How can so much fun equate to so much sleepy?

Mike Fotis took this photo. This photo makes me incredibly, stupidly happy. Thank you so much, Mike!! :)

Please note: This is a horribly written blog. There's not much room in my brain for anything else.

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WOW!!! WOWWWW!!!! ... Wow!!!!

TCIF was like Adventureland, but for grown ups and less nausea-inducing. TCIF was over stimulatingly awesome. TCIF left me beaten up, delighted and tired. Thank you thank you thank you!

It was a party with everyone you know, with everything you love. We have been all spoiled silly.

Friday was delightful, interrupted only by a work meeting and an attempted run around Lake Calhoun. I thought it might be shorter than Lake of the Isles. I was wrong. (I think I would have been okay, if it hadn't been for the temp... whew.) 2/3rds of Coldtowne & 2/2s of Buddy Daddy arrived Friday morning, after driving 18 hours non-stop. They crashed, I went to a work meeting, and then forced 3/3rds of Coldtowne into eating at Punch Pizza. (Delish!)

Did Friday REALLY hold that much goodness? I'm checking Mike's photos to be sure. Damn.

Yes.

7:00 - pH (Chicago) / the Election Show (Seattle)
8:30 - Rampleseed / Irish Mutts (San Francisco)
10:00 - Five Man Job / Coldtowne (Austin, TX)
11:30 - Girls, Girls, Girls / Pimprov (Austin, TX / Chicago)
12:30 - Neutrino - Twin Cities

I played piano for the Irish Mutts, who made me cry just a little in the best way possible. I also played for Neutrino, which had the best ending ever. :) All of these shows were nuts. It was so much fun to see Coldtowne screw with each other; it was a delight to be musically taken by Girls, Girls, Girls; and then there was Pimprov. Pimprov.

Saturday involved some sleep and a trip to Victor's (again, DELICIOUS!!!). Coldtowne went to the MOA, I went to a Slingshot Harold workshop (thinkthinkthink) and all came back together... It seems to me there was food involved. I can't remember it now. This sucks. It was delicious. (errr... Almonds from SA)

Saturday night was aces. Damn, the funny!!! It was an amazing night, with a secret nod to the BNW and Bassprov for destroying the audience. Played piano for Survivors. (delightful!) And then to the g'dam'd CC Club, which was honestly perfect. I don't think I've ever been to CC Club with improv folks - - surreal! I took Coldtowne to Little T's afterwards, as they should go. Pride Fest added a bit of zing to Little T's, as did the fascinating and possibly horrible man at the next table, taking pictures of the six skimpily dressed Asian women at his booth.

Then to Andy's, then to Jill's, and suddenly morning-birds are singing and it's time to go home.

I bailed on Sunday workshops (as I suck), slept, got the boys into the Star Wars exhibit, checked my email, and then took them to Cecil's in Highland Park (again, food!) which scored with high marks (yea!!). Back to the Workshop, for a truly delightful Sunday night.

8:00 - Police Cop Detective PI / Mustache Rangers / HUGE / Buddy Daddy

There was only goodness with this.

The final group, Buddy Daddy, took Minneapolis and demolished us with cuteness.

Appropriately, the night ended at the Mill.

We, as a community, are exhausted now.

Coldtowne leaves tonight, which is sad-making. It's been lovely to hang out with them, and force them to eat at my favorite places (and they have been incredibly, unnecessarily generous in feeding me).

Fun. Fun fun fun. :)

Not ready for expected collision with the real world (work, bills, etc.), but it'll be okay.

Congratulations to all (Jill, Butch, performers, BNW staff, concierges, hosts, students and performers) and nice work!!! (I love that, in the end, Butch said it was because of the audience that this happened. That's pretty amazing. I guess, in many many ways, it kind of is.)

Onward.

Animals are angels & TCIF!!!!

They let me sleep! Pickles only went out once and rest of the time there was sleep!!

TCIF was... Huge.

- Joe Bill's here!! That means it's reall!!!

- Met Girls Girls Girls and Pimprov. Now have a goal of introducing Chris Trew to as many people as humanly possible.

- Sets were great!!! Larnyx, and I missed T-Rex (arggh), and Stevie, and I missed SCRAM (arghh) and 1-2-3 Improv! and so happy and pleased and filled with love about the V w/a P set I can't tell u. (...and thank u, Nebraska...)

- Hanging out was fun!!! Davey's pizza idea was brilliant!

- and finally to home. I have one, short work-related meeting today and then its back. I'm looking fwd to it like nuts. Nuts, I tell u. Wish us luck... :)

Come out and see the madness tonight -- you'll be happy you did. Brave New Workshop, 2605 Hennepin, http://www.twincitiesimprovfestival.com

Onward.

