Friday the 13th MUAH HA HA!

Friday the thirteenth in Macau. Spookiest thing so far today? It's 19 deg outside. Could winter weather finally be here?

Wednesday Claire and I moved into our new apartment.
No. 2 Rua De Inacio Baptista
1 Andar D
Macau
I think it has a nice ring to it. We moved from the longest address I'd ever had to the shortest. The apartment is awesome. Better than our old place in every way. It's open and airy. We get a ton of sunlight all day long. The windows across the front of our apartment look out at St. Lawrence Church (Igreja do Sao Lorenzo). It's a beautiful, old church painted cream and white and surrounded by a garden of palm trees. What a great view and below it is a small traffic triangle that's always in movement as people go about their days. Our stuff is basically all put away and organized, we've spent two nights here, and it's feeling like home. We've taken a few walks down the street to the produce vendors. It's a two minute walk to the freshest fruits and vegetables on the peninsula. Plus any weird (read-> local) meats you need. Yesterday was Claire's first try at the new commute to work. It didn't go exactly according to plan, but today it's on. We're feeling right at home.

On another note, last night was ZAIA's 500th performance! Good work everybody! To celebrate the event, Guy Laliberte, the head honcho of Cirque, was in town for the performance. Not as tall as I expected. Nice guy though. He didn't give us any answers about the future of the show like everyone was hoping. It's OK though. As much as everybody wanted answers, no one was really expecting him to lay it all out on the table. We just have to keep on keepin' on. And fill out the occasional job application when there's something out there that we're qualified for.

One year down

Today was the one year anniversary of Claire's first day on the job at ZAIA. It's been a great year. She's seen a lot of changes happen on the show. A lot of people have come and gone. Acts have been redesigned. Parts of the theater have been rebuilt. Along with Claire's anniversary have come some of the biggest changes to happen in our little paradise. We are getting ready to move into a new apartment. It's going to be a great new home, but the reason for the move is a sad one. Our very good friend, Larry, is the current resident and owner of the flat and he's moving back home to Melbourne. We're going to miss him a lot. He's a great friend and hopefully not too often an extraordinary tour guide and Macau Savant. The other huge change is that Colleen, Claire's partner in crime (read -> wigs) is leaving as well. Colleen will be headed back to the States, back to she and Claire's hometown, Cincinnati. I know Colleen and Claire have formed a friendship that will last a lifetime. It will be sad to see her go. Not only are we losing a friend, Claire a coworker and confidant, and ZAIA an unshakable seer of the bright side, but now in her place will be no one. Claire faces a new challenge of running her own Wig Shop. Once again she is CEO (chuckle). So here's to change. May those going out into the world find fun and fulfillment and may we moving into a new residence find it warm and welcoming.

Is that a breakthrough?

I sent out the mass text for the slack session today like I always do. Sadly it was one of those days where the crew all had other obligations. But hey, Winnie the security guard was on duty so I had company.

It was beautiful outside today. The air was cool and dry. The breeze was crisp. The ground felt softer and cleaner. It felt like a day in another time and place when I was on summer vacation without a care in the world. I was really feeling good so I decided to set a perfect line.

I wandered through our small stand of trees thinking about what I wanted to accomplish. The line should be high so I can leave it fairly loose and allow a lot of sag. Then I'll have a better shot at getting this sit start. It should be fairly long so I can get some steps in. I'm feeling really good, really in the zone and ready to get centered. Where better to drop into sync with the line than on a long, high, loose one?

Tighten, tighten, tighten, test, tighten. Shoulder height. A foot off the ground in the middle. Trees 13 meters apart. Line fluttering in the breeze off the lake; slashed in sunlight filtering down through the branches. Gravity trees an arms length away from the line at two points. I'm stoked.

I love that feeling you get on the soles of your feet when you find center on the line. It's like the line has turned into a whole road just for you. Balance is no longer an issue. There is no saving from side to side. There's only wandering along the line, back and forth in constant balanced motion, watching a small span of time and life existing around you.

I can't wait to see what type of mind blowing experiences I get to have when I actually get good at slacklining!