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Arizona Lou

Blog Archive 2014 Jun

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Sun Jun 1 = KITEBOARDING: Down, again to Frisco Woods to ride locally on my 130 cm Lite Wave Stealth twin-tip board with my 12m Epic Screamer for the kite on a northeast wind. I did some jump jibes with kite downloops and attempted... two back rolls in each direction. I actually completed a couple. This maneuver, for me, takes more gumption than skill.
- Meanwhile the Cormier boys did two runs on the ocean from the Avon Pier - they say, it was pretty gnarly - particularly the first run.
- Spent the night in Avon at the Cormier's.

Mon Jun 2 = Comedy Day! Preparations, practice, revising, printing out the routine and trigger notes all culminated in history's first stand-up comedy at Canadian Hole. The audience numbered 11, including eight of the Cormier bunch. Mathieu was the host (M.C.) and we had fun. I believe I was the only native English speaker there, so my French-specific comedy preparations paid off.
- Spent the night in Avon at the Cormier's.

Tue Jun 3 = Not enough to kite today - for me, although the Cormier boys rode on the sound near their house. For me it was mostly a comedy day, finishing my phone calls for my trip to Michigan the last of this month and started on the emails - got three of 'em fired of to Washington DC.
- Toward evening, I spent about an hour out at Canadian Hole. Since it was too windy for comedy (average of 17 mph, gusting to 22 from the southwest), I walked around telling the people that happened to be there, about Comedy-n-Sunset on Friday, when there should be less wind... and comedy. Two people from Roanoke, VA came out for the comedy tonight. They said that it was going to be their entertainment for the evening. I felt badly telling them it was too windy.
- Spent the night in Avon at the Cormier's.

Wed Jun 4 = No kiteboarding today, for me and also no comedy. I drove up to
SDA
Salvo Day Use Area
and found the winds to be about 17 mph. I put comedy announcements out on the comedy stool I bought from Ace Hardware in Avon for $25 and invited the kiteboarders to the show. It turns out that a few were flying big kites and others were untangling lines and still others were trying to get their lines straightened out to go out. No one was interested in comedy. Show cancelled.
- I then took down my old fliers advertising SDA comedy from the post office and a camp ground and replaced the old flier at
KHK
Kitty Hawk Kites kiteboarding center in Rodanthe, NC.
with an updated one that shows comedy only at the Haulover Day Use Area south of Avon.
- To round out the evening I delivered my stool to the Avon Dollar Tree where it will be on permanent loan to them and available for me to borrow for my comedy shows prn. Spent the night in Avon at the Cormier's.

Thu Jun 5 = Good KITEBOARDING today on a southwest wind. This morning Tim, from Oklahoma, and I drove down to the Bath House, then to the museum to ride on the Atlantic Ocean. It was pretty rough with 5' waves forecast, the winds blowing in the lower to upper 30's and gusty, so we both took out our twin tip boards with foot straps. I used my 130 cm Lite Wave Stealth twin-tip board and 6m Best Nemesis kite. It turned out to be a pretty good run for me. I never got off the board, my kite never touched the water, I was never caught by a wave and luckily made a cool, controlled approach and arrival at the Bath House beach and self-landed my kite - the highest wind so far for me to do that! It was so windy that no one was at the beach to see it all. On the trip I actually caught two waves. One of them was so big that I actually got some air while riding down its face - air from the wave, not from the kite! Tim would probably not like me to say too much about his run.
- Had dinner with the Cormier bunch and spent the night at their house after saying, "Goodby" to everyone.

Fri Jun 6 = This evening was Comedy-n-Sunset at Haulover. I worked on two possible routines depending if there were any repeats from last time. There weren't. I managed to talk a family group of six into the comedy. They were a fun group.