Animals are jerks & TCIF!!!!

Animals are jerks, seriously. (Unless perhaps their cuteness somehow outweighs their inherent jerk-like qualities) Last night, two animals (and humidity) conspired to have me sleep a mere 3.5 hours last night. Was it only 3.5? It felt like 3.5. But hey -- I successfully woke up at 6 am, blurred and beat down. Awesome drinks with Steph and Sarah probably didn't help things, but I'm still blaming the kids. Arghhhhh...

Highway 100 is my Vegas. Highway 100 holds Trader Joe's, Cub, and a certain Bibles for Missions thrift store. I can only do highway 100 once a month or less. However, I now have cheap food and a $3 butler chair. My refrigerator and living room are both now complete.

Hey punks -- It's TCIF!!!!! (everyone owes Butch & Jill shots and hugs!) Come to the Brave New Workshop anytime this weekend for some funny. Some really amazing stellar funny. It's gonna be stupid, how good the funny will be. Life is short. Next time, you might be reincarnated as a sea slug. You should probably just come to TCIF while you can. You'll thank your past lives for being so damn good.

Why can't I nap??? Is it the coffee that helped me survive a 7 am call? Arghhh!!!! Stupid irony. (if that is, indeed,what I am experiencing.)

The cat trying to make up for jerkiness by being super cuddley (sp?), while the dog just wants to eat the cat's poo. ...gross.

Onward.

-1 day and counting...

Before TCIF begins, I have to wake up at 6 a.m. tomorrow. Please god, help me remember to wake up at 6 a.m. tomorrow.

Monday sped by and I played catch up. I also ran around Lake of the Isles (stopping only to look at the dog park) all by myself. Go me. I thought about walking for some of it, but my attention span couldn't handle it. Run!!

I also cleaned and cleaned and cleaned. I now have a shoe rack. I love this shoe rack. I have too many shoes. However, they look really really nice on this rack.

Tuesday sped by, topped off by some Six Ring Circus and hangin' out.

Wednesday is speeding by, but the end result should be fun.

Then, I'm going to wake up at 6 a.m.

Followed by a Thursday which involves a ridiculous amount of stuff, but again, the end result should be fun.

(Also, cherries have got to be the best fruit EVER. Just sayin'.)

I'm ridiculously excited for the next four days of TCIFness. I'm also nervous, but it's nervousness of my own making. Needless to say, a) weird worlds are going to come crashing together, b) my mind will be blown, c) neat people are going to hang together, d) I'm not going to screw up any of the good stuff I currently got goin'. That's the goal.

"Not to screw anything up" is a pretty lame declaration. How about "being clear about what's good for me/what I want" and "staying positive" and "having hells amounts of fun" - - There. I like that better.

I was this close to fostering a baby dachshund. oooh. Now I want a baby dachshund.

See you guys at the theater. :)

Onward.

Nice joke, Cavett...

That's Woody Allen would say to Dick Cavett. We know because Dick Cavett said so.. I was going to work backwards, but...

Saturday:
- My mom drives into Norfolk, and buys me shoes. Thanks Mom!

- We have tech...

- The kids knock their show out of the ballpark. Seriously. We are all delighted. My mercy...

- We drive to the Johnny Carson Theater, and the pacing begins. There's one thing possible more hair-raising than checking your make-up in a room marked "Robert Klein"...

- And that's having Eddie Brill** say "I've read your blog..." bwahahahah!

- We do the show! We do good! My knees go slightly out when I step out onto stage with the flag for John, see 1,300 people, and then 'am forced to stand still. I'm fine if I can move - - standing still, my body believes I should faint. ...It's something I'm working on.

- Dick Cavett says amazing things, and tells amazing stories. He then hangs out with us and the stand-ups in the hallway, shows us a W.C. Field's bit, and then tries to teach us how to moonwalk. My mind is surreal-ly blown...

Things I've loved the most about Norfolk so far:

1) the love in the room for late Friday night "blue" show. Serious. 300 happy people, listening contently, bemusedly drinking and being made to laugh. How can a profession that supposedly harbors so much self-hate love people so much that all they want to do is make them laugh? You can psycho-analyze this into the ground (it's for attention, etc..) but... man. Funny damn people. So much love.

2) Watching all of us comedians pace backstage at the Johnny Carson Theater... There's Eddie Brill**, pacing. There's Robert Klein, kinda pacing. There goes Deacon, pacing... Dick Cavett, however, was having none of it. :)

** Mr. Brill, ;) It was such a pleasure meeting you... Thank you for all of your generosity - - it was an utter joy. Can't wait to see you soon, hopefully visiting us in Minnesota.. :)

We take off. John Haynes drives THE ENTIRE WAY. The man knows no sleep. I am amazed.

