As of Late

Hi friends, family, and bloggers! The last update I gave was a video of my sister's trip to Japan. I've since made a couple of other short clips of things that have gone on this summer. By no means are they definitive events (like the Fuji trip) but they have definitely colored my summer days in a shade that is distinctly of Japan and my time here at Universal Studios.

The first video is of the Chikko Candle night that we had back in June:



The second...well, you'll see.




As of late, I haven't been around the house a lot and thus haven't been on Skype or Facebook very much either. I am in desperate need of a good Skype session with the parents, my sister, and several friends. My evenings/everyone-who-lives-in-America's mornings have been filled with friends (new and old), dinners, outings, birthday parties, and work. My mornings have been me getting ready for work and work itself and my days...work :) The summer/holiday season at the park (or any performing gig for that matter) is usually filled with vacationers, and thus the work load of the performers increases to fit the demand of the increased population. Not only that, but my show is 1 of only 3 inside shows with just a handful of other indoor attractions as well, so a lot of people come to see my show - not because they are necessarily excited about the Sesame Street Happy Surprise show (though some are for sure!), but because it's one of the few places to really escape the heat and humidity of Japan's summer season.

I've also been doing the Universal Monsters Live show once a week which has been wonderful to do to change things up a bit every week. So now my show involvement is Sesame Street, Magical Starlight Parade, and the Monster's show. Halloween is just around the corner for us here and quite a few folks around here are rehearsing and gearing up for that as well - a parade and a couple of special shows/events that happen around the park. Once those open up and get going in the next month, I'm sure we'll start rehearsing for the Christmas season. That will happen probably around early to mid October I'm assuming and then sometime in November, we'll start Christmas at the park - and that will go through the first week of January...and then my contract will be coming to a close! Wow. When you think of it that way, time flies. It already feels like it has been going quickly - I can't believe that a) I'm nearly 7 months into my contract and b) that September is in 2 days which means that fall is just around the corner! I've found that my mind is already starting to race about what's going to happen after this...will I do another contract, will I get a job somewhere else (and where?!), and then all of the physical, mental, and emotional repercussions of the possibilities. I know my emotions are just going to go berserk at the end of this contract regardless of what happens. But don't worry, I don't think about it all the time and I'm not stressing or obsessing over it :) just a thought!

The last thing I'll leave you with is a picture of the beach that I went to last week. The beach is Wakasa-Wada Beach located on the Wakasa Bay near Takahasa Town in the Fukui Prefecture. It was about a 2.5 or 3 hour car ride north of Osaka and a wonderful escape for a day. It was nice to be at a beach and just be around nature and not see a so much concrete :)









Shimo and Ryo at dinner



Charity :)



Jared!

Bear in mind this was at the end of the day and so we were all tired and worn out from the beach. We didn't look our best, I'm sure!


Hopefully I'll talk to everyone soon via phone or Skype or something of that nature. Hope all is well in your part of the world! Much love