SCI at Hornings - Saturday

On Saturday morning we met for some busking. We wandered for hours, performing tricks wherever we found groups of people. Lots of people took pictures and everyone seemed much entertained. I think we did a good job of adding ambient magic to the event.

We broke for lunch and the girls went to rest. I eventually moseyed in search of showers, and found the coolest shower ever. It's a big truck with a shower in it that holds up to 10 people. Once there are enough people ready, they turn on the foam hoses and we all squirt one another and ourselves with thick white foamy soap for 10 seconds. Then we get 5 minutes to wash and rinse, after which we can hang out in the carpeted dance room outside until we're dry and ready to head back out into the festival. It was super comfy and friendly and fun, with music pumping throughout the whole process.

The DJ was Blade, and he was awesome. There was also a dude there doing sweet breakdance-style flipping. I lifted up a couple of girls in fancy costumes, too, but didn't run into any of them again. I trained a bunch of fliers but never had any of 'em find me and re-stunt. Too bad.

Dutch and I stunted with Lisa Hahn at the hospitality camp. We did some sweet basket-tosses. She used to be a cheerleader.

We met backstage at 9:00. There was a big inflatable UFO as well as half a dozen enormous white helium-filled balloons. Lots of fire spinners, and a dozen or so half-black half-white clad folks. Clover had broken her foot earlier, so she couldn't be in the show. Uli & Miranda dressed up in white body-suits, Dutch and I put on our black body-suits, and Doc dressed down as darkly as he could. It worked; after the show Lisa Hahn asked why only 2 guys had done the show. She didn't see Doc at all. Sweet.

First came the fire. They lit a big peacock frame while the fire folks did their spinny burny excitement. Amy Hatfield was there - I saw her a bunch over the weekend. :) After the fire came hoopers, and finally the half-white/black people. Then us. I think we looked pretty tiny... Uli & Miranda circling out in either Angels or Arabesques (I forget which). We did static stunting and posing while the half-folk did their show. Then we came together to run our routine.

It was the first half of Death Blossom. We set it a bit too far forward - I wish we'd all been at Tech Rehearsal to get that dialed in, but none of the rest of Kazum feels like we need Tech Rehearsals. People I talk from outside the group, from other artists to our Production folks to audience members, tend to not agree. Gripe.

Anyway, it seemed to go well. Granted, it was an easy audience... they'd just been Cheesed and at least 3/4 of them were blitzed out of their gourds on E and acid and 'shrooms. Still, they roared most appreciatively at various points - the Double Lotus seemed to be a big favorite when the bases are invisible. The Diamondhead (aka Chinese Star) also got some loud love.

Then we scattered and did s'more stunting - Uli and I did the L-base Triangle sequence while talking and coordinating. When the balloons came out we left the stage and they opened it to the audience. The balloons, to my amazed delight, lifted an aerialist up to about 100 or 150 feet, where she did a breathtaking tissu routine. It was spectacular with her and the UFO both sharing the sky over Horning's. A really magical show.

I switched to Spiderman and helped the balloon folks take Lisa Hahn up. One of the bases stood on my shoulders to base - it was pretty interesting. Then they took Tia, our other contact. They let me hang on the balloons but I'm 20 lbs. or so too heavy. Otherwise I could've flown 150 feet above Horning's. As Spiderman. Bliss!

Spidey stunted around for hours with Dawn, who was in a beautiful peacock headdress that drew mad attention. We had a blast and got home at around dawn again.

Wanderlust Circus hits San Francisco - Meeting the Statues

When breakfast started happening we stumbled out and got ready for the day. After a shower I always feel super-better. There was markedly little stunting - a lot of people drank a lot the night before. I didn't; booze is delightfully more and more not my thing. I'm very glad of that.

So, amid the groans, I felt pretty darn good. Also, my wonderful Amanda returned to hang out with all of us. Everyone seemed to like her - though I suppose I only saw her meet and talk with a few folks. I'm lousy at judging other people's interactions, anyway, unless I'm watching closely.

There's always been kind of a rule - if you're dating someone then you can vouch for 'em to be part of the Circus family. At least, if you're placed high enough on the food chain. It really helps if they're helper-people, like Clover. Or if they're super-cute, like Clover.

