Monday, February 9, 2009

Vsegda Gotov

My ongoing nostalgia for colder temperatures (in a familiar setting mind you) is being pacified although after a week of it I'm sure I'll be more than ready for Puerto Rico). I'm back in Pittsburgh and couldn't be happier. So, now that I'm finally comfortable I can recap the adventures (or complete lack thereof) of the last few cities.

Savannah, GA

The people on this tour have proved yet again that the Circus freakin' knows how to party. There was a birthday celebration for Stas, Denis (he's finally 18 so no more "you have cig'rate? you have cig'rate? you have cig'rate? you have cig'rate? you have cig'rate? you have cig'rate?" every two seconds), Diana, and Vicenta early in the wee. It was a theme party....a Russian theme party.....a Russian Pioneer Scout themed party. It was...well...moderately unsettling upon walking in until things got going. Russian marches pumping out of the system, red.....everywhere, Pioneer ceremony videos playing on the big screen, call and response chants from the podium, etc. Unfortunately my camera battery died before things kicked in to high gear (which some people should be very thankful for haha). It was probably for the best that my camera died as no one EVER needs to see Micah prancing about drunk and shirtless humping everything in sight. I'm sure the two photographer gals from SCAD that showed up got plenty of compromising shots.

Some highlights:

Tug of War (Team Russian won....but the balance was a bit unfair to say the least):


Sack Race (Woot. American Redemption)


Massive "3 Legged Race" (Camera battery died but you kind of get a sense of the hilarity that is aboot to unfold)




Background on the Young Pioneer Organization


My Pictures

Savannah is a great town to find yourself in for a week. The arena we played was right in the heart of downtown so everything was completely walkable. Looking back on our stay however, I wish I would've spent less time trying to find a cool bar to hang out at and more time documenting all the haunted historical radness that is abundant all over the city. I'm not sure if it was just apathy, laziness, or both but I definitely missed out on some great pictures and experiences.

The Spanish Moss growing on all of the trees was awesome. I found out there a few squares in the city where the moss just doesn't grow at all. Apparently these squares were the setting for numerous hangings back in the day. The moss hasn't grown there since. There was also a historic cemetery with a haunted past. There are certain graves there that if you were to dig down a few feet you would find yourself in a series of interwoven crypts. During Civil War times soldiers were know to dig their way down there, toss out all the bodies and use the space as a bunker and to keep warm. There is one house in town that is considered the most haunted house in the country and a favorite spot for the 'Ghost Hunters' to run amok in. Not only did I miss out on checking all that stuff out, I failed to hop into one of the hearses for the 'Haunted Savannah Tour'.

Oh well, on the plus side, the building invited the show to stay over Sunday evening at check out Steelerbowl in the theater adjacent to the arena.....on a h-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-g-e ass screen and booming sound system. T'was grand. Emotions ran high as there were an equal number of fans on both sides. I stayed the night and headed out to Florence, SC the next day.


Steeler Bowl Pics


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Florence, SC

Florence........was NOT Savannah. And that's about all that needs to be said. I made a cool new friend that made our stay bearable but man, that town was lame.

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Fayetteville, NC

After Florence, we went to a town that made Florence look like Savannah...Fayetteville, NC (which in my opinion may steal the title of 'Armpit of the Universe' away from New Jersey.....no small feat.

Fayetteville is a huge military town. Pretty much any military personnel who finds themselves in Fayetteville is more or less on their way overseas. The town lived up to it's seedy "Fayettenam" reputation to say the least.

We smashed out the 6 hr drive to Tifton, GA, crashed for a few hours and drove 14.5 hours to Pittsburgh. And now I'm here. The end.