Wednesday June 24, 2009 11:00pm It goes without saying what song best represents today. Early morning wake up, rushed last minute packing, nervous and uncertain tension, meeting of new but old friends, and the complete expungement of a comfortable and familiar life. “Do the Whirlwind” is a song by the famed by the Norwegian band Architecture in Helsinki, and that’s been exactly what I’ve gotten my self into. I feel pulled into two directions, one towards dear friends back home and the other towards a complete unknown. The pull is a result of the ricochet, and I am sure this feeling will settle soon. I finally got to meet my fellow road trippers, Vanessa and Calvin, live and in action today and it was an adventure from the start, and it involves homeland security (they were going to get me eventually, and today was their lucky day). After leaving my house today, packed bags in tote, and chauffeured and accompanied by my mother and father, we went to the John Wayne Airport to meet up with Dan and Jason The Roadtrip producers for TABLA RASA (from this point forward they will be referred to as DJ unless referred to separately ;). After a quick lunch with the fam w/ the brief addition of my little bro Yared, we made the short ride over to DJ and after a couple of confusing communications our lives finally collided at the departures dock. They started filming and the umbilical chord was cut soon after as I watched my family drive away. After being asked a couple of questions I soon saw Vanessa and the Roadtrip became real. We learned Calvin’s plane was delayed due to a generator that was trippn’ up, but got to LA eventually. Dan went to go greet him and Vanessa and I were put in the dear hands of Jason, though soon after he was berated for filming without a permit. About 5 minutes later a sheriff stopped us and demanded to see the footage and our ID’s, apparently they wanted to clear us out with Homeland Security... after Jason was threatened with bodily harm from an fair haired elderly woman, we met up with Dan and Calvin... YAY! after a quick embrace we bored a taxi van driven by an apathetic cabby and we were taken to a secret location to meet our new home. We spotted the RV and laughed and stared in disbelieve at this monstrosity of a four wheel vehicle. We encircled it eyeing as much as we could and I was given the keys to christen MONICO, the name of the thing, with the Tabla Rasa Touch. We couldn’t get a smile off our faces as we spanned the space reading the quotes by greats like Senior Daniel Johnston. We took the RV for a spin and ended up ping ponging from In-n-out, to Roadtrip Nation Studios (which was filled with most amazing people and work environment), to Trader Joe’s, the top of the world in Laguna Beach, and finally here where I type in San Ofre state park in the infamous green RV. I am filled with so much excitement for the road ahead, Let the games begin...
