Where is your towel

I never go anywhere without my towel!

I finally saw Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy yesterday. And I borrowed a towel to take with me. They're right. It was handy as a pillow when Angie's neck got sore, and worked as a blanket when I got cold.

I wanted to see it badly after I heard it reviewed as having a "completely nonsensical plot." That clinched it. Sounded like they'd followed the book for a change. And then some tourmates of mine brought in a news clipping with actors' pictures. And it was the entire minor cast of Love Actually.

It was brilliant. I loved it. They had the sperm whale and the pot of petunias. And Alan Rickman played Marvin the manic depressive robot. No one else could do it and not make you want to kill yourself. The special effects were good enough, but not spectacular until the creation of the worlds sequence. Amazing. And it was funny that they used a lightsaber sound effect in one scene and had to credit Lucasfilms.

Well done, and room for a sequel.

San Francisco

San Francisco...the place where people pee at random on the side of buildings.

I actually saw that yesterday. We were walking through the financial district and looked over and there was some guy taking care of business on the side of the Bank of America. Now, As much as I think that, as far as BofA is concerned, well done!, it was a little gross.

So, twelve of us spent our day off in San Francisco yesterday. We rode the Bart from Pleasanton and then all split off in Union Square. Lots of window shopping to do there, but FAO Schwartz left. That was disappointing. We followed my AAA guide (courtesy of my homestay)on a 4-6 hour walking tour of downtown. We veered off through the financial disctrict, saw the original Wells Fargo bank and museum. Nice stagecoach. Then we went through Chinatown and lost our two Chinese members of the team to dim sum. The rest of us skipped Coit tower and headed through Little Italy. There were some good smells wafting from every direction, and it was about lunchtime. But we opted to head to the waterfront. That's where it got messy and frustrating. Seven people take bloody forever to decide where to eat, and of course, we ended up back at the first place. Aargh. But one our blood sugar rose we weren't quite as grumpy.

Pier 39 was next in order. We shopped around and watched a street performer. He wasn't the best magician ever, but he was a great performer. He interacted with the audience, brought volunteers up from the crowd. And he knew how to pick them. One of his assistants was a 6 year old girl with long pigtails. What a cutie. Then we went to see the sea lions, took some pictures, and met up with our Chinatown party.

Ghiardelli Square was next in line. I bought some chocolate. Then we all went into Sharper Image for a free chair massage. That gave us the strength for the next phase. Next on the to do list was Lomard Street, but we skipped over it because Aaron had wanted for ages to find the park that was the opening scene for the Full House credits. He found the name of the park on a postcard in Chinatown, so Alamo Square was next. 29 blocks south and 8 blocks east of Ghiardelli. And we went. It was a perfect day. Sunny with some clouds and a little breeze, so instead of taking a smelly bus, we walked. And found the park after a long time, and all picked characters from the montage to take a picture in front of the Victorian row houses.

From there it was only another 12 blocks total to the Height and Ashbury district -- the hippie part of town. And Austen wanted to see that. So we walked past shops full of henna and hemp clothing and pipes. The guys were able to tell us that SOMEBODY in there was smoking weed. We ate dinner in an Arabic restaurant, sitting cross legged on cusioned benches around low tables. I ate mostly with my fingers because "it's really so much better if you eat with your hands."

We ended our day by taking a bus back to Union Square. Then we missed our train by 1 minute, but caught the next one. During the wait we counted blocks and realised we'd walked about 8 1/2 miles that day.

I sure was ready for bed!

Applications

Applications

I'm in the process of filling out an 8 page application. They emailed it to me a while ago, but it went to junk mail and I didn't catch it. So here I am writing two essays and filling out pages and pages of personal information. One whole page says "Answer the following doctrinal questions. Do not use your Bible." Almost done.

Hot tubs and orange blossoms

Hot Tubs and Orange Blossoms

Yesterday we drove from the east side of the bay to Exeter, halfway between Fresno and Bakersfield. As soon as we arrived at the church, our homestays combined forces and treated half of us to dinner at Baker's Square. The drive over was disorienting. I've noticed it before, but the eastern half of California looks a lot like Oklahoma, minus the palm trees and orange groves. But down here there's cotton and tomatoes, oranges, walnuts, strawberries, and almonds. Little squat brick houses, and mom and pop stores. The biggest excitement in three towns is to go ride the escalator at Gottschalks.

Last night Vanessa and I spent an hour and a half in the hot tub, smelling 30 acres of orange blossoms wafting on the breeze. What a wonderful smell.

And yesterday I got nostalgic for home. For dark cozy winters where the sun sets before 4 and there's nothing to do but cook soup and read. And ski. For late spring where the days lengthen, and snow crocus, tulips and daffodils pop up just in time for Easter pictures. The rare rainy days where you can smell the mountains, 45 miles away for the first half hour after sunrise. And the summer days, where the sun rises at 4 and sets after 10. Blazing hot days and chilly nights once the sun sets. Fresh corn on the cob, as much as you can eat from the farmers market. And crisp fall days. Where it's cold enough at night to change the colors of the leaves. And I'm going home!

