FreeLove Lifestyle

Travelling again 6/16

Shea — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 02:38:40 GMT

I'm in an airport again, so I figured I would drop a blog. I am off to se my grandparents in Maryland and North Carolina respectivly. My grandfather should be doing ok, excep he is 83 and is on dialisis treatment. My grandmother has problems remembering what I said 10 seconds after I said it. We will see how that part goes. Anyways, this s not aperformance trip. I have only seen my grandparents about 6 times in my entire life. I am excited to learn more about them. But it will be very painfull dwelling in my mothers death for 10 days. I am the 5th only child in a row through my grandfather. I am eager to learn about what m ancestors were all about, so that i can atell you, my friends ad family, and their memory wil on. That\s al for now XOX Shea FreeLocw

What I read in S'pore

Shea — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 15:25:33 GMT

We made it back from Singapore arriving in the US on Dec 20. We had agreat time and perfomed all the time. Met good people, saw cool locations and generally enjoyed ourselves. We had lots of free time so I read 17 books. Lessons from the Art of Juggling By J. Gelb and Tony Buzan How to Play in Traffic By Penn and Teller The Rubber Chicken Book By Klutz Bar Room Jokes and True Stories By FHM When the Curcus Came to Town By Dean M. Aungst A Ticket to the Circus By Charels Phillip Fox Beyond Compere By Terry Seabrooke Stand-up By Oliver Double The Comic Toolbox By John Vorhous Succesful Childrens Parties By Julia Goodwin 20 Party Tricks By Sophie Blackall Comedy Writing Secrets By Melvin Helitzer The American Circus By John Culhane Pure Drivel By Steve Martin SeinLanguage By Seinfeld Brain Droppings By George Carlin Step By Step to Standup Comedy By Greg Dean Whew!! I learned a lot in theory in Singapore, as well as getting performance experience. Good Times!

AGABoom in Singapore!

Shea — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 07:02:20 GMT

On Dec 6 we saw AGABoom at Downtown East D'Marque Theater in Singapore. This is the third time I have seen the show, of course the two other times we in the states so this was quite special. There wasn't afull house so we were able to move up to the front row seats. During the show they called me up on stage to hold a mop head like a baby. Great fun! After the show we talked to the manager and one of the clowns for a while. Seem that their show is going very well, touring all over the world and soon to be expanding to two touring shows. Yeah AGABoom in Singapore, and I got to go on stage with them, WooHoo!!!

Hawker Center Show

Shea — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 07:29:31 GMT

On Dec 1st we performed a free show at the local Tanglin Halt Hawker Center. There was the grand opening for a brand new stall at the Hawker center. It was pretty exciting for the new owners and their friends. The audience was kind of distracted during the show and most of the older folks couldn't speak english so some of the acts were hard to perform. There was acrowd of kids watching, we made balloon animals, blew bubbles and everyone loved us weither they understood or not. One guy was very drunk and wanted to dance with me after the show. We got 3 free meals, $50, and 4 beers, not bad for the show that was supposed to be free.

Uncle 2

Shea — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 13:02:01 GMT

We met a guy when we were having a beer last week who told us that he was a medium and invited us over to his flat to have reading. He was a normal type guy having beer himself and just hanging out at the Hawker center. Our neighbor Roger filled us in on Chinese religion and what to expect. So apparently there are 4 Chinese gods that mediums will invoke in a trance. The two most common are hell gods, Uncle 1 and Uncle 2, there is a sexy lady god with many arms, and a monkey god. The two hell god are white and black and Roger told us that they will inflict pain on themselves and take opium to get into a trance. So we showed up to a normal looking apartment on ground floor of the 20 story building. The only thing that was different about it was the lamps and mural outside. We were told to wait out side in one of the chairs there until they were ready. When our turn came we entered the room, around an ornately decorated table sat Uncle 1 and Uncle 2 in extravagant white and black robes and hats. There were 4 translators in the room as well. Both of the Uncles had their eyes closed and sat in front of an abacus fanning them selves. We were offered a drink of mixed wine and beer and asked if we had any questions. We chose to ask about loved ones that had passed. We were only speaking to Uncle 2 the black one. He gave us some very intense answers the subject of I will leave out of this public blog. When we had got our fill of the intense situation we were asked if we wanted phone numbers or lotto numbers. And that was that . . . .

