First two days in Fresno

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It's 9:04pm on Thursday, November 8th - my second day here in Fresno. But first, let's hear about my first day in California...

Day 1

I woke up yesterday morning at 7am, checked out of the hotel, packed up my belongings into my car and drove over to my aunt and uncle's for breakfast at 8am. We had a delicious breakfast of potatoes, eggs, onions and tomatoes all fried up in the skillet. Around 9am or so we finished and I headed on the road heading for Fresno. I gained another hour once I passed into the California border (which only took 30 minutes or so of driving). That makes the third hour I've gained since I started traveling - first was from daylight savings time on Monday, then I gained an hour when I reached New Mexico (Mountain Time Zone) and finally when I reached California (Pacific Time Zone).

So I arrived in Fresno yesterday around 3:30pm. My friend, Joe, ended up hurting his back on Monday - he's not sure how, but he says he got a shooting pain after getting off of his couch. I realized shortly after sitting on his couch why this was the case. There are cushions on the couch, but it feels like there's nothing below them once you sit on them. I sank like a rock on the couch...and I don't think I want to risk my back sitting on it again 😊

Joe and I realized we were both pretty hungry and went to the Doghouse for some great tri-tip steak sandwiches and fries. The food was so good that I've been craving it ever since. After eating we went over to Heather's house, which is one of Joe's friends. We hung out there for a while, played a little ping pong, and chatted while waiting for another one of Joe's and Heather's friends, Casandra, to show up. I haven't played ping pong since I was in high school so I get the feeling that I only beat Joe because of his injured back. Although I felt like I was just getting warmed up by the time Heather beat me.

Casandra arrived shortly after and we all hung out and talked some more. We also all tried to figure out ways to crack Joe's back or otherwise fix it. Unfortunately we didn't have any solutions for him by the time we had to leave for the play. "The play," you ask? Well, yeah, Joe is actually "Juan" in the play "Man of La Mantra" at the local theater here in Fresno. His final show is actually this Sunday so after tonight he has only 3 more shows.

So Joe and I went to the show last night - the initial plan (if you can call it that) was for me to hang out in the dressing rooms backstage while he performed. Before the show started the stage manager offered to let me stay in the booth with her and others behind the audience. However, that ended up not happening when the others in the booth (not exactly sure who they were, but apparently they had more authority than the stage manager) said I wasn't allowed back there. So basically I wandered around south Fresno and waited for the show to end. It wasn't too exciting but it wasn't too bad either. Once the show was over, Joe and I hung out at a bar - other cast members said they wanted to hang out too but it didn't end up happening. After having a drink, Joe and I went home, picked up his brother, Jonathan, and headed to Denny's. We hadn't eaten since around 4pm or so, so Joe and I were pretty hungry.

We got home from Denny's fairly late (or early, depending on how you look at it) and tried watching a movie before going to bed. Joe and I were so tired, though, that we barely made it literally 2 minutes into the movie. For those familiar with the movie "The Ringer" we fell asleep right on the opening scene when the sound of an motivational audio book introduces you to Johnny Knoxville at his job. After that all I remember is waking up occasionally to various scenes. Once the movie was over we all decided to go to bed, and did just that. It was after 4am by this time, but considering we had been asleep for almost two hours already, it wasn't as bad as it sounds.

Day 2

At around 10am or so we woke up and had breakfast. Joe, Jonathan, and I hung out some more, talked about our plans for the day and watched "The Ringer" - this time without falling asleep. After the movie we called Heather to see what her plans were and all of us (along with Heather's mom) went to the California Pizza Kitchen for lunch. Then it was back to Joe's place where we hung out some more and played Guitar Hero III on Playstation 2.

For those not familiar, Guitar Hero III is a video game whose premise is to become a rock star - or guitar hero, if you will - by playing famous songs on the guitar-shaped controller and earn money (in order to buy better guitars or outfits for your character). It's actually a very fun game which can be played by two people at once, either as a co-op game or a battle depending on whether or not you want to play with or against the other player.

Joe has already left for tonight's show and in just a few minutes Jonathan and I are going to drive down south to hang out with Joe and some of the cast members at a local bar. So although the day hasn't been too exciting so far, the night is very young. So in the next day or two I will have to update my travel blog with tonight's excitement...

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