The ECAT Has Landed

10:26 am
Seattle, WA



18+ hours since Vegas, and we're all back at our houses in the U-District. The odometer reads at 3432 miles for the entire journey over 10 days.

WiFi access was more difficult to find than was expected. I certainly have a few posts that need to go up, which I will post tonight. Otherwise, know the team is safe and sound.

The path took us through 6 states (we just barely nicked the corner of Arizona) and through some messy traffic around Salt Lake City, where construction crews had closed a few lanes but were not seen working on them.

Besides any neck-pillow sleeping done in the car, our rest came when we stopped in La Grande, Oregon, at the empty house of a friend of mine. The plan had been to stay with Cydney and her roommates for the night, but their Spring-Break departures and our delayed departure resulted in ECAT occupying the empty house for a one-hour power nap before tightening our belts and pressing on.

Derek, Forest and I came up with a lean, mean, radio routine. Perhaps you'll hear it in a podcast someday.

Look for invisible posts to become visible tonight!

Road Back

10:05 am
Las Vegas, NV

Dear Reader,

We are about to head off on a long drive back. This trip has beyond words amazing thus far. We will have a safe trip back thru some scenic country side in Utah, Arizona, Oregon and Idaho. It will be long, but we are all seasoned road trippers now, so hopefully we will have no problems.

To everyone back home, we will see you soon. To anyone who stumbled across this blog who is not at our homes, we will have our final thoughts up in the next few days.

Thank you for reading,
Alexandra

Innocence and Corruption

12:41 pm
Green Valley, NV

[the wonderful implied photo of Derek]

Before we were rudely interrupted by Disneyland, ECAT was speaking with Greg Killingsworth. We had a marathon interview/talk with him, in which he spewed pearls of wisdom on all of us, which we happily accepted. He gave me some advice on the road to becoming a voice actor, something I've always been interested in, and I was happy to take it.

When the interview was over (after a number of false exits), we trotted back to the residence of Katy, our gracious host for a barbecue! After a quick stop at Ralphs for meat and mead (well... meat at least), we trotted down to her complex's courtyard, cooked up our wursts and chicken. After a delightful meal we relaxed in the hot tub for a bit before getting to bed to rest for our big day in the magical kingdom.

Tuesday morning, Jon got up early-but-not-too-early, got ready, piled in the ECAT-mobile, picked up the other half of the troupe, and then jaunted to the most magic place on earth (so I'm told). After paying for parking and being directed by some decidedly un-magical parking attendants, we piled on the tram and rolled up to the main gates where we were met by our agent from the inside who was cutting us a sweet deal on tickets (hey, we're poor).

We entered the park, got a locker, bla bla bla, then started the fun off with Disney(tm)'s Enchanted Tiki Room( tm) presented by Dole(tm) Pineapple(tm[c]). It was silly, but I enjoyed the campy side of the park as well as the genuinely spectacular and thrilling parts. After that we trooped to the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, which was a lot of fun, even though I'm informed that it used to be better (before the entire ride was centered around Jack Sparrow). Throughout the day, I was blown away by the skill and attention to detail that Disney's artists and engineers shows. It was really the small touches that made the park awesome.

Many many many rides later (I think Jon is posting a more exhaustive list), we were tired and ready for bed, so we made a not-quick-enough stop at the gift shop, then headed to our temporary homes.

The next day (this is Wednesday now), we woke up at a reasonable hour, hopped in ECAT-1, and set off for Vegas, baby. The trip was quite uneventful, but despite being five hours long, seemed short compared with what we'd done earlier in the trip. We caught a few glimpsed of the strip on our way into town. Our first stop was the house of Chelsea, next in the litne of gracious hosts. After we'd met her and her crew, she and the rest of us got in the USS ECAT and drove to the strip to experience the sheer opulence that only Las Vegas can give. My goodness, those buildings were big.

I have to say that my first impressions of the legendary town weren't overwhelmingly positive. Something about the town rubbed me the wrong way, and perhaps I'll be able to articulate it better later.

Today we have an interview with Michael Legg of Petroglyph, a game developer here in Vegas, which should be pretty interesting. Adieu for now.

A Most Magical Day!

11:49 am/pm
Orange, CA

Dear Reader,

Just wanted to say a quick hello. Yesterday we went to Disneyland, and it was everything I hoped it would be and more. I have been to Disneyland many times with my family, but this was the first time I went with just friends.

To sum up, I laughed, I cried tears of joy, and I bounced around the park like a kid in... well, like a kid in Disneyland.

Just to give you an example, when we first came into the park I was so excited to see the castle that I was on the phone with my Mom yelling "I am in front of the castle, I am in front of the castle!" and I was skipping and looking at all of the magic of Disneyland and I did not even notice that I was a few feet away from Christian Bale. Had I bounded a little further to the left I would have run right into him and his family. I got up to where Forest, Jon, and Derek were waiting and they were trying to discretly signal to me but I was so wrapped up in the wonders of Disneyland that I had no clue. It was not until he was walking away that I realized what they were telling me nd turned around.

Also, the Peter Pan was one of the longest lines that I waited for, but it was worth it. So much magic!

I will have more details about Monday and Tuesday later. We are about to leave for Las Vegas right now.

Talk to you soon,
Alexandra

Prelude to a Magic Land

9:12 am
Orange, CA

[Picture of Derek here]

Sorry about the updates lately not having pictures, we've been posting from computers other than our own.

Anyway, yesterday started off full force with us getting up nice and early to get ready for our interview with Mr. Charlie Rosene, a sports producer at the local NBC affiliate. Although at this point in my life, I'm not particularly interested in that type of work, and I've never followed professional sports, it was still fascinating to talk to someone on the production side. He was impressively laid back with his California beachy sunglasses, California beachy haircut, and California beachy attitude. We met him at the (evidently) famous Bill's Pancake House, where we enjoyed a top-notch breakfast, and some even top-notchier muffins. We then strolled down to Manhattan Beach for the interview. I had my first experience behind the camera, which I was pretty awesome at... except for the part where I left the camera running after I put it away... whoops. So, uh... if anyone wants to watch a half hour of a camera inside a dark backpack in a van near Manhattan Beach, I'm your guy.

After the interview, we went on a frantic search for Wi-fi so we could get directions. We ended up dropping in to the local public library hoping to use a computer, but on finding that you needed to have a library card to access the internet, we consulted the librarian. I've often wondered how people ever found anything out before google, and this librarian showed me how. He sported a wispy white haircut, suspenders, a pink buttonup shirt, a masonic ring and necklace, and bugs clipped to his cuffs and suspenders. He was the perfect librarian. He quickly looked through a book of maps, suggested a route, and we were on our way to interview Greg Killingsworth, co-founder of Killingsworth Presentations.

