Scavenger Hunting

I enjoy scavenger hunts. Give me a clue that requires me to use off-the-wall random knowledge I've acquired to take me to the prize and I’m all thrills. I like scavenger hunts when there is a foreseeable end; in two hours tops, it’s over.

My brother and I (him in the middle and I on the right) used to craft scavenger hunts around the house; one of many of our made-up games that we created to amuse ourselves. This along with stair ball and slither-on-the-carpet-around-the-living-room-and-not-get-caught-by-the-light-on-the-alarm (okay this one didn’t have an “official” title), were a few of my favorites.

For our house-hunts (not to be confused with HDTV’s popular hit ‘House Hunters’), we would make the other sit in their room until all the clues we had thought up were spread out amongst the house. We’d get real creative with clues like, “Mom says we can’t have these til after dinner,” that led us to the teddy bear cookie jar. Whoever completed their scavenger hunt in less time, won. And usually at the final destination, there was some type of prize. Maybe a lego piece or something else that would bring relative joy to a 10 year old.

These were what I considered to be good times. You figure it out in minutes, go to the next destination and before you know it, success! You win.

Suck it scavenger hunt.

The house suddenly became the world and I realized that these clues could take me anywhere. That in itself is incredibly overwhelming. What if I misread these clues? If the “hint” was to take a left at the fork and I took a right and ended up in Norway but was supposed to be in Nepal* (yeah, right)...will another path form? It’s not as easy as backtracking from mom and dad’s room to the living room. And if I do misstep, are there two possible right answers or can we increase the odds and say there are infinite directions that lead to awesomeness?

I realize I am overanalyzing. I do this often. This time my excuse is that a new year of my life looms just days before me. I am about to hop on the slide that will take me into the latter years of my twenties and that in a sense is terrifying. Not because I feel “old” (okay maybe a little) but because I haven’t figured it out. Unlike my brother’s clues, they are very well hidden.

"All you have to do is pay attention; lessons always arrive when you are ready, and if you can read the signs, you will learn everything you need to know in order to take the next step." -Paolo Coelho

Sweet. I'm all ears.

*Devoted blog readers (all two of you), please remind me I wrote this when I send you a postcard from Nepal.

I hope this doesn't make me Unamerican.

“Tonight is about Krystal and Lee.” – R. Seacrest

Actually, it was more about Simon’s send off. And Ms. Abdul returning to Idol to send him off. She looked great, by the way.

The fact that every time Krystal and Lee began a song they were instructed to introduce a real artist, makes me think they really weren’t the focus of the evening. Also, since you’re making this statement to remind us who it is supposed to be about, leads me to believe that you knew the audience had been made to focus on other things that were not named Krystal and Lee.

Somewhere during my hiatus from Idol, it turned into a glorified karaoke contest. I didn’t tune in for the season in its entirety, but had to see what the co-hosts of ‘The View,’ I mean my real-life friends, were gabbing about. And all I can say is…

ReaLee?

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Bowersux. And her hair would enjoy the attention from a comb. Sorry, that was a low-blow. But so was her rendition of 'Ironic.' More on that later.

Karaoke is defined as “singing along with music where the vocals have been eliminated.” Maybe I should change my original statement, as these idol contestants were lucky to have the support of the actual artists. Sorry Alanis that you had to go through that. Krystal almost ruined one of your timeless songs. And Janet…thank God you came out to cut them off in their unharmonious version of ‘Again.’ PS-I like you without your weave. We can see that authentic Jackson plastic-surgeon bone structure. Why let all that money go to waste under the Cousin-It madness of fake Indian hair?! I digress.

What happened to the J. Huds winnin Oscars?

Or the Carrie’s cleaning up at the Grammys?

Neither of you, mark my words, will ever hold the weight of an award statue. Unless we are including ‘Kid’s Choice Awards’ or ‘MTV Music Awards’ which are not really considered awards. Well, it depends on whom you ask I suppose. So maybe talk to Kanye. He’s hella surrrious about the MTV recognition.

Exhibit A:

The cast of ‘Glee’ should all audition for American Idol. Or is there some clause that forbids anyone with actual talent to enter the contest?

Seems to always come back to the fantastic-ness of 'Glee.' What an episode last night by the way, props to Kurt's dad, Burt. Hatin on the Hate.

And I’ll leave you with my favorite quote of the evening:

“What would you do if I sang out of tune?” – Lee.

