MAGIC

So here we are, week 2, and it has been a WILD lil journey. Classes have been... classes, nothing too exciting there. I worked way too hard in basketball class, sweat up a storm, a dripping mess. Excited to get the ball rolling, get a lil exercise rockin'. Today I took my senior pictures. I thought they were free. They weren't. But I figured "hey, you're only a senior once." Like, it was whole cap and gown ordeal, the whole "look at my hand, tilt your head to the left, good good good." We'll see how they turn out, who knows if they'll be any good. The lady helping me was SUPER enthusiastic, she was funny.

But that wasn't the exciting part.

This week has been full of MAGIC. Here's the story. I'm eatin' lunch in the cafeteria on Thursday, finish my grub, and take off towards the mailboxes. Out of nowhere, Ms. Jenette Hatch appears, a friend from Hume Lake who IS NOT a student at Biola. So, naturally, it was surprise to see her! I proceed to ask her what she's doing and she exclaims "I'm going to Disneyland! Do you want to go?" to which I respond "Uhh.... what? I don't have a season pass, I don't have the money to go." Turns out, Ms. Jenette Hatch WORKS at Disneyland so she can get a select few in for FREE! Let's just say I was in shock, I couldn't believe it. I felt like I was on a reality tv show like Punk'd or something. We were going to Disneyland, the happiest place on earth, the LEAST likely place I could have imagined I would end up that day. So we went, picked up Ms. Sierra Falco and Mr. Dan Mitchell and the four of us took to the rides, took to the thrills, took to the jaw-dropping incredibleness of the magical land of Disney. A few incredible things happened. First, we spent a lot of time in California Adventure. I had not been to Cali Adventure in probably 10 years and WOW! this place was like a foreign country. So many new experiences to be had! We rode the rides, experienced the new Cars Land in all it's glory, and screamed on Screamin'. We headed over to Disneyland to ride on Skipper Tim Wiseman's boat through the Jungle Cruise. Let me tell you, this guy HAD JOKES! Easily the best Jungle Cruise skipper I've ever heard, and I'm not just sayin' that because I know him. SO original, SO punny, SO clever. He pulled a Pocahantas joke that had me laughing for the rest of the ride. The dude's a pro. After finding Ms. Sierra Falco's phone which had decided to soar over California a few more times without telling anybody, we headed for World of Color. Folks, World of Color is unlike anything you've EVER seen. It puts the Bellagio fountains to shame and I haven't even seen the Bellagio fountains! The show was a masterpiece of technological achievement; so well put together, so well orchestrated, so well executed. The show of shows. AMAZING. So, all in all, pretty fantastic day, just like an unexpected, dream-like surprise should be. Here are some photos from that day.

What a day! Ms. Jenette Hatch was so gracious to provide the means to fantastic experience. Doesn't get much better than that!..... OR DOES IT.

A few days go by and BOOM Ms. Jenette Hatch asks if we want to go to Disneyland... again. I mean... WHAT?! How was this possible. I hadn't been to California Adventure in probably 10 years and now you're telling me I'm going to be there twice in a matter of four days? Punk'd, I'm telling you. So off we go again with two more guests, my sister Ms. Melanie Lott and a friend of Ms. Sierra Falco's, Ms. Hannah Vigiano. Funny story with Ms. Hannah Vigiano. So, as we're walking from the parking lot to the trams, Hannah and Dan connect that Hannah was a counselor at Meadow Ranch at Hume Lake while Dan was a Meadow lifeguard. Hannah was immediately embarrassed, none of us really knew why. She sort of explained it and then mentioned that she does this horse noise with her mouth that she is pretty famous for. We all laughed. And then I thought a second. "Wait wait wait. Did you meet this voice actor guy on the dock and you did your horse noise for him?" While my family was at Hume Lake, my dad's friend, Mr. Jon Olson, a voice actor in many films, videogames, etc, came up to visit and we cruised around the Hume campus, doing voices and noises and all sorts of other things. We quickly heard there was this girl who could do a fantastic horse noise who was at camp that week. As we were walking down the dock talking about it, a girl passed us, overheard, and said "Hey! That's me!" She proceeded to do the horse whinny, impressed us all, we all laughed, and continued on our way. We couldn't believe we found the horse girl! Well, THAT HORSE GIRL WAS MS. HANNAH VIGIANO, the girl I was now going to Disneyland with. WHAT?! WHAT. A. SMALL. WORLD. And BOOM. Round 2 begins.

This day, Labor Day, it was WARM and water was a necessity, as were FastPasses. Apparently, the classic Indiana Jones was closing down the very next day for renovation so we HAD to ride the classic. FastPass it was. We also got FastPasses for Star Tours, well, Mr. Dan Mitchell and I did. As we were getting the FastPasses, the ladies hopped in line for Thunder Mountain. When Mr. Dan Mitchell and I returned, we were unable to get into line with the ladies without making complete fools of ourselves by cutting in front of the masses of patient people who are honestly and respectfully waiting their turn to ride Thunder Mountain. We weren't the happiest, but you know, what are you going to do? So we said, "Forget the Thunder Mountain train, we're going to ride the Casey Jr. train." So we hopped in the monkey car, joined a small latino family of 3, and enjoy the sights and sounds of the miniature Disney lands. It was wonderful.

