So today was characterized by laziness and sloth. At least for the first half of the morning. The afternoon was slightly more active. I sent my information off to the camp I'm teaching next week. I had to overnight it because I couldn't get to a post office until now. Luckily for me there was a FedEx right next to Starbucks ^_^ Then I went to Borders to get a journal for the next 3 months of my training. I found a few cool ideas from exercise books but didn't find a good journal. Office Max did have a few good notebooks so I got one of those. I had to go to the back too to cash a check but alas, I forgot it at home =/
My sister called and asked me to find a good place to eat tonight for dinner. I found a cool looking Thai Restaurant called Sak's Thai Cuisine. We decided to give it a try. The place itself is amazingly beautiful and they decorated it really well. Very professional and classy. The host and the servers were so nice and friendly. They kept asking us if everything was good and LOVED hearing comments about the food. At one point the woman came and poured water and stared at my sister with a big smile on her face. Carrie finally said Oh it's so good! And the woman was like Oh great! I'm glad you like it! and left haha.
Come! Meet the Family!
For dinner we started with Tofu Satay and Veggie/Avocado spring rolls. Yum! For dinner we shared Coconut rice and Pad Thai. It was the best food I'd ever had! It was so flavorful and full of strong ingredients. They did such a great job. The Thai Iced Tea was delicious too! The two ladies there talked to us for a long time too. The hostess co-owned the restaurant with her husband who was the chef. The older woman server was the chef's Aunt. At the end my sister wanted to say goodbye to the owner so we went to the kitchen doors and they threw them open and invited us in and introduced us to all their family! It was so funny and entertaining.
Now here's the real kicker... The Aunt looks at me and says, "You are cute. You single? How old are you?" I told her and she's like "Oh, maybe too young." Then continued to tell me about her cousin who's only 4' 11" and also 35 years old. hahaha. That was awkward. After I wittily got out of that, we went home and enjoyed our food coma.
Woke up nice and early to catch my 7am flight from Las Vegas back to Rochester. Chris drove me to the airport and we said our goodbyes. I was totally freaked out when I went to the JetBlue counter because I gave them my name and the time of the flight and the guy's like, "I don't see you here. You don't have a flight today." Naturally, I said "WhAAAAAH?" in my head but told him where I was going and he finally found me. Whew! Got through security in time to get some yummy breakfast. Goodbye Las Vegas!
Ugly JFK
A few hours later I made it to my connection at JFK. I've said it once and I'll say it again... I hate JFK airport. Ugh. So ugly! Anyway, I had a longer layover then I expected...about 2 hours. So I went to the eatery area and got a slice of cheese pizza and water for a whopping $6. Nasty. I sat down and was on my computer for the whole time. Found out that a few of my friends from different friend groups knew each other and was kinda skeezed out by that but I got over it haha. The internet was oddly slow too. Some freako business guy next to me kept talk to people around him about useless stuff and was trying to sound important. He was annoying this one girl but he didn't seem to care lol.
The ride up to Rochester was kind of amusing...sort of. So our plane got in at the time we were supposed to be taking off. By the time we boarded and were ready to take off it was 30 minutes later. Then we queued up in line to take off when I saw us make a turn and we started heading straight towards another airplane that was facing us! WTF was the sentiment that came to mind. We stopped and the pilot says, "So there's a lot of traffic headed towards Rochester so we're getting a new flight path. Don't know how long this will take but we'll keep you posted." Ugh. So we waited there for another 30 minutes until he comes back on the speaker and says we can head out.
JetBlue TV's!
We get up in the air and the flight attendants prove a few times that they aren't the brightest crayons in the box. When we get up to our highest elevation the seatbelt sign turns off and the attendant says, "The captain has turned off the fasten seatbelt sign and it is now safe to move around the cabin." As soon as they say that the whole plane starts having major turbulence and everyone is shaking back and forth. Half the cabin starts laughing because we were just told it was safe but alas, not so much =P
I arrive in Rochester and my sister picked me up. We went back to her place and just hung out the rest of the night. Traveling took the whole day because of the time difference. Blah. At least I get to chill tomorrow.
