Metal Ministry 01

Today I was given a new ministry in Savannah. A friend approached me a few days ago and asked me to tell him about faith and what that is and such. I told him SURE but afterwards really had to sit down and think about how to approach it. This guy is such an awesome person and is so open to the ideas of faith- of any religion or belief system really. I explained to him that I could only really give witness to the Christian faith as I understand it because that is what I am most knowledgeable in and he was actually excited to learn! How awesome.

So we decided that we'd meet up on Wednesdays to just discuss the ideas that surround faith. Tonight was the first night and we talked for the better part of 3 hours! It is like so extremely humbling as a Christian to have a friend ask you to share your faith with him. This guy is a very smart guy and extremely awesome so I am also expecting to learn a ton out of these Wednesday night conversations as well.

If you read this and you are a praying person, please keep my friend and me in your prayers! These are exciting times!
or... if you have any advice... hit me up.

We could be closer than you know,
Chelsea

Tybee Island, GA

So nick left yesterday and after I dropped him off at the airport... I took myself to the beach. Funny because usually, when I go to Tybee Island there aren't many people there... maybe it's because I go at night or at strange times.. I don't know. Anyway, there were a ton of people there and it cought me offguard. oh well.

School has been hard so far. Between trying to keep up with Pedaling For Change, school, and a few other aspects of my life... I have been busy as usual. The trip to the beach was relaxing despite the tourism. It's strange, thinking of the fact that I live so close to the Ocean yet have only been in it once or twice. You'd think I'd be out there every chance I get. Maybe it's a self esteem issue?

Anyway, that's Tybee for you. I used to dream of riding out there on a motorcycle in the night time, it's such a beautiful drive- down 80 that is. There's really nothing that compares to it. It's unique and beautiful in it's own swampy, smelly, Georgia coastal way. I actually think I'll miss it when I leave.




























It's surreal to me really, when I think about not living here anymore. I've lived in Georgia for over 3 years now and it really grows on ya. I wonder how I will remember these years long from now. I wonder what will stick out and how in depth I will remember... the nights I ride my bicycle home across town listening to the wind and watching the spanish moss dance under the street lights, my coffee dates with so many random people to talk about life and everything that goes with it, the hot walks to and from classes, the people, the conversations, the feelings, the situations? Who knows..... life is so strange.

In other news, my friend Jon called me from North Carolina today. He was over in Iraq for the last few months and his company is back a little early. He's about to go back to his home in Michigan and stay for a bit but then he's coming back to NC to do more marines stuff. I'll probably try to go up there and see him sometime in October. It's so good to know he's back in the U.S. and safe. It's good hearing from him because he's so stoked to be back. I love excited people... and Homeboyz.

We could be closer than you know,
Chelsea

My Film Was Shown at the Ocean Film Festival

Yesterday, a film that I was a core team member of screened at a film festival here in Savannah! The Ocean Film Festival is an annual festival held here in Savannah at the Trustees Theater that focuses on... you guessed it! The ocean and the life in it as well as those passionate about it and working to preserve it or study it. Our film "Underwater Robot, ROVing Gray's Reef" was shown with a National Geographic film "Underwater Giants; Search For the Giant Squid" directed and written by Kevin McCarey. It was a very interesting experience seeing your film on the big screen infront of a few hundred people. Everyone seemed to like it! People laughed at the funny parts and marvled at the extrordianary parts (haha). The other core group members and I were even invited up to speak about the film a little, as is custom when a film maker's movie is shown at a festival. We spoke after the National Geographic gentlmen spoke. What an honor! Anyway, good times! I wish my family could have been there. My first ever screening at a film festival!

Oh yeah, I am credited as Director of Photography in the film. I had a lot of help though... I would say it was more of a team effort. What a learning experience. I also had a strong part in the development and production of the film. My team members were four young men who are students at the school. As usual, I was the youngest AND the only girl. haha.

Here are a few screen shots of our flick: Underwater Robot
They are super low res and low quality... just warning ya. More to come here when I upload them (this post is only half finished)







oh so much more to come:)

We could be closer than you know,
Chelsea

Savannah, GA 09/23/06

Well I've been back in Savannah again for a while. As of yesterday I am finished with the first week of my last official 10 weeks of college. For those of you who are uninformed, this means 9 weeks left of college, 9 weeks left of living in Savannah, 9 weeks left before freedom! I'm beyond excited. Until I achieve this, however, I have many projects to finish up.... all of which provide a clear and precise challenge.

Just another day in the life....
So, like I said, this is my last quarter of classes (technically) at Savannah College of Art and Design. I'm taking three classes leaving me with only one left until I officially graduate.... that I plan on taking in the spring time as an online course. I'm planning on taking the winter off to move out to Utah and start work out there, hopefully with Sundance Film Festival. I'll also be building my company: Veritaz Productions while I'm out there and while I'm waiting for Hawk to graduate.