We arrived at his place of business with no complications, and a bit early. After meeting with Nigel, one of the marketing gurus, we sat down in the lobby, and waited for Mr. Killingsworth to finish up a high-powered business conference call. Once he was done, we started the interview which was easily the longest so far. Mr. Killingsworth was interesting becusause he is the first of our interviewees who has focused on the business side as well as the artistic side.

At this point we must hop on the road, so I'll fill in the details later. Off to Disneyland!

Easy Like Sunday Morning

Really Late
Orange, CA

Dear Reader,

I was the only one awake early on Sunday morning. There was miscommunication about what was happening, and when it was happening on Sunday. This led to the happy accident of alone time and a walk through the neighborhoods of Moorpark before the others were awake.

I used this time alone to look at the houses and the yards of pretty neighborhoods. Of course I looked at the trees and whatever wildlife happened to be around, I saw some birds and lots of bugs.

This time was also a great opportunity to talk to my Mom and Sarah Ruth on the phone. I commented to my Mom that there were a lot of potato bugs and ants on the sidewalk just walking around, and in reply she said, “it is probably because it is Sunday and they have the day off.” I loved it. I also had a great conversation with Sarah Ruth about everything under the sun and that made me happy as well. Going on this trip has been great for many reasons, and it has been nice to share aspects of it with my family and friends who are not here. When on the phone I get instant feed back. The blog is great for communication and I love that you are reading this now, but I have to admit it still feels weird to be writing these letter out to the world and not really know who is reading them or what they are thinking.

Once everyone got up, we headed to L.A. late in the day. We had an adventure disguised as being lost and eventually we decided to go shopping at H&M because Derek had never been there before and wanted some trendy clothes for cheap. The mall is never my destination of choice when traveling, but this trip is for all of us and it is good to try things that are not normally on the top of your list. I got a cool grey tank top and looked at all the bright new spring styles whiles the guys shopped for a considerable amount of time.

After the shopping we decided to catch a movie. And we caught a pretty great movie. We saw the movie 300 at the Grommans Chinese Theater. I must say for a hippie I enjoy violent movies much more than I should. I also love Spartans. The movie had a cool convention of a story being told by a bard like figure and I loved it. We engaged in a passionate discussion about what the movie meant afterwards and it was a great exercise in intellect. It made me think about some of the themes of the movie, but when it comes right down to it I still loved it, every blood covered, spear thrusting second of it… well not every second, some parts were silly, overall good movie though.

So I am almost all the way caught up now, but I need to go to bed now to get all of my rest for Disneyland tomorrow. I still need to catch up on an entry for today, Monday, but that will have to come later. I think that you have enough to read for now. When I blog again it will be about the interviews that happened today with Charlie Rosene and Greg Killingsworth. I will also have a Disneyland blog for tomorrow.

Looking forward to the castle,
Alexandra

Beer Shark Mice

12:50 am
Orange, CA


Dear Reader,

I faced a big fear on Saturday. That fear was David Koechner.

We had the opportunity on Saturday night to meet with the cast of Beer Shark Mice, an Improv troupe in L.A. We got to see their show and then they came up and met with us and gave us a window into their ideas of how to work as a team and advice that they feel is important for any kind of performer. Their group dynamic was amazing and we had a lot to learn from them. In addition to their work with Beer Shark Mice they all have regular acting work in L.A. You can read details in all of the Jon and Derek’s blogs.

The main thing I want to talk about is the fact that I had pre conceived ideas about David Koechner that could not have been further form the truth. His advice and passion was so raw that it kind of knocked me off my feet. I must make a confession, one that I was afraid to say before. I was behind the camera for this interview, and I volunteered to do so. The reason I chose to be behind the camera for this interview was because I was not sure how the guys from Beer Shark Mice (Especially Mr. Kechner) would be. This idea was so silly that I am embarrassed about it. However even though I am embarrassed I want to share it.

Sometimes when you see performers you judge them on their work. You equate work they have dome with their personality, and I am sure that at times those judgments are true. But they are not always true and this was proved to me on Saturday night. To who ever ends up reading this blog I want you to imagine a celebrity or famous personality that you know, one that you are not fond of, and then I want you to imagine some of the most profound and touching advice you have ever received coming from their mouth.

It can happen, and it did for me. All of the guys in Beer Shark Mice were amazing and genuine and I am so glad that we got the opportunity to meet with them and then got to talk to them one on one after the taped part of the interview. Lucky us!

Almost ready for bed,
Alexandra

Fred 62 and Getty

12:48 am
Orange, CA

Dear Reader,

We have had some really good food on this trip, some of it was stumbled upon and some of it, like In and Out Burger, we knew we would go to before we even left. Fred 62 however, was a pleasant surprise that was suggested by Paula. It was a funky little dinner with attitude. For example one of the T-Shirts that is a uniform for the servers says “Rehab is for Quitters” on the back of it, and “Fred 62” on the front. It was great!

I had an eggplant sandwich with yummy fries. I t was unlike anything I have had before, it had onions and fresh mozzarella and mixed greens.

After we ate we went to the Getty, another suggestion form Paula. It was a museum on a hill; we took a tram up to it. It The Getty overlooked L.A. and if it had not been so smoggy there would have been a great view of the ocean.

My two favorite parts of the Getty (there was a ton to see, and we only saw a bit) was the paintings in the pastel and watercolor room by Degas, and Lautrec, and the cactus garden. That’s right, I liked a cactus! In fact I liked many of them. I usually hate cacti, but I have expanded my horizons and I saw a beautiful cacti garden that I will never forget. I am having trouble uploading pictures but I will have some cacti fun on the blog soon.

Cacti can be cool,
Alexandra

Paula Rocks My Socks!

12:45 am
Orange, CA


Dear Reader,

On Saturday we met with Paula Donnelly in the afternoon. This was one of the people that I called to get an interview with, and she was so sweet about it. She has been by far one of the most pleasant people that I have ever worked with. I was so excited to meet her and she exceeded all of my expectations.

We got to her house and we were a little too early, to burn some time we went to some shops near by. One of the places we went was Out of the Closet, a thrift store about a block away from Paula’s. I bought a couple southing cds with nature sounds and harp music; I also bought some crazy huge ugly sunglasses that are glorious.

Paula called as we were walking back to her house and said she was ready for us whenever we were ready to go, it was perfect timing. The interview took place in her home and as soon as we entered I was tickled pink. She has a cute house with a pretty yard and a little garden. She took us into her back yard and we had our meeting under the beating sun for over an hour. By the end of the talk I had a bit of a sunburn, but it was worth it.

Of the interviews we had done up to that point, I think I related to Paula the most. She works for Cornerstone Theater, a theater based in L.A. that works with different communities to create original pieces and to adapt classics to pertain to the community. Paula’s position at Cornerstone is Institute Director. She is in charge of finding the communities; and the communication that takes place between the directors, writers and all of the logistical aspects of the community organization. An example of one of the issues she is working on her job right now is that the town where they are doing their summer project their was a hiccup on the housing for the actors and the staff while they stay there and work with the community to create the theater piece. So now she has to work out the housing and all of the logistics for the entire stay of the group.

