My Fair Lady - North Charleston, SC
Feb. 11th, 2024 11:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
taz_39The bus ride was long and a bit boring, as long bus rides often are.
I watched scenery, dozed, read my book on and off until I got motion sick, and ate my nonperishables.
We stopped at a Target for lunch, and since I'd already eaten I just window shopped and walked until it was time to get back on the bus.
We got to the hotel about 30 minutes late, probably partially due to traffic and other factors.
I decided not to hit the grocery since it was night, and I had an early doctor's appointment that would require an Uber. If I have to pay for a ride anyway, may as well kill two birds with one stone and hit the grocery after the appointment.
So my night was chill. I reintroduced myself to the Beauty and the Beast soundtrack, which gave such childhood nostalgia. Like most 80s and 90s kids, Disney was a keystone of my formative years. Beauty and the Beast came out when I was six years old, and I was INFATUATED. Specifically, like many young girls who saw this movie in theaters, I related on an emotional level to Belle's Reprise where she sings about how it would be awful to be married, and wanting "So much more than they've got planned."
(CLICK HERE to see the movie clip)
And here I am, tearing up in a random hotel room at the ripe age of forty, listening to this and remembering how I felt watching this scene at the age of six. Emotionally connecting with Belle: I certainly did NOT want to get married! And how exciting it felt not to know what my future would be like. Wondering what I'd be when I grew up, and hoping I'd get to have adventures! (Spoiler alert: I got MUCH more adventure than ANYONE planned.)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
I slept poorly because I was nervous about the doctor's appointment. It was just an ultrasound of my upper right abdomen, not even invasive, yet I am so phobic about medical stuff that any little thing freaks me out. An unfortunate part of my psyche that I'm working on fixing.
A quick Uber to the radiology office and I didn't have to wait long. The radiologist was super sweet and fun to talk to. I expressed interest in what she was doing, and made it clear that I wasn't asking for/interested in a diagnosis...I just wanted to see my guts on the screen! Once she truly believe that I wasn't going to ask her to diagnose anything, she was more than happy to turn the screen so I could watch while she navigated my organs. Too cool!! She showed me where the gallbladder was ("Yours is small!") and explained how the sound waves of the ultrasonic machine actually bounced off the ribs, created rib-shadows across the organs. I realized that I could expand my chest to reduce shadows for her (also very fun to see.)
She said that my scan was "very easy" because "you clearly take care of yourself" (reading between the lines = "This scan is a lot easier to do when you are not overweight.") She did not indicate, verbally or by expression, that anything was wrong or dire, and it's not her job to do so in any case, so no takeaways there. I should have results in a few days.
Regardless of outcome I was interested in the imaging process itself, and so happy that I got to look at my guts today! Could I tell what I was looking at, no! But the radiologist showed me many interesting things, and I could see things move when I breathed and laughed, and the shadows of my ribs across my organs.
After that I Ubered to Ruby's NY-Style Bagels (it was next to a Harris Teeter.)
Look at those beautiful breads! So many great flavors. I definitely wanted the Bloody Mary and Cacio e Pepe flavors. I was considering a sweet bagel also but none of the flavors stood out. While I was deciding the cashier shared that her favorite bagel of them all was the Rosemary Sea Salt, hands down! So I asked her to add one to my order. She gave it to me for free!!
I immediately posted photos to Foodie Finds + social media, thanked the cashier, and went next door to get my groceries.
I didn't need much; we are only here for three days. In the berries section they had red currants!
I've never had them before...time to try them out!
I had them with breakfast one morning. They were...not great haha. I didn't mind that they were sour, but they had a lot more tannin than I was expecting (you know how when you eat walnuts, or drink dry red wine, or accidentally eat a banana string? And it makes a "dry" sensation in your mouth? That's tannins.) I ate a handful with my yogurt, but will try to give a lot of them away too. Womp womp, but glad I got to try them!