Hmm..I would say turn off the TV set, but clearly this is not happening (see previous blog where I discussed how “easy” it is to do this).

Instead, I guess we’ll just make you the next American Idol.

The Reality of Glee.

Glee. What a smart fresh new show.

Something that celebrates talent of young people instead of their consecutive idiotic decisions, harming both their liver and increasing their chances for melanoma. At least they have clean laundry. Yes, I’m not-so-subtly waving my finger at you Guidos and Guidettes of the ‘Jersey Shore.’

I know there are a lot of good shows out there too; I’ve seen my fair share:

Meet the family of 2010.

B. Stinson showing his friends and all of us how to be AWESOME.

'Deal breaker' if you don't watch this.

This just makes me tingle with joy. That's what she said.

I also know there are more than a few not so great shows out there, and I admit, I’ve seen my share of those. And watched more than just one episode. I understand the whole appeal to these subpar TV listings that pollute our Comcast guides. It’s the whole ‘train wreck’ phenomenon where we cry, “I just can’t look away!" Weird thing about this is that you can. It’s called the power button and with a slight lift followed by descent of your thumb, it can all fade to black. Or to Glee.

So why tune into Fox at 9pm every Tuesday?

Glee takes us back to the harsh walls of the four year institution known as high school, or better known to some as hell. The time where you were judged for the superficiality of things such as the clothes you wore because that’s what your parents could afford (Mervyn's survivor here-upgraded to Old Navy in high school) to the location of your locker.

The kids of Glee find themselves facing these same challenges, and some worse (I don't know about you but I never took a slushie to the face), but confront them with the majestic sound of song. We've taken song to the stage to tell stories and to the big screen...and finally to our flat screens. And why not?

Through a diddy, can't we find ourselves back at the scene of our first kiss, best night of our lives or the moment we fell in love for the first time? Then appropriate follow-up songs for when that person we thought we loved betrayed us? Sidenote: REM-'Everybody Hurts' is one of my favorite sulking songs. Feel free to use it. And, I don't think I'm alone on this, sometimes don't we wish it would be appropriate to break into song at the most inopportune of moments? Sometimes we are without words (even me) so we must borrow from the best.

Glee reminds us what it's like to have dreams that never seemed impossible thanks to Rachel Barry. We all knew "that girl" in high school and we probably hated them...probably because we were envious of that talent and the self-confidence that came with that talent...we wondered where does that come from? I have trouble finding it now. Our Rachel Barry went on to become Miss America, point made.

Summed Up: A collection of misfits finding their purpose through musical verses. And it sounds amazing. (Okay..that was cheesy)

And thanks to the latest episode with the fantastic vocal assistance of my beloved Neil Patrick Harris, I will continue to Dream On.

Strangers.

I was comfy cozy on my couch watching my Tuesday night line-up when a loud crash interrupted the oh-so-intense dialogue of "90210." Annie was upset; she had just caught her parents fighting. How will she ever get through this disaster?

I didn't really move as sometimes I dilute my perceptions and don't think it's a big deal until someone else acknowledges that something has occurred, when A-town yelled from the other room. Oh, I guess she heard it to, maybe we should investigate?? Pause on Annie's face of turmoil.

We both rushed out onto our deck to investigate the cause of the sound. It had been raining, (surprise surprise Oregon) and dusk had fallen. Beautiful trees surround our abode so it was difficult to see through those, the darkness and the wetness to see what had occurred. We saw a car had pulled over to the barely there shoulder; only one car. Hmmmm. Our attention diverted from said car when we heard another loud noise come from another car about 100 yards behind the initial one. Something metal was now in the road and drivers were unable to see it due to the aforementioned conditions. On a main highway of commuters this could be cause for disaster.

I got on the phone to share this information so someone could come and take care of this as the last thing we'd care to witness that night is a car crash in front of our condo. Mission: Save Lives. During my phone call, Adelle and I stayed on our deck to watch the car that had pulled over. Finally, the driver attempted to move his car and a sound accompanied this effort that can only be compared to screeching nails-on-the-chalkboard as he was clearly driving on the rim of his wheel.

"Should I go down there?" Adelle asked as I was on hold with the authorities.

"Yeah, I think so."

In the meantime, a man who was walking his dog had seen the commotion we had heard minutes before. He had hurried back to his house to put the dog away, jumped in his car, and drove over to our condo where the wrecked car had moved to. His name was Jim.