Woke up at a decent time and Chris and I decided to stay in for the majority of the day because it was so freaking hot. He had the option of going to the pool at the MGM with his Le Reve friends but we both agreed that Sun = Way too hot. So instead, we played Scrabble! Wow, it has been so long since I've played! We played a really good game. Used all the letters. Mama would be proud. Check out our board above.
Docta's
Afterwards Chris had an appointment at the Ear, Nose and Throat doctor. Apparently the dumbass (I kid I kid) slammed his knee into his nose when he was a kid and has a deviated septum. He's been having breathing issues so he was hopefully going to be seeing his x-ray things today. When he was FINALLY called in I got to go in with him and hang out until the doctor came. As we sat there we noticed a very long tube thing. The nurse came in and informed us that it was a nasal probe that they were going to use to look in Chris' nose. This was horrifying to both of us (him more so I assume). They said I could stay in there but as soon as the doctor came in I promptly got up and said "Goodbye!" Chris came out a little bit afterwords with a numb nose and some emotional scarring. Poor guy.
Preparing for the Nostral Rape
Chris wanted to take me to see Kung Fu Panda because he is kind of obsessed with it at the moment. =P But before we went we got smoothies at Tropical Smoothie Cafe. We shared two of them and they were soooo freaking good. Vegas certainly does have some enjoyable things.
The Thing That Went Up His Nose .. *Shudder*
Went to the movie theater and saw Kung Fu Panda! It was really cute and I liked it a lot. Apparently, Chris had seen it two times before and giggled like a little girl ^_^ Unfortunately for me, I did not hear the sweet laughter of a small child but I giggled enough to make up for it. I recommend seeing it for sure.
I *Heart* Food
After the movie we booked it over to Mileena's place for a pool party/BBQ that was going on with some Le Reve people. It was a nice place and there were quite a few people there including some performers, riggers and costume people. I met this one lady who just got hired by Blue Man Group as head of costuming! Good for her yah! We basically talked a lot to the different people and played with Mileena's AMAZING dogs =) We meandered over to the sitting area after a bit and played a new card game that I hadn't played before. I watched them play then teamed up with Mileena's boyfriend for a game while Chris went for a swim. We kicked some ass! haha. That was a fun time and everyone was really nice. We left for home soon after.
Chris and Mileena's Super Cute Dog!
So as it ends up this was my last day in Las Vegas. I was supposed to have a contortion lesson with Otgo tomorrow and hang out all day with my friend Stephen who was visiting from Los Angeles. BUT, I'm kind of dense and accidently booked my flight for Wednesday instead of Thursday. So I had to cancel my lesson and not hang out with Stephen =( Major sad times. Thank God JetBlue sent me an email telling me about my flight tomorrow or I totally would have missed it and that would have sucked =P
It's weird because while I don't like Vegas, I always tend to have a good time and I feel sad leaving it. It's probably just all the cool people I meet and hang out with ^_^
Please God, Let This Place Exist on the East Coast
After sleeping off the excitement of Zumanity, I woke up and spent the morning/afternoon with Chris before he had to go to work. We decided to go see The Dark Knight in the afternoon. I wanted to see it again and he hadn't yet so I really wanted him to see it. Before we went he brought me to this place called Yogurtland which he was really excited to take me to. It was a self serve frozen yogurt place that had tons of crazy flavors! I got a mix of mango and green tea! Chris got mango and taro. And they also had all kinds of crazy toppings you could put on it. Way yum.
View From Chris' Community
According to tradition (so sayeth Chris) we had to sneak the frozen yogurt into the movie theater haha. It was fun =) Also, the movie place we went to was called "Rave Theaters" and they were the most immaculate, modern, gorgeous theaters I had ever seen! It was nice to watch The Dark Knight again because the pacing of the whole film felt better.
Winding Sidewalk
After that Chris brought me back to his place and he headed off to work. I sat there for a bit doing not much of anything and then I got really hungry! Luckily for me, Chris lives down the road from a nice shopping center. I walked down in the stupid heat and found a Mexican place called Bajio. It's kind of like a Moe's or Chipotle and it was very good! For only $6 I got a huge burrito and rice and beans on the side. Good bargain! I had a bit of food coma after that but wandered down to Hollywood Video to pick up some movies for us tonight.
Bajio Burrrrrrrito!
