Oh! Hi! Oh!

Eliza and I headed to Oberlin, OH this past weekend (by way of Cleveland! Hooray Cleveland!) for an Improv Conference I Eat Pandas was asked to participate in. Even though I had a cold (which I've now sadly given to Eliza cuz we totes shared a drink, y'all. Jealous?) it was a jam-packed weekend full of adventures out the wazoo!

Let's start by saying I have now done karaoke in almost every single destination I've visited.

LA - check!
San Fran - check!
Mexico - check!
Chicago - check!
London - check!
Oberlin, Ohio - double check!

I actually had the thought on Saturday night that there was probably no way we were going to be able to karaoke in Oberlin because it was such a small town. I mean seriously you guys there were like 3 places to choose from to eat breakfast and one of them had salmon napkins and fake flowers and was located in the lobby of our hotel. (We ate at the Black River cafe our last morning there and DAMN was that place good. Highly recommended!) So we'd been out and had a few beers and I was fading fast due in part to my cold and in part to the bananas dreams I'd had the night before that kept me up but I'll be damned if, upon walking into our hotel and seeing the bar there had karaoke, I didn't perk right up! It wasn't even a question. Like, it actually would have been funny if Eliza and I had said to each other, "do you want to go?" With E and me karaoke is NEVER a question. We had Travis and his lovely wife Melissa with us and they gladly came along to cheer us on. The bar featured a bunch of booths with middle American suburban types and some true characters. My favorite was the 70-year-old man, cowboy hat and all, who sang The Way by Fastball. I know you have no idea what that song is but I swear you do because it was played on the radio in the 90s nearly every 15 minutes. iTunes it so you can hear it and imagine a 70-year-old man (don't forget his cowboy hat) singing this song with a STRONG twang. It was A. Door. A. Bull. Then there was the musical theatre wannabe who sang every song (I Will Survive, some Celine Dion bullcrap and some other technoey sounding song) as if it were a number straight out of Oklahoma. Loved her. Oh and then there was the "thug" who had the BEST made up thug walk I've ever seen. He was a white dude with curly, triangle hair, a wife beater and tats and he sang Paint It Black or something like that. Oh man he was my favorite. Someone tapped him on the shoulder (one of his friends) and he turned around as if he was going to jack their shit UP. God they were all just my favorites and as I told Eliza, we couldn't have cast that shit better if we tried. I sang a rousing rendition of "So Emotional" by WhitWhit and "Alone" by Heart and Eliza sang "Steve McQueen" by Sheryl Crow and "We Built This City on Rock n' Roll" which really does have some of the shittiest lyrics around. "Knee deep in the hoopla"?? Come on dudes... who uses "hoopla" in a song unless you dress in a huge purple elephant costume and carry a banjo?

So karaoke was a blast. Check that off my list, y'all!

Then there was the college party. My first! I never went to college (which came up a lot this weekend - raise the roof!) so I've never really been to a college party! I was very excited and Eliza helped prep me by saying "the carpet will be gross and there will be pubic hair all over the toilet and we'll drink really cheap beer" (or something like that). I could not WAIT. (Sadly, I'm serious.) See, ever since I hit 28 (and proceeded to get into a bar fight) I've been feeling very old. I know, right you guys? I don't look old!! Right!? But seriously, I feel it. Nothing like the most immature act ever to make you feel ancient. So anyway, I felt like the good old college party would give me that jolt of youth I needed! I guess it did? Kinda? I mean it was fun but also kind of weird because we were (as gross as this is about to sound) "the musical improv girls! omgomg!" and it was kinda hard to chill out. Oh god I'm so gross. Sorry, guys. Anyway, I did drink some Pabst AND I peed in a college party toilet! Hollaah! Eliza recounted a hilarious tale on her blog about me saving her from certain doom by lying through my teeth. Check that shit out.

College party. CHECK!!

We did some work while we were there, too, don't get it twisted. We did a show (standing O! Hootiehooo!!) and taught 3, count them THREE, workshops!

My favorite part of traveling with Eliza is hotel room TV because we both get so jazzed to watch Law & Order or any show with the words "Worlds" "Funniest" or "Pets" in them. On Friday night we get back to our hotel room and I turn on the tv while E's in the bathroom. My lucky stars I turn it on right as Intervention is starting and I squeal, "ELIZA GET OUT HERE INTERVENTION IS ON!" She bolts from the bathroom, I turn out the lights and we were captivated. And then we both fell asleep before we could find out if the 4-star chef went to rehab and was rehabilitated. We both kinda lost hope after seeing he'd been in rehab 13 times. Anyone know how it turned out?

And that was my weekend in Ohio. Oberlin is such an adorable school, everyone was AMAZINGLY sweet and we made friends with the other improv troupes (The Neutrino Project's Chicago cast and a lovely group from Austin, TX called Coldtown). I think we can call this trip a smashing success!

Love,

Glennis