One of the most valuable pieces of advice that I got from Paula’s interview is that if you have the luxury to chose, you should not be afraid to stay in a job if it doe not feel right to you. She also talked about feeling restless and needing to change jobs at certain points in her life. Paula said that she would make her choices of how and where change would occur for her based on location at times. It brought up a good point that I had not really considered, if you have a good job, but you do match the location you live in you will not be happy. For some people it means that they need to be close to their family, for some it means that they need to be some place sunny. The most important thing is to know yourself and how best you work. She also stressed the important of respectful human interactions no matter what the career and knowing that if you are not experiencing that you will want to think about your options for change because you deserve a positive working environment and for most people there is something else out there if they know to look for it.

And a quick endnote; when we left Paula’s we forgot to ask her to take a picture with us. We drove about a block away and then called her and asked if we could come back. She graciously said yes. After we got the picture she gave me a hug! She truly does have a wonderful personality and a great spirit; it was great to talk to her!

Hope you get a hug today!
Alexandra

Trees and Water

12:42 am
Orange, CA


Dear Reader,

This road trip has been a great opportunity to see some beautiful countryside. One of my favorite parts of doing so much driving is seeing all of the trees and rolling hills. I love trees! I love to look at them, to touch them, to hug them and to play under them in the shade.

I have lots of pictures of trees, of all kinds of trees. Tall trees, pretty trees, stumpy trees, wispy trees, and trees with flowers. I will have some pictures up on the blog in the next couple of days, but for now you can just close you eyes and imagine every type f tree you have seen and imagine it going by the window of a car really fast. Then imagine hugging a tall skinny tree on the side of the road in San Francisco, then touching a flower on a tree in the park, and then imagine lying down under a huge redwood in Oakland after having been in the car all day. If you can begin to imagine these things you will have an idea of some of the magic I have been experiencing.

I love trees!

We have had the chance to play in a park in Oakland, walk through a few parks in San Francisco and see a great many while on our travels. In addition to wonderful trees, we have had some great water experiences as well. In San Francisco there was a huge concrete type waterfall fountain that was a joy to play on. We had seen a little street fair market type thing while driving into San Fran and while trying to find our way back to it by foot, we walked out into this open area where there was a live music performer, the market we had been looking for, cool little shops, restaurants and the big water fountain fall thing. For those of you who know me, you know that I love waterfalls, and for being in a city this is about as close as it gets to waterfalls. It was a bright sun shinny day and it was perfect. We played on the waterfall thing and it was great. To top it off, after that we walked into China Town and had a great lunch. We finished our San Fran day with a trip to the pier. It was nice to see the bay from a different point of view. It was also great because we could see the park by the Golden Gate Bridge that we had visited the day before. Walking out to the end of the pier and looking at the boats and the islands was great. No matter what else, no matter what shops or how many tourists, I will always love the pier, any pier, as long as there is water at the end (or a tree) it is ok by me!

Later Dude,
Alexandra

Time To Catch Up

12:40 am
Orange, CA

Dear Reader,

It has been a while since we last spoke. To be honest I am discovering just how much I dislike the idea of blogging. But I want to keep you updated on my end of things so here is my attempt to catch up.

I will start by saying it is not my intention to go over every event of the day. If you are interested in excruciating detail I will do a slide show of the entire trip when I get back. What I plan on blogging about from here on out are the little moments that were special, awesome, funny, or otherwise noteworthy to me.

On Thursday we met Payton Carter, a special ed high school teacher and the founder of the hip-hop club at Oakland High School. First off I must say that this meeting was such a delightful surprise. It was our first meeting and I was nervous, I did not know what to expect and I was not sure how Payton would be on camera or how he would be with the questions we asked him. I had nothing to fear; he was an easygoing guy with great presence and inspiring experiences to share. Payton told us about how he did Teach for America and that was how he got placed in Oakland High School.

The most important thing I got from this interview was the fact that a teacher can be heavily involved in the arts and have a great positive impact on the youth they are working with no matter what the environment. In movies you see the young idealistic teacher coming into a school in the city and creating a groundbreaking program that changes lives. These situations seem unreal and contrived. Of course they exist but it was nice to meet a teacher who was doing a job that he loves, and is making a difference with out the drama of a made for TV movie and in a very down to earth way.

Our next interview was on Friday and it too was at Oakland High School. We met with Keith Williams, a.k.a K-Dub. He is an art teach and the founder of the Hood Games in Oakland. In this interview we got a look into the world of someone who combines his passion for art, skateboarding and community involvement into as many aspects of his life as possible. One of the main quotes that I really took to heart from him was that he was trying to get ever aspect of his life under one roof. This appealed to me because at times I feel like I am pulled in too many different directions and it is hard for me to combine all of the aspects of my life that I want to. Yet, after talking to him I feel that it is possible to do so. He has put together an amazing event in the Hood Games and on top of that he is a teacher, a working artist and a family man.

One of the other pieces of advice that he gave that really hit home with me was that you need to get out and get as many experiences as possible in order to be able to be a good teacher. I have always felt this way, but it is nice to have your feeling reaffirmed as well as some advice for how to get that experience. He said it was great that we were doing what we are doing on the road trip and to go beyond that and to really challenge ourselves to be outside of our comfort zone and try to get an idea of what else is out there.

In an attempt to make my chunks more readable I am going to break them up. This is where I will end the first part of my catch up.

See you in a bit,
Alexandra

After a bit of downtime, we're back on the up-and-up.

9:36 am
Orange, CA

Sunday proved to be a much needed day of rest for these weary travellers. We (most of us) slept in until past noon, then spent some time planning what to do. We said fond farewells to my cousin Philip, then were on the road, but this time, without any particular destination in mind. We ended up at Costco through a huge coincidence, and I enjoyed one of their trademark delicious polish sausages, while Jon and I attempted to come up with a slogan for the food court. A couple of them follow:

Costco food court, where the...
stingy meet the pudgy,
thrifty meet the delicious,
fat meet the frugal, and my personal favorite,
cheap meet the chubby

After picking up swimsuits, and enjoying the myriad samples Costco had to offer, we cruised around downtown LA a bit, looking for things that caught our eye. We stumbled upon a gallery displaying some of Mark Ryden's art, which excited Forest quite a bit. After looking at the works in the window, I have to admit that I was excited too. Unfortunately, it was Sunday and the gallery was closed.

After that, we rolled into the Beverly Center, a gargantuan mammoth of a mall. Our goal: H&M, the mecca of cheap and well cut clothing, which for some reason we don't have in Seattle yet. I can only pray. I spent a hundred bucks or so that I don't have and came out with way more clothes than one should for that much.