I looked around for things and picked up the movie Amelie because Chris hadn't seen it yet and he loves French culture and I knew he'd fall in love with it. (If you're reading this and you haven't seen that movie you should. The end). I looked around for another movie for me to watch while he was away and I found the film Hard Candy with Ellen Page. I had been meaning to see that for a while so I thought why not. I also came across the DVD of all the music videos Michel Gondry had done. He did a lot of Bjork's videos as well as the White Stripes and Daft Punk (Around the World). He's kind of a genius. While I was looking for movies these two teenage girls girls were next to me and I heard the following conversation:
Girl 1: OMG let's get a Cheech and Chong movie!
Girl 2: Cheech and Chong?
Girl 1: What? You don't like Cheech and Chong?
Girl 2: Do I LOOK like I like Cheech and Chong?
If you had seen the white pretty girls they were it would have been funnier =P Damn, I should have taken a picture haha oh well. When I got to the counter I had to open a new account and the guy there totally started asking me all kinds of questions because I wasn't from there. I found out that he was a musician and he was asking me about stage fright and stuff. Kinda funny and kinda held up the line =P But he was nice anyway.
Bajio Has Fun Pictures and Hanging Lanterns
Got home and watched Hard Candy. Wow. It was kinda fucked up and cool at the same time. I used to think of castration on when I thought of Monika but now I will remember this movie too. UGH! It makes me hurt talking about it right now! >< After that interesting film, I watch the first half of Michel Gondry's music videos. They were fascinating. I found out by watching a lot of his stuff all at once that:
a) He loves symmetry
b) He uses long panning shots without editing
c) He likes repetition
My favorite new video of his was Let Forever Be by the Chemical Brothers. I posted it below so you can all enjoy it =) Chris got home later and we started watching Amelie. He loved it! But we had to go to bed before we finished it because we were both nodding off. So tomorrow we shall finish it for sure. I also got to meet his roommate Richard who came home around midnight. Apparently a family friend, he's a quiet guy who stays to himself and Chris says he barely ever sees him. Luckily though he's moving out at the end of the month and some of Chris' friends are moving into his place. It won't be so quiet and lonely for him then. Yay roommates!
So the majority of my day was pretty lack luster. Chris had his audition for Circus McGurkus at 11am then had to go to work straight after. I stayed at his place all day and relaxed. Watched some movies, ate, meditated, read and played some WoW, of course. When Rain was done with her audition for McGurkus she gave me a call and told me that they got 6th row seats for Zumanity tonight at 10:30 for only $70! I was very happy. ^_^
They came and picked me up at Chris' place early so we could go to this yummy looking Thai restaurant that I found online. It took us a while to find it because it was in this huge plaza full of really weird places like wig shops, asian restaurants and markets and "The Green Door" (google that and be amazed haha). We were all kinda freaked out that the Green Door was in the same plaza as our Thai food but we got over it =P
Rain Trying to Replicate a Trick in Zumanity
Our food took quite a while to get so we had to book it over to the New York New York Hotel to pick up our tickets. And not a moment too soon! PS> The NY NY Hotel is kinda terrible and outdated, please don't ever stay there if you go to Vegas. So we made it into the show and there was a guy in a black trench coat from the show standing at the entrance. I walked by him and we both looked at each other and I thought "You know, he looks like that guy Brandon I've talked to on myspace and is friends with other people I know." But I let it go and moved on.
We had amazing seats! I loved them! The "clowns" who were a 1950's dressed couple were HILARIOUS! I loved the show right from the start. The host was a pretty good drag queen and had a lot of fun with the audience. The beginning was some deep thumping techno music and crazy dancing! Basically all the girls were topless the whole show. The "water bowl" contortion act was the first actual act of the show. I was so excited to see it but alas! Something was wrong! The hand balancer I had met at the McGurkus auditions was doing the water bowl act with the Russian looking chick! It was supposed to be two girls doing it! BAH! It was very disappointing. The act was ok though, but not as good as it should have been.
My favorite act was a hand to hand/sport acro act between a guy and a contortion girl. They did so many contortion based tricks that I had never seen before. It was fascinating and fun. There was a cyr wheel act that was bondaged based. Another act was a woman all tied up in 4 leather straps on an interesting pulley system. She had a microphone so you could hear her moaning lol. The fabric act was supposed to have the small person Alan Silva in it but it was just a regular guy and girl. Needless to say it was soooo boring. The clown acts were top notch and hilarious. A lot of dancing and interesting stuff to say the least.
