I am 25. Wow.

I turned 25 two days ago. And when you turn 25 a LONG way away from home, turns out home is what you think about most of the day. Working 8-530 is a long day and it started off well. I walked into work, clocked in, made the elevator just in time and when I squeezed in, everyone wished me a happy birthday, which was nice. Work was OK. Slow. Long. After work, I ran home to shower and open my birthday cards from my mother and sister and the couple presents I got in the mail and loved them all. My mom and my aunt know me so well! Then we went to Mexican. The Mexican restaurant here is pretty delicious for being in the middle of China and I'll take what I can get. As Mexican is my favorite, we had Mexican and margaritas. All of my friends came, except for a few who are on vacay. I felt loved and it really was a wonderful evening. After all of that, we went to the pub and had a round at the local watering hole, where they know me and celebrated for another hour with friends. We called it an evening early because 8 am comes much too fast if you stay out TOO late.

All of this was not to dwell on how much I missed my Totem Polers and my Majayjay crew and my ATLers and my St. Tim's kids and my Wesley family, or my LSU theater kids, or my family back home. I do. Every last one of you crazy people. It was to let all you loved ones know that I was well taken care of here on my birthday in the land of far far and away. Days like that let you know that you can make it work if you keep people like these close.

Cheers, or as my Scottish friend says, "Up your bum!" (I am told it is a legit toast.)

Epic Fail.

And, of course, I am referring to my ability to keep up with something as involved as a blog. I told ya'll I was terrible at this sort of thing.

Let's start with this evening and work back:

Tonight (being that we got off work at 530pm because we are currently dark - translation: no shows for the next two weeks while the technical crews do maintenance on the theater), we went to the Venetian - casino complex across the street - and had chocolate martinis and free steak sandwiches for happy hour. Two was PLENTY for me - vodka is SO not my thing - but the steak sandwiches were AWESOME. New favorite in Macau.

This weekend was productive. It is still warm here and yesterday, a friend and I spent the BEAUTIFUL afternoon at the Hard Rock Hotel pool. They had an all you can eat BBQ buffet and I ate all I could, trust me. Then we spent the evening in the pool, which was heated because it did start to get chilly after awhile.

During the dark so far, I have spend copious amounts of time in the bottom of the drained pool which entertains me no end because I think looking at all the mechanics of this monster is fascinating. We have replaced many of the lights in the lifts (stage floor) that have been flooded and ruined even though they are supposed to be waterproof and we have also cut out some bad lights that the divers use to light their underwater work. Hopefully things run smoother when the dark is over at the end of the week. It's really nice to have the theater to ourselves to get some work done, but by far my favorite things about the dark is that the artists are gone and sometimes the elevator goes from B1 (low level) to 8 without stopping. It's the little things...

I thought I could make it a year without trekking home, but I now realize that was an unattainable goal. I am lonely and homesick and I miss my family and the South. Four months have gone by and even though I love people here, I find myself missing my friends and family more and more. I've missed an entire season of football and that is just unacceptable. Especially with Thanksgiving two weeks away. Time flies, but I wish it were flying by at home.

That being said, the show is going really well. The response is fantastic and we're sold out until Christmas. It's a great thing and hopefully that means good things for the company because I would love to stay with them and try this experience in a new country. Maybe slightly less than a 23 hour trip from home. I love you all and miss you more. Will write more sooner than the last gap.