Steel Crap Balloonists

the scene of the breakdown

My last day in Chicago was…hard. It's strange coming to a city that you've never been to before. 2 weeks later and it feels like a little home with favorite streets and sights and sidewalk graffiti. 

I finished my classes (Improv 2 and Writing 2) and realized that I was going to have to say goodbye to a lot of people that I would really miss. In two weeks time, we had made a comedy family. I'm a sentimental fool, but I held in my tears, at least for a wee bit and said my goodbyes.

I had three hours between the end of class and my flight to New York, so I figured I'd walk back to my hotel and pick up my luggage. As I walked, I said goodbye to some of my favorite Chicago sights. Goodbye cute sidewalk cafe (the one with the huge pancakes) that I never got to go to. Goodbye way too hip barbershop that I secretly longed to get a hair cut in. Goodbye Panera, my adopted local Panera, my home town hero. Goodbye. Goodbye. Then from the midst of my nostalgia I realized that I had a message on my phone, an automated message from American Airlines telling me that my flight was cancelled due to weather and that I had been rebooked for a flight headed to Newark at 5 am the next morning. At first I thought it was a scam, a Nigerian scam, because everything is a Nigerian scam. Then I thought maybe, maybe this is for real. Maybe I'm stuck in Chicago and I've already said goodbye to my Panera and now I'll have to do it all over again. SON OF A MOTHERLESS GOAT! I began to cry. Then I began to swear. Then I began to start pulling it together and then I thought screw it and then I started crying and swearing again. I had an emotional downpour on the streets of Chicago and people were looking. It reminded me of that scene in Steel Magnolias. You know the one: Sally Fields breaks down in the cemetery over the grave of her dead daughter. "I just want to know WHY?! WHY?!" I might have over-reacted. I definitely over-reacted. 

Flash forward a half-hour and one phone call to my sister, I called the airline and changed my 5am flight to Newark to a 10 am flight to LaGuardia. I actually went into my Panera's to buy a post-breakdown dinner and a huge-ass cookie. I went to my hotel (where I had already checked out) and checked back in. I lucked out and got a free upgrade to a junior suite, sweet. I got in my pj's. I watched Netflix. I had a bedtop picnic with my Panera and realized if the worst thing that happens to me is that a flight gets cancelled and that I have to say goodbye to nice people, well then life is pretty swell.

So, thank you Chicago. You are one hell of a town. Thank you to John and Sarah and Meg(transported Californias and wonderful hosts). Thank you to my teachers and my fellow class/soul mates. But most of all, thank you to American Airlines (even though I did call you steel crap balloonists) for helping me put things in perspective and giving me one more night in Chicago.

Loom for More

Getting to see TJ & Dave at the iO was one of the definite highlights of my trip. A pair of improvisers on a stage, the lights go out, the lights come up and away they go. It's that simple and that brilliant. There's no planning, and no script, just this pair of friends onstage. How brave! For the first 10 minutes, they were two stoners living in an apartment and discussing the existential need to find out if they had any more Cheese-its in the kitchen. Then they became a young married couple, a pair of cops, party supply factory workers,and finally they alternated playing the role of a Korean shop owner. It was like watching two people weaving at a very funny loom.

Lesson Learned: You have to support your partner in any scene or sketch or real life scenario. It's a three-legged race and you're not going to be able to cross that finish line on your own. CONNECT. Magic happens when you do. Prior to the show, TJ & Dave were talking offstage. As the lights began to come down, they turned to each other embraced and shook hands. They looked into each others eyes and knew that the other person was completely present, and totally open, fully generous. Confession: For so long I've been a selfish actor, whether I knew it or not. I wanted the laugh; I wanted the praise. I held back. I was afraid to give anything up because would there be anything left for me. I wasn't totally there for my scene partners. What a selfish stingy schlump! I get it now. First comes the scene, then comes your partner, and last comes yourself. Give, give more. Be, be more. Therein ends the improv sermon.

KISS

from the streets of Chicago...near my favorite Panera's

You may have noticed that I started the blog by listing day 1 and day 2, but have you ever noticed how many days there are? They just keep coming. Yeesh.

So we're going to jump to “Week 2 of Second City:” new week, new teachers. Often, I think of improv as being a male dominated art form. Really, don't know why, especially considering how many hysterical women I know. So, I was delighted to have two kickass lady teachers (what a terrible descriptor) for this week of class. It became very clear, very quickly that the training wheels were coming off.

My improv teacher, Rachel Mason, is a goddess, the patron saint of improv wisdom. Nuff said. She would speak and I would have to hold my hands together to prevent constant outbreaks of exuberant clapping. I also took notes like a conscientious and slightly obsessed court reporter.