At the end of the show the host brought up these two elderly people who had been married for 35 years! She asked all sorts of questions and made them slow dance because they hadn't since they were married! It was really cute. THEN, when they introduced everyone and got to that guy who I thought I knew, BAM! It was him! haha He did the two guy tango where they kiss at the end after fighting over a chick. Hilarious. Overall it was an amazing show and I highly suggest that everyone go see it! Go! Go now! =D
Two Awesome Black Chicks in a Tiny Car Thing! They Liked Us ^_^
After the show Chris had been waiting for me so he came over and picked me up. We went home and I think we finished watching the Avatar season finale then went to bed. A boring start to the day but an amazing finish! Woot!
Woke up nice and early and spent the morning hanging around the house with Chris. I found a bottle of Korean BBQ sauce in his fridge that I had bought last time I was at his house (about a year ago). Gross! I made him throw it away lol. We ran some errands and I got some Starbucks yum! It's right down the street from him! Lucky bastard! haha We spent some time at the mall across the street from the Wynn and had fun at Teavanna, the coolest tea place ever with tons of yummy teas. They had this one tea that blossomed into a flower while brewing. Very pretty. Then we went forth to the Wynn to pick up Mileena, one of his friends from Le Reve so we could all go get Boba tea!
Chris and Mileena
Vegas is such an interesting place. They even have a little China town which is fun and different. That's where the bubble tea place was and it had all sorts of great tea. I got almond milk green bubble tea with fried tofu. I was still hungry so I got the tofu dinner which was different, but good. Mileena was super nice and it was great getting to talk to her.
Le Reve | Gambling | Pirates! | The Mirage
After that they both had to go to work so I was left alone at the Wynn. Rain and Joe were going to be in Vegas today so I had plans to hang out with them. While I waited for them to meet me at the Wynn I took a little walk around the inside of the hotel. Like the majority of Vegas, it was very beautiful but so unnecessary haha. I looked for this chocolate shop I had once bought these amazing dark chocolate truffles for Chris and I but alas! No longer there! Boo... No $4 truffles for me.
Rain and Joe!
Rain and Joe arrived and it was sooo nice to see them! We tried to find a bar at the Wynn to get some drinks and sit down but they were all full except for the really expensive one where we went in, sat down, ate some chips, read the menu then got up and left ^_^ We went over to Treasure Island and got some drinks there and caught up. Unfortunately they had to meet Joe's uncle for dinner so they had to leave me =( And that's when my crazy adventure started!
Paris Hotel | Caesar's Palace | Forum Shops at Caesar's Palace
I then proceeded to spend the next 4 hours wandering the strip. I went to Treasure Island, Caesar's Palace, The Venetian, The Palazzo, The Bellagio, The Wynn and the Mirage. That's a lot of freaking walking lol. I saw the fountain show in front of the Bellagio, the stupid animatronic show at Caesar's Palace and The Sirens of TI. The Sirens of TI was the worst thing I'd ever seen. It was basically an excuse to hire whores to dance on a pirate boat. God awful. But I guess that's why it was free lol. I went to all the expensive looking stores where I couldn't buy anything and looked around. Got some tasty gelato too right outside of the Wynn. Coconut yum!
Fountain Show at Bellagio
Then after all of that I still had like an hour and a half left! Oye! So I did the bum thing and fell asleep on a bench outside heh. It was right near a giant TV screen that kept playing the same iPod commercial over and over again. Ugh. It was about 30 minutes later that I went and saw the Sirens of TI show. And it took me about 30 minutes to get out of that line! It was so packed and I walked like a penguin for about 3 blocks. It was a total patience tester =P
Venetian Ceiling | Hookers | Venetian | Line After Sirens of TI
Then I went to the cafe in the Wynn right out side of Le Reve's theater to wait for Chris. I bought a $3.50 bottle of water so I could stay there. Wow. He finally got out of the show and we went home to watch the season finale of Avatar! I caught him up on everything that had happened and it was fun to watch it again. A fun day for sure!
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Sam Well - What What (In the Butt)
(I know this is old but still funny. Check out the South Park Episode that made fun of this too.)