Hawker Center

Shea — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 06:25:58 GMT

So we a dissapointing gig the other day at the Red Dot Design Museum. We went back to the Hawker Center near our place to lament. A Hawker Center is an outdoor sort of resturaunt area run by locals and the food is really cheep, but a little dodgy. We had been hesitant before about the Hawker Center but we gave it a try. The people were very nice there. The other two times we ate there we had met a medium and a porter. This time we were all dressed in costume and had our props with us. The locals were enthused by our skills and bought us 7 beers and half a pack of cigs. The kids loved us. One drunk guy danced around after seeing Elizabeth dance and the showed off by eating a lit cigarette, gross.

Crappy Bed : (

Shea — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 07:02:53 GMT

So in our second week here in S'pore we had tried every possible way to make our bed comfortable. Our "mattress" is razor thin and was breaking our backs. We tried folding it in half and we tried using a tiny foam pad that ben had, but nothing worked. So we called Ben with our complaint about the bed and he said to ahead and get a new one. We went to IKIA where Ben's mom purchased what we had been sleeping on. What we found when we got there was that she had got us a matress pad, quite different than a actual mattress. So instead of buying a horribly expensive bed at IKIA we went over to Little India and bought two cheap single mattresses for less than the price of the mattress pad in the first place. You would think a mother would know better. Well, we sleep like babies now....

Chillin' in S'pore

Shea — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 11:27:51 GMT

The past few days have been awesome! We did two shows in one day and then nothing for a week. Woo Hoo! We have been juggling for hours everyday, travelling around siteseeing, eating new foods and generally relaxing. Our landlord is a sweetheart. She has 6 sons and I-don't-know how many grandchildren. She does catering and loves to cook. Family stops by all the time to grab a meal. Last night we met up with Dennis my old roomate and his girlfriend. We went out for drinks in Little India and chatted for hours. Dennis is third generation Singaporian, an Interior Designer, and always up for a good time. Check out my blogs from last year for more about Dennis. I have posted 5 videos since I have been here, and many more to come... www.youtube.com/SheaFreeLove

Back in Singapore!!!

Shea — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 12:19:13 GMT

Liza and myself left on Oct 18 for Singapore. After 18 hours, 6 movies and 4 airline meals, we made it to S'pore. Since we crossed the international Dateline we actually arrived at midnight on Oct 20. We are staying at Ben Matthews, our agent, prop workshop. There are stacks of storage containers and shelving units, all full to the brim with circus supplies. There is just enough room for a bed and our stuff. We had 2 gigs on our first day. One was at the beach outdoors for about 300 people. There were more like 1000 people at the event, but the were also games and sand castles and other activities. Our second show was at the Shangri-La hotel for some event called the Beyonics conference. We were absolutly adored by the folks at the event. I also think we were the only caucasions in the room. We have a brief break right now until friday. I am currently visiting my old neighborhood and internet cafe. It is Deepivali this week, a muslim holiday, and Little India is off the hook.... More to come....

The arrival of Jeff!

Shea — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 09:35:36 GMT

Our beloved Steven left us on Sunday, luckily Jeff arived the next day. I went to the airport AGAIN the day before to get him his VISA. Thanks to Corey and Heather I did not have to return to the most annoying airport in the world (see my video on youtube). jeff jumped right into performing on his first day in Hong Kong and did a fabulous job. The following week went by rather slowly. Not many visitors to the village. We explored new characters, leilou was a pirate, corey was a rockstar, ebizabagh was a 70's persona and so on... The best part of Jeff's arrival was that we wereable to perform a 20 min show on Sat involving all 6 of us. The show went spectacularly, see the clips on youtube. Jeff quickly found an appropriate costume to don, once again see the youtbe clips to see more...

Elizabeth's arrival

Shea — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 16:33:17 GMT

I spent an escrucianting long time in the airport. I had arrived 4 hours early to get Jeff's Visa settled, but unfortunatly I had the date confused and would have to come back 2 days later. I made a video which you can veiw on youtube descibing how rediculous and unessary the airport is. 4 mini theme parks, 3 shoping malls and millions of people swarming everywhere. I was far more annoyed than I needed to be by the time Ebizaboobleboobyboozleblahblahblah... finally arrived. Especially because I would have to return to this crazy, rediculous, unessary capatalist medium for shopping culure in just 2 days.