Adelle met Jim in the parking lot who had already offered his cell phone and assistance to the elderly gentleman, Dick, who was behind the wheel. Dick claimed that the median had 'jumped up in front of me.' In Dick's defense, the median is hard to see when you are unfamiliar with the road and when it is dark out, but we came to find that Dick was born in 1914 as well. So a lot of things are hard to see when you were born two years after the Titanic sunk. He probably knew Rose Dawson...if only informally.

I joined Jim, Adelle and Dick after making sure someone was coming out to remove the hazard from the highway. The cops came and went and handed Jim what we now found out to be the hubcap to Dick's car. Dick seemed pretty together, he was a bit shaken up at first, but began to partake in our awkward discussion. Here we were: Two 25 year old women, a 65 year old man and a 96 year old man. We don't too often witness a crowd like this hanging out in their spare time. But there was something special about it.

Being that AAA likes to take their sweet time, we had about an hour and a half of time to waste in the parking lot while we waited with Dick and found out a lot about him. He was a vet of WWII in the Navy, a 1936 graduate of U Dub, he'd been married 71 years to his wife whom he'd had 4 girls with and they'd traveled the world together. They lived in Greece for 3 years which immediately connected us. Imagine that, a 96 year old caucasian man and I have something in common.

Toward the end of our conversation, I thought about how I was missing 'Glee' (in REAL time...it was being DVR'd) and wondered why the universe found it necessary for our paths to cross that night. I'm still not really sure why, but there is something to say for the beauty in meeting strangers. If I'd just seen Dick on the street, there is a slim chance that I'd stop and carry on a conversation with this elderly man.

Before we parted, Dick trembled as he put his hand in his pocket in search of a piece of paper.

"Can I get both of your girls' addresses so I can formally thank you?"

Adelle reluctantly took the paper as this wasn't necessary, but what a kind and traditional gesture this man had made. One which we tend to forget.

The beauty in a thank you.

The beauty in helping out a complete stranger.

"There are no strangers here. Only friends who haven't met yet." -Irish proverb spotted in a bar in Philadelphia.

It was a pleasure to meet you, Dick.

Phantastic Times in Philly

We all know that I travel. A lot. This year I have made my travel theme, if you will, new adventures to lands I have yet to discover...

So far in 2010:

• Park City, UT for Sundance in January

-Amazing Films

-Fantastic Traveling Companion; Miss Sarah Shintaku

-Met new and wonderful friends

-Saw my crush Joseph Gordon-Levitt & Adrian Grenier

-Surrounded by art in the making and final stages.

Dare to Tell your story.

• Philly, PA for reunion in April

-Quality time with my Beaver Bud Allison

-Much needed visit from my Megan Bostonian

-Historical & Pop Culture tour of the land

-Oh and of course, playing on random game pieces

On the calendar:

• TBD – May
• Cabo San Lucas – June (I spent about 8 hours here on a cruise before, that’s it)
• Dallas & Austin, Texas – September

Repeat Awesomefenders:

• Seattle, WA - Girls trip!
• Newport, OR -Seafood & Wine Fest

Enough Reminiscing of times had, let's look at the current adventure.

I went to Philly to visit one of my ole pals from OSU, Allison, and meet Megan, an old pal from Greece (she’s not Greek, we were roomies there) as well who drove down to Boston in a terrible 7+ drive to meet me in the City of Brotherly Love.

Day 1/Night 1:

Took my first red-eye ever, leaving PDX at 11pm PST arriving in DTW at 6:15EST and then arriving at my final destination at 9am EST. I thought I would be exhausted and in desperate need of a nap as I was engrossed in ‘Game Change’ and maybe slept 3 whole hours. Turns out, adrenaline conquers drowsiness and after I dropped my bags off with Allison at school (she had to finish class for the day), I headed out into Philly solo-without a map and a Droid with a low-battery. Dad, if you’re reading this, you needn’t worry, as you can see, I got back in one piece.

I knew I’d be seeing the sites with Megan and Allison, so I decided to stalk out the set of ‘Dark Fields’ starring Robert DeNiro and the delicous Bradley Cooper. All I was presented with were sets and a very cleverly labeled on-set bathroom which were titled ‘Desi’ and ‘Lucy.’ On my way to the set however, I was greeted by the infamous LOVE sculpture smack dab in JFK park. What a feeling. To be walking along in search of something else, thinking you might have a clue where you’re going, then just like that...

