A Bit of Video ad nauseum

The birthday party of the fabulous, ineffable Simonne Garrigues, aerialist and Renaissance woman, gave 12 of us an excuse to perform for no reason but as tribute to her.  For my part I twirled in my undies, and now am posting it here for you to view:



Things change, but not really.

Ireland countdown- one week from tomorrow!  Commence wild frantic purchasing of unnecessary things I can't imagine living without!  Because you obviously can't go into a pharmacy and buy ibprofen anywhere but your home city.

Money, it's a gas

When I moved to Seattle from SF, I was shocked at the rates of pay for aerial work, finding them lower than the rates I had come to expect from living in the City by the Bay.  I was also shocked, delightedly, at how easy it was to make work for myself and create new opportunities.  Unlike SF which was saturated to the core and fit like a very restraining (albeit fabulous) corset, Seattle was ripe for working, for making whatever it was you wanted to make, including a name.  The lower costs of living and fertile atmosphere made Seattle comparatively a breeze to make a living in as an aerialist, even if the accepted rates were much lower.  Seattle is a wonderful place to incubate as an artist.

After traveling and taking all kinds of gigs from the excellently posh to the miserably defunct, I know there is no reason to expect the pay rate to be the same everywhere you go.  Hell the cost of milk varies everywhere you go.  Performers travel thousands of miles to do a gig practically for free...why?  Because it has other value.  We won't travel 5 minutes to do a gig $50 less than our nebulous "bottom line"...why?  Because we know our value.  It is your own choice to work for what you want to work for.  If you outgrow the rate, negotiate more or move on.  (Don't know how to negotiate?  See this insightful offering from my financial wizard-crush, Ramit Sethi:  http://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/how-to-negotiate/)

Do not stay in a place you do not thrive- but especially don't stay there complaining loudly when it is totally up to you, and no one else, what you get paid as a freelancer. 

What's that you say?  Have I listened to my deafening complaints?  Well yes I have!  I've complained about the standards, the environments, the demands, many of which I TOOK PART in forming, but prattled on with my thoughtless whining anyway.  And here is the good it has done me......................nada.

A few things have come up in the past couple of days to put the subject of money on my mind.  We don't want to out-price ourselves, undersell ourselves, or lower the bar for the rest of the local industry.  Your choices are your own, but they will affect the rest of the local industry if you are working avidly.  Whether or not you choose to care about that is up to you, but I would not recommend ignoring the people who make up the face of an industry, they stand shoulder to shoulder with you creating your fate as well.

One more eggroll to leave you with:  http://capitalismmagazine.com/2002/08/franciscos-money-speech/

Now I must go murder an enormous fly.  Yes you are right, I did not wrap up this post with an all-encompassing insight.  Here's one just for Simonne:  Follow the white rabbit. :)

On Overtraining

Circus people and athletes in general are insane.  They've found ways to get around discomfort, terror, and gravity, and this gives them (ok, us) a false sense of invulnerability.  I have still yet to meet a performer that can utter the phrase "recovery is just as important as training."  Instead, we equate hardship, exhaustion, and pain with value, packing our muscles with as much lactic acid as we can and not feeling accomplished unless we have a family sized bag of frozen peas somewhere on our bodies at the end of the day.  Many create and then inhabit the land of chronic fatigue.

We are insane because this is a recipe for failure.  Work means everything, it is the whole world, but we do nothing to ensure that we can keep working; even when the best thing we could do is recognize recovery as necessary.  I met a young chick in SF who complained of never getting any stronger and her joints being swollen and painful.  She said, "maybe it's because I only sleep two hours a night."  DUH!  You think?! 

I write this post because I need it to remind myself- the body has an agenda of it's own...to survive.  It will go to any lengths, eating up its own muscle, going into shock, sending you a migraine, to get this job done.  Like a benevolent sovereign it will react when threatened, and be exquisitely generous when given its dues.  Here's to taking that into account...good luck to me and crazy people everywhere.

On Europe, 30, and the cessation of poisoning oneself

Much to my chagrin, I have become a morning person.  Yet one more piece in the puzzle of me becoming my parents.  O lord, I am such a cliche. 

