Rolling with the punches....

No matter what life throws at you, just roll with it. That’s my motto for the week.

Last week, we thought there was a possibility that we might be going to Australia as employees of i-to-i for the summer. We thought our jobs as university reps would last us until September. But that perception has altered a bit this week. The job is over. “The Man” pulled the plug on us. So we’re working on rolling with the punches we’ve been dealt.

For me, it’s a relatively simple transition. To be completely honest, this was never really planned as a permanent job. This was a temporary ride to be enjoyed until it ended. The end just arrived a bit sooner than expected. So I am readjusting and rethinking things.

First, let me say that I understand why the job is over. And I honestly feel no ill will. In fact, I’m pretty happy with the state of things. Why? Because I may be out of a job, but now that I have some free time, this is the perfect opportunity to take another i-to-i trip. This time I am headed to a new continent – Africa.

My project will be “Work experience at a Surf School near Cape Town” for 6 weeks. This means that I’ll be surfing almost every day that I am there and helping to run the surf school. I could be doing anything from helping with the equipment rentals to participating in the lessons for other beginners!

The whole premise of i-to-i is “Meaningful Travel” – and let’ be honest, working at a surf school does not fit into most people’s perception of doing something meaningful. But this school offers classes to kids from the underprivileged areas on Cape Town. A few of them have gone on to be top South African surfers. J Who knows, I could be giving the next surfing champ a push…

The trip is already approaching fast. I leave for SA on March 15th and get back on May 19th. That way I have 6 weeks of surfing plus 2 additional weeks to go sightsee, go on a safari, etc… More updates will be on the way soon!

Los Angeles

Los Angeles isn’t so much the City of Angels as it is the City of Dreams. I say that because this trip has been a dream come true for me – as far as the celebrity meet and greets go, anyway. Not to mention surfing – That’s good fun, too. Is it enough to make me move here? Doubtful. But I do want to come visit more often.

I’ve once again been horribly remiss about keeping this blog updated. In my defense – we’ve been quite busy with work – as well as some very entertaining extracurricular activities.

My boss Alexia was out here last weekend and we spent the weekend at the Los Angeles Times Travel and Adventure Expo. It was exhausting but successful – a full day of talking and selling and smiling and standing. Not that I’m complaining, since we stayed in the Long Beach Hyatt.

The weekend before, Ashley and I stayed with my aunt and uncle for a long weekend. It was nice to take a break from the hotels and stay in a house with our own rooms for a bit. Ashley and I get along incredibly well, but it’s always nice to have some alone time once in a while.

Our free weekend was jam-packed with fun events. We drove down to Laguna and checked out the big houses, visited the whale lookout on Palos Verdes, and watched the Super Bowl, of course. But our other events were much more celeb packed and exciting!

Jon got us tickets through Honda for the Supercross. I had a blast at the event – it’s exciting. But I’ll admit that my attention was only partly on the races. It's a sickness, this obsession with celebrity. Even when I was watching the races, part of me was always focused on our neighbors in seats behind us. We were joined in our section by Skeet Ulrich (who starred in Scream, Into the West, and currently Jericho), and Kerr Smith (who played Jack McFee on Dawson’s Creek). Later, we were joined by Kathryn Morris, the blond girl on Cold Case.

I am still kicking myself that I neglected to get a picture with Josh Duhamel, so I wasn’t about to let this opportunity pass me by. So as Skeet and the others were preparing to leave, I finally got up the nerve, and flagged Skeet down to get a picture with him. Here’s the proof…

My next big event was a trip to see The Tonight Show with Diane and Ashley. Once again, our tickets were provided by my incredible uncle Jon. We were on the VIP list for the show. For that night, the schedule included Clint Eastwood and Jennifer Hudson, with John Waite and Alyson Krausse. After the show ended, we hung around, watching as a large group was invited on stage to meet and have a group photo with Jay. Just when we were all wondering how those people were lucky enough to meet Jay, one of the stage managers motioned to us and invited us down to the stage. Thanks to Jon, we were invited to shake hands with Jay Leno and have our picture taken with him. No proof yet of that one since the studio is sending the pictures to us…

And finally, our long weekend ended with a trip to the set of General Hospital. Once again, Jon pulled through and got us passes through his fellow Honda enthusiast Ingo Rademacher, who plays Jax on the soap. We met Ingo and his lovely girlfriend at the set. He was the perfect host – introducing us to his cast members, helping us get pictures with everyone, and explaining the procedures involved with filming the show. For someone who has watched GH since college, meeting these people is something that you never actually expect to happen in real life, so it’s a bit surreal to meet the actors and talk to them and watch the filming of the show. Ingo is great in person and I am really glad that I had the chance to visit the set as his guest.

A Few Pictures from San Fran

The Golden Gate.

Ashley and I rented bicycles and rode about 16 miles across the Golden Gate, and then took the ferry back to the city.

This is part of the old crew from college - Heidi, Adam, me, Joel, LeeWhay, and Ryan. This was taken at the end of a day of winetasting in Napa. It was really great to see them all.