weekend photos

Took the camera out for a spin this weekend... On Friday, I went to The Huntington Library, a botanical garden and library. I took a weirdo lens that Chris & Dianne gave me for Christmas last year... Here are some shots:

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This morning, I went sailing with some friends on a small charter out of Redondo Beach. A beautiful morning!

High in St. Louis

Back on a plane after a weekend in St. Louis. I got into town on Friday, dropped in on the theatre to check things out, and then went to housing for a run. We were in the middle of a heat wave, and it was weird to have temps in the upper 80s while the trees had red and orange leaves. Still, I was glad for another bit of fall.

Tech went well over the weekend. The show didn't change much from Cincinnati, so there weren't many changes. I had a couple of cue rebuilds, mostly to account for slight changes in entrance/exit times. When I wasn't in the theater, I was usually grabbing a dinner with Ben and Anne, who live pretty nearby. They took me to a great persian place on Saturday night, and we had a yummy breakfast on Sunday.

This morning, I went for a short run before Ben picked me up for breakfast at a nearby creperie. Then, back to the airport to catch my flight. At the airport, there was a mixup with my reservation, which caused me to be a little late through security. As I was about to get into the security line, a guy called me over to a kiosk. He asked me if I was from St. Louis. When I told him I wasn't, he started to hand me a book from his table. They were religious tracts, of the hippie/Christian variety. I told him I wasn't interested, but he wouldn't take no for an answer. Finally, I told him I had to go through security because I was late for my flight. As I got in the line, he called after me: 'maybe if you slowed down, you'd find Jesus!'

Jerk.

On a plane, flying over what looks like the Utah desert. LA soon, then home, and home, and home. S flies from Hawaii to Baton Rouge at the end of the week. Everyone is traveling!

Another exhausting week

It's another day and another flight. This morning, I'm off to St. Louis to put in another version of HIGH at The Repertory Theatre of Saint Louis. This is the third time I'm doing HIGH, which started over the summer in Hartford. This time, since so much of the work has already been done, I'm only going out for a few days to take care of the put-in and the reinforcement. This particular venue has been tough to deal with, as they've been generally very late in getting in touch, contracting, logistics, etc. I THINK everything is on track, but I won't really know until I land in 90 minutes.

Classes at the U are going well. My undergrads are a blast, like usual, and my grad class is fun too (though it'll be more fun when we move away from the intense lecture days and start getting into the workshop/demo days).

This is my last trip for a while, and I'm really looking forward to spending some time at home. Cooking, cleaning, sleeping...

Oahu photos, October 2010

Here they are!

Yeah, we hiked that.

It was very very windy.

Diamond Head on the left. Waikiki on the right.

Our hike went along this ridge. You can see the trail.

Rock! Sarah!

Aloha Hawaii

Well, after a great weekend with S, I'm back at home in LA and ready for another workweek.

On Thursday night, I got to the hotel in Waikiki just in time to see S before we turned out the light. On Friday morning, after she left for work, I tried to run Diamond Head again, this time at sunrise. I got to the park alright, but the trail up to the top was mobbed with tourists, so I couldn't get a good stride going. I ended up just turning around and heading back to the gym. Later that morning, a van picked me up to go kayaking on the other side of the island. That was a lot of fun, particularly when we went out to a couple of islets and when we snorkeled. I saw a turtle! Dinner Friday night was traditional Hawaiian food.

Sarah had a two-day weekend, so Saturday started out with a Scuba trip. We had brief training session in the hotel pool before piling into a van to head out to the bay. Once in the bay, we had two dives with our small group of daring doers. The first was down to a reef, which was stunning. Octopi, snails, eels, and tons of fish. The second was down to a small crater, which was not quite as cool as the first dive. Post-dives, we had a nice massage at the hotel spa. Then, off to a fancy dinner for S's birthday!

The birthday restaurant situation threatened to be disastrous. I made online reservations at a highly-regarded restaurant in Waikiki, but when I phoned to confirm the reservation on Friday night, i got a disconnected tone. After deducing that they were in fact closed, i tried to call our second choice, but they couldn't seat us when we were available. Fortunately, one or the guides fro my kayak trip had recommended a place (after poo-poo-ing our original choice), and that place could seat us. Ninniku-Ya Garlic House turned out to be an amazing place, with garlic infused into every dish. Delish! We crashed that night.

Sunday was a day set aside for hiking, and we knew we needed to rent a car. Last trip, we rented from Hertz, but they were pricy (and shiny). Instead, I opted to rent from VIP Car Rental, which rented us a crappy Isuzu Tracker for next to nothing. The car engine grinded, squealed, and the transmission smelled. The tires were virtually bare, and when we got caught in a squall, we discovered that the roof (half of which was missing to begin with) leaked. Actually, we almost got in trouble when I parked too close behind a car facing down a hill in the rain. We couldn't back up, and every attempt to back up just slid us further down the hill, closer to the other car and into the sidewalk. After an unsuccessful neighborhood canvasing to try to find the owner and a failed attempt to push the car up the hill (thanks to a local man for some help), the owner came and drove his car away. Phew!

The hike was terrific! We started at the top of a neighborhood and went deep into the forest. Along the way, we saw beautiful vistas and foliage, and when we turned around, we saw Waikiki and Diamond Head in the distance. We eventually got to see a small waterfall before turning back. Then, a relaxing dinner at the hotel poolside bar, with tons of tourists, 'authentic' Hawaiian music, and overpriced cocktails.

This morning was back to the grind for S, and I went for another sunrise run. I didn't try to climb Diamond Head this time: I just ran around it. Then, home for a shower and packing, a walk across Waikiki in search of coconut pancakes (success!), a phone call to my folks, and back to the airport. Now, I'm en route back to LA. The trip computer says we have four hours of flying time left. That's a lot of time for watching movies handwriting emails.

The Clouds Roll In

Kayaking at the Mokes