Sunday:

- Back to home, where I wake up questionably early and clean.

- Lovely dinner.

- Adorable went up at IAGG. hehhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... That was fun. :) I can't wait for more (and many thanks to Lauren for the coachin')

It's back to kinda the regular, but not really. Improv Festival starts this Thursday. It's gonna be madness. I've got my tank top. I'm ready for my performer pass. The rest will come.

Please come see Vaudeville with a Pig this Thursday at 10 p.m.! At the Brave New Workshop, as part of the Twin Cities Improv Festival!

Onward.

The Braveiest

Last day of Norfolk! Arghhhh!! Again, the people are incredibly nice and generous...

- Kids' last tech yesterday, they perform today. Funny bits to me -- the 17 year old with a 45 year old's knowledge/taste in music.. A really smart 45 year old. (is that a Roger Waters' t-shirt you're wearing, Paul? Is that you knowing all the words to "Born to Run"? Well played!)

- Sat in a titch on Eddie Brill's stand up class...

- Last night was the last night of the competition -- Deacon won!! Yeaaa!!!

- Went to a banquet thingie after the show (and a quick Target run).... Reintroduced myself to Eddie Brill (you can google him) and introduced myself Robert Klein (you'll go, "Ooohhh.. That guy..."). 'Said "I'm Jen Scott, I'm with the Brave New Workshop, the comedy troupe..." and they said, "You're with the B.N.W.? Well, you're the bravest.." Hiyoooooahh! (perhaps they meant the target dress.. Either way... I'll take it!)

- Met a guy named Micah Sherman, who knows Rachel Bitney (mind weirdly blown). Micah's funny. He does movie things. That's exciting....

- Tech, kids' show & our show tonight.. And then the drive... See u on that other side thing (i.e. Mpls) Wish us luck!

Onward.

Hansel... Gretel... Heavy... Metal...

Last day-plus here in Norfolk.. The kids are great.. We're in tech currently -- in a big brick community college theatre... They're lovely and funny -- We've been so lucky..

Last night, we watched some more Stand Up (Deacon Grey = Funny), ate some more McDonalds (that's twice this week), and then drove a bit out of town, where we perfomed in an "Adult Only" showcase.. Never have the suggestions of "erectile dysfunction" and "sex swing" been more fully embraced. That being said, Nebraskans make a generous and friendly audience.. :)

More stand up and a banquet thingie tongiht (which may possibly include Robert Klein ANNNDDD Dick Cavett), and then Saturday (our last day..). We drive home after our Saturday performance, making us some highway-driving sleepy monkeys...

The kids are doing their stand up. This is brilliant. :)

Onward.

It's Thursday - - only two more days of hiding left...

hNorfolk, pronounced Norfork, has been lovely and fine..

- Norfolk needs women!!! Ladies -- this state is filled with lonely blond muscle-bound gentlemen, who fill up their free time with working out (and watching some football... actually, a lot of football) Notably, there are not many 20-35 year old women around here...(as I assume they've probably flown the coop and headed to college), but bevvies of high school-educated guys who probably know how to change a tire... That is not an euphemism. Ladies - - you could have yourself a beautiful four bedroom house (for about $90,000) and a man who works construction (again, not a euphemism). There's a catch, of course... but everyone here IS really really nice, honestly. Where'd the women go, we don't know... but, Nebraska seems to need women.

- Our kids are awesome. (knock on wood)

- 'Saw some of the stand ups last night... very very funny. As Davey put it, "this could be the Sundance of Stand Up" - - and that'd be very very cool. I loved the host, Jeff Caldwell (dear Jeff Caldwell, I'm a fan)... Also, Chuck Bartell says hello, Twin Cities!!

- Ended up at the Mint Bar... which was like Buffalo Alice's in Sioux City, but just a titch more hardcore. Outside smelled like cow poo, inside smelled like.. ehh... cleaning solution. This is a local bar. However, the locals were patient, the beer was insanely cheap, and the jukebox was brilliant!!! (including a clandestine GNR moment... thank you, Mint Bar)

- It feels like summer here - - or at least the summers I grew up with. Warm and humid, everything smells (mostly good), the colors are bright and the concrete gets hot!! My hair and skin are reverting back to old habits...

- If I still had cable, I would never leave the house.

Back to the college (where we're teaching the workshops), for lunch and workshopiness.. Looking forward to getting back to the cities (nervous about the rest of the month, missing some peeps and animals something fierce), but it's been lovely to hide...

Onward.

Norfolk NE, day 2... no... 3...