We all kicked about until finally loading up our gear and bodies into the bus, which was an oven. It turns out that Amanda drives a sexy black Jaguar. I can't figure out what the hell this girl sees in me, honestly. I'm not arm-candy, my haircut was given by Uli in the parking lot on Saturday morning, I'm flat broke, and I can't dance. Seems like a California hottie driving a Jaguar would drive right past, right? Maybe I'm a ticket to the Circus, or like Dutch says, maybe I'm just that good in bed.

My opinion is that I talk to her like she's not a supermodel - she always blinks when I call her on shit, like she's not used to it. But she responds well to it - a super-attractive trait for me. I've lately dated a lot of girls who aren't at all interested in hearing a damn thing about my insights into what I would describe as their flaws. Few people are - another weird thing about this new culture. I used to spend the bulk of my time interacting with people who were earnestly seeking out their own flaws and striving for self-improvement. But in the big ol' world it's really rare to find anyone interested in another person's criticisms. And why would anyone be? The big ol' world is full of people whose insight is all chock full of ... what do the AA folks call it? Stinkin' thinkin'. Heh.

So, maybe Amanda likes being dealt with beyond her hotness. She seemed to, up in Portland. Or maybe I'm a nice guy and she responds to that. Or maybe we have lots of fun together and she digs the funseeking stuff. Or maybe I'm sexier than I realize. Girls tell me with straight faces that I'm handsome. Amanda did see me a lot in makeup and costume, and people are way, way sexier in makeup and costume.

Doesn't matter. She really digs me and I am glad. The sexy stuff is bonus. Was bonus. Might be bonus again. We might bump into one another again. My fingers are crossed. She's a pretty amazing girl.

So this amazing girl drives me in her hot sports-car to American Steel where the statues hang out. She brought snacks and wine - she doesn't drink. Supercool date.

I suited up in green coveralls and gloves 'cause I fell for the prank that I had to do so. I looked like a big green frog up there, and it was beastly hot. Nobody else who climbed on it had to suit up. It was probably Creature who made me dress up, that bastard.

I shimmied up the statue and tried out the things I'd been so eager to try out. Just positions and locations and relative distances. Trying to get ideas for what we can do on this fella. He's crouchy - there's a picture somewhere I know it.

He's all coated with thick cable that's got wires sticking out. They're sharp and strong and there's no easy way for us to crawl around on the statues. The crew who maintains them can buff them somewhat, but mostly we'll have to build some platforms.

His head is strong - I stood on it. I would love to see Brittany handbalancing up there, or one of us doing a handstand off it to a cradle below. I also wanna do some leaps down to thick padding. But mostly we'll using the platform on the shoulders, and jumping off (and maybe on).

After our exhausting 10-minute exploration of the statue we needed some rest, so we retired to the sunshine out back to stunt. There's a FaceBook picture from that time, yay! I'm holding Amanda, with my gut bulging out. Dutch claims I've a six-pack, but I've yet to see it. Brittanie is in the back, with Jay & Dutch & Tiari to the side.

Russ shared some excellent whiskey and coke, and I felt nicely buzzed for the rest of the evening. Thank you Russell!

Then we split up a bit. Tiari and Brittanie came in Amanda's car with us, and we went shopping. *cringe* I shoulda realized that taking off with 3 girls would mean shopping. It was fun hanging around with them between shopping sprees. :)

We met up with Dutch, Creature, Clover and Andy and hung out on Haight & Ashbury. That was pretty fun, but nothing exceptionally fun happened, really. Just lots of great company and chatting.

We rejoined the bus and waited as folks trickled back from wandering about. I got to make out with Amanda for a few delicious moments. I do like that girl. And she's super-responsive.

Creature decided to change his pants directly in front of Clover's car. She wasn't about to let that opportunity slip past, so she flicked on her lights to spotlight him. A minor funny moment, but memorable nonetheless.

Then it was time to bid adieu to my dream-date. Amanda had to take off. I hope to see her again, but part of her magical charm is that she's temporary. I think she'd be serious trouble if she were nearby.

We piled on the bus and headed out. A friend of Creature's had offered to give us a big meal and party, and we indulged in both. It was a great place, and some of our hosts friends came to party, too. They drank a lot (as did we) and some of them got kinda surly (as we did not). I missed most of that, thank heavens. I was chatting with various people all about, and drinking a bit.

