LA, LV, LA

This leg of the California adventure took us to the Los Angeles area where most of my cousins live. Last Saturday was my cousin's debut (pronounced dey-boo by Filipinos), so we all got dolled up for the big night. It is basically a cotillion ball for only one debutant. Anyway, I'd never been to one before, so it was all new to me. Good times.

My family takes opportunities such as this one to have huge family reunions, so good times are had by all. This year everyone decided to take a vacation to Las Vegas, where we could eat copious amounts of food (methinks Las Vegas is the capital of all-you-can-eat buffets), feed money into slot machines and enjoy each other's company. This was my second time in Las Vegas, but my first since I've turned 21, and thus been able to actually stand in the casino area, rather than being watching from the child friendly aisles. Having seen it from up close, I'm not quite sure what the big fuss is about. It seems to me like a city created for the sole purpose of taking your money. Keith and I saw Spamalot our first night there which was pretty much amazing. I got a bobblehead "Knight of Ni".

My family and a couple of my uncles took a break from the city Wednesday morning and drove out to Hoover Dam which was pretty awesome, to say the least. Not only is it a marvel of engineering, but it also boasts some lovely art deco architecture. Here are some pictures.

The turbines that harness the power of the Colorado River.

The view from half way up the dam.

View from the top looking down.

Looking across the face of dam.

That art deco architecture I was talking about applied to the water intakes on the upstream side of the dam. This also reminded me of Starwars. Just saying.

An angel in the art deco style. Again, pretty awesome.

We're now back in the LA area. Tonight: Wicked. Tomorrow: Disneyland.

En La Isla De Los Alcatraces

Today Keith and I took the ferry boat over to Alcatraz Island which proved to be one of the highlights of the day, since I walked within 3 feet of one of the best soccer players in the world, David Beckham, and his family. Incidentally, I had seen Victoria Beckham earlier in the day and thought, "Wow, with that haircut and those sunglasses, that lady looks exactly like Victoria Beckham!"

Celebrity spotting aside, the visit to the island was quite good as well. It holds such legendary status in Americana that actually being there, seeing the cells and feeling the cold Pacific winds coming off the bay is almost unreal. I caught myself thinking on more than one occasion that it being there wouldn't be too bad. Of course, I would remind myself that no matter how beautiful the weather, Alcatraz is Alcatraz, and it has that reputation for a reason. The audio tour has become a jumping off point, whetting my appetite for stories from Alcatraz. I spent several hours reading about its history on Wikipedia after returning to Paul's apartment. The story of the three escapees that may or may not have made it is absolutely fascinating. I almost hope that they did, because that would make an already amazing story even more so. Keith was also observant enough to notice that he and one of the escapees use the same hair product. It is also interesting to note that the can for Murrey's Superior Hair Dressing Pomade hasn't changed in seven decades. There was a sign there that said the things in the cell were props from a movie, but I choose to ignore that.

It seemed cruel to put the toughest prison in the country in such a beautiful location, with the city and the Golden Gate Bridge just across the bay; so close that they could hear the sounds of life floating across the water when the wind blew in the right direction. I can imagine that knowledge of the outside only made the long hours a little longer. The families of prison guards who lived on the island spoke of it as they would any other small town.

Notes from San Francisco

We made it safely to San Francisco, and I feel like it's October. It's in the 70s, the wind is blowing and the sun is hot. Basically, it's gorgeous. The roof of Paul's apartment has a nice view of the Golden Gate Bridge and whatever lies across it. I've been here once before, when we visited Mom's uncle in Vallejo, but I remember very little from that trip other than the fact that seals, although cute, make a lot of noise and smell pretty bad.

I look forward to seeing what the city has to offer. It's different than I imagined it. You say San Francisco, and I think of flower children, maximum security prisoners, and gay people. I think of huge earthquakes and turn of the century Asian immigrants. There is more color than I imagined. The houses across the street are this sun-bleached brown, green and pink. Although it is one of those iconic cities, I don't think I've seen many pictures of it, at least not the residential areas. Anyway, I'll post some pictures somewhere in the near future, once I've taken them.