Welcome to Wednesday, here in Norfolk! What I've learned:

- Norfolk can be pronounced both as Nor-folk, or as Nor-fork (which is how I originally learned it, figured I had learned it wrong, but alas.. Norfork is more than acceptable.)

- Under no means take the $.99 margarita as a good idea. Under no means have two because they're cheap.

- Rice crispie bars are better here.

- Runzas still make Runzas!!! A runza is a local dish... like a calzone that you can pick up, or like a pastie with a bread crust (instead of pie crust). Runzas are generally filled with ground chuck and cabbage. They are still delicious.

- Every man between the ages of 21 and 35 here is blond, built, and possibly works construction. It's getting to the ridiculous stage. Even the guy who gives speeches to teens on abstinence -- blonde, built, unnecessarily tan, has probably worked construction.

- I have eaten too much red meat. My disgestive track feels like there's a veal farm growing inside of it. Despite my love of the runza, IT'S TOO MUCH! IT'S TIME FOR THIS TO STOP.

- Johnny Carson lived at 306.

More to come... Onward.

NE, day 1 into 2

Hellooo from Norfolk, land of the INCREDIBLY NICE PEOPLE! (damn... I missed this. Hellos and thank yous and w00t! And it's sincere! Even the poor amazing girl in the Walgreens with the brain trauma and the 4 month old... Good god!)

Last night after classes, we all de-evolved just a bit in our inability to find anywhere to eat after 11 p.m.. We ended up at a McDonalds. But... the goddammn friendliest McDonalds at 11 p.m. on earth. Awesome.

First day of classes went well... looking forward to today, even though it's very comfortable to stay here in the Rodeway Inn, listen to the birds (and the highway) outside), and type on this borrowed laptop. I should really do something responsible soon.

My throat is thinking about leaving me. I'm convincing it to stay.

I got to be on the Sioux City News! ...bwahahahaha. If you want, here is the article. In watching this (Jen, spit out your gum), I've realized that I've got a tad of the crazy eye. Whuf. Nice thing - - they edited me short - - but that's exactly what I wanted to say! Thank you, Laura awesome tv lady!

For more crazy eye, come check out the 48 Hour Film Festival tonight at 8:30 p.m. at the Riverview! I'm part of the Urban Mountain Media production - - I have three lines - - the short itself should be cool (I'm curious to see what Harry and the boys do!)

My room is huge. Hopefully mom will drive down from Sioux City, and come stay with me on Friday.

Onward.

NE day -1 & 1

Helloooo from the Rodeway Inn in Norfolk,NE...

Yesterday involved:

- An absolutely lovely breakfast.. :)

- Taking Pickles to his dog sitter. Kim is amazing. Pickles will be hanging out with a yorkie named Diesel. Diesel might teach Pickles to dance. Pickles may also be hanging out with a couple of labs and a couple of pitbulls.. This may blow Pickles' mind.

- Meeting Haynes, sleepy Kristine and Davey at the Workshop, loading into Haynes' truck and we're off!!!

- To Mankato! To a rest stop! To LeMars, Iowa (the Ice Cream Capitol of the WORLD... I purchase some Wells Blue Bunny paraphanelia *sp?*, and we all take in the bikers..)

- To.. my mom's in Sioux City.. (yea!!!) ohhhhh... My mind is lightly blown... Mom makes loosemeat sandwiches and cheesecake (which is exactly the meal we ate for my high school open house), and Davey is slightly weirded out when I clear his plate. I am slightly weirded out when I clear his plate. Old habits.... (guests sit, Scotts' feed u...) But he handles it excellently and thus begins the never-stop-eating portion of our trip. Hi Mom!!! :)

- A mere two hours into NE (through the pretty rolly hills part) and we are in Norfolk.

- We are staying at the Rodeway Inn.. One of the organizers of the festival takes us to dinner at a place Whiskey Creek. "It's a peanuts on the floor sort of place" she explains, and it's weird that we all know exactly what she means. Waittress Amy B. prods us if we have any birthdays in our group coming up, and Davey handles being chanted and clapped at brilliantly. (bwahahah!) So far, admittedly, this has been delightful!

- Workshops begin today. My voice is questionable, so having my own room has been lucky and hopefully healing. Time to act like a grown up... (i.e. Turn off the Tom & Jerry cartoons I'm watchin'...)

Onward.

"It doesn't move fast, but it never stops"

Just got off the phone with my sister... god. She lives in Iowa City (in the way southeastern corner of Iowa, way far away from where the BNI is traveling tomorrow). Iowa City is a mess (that's her picture), per good chunks of central and southeastern Iowa. The news has been reporting mostly on Cedar Rapids, but as she says, Iowa City is down river from Cedar Rapids... People are actually calling this the "Once in 500 years flood" - - it's about 10 feet higher than everything Iowa has dealt with ...ever.