My night was not filled with sweet dreams and restful brainwave patterns. Nay, twas ridden with random awakenings and feelings of anxiety about the audition. Yes, my good blog readers, I, Christopher Oakley, was extremely nervous about this audition. =P However, so was Richard.. and as I found out later so was Chris and Rain ^_^ So anyway, we woke up and caught a cab over to the gymnastics center by 9am. The cab guy was really funny. He said he had picked up a lady at the airport yesterday who was going to the same auditions. He kind of made us less nervous which was cool. Too bad we didn't have a lot of money to tip him with. =/
Thanks Chimge!
So we get there and everyone is warming up in the main room. We get our pictures taken and fill out some paper work then head in. There ends up only being around 15 acrobats being tested during this time period. We start talking with some of them and they're all pretty nice. There were the two Chinese brothers who did tube contortion on Celebrity Circus, a funny Russian guy who does these auditions so he can help other people do them, a Mongolian contortionist named Chimge, two stern Russian guys (one is the hand balancer in Zumanity), a dancer/tumbler from NYC, two American guys who do duo acro and fabric and the son of the guy who runs Sandou Studios in Las Vegas (the circus training place).
Denny's | The Road | My Hotel | View from Room
It was a pretty relaxed audition. We didn't start until an hour after we got there. Everyone was really friendly (except the two Russian guys... no personality). The judges were the acrobatic directors for the show, a big Russian guy and a small Russian lady (who I later found out are married and were in Le Reve). We did the strength test first which was pretty easy. Then we had an acrobatic test so you tumbled up to your ability. Then the speciality acts had to perform a little something (that's me). The two Chinese brothers did their thing, the hand balancer was amazing, then I did some contortion stuff, then Chimge went. After that they let all the specialty acts go because apparently we didn't have to sing or dance which was fine with me. They said they'd be in contact about call backs. They have a lot more people to audition so we'll see.
I Wish I Had a PC So I Could Play This lol
Luckily Chimge the contortionist lives in Las Vegas and had a car and she was gracious enough to give me a ride back to the hotel. We bonded about all things contortion and got along really well. She's such a sweet heart and we're both just looking for a stable job =P We knew a lot of the same people which is always nice thing to talk about when you meet someone. She said he had been performing for over 25 years! Wow! She said she just couldn't imagine giving it up and taking up a desk job. Oh Chimge, I know exactly how you feel =)
It's...So...F*ing...Hot...Here...O...M...G...
Once I got back I was exhausted and HUNGRY! I took a shower then bolted it to Denny's across the street. Had a nice double boca burger and relaxed. Then I walked to Big Lots and got some epsom salts for my back... it was a little sore after doing contortion for the audition. Then I went back to the hotel and soaked for a while. I then fell asleep on the bed only to be awoken by Richard coming in with one of the guys from the audition... It was a little awkward for a second but the guy just needed to take a shower, I guess lol. We hung out the rest of the night until Chris came and picked me up after his show around midnight. It was nice to see him again and we went to his place and crashed because we were both exhausted.
The End
^_^
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Duo S'sens - Duo Trapeze
I don't know if I love it but it has some cool stuff.
Thanks to everyone who sent me happy birthday wishes!
Richard Checking In to Our Hotel
Woke up nice and early once again so I could catch my plane to Las Vegas. Said goodbye to Dwoira and made my way to the Muni. Happily for me, I made it to every part of my transportation on time. The airplane ride was pretty easy. I was so tired though that I kept nodding on and off. It took forever for the plane to leave San Francisco but it was hard for me to tell since I was asleep. I couldn't wait to lay down in a bed and take a nap!
Linda and Other Lady: Crazy Holiday Inn Express Ladies
When I got to Las Vegas I met up with Richard! It was really great to see him there and I was happy to be with someone I knew. We tried to figure out if we could get a shuttle to our hotel but apparently it's so remote that we had to take a cab. The driver didn't know how to get there so we had to guide him lol. It cost us $40 to get there! We feel we were ripped off =/ But whatever, we were there.
