Trailmates in Anza Borrego

Geneva and I went camping with the Trailmates last weekend, out in the Anza Borrego desert. It's been a long time since we've been camping together, so it was really nice to do that.

They have a "must-see" hiking trail to "The Palm Grove" that's supposed to be 1.5 miles, but I think they got the decimal point in the wrong place. Or maybe it just seems that way because a lot of the time you're climbing up rocks so it's like stairs, up and down, all the way there.

But it was worth it -- we saw lots of desert life on the way, cactus and such, and got pretty close to a bunch of longhorn sheep. And the Grove itself is pretty cool, except there's brown water constantly dripping out of the trees. We never did figure out what that was -- but maybe we're better off not knowing.

Geneva brought her new camera, and it was her first chance to point it at something other than silly girls at slumber parties. She's actually pretty good with nature shots -- some of her best pictures are here.

Snow Trip!

We finally managed to cut loose some time to drive up to see the snow. We just drove up to Mount Baldy, which is surprisingly close, really -- only about an hour drive.

We took the dogs, who didn't seem that concerned about running around in the snow. It was nice fluffy "powder", which crunches into snowballs really easy, so we were throwing snowballs at each other, and the dogs were freaking out that we were not throwing the balls for them! So, we tossed some small snowballs to the dogs, who caught them, which shattered the balls except for whatever was trapped in their mouths, which they didn't seem to mind just crunching down.

Just as we got to a good place to stop, it started actively snowing. I think it's the third time in my whole life that I've been in actual snowing-down snow. At first it was little balls, like someone had opened up a beanbag chair, but after a while it turned into these sticky, fluffy flakes. Cool.

And cold! Naturally, the girls were froze to the bone pretty soon, soaking pants and frozen fingers, and the snowing was getting worse, so we packed up and came back down before it got too much to negotiate without chains. Of course, it never did get thick enough to pile up on the road, but what do I know about snow?

Geneva's "Audition" at OCHSA

Yesterday I took Geneva to the Orange County High School of the Arts for her "audition" for the Creative Writing program. We had been to the Open House, twice, and heard about the program from the director (author Jim Blaylock), and he said that this is the first time that the administration is making him do auditions, and he wasn't really sure what he was going to do.

So what he did was bring in all the kids at once, let them ask some questions, have them introduce themselves around the room, and then write a short essay/story/whatever on the topic: "If you could do anything, or be anything, what would you do or be, and why?" This is, of course, about as wide open as anything could be -- pretty much a "soft ball".

While the kids were writing, Blaylock took the parents out to another room and answered questions. There were 25 kids in the audition, and one of the dads asked how many other kids were going to audition. Blaylock said that there were 10 that were transferring in from other departments and so were kind of automatic, and 7 more that couldn't make it that day or something. Since the total he's gonna take is 43, and that totals 42, another dad did the math and asked "exactly how good our chances were". Blaylock said that he's disallowed from saying so, but that if you were here at the audition, you were "very, very likely" to make it in.

In retrospect, he appears to have just done what he's always done -- chosen from the written portfolio submissions -- and he's tacked on this "audition" as a formality, as directed by his boss. Apparently, if you didn't make the grade, you just didn't get an invitation to the "audition". It would probably be *possible* to get cut from the audition -- if, for example, your essay was so much lamer than your portfolio that it was clear that someone had "helped" too much, or if you showed up, I don't know, drunk or something.

Anyway, it won't be official until we get the letter from the school, but we're pretty sure she's made it. I'm pretty thrilled for, and proud of, her. Her, and our, lives are gonna start getting even more interesting, come August.

K&W - MV 10Mar2006

Pretty good night, pretty mediocre audience. We played pretty good, and the sound was (finally!) decent, but the audience was pretty un-responsive. Luck of the draw, probably, though I can't help think that it's as much the performer's fault as the audience's if he can't elicit some response.

But, at least we got some decent recordings. As always, the last hour or so was the best part, 'cuz the sound issues are (sometimes) worked out, and I get to feeling more loose and confident. The recording isn't perfect, but it's pretty presentable.

And, because nobody seemed to care anyway, just to make it amusing for myself, I got out a bunch of songs that I seldom or never do. That made it more fun...

Indian Princesses at the Hockey Game

Our Indian Princess event for this month was a trip to the Mighty Ducks hockey game. We lost, but only barely, and it was a fun game to watch. The girls generally got the idea that we were trying to get the puck in one net, and "they" were trying to get it in the other. The more obscure rules just went by unnoticed. But they all thought it was really funny that the players got a "time out" when they were bad.

Before the game, they have a little "carnival" in the parking lot, with face painting, roller hockey, a giant slide, and a balloon animal guy. And they had supplies to make "Go Ducks!" posters, which was fun. Everybody thought my poster was amazing 'cuz I put the Mighty Ducks hockey mask logo on it, but I was just copying it from the cheerleader girl's T-shirt, so it was all win-win for me...

K&W - Cerritos 04Mar2006

OK, now that was strange. We thought it was gonna be a "Grand Opening" the way it's been at the other ones we've done, where it's really a Opening of the Seattle's Best makeover of the café, but it was an actual Grand Opening of a new physical store, across the street from the old one. It's a big, nice, new building, with the café upstairs on a sort of half-floor, looking out over the main floor with all the books. Unfortunately, the "band spot" is down this 15-foot-wide corridor, hemmed in by walls on one side and behind, and looking out over a glass half-wall into the store.

That was kind of cool, but severely constricted the size of the in-the-same-space audience -- to about 10 people. All those chairs were well-camped-in long before we got there. That's OK, we're used to playing to small audiences, and 10 is better than some we've had, but I had invited my parents to come down, since it was relatively close to where they live, and they invited, oh, everybody they know. Final count, by my reckoning, an even dozen parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and off-spring thereof. None of whom got to like, sit down, and, like see us while we were performing. They had to settle down in various other parts of the café, so maybe they could hear us, but who knows?

On top of them, we had 4 or 5 acquaintances from the Folk Music Jam we used to go to. They were a bit more nimble or lucky, and got some seats where they could see us, at least, eventually.

We played pretty well, I think, but, as has happened *way* too often lately, the sound was screwy, or screwed up. The contained space probably had something to do with it, but we also (for the *last* time! Grrr!) tried to use the store's amp, and it started weirding out halfway through. Fortunately, I had my amp with me, and we switched to that and did OK for the last half -- when nobody was there anymore...

Essentially, it's an un-playable layout, and I think I'd turn it down if they ever ask us to play there again (unless it's for money like it was this time!), but there's not much chance of that, so we probably don't have to worry about it.