My sister works in museums (see below)... They could have started moving pieces of art as early as Monday, but weren't given the go ahead until Thursday. She's heartbroken. And mad. And astounded. It's surreal and weird and traffic is horrible and the one grocery store that everyone can get to in Iowa City was being cleared out ("..it was just like on a news cast," she said, "We waited in the check out line a long time, and we got our stuff... and since it's Iowa, everyone was very nice...")

I guess there's two bridges that have collapsed in Cedar Rapids ("one FEMA collapsed... They thought they could save it by placing huge amounts of weight on it..")

*****Here's the email she sent...

Hello all. I almost never write bulk emails, let alone email in general, but this is too big. Since you are my friends (and relative) who have worked in museums, you will be able to understand what I just went through.

... The Iowa River has been flooding for a while, but had been controlled to flood the City Park, which is about 1/2 mile from the museum. ...

On Thursday after I got off work at my other job, I saw semis at the Art Museum, so I called the museum to see if I could help. I arrived at to find that printstorage had been evacuated, same with most everything on display, plus the most valuable pieces. But when I went to help in Main Storage, there was still so much there!!! A crew ... was helping wrap pieces, and one of them told me that the latest estimate for flooding was that it would be chest height in Main Storage!! I later checked out a window on the river-side to see that the 4 foot sandbag wall next to the museum was started to fill, and gallery that was below ground level was started to flood.

A few of us wrapped around seventy drawers of jade, pre-colombian, native america, and persian ceramics until one a.m. and we were told that we'd have until 5:00 pm on Friday until we were forced to leave. I called in sick to my other job, and arrived at the museum on Friday at 6:30 am, just after my boss. There was just three of us in the museum at the time, but [another crew] was on their way.

Shortly after arriving (ten minutes, tops) we were informed the 5:00 pm evacuation time was being moved up, and we had only ONE HOUR to vacate the building, i.e. the police would force us out and their own locks on all the doors.

My seventy drawers were sitting on the floor of a gallery, and I knew that they'd never make it onto a truck. So I just did what I could, I started running them up to the one gallery in the museum that's higher than ground level. At that point the [another crew] arrived, with about 8 guys ... that were very used to heavy lifting and they took over that job.

I then ran to Main Storage, to find a few people moving objects, but nothing was being done with all the paintings left on the racks! At this point we had maybe 10 minutes left, so I just started grabbing any painting I could handle and rehanging it as high as I could. Unfortunetly, most the paintings the museum owns are mid-century (very big) I was was only able to move up maybe 10 of them. At that point I started to just take any object and move it higher, including a oceanic wooden sculpture, but couldn't get to the Roman stone heads, because at that point (about 7:45am) the police forced us to leave. We grabbed the art that was staged in the loading dock and threw it into a truck, but weren't able to get the art staged in the next room.

It was one of the most heart-breaking moments of my life. We were all trying to keep it together, especially we were then sent to help with the Johnson County Historical Society's evacuation, but when I finally got home after that I was a mess. We live just up the hill from the Art Museum, and so when I got back to my house around 1:00pm I could see that water was already up to the loading dock. When [my husband] got home around 3:00, the water was at least 10 inches higher. The museum's alarm system continues to go off and I could hear it into the night.

So now all bridges over the Iowa River are closed, and [he] and I have only one route out of our neighborhood. News helicopters are flying overhead constantly, and we've heard we might lose power and water, and at that point we'll just leave town.

Thanks for listening.


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Aghh... I'm not worried about her and her husband (they're smart, and safe, and their house is on an Iowa City high point)... but I'd much rather she didn't have to go through this. :( There's also not much I could do - - my sister's saving pieces of art, and I'm doing game shows about yoda fingers (true). I hope things clear up soon. Corn crops are f'd (my Uncle Craig, a corn and soybean farmer in Ponca NE hasn't been able to plant yet... everything should have been planted about three weeks ago) Not cool.

NE Nebraska, NW Iowa & SW Minnesota sound fine for travel, and so I and some lovely people are off to Norfolk NE for a week. That may be a very long time in Norfolk NE.

It's just poor central and southeastern Iowa that need a break.

Onward.

I got chased by Darth Vader!!!!

I couldn't help but run. It was m-f'ing Darth Vader! (heard him breathing before I saw him). AND THEN HE CHASED ME!!!! AGHHHH!!! Childhood fear totally rushing up (I still have tingles up and down my neck.. creepy!), I started running. And he chased me! He even threw open a door that I tried to escape into.

It was like someone came dressed in a really good Jaws costume. I knew there was a person underneath all that black plastic, but something 8-years-old in me was "get the f out of here!" Super scary!!!

