Howdy,
I just got back from Mt. Shasta and am now using my two day breather to relax and get things prepared for Toronto. Hope everyone had a happy fourth. The adventure up to Mt. Shasta, starring yours truly and his trusty side-kick Bri, started out pretty decently. Smooth sailing for all of 30 minutes. As we were crossing the Bridge to Sacramento, Bri turned to me whilst driving and pointed to an S.U.V a little ahead and to our left.
"Does that Canoe on top look crooked to you?" She asked. Five minutes later we were swerving away as fast as possible, trying to avoid a rougue canoe that was barely still hanging onto the side of the spooked S.U.V. The good news is, if the canoe took us out and pushed us over the bridge, at least we would have a boat.

We arrived in the small, new age town of Mt. Shasta mid afternoon that day. We checked in to our Campsite not too far from town and started to unpack. We stopped the unpacking pretty quickly when we realized that we had forgotten our tent back in Oakland. I've always wanted to sleep under the stars anyway. We met Paula that afternoon. She ran us through the game-plan. We were getting paid to entertain the walkers of a five mile race around town. Pretty low-key. There was also a parade the next day we were invited to be a part of. Before sleeping that night on our wonderful tarp, we saw the movie Hancock. I liked everything except for the last five minute denuemount of the film. Seriously, it's worth seeing if you walk out right after the climax.

The event on the fourth went very well. I was dressed in a gold suit jacket, green pants, and a rainbow uncle sam top hat. I also ran around with a gold zanni mask while Bri had a matching red mask and green hair. I only made 1 little girl cry. Everyone else seemed very appreciative. The parade also went very well. I stilted the entire mile of it or so. After all the good times, we got some free, god-awful beer and hit the beach of Lake Sisskiyou. The best part of the trip for me was swimming in that gorgeous water. A perfect chilly but refreshing temperature, deep, clean, but dark enough to hide the fact I had no bathing suit keeping me from communing with nature in the buff. Family-event be damned!

The fire works on the lake were also highly enjoyable. I made the mistake of taking my glow toys out before the show, including my magic d-lites. I was consequently attacked, physically, by several small children who demanded the secret of my magic. At one point I had myself in the fetal position. For the gods' sakes, I refuse to be coerced into giving away my trade secrets on the very hour I'm supposed to be celebrating my state-sponsored Liberty and Independence!

The next day was the street fair where we got to run our street show as often as we could for some bonus cash. The shows went pretty well, especially as we fine-tuned things each performance. We got a decent sized crowd each time, all the acts went pretty well, nothing catastrophic thankfully, but we just didn't get paid very much at all. The crowd who watched us would throw some money our way, but the whole operation simply didn't pay. I guess I need to work my hat line more. Bri decided she rather head back Saturday night than waste another half day for uncertain results.

So embittered were we by our lack of profit, Bri pulled over at a Casino on our way back down the I-5. Within five minutes she had doubled her street profits at a random slot machine. I on the other hand played on hand of Black Jack for $10. The first hand I held with 20, then watched as the dealer took 21. Bri, can we go now? Bri's luck was not one ot hold though. two minutes after driving away from the casino, Bri's tire ripped off, and we had to make a hasty change. We made it back to Oakland at about midnight, exhausted.

So ends week one of my greatly anticipated summer of chaos. I can't say I'm completely happy or completely dissappointed with the Mt. Shasta adventure. The whole thing was just generally greatly different than my expectations but in just as many good ways as bad. I guess Life on the whole is pretty similiar to that. (ooh, that lake water might have thrown a zen switch in my head). Write more next week after A Different Spin returns from Toronto. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go make Spanakopita.

Peace
Alex