Awesome Cowboy Kids Room
When we checked into our hotel we were greeted with some very interesting characters. The two ladies (one in particular named Linda) were very talkative with us. I have a feeling that's probably normal for Richard because he's the same kind of person. Anyway, they were joking with us back and forth. She asked us if we wanted to keep the king sized bed or if we wanted two twins. We're both like, uh twins please and she said, "Well you never know!" And of course Richard had to make it worse by saying, "Oh no, we broke up months ago." Dear lord, I could have killed him. haha. Then she asked us if we wanted the Kids Suite because it had more room for the same price. It came with a bunk bed and a king sized bed. We agreed because it seemed kinda crazy. Richard also mentioned to everyone we met that it was my birthday...trying to get a discount haha. Linda gave me a hug instead =P
My Birthday Cake from the Hotel!
We went up to the room and OMG it was amazing. The whole kids section was cowboy themed. See the pictures I took to comprehend the awesomeness. I totally crashed on the bed and checked my email on their free wireless (woot). I had many emails from facebook because everyone was saying happy birthday to me. Richard spent the majority of his time talking to or trying to talk to Kirk. haha Just like the good ole' times. I also called and talked with a lot of people. I was oddly busy when I arrived at the hotel =/
Chipotle: My Birthday Dinner
I was going to meet my friend Chris today too but we ended up not being able to because he had stuff to do for his show (Le Reve). Richard and I went downstairs to the hotel's free "picnic" thing that had pulled pork sandwiches, macaroni salad, potato salad and chips and salsa. Not great but hey, it was free. Then to my surprise Linda from the front desk brought out a cake with my name on it! She also gave me a card that was signed by the staff! Isn't that crazy? Who know hotels would do that? haha. The cake was rather large and everyone in the lobby was eyeing it so I offered it up to everyone and thankfully they all helped me eat it ^_^
Richard Playing the Slots!
The rest of the night was pretty relaxed. Richard and I worked on our stuff for the McGurkus audition tomorrow. I realized that I needed blank CDs so we walked to Target which was much farther away then we realized. It was hotter then anything I'd ever felt before! It was almost 10 at night and I felt like I was in a sauna being hugged by a heated blanket. Gross =( On our way back to stopped at Chipotle for my birthday dinner. Then we took a shortcut through the Sunset Station casino. Richard and I shared a dollar and played the slot machine. We didn't win anything but every time I've been in Vegas I've played the slot machine once. We crashed around eleven...I was freaking exhausted! Not to mention, I was extremely anxious about the audition tomorrow morning...oh boy!
Woke up with Dwoira feeling really nice after sleeping off all that traveling! She was going to be going to cardio at the circus center in the morning but decided she'd rather sit at a cafe with me ^_^ It was so nice to do that! We basically walked down the street one block and we were at this wonderful place called Cafe du Soleil. Really nice place with great tea and pastry stuff. We sat outside and it was absolutely gorgeous out. San Francisco had some really nice weather when I was there. I like the slight chill it always has, makes me feel good =) It was so amazing to be that close to a cafe and just hang out with a friend. Arg, makes me want to live in a city so badly. I'm so sick of driving everywhere... =/
Fun Times at the Cafe du Soleil!
After spending about an hour or so there we walked to the circus center but took some detours along the way. We went into this cool natural foods place where the guy running the store had this awesome Indian accent and said all these stereotypical Indian convenience store lines... I was amused. As we were in there some crazy black chick with a boom box on her shoulder blaring music went dancing by the store. I managed to take a picture of her. haha she was awesome!
Crazy Woman Dancing with Boombox
Got to see a lot of cool stores in the Haight and fell in love with a lot of the places. They were all so unique and interesting. I know that if I moved there, they'd get old fast but still, there are so many things to do! Saw a cool pair of legs sticking out of a window and there was a ton of interesting graffiti everywhere.
Sexy Window Legs
Made it to the circus center at last and it was already pretty busy. I decided to stretch on my own in the morning instead of waiting for Serchmaa's contortion class later in the day. This way I didn't get pushed too far, I had just started stretching again so I thought this was best. I once again warmed up really well and felt good stretching! Yay! Then I went with Dwoira and her friend and worked on some trapeze stuff. I didn't do a whole lot but it was still more than I had done in a while.