Lessons learned:

1. Know who you are first before you go trying to become other people
2. Show us who you are
3. You are wholly accountable for your joy
4. Make the choice to be open
5. Don't just confront your fears- run after them
6. My favorite, “If you are not having fun, then you're the a$*hole”
7. KISS = Keep it simple stupid

The Great Steppenwolf Cheese Massacre

On our second day of Chicago-ness, Hayley and I opted for some fried chicken, skyscrapers, cheese, and a wee bit of theatre (spelled with a -re). I was staying in the Lakeview District of Chicago, which is pretty goshdarn adorable and even has its own mosaic tile welcome wall-mat. So lets start here.

Time to suit up.

Hayley's look = Steel-Eyed Ballerina

My look = Hardworking 1st Baseman

We journeyed to a restaurant called Crisp which I had discovered the week before by following nice smells in the area. Our meal was the culinary highlight of our trip. Take the best chicken strips you've ever had, then cover them with the most delicious soy sauce concoction you could ever imagine. Of course, we also had to get in on some rice and veggie action. We paired our entree with diet A&Ws. The flavors melded very well. Seriously, if you are ever in the Lakeview area, GO to Crisp. 

 So happy!

So full!

In the afternoon, we signed up for an Architectural Boat Tour. It was the best 2 hour nap ever. Just kidding. I don't know what it is about boats, but they make me feel like a sleepy baby in a hammock. I should mention that by this point I had been in Chicago for a week, but had yet to go into the downtown area. Did you know they have skyscrapers there? In fact, Chicago is the birthplace of the skyscraper. Wow. Those suckers are tall. 

The skyscrapers actually made me feel very small and insignificant and structurally unsound. Skycrapers: the supermodels of architecture. Speaking of large buildings, deep-dish pizza. We took a walk down Michigan Ave and found ourselves at Giardano's world famous pizza. 

Oh, sweet slice of pizza

scene of the crime

We then high-tailed it to Steppenwolf Theatre where we saw the quietly gorgeous Middletown by Will Eno. The play takes place in a small-town where a new comer Mary forms a friendship with a handyman named John. It talks about connection, loneliness, and our inability to see how breathtaking life really is. I would call it "Our Town" for an isolated generation and a damn fine piece of theatre. To quote the play, "Some of the dust on my shoes is from outer space. Most of the rest is dead human skin. Infinity, asteroids, and your great-great grandmother. All that struggle and science and stale candy in every little speck. You look at it and you think dirt. That's not even half the story."

All told, a simply loverly way to spend a day in Chicago.

I pretend to be a stepping wolf.

Hot Dogs and Culture

My beloved sister Hayley came to keep me company on the 4th of July weekend in Chicago. We saw the sights, ate really great food, and survived the humidity (which is pretty hard for 2 California gals).

Hayley wore a look that I will call, "What you lookin' at Aztec?"

Let's take it to the streets. Yes, that drunk man in the background and I are wearing coordinating colors. Yes, we planned it that way.

Yes, there is a grease spot on my face because I ate butter and then touched the lens of my camera. It's called the "butter filter" and it's very becoming. Take that hipsta-matic.

First off, a quick jaunt to the Art Institute of Chicago to see "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grand Jatte" by Georges-Pierre Seurat, or as Hayley and I call it "The Rockin Dot Painting." Color and light <insert music by Stephen Sondheim>

Hayley is art

Chicago is art.

Candy is art.

Men who sneak into the backgrounds of your photos are art.

Everything is art.

Hot dogs from Portillo's are seriously art.

These Faces

How do you know that you're at Second City? Well, for me I knew I was living the dream when I got to see these awesome faces everyday. These peeps kept me honest and in stitches.

You also know you're at Second City when you pass these cheerful gargoyles on the way to class...

 I am desperate to set these guys up with these ladies...

Ah, l'amour, l'amour, toujours l'amour

Waiter, There's a German Woman in My Comedy Writing Class

There was a German woman in my comedy writing class and I swear for 2 weeks I thought we were part of some social experiment. At first, I thought she was a obscure American performance artist attempting to create a groundbreaking portrayal of a German Zelda Fitzgerald. Then I thought she was some kind of Second City plant; that we were in fact part of a sketch about a German woman in a comedy class. Then I realized, she's just a German woman in a comedy writing class and it really doesn't get any better than that. 

And now for "Germans Who Say Nice Things" with Steve Carrell and Dana Carvey.

A Blueberry Sky Saturday

Took these shots during my trip to Boston (the land of clam chowder). Here's hoping you're having a deliciously color-coordinated Saturday!