Father of the Year Award

About a week ago, it was very windy. A Game of Thrones, “A cold wind was blowing from the north," sort of wind. It wasn't Twister-eqsue cow-flying-by-news-van windy (did anyone ever address in the audio commentary what happened to that cow? I like to the cow landed safely and continued to chew it's cudd. A man can dream.)

Most people were inside, but I decided to walk the dog. I hadn't walked him earlier in the day, and I felt guilt. I hate guilt, and rather then deal with it on an emotional level, I decided to deal with it on a tangible, I'll-just-go-walk-the-dog level and get rid of it all together.

I'm glad I did take the dog for a walk. Yes, because it made me feel better, but also because it made me fee great! I saw something very touching. I saw this father and son in the park, taking advantage of the wind, and trying to fly a kite. The kid was beaming. Thrilled to be out, living life. Freezing, no doubt, but loving life! The kite hadn't gotten off the ground yet, his dad was putting all the pieces in place, but he was bouncy-excited. Remember bouncy-excited? Remember that feeling? So exhilarated you couldn't sit or stand still?

I circled the park and kept my eye on the pair. How could I not? Both were so elated! The dad was clearly thrilled to be in the process of achieving his well deserved father of the year award, and the kid was hilarious. He was like a 3 foot tall surveyor. Waiting for the kite to be ready, walking around the patch of grass, staring into the sky, returning to the kite, and repeating the process.

Then, the moment arrived, the wind was swirling, the kite was assembled, and the kid was positioned at the end of the line, ready to run. He ran, and the kite crashed! The amazing thing, I didn't notice any sadness on the kids face. He just stood there, ready to try it again. The dad grabbed the kite, held it high in the air, and everyone was ready for round two.

The kid sprinted across the park, the kite caught in the air, and soared. Success! There was a lot of happiness.

And, there was a lot of passion. I know that's why I was mesmerized. I've seen kites fly before. It's not unusual I've even watched professional kite flyers in San Francisco. This excitement though, in a Roseville Park was more enchanting, because of the passion and joy.

It reminded me of how immensely watchable joy is. It's like this secret weapon. Watching someone truly enjoy themselves in a park or onstage in a show is memorable. Watching someone live in the moment, and be excited about the moment can be hypnotic. Sometimes I get focused on rules, patterns, heightening, and "the next thing." I better craft a good moment here to get to a good moment over there. Watching a couple kite flyers woke me up. Have fun first, love the moment, and living in that moment will be so much more fun for everyone. Everyone will fixate on that moment together.

The Milky Way Improv Festival Lineup

Over the past few months Blacktop Comedy has been organizing the Milky Way Improv Festival (MWIF), and we're excited to announce the comedy event exceeded even our wildest expectations. The festival is April 5-7th, 2013. Three days of improv performances, and classes. It's more then a chance to laugh, and see some of the premiere teams from Los Angeles, San Francisco, and beyond. It's a chance to come together as an improv community, and teach one another. These shows, and classes have never been available in Sacramento or Placer before, but.... they're coming to Roseville April 5-7th. Who will be at the festival? I'm glad you asked. Many of these groups have never performed in Sacramento or Roseville, and might never again. Don't miss your chance! Grab your tickets! Here is just a partial list of the incredible talent descending into Roseville: Kind Strangers (LA), Recchia (SF), HUGE (SF),  Billyhawk (LA), Made Up Theatre (Fremont), Empire Comedy (Reno), Bro Squad 5 (LA), Unscripted (SF) and more! If you want to learn more about the festival, check out the website.

Quidditch and Teamwork

This past weekend Blacktop Comedy was invited to provide color commentary for the International Quidditch Western Cup IV. I'll be honest, before their invitation I didn't know anything about quidditch outside the Harry Potter books. For instance, I had no idea so many teams existed. Did you know Iran has two Quidditch teams? We didn't see Iran at this tournament. We saw representative's from California, Washington, Oregon, and Canada. They all arrived at Maidu Park in Roseville, 9am, ready for victory. Of course, victory means winning numerous matches, and these matches we quickly found out, were intense. Stanford chose to wear helmets, and I understand why. Concussions happen on the Quidditch field. These broom holding competitors were quick t tackle each other.

However, they weren't quick to work as a team, which surprised me. There were a lot of participants who wanted to be heroes, but few who wanted to assist a hero. Now, there were a handful of united teams, intent of scoring points. These teams focused on making each other look good, gladly giving up their long distance shot, passing the quaffle to another with a better shot. You could see it in their eyes, "better an assist, than a miss."

Do you know what happened? You can probably guess. The fans from Sacramento, Roseville, Rocklin, San Francisco... even Seattle and Portland, were treated to a beat down. These team orientated players crushed the competition. It wasn't even close. Sure, a few individuals scored on the other team, and they'd beat their chest, and scream (I'm not kidding), but they looked ridiculous, because they were down 200-10.

What's the point? It doesn't matter if you're on a field or stage, playing quidditch or improving, teamwork looks good. And, the results are pretty great too.