Sat Jun 7 = Today was a long, but good day... at least until the last. It started at 4:00am when the Cormiers left and I repositioned my van in the car port area where it would be shaded in the morning. Then I returned to bed until a little after 7:00. At the house I did two loads of laundry, took a bath and collected and organized the left-over stuff they left for me and got their house keys etc. turned in by the 10am deadline. I gave most of the stuff, which included an unopened bottle of wine and a few beers, to the guys at Ride Hatteras, which they appreciated. It amounted to two big grocery bags full and a good-sized box.
- Hanging around in the "apartment" above Ride Hatteras, I did my Comedy-n-Sunset poster's 3rd edition, changing the mic to a stool and the starting time. I delivered to revised poster to the post office, Avon Pier (where I met Conrad and exchanged jokes with Jim and did a beach sun/run) and Dollar Tree.
- There wasn't much KITEBOARDING, but I DID ride for about 20 minutes at Kite Point on my Naish Custom Fish 5'2" x 17.5" surfboard with no footstraps with my 15.7m Epic Renegade Infinity kite with a northeast breeze, topping out at about 16 mph. I never got anything wet or splashed above my knees, making all 8 jibs, going out a third of a mile and travelling 2 miles.
- This evening I backed my van into a big wooden construction trash container and scratched almost a half inch of paint off by the tail light. That is probably better than taking out the tail light
- Spent the night in Avon

Sun Jun 8 =
SUP
Stand-Up Paddleboarding
with Tim today; he on his 7'11" board and me on a 9'4" x 28" Bic Sort that I got from Kitty Hawk Kites. We were both spanked by the ocean south of the Rodanthe pier. I never stood up or got out past the breaking surf. We spent the rest of our SUP time on Pamlico Sound doing the cross canal south of Salvo. I fell once.
- It appears that remembering generalities instead of specific detail makes me a good comedian but a poor scheduler, or at least an inefficient scheduler, so have been and will be spending a lot of time lining up my appearances for the Cousins-n-Comedy trip to Michigan.
- This afternoon I fixed the 6" power cord for my Vaio.
- Spent the night in Rodanthe. At 11:30 tonight I realized I had left my apple juice (pee) bottle by the SUP boards this morning. It was not there, so I started looking in a trash can for a substitute. Right at that time a waitress, just getting off from the Good Winds Restaurant upstairs, approached me and said, "Can I help you sir?" She repeatedly asked me what I needed an apple juice bottle for. I never did tell her. She had no idea who I was and I am sure she thought it was strange for this confused old man to be picking through the trash.
- At night I have been tracking the forecast, temperatures through out the night and my use of covers, ceiling fan or the lack thereof. This is in hopes of arranging things to get the maximum uninterrupted sleep. I have generally been getting up to pee and adjust covers twice a 9-hour night

Mon Jun 9 = Before heading south this morning I stopped by the Good Winds Restaurant and there, everyone was sitting at the bar having a staff meeting. When I walked in, several of them said, "Hi, Arizona Lou!," including Becky, the manager. It made me feel good - especially when one of them turned around and said, "I'm from last night."
- I typed up and presented a comedy proposal to the new Pangea Tavern. Rory said they were thinking of adding a comedy date night. It turns out that right now they have too many irons in the fire and I should check back with them in about a month.
- The Hatteras Comedy-n-Sunset audience was eight - all from PA.

Tue Jun 10 = This morning I engineered a wind cage, most with stuff from Dollar Tree, so I will be able to record my shows in winds up over 25 mph.
- I did a KITEBOARDING Planet run with Tim. I was a little tired after.
- Comedy-n-Sunset tonight was a fun group of 20 from PA and TN. It took me three hours to fully process my 12-minute set, or 14.4 minutes per minute on stage.

Wed Jun 11 = Did a beach sun/run around noon, and this evening there was no audience for comedy. I spent quite a bit of time lining up stops for my Cousins-n-Comedy trip to MI and got my bills paid online.

