, a little shop that had international and unique candy and chips and such.
We picked out some things and took our haul to a park bench to sample.
Three seafood flavored chips: spicy crayfish, garlic oyster, and prawn cocktail.
We liked spicy crayfish the best, and prawn cocktail the least (it was very tomato-forward).
The giant Skittles were good! The texture is a little different than normal Skittles but the flavor was the same, only BIGGER :p
Jameson got a strawberries n' cream Dr. Pepper which was very good.
My Peeps Pepsi was just meh.
We wandered some more and found loads of bakeries, crafts, a record store, thrift stores...really nice shops, and we had fun window shopping. For dinner we eventually settled on Pepe's Cantina because we were feeling nostalgic for Agave in Hartford (more circus memories).
They did tableside guac which was amazing, and we each got a fancy drink.
I had octopus al pastor tacos and they were phenomenal.
The flavor was great, and the octopus was tender, not rubbery at all. So good!
We walked off our meal outside, enjoying the lakeside views.
This one taken at a scenic overlook platform.
Soon it was time to drive back home so I could finish packing.
In the morning Jameson will take me to the airport.
I'm sad to leave so soon, especially with a longer run ahead on tour.
But, I'm trying to appreciate all of this. Because in June it'll be over.
----------------------------------------------------------
Sunday. We woke up early, loaded up the car, and Jameson took me to the airport.
I squeezed him extra hard, because it'll be three months before I see him again.
It doesn't get easier. But I'm glad we have the type of relationship that can withstand this.
Bought some eggs and coffee to go with wheat bread and blueberries that I'd brought from home.
The first flight was a layover in Ft. Lauderdale, but they had people continuing on to Nashville stay on the plane.
I've never gotten to do that before...it's wasn't anything special really, just got to choose a better seat.
In Nashville I missed our first company shuttle, so had to kill time at the airport for about an hour.
Then it was a two hour bus ride to the hotel in Paducah.
I was feeling antsy, so walked around the mall area and then to Walmart for a few food items.
Tomorrow is our first show after the layoff.
I unpacked and took it easy for the rest of the night, chatting with some people that I'll be spending time with in Cinci.
-------------------------------------------------------------
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Date: 2023-03-06 03:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-03-06 03:50 pm (UTC)