Sketchism

Wow.

What an incredible weekend. On Friday evening Tony, Claire, and I drove up to Orlando together. Our reason: RELEVANT Magazine’s open house to celebrate their new building, which included a free performance by Mute Math. From the moment I left my school I knew it was going to be an exciting trip. The first hour on the road consisted basically of sitting through horrible traffic on the turnpike, but we enjoyed ourselves nonetheless with some fun music. All 3 of us brought our own cds so we alternated on what would be playing. A little Tribe Called Quest here, a little Goodie Mob there, a little Jill Scott now and then and of course some Mute Math.

When we finally arrived in Orlando, we made sure to unpack at the hotel first. It was a simple room with a tv and 5-button remote control. Power, Volume [+] & [-], Channel [+] & [-]. Again, it was a simple room, but a pleasant one nonetheless. The silly keycard process to get into the room was a mystery to me. It’s usually something like “Put the card in, wait for the green light, and turn the door knob.” But no, this one had some kind of crazy timing system that only a proficient computer hacker or rubix cube player could decode. Props to Tony and Claire for opening the door each time. I was clueless.

We had little time to enjoy the room at first because we had to leave immediately in order to catch the improv show at the SAK Comedy Lab. This place is known for being one of the top improv groups in the U.S. This is where Wayne Brady got his training and where I will one day train as well. The show was a blast. There was audience participation, witty acting, and free tootsie rolls bites for the audience members. Yay for free stuff!

After the show, we headed towards the Downtown Disney shopping center where everything was closed and where an extremely goth crowd was roaming around. Turns out the wholesome Cradle of Filth was performing at the House of Blues. We even bumped into some spanish-speaking goth kids, which almost seems like an oxymoron of some sort. Their spanish was so nice.

We then walked over to Pleasure Island to see what kind of interesting stuff we could find there. Interesting was the right word. Silly drunk people doing silly dances on the walkways. It was a gas watching them make fools of themselves, but it got old quickly. We walked around some more and checked out the Planet Hollywood where we saw tons of cool movie props including a Gizmo!

We then walked around taking pictures of funny signs with funny poses. Personally, this one is my favourite.

We left back to the hotel and had a good night of rest.
Next morning we got up pretty late, which made us miss a solid breakfast so instead we went to an Indian buffet nearby for lunch. The staff of 2 seemed happy to see the first customers/victims of the day. My stomach is still making funny noises.

We then headed out to the local shopping spots to spend some cash. Tony bought shoes, I bought books, Claire bought sandals, and we all bought Coldstone’s ice cream. Our pockets were getting lighter but our stomachs kept on getting bigger. A good roadtrip demands good junk food. Should have packed some Pepto.

It was getting dark and the time for the Relevant party was approaching so we headed back to the hotel for a nice nap and a change of clothes. Refreshed and clean we headed out in the rainy night to see what we had been waiting weeks for. The interior of RELEVANT is amazing. Ikea furniture in every corner and prints a la Josh Smith covered the space. We spoke to designers, marketing execs, musicians, and of course the great Cameron Strang, founder and president of RELEVANT. I told them all about my plans to work for them one day and they all seemed excited at the idea as well, especially Cameron. Apparently they’re always in need of design interns so I’d be welcomed on board for sure. Praise God!

When Mute Math took the stage everything else seemed to be a quiet blur. The performance was incredible. The lead singer Paul is an excellent musician and I give huge props to the other 3 members who did an awesome job at rocking along with him. The drummer is sick stuff, man. Sick.

Before we knew it the party was over and it was time to jet. My mission was accomplished. I spoke to all the people I wanted to meet, took pictures with them all, and of course the whole time I was blessed by the company of my great brother and the lovely Claire. This is the pinnacle of good times. It will be hard to top Saturday, November 13, 2004.

As we drove back home on Sunday everything seemed so heavenly. I napped in the car, jammed to some more great music, joked around and laughed with my co-passenger and when it was time to depart I felt like Someone above had given me another gift I was unworthy to accept. This weekend solidified relationships and laid foundations for future ones with many people; professionally, emotionally, intellectually, spiritually, and even aesthetically. It’s times like these when I am reminded of how great our Father in Heaven truly is. I pray these memories are only a glimpse of more to come in the future and that the small simple ones that He provides on a daily basis don’t go unnoticed. There are too many great things that I experienced this weekend to share with you. However, the gifts of greatest value will forever be engraved in my heart with their names: Tony and Claire.