Another Uber back to the hotel (geez, $$$) and finally I was done for the morning. Typed this up, had breakfast, and packed dinner to bring to the theatre. For lunch I had another special stop in mind, this time walkeable THANK GOD.
The Grits Counter is another local restaurants specializing in grit bowls, they also do burgers, finger foods, cocktails, and desserts. I got there just as a group of My Fair Lady folks were sitting down, on a lunch break from load in. They all thanked me for Foodie Finds and for recommending this place, which made me warm and fuzzy inside :) I'm sure people would find this place without me, but it's also very gratifying to find out that the info sheets have been useful to my coworkers.
I placed my order and joined them outside (it was a gorgeous high-60s day.)
The Harvest Bowl: carrot cake grits, grilled chicken breast, roasted corn, fried hominy, cranberries, and smoked gouda mornay sauce (on the side since I'm such a loser at digesting lactose)
Lots of flavors and textures here, both sweet and savory. The carrot cake grits were fantastic; I should look into recreating that flavor with oatmeal, it can't be hard. You could also have called this "Corn Three Ways" between the corn grits, grilled corn, and fried hominy! The hominy was nothing special but added nice texture. The whole thing was a little Thanksgiving-esque. The smoked gouda sauce was incredibly good, but I used it sparingly because grits are already made with whole milk. Very delicious and creative use of boring old corn. I'd love to try the other flavors (they have nine!)
I walked back and managed to take a little nap before walking to the theatre for sound check.
This theater is very....bland. It looks like a high school auditorium.
(photo from Robert Windel, Flickr)
The backstage, however, is coated in wall tags!
I took video, but we are NOT allowed to show dressing rooms and they were impossible to avoid.
Instead here are some pics:
Some tags from famous people, that I could find.
And here is a tag from a My Fair Lady tour that took place more than twenty years ago!!
Our cast artist, Ashton, painted our wall tag to be a sort of homage to the older one, which I thought was very cool.
Can you find my initials? :)
The show was fine, kind of a lukewarm audience but maybe they'll warm up over the weekend :)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
On Saturday I was pleased to get an email with my ultrasound results.
As I thought (after the radiologist was so keen to show me my guts) everything was quite normal. Not even any gallbladder sludge. The notes did say that my gallbladder looks contracted, so it's possible that I've got some bilary colic? I will wait to hear what my PCP says, but in any case the twinging I've been feeling must be coming from somewhere else and radiating to that spot. I'm much relieved...though also, I thought this scan was supposed to include the stomach (i.e. still don't know if I have an ulcer or not.) Oh well.
And so...guts! Left to right and top to bottom: kidney, liver, gallbladder, aorta, pancreas (they are also labeled at the bottom right of each image.)
Yeah, without the labels I'd have NO idea.
For lunch I walked to Big Billy's Burger Bar, excited for their venison burger, but it was unfortunately disappointing. It could have been good but they WAY overcooked it; I asked for medium rare and got a hockey puck. Womp womp.
The evening show went well except there was a hold when a setpiece would not move. It added about 10 minutes to our show, but the audience was patient and the show went smoothly once it started up again.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, I thought about walking to Walmart but passed. This last week of shows is a lot of jumping around and at least one flight, so I have to be careful about what I'm traveling with so as not to make my luggage overweight.
The matinee was good, dinner between shows was fine, the last show was good...except AGAIN we had to hold for a "technical issue," not in the same spot but I suspect a similar problem with a set piece not moving as it should. Some of the setpieces (from what I understand) have to be moved with the help of motors, and I think some of the places where we perform are not ideal for this. I don't know. But twice in one weekend is pretty unusual. I hope it doesn't happen again in the next cities!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
This coming week is going to be a little nutty.
We bus to Johnson City TN tomorrow and it's a "load and go," so there will be a show the same night.
Then we have another show there on Tuesday.
Wednesday is a "load and go" to Blacksburg, VA, we probably won't even get to see the town and barely our hotel rooms.