First week in Hong Kong

Shea — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 16:11:49 GMT

Our first week at Ngong Ping went very well. We generated a few new characters to entertain the visitors. Corey Made a "wanted" poster for Leilou who was dressed up loke a fairy. The English was translated into Cantonese on the poster. Sweet!!! I performed as Boffo, dressed as I did at the Clowns w/o Borders benefit, but adding a hardhat and bubble gun. I put our tiny elephant, Peubert, out at the front gate surrounded by construction cones and guarded him all day. The Attendance at the village was minimal, but more than we were expecting. Most of the day we had to look like we were working with not much to do. On Fri, Sat and Sun, the chinese clown joined us and we had 2 pardes a day. The parades were tons of fun and worked to bring in more visitors. Sat and Sun were very good days comparitively. We have been treated like stars and enjoy the experience greatly. We get to practice character and skill all day long. What could be better? And we get paid!!!!

Ngong Ping 360

Shea — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 16:19:06 GMT

So here is the story of how we got here and why we have our job. In Dec 2005 the Ngong Ping Skyrail and Ngong Ping tourist village was completed. Last month on June 11, the managment was testing the Skyrail at 2X speed and one of the train cars fell. The Skyrail has been closed until further notice. The majority of the visitors at Ngong Ping villiage had arrived via Skyrail which would pick up near the airport. Due to its closure attendance at the village has decreased by 90%. Currently the only way to the village is by bus or taxi. The other attraction in the area is the largest bronze buddah in the world and a monastary which attacts most of the visitors. The bus stop is right beneath the buddah and about a 1/4 mile for the village. Most of the visitors do not even make it to the village before they come and go. Our job, therefore, is to get peoples attention and draw them into the village. Most days, especially weekdays the village is deadly slow. We get paid either way, our job would be very easy if it were not 85 degees plus. That's our job and we are doing the best we can to keep this village alive.

The first day at Ngong Ping

Shea — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 11:36:35 GMT

We left at about 9:30 for Ngong Ping. I was about a 45 min drive through beautiful rainforest, waterfalls, and ocean veiws. We wound our way up to the peak of a small mountain, on the way we could see the huge buddah statue. We we arrived we had a briefing with the staff and chinese entertainers that would be joining us. The gave us ID cards and schedules with our hours on it. We were joined by 4 awesome chinese clowns and the Big Ben himself. Apparently June second is a holidy for Hong Kong. In 1899 Britan purcased a 99 year lease for Hong Kong and in 1998 the lease expired making Hong Kong a Separate Aministration Region (SAR). So that was the Holiday. As the situation was described to me the village had very few visitors since the skyrail had been shut down. But since it was a holiday about a thousand people were at the village on our first day. Woo Hoo!

Arrival in Hong Kong

Shea — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 11:25:02 GMT

So we arrived a day late in Hong Kong. I was met by an airline personelle who gave us our visas immidiatly after getting off of the plane. After we went through immigration we were met by Jenny and Eliese who work for J&J Entertainment agency. They had a sign that had the FreeLove Circus logo on it. So Cool! They then took us to a town called Mui Wo where we spent our first night. It was a 1 bdr apartment but we didn't mind. We went out to eat and found out that everything is very cheap for us here, US$1 for a beer US$3 for a large meal. We sleap moderatly well considering our jet-lag and were ready for work in the morning. Apparently it wasn't so bad that we missed the forst day because it rained all day.

Departure to Hong Kong

Shea — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 11:39:05 GMT

On June 29 the FreeLove Circus members Steven, Corey, Heather, Leilou and myself boarded a plane destined for Hong Kong. I recieved an alarming phone call on June 21 from my grandfather. My Grandmother, who is 82 was pulled over for swearving all over the road. She was declared with demensia, and she already can barely remember what happened 5 minutes before. So my Grandfather suggested that it was not the best time for me to visit. The FreeLove Circus summer tour had a break for most of July so that it could make this trip. When I got this news, I considered an alternitive that my agency manager had offered only the day before. Big Ben from Hong Kong was looking for 10 performers. I laid out the situation to the crew that night, and surprizingly most of the group was interested. So the trick was that we had to leave in 8 days. I spent the following week scanning and emailing dozens of pages of paperwork, applications, head shots, passports, the works. 8 days later we were on a plane. Unfortunatly, our connection fron SF to LA was behind schedule and we missed our flight. 12 hours later, after a painful night at the airport we were on our way to Hong Kong.....