Love sneaks up on you.

After some aimless wandering, I found my way back to Allison’s school to meet her to drop off some stuff at her place and then to find my cheesesteak. Al lives in Center City, a fab locale. Her place, as most others, is built in this row house fashion where there are 4 moderately sized floors, one essentially for each roommate (not including the basement-that’d be 5) that are connected my micro-spiral-step staircases. Of course, she was on the top floor. Good thing I packed lightly or I would’ve been commuting to my luggage on the main floor. Not that a commute is anything new to this one.

Mission Cheesesteak: Allison took me to the infamous street where two rival cheesesteak joints call home. We opted for Pat’s because the menu was a bit more expansive. I know, what really is there to expand on in a cheesesteak? Trust me, there was a difference.

It was greasy. Flavorful. But just okay. I felt kind of like the first time I had a voodoo donut that everyone had raved about in Portland. Kind of the, that’s it? A bit anti-climatic, but necessary nonetheless to consume. My appetite has been filled and for the sake of my arteries and desire to live a long beautiful life filled with adventures to strange lands, I think I’ll lay off the greasesteaks. I mean cheese.

We then took a stroll through history. Found that bell that’s on all of my ‘Forever’ stamps. Stood in the courtyard where our independence was declared. Visited our home girl B. Ross’ house where she first sewed up our flag and she apparently resided with her cats, as there were 2 cat statues, I kid you not, in her courtyard. Al and I are also convinced that she is buried with a flag that contains a map to a very important national treasure. Thank you Nic Cage for making us paranoid about every important document or artifact of our nation’s history.

After making a good first-day tour, we sat down to chat in Old City at a pub over some adult beverages, good conversation and yes, spotted an Oregon license plate (my homeland), an Alaskan license plate (Allison’s native land), and California plates (where Allison recently resided). After we scoped out some cheap grub in Center City we went home to call it a day.

Day 2:

Allison had class and Megan wouldn’t be arriving til that evening, so I took this opportunity to have some QT with Philly. I started off with a cheap breakfast at a diner while watching high school aged kids take their sweet time eating at 10:00am on a Friday. Either they were skipping (our idea of Cruisers, CHSers? What? We never skipped..well, not for breakfast…) or it was probably one of the many inservice days that our public school system observes. Preventing children from learning and honoring budget cuts, one inservice day at a time.

I thought I’d get lost in a completely new direction today and pleasantly found myself on the Avenue of The Arts where the amazing Kimmel Center is located. In addition to this grand architectural feat, I found quirky tinier theaters, music shops and beautiful buildings. I stopped into a café called, ‘More than just Ice-Cream’ to read and eat a float, and oh yes, stalk out set #2 of ‘Dark Fields.’ Again, during my mission to find this, something else came my way. Possibly one of the most entertaining conversations I’ve ever eavesdropped on. Two 50 something gay men were sitting very closely behind me, discussing everything from their disdain of having a movie filming there and blocking off ‘all the f’ing streets’ to their theories of Oprah’s sexuality.

Man 1: She’s obviously a lesbian.

Man 2: Obviously.

Man 1: That’s why she’s quitting her show. When she does, she’ll come out.

Man 2: And her “best friend” Gayle? Definitely her lover. Poor Steadman is just along for the ride. He likes p______. But, so does Oprah.

If this ever were to happen, which is highly unlikely, I tip my hat to you, incredibly loud-opinionated seat neighbors at ‘More than just Ice-Cream.’ Your store name doesn’t lie. What a conversational treat.

When I finally left to do some window shopping, buy some souve’s and what not, I found myself craving a little libation. I walked into the first bar I saw, plopped down and started reading. A loud voice from behind me with so much character it could not be ignored, startled me when he excused my sneeze. At this point, I looked up to find myself in a bar full of men. Hmmm…I thought, interesting. Women don’t enjoy an after work drink? Nope, not at this bar Teela. This bar in particular is where men come to meet, well, other men. I finished my drink, watched a little Oprah (funny enough playing in the bar), and hit the road.

Later that night, Megan was still en route and I grabbed happy hour drinks with Allison and her boyfriend AJ at a bar in Old City.

By the time Megan finally made it through the treacherous road conditions (there was a rainstorm) and hellish traffic, Happy Hour was over. After our dramatic reunion, we got some more food and went to our hotel where we entertained ourselves with made-up list games in pure Megan-Teela fashion.