And awesome. The Darth Vader then went on to ham it up in the Museum's food court, behind the cooks, pointing and 'ordering' them about.

Seriously. This Darth Vader is awesome.

Onward.

man... I have no reason to be this grumpy...

Stoopid mornings! Even when there's hundreds of happy, freaking out children surrounding geeks in costume, I'm still grumpy.

My sleep was not the best last night (animals!!!) and I think I'm starting to feel the "Whhhhhat???" of leaving for a week. Whhhhattt???? It's work, but not. It's travel, but not. It's my home area, but not. What is this thing??? My next blog may be from Norfolk, Nebraska - - you have been warned.

Yesterday involved some sleeping in (delicious!) and then onto Adam & Sheryl's. A trip to Faribault, meetin' some cool kids, heading back, and doing a Bingo show. (It was actually a pretty darn good show. Pretty darned pleased in a silly way with self. 'Considering none of us had done the show for weeks, despite having done it for years, not too shabby!) (...I got called precious! ohhhhh..)

An exhibit just opened here at the Science Museum.

There's a lot of people here for it.

There's a chance that they may just see the exhibit and then leave.

Or they may not.

Will it be crazy? Oh yes, it will.

Are there people dressed up in very very specific costumes in the lobby of the museum? Oh yes. (the dark Jedi amuses me, as he keeps catching himself giggling at the little kids...)

Do I now have a picture of my head photoshopped onto an x-wing fighter pilot's body? Goddamn right. (I am a very flat chested fighter pilot - - 'what happens when they photoshop you onto a guy's body.. it doesn't look as awkward as it sounds..)

Onward.

Good morning...

Not-much-sleep (Animals!!!) was punctuated by dreams of guilt/betrayal (while surrounded by televsions and air conditioners), being mouthy with 'improv' advice, kittens (the kitten were cute, but there was also a cat with fabric eyes), and landscaping. Arghh...

Tired enough to forget an important step while making coffee. However, the coffee came out delicious. Lucky.

I mowed my lawn! I also pretended to be a good home owner and whacked some weeds. Dreams of a weed-whacker-free landscape to come.

Have a good Wednesday. Why am I so nervous about the rest of the month?

Onward.

Sunburned stuff IV

On the plane, over possibly Utah. I feel like we're racing backwards against the sunshine or just plain ol' leaving the sun behind.

Monday, Monday.. Downtown SF bustled like a real city, and we didn't. Nice lazy morning, filled with white sheets, the rec center (ran for 2 miles, and sweated given the lack of ventilation) and Starbucks' coffeecake and a crrappy croissant.

'Prepared to take the cable car to the wharf (yeeargh?). The cable car was filled with almost unnervingly quiet American tourists. PG was kind & cool enough to go into a Forever 21 with me before boarding and recommended a shirt that rocks. I changed into this much cooler, $6 non-polyester shirt in the dressing room. Yea!

We stood in the back of the car. :)

At the wharf, we looked at sea lions, which are amusing. They are funny, weird, amusing animals.

Then we hiked (well.. took the stairs) up San Francisco to Coit Tower, the almost sexily named tower, took in the wind and the view, carefully walked down San Francisco, stopped in Little Italy for French Bakery goods, and then to Chinatown for dim sum, which was, naturally, dimsumilicious.

'Back to the hotel, where a Ukrainian man named German drove us to the airport.

Now on board the plane. PG is at the front & I am at the back, watching the world turn indigo blue, and it will be good to be home.

Really? Maybe.. really? Really.

Onward.

They almost healed.... Sunburned bits III

It may have been Sunday, lovely Sunday...

* We wake up and hazily decide that coffee, breakfast, and a NY Times are necessary. This is a challenge, as it is Sunday, and DT is mostly sleeping.. We end up at a bagel shop, which oddly lacked tomatoes.

* PG transplanted co-worker picks us up to go hiking. Fabulous! Things I learned:

- Always pack yer damn hiking shoes.

- Don't walk on the south side of anything, despite the view. When one hikes, one tends to watch one's feet. And southside ='s hottttt.

- I have also decided that climbing up something and then down it is the way to go. Climbing down & then back up things (mountains, canyons) is bullshit!

* We lose the trail (kinda) coming back up. My hoodie is taken by shrubbery & hummingbirds (and horny swallowtail butterflies.. And ravens.) By this time, we are all in mild pain.

* However, once we reached the top, my body betrayed me by feeling awesome... Yeargh!! It might have been worth it!!!

* 'Drove down to Berkeley, where we saw where people live (in houses), and where people drink (on patios). It's actually a not-as-screamingly-happy Boulder: Boulder's all idyllic, Berkeley's a little more world-weary.