End of the Journey...

Shea — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 18:47:36 GMT

I arrived in the US on the morning of Dec 29. I had to book the first flight back after hearing the unfortunate news that my mother had passed away. I received the warmest kindest support from my friends in Singapore. I have also felt the love from my friends and family here as I continue this difficult time in my life. More on my dear Mother later, I would like to wrap up my incredible adventure before I push forward. I had performed 25 shows over the course of 26 days for over 4000 people. I performed at Malls, Hotels, Community Centers, Cruiselines, Nightclubs, Birthday Parties and many venues as well. I performed as Santa, a mime, a strolling juggler and presented my solo show countless times. My tour of Singapore was incredibly successful, more than I could have imagined. The last words my Mother said to me less than 24 hours before her death were that the was proud of me and loved me. I know my Mother died happy and will smile on me every day for the rest of my life.

Religon?

Shea — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 06:17:36 GMT

I had a dicussion with my housemates last night about the nature of the world prominant religions. My confusion was with the nature of Hinduism. Stephanie and the Professor both were confused as well. So we called up Alex, my Uncle, a Hindu, and he invited us over to his house. Once we arrived we proceeded to get very drunk. Luckily we recorded our conversation so I will listen to the recordings later since I do not remember the details. Here is what I gathered from what I do remember. Judism, Islam and Christianity are the most popular monotheistic religions. All of these religons are similar in that they belive that there is a High Power that exists outside of this world and our bodies. This one Creator sent prophets to the earth to profess his existance. Unfortunatly, people on earth believe in separate prophets for separate religons. There can be only one son of God for some reason. So people fight for millenia because they cannot accept that another group of people believes in the words of a different prophet than they do. So to make things more difficult, these profits all have a homeland and coincidentally for Judism, Muslim, and Christianity thier three profets all have the same homeland. In my opinion this situation means that the Creator for these religons set up the world so that there would be an eternal war within humanity. Great job God, way to create neverending hatred and violence. So apparently Hindu is not a religion. Hindu is the name for a group of people that settled in India. Hinduism incorprates many religons, Siddartha was a Hindu, so was the writer of Toa Te Ching. Krishna, the "main god" of the popular form of Hinduism, is blue asexual and takes on different forms when the visits earth. Kishna has a likeness to Jesus, Mohhamed, Moses and various monotheistic prophets. But Hinduism is Polytheistic with seven layers of enlightenment and a strong belief in reincarnation. Other forms which can sometimes fall into Hinduism, Buddism, Zen and others. Have a distinct difference from Abrahamic religons. Higher power comes from within, not the way God is in every one of us, what I mean is that to seek enlightenment you must meditate and look with for answers, not go talk to a priest for answers. All this being said I am glad to have an oppertunity to ask members of these religons first hand about what they belive in. Also I guess I am a Hindu, but that just makes things more confusing than if I left myself unlabeled. NEXT: Politics!!!!!!

Juggling Santa

Shea — Mon, 25 Dec 2006 10:31:17 GMT

Yesturday I had a job as Santa on a cruiseline called Leisure Cruises. I Only had to wear the costume for about an hour and I only juggled for 2 minutes. For this I got all the free drinks I wanted, free food and great reception from all. I was the only caucasian on the ship, which I appriciate because I am usually surrounded by ignorant offencive white people in Arcata. If you ever want a massage in SE Asia WITHOUT the special perks, get an Indo massage. It was awesome. This ship had gamboling tons of slots, four bars, dance floor, sauna, and probably more luxories I didn't explore. I have never been on a cruise before, so this was quite a treat

Burritos!

Shea — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 03:28:01 GMT

In S'pore there is every kind of food, except burritos. I was feeling homesick so I searched all over the Mustafa mega store for burrito ingredients. Tortillas were damn hard to find and I settled for wraps, closest I could find, dry and small. I also looked all over Mustafa, Muslim-run, for ground beef. But of course they didn't have any, silly me. The "mexi-beans" I bought were not refried, so I mashed the whole pinto beans myself. Three of the seven people I made dinner for on Monday had never eaten or heard of burritos. With all the US chain-corporations in S'pore you would expect a Taco Bell, but sadly for my Hey Juans! deprived pallette, no Taco Bells in S'pore.