At around midnight the bus loaded everyone up except me, Clover, Andy and Brittanie. We were the occupants of Susie-Q for the ride home. Brittanie and I crashed in a bed, and then a hide-a-bed a little later. We slept like the dead, waking at 4:00 to roll out for Portland.

Wanderlust Circus hits San Francisco - The Afterparty

I was bummed about Amanda leaving, but I was heady from the rush of being a circus acrobat and then dancing a bunch with a hottie. More importantly, I was with people I care for and trust. My circus family. Clover & Andy were staying at a different place again, sadly. But the rest of us were there, though a few folks crashed early.

A bunch of folk were drinking, including the fulla-fun AWOL girls (excluding Alysia, who doesn't drink or do anything bad except occasionally kiss a boy or perhaps think a swear-word now & then.) Miranda was all stunt-happy, but a little too inebriated for her body to cash the checks her mouth was writin'. Brittany jumped up, though, and did the afore-mentioned Butterfly wall-walk. So did Miranda. I think. I was pretty sleepy and wiped out by then. I'm reasonably sure that Doc and I did an extension, and I might've flown a shortlived angel on Dutch. But that mighta been in the AM.

I posted on FaceBook a time or two, at some point. I wish we had more pictures to help record the memories. :( One more reason to miss Joey. That trip would've been at least as wonderful with Joey. Unless she was drinking. Then it woulda probably been nightmarish. I gotta quit playing the "What if I hadn't" and the "What if she'd quit prior" game. It's been tearing at me enough lately, I think.

We did some stunting that's starting to trickle onto FaceBook. :) We built a 3-dog-stack with Dutch on top. Russ and I double-based Dutch. I extended Doc.

Temple realized that I'd love to utilize his rigging, so he began setting up for some harness-supported stunting. Superyay! But it didn't ever flower to fruition, sadly. Miranda was the gung-ho flier but she wasn't feeling very well by then. So things began to slowly wind down, with several of the single fellas congregating around the girls present. I just wanted to crash, so I followed the A-WOL party duo into the dark, relatively quiet bedroom, where they were giggling drunkenly. I just sat back and chuckled along with them for quite a while - that's when I was chastised for writing such long updates to FB. For some reason they found it HIlarious that I made a bowl of food to eat before I retired for bed. They were a riot.

As I ducked into the bedroom with the two giggling drunk aerialist girls I got one thumbs-up and one lecherous grin from two of the single guys. I wanted to try to address that but instead I just told the girls and we laughed about it. Nobody actually said anything about it at all, except Dutch, bless his heart for crediting me with that kinda potential. He thinks I'm sexier than I am, IMO. I may think the same of him, I dunno, but I've seen him jumped on by way more cuteys than I've been jumped on by.

Eventually the ladies went to sleep, and so did Miranda & Brittanie, followed shortly thereafter by me. Yay for sleep at last!

Brittanie is one of the volunteers for various Wanderlust shows. Miranda forbid me from hitting on her 'cause Cookie wanted exclusive rights. *snort* I agreed, though. Which was good, 'cause Brittanie digs me tons as a friend but has no interest in me as a guy. Up until this point I just knew her as Wanderlust Hottie Who May Be Dating Someone. (She wasn't; that's just an easily mistaken impression amongst our crew.)

Anyway, at this point I barely knew Brittanie. She was "Miranda's date" more or less.

So, we slept for a few hours. Like 4 or 6 - some nice biggish number. It was hot in there, with 5 people in a small room.

Circus & Relationship let-down blues

So, breaking up with Joey was tough and painful 'cause I deserved it and I hurt her. But then I had lots of busy-ness going on with working for Creature, stunting a ton, and prepping for the San Francisco trip. Facebook is a reminder of the painfulness - pictures of Joey and comments from Joey. But part of my busy-ness included no real online access. So, I was mostly distracted.

Now I'm back into the normal, boring old groove of my life. And now I'm missing Joey a lot, as well as missing the distraction & fun & emotional balm of circus camaraderie.

Despite that, I never quite find myself wishing that Joey and I were still together, somehow. I'm not 100% sure why that is, especially since she stopped drinking and that was one of the biggest challenges I had in our relationship.

