Warning signs and zip-zap-zub lines – Mad-cap re-cap. Part I

 Jump into my Deloren Marty, we’re going back, BACK TO THE FUTURE!

Before we do, I suggest you make yourself a cocktail.  Why, well for one, everything goes better with a cocktail and two, this is part one a re-cap of my last four days…this might take a while.  If dog years are 7 to a humans 1, well days in LA are like 7 compared to everywhere else’s 1.  Lots can happen and does…NEVER a dull moment.  

Thursday night was “girls night out,” and when I say, out, I mean, “out, out.”  So we get dressed, (read: smokin’ hot) call a cab and head out to this groovy little bar called “The Den.” Located on the famous Sunset Boulevard, it’s literally smack-dab across the street from the world famous Chateau Marmont.  (You need to say Marmont like, MAR-mnt, it’s French, Google it, it’s pretty famous.)  and right down the street from “Pinches Tacos.”  Not so world famous, but with a name like that, I had to mention it because when I saw the sign, I had to do a double-take….Really? I was like, whaa?  Do you people know what that means in English?  My roommate, Coco, laughed and shrugged her shoulders, “it’s funny!”…Wow….anyway…We arrive at the Den and opt to sit on the patio.  It’s a beautiful evening, 65 degrees with a mild breeze complete with a full moon.  We’re chatting and enjoying a drink when I turn to admire the 6 foot long fire pit in the middle of the patio..but what really gets my attention is the warning sign,

I am not sure if this is altogether necessary….traditionally fire is hot, right?  At least where I am from but maybe since this is the land of movie magic, some might mistake flames coming up from the coals as a mirage or simply some sort of lighting special effect with built in 3-D features.  (Side-note, coffee is hot too, in case you were wondering.  You’re welcome. :)

We are getting a bit hungry so we ask to check out the menu.  It’s uncanny, but almost every restaurant we have been to has hummus (understandable) on the menu and bacon-wrapped dates….(huh?)  Yeah, bacon-wrapped dates.  Like the fruit, not like a guy, which would be AHHsome, can you imagine you meet someone on Match.com, and while you’re chatting about where you want to spend your evening together, you mention you love bacon wrapped dates in a flirtatious  manner and giggle a bit when doing so…he hears you loud and clear and shows up to your door in nothing but not too crispy bacon wrapped all around him - yum…..but I am talking the large raisin looking fruit.  It’s an odd thing to me, but apparently everyone in LA likes them because they are literally on every menu I have seen so far….like queso to those of you in Texas or clam chawder in New England.

Not really feeling the options of fare, Coco suggests we hit this little Mexican spot on 3^rd street,,,

El Carmen. 

I am a little hesitant given the aforementioned warnings from friends back in Houston about Mexican food in LA, but the first place was ok…so I am sitting there debating on if I want to roll the Mexican food dice again and Coco says to me, oh, you’ll love it…there are velvet paintings of those masked Mexican wrestlers hanging on the walls, over 200 types of tequilas available, delicious food, great people - it’s a hoot.   

All I heard was velvet masked Mexican wrestlers 

-  call a cab, let’s go!                               

As you walk in, past the heavy velvet curtain, it’s like walking through a velvet porthole into a magical Mexican kingdom where wrestlers are royalty, tequila is the nectar of the gods and the angels hum sweet mariachi tunes. 

It’s FANTASTIC.

Small and intimate, but holy cow the ambiance in this place surrounds you like your living in the bottle of Jeanie in “I dream of Jeanie”  - but with a massive Mexican twist.  The food, from what I sampled, shortly after we ordered, some home-boys (guys from Houston who my roommate has known since High School) met up with us and there was more chatting then eating, but it was, the teeny amount I got, decadent….muy bueno.   

Mexican food in LA – 2

Friend's advice – 0

Friday I sprung from my bed ready to embrace the day!  SIKE. mm  I was dragging, but I couldn’t just veg out on the couch, I had my second class at Second City, but really it was my first class, with my class at Second City, since the first class I went to was a make-up class they let me attend because I missed my class the day before.  You following, because I think I just made myself dizzy. 

Yeah, okay, if you read the last paragraph slowly, it makes sense. 

So I get there and this is great because my class is half the size of the class I went to last week, 8 instead of 18 people, which means a more intimate group as well as more time to perform!   