Thu Jun 12 = Around noon I did a beach sun/run and spent almost seven hours out of the way at the west end of the Good Winds bar working on more comedy stops.
- Hatteras Comedy-n-Sunset at Haulover saw and audience of 6 with Ryan as the host.
- Spent the night in Avon

Fri Jun 13 = This morning I got out the little new two-speed ceiling fan for my van and mounted it up by the dome light with wire I bought from Dollar Tree. I actually used it when I went to bed.
- I spent quit a bit of time in Koru's Tiki Lounge until they asked me to move to the couch outside in the hallway, due to a wedding party which had rented the lounge. No problem - but evidently the Koru people didn't appreciate my being there, although they did not tell me. Maybe I'm thick headed or unobservant, but I don't know things unless people tell me.
- Hatteras Comedy-n-Sunset at Haulover went well, but it was windy - peak gust right after of 26mph on my van. My mic cage worked well.
- Tonight my LiFeMnPO battery system did its first
LVD
Low-Voltage Disconnect. To avoid battery damage, it shuts off the load at 11.5 Volts.
of the trip, because it is getting warmer. I had to idle the engine a couple of times to get the battery back up to specs.

Sat Jun 14 = I worked all day on MI comedy stops. No Hatteras Comedy-n-Sunset at Haulover this evening, but I did have a fun visit with a family of three.

Sun Jun 15 = Happy Fathers' Day! I got phone calls from both my kids, Scott in KY and Anne in VA. I spent much of the day at the first turnout north of Avon (my GPS waypoint HANOR1). Around noon I did a sun/swim. I walked out into the sound until the water was deep enough for swimming, swam across the boat channel, swam back and then walked back to shore. The whole operation took 6:21 minutes.

Mon Jun 16 = This morning I got an
SUP
Stand-Up Paddleboarding
(bigger this time) from Ride Hatteras and drove down to the ocean at the old lighthouse site in Buxton. I was able to get out past the surf, stand up some and try to catch a few waves. Of course I never caught one. I had two sessions; the one before lunch lasted about 49 minutes and I travelled 1.11 miles from the van and back. The one after lunch lasted only about 15 minutes. The only reason I did it was because the board was out on the beach and I didn't want to give up that easily. I did a little better than before, still did not catch a wave and then gave up, having invented a half dozen new ways to fall (none of them gracefully), and deciding I had accomplished enough!
- Comedy was cool this evening. For Hatteras Comedy-n-Sunset at Haulover, I had an audience of 20 enthusiastic people. Rick was my host. After returning my stool to Dollar Tree I drove up to
KHK
Kitty Hawk Kites kiteboarding center in Rodanthe, NC.
for the night. Some kiteboarders were sitting under a tent left over from a Cabrinha event. When I walked over, they started chanting, "COMEDY." I figured I couldn't let them down, went into the store and recruited five more audience members and did my Introducing Old Man routine - at least most of it. It was the first time I had done a show

Tue Jun 17 = Nitty-gritty stuff: My cell phone battery is now lasting as little as two hours without charging. I refilled my van's water system (6 gallons) at Rodanthe, supposedly some of the best city water there is. I did add two stops to my COMEDY web page. No interest at the Haulover area for Comedy-n-Sunset.
- This turned out to be one of the days that makes you appreciate the others. My refrigerator is not cooling properly, my van's AC is only about 70° F and my 12m kite does not hold air. I spent most of the day on my 12m Epic Screamer kite. The valves are literally falling off the main bladder. I fixed two of them with the well-designed Airtime Valve Trap system. I somehow got an apparent twist in the bladder, couldn't get it out, so put the kite in its bag. One kite down!
= I DID demo an HQ Ignition 9m Delta Hybrid, three-strut kite for about 26 minutes - courtesy of Andy.
= Spent the night down in Avon.