I do keep finding myself wishing I'd just broken things off instead of stepping out and betraying the relationship. :( That really eats at me. Dutch and Sara are great at reminding me of that, which I appreciate. I don't want a free pass, or to be distracted instead of hurting. I want to shoulder the consequences of my choice and be impacted by them.

In San Francisco I got lots of snuggling and fun. Amanda came out to see me, and she had clearly designated herself as my arm-candy. Very friendly, dancing with me, always standing next to me - it was wonderful. But Dutch's "No Action for Two Weeks" decree weighed on me. It turns out that Amanda wasn't there to sleep with me, anyway - she was just arm-candy. I'm not gonna claim 100% satisfaction with that... but all things considered I'm really glad it worked out that way. Sex with guilt attached wouldn't have been good. There was enough guilt about just the cuddly stuff & kissy stuff.

It was also nice to be attached. There were a bunch of hungry-eyed ladies at the show, and they were smiling at us Kazum boys like panthers eyeing a couple of plump bunny rabbits. I don't want to experience rock-star style casual hookups with hot babes. It freaks me out. I like people way more than I like flesh, and casual hookups are about flesh way more than they're about people.

Getting to know Jess & Brandy & Brittanie was super fun. Again, there wasn't any romantic pressure there - none of 'em are at all interested in me for whatever reason, so I can relax and just hang out with them. Yay! The AWOL girls were crazy fun. Spending the car ride back with Brittanie was also way fun. She was raised Mormon, and it's tough to see her as a hot girl now. At the same time, she's super attractive to me - I understand Mormon girls, very much, and I really bond well with them. That makes me (mostly) glad that she's too young for me and uninterested in me, to boot.

Lulu was really friendly at the show, as well. She's been friendly in the past, and I always seem to have a relationship or a date at the time. Lame. I'd love to kiss Lulu. Even more, though, I'd love to hang out with her and get to know her. I only ever see her at big festive parties and afterparties.

I also love hanging out with Anna. Again, she's not at all interested in me for whatever reason, and that leaves us free to snuggle and cuddle and hang out without any romantic pressures. :) She's another girl that would be big trouble if she liked me.

Adrienne is another matter. She used to go on at length about how much she wanted to be my lover, but since reconnecting with her after breaking up with Joey, she's not been at all romantically forward. Maybe it's just Dutch's hostile "Two Weeks!" energy. But it's for the best, I think... as Dutch would say, I don't deserve rebound action. And, painfully, I agree with him.

But I've been dating someone or other for the last year or so, and I'm into my 2nd week without any lovin's. It's difficult. And that's okay. If I strive to be honest with myself, that's even excellent. Just tough.

This somehow turned into a "list the girls I'm crushing on" kind of post. Lame.

Back to the circus. :)

I wanna be on the Wanderbus more in the future. The car is great! But it's just got less people to get to know. I did enjoy reciting my entire repertoire of poems while driving through northern California in the early AM. Everyone else was asleep (though Andy caught some of it) which lets me just relax and not be nervous about soliloquizing. I'm oddly shy for someone who's so often spammy and powerfully extroverted.

Playing drinking games with Dutch and Uli and the AWOL ladies was spectacular. I didn't spend much time with my all-time favorite AWOL girl on this trip, sadly - Alysia was usually doing things where I wasn't. :( But she was quite adequately entertained, as was I, and I sure hope that we'll resume our hanging-out patterns now again despite the interference of a certain Kazumite who's started monopolizing her time. :)

I didn't spend much time with Uli or Miranda, either. On Kazum-only tours we get way more time together. I can't wait for more of that. I love those girls very much.

Brittany Walsh is a stunt-goddess! She also doesn't know how to say "no". Pretty much the perfect girl for me. Off-limits, super-stunty, no inhibitions about stunting. Right on.

I feel bad, as though I stole Kae's dream girl. Amanda came for me, and was there to be my date, but both Temple and Kae were crushing on her pretty hard (and who wouldn't be, good heavens).

I really need to blog out a chronological order of events for this trip, for my own memory if nothing else. And... Clover just called and I need to go pick up my bike. So, this is the end of this disjointed ramble.

I miss Zac. *sigh* And Alex. Why can't they both live close by again? I haven't had a best friend for months, now.