* We are a trifle beat, and take the amazingly effecient BART (a subway.. brilliant!) back to downtown. I still like the way subways smell. Gross and awesome.

* Hot tub & swimming for a short bit. 'Watched a 10 year old girl make like a 25 year old on a treadmill, which was just damned disturbing.

* 'Get ready for fancy dinner with some of PG's coworkers, who are lovely. Octopus salad & butterfish (which, is actually better called 'justfish' as it really doesn't taste like butter at all. Octopus salad, on the other hand, tasted like Octopus mixed with awesome.)

* Dude took our taxi.. but it all worked out alright, I think...

* 'Look at us collapse.

I like being prepared for things that might be out of my element. But you can't prepare for everything. That being said, I should packed my damn shoes - - my fault. But it was great.

Onward.

Sunburned lips, part II

Saturday involved:

* Waking up and little bits of Starbucks downstairs

* Taking the cable car. The cable car is filled with European tourists who are very loud and kinda alright with getting screamed at. (fyi.. Spaniards... Still loud.) Given the crush of happy euro-laden-ness, I don't get off at Chinatown, and instead...

* Get sucked into the vortex that is and may forever be Fisherman's Wharf!!

* Giving up and accepting the Wharf.

* Realizing that both dungess crabs & sourdough, both delicious, stink ickypoo when being cooked.

* 'Shopped at a Steve & Barry's on the Wharf... Because it was there..

* Escaped the Wharf and met newly transplanted friend Jen in a lovely, fancy neighborhood (think of a hip, motion-based Linden Hills) and eating at a lovely Italian coffee house.

* Being told to shush by a sweet Swedish lady

* GETTING A MANICURE!!! I've never had one. I now have French nails. I have no ideas about how to feel about this, except it makes me laugh and PG catches me admiring them...

* To the Wharf, and Ghiradellis chocolate, where PG was met and massive quanities of ice cream were consumed.

* Biked across the Golden Gate Bridge!!! Holy hannah.. Here's for another experience I didn't even know was possible or that I would want to do it..

* Raced back to the hotel, where dear college friend and his kinda new wife took us to Bar Crudo, which was flippin' incredible. (Oysters! Crab! Mussels! WOW!!!!) Perhaps even better was sharing dinner & making eye contact with Tom -- it's been about 7 years.

* TownHall for dessert and bed.

Very lucky, filled with dreamy goodness. Onwards!

I think I sunburned my lips...

Is there anything more beautiful than the Golden Gate Bridge, spanning across the big blue bay?

So THIS is (or might be) San Francisco.. It's like NYC on shiny happy pills, or like NYC with a continuous shot of Vitamin D up its pooper. There's everything you could wish for, and tourists agree. However, if you're poor, you're really fuckin' poor, and that's the truth.

'Made my way to the hotel via a very professional and very fast taxi. 'Got lunch at Lee's Deli, which was dimsumlicious. ('did attempt jogging around Twin Peaks.. That was a foolish, foolish mistake). PG went to do his talk, and I decided to take a bus to Chinatown. Things I have learned:

* Chinatown means Chinese people (ohhhhh)

* I am not Chinese

* Fisherman's wharf is the vortex of San Francisco that I cannot escape!!! Arghhh!!!

'Saw the Museum of Comic Art by chance and gave them $6 to look at their small bits of loveliness.

'Then to dinner at a gorgeous place called Ame where we ate amazing amazing food, and learned about sake.

More tales of this place to come...

Onward.

I'm here... Rhyme along...

Flew into San Fran about two hours late (i.e. arrival at 1:30a.m. vs 11:30p.m.) 'Talked to guy named Carl who was going to watch his 40 year old son swim from Alcatraz to the coast. I like Carl.

My poor friend who was going to pick me up begged off, as it's about an hour & a half drive from his place to the airport. I took a cab to my other friend's place (he & his newlywed wife -- girlfriend of 7 years -- are currently in France, wine-tasting it up.. :) ) I'm now in their place, enjoying their King side bed & bits of the familiar (i.e. "this is so dave..." We don't really change much, do we... I'd like to hope & think we get better..)

Cab ride here was filled with more... well.. bullshit than need be. Friendly (and watched.. I try to be hella careful, watching each turn of the GPS unit in the car, keeping my cell phone close -- my dad was a police science teacher...) car chatter turned into much more boundary pushing than I'm comfortable with... I can laugh off a lot, and he would stop pushing those boundaries when I'd say no, but would quickly start up again. Goddamnit. It was honestly fine, just stupid and unneeded at 1:30 in the morning from the guy I'm depending on to take me to my friend's house (which is actually in the Twin Peaks area). I got out a bit disturbed, angry, perplexed, and unsure how I felt that the cab ride only cost me $60 (I had been told $150 by a friend) ...besides, well, jesus, thank god that only cost me $60. Which made me angry too!

