Wanderlust Circus hits San Francisco - Day of the Show

I got up and helped Ben the supercook make superbreakfast. Dutch helped a bit, too, more or less offsetting the bacon he kept snitching. Miranda did dishes, as did Noah. Dunno why I feel like calling out props, but it's important that helping hands are noticed and appreciated.

We stunted around and relaxed and showered and got ready for a show. Then we piled back into the Wanderbus and Susie-Q, and drove across the Bay Bridge. Breathtaking. I was trying to paint my nails black & white, and the view kept drying stuff up. My rough paintjob now reminds me of San Francisco's Bay Bridge. Aw.

The venue was freakin' sweet. The stage was *almost* adequate, but Creature did his magic and up went an extension. Then it was simply a little too shallow, but we more or less coped. But headspace we had, and good visibility to the crowd. Plus, the green room was on a balcony behind the stage, over a cool arched bridge that *screamed* out for handstands. It got 'em, too. I saw to that bridge.

The aerialists had 4 different mounts, including a pulley that the local circus crew used (with Dutch's ballast) to raise and lower Brandy and Jess during their routine. It was super-cool.

Brandy and Jess
These girls get a big shout out. They're supercool. I think that they finally got comfortable that the Kazum guys weren't trying to get in their pants like the rest of the male and pro-lady female population of the planet.

That's good; it gives us an edge. ;)

But we're not *aggressively* trying to bed them, so they relaxed and hung out. Stunting, joking, bickering, taunting the spamminess of... all kinds of stuff. Man, if those two ever saw this blog they'd flip out. A single paragraph of internet was too much. This old-school text-based communication thing is just way too wordy... and that's pre-Scott. Once I get done with it it hardly resembles words at all. Just big chunky blocks of nearly-random text.

So, Brandy is 5-ninish until she gets into the air and then her legs grow longer. She's amazing to watch. I consciously didn't, in fact. I don't like ogling. Jess I can watch; she's a little sister, I think. Brandy's just too fun to watch, for me.

I *love* watching people watching a show, by the way. Crowd watching is a riot. And when Brandy does her thing, the crowd's eyes and expressions are delightful to behold. Jess is gorgeous up there. The two of them are amazing together. The applause after their silk routine was thunderous. They, more than anyone, sold Wanderlust to S.F.

And then they danced like crazy. :)

But I'm jumping way ahead. First there was stretching and blocking the routine and rigging and hanging out for 5 or 6 hours until showtime. It was way fun. My shirt was discovered to be undiscoverable, so Alysia donned her Superhero Seamstress hat and built me a shirt from scraps. It was wonderful.

I went for a walk to explore S.F. but I got distracted by a marching band. M4 rolled up and I chatted with them as they disembarked.

Then things got loud. Sound check, talking, stretching s'more. M4 rolled out after an hour or two; they had another tiny gig and supper before the big show after ours. Here's a shot of that scene.

My focus up to then was on circus stuff, mostly - making sure we were moving along and good to go. And then Amanda arrived.

Amanda
She featured in a previous blog post. She's amazing, and when she gets fancied up she's one of the hottest little critters I've ever seen. She was my date for the show, which spins off into a whole guilt thing...

Dutch is very right that I don't deserve a dream date with a sexy girl just a week and a half from cheating on my girlfriend. He proscribed an arbitrary 2 weeks. I think that's kinda silly; 2 weeks isn't gonna atone for anything. But it is an actual cost, and a consequence, and something I shouldn't dodge. So I agree with him.

And then there's Amanda. *sigh*

I'd love to claim that I nobly refrained, but that isn't so. Instead, I got a super date that went home without me at the end for other reasons that had nothing to do with me or my recent bastardliness. So, in all the most important ways, things worked out really well.

Kazum did a full run-through that was not only choppy, but peppered with drops. Not terrifying... but still scary. Despite that, I think we all felt ready for the show. We were the first act.

It was choppy. Not terribly so... and we're all really good at pulling choppiness together. I love all of us so much! I saw James & Doc drop some stuff that had to hurt. The Ass Catch was at 95% power plus adrenaline, and I nearly ran out of stage to catch it in. But we got it. The extension stuck up there like a porn star, and the Triple Base cradled despite my fear that it was a goner. Somehow the Candelabra looked more or less complete, though it *felt* like it was holding together by fingernails, prayers and mantras. Adrenaline beat exhaustion, but heat exhaustion was a serious contender for the evening's competitions. I staggered offstage, forgetting that I was supposed to lift Jess up to Brandy, beelining for the back room that was delightfully chilly. I was actually starting to grey out a bit - so hot under spotlights doing high-intensity stunting with too many pounds of leftover computer nerd on me. Dutch felt every steak & cheeseburger he's eaten for a week, I'm sure. We're big fellas, we are.

I mingled a bit prior to Lions. I had a breathtaking date down there. I liked watching her dance from the balcony, but I also liked her dancing around me and beside me. There were many people to see, though, and stunts to be thrown.

Lulu was there! I love seeing her. But it's always at some crazy event, and I always have someone who's there with me. I'd love to try to kiss that girl at some point. I don't usually; most girls have to make a pass at me before I trust that they're interested. But I feel brave enough to take a chance with Lulu. Yum.

There was stunting in the smoking lounge, in back. There was much laughter and talk and hugging of good friends. It was a crazy fun party.

Lions went well. We were putting our hearts into being leonine. But the crowd couldn't really see us very well; the stage was a little bit too low to showcase Lions well. It felt like it went well, though - we got mad cheers for the final agonizing portion of the triple crab twist. I'm glad; that 3 seconds is always the most painful of any show. I think I flipped rather than handspringing 'cause the stage felt crowded, but that's fine.

