Sleep deprived

Midnites for maniacs!  Holly came into town for the Edgar Wright triple feature on Friday night at the Castro theater.  Scott Pilgrim vs the World (best movie ever), Hot Fuzz, and Shaun of the Dead.  Yesssss!!  The movies, plus Q&As with Edgar, had us at the theater until like 3am!  Gabriella and Cathy (and their little bottles of alcohol) joined us too -- ha!

On Saturday, I joined Gabriella, Morgan, and their friends for the late show of Stuffed and Unstrung at the Curran.  Crazy improv puppetshow awesome! 

I am so sleep deprived that there are parts of the last two weeks that I don't actually remember...  I haven't fully rested from my vacation, which is catching up with me, while not properly slowing me down.  I haven't mentioned that in the last week/weekend, I've also gone to an audition, trivia night, dinners with friends, and a beer fundraiser party.  Miss Holly has been staying with me (along with another friend of hers over the weekend) and we've had yummy breakfasts (which means I've been up "early") and late nights.  So fun, but I'm soo tired...

I was planning to go to LA for Labor Day -- but, now, I am planning to sleep.  :)

Blues, books, BBQs, and backyards...

My first weekend after my vacation, and then flying in on Monday morning and working all week, was supposed to be relaxing... but instead:

I went blues dancing on Friday night. Blues dancing is somewhere between swing dancing and dirty dancing... depending on your partner. It's very social, however, and a lot of fun -- not to mention, done to some great music! After blues dancing, I went to see a friend's band at Benders. The band was a bit of an escape after dancing, which you'll have to ask me about in person.

Saturday, I woke up, took my car in for a service, went to a book swap, and then to a going away BBQ/party, which later joined with a birthday party.

On Sunday, I went to an annual party a friend throws to celebrate the years he's lived in San Francisco. They had Tahitian dance performance (with audience participation - above) and Boylesque. :) Then I went to Brian and Teresa's new place in Oakland for some pizza and Magic game education.

Productive and fun! Mostly fun.

This is why I live in the East Bay

Well, this and a ton of other reasons... :)

I'm sitting in the Yerba Buena Gardens waiting to go Blues dancing.  It's foggy...like I'm actually in a cloud...damp, hazy...   I'm wearing a skirt, boots, and knee socks -- which is my favorite combination for a chilly San Francisco summer.  My oufit appears to be drawing a lot of attention...which probably means I look inappropriately dressed for the fog...   The diversity of this city never ceases to surprise me.  I was just watching a punk, fairy godmother guy denying the wishes of his very homely over weight friend... corporate people and professors types have walked by, teenagers, hippies, computer guys, moms, old people, fashion people... With every race and color mixed in. 

There's no place like San Francisco.

Jetlag

After my last post, my flight from NY to SF was delayed from 7:20pm to 1:50am... Yeowch, is right. I was in the airport for something like 8 and a half hours. I arrived in the Bay around 5am, went home, slept for about 2 hours, and made it to work by 10am... this week has felt like a dream.

A New York minute...

After a really late night, I woke up pretty easily on Thursday, got everything done at the apartment, left right on time, got on Airlink to Edinburgh airport, freaked out because I was supposed to be going to Glascow airport, hopped off Airlink intending to get on the train to Glascow, thought it would take too long and grabbed a cab. The cab quoted 125 pounds and said it would take an hour to get to Glascow. I told him I was on a flight to NY at 12:05pm (it was then 10:30am)... about 7 minutes later the cab driver asked to see my ticket info because he checked the flights at Glascow (on his iPhone while driving) and nothing was going to NY at or around 12:05pm... 25 pounds later he dropped me off at Edinburgh airport with just enough time to get on my flight. Whew!! CRAZY!!!! How did I not look to see what airport I was flying from...?!!

I landed in New York at 2:50pm, met up with Simón to drop stuff off and get cleaned up, and then headed out to meet Patrick for the 7:30pm arrival time for Sleep No More (an interactive Macbeth performance). The show was interesting, and fun to experience, but I wanted to see a stronger storyline. ?

After the show, Patrick and I walked a bit of the highline, and then headed down to meet Desire (in the picture above) and her friends at a party where I was also meeting back up with Simón (who is also in the picture above, but you can't really see him). It was so great to see Des!

Friday, I got to have a late lunch with the lovely Holly Chou, and then Simón took me to a very nice dinner with him and his brother. Afterward, we split from his brother and hit a Speakeasy near Chinatown. ... "it's supposed to be right here..."

On Saturday, Simón and I rode a lot of public transportation :), saw a NY fringe show called... Billy? (I think that was the name) ...and I purposely missed my flight home. We had a nice dinner at a Turkish restaurant and sat on his back patio in the rain, chatting and smoking hookah.

It's Sunday. I'm about to head to the airport and I can't believe how perfect that last two weeks have been. There were some hard moments, and some lonely moments, but what a great adventure....

:)

...and, scene.

I stopped running and strolled today...

I woke up and went to see Man of Valour, an incredible one man show about a man learning to face his demons using storytelling + mime + projection. It was phenominal!! There was a moment when the man struggles with his dark side, which is shown by the actor "removing" a mask to reveal an evil character, and it was quite a startling and distinct transition. The actor did an exceptional job making his imaginary world precisely clear...