Funny Graffiti on the Sidewalk
As it got into the early afternoon I met some more of Dwoira's friends which included Christopher, Elliott and others. I then followed Elliott up to the advanced Mongolian contortion class to see if Serchmaa would let me watch the class and not participate in it (I was done stretching by then). There were only four people in the advanced contortion class so it was nice and intimate.
Outside of the Circus Center
Serchmaa was so nice! She let me stay and watch the class. They started with some pretty painful leg stretches then moved into back stuff. The class is two hours long and she had promised them they'd do more back stuff today so they did around an hour and fifteen minutes worth! That's a lot of back! She didn't really stretch their backs until the end of the class but she did have them working on a lot of skills. They were mainly working on pushups into handstand and handstands themselves.
Serchmaa Helping Lance with Hanstand Push Ups
Very interesting to see her teach. I love the fact that they don't explain a whole lot because it simplifies it. I think people ask too many questions sometimes and try to "figure" acrobatic stuff out like there is some kind of secret. I agree that there is technique involved but I feel like asking so many questions is just them trying to get out of practicing it =P But that's just my feelings on the subject... heh.
Serchmaa Spotting Some Tricks
Once everyone left after class I was able to talk with Serchmaa about a variety of things. She was very knowledgeable and helpful. I feel like I could learn so much from her. I gave her an idea of where my skills are at and she gave me an idea of what she could help me with. We knew a lot of the same people so that's always a nice ice breaker with someone. She was genuinely sweet and fun. We talked about all sorts of contortion stuff which was fun ^_^
Me with Crooked Glasses
After that Dwoira was still in her lesson so I wandered out onto the streets of San Francisco to find that Starbucks I had seen. Luckily I had gotten lost on the Muni on my way to the Circus Center or else I wouldn't have known where lots of stuff was in the area =) I went there only to be disappointed by the fact that they didn't have their own wireless internet. Boo! I walked up the street a bit and walked into Cafe Gratitude, a raw foods restaurant that Dwoira had talked about going to. I was looking at the menu outside and this chick came out and said, "You hungry? You should come in and eat here! It's great!" I told her I was going to be coming back with friends later so she agreed to let me go lol. Strange and fun times!
Dwoira, *enter name here*, Marina, Michael, Elliott at Cafe Gratitude
Went back to the Circus Center where Dwoira was just finishing up her lesson. Called Marina and she said she'd be there at 5pm to meet us for dinner with Michael, her ex. Then that time came around and she came and I was so excited!!! I gave Marina the biggest hug EVER and the biggest kiss too! We were so happy to see each other. So after all the merriment we went down to the car where I finally got to meet Michael. We all went to Cafe Gratitude and we were all so excited about the food and friends and everything!
Michael's Awesome Warehouse!
The experience at Cafe Gratitude was sooo amazing! The food has cool names like "I am Grateful" and "I am Lucky". Things like that. Very nice. A little expensive but that's to be expected with organic raw foods. I had a watermelon juice with cilantro and mint then I had a "I am Mahalo" which was a pineapple pizza thing. So good! Then we all got something for dessert and shared them. They told them it was my birthday (it will be tomorrow) so they came out singing with the desserts with a candle in some raw ice cream! It was so nice! And that chick that had hassled me before came over and was so excited I had brought all these people. It is a very community oriented restaurant and I wish I could eat there everyday. There are a few in San Francisco so check it out if you go!
After the awesome Cafe Gratitude, we all went over to Michael's warehouse where he lives. He was super nice and took me on a little tour of downtown San Francisco. It was so fun hanging out with Dwoira, Marina and Michael. His warehouse was the coolest thing ever. He built it with a friend and it looks like an adult tree house inside. There was even a toilet precariously sitting on the edge near the common area. Funny!
Heron's Head
We then went for a walk at Heron's Head. A nice little walk out into the bay area. It was getting cold and lovely outside. It smelled like the ocean and I was in love. It was one of those really special moments walking with the three of them and just talking. Behind us was a beautiful view of the setting sun and the glowing city. We went to the end of the walk and just sat there huddled together from the cold. It was a highlight of my trip for sure. It was kind of a deciding factor for me loving San Francisco. It was almost equal to that time I was in China looking outside of my hotel window (you might know about this if you know me well).
The Threesome!
Then we went back to Dwoira's place and I slept. Have to get up early tomorrow to hop on the transport systems to the airport! Vegas here I come!
