Should've brought chapstick, curses!

Oh Pittsburgh, it seems like whenever I visit it's always too brief.

While I'm sure there are others more deserving for a vacation, I decided to retreat to Pittsburgh for 3 days to take in some sights, see Jonathan Coulton in concert, and film some experimental sketches for Imaginary Trends. What I didn't expect was the surge of words and inspiration I'd come across in a 36 hour span. Between heeding the lyrics of JoCo and spending some much needed time with hilarious people I came up with about 4 days worth of TADs. I'll admit I've missed a day or two here and there but I've made up for it now.

It seems this week that I've had more than a few conversations about this crazy little thing called "Fate." I know, I know, it's a heady subject. And usually it's one of those things that divide some people but in my opinion that's just dumb. If you want to believe in something then you should believe in it, regardless of what others say or feel. Anyways...I tend to think of life as a highway (I'm gonna ride it all night long...), know how a highway has a ton of exits? Well, even if you miss an exit, you're bound to find another exit that gets you to the same (ish) direction. I should know from traveling an awful lot the past few months. If you see where you wanna go but you miss the exit, you're going to be able to find another route to your destination. Maybe you missed the exit cause you didn't know where to go or even how to get there, but odds are life will always give you another exit.

I think I found 3 exits this weekend that I stupidly passed up earlier. Or maybe I ran out of gas. Or maybe I got T-Boned by a semi? Who knows, this analogy makes sense to me but when I write it down it seems awfully dumb. I'm sure other people have done the same. Winston Churchill has a ton of great quotes and lines about comparing courage and patriotism to various things but I'm sure he's had a few bombs in the past.

Where was I?

Oh yeah, Pittsburgh! And how it rocks!

Well, first off I got to see a ton of old friends and even performed with a few of them. I presented a serious of experimental improv sketches to Kyle and got the go ahead to produce them very low budget in Pitt. Got some of my PPU/Pitt/CMU friends to volunteer and while I've yet to film the third and final sketch I can say I'm very pleased with the footage I've gotten from the first two. The first sketch turned out MUCH different than I anticipated and the second turned out pretty much exactly the way I thought it would, so the only logical conclusion for the third sketch is that it'll be a mix of the expected and unexpected. Or maybe we'll switch it up into an audio only thing? Maybe a series of paintings? Who knows but with the people I'm working with it's sure to be genuinely interesting.

Imaginary Trends has really started to develop some interesting things as of late, at least in my mind. Who knows, maybe some hobos are watching it thinking it is complete garbage? I think we're hitting a sort of creative stride where we're finally getting some great ideas off the ground. It sure it difficult coordinating plans with the guys on the road but that's just a roadblock we're learning to work around. It sure seems like we're coming around to good stuff...I guess that is all I really had to say about it, ha.

When i started writing I thought I would just start gushing about how amazing the concert was (and it was), but I guess I wasn't prepared for how much fun I'd have with my friends as well. I met with two friends at the concert whom I haven't seen in a while and even though it was brief, it was just refreshing to see them. The same goes for everyone else I've gotten to hang with this weekend. I broadly define myself as a geek, but my friends define me in a much finer more specific way. So...thanks guys.