Next up was The Dark Philosophers. This was another one that was performed beautifully, but I didn't fully understand. From the reviews, it needs a bit more development and is about a Welsh writer, which explains a lot of the mystery. If I had done my homework, I probably would've gotten more out of it, but a wonderful performance regardless.

I ended my Fringe experience with the comedian Daniel Sloss. I heard he was a great young performer, and that he was excellent.... I liked him, but I honestly wasn't blown away. I met some lovely people today as I was sitting around between shows, and some of his fans who I was talking with before this show told me afterwards that his stuff isn't as strong as it used to be. Oh well. He's only 20 (or something like that), and started doing comedy when he was 16! I'm sure once he transitions more into adulthood, he'll find his flow again.

After Daniel, I took a long walk home in the rain. It was beautiful and warm, and I couldn't help but think that I should neglect all of my responsibilities and just stay here. The festival has been amazing, and I love talking to people about theatre. The city is beautiful and it's great hanging with Nik and seeing Anna. *sigh* ... but I do miss my cats and my bed and Bay Area food and driving and being in the same country as all of the wonderful people in my life. :)

Arthur's seat

I felt like I was running all day today! I had planned to meet Nik on the Mile at 10:40am, but somehow took a really long time getting ready and ended up running through town to meet him before 11am when I said he should no longer wait for me. Not having phones here has made planning a little tricky. Luckily I met him in time, so we decided to go to Arthur's Seat. Arthur's Seat is a steep, jagged, beautiful hike up a landmark hill in Edinburgh. It has a amazing views of the city and, according to a local shop owner, is supposed to be a 45 minute hike if you have good legs, and an hour and 15 minute hike if you don't. :) We made it to the top in about 30-35 minutes, we think.

We were in kind of a rush to get to the top, because Anna arrived in Edinburgh and I told her I'd meet her at 1:30pm. Because of Nik and I's great legs, we were able to do the hike and get to the meeting place with time to spare.

Nik had a performance today, so Anna and I hung out and caught up for a bit, and then I headed to a Korean clown show. The show was aMAZing!!! Wow, so funny and such great skill!! Made me happy. ;)

After the Korean clowns, I had some time on my own so I did a little shopping, and then headed to The Monster in the Hall. Monster was an excellent, beautifully performed, and an incredibly creative piece about a girl coping with having a single parent who has MS. It was charming, funny, and quite moving.

I didn't realize how long The Monster in the Hall was, so I bought tickets at a venue about 20 minutes away for a show that started about 10 minutes after Monster let out. !!! I started to run back across the city to the next show, and then gave up and jumped in a cab. Luckily they had late seating, so I was able to see the Sharron Matthews show tonight.

Finally, I had planned to meet Nik and maybe Anna for free comedy, but I had a sneaking suspicion that it might not happen, so I ran home to check my email and found I had messages from both of them saying they were kind of worn out. Nik mentioned he might be still up to hang out if it was something a bit more mellow, so we decided to meet between our places for a nice late night drink.

Tomorrow's my last full day in Edinburgh... and then NY.

Ducks, clowns, and ghosts

Traveling by myself has been great, but having Nik here has been really great. :) We walked up to the castle today but it was expensive to get in, so Nik used the phone and then we headed back down the Mile.

We split up for a while because I got a comp to a show called The Ducks. A friend of a friend directed it, and it was a beautifully done piece. The acting was exquisite... though, I'm not sure I completely understood what it was about. ?

Nik and I met back up to see a Japanese clown show called Tokyo Game: The Body Tights Man Show. Wow, super creative, fun, and kind of weird. :)

At the end of the day, Nik was nice enough to accompany (protect) me on The Ghost and Torture Tour: A Dark Historical Journey Above and Below Ground. When I arrived in Edinburgh, I was told there was a city built underground that people lived in at one point. It was awful living conditions and was eventually buried, but someone discovered it years later and now they do tours of the city with the option of the historical tour or the scary tour. When I was looking at the brochure, I apparently missed the part in italics. I think it was the most historical tour of the options, however, because the other tours were called: The Terror Tour: The Ultimate Terrifying Experience; and The Underground Tour: Scotland's Most Haunted Underground Experience... but it was still really scary. Sleeping tonight will not be easy...

It's been raining for (insert dramatic voice) FIVE HUNDRED YEARS...!!

Okay, more like two days.  Straight.  Which feels way longer when you're in another country and all you have to do is walk around in it.  So. Much. Rain.

Nikolas arrived!  We walked a bit of the Royal Mile in the rain and checked out some street performances.  There was a great little Asian magician from Canada (who had a British accent... ?  Unless we heard her wrong and she's not from Canada...which would make more sense.  :)) who did card tricks, and was quite a dynamic and funny performer.  