The Kazum guys were ogled like we were made of chocolate. I wouldn't have believed it but I saw the girls looking at Doc & Dutch, so I suppose they were looking at me as well. It was scary. I was glad that I had a date. I felt that way once at the Roller Derby girls' party, too.

I had the most amazing night, and Amanda was often at my side. We danced a lot, and I've never danced before, really. It was more grinding than dancing, I think, but it was dancelike. I danced with Creature, and with Creature & Amanda, and it was pretty magical. I wasn't on drugs or anything. But I don't think I could've danced with anyone other than those particular two. Serendipity.

The crowd cleared out, and finally so did Amanda. *sigh* We all returned to Temple's place for The Afterparty.

Wanderlust Circus hits San Francisco - The Trip Down

On Thursday morning-ish the replacement Wanderbus began ingesting circus folk & gear. The morning before I dug ditch while listening to Creature mastermind a replacement. It was pretty impressive. All hail Kae, by the way. As Creature put it, "I didn't buy a bus, I bought a guy."

I had to work on Thursday from 9:30 to noon. I was all excited, telling all of my gymkids that I was getting in a car to drive to San Francisco to do a big circus show. Lots of my gymkids stunt with me; I love my job. Alysia's kind of the final evolution of gymkids to stunt with.

Then I biked to Clover's place with my backpack. One advantage of being largely homeless is that I easily pack for days at a time. Clover and Andy and I waited a bit for Sid and Dutch and then we filled Susie-Q to very near her weight limit, and drove her southward.

We stopped here and there to stunt, but most of the initial ride is hazed a bit by pain. Dutch and I are big fellas, and Susie-Q is dainty like her driver. My knees and legs were killing me, and Dutch matched my whine-intensity gripe for gripe. We were some unhappy large dudes.

Providence saw fit to offer us a cruel twist of fate, though. Not cruel to us - cruel to Wanderlust, who had to pay $650 for new tires when a piece of rebar in the road made messy rubber shrapnel of 2 replacement Wanderbus tires. A focused Mormon-looking mechanic made quick work of the repairs but not before my and Dutch's need manifested a meeting. We swapped onto the bus, which necessitated some stunting with Brittany Walsh.

Brittany Walsh
She gets her own header. She's incredible.

I've never stunted with Brittany before. Frankly, she intimidates me. She's a for-reals Circus acrobat - a hand-balancer who routinely achieves feats that leave me bitterly envious yet inspired to be a better me. But on a wacky Circus tour, my normally-robust inhibitions sometimes break down a bit, and I asked her to stunt.

She leapt gracefully to her feet and then my hands, and we did some basic stunts. But we did 'em well. She's one of the best first-stunts I've ever experienced. I pushed into a Butterfly from an Angel (her 2nd with me) and she just responded and flew it. Later at Temple's we did another Butterfly, and walked it along the wall. First time I've ever thought of or tried it - it went splendidly!

Every time I've asked her stunt since that initial one, she's jumped up and gone for it. I love this girl.

We ate delicious food while swapping tires & passengers, as well. Ben is a great guy. I figured he was, otherwise Uli never woulda snuggled with him and then blushed so entertainingly about it. Ben made superbomb food the whole trip. I want him as our cook every time. Not just for the food - he's a chill guy who's really nice. I'd love to hang out with him more. Hell, maybe we can even snuggle.

Then it was time to pile into the bus and find a place. Alysia had abandoned the bus for Clover's car, to keep the bus under its legal limit.

This was a point when I first actually saw clues about Doc & Alysia. They had hung out once before in a datelike fashion, but I blew that off. Until the bus - I saw a glance and an arm-touch that were pretty clear. Aw! And yet... hm. Doc's an older fella, divorced, has a kid, and going through a very familiar-looking reinvention of himself via the Circus.

I mean, I dated Gaelen, who was too young for me. But she wasn't young the way Alysia is young.

Perhaps I'm simply so suspicious of lechery in myself that I project it's potential in others? Nah, I don't actually think Doc's horning for a pretty 18-year-old.

I just worry that he's in flux, and she's potentially at risk of what the fluxing puts him through. But enough of that.

The bus took off with about 300 lbs more weight than it expected, but it seemed to handle it fine. I hovered for a bit, playing on the hang-bars, and flitting about in pure enjoyment of leg room while traveling. I like spacious busses way better than wee Irish cars.

I ended up by Creature, which was cool. He's a solid base for me to operate off of. But I floated around a lot.

There was a movie, Who Framed Roger Rabbit. I've not seen it in years. I watched most of it, but dozed off near the end.

There were a few stops, such as when we rolled into California and pinged closed liquor stores until bursting in on Weed. There was less stunting in Weed than one might wish. I slacked.

After that, we had booze. Dutch foolishly tried to lure the prim AWOL ladies (Brandy and Jess) into playing drinking games. They rose to the challenge and we had a laughter-laden 4-hour game of 21. Much fun. Favorite quote: "Table" by Brandy as a word to rhyme with. Super-inventive, those drunk A-WOL chicks. ;)

I also played guitar for an hour or so, which I enjoyed a bunch. I got to play to the back section where Tiari and Noah were sleeping, so I didn't feel like I was too-louding everyone else. I haven't played & sang for way, way too long. I gotta get my guitar to Jem's the next time I have boys.

We rolled into San Francisco and arrived at Temple's place. Temple is one of Creature's old circus buddies, and he is awesome. He put up the circus in his huge living space. Everybody but me even got something soft to sleep on. We crashed out *fairly* quickly, but we didn't even get there until morning, so I don't remember what time the last person went to bed, leaving me an empty living room at long last. I slept for 2 or 3 blissful hours before the breakfast crew began prep-work on the Day of the Show.