Then a travel day to Worcester, where we'll do a Friday show and weekend matinees.
From there, a layoff!
I watched scenery, dozed, read my book on and off until I got motion sick, and ate my nonperishables.
We stopped at a Target for lunch, and since I'd already eaten I just window shopped and walked until it was time to get back on the bus.
We got to the hotel about 30 minutes late, probably partially due to traffic and other factors.
I decided not to hit the grocery since it was night, and I had an early doctor's appointment that would require an Uber. If I have to pay for a ride anyway, may as well kill two birds with one stone and hit the grocery after the appointment.
So my night was chill. I reintroduced myself to the Beauty and the Beast soundtrack, which gave such childhood nostalgia. Like most 80s and 90s kids, Disney was a keystone of my formative years. Beauty and the Beast came out when I was six years old, and I was INFATUATED. Specifically, like many young girls who saw this movie in theaters, I related on an emotional level to Belle's Reprise where she sings about how it would be awful to be married, and wanting "So much more than they've got planned."
(CLICK HERE to see the movie clip)
And here I am, tearing up in a random hotel room at the ripe age of forty, listening to this and remembering how I felt watching this scene at the age of six. Emotionally connecting with Belle: I certainly did NOT want to get married! And how exciting it felt not to know what my future would be like. Wondering what I'd be when I grew up, and hoping I'd get to have adventures! (Spoiler alert: I got MUCH more adventure than ANYONE planned.)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
I slept poorly because I was nervous about the doctor's appointment. It was just an ultrasound of my upper right abdomen, not even invasive, yet I am so phobic about medical stuff that any little thing freaks me out. An unfortunate part of my psyche that I'm working on fixing.
A quick Uber to the radiology office and I didn't have to wait long. The radiologist was super sweet and fun to talk to. I expressed interest in what she was doing, and made it clear that I wasn't asking for/interested in a diagnosis...I just wanted to see my guts on the screen! Once she truly believe that I wasn't going to ask her to diagnose anything, she was more than happy to turn the screen so I could watch while she navigated my organs. Too cool!! She showed me where the gallbladder was ("Yours is small!") and explained how the sound waves of the ultrasonic machine actually bounced off the ribs, created rib-shadows across the organs. I realized that I could expand my chest to reduce shadows for her (also very fun to see.)
She said that my scan was "very easy" because "you clearly take care of yourself" (reading between the lines = "This scan is a lot easier to do when you are not overweight.") She did not indicate, verbally or by expression, that anything was wrong or dire, and it's not her job to do so in any case, so no takeaways there. I should have results in a few days.
Regardless of outcome I was interested in the imaging process itself, and so happy that I got to look at my guts today! Could I tell what I was looking at, no! But the radiologist showed me many interesting things, and I could see things move when I breathed and laughed, and the shadows of my ribs across my organs.
After that I Ubered to Ruby's NY-Style Bagels (it was next to a Harris Teeter.)
Look at those beautiful breads! So many great flavors. I definitely wanted the Bloody Mary and Cacio e Pepe flavors. I was considering a sweet bagel also but none of the flavors stood out. While I was deciding the cashier shared that her favorite bagel of them all was the Rosemary Sea Salt, hands down! So I asked her to add one to my order. She gave it to me for free!!
I immediately posted photos to Foodie Finds + social media, thanked the cashier, and went next door to get my groceries.
I didn't need much; we are only here for three days. In the berries section they had red currants!
I've never had them before...time to try them out!
I had them with breakfast one morning. They were...not great haha. I didn't mind that they were sour, but they had a lot more tannin than I was expecting (you know how when you eat walnuts, or drink dry red wine, or accidentally eat a banana string? And it makes a "dry" sensation in your mouth? That's tannins.) I ate a handful with my yogurt, but will try to give a lot of them away too. Womp womp, but glad I got to try them!
Another Uber back to the hotel (geez, $$$) and finally I was done for the morning. Typed this up, had breakfast, and packed dinner to bring to the theatre. For lunch I had another special stop in mind, this time walkeable THANK GOD.