My day off

Shea — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 04:17:10 GMT

Today is the first day without performing since Dec 7th. I have performed 18 shows in the past ten days. Saturday I had shows at 6, 7, 8, and 9:15 back to back. For my third show I ran from the car to the stage and walked on 10 seconds later. My fourth show I arrived about 5 minutes late and had enough time to pound a bottle of water before I started my show. Then I returned to a party at my house, Eclectic Clash, where I performed for all my friends. I will be posting a video on youtube soon. I have posted a few new pics on tribe, check'em out!

Big Ben!!!!

Shea — Sat, 16 Dec 2006 06:36:48 GMT

Ben Matthews is the juggler/performer that hooked up this great Singapore adventure. He is in town performing here this weekend. I was able to veiw his show last night at Shangri La Hotel, Cannon corporation convention Dinner and Dance Party. I was a plant in the audience, he stole my umbrella, I chased him around and then he used the umbrella as a Devil Stick. I met Ben today for lunch. We talked business for about an hour. Then took some pics which I will post soon. Ben is a really nice guy. He has hooked me up splendidly. I recieved a promotion, if you can call it that, during our conversation. I am now an agent for his contacts in Singapore! I will be selectively choosing replacements to perform shows here, mainly from Humboldt Circus alumni. By selectively I mean, entertainers, not competitive jugglers. If you are a competitive juggler, WJF member or friends with Jason Garfield you are permanantly banned from the agency. Performers in Singapore make at least US$3000-5000 a month. Depending on your work ethic and show you could make a lot more. Please let me know if anyone is interested, I need a replacement end of January.

Trouble the Poodle

Shea — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 17:33:33 GMT

For the past week we have been puppysitting an 11 month old giant poodle by the name Kimba. The dog belongs to Dennis's sister, and she was on vacation in Australia. This dog was the most spoiled and misbehaved dog I have ever met. Hence I nicknamed him "Trouble." During the couple of times I was asked to puppysit, the dog would bark incessently and any moment I was not watching him, he would poop or pee on the floor. Trust me the situation was much worse tham that. Dennis's sister returned today to retrieve the menace. She brought with her and dog that looked exactly like a minature trouble. During the half-hour that Dennis's sister was in the house visiting the minature Trouble peed on the floor 4 times. Ironically minature troubles name was Ca-ca. I will post a picture at a later date.

First 6 Shows

Shea — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 12:40:07 GMT

I have performed 6 times in the last 10 days and am performing everyday for the next week. Show 1: Dec 2, 3:45 pm Ang Mo Kio Ave. Block 121 30 min, ~200 people This show was performed in the middle of an apartment complex. There were vocalist, balloon artists and a couple of other circus acts in the show. I arrived after it started and left before it was over. Show 2: Dec 8, 1:15 pm Rowell Park (right outside my house) 15 mon, ~20 people This was a freeshow that I performed for my neighborhood. It was in the middle of a monsoon so I had to cut it short because it started raining. Show 3: Dec 8, 8:45pm Hilton Hotel, 24 Floor 30 min, ~100 people This was a dinner and dance show for a stockholders convention. The show was titled "Circus De Soliel." I was very intimidated by all the rich folk and they were aprehensive to volunteer in my show. Show 4: Dec 9, 2pm 136 Hillveiw Ave, Merawoods Condominium 1 hour, ~20 kids this was a 9 year olds birthday party. These kids were all over the place. I wore my clown nose and shoes. My shoes broke by the end of the gig, thanks a lot Rob Strong. Show 5: Dec 9, 6pm Vivo City 30 min, ~75 people Ths was at the kids area of the largest shopping mall I have every seen. It took me 1 1/2 hours to find the stage and I walked about 3 miles in the mall. It had the best audience reactions so far. Show 6: Dec 10, 6pm 30 min, ~75 people I watch the magician who performed before me, he was great, older guy, you could tell he had been performing forever. I am performing two more times at Vivo while I am here. Can't wait. I will be doing 13 shows in the next week. I am not about to write them up like did the first 6, but I'll let you know how they go.

Nude Modeling

Shea — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 08:16:46 GMT

Today I made S$135 modeling nude for the Prof's painting class at the University!