Although I loved the instructor from the Saturday class, my instructor now is really super cool…I am crazy excited.  So I introduce myself and we jump right into this game called zip-zap-zub.  In this game, you stand in a circle and send the word to another person who then sends it to someone else, in that order.  See example:

***Note:  Do not, ever, never, ever come to class again after a night of enjoying adult beverages. 

So yeah, that is pretty complex, and very much demands you being alert and on your toes.

 ***Note: Do not, ever, never, ever come to class again after a night of enjoying adult beverages.

So then, our instructor throws in a category.  After we go through three cycles of zip-zap-zub, we then say our names and send the link on to another person, who says their name, and so on. (Is this room spinning or is it me?)Zip-Zap-Zub-Caroline(Oh man, um)-Bill-Gary-Linda-Zip-Zap-Zub-Linda-Bill-Gary…(Oh man I have a killer headache!)

Then he throws in, now you say someone else’s name and send it to the person’s name you say.. Zip-Zap-Zub-Caroline (ME?  So soon?  I am new!)-Bill-Gary-Linda-Zip-Zap-Zub-Linda-Bill-Gary-Gary-Linda-Caroline(I wish this was a bigger class)-Gary-Caroline-Linda-Bill…once we got that down, he throws in cities, Zip-Zap-Zub-Caroline-(Wait what’s that guys name?  Bob, Blake, wait, Bill?  Yeah, Bill)Bill-Gary-Linda-Zip-Zap-Zub-Linda-Bill-Gary-Gary-Linda-Caroline(Gary!  It’s that dude’s name and a city!)-Gary-Detroit-Houston-Miami-zip-zap-zub-Gary-Bill-Linda-London-TelAviv-Oklahoma City…then he throws in bodies of water, 

 

Zip-Zap-Zub-Caroline-(OH MY GOD THIS IS INSANE!!  I need Advil!)Bill-Gary-Linda-Zip-Zap-Zub-Linda- (Why did I go out last night?  Why does my head feel like someone hit me upside it with a sledgehammer?)Bill-Gary-Gary-Linda-Caroline(AGH)-Gary-Detroit-Houston-Miami-zip-zap-zub-Rio Grande River-The Dead Sea-Mississippi River-Gary-Bill-Linda-London-(Please let me have Advil in my bag)TelAviv-Oklahoma City then countries… Zip-Zap-Zub-Caroline-Bill-Gary-Linda-Zip-Zap-Zub-France-Germany-Brazil-Linda-Bill-Gary-Gary-Linda-Caroline(Gary, Gary, always Gary!)Gary-Detroit-Houston-Miami-zip-zap-zub-Rio Grande River-The Dead Sea-Mississippi River Gary-Bill-Linda-London-TelAviv-Oklahoma City  - OY VEY!

And you thought “improv” was easy.   (See why I suggested a cocktail earlier?)

What a ride! 

After our break, the Advil mission a complete success, (LIFE IS GOOD!) I ask the teacher if I can address the class.  He is like, uh – sure.  He was half taken aback, I sensed from the wonderment in his voice.  Anyway, I had to say something or I would never forgive myself.  What I wanted to put into words was the power of realizing where I was and what I was involved in.  Before moving to LA, I talked about joining the Second City training school for months and having never been here, it was hard to picture… difficult to “dream” about how it would be to be in school there and the hope of learning the fundamentals of improv, but I felt it now, and it was the most magnificent feeling.  I was overwhelmed with emotion, especially now my headache was gone and I didn’t want to keep this in.   As I started to tear up, I thanked everyone for being there, allowing me to come right in to the group and feel welcomed but most of all, I was honored.  Honored to be in their company and honored to embark on this journey with them. 

There was a silence but then, thank God, right below our classroom window, a homeless man with a sombrero and a poncho was accosting a newspaper machine and the cops came to get him with their sirens blaring, we all started laughing so I didn’t kill the mood too bad. 

As I was walking down the stairs after class, Gary (the guy, not the city) was standing there looking at group photos of olde..”Man, I can’t believe we’re here, where all these other have been.”  I looked at him, still a bit teary-eyed and smiled…Figuring I had said enough for one day…."Yeah, we’re here."

- Until next post,
 Caroline