Kazum Shows

We haven't done any paying gigs since White Album. We did a cool benefit for Clowns without Borders, which went really well. Everyone feels like it was our best performance of Piggies ever. Doc's doing a bang-up job, increasing his skillset constantly and drilling all the time. Dutch is taking a more involved role in group decisions and choreography - Uli seems to be handling that pretty darn well. Yay!

Here's a shot of the Candleabra from the CwoB benefit:

And here's Dutch's favorite stunt, the Big Sexxy:

Oh, Uli and Aspen separated. They're still friends, which is great. Uli's dating one of Emily's roommates, a dapper gentleman named Daniel. Aspen's seeing a girl named Emily who's one of Dutch's biker friends. I hung out with Aspen and Wacko just a week or two back, which was much fun. It ended up getting me and Clover invited to perform with them for Covers and Blankets.

Clover has been stunting with us (primarily me) heavily. We're moving forward with plans to teach Circus and/or Stunting classes at the Playground Gym, smack-dab in the middle of the Egg and Rose City Gym. Perfectly located. The Covers and Blankets gig was our first performance together. Honestly, it was kind of a train wreck. Rather than the opening Pop & Go Extension we downsized to a Chair - and still dropped the first attempt. *blush* Our timing was choppy, we agonized through a badly-off-balance Dead Goat spin, and we threw the Star prep too early twice before finally getting on beat with the music. The costume that seemed so fun ended up being a lot more lewd than I would've chosen if I'd been thinking about the venue. I'm not all broken up about things, but I'm disappointed in how things turned out. At the same time, it was our first gig together, with 2 days of prep-time, and it wasn't an official show, so it was a great gig to be choppy for.



Prior to that Kazum did Piggies for a private press show at the Bossanova, and that went great and was very well received. I'm still kind of surprised each time we do it - surprised that we can get all 7 people onstage and make it look good. I'm also very pleased that Kazum can function with 7 people and not rip ourselves apart at the seams. We've come a really long way since when I joined.

We did a photo shoot last Friday at the Someday Lounge. It was pretty sweet. I'm hoping to see and post some excellent stuff. :)

White Album Christmas 2009 - second show

The second White Album show went a little better than the first, overall. Miranda & I dropped our Cupie - cursed Cupie! But everything else went well and the show was a success.

Remember a few months ago when Dutch & I stunted with a gorgeous lady named Joey in Kazum panties? Well, Dutch & I (mostly Dutch) have stayed in touch with Joey, and she got herself into town for the show despite huge challenges in doing so. Joey's a single mom who lives about an hour south of Portland. She does techie work with computers and she's been really scrounding for work lately, so she's nearly as broke as I am. She's supermodel-pretty, and she has an adorable 9-year-old son named Sascha whom I've only briefly met.

I got Joey into the show, and she'd brought Dutch and I gifts - homemade Irish Creme Liquor. Yum!

After the show we all meandered to the basement speakeasy - my favorite place in the world to have afterparties! Clover was there, even more anxious to stunt than I was, which is an accomplishment. We ran through our stunt sequences, though it was outside on pavement in the dark and that put a damper on things somewhat. We still did well, though. I can't wait until we move into the harder stuff!

I wasn't sure if Joey was interested in me, but it turns out that she was. Yay! Despite being broke & nearly homeless, the last week has seen me attracting the interest of two of the hottest ladies I've ever had the good fortune to get to know. And they dig me - surely a side-effect of oxygen deprivation from being elevated in stunts.

Anyway, Joey went home with me to Clackamas. I'm not sure what's going to happen in the future - we're both carless and broke. It's fairly pathetic. But we made a strong connection and I'm hoping to spend lots of time with her. I don't want more pretty girls to fall into relationships with... I much prefer a monogamous relationship. Might Joey be such a committed relationship? It's possibly too early to tell, but I sure am holding on to high hopes of spending more time with her when we can make that happen.

So, to summarize my life - I'm mostly unemployed, still moving my stuff out of Mary's basement, working for rent in Clackamas, yet still living a fun-filled life of adventure and excitement surrounded by excellent people I love deeply. I'm gonna seriuosly miss Dutch & Uli & the other Kazumites over the Christmas holidays.

My life is far better than it has any right to be. I'm deeply grateful for that, and especially for the amazing people who are responsible.