By a stroke of fortune, our timing of leaving the mall was perfect for catching a movie at Grumman's Chinese Theater. In a stroke of fortune, they were playing 300, a movie which none of us had seen, and all of us wanted to see. I'll spare you a full review, but it was delightfully ridiculous. I wondered why Xerxes was a robot, and wanted to see more of his executioner, Fatty McSwordsforarms. If you can get past the silliness, though, it was a good two hours of nerd porn.

After the cinema experience, we made the drive down to Orange. We met up with our gracious host-to-be, Katy, and after meeting the other half of our hosting duo, we trooped out to one of the local mexican food joints to enjoy burritos and horchata. I was intimidated due to my lack of knowledge of the Spanish language, but I ended up getting the food and enjoying it quite a bit.

Then, for the first time during the trip, ECAT split up: Forest and Alexandra stayed with Todd, and Jon and I remained with Katy. We settled in for a night of restful sleep, and woke up fresh and ready for the new day: today!

"We're just made of time today."

11:52 pm
Orange, CA

[picture of Jon]

The Emerald City Adventure Troupe took its sweet time getting up and going today, mostly because our only scheduled interview is experiencing a family emergency and we may not get to meet with her.

So Sunday was a well-earned day of rest, mostly to combat allergy-induced sick feelings and not at all because of post-St. Patrick's repercussions. Although our meeting with Beer Shark Mouse last night was quite the experience . . .

We had arrived at the theater at 7:30 (found free parking!) and told a few of the staff members who we were and who we were there to see. It wasn't until 7:45 that we learned the team didn't usually show up until right before the show, 8:30 at the earliest. So we cruised the boulevard on foot, where Forest met a fellow by the name of Elijah, which the fellow kept repeating, and then we later walked past Elijah, who was now making loud almost-puking sounds and spitting. "Now we know what Elijah does for fun" said Derek.

The theater was slowly filling up, and there was still no sign of any of the cast. We decided to play it safe and at least buy tickets for their show, should we get a chance to talk to them afterwards. It was right about this time when one of the staff members approached me and pointed out that Neil Flynn had arrived. Good luck, Jon.

I spoke much too quickly and spooked him a little. But as an actor, Neil was definitely on the other side of the ECAT inviting-ness scale, right where one would expect. He seemed tentative to commit to anything without the rest of the guys there, and I tried to assure him (through a clever tactic called "acting") that we were really just there to see Pete Hulne, who was our contact and self-proclaimed president of Beer Shark Mouse. The theater had opened up, and I was sucked inside. We decided against sitting in the front row, which might have spooked the guys even further (especially Neil, whom Forest refers to as "Jon's girlfriend").

It's always tough to quote improv, but let me say that these guys got it on and kept it on and poured it on and placed and stuck and rocked it on. Alexandra described the experience as "the kind of laugh er where you can't help it and you touch [and lean on] the people sitting next to you." There were special moments when we improvisers could see the games within the games the guys were playing with each-other. We even got a shout-out on stage as few of the guys assumed the role of awkward documentary filmmakers.

The lobby/ bar was packed afterwards, and the cast was in and amongst them, drinking to the Irish. We tracked down Pete who asked "which one-a you's Jonathan?" There was an awkward exchange over what he should call me before he sent us upstairs to a black box theater classroom to set up the equipment while he rounded up the rest of the guys.

Amazingly, all of them showed up, drinks in hand. Neil was first, followed by Pete, then Pat Finn, then Mike Coleman, and finally, David Koechner. Yes, linking each of their names to their imdb site is a little like name-dropping (you can see all their faces here), but this is one chance to name-drop that I'm going to take.

I can't do the 20 minutes of madness justice here, but know that there were some light-hearted racial slurs, some serious artistic affirmations, more than a few laughs, and some eye-rolling at the extensive contribution that Koechner (he's a last name kinda guy) had to the convo (he is even taped staying after and offering some additional advice while gesturing with his beer and we don't think he knew he was being filmed).

We were pumped. It was a killer interview and the kind of unsuspected awesomeness we were hoping would be plentiful on this trip. As improvisers and adventurers, we were fired up thanks to some seriously good improvisation and a little bit of star power and secrets. I hope to show you all the footage, including our re-cap afterwards.

-----

Today we strolled on down to the city, eventually hitting up the H&M in Beverly Hills (stands for Holey & Moleywhydon'ttheyhavethiswonderfulcheapclothinginSeattle) and doing a little bit of shop-ping (linen pants!!!) before bravely and quickly making it to Groumann's Chinese Theater for a showing of "300." Awesome.

We're nestled in our beds with Katy and Todd down in Orange (we're staying with them, but we're not in our beds with them), ready to hit the road for up to four interviews tomorrow, starting with Charlie Rosene of KNBC at the best pancake house in Manhattan Beach.

I'll update my NorCal thoughts one of these days.

Thar She Blows!

[Imagine that there's a picture of Derek here]

12:59 am
Moorpark, CA

Get ready, folks, this will be a whale of a post. When last we (meaning you) left our hero (meaning me), I had settled in for a long winter's nap at the Hampton in in Daly city. Well, a lot has happened since then. The first thing Friday morning, after getting up, taking showers, etc., we returned to Oakland High School to talk with Kevin "K-Dub" Williams, another teacher there. K-dub teaches art (and his classroom is a testament to his prowess, when one enters the room, it's a bit overwhelming, as a melange of colors assaults the eye in the most pleasant way), and is also the founder of the Hood Games, Oakland's own local version of the X-Games, which provides local youth with a positive outlet. K-Dub spoke about his experiences as an student, a graduate, and as a teacher, and the theme that seemed to resurface again and again with him was that of getting out and experiencing new things. He encouraged us to "taste a new taste, smell a new smell," something that I am certainly proud to finally be doing for myself. I plan to taste and smell a lot of new things in the near future.

After our interview with K-Dub we debriefed for a little while in a nearby park before setting off for San Francisco. Regrettably, we didn't get to see much of the city, I certainly feel that it has a lot to offer and I hope to return again before too long. We did get to look at a couple parks, take a trip through Chinatown and enjoy some truly excellent (and plentiful) food. We visited Pier 39, and I was a bit sickened by the sheer touristyness of it (is that a word? no? It is now.). There were a pair of jugglers performing, and I was sad that we didn't have time to try to get an interview with them.

Once we'd exhausted our time in San Francisco, we set our course to Los Angeles and another 6 hour drive south. For possibly the first time in our trip, I found myself genuinely bored with the terrain. Perhaps it is more interesting by the light of day, but one can only take so many rolling hills. We stopped at a gas station that looked like it would be better suited to being a fortress in some kind of zombie-ridden post-apocalyptic world. It was surrounded by ten foot high fencing with rolls of barbed wire at the top. It was in this relic from the future (?) that I saw the first genuinely rude person I've seen on this trip. I'll try to recall the conversation I heard as accurately as possibly. RL is Rude Lady, and GA is Gas Station Attendant.