Wed Jun 18 = We had a good southwest wind all day. This morning I sat in Ride Hatteras working on my comedy stops and keeping up with my website. Priorities, you know!
- Later I went out to the first turnout north of Avon (my GPS waypoint HANOR1) where Eric, another guy and I did the one-mile downwinder to the second turnout north of Avon (my GPS waypoint HANOR2). The wind was gusting to the middle twenties, so my 8m Best Nemesis was a good choice. I tried a few back rolls, focusing on keeping my eyes open during the rotation. I probably should have paid a little more attention to the kite because, around the half-way point I crashed the kite... HARD... and tore two sides of the second starboard panel. It was ridable but wanted to turn to the left. Two kites down now.
- After some goodbye's I headed out for the Cousins-n-Comedy portion of this trip. Spent the night at Chesapeake, VA Walmart.

Thu Jun 19 = This morning I drove the short distance to Norfolk and worked, mostly on my blog in a library for several hours. I also prepared, recorded, timed and practiced what I expected to be my first 30-minute comedy routine. That's a long time, at least for me.
- I got to Mojo Bones ahead of all the other performers. When Dave Welsh, the host arrived, I found that the open mice was 30-minute sets for musicians doing a competition, not comics, as I had been lead to believe. Dave did let me go up for three-minute sets between the musicians. It was a neat experience, although the audience was not expecting comedy and not very inclined to stop their visiting during my sets.
- Spent the night at a Hampton, VA Walmart.

Fri Jun 20 = This morning I met Robby and Brooke (brother-in-law and granddaughter) near Richmond, VA on my way to Anne's (daughter) in Falls Church, VA, west of Washington DC. They were on the way to Lumbertown, NC to deliver Brooke to her other grandparents for a visit. Then I drove on to Falls Church, VA where I hung out with Anne and Katie until time to head out for the night's comedy.
- Comedy was FUN tonight. I was 8th comic at Club Heaven and Hell. There was only an audience of 15 but they were good and appreciated my Introducing/Old Man set. A little later I went next door to the Columbia Station and finagled about three minutes of stand-up comedy during the jazz band's break. The audience of about a dozen, appreciated my Old Guys Forget and Get Lost a Lot routine.
- What I learned: Washington, DC traffic, and especially parking is horrible! Cost me $36 to park in a run-down parking garage a quarter mile away.
- Spent the night in Falls Church, VA at Anne's in Brooke's room

Sat Jun 21 = Hung out with Anne's today; Anne and I did some Target grocery shopping while Katie was in her ballet class then all three of us ate lunch at CiCi's Pizza restaurant. This evening Robby, Anne, Katie and I watched The Croods, a 2013 American 3D computer-animated adventure comedy film by Pixar. It was fun.

Sun Jun 22 = Drove to Timonium, MD (north of Baltimore) to appear at Hytops Back-Stage Grill - some of the best comedians so far on my trip. Brad Hudson gave me 10 minutes since I was an out-of-towner, having never seen me before. I was number four out of nine comics. Thanks, Brad!

Mon Jun 23 = Relative long day of driving to Pittsburg, PA and the Pleasure Lounge. Aaron put me on as a feature comic (10 minutes). I was number 11 out of 18 comics.

Tue Jun 24 = My first appearance in Cleveland, OH was in a neighborhood with big old shabby houses, but what a crowd! The audience of about 42 at Redstone laughed at almost everything I said, and I used the Maui routine I hadn't done since May 11th, over a month ago. I was tempted to use my Old Man routine, which I have tweaked to be a sure crowd-pleaser. I'm glad I used the other one, as I want to tweak it to eventually add to my Old Man routine for a 20-30 minute set.
- Health wise, bad news: the last few days I have gotten a cold with a pretty significant sore throat - not good for a stand-up comic. Good news: I have been practicing and used what I learned in the Resonant Voice Therapy I received before I left Phoenix, involving seven phases. As a result I have been able to continue talking and performing without additional problems. After only a few days, my voice and sore throat are much better. Boy, am I sold on the therapy. Thanks, Amy, Jill and Lisa at Banner Samaritan Outpatient Therapy Center! After doing this Internet review, I need to remember neck stretches, lip buzzing, forward focus and adapting it all to emotions.
- Also I have started experiencing allergic and asthmatic symptoms, so have started using Pulmicort and Nasonex, prescription medications which I have brought with me.
- Spent the night at a Walmart west of Cleveland in Olmsted, OH.