The Grits Counter is another local restaurants specializing in grit bowls, they also do burgers, finger foods, cocktails, and desserts. I got there just as a group of My Fair Lady folks were sitting down, on a lunch break from load in. They all thanked me for Foodie Finds and for recommending this place, which made me warm and fuzzy inside :) I'm sure people would find this place without me, but it's also very gratifying to find out that the info sheets have been useful to my coworkers.
I placed my order and joined them outside (it was a gorgeous high-60s day.)
The Harvest Bowl: carrot cake grits, grilled chicken breast, roasted corn, fried hominy, cranberries, and smoked gouda mornay sauce (on the side since I'm such a loser at digesting lactose)
Lots of flavors and textures here, both sweet and savory. The carrot cake grits were fantastic; I should look into recreating that flavor with oatmeal, it can't be hard. You could also have called this "Corn Three Ways" between the corn grits, grilled corn, and fried hominy! The hominy was nothing special but added nice texture. The whole thing was a little Thanksgiving-esque. The smoked gouda sauce was incredibly good, but I used it sparingly because grits are already made with whole milk. Very delicious and creative use of boring old corn. I'd love to try the other flavors (they have nine!)
I walked back and managed to take a little nap before walking to the theatre for sound check.
This theater is very....bland. It looks like a high school auditorium.
(photo from Robert Windel, Flickr)
The backstage, however, is coated in wall tags!
I took video, but we are NOT allowed to show dressing rooms and they were impossible to avoid.
Instead here are some pics:
Some tags from famous people, that I could find.
And here is a tag from a My Fair Lady tour that took place more than twenty years ago!!
Our cast artist, Ashton, painted our wall tag to be a sort of homage to the older one, which I thought was very cool.
Can you find my initials? :)
The show was fine, kind of a lukewarm audience but maybe they'll warm up over the weekend :)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
On Saturday I was pleased to get an email with my ultrasound results.
As I thought (after the radiologist was so keen to show me my guts) everything was quite normal. Not even any gallbladder sludge. The notes did say that my gallbladder looks contracted, so it's possible that I've got some bilary colic? I will wait to hear what my PCP says, but in any case the twinging I've been feeling must be coming from somewhere else and radiating to that spot. I'm much relieved...though also, I thought this scan was supposed to include the stomach (i.e. still don't know if I have an ulcer or not.) Oh well.
And so...guts! Left to right and top to bottom: kidney, liver, gallbladder, aorta, pancreas (they are also labeled at the bottom right of each image.)
Yeah, without the labels I'd have NO idea.
For lunch I walked to Big Billy's Burger Bar, excited for their venison burger, but it was unfortunately disappointing. It could have been good but they WAY overcooked it; I asked for medium rare and got a hockey puck. Womp womp.
The evening show went well except there was a hold when a setpiece would not move. It added about 10 minutes to our show, but the audience was patient and the show went smoothly once it started up again.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, I thought about walking to Walmart but passed. This last week of shows is a lot of jumping around and at least one flight, so I have to be careful about what I'm traveling with so as not to make my luggage overweight.
The matinee was good, dinner between shows was fine, the last show was good...except AGAIN we had to hold for a "technical issue," not in the same spot but I suspect a similar problem with a set piece not moving as it should. Some of the setpieces (from what I understand) have to be moved with the help of motors, and I think some of the places where we perform are not ideal for this. I don't know. But twice in one weekend is pretty unusual. I hope it doesn't happen again in the next cities!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
This coming week is going to be a little nutty.
We bus to Johnson City TN tomorrow and it's a "load and go," so there will be a show the same night.
Then we have another show there on Tuesday.
Wednesday is a "load and go" to Blacksburg, VA, we probably won't even get to see the town and barely our hotel rooms.
Then a travel day to Worcester, where we'll do a Friday show and weekend matinees.
From there, a layoff!