RL: Do you have air?
GA: No, I'm sorry, we don't have air.
RL: Where's the nearest place with air?
GA: Six miles, *place name*
RL: No, south.
GA: Oh, twenty-two miles, *place name*
RL: Wait, so is it six miles then twenty two miles or what?
GA: No, just twenty-two miles.
RL: Wait, so it's twenty-two miles
GA: Yes
RL: Ugh... fine.

Text alone can't capture all the nuances of her rudeness, but she did serve to remind me and help me appreciate how shockingly nice most people had been with us. After we left the gas station, the trip to Moorpark (where my aunt and uncle who graciously offered us accommodations for two nights live) was largely uneventful until the last half hour or so of the drive, when an extremely thick fog (think Silent Hill if you've played it) set over us, while we were forced to navigate extremely curvy roads perched next to cliffs. Yours truly had the good fortune of driving this leg. When we arrived at my aunt and uncle's house, we were all nearly falling asleep on our feet, so we chose to forgo blogging and instead get some extra sleep for what we knew would be a busy day ahead.

* * * INTERMISSION * * *

We woke up early today (Saturday) to prepare for our scheduled interview with Paula Donnelly, institute director for Cornerstone Theater. We ate breakfast on the road, and due to good (too good) planning, we arrived an hour early at Paula's house. Since we had some time before our interview, we poked around some nearby stops, including a thrift store where we each made out with some prizes (upon reading that sentence again, it sounds like I'm implying that we stole stuff. We didn't, don't worry.). I got far and away the best haul, though. Three CDs, one of which is by a terrible band named "Sexy Death Soda." I'm afraid I cannot recommend this to anyone, unless you happen to really like crappy bands named "Sexy Death Soda." The second, I can't recall the title, but it's a ukulele solo album, which was alright. The track entitled "I'm Big in Japan" was particularly... something. It combined Jake Shimabukuro style ukulele virtuosity with Weird Al style silly lyrics. The final, and most notable of the CDs was from a band called "Lovewhip" (http://www.lovewhip.net) and was called "Virtual Booty Machine." The band describes themselves by throwing a bunch of words like "disco" and "dub" and "synth" together, but really, their work cannot be expressed in words, so I won't try, but please, do yourself a favor and go to their website and listen to a track or two. It's something else. I also got a sweet tie that I'll try to post pictures of in the near future.

Then we returned to Paula's house for the actual interview. She turned out to be extremely friendly, and I was happy to feel that I was building bridges, as K-Dub had described in an earlier interview. She described how she had come to work at Cornerstone Theater. I was excited to hear that she had started as an actress in High School. Our paths diverged in high school, as she went backstage to become a stage manager. She was able to use this experience to stage manage for a number of professional troupes including the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. With this experience, she joined the Cornerstone Theater company, and when they decided to create a position that would be in charge of the institute (that is, the workshops to teach others about community-based theater), she applied and was given the job. I felt very connected to her as she began to relate how she isn't "much of a planner." I often feel the same way, that I will remain open to what comes my way, but not settle for anything unsatisfactory. All in all, the interview proved to be quite enlightening and inspiring.

After the interview, Paula really went the extra mile, suggesting several things for us to do that day, recommending a place to eat, and even giving us excellent directions to both a delightful restaurant and the Getty Center, a major attraction/museum in LA.

Trying to find parking near the restaurant proved to be a nightmare, so we parked in a nearby Rite-Aid. We got some supplied at the Rite-Aid, and made sure to take a moment to gawk at the liquor aisle. The concept of liquor being sold in grocery stores seems almost as strange to me as having someone else pump your gas for you (take that, Oregon!).

The restaurant was Fred 62, and it was fantastic. I had a brunch that combined poached eggs, salmon, hash browns, bagel chips, cream cheese, onion, tomato, and hollandaise sauce into one giant playground for the mouth. Truly outstanding.

The Getty Center had so much to offer that we really couldn't take much of it in during the short time we had to enjoy it. What little we did see was amazing, and when I return to LA (as I hope to do in the not-to-distant future), I hope to explore it more thoroughly.

When we finished at the Getty center, it was nearly time for one of the interviews that I had been most nervous and excited for. That is, with the cast of BeerSharkMice, an improv troupe that performs at Improv Olympic West, one of the branches of the theater formerly headed by Del Close. The cast consists of Michael Coleman, Pat Finn, Neil Flynn (yes, that Neil Flynn), Peter Hulne, and David Koechner (yes, that David Koechner). Through a miscommunication, we arrived significantly earlier than they did, so we spent some time putzing around the area, including checking out the walk of fame, and observing the hordes of people going to see Wicked at the Pantages. My favorite was a group of young ladies being driven around in a red stretch pickup truck labeled "Elegant Limousine."

We eventually met up with the cast and they agreed to chat with us after the show. The show was as hilarious as one would expect, the cast played wonderfully with one another and even did great work incorporating an audibly drunk audience member into the show. Afterwards we spoke to the cast in one of IO's classrooms. The interview was positively amazing, and I'm still reeling a bit from it. It was amazing to hear these guys, accomplished actors doing improv, basically my ideal life, talk a bit about how they got their, and offer us some of their advice. Their advice was so relevant it is a bit mind-blowing. Perhaps I'll say more about it when I've had a bit of time to absorb everything.

After the talk with BeerSharkMice, we headed back to Moorpark for another night of rest at my Aunt and Uncle's, which I will now be concluding this post to enjoy.

ECAT Strikes Again!

11:00 pm
Hollywood & Vine, Los Angeles, CA

No rest for the weary as we donned us now our green apparel. We raced to get out of the door by 10 as we met Derek's cousin, who was thwarted in his trip to the shower as a different member of ECAT swooped in to occupy the shared bathroom at the last moment. But don't let that deter you from letting us spend the night on your floor!

The drive into the city was muggy and easy as we pulled up to Paula Donnelly's house just as she was leaving. After all, she wasn't expecting us for another hour. Our extra time was spent at a thrift store by the name of "Out of the Closet." On-the-fence decisions by me were pushed to the "buy" side, as the money goes towards providing medication to those living with AIDS, regardless of financial status. I scored a sweet motorcycle helmet for twelve dollars, Derek got an amazing tie, Forest a host-a-murder-mystery boxed game, Alexandra some unnecessarily large sunglasses, and all of us contributed to the CD collection in the van, which is now graced by Love Whip's "Virtual Booty Machine," which is absolutely terrible, in that the artists (I use the term loosely) seem bored by their own work, which doesn't have the phat beats to go with it. I think a total of seven lyrics were used over the course of the entire 90 minutes.

(link to their site is here, with confounding reviews - I was shocked to learn that LoveWhip is currently still appearing live, and that they did not only not die with the 80s, but produced the CD we came across in the last 5 years, with another one due in May. Scan through all their atrocities on their website, and I'm sure Derek had plenty to say about them as well.)