We spent a SOLID amount of time on the Island formerly known Tom Sawyer's Island, now called the Pirate's Lair. I had NEVER been on this little Island right the middle of the Magic Kingdom, and boy, have I been missing out. We explored the claustrophobic caves, searched for buried treasure, jumped on janky bridges, yelled in voice tunnels, climbed into treehouses, sat on piles of money, just about everything a little kid can dream of. Super fun.

Here's a fun little story. We're riding Toy Story's Astro Blasters. Fantastic ride, fantastic game. Mr. Dan Mitchell knew all sorts of cool secrets, most notably the small black dot in the middle Emperor Zurg's that's worth something like 50k worth of points. While we're on the ride, he's yellin at me and I'm yellin back, and then the picture was taken. Here is our conversation:

The day went on, we rode rides, had a blast. All of a sudden BOOM! the day was basically over. So what did Mr. Dan Mitchell and I propose? WELL, we never rode Thunder Mountain! So we rode it, three times in a row. Apparently, it's really cool to turn around and watch one thing... or something. So we rode it, face backwards, and yelled, loud. As we were facing backwards, this dude drinkin' a drink was in the very back seat. We were all lookin' backwards at yellin' at this dude and it was the FUNNIEST thing I have seen in a long long time. He was so laxadasical, slowly sippin' his coke as we're all lookin' right at him, yellin' our lungs out. Hysterical.

Here's some photos:

TOO MUCH GOOD STUFF! The happiest place on earth, nothing quite like it.

Here's another story:

So, on July 21st, I attended a Portugal. The Man concert at the Annenburg Space for Photography, hosted by the fantastic radio station KCRW. The concert was incredible, but that's not what this story is about. The Annenburg Space for Photography is just that, a space for photography. Currently in the exhibit was a show entitled Who Shot Rock & Roll, a show that was incredible, but that's not what this story is about. The line to get into the gallery was very very long and it was approximately a 3 hour wait. The concert was hosted by KCRW, so, naturally, the audience was FULL of artsy people who would be interested in a gallery space, so, naturally, the line was excruciatingly long. This is where the story begins. I'm standing in line with Mr. Kyle Dietz and Ms. Shannon Stowers. It's a long line, so a conversation is struck up with the woman behind us, a woman named Yolanda. This woman was SO interesting, she was SO experienced in everything from the film industry, to blackjack dealing, to mixed cocktails, to living well, to live music. A native New Yorkian, Yolanda told us story after story of different adventures she's had throughout the world, incredible experiences she's had while dealing blackjack, story after story after story after story. After a few hours of waiting in line, PIZZA became the topic. Yolanda made it very clear that she was PASSIONATE about pizza, she know what good pizza tastes like. She goes onto tell us there is only ONE pizza place in California that serves pizza the way it was meant to be served (there used to be two but the other one basically self-imploded, Yolanda had a story about it). This pizza place was called BRONX PIZZA in San Diego, California. I told Yolanda I was probably going to be headed down to San Diego sometime soon due to my business of weddings. She immediately gave me her business card and told me to let her know how the pizza was. Let's just say I was JAZZED, I wanted to taste the best pizza in California. We then went through the gallery, enjoyed it very much so, and said our goodbyes to our new friend Yolanda.

Fast forward a month. Mawwiage Films has a wedding booked for La Jolla, San Diego just 12 miles from Bronx Pizza. I tell Mr. Isaac Svensson we absolutely have to try this place. So guess what? We did just that. Before the wedding this last Saturday, we headed down to Bronx Pizza, this little hole in the wall place with a logo that looks like it was designed by a 4 year old. We walk in and order. The pizza is ready. We take a bite. BOOM BOOM BOOM. Fireworks. This pizza was good, REAL good. It's a tad difficult to explain why. The crust was perfectly thin and crunchy (my favorite). The cheese was perfectly thick and melted. The meat was perfectly cooked and formed a perfect ratio around the pizza. The meat perfectly "leaked" it's marvelous juices into the perfect cheese. The vegetable were perfectly cooked and placed strategically along the perfect crust. This pizza was INCREDIBLE. This little hole in the wall pizza joint, selling pizza pies, made by a crew of big, tatooed white guys, smoking cigarettes. This little pizza joint that Yolanda claims is the best pizza joint in California. She just may be right. I will DEFINITELY be returning if I'm in the area. You should too. 111 Washington Street, San Diego, CA. You now have the address, you simply can't say no.

And that, my friends, is today's blog post. STORIES. Lot's of stories. Gotta love it. I've realized (and I've been told) that I tell a lot of stories and then retell a lot of stories. Stories make the world go round.

Tell a story to someone today.