Wed Jun 25 = A pretty good day, but not night! I spent a lot of the day in a Cleveland branch library sending emails out, trying to line up some comedy stops in August on my way back home to Phoenix.
- For comedy this evening I was third out of 18 comics. It was a good crowd - for me. However, for the last comic, around midnight, there were only about four in the audience, including me.
- At 1:15am a Cleveland cop knocked on my van's window. When I opened the door, he said, "There's no overnight parkin'. The first ever for me at a Walmart. I drove 15 miles, backtracking, to another Walmart and really got to bed a little after 2:00 am!

Thu Jun 26 = Hung out at another library, analyzing last night's comedy routine, updating my website accordingly and making some phone calls to arrange more comedy stops.
- This evening I was third out of nine comics at the Sachsenheim Hall in Cleveland. The audience of a dozen, out doors, was good and I learned not to rush to get more comedy into five minutes. It is not worth it to leave out punchlines and to go over time (I went six minutes - sorry, Aaron).
- Spent the night in Avon, OH.

Fri Jun 27 = Drove to Spring Arbor University and arrived about 3:30 pm in plenty of time to register for the Cousins Reunion, settle into Room 104 in Building F, take a shower eat supper at the SAU Dining Commons, where we will be eating for the next three days. Good, cafeteria-style food. Instead of doing the Cousins Bingo, I analyzed last night's comedy routine and updated my website accordingly. The keep the dorm rooms COLD! Like many Christian colleges, as far as possible from the temperature of hell. It took a double comforter for me to be warm enough.

Sat Jun 28 = I did a load of laundry this morning and it was a mistake. Due, evidently to water sitting in iron pipes, my new white comedy shirt and another white shirt turned out brown with rust streaks.
- Up until 1:30 pm I spent most of my spare moments working on my comedy show, Cousins Comedy: Superlatives. It took a reboot of both my printer and Vaio to get them to play together. With the help of cousin Wanda, I finalized the cousins to target during my routines. You might say that I was the producer of the show.
Cousins Comedy: Superlatives lasted an hour and included a separate host and about nine comic volunteers from the group. My brother, George used his native American flute for the play-on/play-off music. The fifty people there enjoyed the show, here in three parts.
Part 1 - 20:09 minute video
Part 2 - 23:42 minute video
Part 3 - 18:13 minute video

- This evening we had a bonfire and a rope family time line, depicting five generations. I did not expect it to be such a hit or so interesting.

Sun Jun 29 = I skipped church with most of the others this morning so I could get the Comedy Show onto YouTube and my website. I got checked out of the dorm and drove to Lakewood, OH, a Cleveland suburb to Mahal's Open Mic. Maybe I was just off tonight, or maybe they were one of the deadest crowds yet. Tomorrow night I'll use some of the same material and PUNCH the punch lines more. Always a learning experience.
- Spent the night in the Macedonia, OH. It's a good thing I phoned ahead, as three Walmarts along my route to Pittsburgh do NOT allow overnight parking.

Mon Jun 30 = Before leaving Macedonia I got my tires rotated and spin balanced at a Discount Tire Company while I analyzed my comedy routine from last night. I arrived in Pittsburgh and checked in at the Pleasure Lounge, where I appeared last week, then found the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh - East Liberty Branch, where I hung out the last half of the afternoon. Regina there was very helpful. At the library, I updated my COMEDY web page, worked on this blog
- Comedy this evening was at the Pleasure Bar in Pittsburgh - good supportave group of comedians as last week there. Host, Aaron Klieber, was great - again.
- Spent the night along the PA Turnpike.

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