From there, it was on to Paula's house just down the block. We ended up conversing on the hot patio out back (Forest, aka they guy who won't shut up about Yakima, had his jeans and jacket on the entire time, as they tend to do in the hot Yakima sun, apparently. Jeez Forest, even your clothes are talking about Yakima) with the neighbor's dog sticking his head between the fents of the fence and a cacophany of birds peppering the soundtrack.

After the interview (our longest so far - Derek has a definitive tan line on his neck that I'm not sure he's aware of), Paula became our Google and our Google Maps all at once. Over our glasses of California yuk water, one of the nicest women I have ever met listed off some of the ways to spend our Saturday, and the routes by which to get there. Only Alexandra got a hug goodbye, much to the chagrin of the rest of us (and the she-grin of her) and we were off to get some gas - then turn around and snap a group photo with Paula, then saying our real good-byes - then head to a place that had all kinds of deliciousness, including "macaroni and cheese, but you'll only need four bites its so rich" and "breakfast all day" and "like, noodles." The place was the famous Fred 62, which is added to the ECAT handbook of immortality due to its high content of deliciousness and more deliciousness ------>

Side note - our car was parked at a Rite Aid, with a full view of the absolute most disturbing movie billboard I have ever seen - I'm speaking, of course, of the one for "Captivity" which opens/induces vomiting in theaters this May. WARNING: only ECAT Trackers with a strong will and strong composure should click this picture to see a bigger one.


We took the scenic route, per Paula's suggestion, along Sunset Boulevard all the way to I-405. Along the way were CNN, the deserted banquet and press junket for the King of Queens' series finale, Beverly Hills, and, of course, Love Whip.

Down into the depths of the Getty's garage we plunged, nestled up in the hills above the smog, and up the slllooowwww tram we traveled to reach the pristine and oh-so-moderne art museum atop the hill. A little bit of cool French art and a cactus garden were all we could afford, as Beer Shark Mice was maybe expecting us around sometime maybe around maybe 7:30. I guess.










We stole some WiFi from an unsuspecting Los Angelate and made our way down Santa Monica Blvd. to Hollywood Blvd, a place where the Scientologists dare you to take them seriously by placing a "church" (at least, their equivalent) on the same strip as adult shops and closed shops.

It was here, cruising the strip in the van (but before meeting Elijah, our dry-heaving frend, while we were cruising on foot) that Forest had the quote of the day of the year of the species. He looked out his window and exclaimed, with mix of awe and terror:

Oh my God. Handicapped ventriloquist.

Needless to say, this has become a sizable inside joke among the ECATs in the last few hours, as we have all faked an emergency with "Oh my God" only to reveal the hilarious source.

It took a little bit of a lot of waiting and an almost cataclysmic introduction to Neil Flynn (his name is colored, so it's a link), but we scored the interview after watching their show. It was . . . uproarious. Tear-inducing funny. It was a Herald, but my oh my what a Herald.

In the morning, I will tell you all about our exchange with Beer Shark Mice. But Firefox almost just crashed, and I almost lost all of this! Sleep!

Irish Eyes are Smiling (and tired)

09:35 am
Moorpark, CA

ECAT has safely arrived in SoCal, but the troupe was much too exhausted last night to post. Boring terrain was crossed, dense fog was navigated, and soft carpet was slept upon, provided by Derek's aunt and uncle, Bill and Nancy Loos
.
There's an interview in south LA waiting for us, and we're all trying to wash our heads before we head out at 10:00. Then, later tonight, the cast of Beer Shark Mice is maybe waiting to talk to us. We're not entirely sure. But there'll be a whole lot for you all to read tonight!

Another week of this?!?

10pm
On the Road, CA

Something that has been going through my head all day is how unreal this trip feels. Simply because so much has happened in the short amount of time we have been on this trip. My brain cannot comprehend the incredible it is that we are going to be doing this for another week. If this trip were to have been for only these two days it would still be worth the long drives.

Our interview with K-dub went incredibly well. I would say that the best part of the interview was he was giving his advice for college age students and it was exactly what we are doing now. Things like making cold calls to people you don’t know doing something that you are interested in and traveling were his two main points. His classroom was completed covered in some amazing art created by the students. Our eyes wandered as we talked to him.

One of the more difficult aspects of this trip is balancing how much we are focusing on the more technical aspects of the trip (trying to fulfill our portion of the grant agreement) and how much we are enjoying ourselves and getting things out of the trip.

Somebody Stole Our Ice and Replaced It with Water!

09:00 am/pm
Daly City, CA

All the things I associate with California hotels were present this morning: continental breakfast, guaranteed sunlight through the curtains, CNN headline news, and that smell of California hotel air (a scent one could call "secondhand smoke").

We're plugging in all the lamps and unplugging our various electronics in order to hit the road to Oakland to be there by 10:00.

Next up is Keith "K-Dub" Williams, artist and founder of the Hood Games. We were introduced yesterday by Payton, but that won't make today any simpler. K-Dub is a very sought-after man and believed that we could just follow him around. We're going to try to wrangle him into a chair for ten minutes.

From there it's off to the city to have some adventures, on to Skylawn Memorial so that I may pay some respects, and then across the stinking desert to the city of Angels.

Thank you, Hampton Inn, for your hospitality.

An Update to My Outline of a Long Day

08:38 am
Daly, CA


Dear Reader,

For some reason it says that my last post was published by Jon. Oh blog! I am still having trouble navigating the world of blog, but I am doing my best. This morning before we leave on our day I am going to post a few more pictures and explain some of the pictures from my last blog.

The First picture have today is of my in front of the Golden Gate bridge. Visiting the bridge and the park next to the bridge was one of my favorite parts of yesterday.

The next two pictures I will talk about are the ones in my previous blog, "An Outline of a Long Day". The first of those is a picture of me behind a pretty purple tree. This was taken at a rest stop in Northern California at about 10:30 in the morning. It was one of the first times in the trip that I felt awake and revitalized. When we pulled int the rest stop the sun was shining and the wind was blowing and I had the great sensation of feeling alive and ready for anything. I got out of the car and danced around, did a little stretching and then went to the pretty purple purple tree to give my thanks for the elements and the fact that I was out of the car. The second picture in my previous blog is a picture of the bay area by the Golden Gate bridge. I took a few pictures that am proud of and I will post A couple more shots below.















To end the blog for this morning I just want to say thanks for reading and come back later for my lengthy blogs on our interview from yesterday and the interview to come for today. There will be more pictures and more great stories from all of us!

Later Gator,
Alexandra

A brief update

11:00 pm
Daly, CA

The four of us are getting ready for bed in our hotel room in the wonderful Hampton Inn (part of the Hilton family which of course serves complementary breakfast, includes free wi-fi and has sweet lumbar pillows for each bed). The last 24 hours have all blurred together into one big mush of crazy road-trip fun. We drove all the way through the night and each one of us has only been able to get a couple hours worth of naps during this time.

Here is an image of a hill off to the side of the road as we were driving through northern California.