The past month has seen preparations for an upcoming trek to the Old Country, where once again, I will put up my proverbial sail and let the winds of what-have-you show me where they want me to go for the summer.  The last time I took a lengthy trip to Europe I was 24 and left with no plans and no return ticket.  I love that girl.  Only this time, instead of chasing boys and wine, I am chasing the dragon.  Which is exactly, exactly why I stopped traveling so many years ago...I wanted a career that meant the world to me.  To direct my listless days and make me better.  I had no idea it would be performing, much less aerial work, and I had no idea it would cover my life the way it has, giving meaning to everything second only to Shaun.

The first stop is the illustrious, beloved Irish Aerial Dance Festival in Letterkenny Ireland, conceived and produced by Fidget Feet- a company I have long had a crush on and now have the huge honor of collaborating with.  Pinch me!  Wait no, just come to the IADF...no really come learn circus from fabulous teachers in the country you always wanted to visit!  I'll be traveling with my cohort Miss Tanya Brno, famed fabric mistress.

In other news, I quit smoking...again.  15 days ago today.  This is by far the most psychological withdrawal I've experienced, finding my brain sluggish and watching mood swings fly by like some ghoulish parade.  The almost daily occurring nightmares that plagued me before this have stopped.  My subconscious isn't the most concise storyteller but she does get her point across.  The first two weeks are always the hardest, and this might be the 7th time in my life I've quit which means, statistically, that this one will stick.  I have decided that it shall, because your 20's are for making fun mistakes, and my 20's are nearly over.

Yes!  I am turning 30 in June- I've been talking this birthday up for years hoping that when the time came, I would be excited.  It has partially worked.  On the other hand, I'm turning 30.  This forces me to take all my preconceived notions about age and tear them apart, looking for the truth of the matter.  My fried-chicken upbringing makes this a little harder than, say, growing up in California where you don't have to grow up ever, really. 

When I get too confused by shoulding on life, I think of myself at age 7.  That is the audience I wish to satiate. 

What happened on March 2nd

Was the debut of Genesis, which I talked incessantly about for the past month (well, not on this page apparently, but I did). And I have to say...

...that it was one of the best nights of my life.

Time is short for this post, but here are some pictures to quell your hungry brains. Did I mention we also did a drag strip number to All That Jazz? Classy!

photos courtesy of Peter Kucinski:




AND PETRI DISH!

The time has come the walrus said,

to talk of many things, of shoes and ships and sealing wax, of cabbages and kings!
And why the sea is boiling hot, and whether pigs have wings-

~ Lewis Carroll

I think everyone knows the natural response to this piece of Alice in Wonderland (reprinted here without permission as it is public domain, and Carroll is unfortunately quite dead) is that pigs do have wings.

That's all the segue I have.

Announcing the launch of Project Genesis, which has haunted my days and nights for a year now, and has grown legs to walk around on. A picture to clear up my garbled explanation:

Yes, this is the project I've been mysteriously eluding too. Was it annoying? I simply cannot leave this earth or my 20's without creating this act. You can read more about the thought behind this WIP and donate to the cause by clicking on this convenient link:

THE LINK!! OH YEAH! ----> http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/genesis/genesis-air-water-life


What can one person do to be interesting in a Petri dish full of water? Things like this:

Please! Visit the page and tell me what you think, or toss it towards anyone you think might be interested. Even sharing with one person can make all the difference in the world. Deepest gratitude,
Rachel

Oh the places you'll go...

...
and where are all of YOU right now? Do tell...the truth of my right now is that it's the evening after the final thaw of snowmageddon in Seattle 2012, in which most of us were stranded in our homes due to insane snowdrifts encasing vehicles, freaked out drivers (including myself), and snow that wouldn't. Stop. Falling.

Of course the snow does eventually stop. This is the nature of a cyclical world. But that doesn't make any difference whatsoever when you're waiting for the snow to melt...it always seems like it might just stay freezing and white forever.

Here's what I did with one of my snow days, given company by the most excellent Gary Kirkland and the beautiful Tanya Brno, photography by Shaun Vann, to whom I gave a camera for Christmas and so created a happy monster indeed:



Otherwise, the days are peppered with neverending quests...for one-arm meathooks, perfect levers, and the illusive full pretzel.

You will be mine. Oh yes! You will be mine.

Plus, a not-so-secret project which I am to unveil very shortly, to the oohs and aahs of at least 7 people I hope...stay tuned. Stay warm. Stay fed, and hungry, at once.