Who knew the Denver Airport has free WiFi? Keith and I missed our connecting flight to San Francisco, so we ended up having a layover when we had initially anticipated none. Our plane actually landed on schedule, but we were stuck on the tarmac for a good 15 minutes waiting for another flight to get out of our gate. Despite a mad dash across the terminal, we missed the flight by maybe two minutes, which is frustrating to say the least. We had to stand in a long line for 45 minutes, then finally were booked on the flight for which we now wait.

So, we're waiting.

Pictures

I finally downloaded all of the pictures I've taken in the last two months onto my computer. Here is a small selection. I have more, but the my internet connection is running really slowly for some reason and I don't have the patience for it. Perhaps I'll post more later.

Here's one side of the "Arsenic and Old Lace" set, including the most complicated part, the stairs.

This is the other side of the set, and the second most complicated part of the set. The windows took about 6 hours to make, but they turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself. I actually had to put some of my Advanced Stagecraft knowledge to use and join the windows with splines.

The whole set in all of it's glory. It was more impressive in person, and it was a heck of a lot of fun to play on. Fun fact: the picture on the stage right wall (that's the far left, for you non-theatre people) would slide every time anyone opened or closed the door so that by the end of the show it was almost sideways. I got a kick out of it, although it likely distracted some audience members from enjoying the show fully.

Here are some shots from my trip to Tampa for the Florida State Thespian Festival. I love some of the architecture in downtown Tampa.

The Tampa Theatre is probably the most aesthetically pleasing theatre I've ever been in. Check out those light fixtures!

The exterior of the Tampa Theatre. It harkens back to a time when people actually went to the theatre.

Some random building we walked past. I thought it was pretty.

A totally cool mural painted on the side of a music store.

What I Miss About Tallahassee

My trip up to Tallahassee this past weekend reminded me what I miss about it as a city. I'm refer not to the people, relationships, or student life, but the city itself, things that are unique to our state's capital. Tallahassee has an abundance of really good homegrown restaurants, Tallahassee originals, small shops that have grown enough to have one or two locations in the city, but nowhere else. Hopkins Eatery, Cool Grindz (I ignore the tacky Z at the end for the sake of their White Chocolate Mochas, Cafe Con Leche and Chai Lattes), The Coffee Pub, The Pitaria, and One Fresh Stir-Fry are some of my favorites. Even better, I have memories tied to each and every one of these.

I used to go the the Pitaria during a break after some of my theatre classes because it was right down the street. It was also the last place I ate in Tallahassee before moving back to Orlando. I used to have D-Group at the Cool Grindz downtown when we got tired of the ever busy Starbucks. C. and I used to chat with the baristas while they made our drinks at the one on Monroe and Tharpe. One Fresh was an after-church favorite. They also have amusing signs in the dining area.I took a picture of this one for Dad. If you can't read it through the glare, it says "Did You Close Your Garage Door?" Sound Familiar?

The Coffee Pub was probably my favorite study spot, especially in the mid-afternoon before all of the college kids got there. They had these really comfortable chairs in the corner by the window which allowed for copious amounts of people watching and a good deal of studying as well. That's where I studied for my Modern British Lit exam, and where I wrote the first few pages of a Senior Seminar paper. On one occasion, I was surprised to find non-college students in a very college-type coffee shop. I had grown accustomed to the evening hours when every seat was occupied by laptop laden students. So, one Wednesday morning I was surprised to see a few older ladies walk in with their knitting to sit, drink coffee and chat.

It's Over

They have this really great tradition at the 9th Grade Center. On the last day of finals, the teachers walk their students down to the bus loop and wave goodbye as the buses pull out. I think the real purpose is to prevent fights by getting the students out of there as quickly as possible, and by flooding the area with adults. It is nonetheless satisfying to see them leave. Once the buses are gone, the teachers cheer. Goodbye and good riddance. It was a great feeling.

Anyway, we still have another two days of work. The end of the year is packed with paperwork, and since I've never done any of it before, it takes a really long time, which is why I'm up at 1:00AM working. It's been a long time since I've done this. I want to say I miss this feeling of burning the midnight oil, but when I did that I generally had a lot more sleep than I have this past week. In any case, back to work.