This picture is not the best of what we saw, just what we were able to get a picture of. I am pretty sure we saw one of the hills that comes stock as a wallpaper in Windows XP.

We are all tired and with only two computers to blog I don’t want to take too much time so I will talk about more of what happened later. I will simply end by saying that the trip has had a great start and if it continues to go on like it has been it will be quite the life changing experience.

This Was the First Time I Ever...

11:02 pm
The Hampton Inn, Daly City, CA

Since other members of the troupe have filled in the basics of our escapades over the last 24 hours, I'll just fill in a few details from my point of view.

First off, during preparation, I reaffirmed my belief that the Costco food court is amazing. I got a polish sausage, a giant frozen yogurt, and a 20 oz. fountain drink for $2.99. It's like the bizzaro version of a sports stadium. I was tempted, against the urges of my nearly bursting stomach to order more food when we returned to buy the tapes we forgot the first time, but in the end, I heeded the warnings of my stomach, and decided that I'd be happier with food inside me than vomited all over the floor of the van.

Once we were done shopping, things went pretty smoothly. We planned our driving shifts, and I opted for the second of four three-hour turns. For the first chunk, Jon was the driver and I was the designated co-pilot while Forest and Alexandra drifted blissfully off into slumberland (something that I was doubtful I'd ever be able to do at this point... could I? read on!). We entertained ourselves by listening to CDs Jon had burned over the past years as well as an assortment of movie soundtracks (such as Armageddon, one of the best bad movies ever), but what really stood out was a CD called "Ultimate Dance Party,"[Amazon.com tells me it is volume one in a series] featuring all the best dance hits of the early 90's, such as the ever-popular Macarena, and a delightful techno remix of "Total Eclipse of the Heart". I decided that Ultimate Dance Party was as good a CD as Armageddon is a movie.

At some point south of Portland, I was hit with the stunning realization that this was the farthest I've ever been from home.

Somewhere shortly after crossing the Oregon-California border, sleep started to sound like a better idea, and, despite my wishes to stay awake to view the fascinating scenery, for the first time in my life, I was able to actually sleep in a car. I woke up and we were passing through the Windows XP hills. It was pretty surreal.

The remainder of the trip was pretty uneventful from my point of view. I drifted indiscriminately in and out of sleep, alternately feeling fully refreshed and deathly tired. I was happy to find a notebook at a gas station to replace my memo book that I lost early on, and I'll be much more careful with this one.

Frisbee in the park in Oakland was fun, even though I'm terrible at pretty much all sports. Any time I try to do something difficult, I make a face that Jon charitably calls the 'DeNiro face', purportedly for the striking resemblance it causes me to bear to Mr. DeNiro the actor.

Our first pair of interviews were pretty outstanding. We got to speak with two up-and-coming hip-hop artists, both alumni of Oakland High School, Gully and Little D. It was a blast to talk with two artists in a medium completely different from my own that still seem to be facing many of the same challenges. Next we spoke with Payton Carter, teacher, sometimes DJ, and supervisor of OHS' hip-hop club. I was blown away by his eloquence, presence, and skill at story telling. I think we could have spoken to him for hours and never gotten bored. It's also wonderful to hear how artists can join the academic field, but still not turn away from their passion. He spoke about how he helped to form Oakland High School's hip-hop club, and I couldn't help but be reminded of Forest's and mine (and Rob's and Mike's) founding of The Department, UW's sketch comedy troupe.

After the interviews, we went across the Golden Gate Bridge and putzed around the park. Both were pretty awe-inspiring, and even though I'm usually turned off by tourist attractions, I'm glad we saw it. We also got some great pictures, which is always nice.

The next part of the journey is a bit of a blur for me, as I was dropping into and out of consciousness, but somehow or another we ended up at the Hampton Inn. I guess we mainly owe Jon for that one. Taking a shower felt wonderful, and positively reinvigorating, as did taking a dip in the hotel pool.

We topped off the night by taking a visit to In-N-Out Burger, something I'd been eagerly anticipating. I got a double-double and fries, animal style, and I was pleased with both. I'm not sure if I'm settled on the great Dick's vs. In-N-Out quarrel, but I'd certainly happily eat at either again.

I'm having a great time, despite being tired and a bit sick, and I'm looking forward to the next chapter of our adventure!

An Outline of a Long Day

10:45 pm
Daly, CA

Dear Reader,

It has been a wonderful day. We have had almost 24 hours of adventure at this point. I am exhausted. I was tired when we left last night because it had been a hard week, now I am exhausted because of how many wonderful things we did today.

I made a brief outline of the days events below. As you can see we left at about 11:20 last night and I am writing this now at 10:38. Not all of the trip has been fun, one thing I will say right off was that I had a hard time keeping my eyes open on the way down. Yes, I was sleepy, but more than that I have a weird eye thing going on. Fortunately Jon has loaned me some eye drops and I am hoping for the rest of the trip that will do the trick.

In order to do the day justice I am going to get up a little early tomorrow and fill in details on my outline so you can get an idea of how the trip has been for me so far. You may re-read a few things in all of the blogs, but I promise we have all experienced these events in different ways and I am excited to not only share more with you, but to hear more from Jon, Forest, and Derek about how the trip is treating them.

Outline:

Preparation to leave, and departure at 11:20 at night.

Ride Down.

Stops Along the Way: Gas Stations in Oregon, Rest Stop With Purple Tree at 10:30, Gas Station with Amusement park in California.

Park Stretching and Frisbee

Oakland High School Meetings: Teacher involved in the arts, helping kids get into the world of entertainment. Also met with a couple of the students.

Golden Gate Bridge and Park: A breathtaking experience!

Wi Fi Fiasco, we had to stop at a mall to get Internet service to find out where our hotel would be.

Check in at hotel and pool fun.

In and Out Burger for late dinner.

Blog outline and wonderful sleep! About 10:40 at night.

I hope you have sweet dreams when next you sleep,

Alexandra

Sea(ttle) to Bay (Area)

10:38 pm
Daly City, CA

Jon fell asleep before he could finish his post. Here's all that's up so far.















P-Oakland! Pokeland!

Time Travel

07:33 pm
Daly City, CA

The Troupe is all settled in (for now) at the Hampton Inn in Daly City, which is a city every day, on the day.

Look for a bunch of posts to begin to pop up retroactively as we use the complimentary WiFi (thanks to the Hilton Family, who will also be serving us breakfast).

Dear Reader

10 pm
Seattle, WA

Dear Reader,

I have never kept a blog before, I am not great with computers, and even the word blog kinda scares me. Needless to say I am nervous about the blog.

With that said, I will start my blog.

My name is Alexandra and I am about to embark on the road trip of a lifetime with three of my good friends. I am excited and nervous. At this point I think I have everything I need packed. I would say I am the worrier of the group and the one who feels the need to be over prepared. I have lots of emergency supplies packed and extra food in case we get lost. To give you an idea of what my emergency kit entails; I have road flares, emergency blankets and bandages to name a few of the items.