Drowning my disturbances in Fat Tire & Tater tots, until I can relax enough to sleep.

Challenge #1 for tomorrow: jogging thru this area for fun!... It may kill me. Them some hills.

Challenge #2 for tomorrow: how the hell to get out of this neighborhood. Teee. (my friend did leave me the # for the Yellow Cab)

I'm on my own for most of the day tomorrow, it sounds like. May try to ditch my bags and spook around.

Onward.

What's more indulgent than a blog?

Why, finding out that you can have other people read "the highlights" of the Blogs you read!!

Jen's Shared Items

It's ridiculous, and fascinating to only myself, and those who like either Crafty/Indie Interior Design site or pictures of baby animals. (What's worse - - you can SUBSCRIBE to this site! I know you're excited... ;) Get ready, world!)

Tonight, I board a plane. Before I do this, I will probably stop home and unload about half of what I've packed. And maybe eat dinner.

Onward.

What else indeed...

Man.. Tuesdays and Wednesdays... but I am not going to get grumpy. Let the people in the next cube talk as loud as they like! Let someone come in demanding information in a loud "why doesn't everyone know this" tone! I don't dare care, cuz better things are a'comin'.. right? Right!

- Six Ring was lovely, albeit lonnng, last night. The evening started off with Happy Hour apps with Beth, which seem to make EVERYTHING better, immediately.

- I might have a beer or a margarita tonight. I am excited.

- I ate lunch today! Excitement!

- I got to run (6 songs) today - - bwaha! Last Sunday, I ran around the lake. Or rather, I was pulled around the lake. That's roughly 3 miles, according to the interweb. Well... holy hannah. That's new for me.

- I'm packing again. On the road blogs to follow.

This will be one of the last on the road sort of trips for a while, probably - - I've had a really really lucky and lovely run of traveling, but, barring one week long trip to Nebraska (ha!), it may cool a bit. However, I still may try to disappear in early September, when the Republicans shut down the museum... We'll see what the debt to money ratio is... What can you do?

Josh's blog is now on blogger, which makes me superhappy. Consider yourself Reader'd, Josh.

Onward. :)

Good friends are good to find...

Short day at the Museum (I'm workin' Mondays for a while) and a quick call to my friend Sue, who lives very close to the museum...

My friend Sue is a hero, a confidant, and someone who is damned good -- but to herself first. Awesome. Sue also is incredibly incredibly useful.

'Wanna know where a good (possibly divey) happy hour is? Ask Sue.

Looking for information on City Programs for helping with closing costs? Ask Sue.

Curious about Plumbing Code? Ask Sue.

Sue's also got a killer diller sense of humor, irony and generosity. Sue is also an aces thrift store shopper, and has usually been to any thrift place before you have (generally outpacing you by years.)

Today, Sue took me to Diggers.

#"@-*in Diggers.

I learned about Diggers in 1999, when the guitar player of the band I was playing in told me about it. Rob was a damn fine guitar player & songwriter, and lived in the rehearsal space (underneath a mattress warehouse in NE) and in his van.

I've attempted Diggers. Diggers is overwhelming, dirty & pushy. Going with Sue, however, was a joy.

How to go to Diggers:

* Go on a Monday. On Monday, the shoes aren't out. Every other day of the week, the shoes are out, and the Shoe Nazis (Sue's term) appear... pushy, and swiping shoes you've laid claim to, and then bartering the shoes amongst other Shoe Nazis. Shoe Nazis suck.

* Don't try stuff on (it gets you in trouble)

* Grab a cart. Give in.

Side notes:

* Wear gloves. There were a couple of pros, going through the crap with gloves on - - which is smart. Diggers is dirrrrty.

* Wash everything you purchase there, even the new stuff. (I know this seems obvious, but I am very lazy)

* Throw caution to the wind. Things at Diggers are priced by the pound. Like Sue says, "It's like gambling, except you always win!"

* Check out the books. HIlarious.

Afterwards, Sue & I met at Conga (in NE - - again, her suggestion), which has an amazingly brilliant Happy Hour, if you've never gone. My god! A full size burrito for $3.50 and 2-4-1s...yearghhh!!

She was then nice enough to come over to my house and tell me how nice it looked... Awww...

So, I recommend that you grab Sue (or your Sue-like person) and buy her/him some impromptu Happy Hour. The world, and life in general, will be better for it. Really lucky.

And that was my adventurous afternoon. However, my lawn needs some love and soon (meant to do it today.. Ah well).

Welcome to almost-Tuesday!

Onward.