Nik and I split up to see separate shows, and I missed mine by seconds.  They don't do late seating, so I wandered around New Town looking for gifts.  Gifts from Scotland seem to consist of kilts, or random things in plaid... which is making me wish I had had more time to shop in Paris... and may mean I won't come back with gifts.  :P

I met up with Nik again at 10:45pm to see Spielpalast Cabaret, which was sort of a random miss match of clowning, burlesque, and sketches.  They had a live band that I really enjoyed.  

I have to admit, the shows I've seen so far have been fun, but nothing has really knocked my socks off.  ...though, I sort of think that's the nature of the Fringe.  Lots of things in the works.  

Rain

Today it rained. A lot.

The shows I saw today were Mission Drift, and Henry Paker. Mission Drift was an American group that did a show about ... the American dream. I think. Regardless, it was performed well and the music was quite alluring.

Henry Paker was stand-up comedian from England. I was the only person of color (and I think the only American) at this particular performance. At one point Henry said something about oriental cooking, and a woman a few people down leaned over to see my reaction...? It was just a reference...? so, that was weird... but he was pretty good. :)

This guy...

...or another guy in the apartment across the way that looks a lot like him, I think took a picture of me last night from this window. I saw him turn on the light and walk by a couple of times... then, a few minutes later, shut off the light and a little orange glow showed up in the window that was quickly pulled away, like the signal light from a camera that has the flashed turned off. So, here's a picture of him from my window. :P If he didn't take a picture of me, than I probably shouldn't have taken this picture and posted it but... oh well.

It's raining here. It's actually supposed to rain every day except Tuesday from now until I leave. I just bought a very cute umbrella.

Edinburgh

Edinburgh feels so easy compared to Paris. Speaking the language makes a huge difference, the people are nice, and everything is pretty close. I am missing the ease of public transportation, and the mystery and romance of Paris, but Edinburgh is beautiful and quite charming.

I saw a Chinese performance in the Princes Gardens today, checked out a comedy show called 4 Poofs and a Piano, and got a free ticket to Sex You (I'm gonna), which was a "show" about this guy trying to have sex with an audience member. I actually really liked Sex You, much more than I thought I would. It was like 3 weeks of dating someone who's really trying to impress you smashed into 45 minutes...sort of. :)

There were a ton of street performances going on, and the city is buzzing with the festival.

Au revoir!

Ah... Paris.

Sacre Coeur
Musee de Montmartre
Canal St. Martin
Ile de la Cite
Ile St. Louis
Lourve
Jardin des Tuileries
Arc de Triomphe
Centre Pompidou
Jardin du Luxembourg
Tour Eiffel
Musee de Lourve

I walked Montmartre, the neighborhood by the canal, the Iles, the Seine, the Lourve and Tuileries, Luxembourg, and the beautiful streets in Saint Germain, and Marais.

I ate crepes in Montmartre, Luxembourg, and at the Tour Eiffel. Went to the Thai restaurant, the bagel shop, and the cafe by the metro in my neighborhood. Had a delightful afternoon dessert at le Fumoir, and then a lovely dinner at the top of Centre Pompidou (spectacular view and an absolutely gorgeous waiter). And then dinner at the Budda Bar, and breakfast on the street near the Lourve with David and his friends. Nicolas recommended the macaroons from La Maison du Chocolat...and, he was right. The best chocolate macaroons. INCREDIBLE!!

The apartment was perfect. Right on the canal and so nice to come home to every night. I would fall into bed. Exhausted. And listen to the music of the French language being spoken on the street below my window.

Au revior, Paris! Merci...

Last day in Paris

Today, I went to the Eiffel Tower, road the Batobus (sp?), went to the Lourve, and was chased down the street in the Marais neighborhood by a man who claimed he needed and loved me... (so much for being safe in the gay part of town).  It's been a fascinating and wonderful adventure. 

More details to come... heading to Scotland tomorrow!

Paris

I'm sitting in my penthouse apartment listening to someone play the guitar on the canal.  It's 1:43am and I'm actually not exhausted.  This is the lastest I've been able to stay awake in this country.  I think I'm finally beating the jetlag. 

I was able to meet up with a friend tonight, which was nice.  It made me feel much closer to home to just be able to have an entire conversation in more than basic English.  I didn't realize I hadn't had a conversation like that in over 2 days. 

I've walked a ridiculous amount of Paris.  I know the trains well, have figured out how to get wifi and a toilet for free (given the right circumstances), and have seen some enchanting views and gorgeous tiny cobblestone streets. 

Today, a painter took a photo of me and said I might show up in his art some day. 

I hope this works...

I'm sitting in Luxembourg gardens eating a crepe watching a surprisingly diverse group of men play bocce ball.  Everytime I look away I think a ball will fly out of the box and hit me in the head.  It never happens.  ...or hasn't yet... :)

It's my third day in Paris, and feels like I've been here for weeks.  I've walked so much of the city, and my back and feet are so sore that I'm wondering how I will make it through the rest of this trip!  :) 

I get talked to by men on the street.  The cute ones seem to only speak French.  If I give one of them my hand, I've found it's hard to get it back. 

The internet at my apartment isn't working, so getting online has been tricky.  At the same time, it's been good to be unplugged.  ...but, today, I think I've found a way to get free internet.  We'll see.  I also thought this yesterday.  It's been an ongoing quest.