I am hoping we will not need any of these things, in fact I am positive that we won't, but it never hurts to be prepared.

At this point I am excited for our trip, the people we will meet and the incredible experiences that I know we will have. But I am very tired and I look forward to sleeping in the car tonight.



Thanks for reading my first ever blog post,
Alexandra

p.s. I will be signing my blog posts because it feels right to just leave with out saying goodbye. If it is weird to sign a blog feel free to let me know!

Pack It Up, Pack It In

08:53 pm
Seattle, WA

You want the truth about Jon? Here's the truth about Jon: he's still packing. But there's more to the story than his lateness, I assure you.

I always ask that quotation marks not be used for emphasis on any kind of signage, as they are not at all like underlines in their role in punctuation and I doubt the word being emphasized is a direct quote (it's just silly). I am able to find humor in most aspects of the lives of most people. I am a firm believer in love and Darwin's theory of evolution, even though some people tell me they are mutually exclusive. I am always up for a good discussion and a good think, and maybe even a song or two. I root for the professional baseball and football teams from my town, and I think they are better than the teams in your town, because we Seattle fans have probably suffered more than your teams. I enjoy films and enjoy the creation of films and cinematography in the mind.

I enjoy, above all things, adventure. Just below my love of adventure is my love for the possibility for adventure that is prevalent throughout everyday life – that little chance that around the corner there is a unicycle chase or a big puddle filled with huge birds or a hill that leads up to a cabin that nobody's been to for a while but it would make a fantastic clubhouse. Life is meant to provide stories to be told, and in the end that's all any of us have (besides loved ones, but it's harder to share them). And great deal of adventure is spacial. That is, location and movement dictates much of it. It would be easy to quote Tolkien here (“Not all who wander or lost,” “Little by little, one travels far,” etc.), but it's better to point out that Tolkien knew the easiest way to facilitate an adventure story was to send his characters on a journey. That's when you really meet people, and that's when stuff happens and your life is learned a little more. And, hopefully, the people we meet will provide insight to the larger travel through life we will soon be undertaking.

I am most excited for the things we haven't planned. I want our paths to be crossed with countless others, and I want us to occasionally lose our way (though I will not mis-direct us, I promise). when I went to Italy (you can read all about it here) I was amazed by the easily conquerable train system, and how every bit of the country was a jump away. The American West, however, is expansive and daring us to treat it the same way.

The four of us are pretty good friends at this point. All of our political beliefs are somewhat aligned (with some more hippie than others) and we all appreciate good words. Here is a rare photograph of the last Halloween, here in the Emerald City:

I suppose if you were to switch Dr. McNinja (myself) and Generic Mad Scientist Costume That Is Warm And Functional (Derek) into the Cowardly Lion and the Tin Man, respectively . . . you would probably have photoshop. And a team ready for adventure!

Now let's make sure we have towels!

And where's my camera charger?!

The Prologue

8:45 pm
My house in Seattle, WA

As I sit here typing, I can’t help but wonder how this trip is going to turn out. What will we learn from the people we are talking to along the way? Will the four of us be able to stand spending the next 10 days in a car with each other? Can going on a road-trip like this really change lives and help us to find what direction we want to go in life is? Most of all I am simply wondering, what have I gotten us into? I am getting ahead of myself. I will to go back to the beginning.

It all started off in the fall of 2006 when a big green RV pulled up to the University of Washington campus. The PBS show Road-Trip Nation had been touring around to different college campus promoting their show. I found out about an information session by one of the other officers of the UW film club. I was teetering on the side of not going, but the thought of getting a chance to go on a road-trip across the nation and free pizza was too hard to pass up. It had taken me awhile to realize it, but I had already heard about Road-Trip Nation a long time ago before it was a PBS show. I had watched the original episode. Back then it was just three recent college graduates taking a road-trip across the county looking to find what they could do with their lives. The show still maintains the same principals but now has a significantly larger budget (Thanks to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and viewers like you!).

To make a long story short I learned more about the show and about the fact that they had independent grants. These grants give money to students who want to go out on a road-trip without actually being on the PBS show. I was busy with a lot of stuff in the fall and didn’t think that much more about it. Then a few months later I thought about it again and about how it would be great to use spring break as a time to go on a road-trip. I originally proposed the idea of the trip to the entire Collective (UW’s best and only Improv Troupe), but there seemed to be very little interest. The road-trip didn’t seem like it was going to go anywhere.

However, a little over a month ago Jon, Alexandra and myself got to talking about the trip again. I was surprised at the amount of enthusiasm they had for the project. Then after talking to Derek, the Emerald City Adventure Troupe was formed (after much deliberation as to the team’s name). We have been putting in tons of work over the past several weeks putting together our application, finding people to interview and finding places to stay along the way. Now I have more or less caught up to the present.

After already having a long day Jon, Derek and myself took an exciting trip to CostCo to get supplies for the trip. Things like Muffins, Cliff Bars, Pop Tarts and a case of water bottles was a must. As soon as we were just about out of the parking lot with our goodies Jon remembered the most important reason we were going to CostCo, which was to buy tapes. We got the tapes, went through the long lines and were back on the road. Another stop was needed to get a tripod, peanut-butter and tuna.

Now that I am completely exhausted, come close to forgetting essential items for the trip and have ranted for much too long a time about this trip, we can finally get it started.

Home Sweet... Roam?

7:48 pm
Seattle, WA

Seattle to San Francisco to Los Angeles to Las Vegas and back again... easy, right?

This post marks the commencement of a few different things for me. It's my first blog post ever, I never joined the whole livejournal etc. trend. It's also shortly before my first ever roadtrip, no, more than that my first real experience travelling.

A little about me first. I'm 21 years old, and a junior at the University of Washington. I'm dual majoring in Drama and Philosophy (what am I going to do with those degrees? I figure I'll think about acting). I spend a lot of time acting. I just finished up with Mad Forest with the UW School of Drama, which managed to confuse most of the audience and put the rest to sleep. Really though it was a fascinating show about the Romanian revolution of 1989, and was a joy to work on. Along with the other members of the troupe, I'm a member of The Collective, UW's improv troupe. Forest and myself comprise half of The Department, UW's sketch comedy troupe. I hope to go into acting after I graduate. I'm not sure whether I'll try for grad school immediately after undergrad or if I'll try to get my feet wet in the real theater world. Secretly, my goal is to be the next Don LaFontaine.

I'm certainly looking forward to this trip, as I've never really been anywhere. I've been to uh... Portland. Honestly though, I've spent 99% of my life in circle with a 20 mile radius, and I've never been more than 200 miles from my home town of Port Orchard, so I'm very excited about the prospect of expanding my world a bit. I'm not sure how I'll do on the 12 and 18 hour drives we have planned, but part of the purpose of this trip is to get to know yourself better, isn't it?