Day 3:

Today was Megan’s day to soak in as much of the love as she could. Being that I had wandered the streets and have come to have a great sense of direction, I suggested that I take her on a tour to the cool things I’d seen and to the other places I was waiting for her to explore. We walked oh, about 10 miles. The Art Museum, where Rocky was filmed on those infamous steps, looked a lot closer than it really was. Which was just fine as we had a lot of time to catch up in between.

In addition to the sites Al and I went to, we went to LOVE park again, City Hall, Art Museum, The 1^st Bank in the US, 1^st “free library” in Philly, US Mint, and the Constitution Center.

After a day of playing the tourist role, we decided to delve into the local scene. We feasted on an Uh-May-Zing Mediterranean meal then hit the night scene. This was a pure source for entertainment in both positive and negative ways.

Positive:

Free drinks from a guy who simply wanted to buy us drinks. No conversation necessary. Score.

The DJ had a similar obsession to Jay-Z as this one. “Onto the Next One…”

Guys in Philly like to actually dance and CAN dance. There were no attempts at abrasive grinding. How refreshing.

Negative:

A guy pretended to be drunk in order to slump over the chairs that were housing our purses. When they moved, he moved with it. When he saw we weren’t wasted broads, he moved onto the next one, in true Young Hova fashion.

Megan’s toenail got ripped off by a big foot.

Day 4:

The only thing that really justifies the last day in Philly is described best by one of the last conversations I had. A lady sat down next to me in the subway while I was waiting for the train that wouldn’t be coming (apparently, the train doesn’t run to the airport on the weekends-Yes Philly, that makes perfect sense).

Geographically ignorant woman: Where are you from?

Me: Oregon.

Geographically ignorant woman: Ohh..where is that?

Me: West coast. Above California.

Geographically ignorant woman: ::Looking up into space, as if thinking. Trickster:: Is the climate there similar to Jamaica?

Me: ::SMH:: No, unfortunately not. (Last time I was in Jamaica it did rain though).

I placed by earphones back in their ears.

I got a good dose of Philly in my long weekend trip that I spent out there. Just like every place I go, I appreciated the people (good and bad-someone DID tell me to shut the hell up, unprovoked), the story of the land, the food (Mediterranean deliciousness, Cheesesteak meehh), and of course, the awesome and irreplaceable company of my wonderful friends who took time out of their lives to meet in the city of brotherly love.

For the sake of keeping this entry positive, I will not discuss the children who took residence in Row 26 Seats B&C who made my life hell for 4 hours and 15 minutes, and not a minute less. I'll save that for a future post. Had I been a therapist, their father would’ve received a nice pamphlet on ‘Parenting’ from me.

I hear it's all you need.

Just a teaser of what is to come.

Philly trip 4.14.10-4.18.10

XoXo

Healthcare Part Deux: Republicans taking a siesta?

Okay, the name calling and interruptions were enough. But this….

This is outrageous.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/24/gop-senators-refusing-to_n_511639.html

Republicans: You knew taking this job that you win some, you lose some. It is the very nature of your job. Was the whole election thing not an indication about what you were getting into? You know, the whole campaigning, persuading and voting thing…that gave you no "hint" of how your actual job in the public office would operate? If that wasn’t enough, it had to be in the job description somewhere. Oh wait, maybe you didn’t read the job description. I know Sarah Palin didn’t.

Fact: You win some, you lose some. And when you lose, you do not adopt the demeanor of a two year old by metaphorically crossing your arms, walking away, and refusing to listen. Grow up.

I would hope that being adults, you could lose graciously and still do the job that the people have elected you to do and moreso are paying for you to do. I'm pretty certain the dems did this when we entered an unjust war.

People usually walk out of jobs when they aren’t getting the benefits they deem as fair (or none at all), are underpaid, and when they are suffering from ill treatment in the workplace. Humor me, which category does your current trial fall under? As we have already seen, you tend to sue. Fine, go with that one This is the action you are taking within the scope of your job to express your disagreement. But don’t take a siesta on our watch when we have troops counting on you to pass important legislature/laws that will affect them in a war you voted for them to be in. That is inhumane, immature, irrational, and un-American.

PS- I know a lot of people who are unemployed that would probably love to do your job if you don’t plan on being there. So if you really don’t want to be there, give up your seat so someone who is doing the job can receive a paycheck that we are signing.