what i found in california

There are half-frozen lakes. There are mountains. There are expanses of steppe, and pine trees, nearly-melted snow scattered among the weeds. There is wind, breezy and gale-force.

There is sun. There are crooked sidewalks that make my feet hurt. There are sticky restaurant tables surrounded by faded pastel restaurant walls from the 80s. There is good food and bad food.

There are all kinds of people. I realize how bland and homogenous an environment my hometown is. There are laughers and criers and yellers and gazers and dreamers. There are half-smoked cigarettes stuck in mouths, not hanging, because those bodies just finished auditions and need to take the edge off. There are hotel rooms and hotel bars and hotel ballrooms filled with theatre majors and instructors taking the edge off their own days with a beer or two.

There are shows. Good and bad. There are so many resources and amazing lessons to be learned and individual crafts to hone.

There are connections made. There are connections missed. There is physicality like nothing else. There are men with beards, men whose shoulders don't fit your idea of attractive, but nonetheless…

There are Local Natives songs to fit the mood here.

There are men with girlfriends. Drat. There are stupid decisions that could be made, but aren't.

There are overly long bus rides home that give you plenty of time to muse on the last subjects.

Drat.

And last, but not least, there are events that will probably change your life, and you know it, even though they don't come with fireworks. But there are sparks in your brain, and all of a sudden,

you know what to do, and you know where you want to go.

And that, my friends, is one of the best feelings to ever have.