Fremont

Pressing on Towards the Goal to Win the Prize

We're in Fremont, CA. As near as I can tell without actually consulting a map we're somewhere near Sacramento -- within two hours. Tomorrow we'll be in Exeter, which is between Fresno and Bakersfield. Then Sacramento, Los Altos, Walnut Creek and Watsonville. And then we'll be done. Six shows left.

I haven't coined a term for week two. Last week was Nostalgia Week. This week is spent looking ahead to the finish line. We're down to single digits. One more food order. Tasha is making a list of roommates so that everyone gets to stay with everyone at least once, except for the guys.

It looks like I have a job for the next year. I put my requests on the table and prayed. I learned my lesson about planning, and told God I'd do whatever, but here were some things I'd kind of like. And he answered all of them. I've decided that God will answer any request you bring as long as you aren't too picky about how he brings it about. For example: one time I prayed that sometime I'd get to live above a shop downtown in a city. I didn't specify which city. And now I get to. In downtown Yakima.

I spent last night and this morning patching my jeans again. I think they'll hold it together for another 13 days...

Pismo Beach

We've got three days off..

We had a four day run, ending with a difficult show. Out stage left blue light went out, which is the only lighting for the scenes with the Ichaw bird. So all of the possession scenes were done in the dark. One actor forgot to put his mic on, and as a result of a backstage consultation about changing blocking to the lit side of the stage, entrances were missed. It was a very responsive audience. They laughed at things no other audience has laughed at. Even the crash scene...When Jo realizes that she prayed for it. And speaking of which, it was an especially bloody crash this time. I found fake blood clots on the back of my neck after the show. And I got blood all over two other people. Since I'm on the floor, they really can't see it on me, so if I get it on other people, maybe they'll notice...

Arroyo Grande

Arroyo Grande

Today we drive to Arroyo Grande to do a show. We'll be back to Paso tomorrow for a second show. I'm still chopping copious amounts of raw chicken. My best guess puts us with nearly enough chicken for the rest of tour. And the food order came yesterday and left the food without my signing the invoice. And they substituted liquid creamer bubbles for powdered creamer packets. Which I now have to return. And the mugs they sent us are twice as big as will fit in our tupperware bins. What I wouldn't give for a -- well at this rate -- an abnormal order. Since normal means something gone awry.

Last night the *real* Doming came to the show. He is currently translating the Old Testament into Balangao. He stood up and gave a speech in Balangao -- of which I understood at least one word, and maybe two -- about how much it meant to his people to have a Bible in there language, and to keep praying because there are other tribal groups that need to be released from darkness. It's strange performing here. A lot of my lines are letters that Jo writes to her home church, which in this case, is truly our audience. And Tasha changed her speech from "when Joann's church began to pray" to "when you all began to pray." Neat stuff. And when I address "Jo's church" with "The victories we've had here thanks to your prayers..." It's really and truly them out there.

And my time is nearly up on this computer.

It's finally happened

It's Finally Happened

My dad used to tell me stories of being in the pit playing for musicals. The orchestra was so accustomed to the show, they would balance their checkbooks, bring things to do, and somehow never miss a cue.

Last night I did my weekly spending report at the makeup cart.

Paso Robles

Paso Robles

I'm in Paso. We drove up yesterday. I got to co-pilot for Austen for a change, and he seemed to want some quiet time on the drive, so I quilted and sang a little to amuse myself. Softly.

Today we begin a four show run. And our food order is coming in. It was supposed to show up yesterday, but got sent to Bakersfield. We haven't had a routine order in quite some time.

Copeland in Concert

House of Blues

Yesterday we drove to Anaheim to see four bands in concert at the House of Blues in Downtown Disney. Lovedrug and Copeland were playing with Acceptance and Eager Seas. Eager Seas opened. They're new. They stood up at the end of their set and said, "Our stuff is out there with the rest of them. We're new. We're poor."

Lovedrug was second. I really liked them. A lot. They looked smart -- all in jeans, brown dress shirts and ties. Even their movements were coordinated (but not choreographed), and the lead singer switched back from guitar to keyboard. They played a lot of songs I knew from listening to CD's while co-piloting -- even my two favorites.

Acceptance was good too. I'd like to get their CD. And find out if they are a Christian band or not. Aaron thinks that all four might have been, but only one was definite. But with a name like Acceptance, and lyrics like "you took the fall" it kind of sounded like it. Adam asked, "Was he singing about God or a girl." The question I ask about a LOT of praise and worship music. But that's another rant for another time. One audience member tried to crowd surf, but the bouncers got him right away. A guy from the band who appeared to have no purpose but sit with a laptop also surfed. He made it a little farther into the audience.

And finally Copeland. They were good. I thought I knew their songs better than that, but I didn't. They played the "fireflies in a jar" song, which I sang the line I knew with them. The crowd sang along the whole concert. I could see other people like me taking videos and pictures with their cameraphones. They didn't move as much as the other three bands, but I enjoyed watching it. Lovedrug was my favorite all night.