The classes I'm taking this quarter are:
1.Advanced Post Production (an advanced editing class using Avid Nitris focusing on the finished product in both film and video)
2.Senior Project Three (the LAST *yay* in a series of thesis project classes, the taking of which enables me to graduate)
3. Business Management (a class in the recent business minor that the school is now offering... focusing on starting up a small business)

I am super excited about each class so at least that's good. It's only been a week and I already feel very enlightened. haha

CYCLING and more
Nick has been here with me since we both returned from Atlanta. He's staying until Saturday because we found him a pretty cheep ticket that day. It's been awesome having him here... he's been working on sorting out the footage from Pedaling for Change, helping me set things up digitally and all of that, and keeping me sane. We've been working and working out. Yesterday he took me on a like, 18 mile bike ride. This is the longest I have ever ridden a bicycle consecutively... haha... sounds like nothing after following Rally Across America and watching Tom and Austin ride their bicycles 80 to 150 miles a day. haha. I'm excited though because it has started me out on a whole new work out routine and man is it way more fun than running. lol

I decided that once my loan money goes through (next week!) I'm going to buy a *gasp* road bicycle and start training with my friends Abigail and Jeff for a triathlon. Not one of the HUGE ones but a smaller one that I could manage. How exciting is that? We'd be riding the miles to the pool, swimming, running on the track there, and then riding back. The training for a triathlon seems really compelling. I'm so excited. It will give me something to focus on to relax that isn't school or work..... woo! More on that to come in a later post. Right now I'm looking at this bike...

haha... can you read the name?

Actually I have to learn more about em before I actually choose...haha we'll see.

COURT DATE
I had my criminal case court date thingy yesterday. I had to testify against the guy who tried to rob my car (read about it here) in court. It freaked me out before I had to go in, I wasn't sure what was going to go down and what not but when it actually happened it tuned out ok. A woman who was a witness was there and her presence really eased my mind. Everything went really well. It turns out that the man who attacked me was wanted in Minnesota and he will continue to be tried after he is convicted in my case. I think I might still be stuck to this whole mess... might have to appear in court again but at least next time I'll know the routine and I won't be freaked out. All is well.

Other than that life has been rolling on as usual... meaning not usual at all. haha.

We could be closer than you know,
Chelsea

Atlanta, GA v.2 09/14/06

(x-posted in the Veritaz Productions Blog )

I am sitting in Dominic's dorm room at SCADATL listening to the bell
tower across the street playing America the Beautiful. I can hear the
bells ever so faintly from across the street above the sounds of
traffic and people walking and talking around the dorm building. How
pleasent it is to be able to open the door and just keep it open to
the warm September air. Not bad. Best of all, Nick is sitting right
infront of me capturing countless hours of video (61 hours and
counting to be exact) into our portable editing system. The footage
looks amazing and I seriously couldn't be more excited to tear into
it.

Yesterday, Nick and I got a call from Robin, Alexa's mom, at around
9am. When we listened to the message we found out that she thought it would be best if we just did all of our filming of Alexa in one giant swoop. This meant that we would have to be over at her house (about 40 minutes from where we were staying) by 4pm to be able to be there when her mom picks her up from girl scouts. We'd then stay over that night and sleep at their house in order to be able to capture one of Alexa's morning routines on film. We did all of this and got some very good coverage of the every-day life of Alexa. In doing so, we discovered how much some of these children really must go through as an after effect of their experimental cancer treatments.


Alexa and her sister Jenna helping cook dinner while we shoot video
In short, Alexa, because of the cancer treatments that saved her life, has lung disease and other lung issues that only allow for 11% lung capacity. She has to be hooked up to oxygen tubes ALL OF THE TIME, go through 2 treatments a day where she has to wear this vest that pumps a frequency of 12hz onto her chest, thumping her whole body in order to break up some of the build up in her lungs. She also has to take a plethra of pills and medicines as well as additional breathing treatments that shoot vapor into her lungs. When she sleeps at night she has to wear this tube that is a little larger than a roll of quarters underneath her nose that has openings that she pushes into her nostrles. It is triggered by her breathing and it pushes a little more air than she would normally be able to take in naturally into her lungs to allow more carbon dioxide to be pushed outward. This helps with the fact that the carbon monoxide that we so easially exhale gets stuck in her weak lungs. Without this all night mask-like oxygen tube the build up of carbon monoxide could be fatal. On top of all of this, she has terrible back problems where her back is curving two different and incorrect ways. This is causing her sternum to press against her already bad lungs leaving them with only about an inch to work.

To correct these issues and give Alexa a better chance in fighting it all, she needs to be put in a halo to help straighten her back, then, if it helps, she will undergo back surgery to correct the curvature. If the halo doesn't help, she may need a double lung transplant instead of the corrective back surgery. The lifespan of someone who gets a double lung transplant is only about 5 years of life after the surgery. SHe has alreay been evaluated for the lung transplant and is on the list incase her doctors feel there is no other way....

The stuff this child has to go through is huge. The fact that she is such a joyful and excited little girl is just so humbling. It was a great experience spending time with her and her family. Nick and I even got to work out at the local Y with her mom, Robin, after filming this morning. We woke up at 5:55am, filmed, took Alexa to school, worked out for an hour, packed, interviewed Robin, and headed back to SCAD Atlanta.

From there we captured some footage before connecting with Dominic again. He took us to the Varisty where we ate cold bad food (haha) and then we went and walked around Little Five Points. All is well. Atlanta has been quite interesting. I hear that WWE wrestling will be at the Masquerade tonight.

Too bad nobody else thinks that's cool...

We could be closer than you know,
Chelse

Atlanta, Ga v.1.0

(x-posted in the Veritaz Productions blog)

Atlanta, we are back again! If you can remember... way back in June Veritaz Productions sent out a team to travel with Rally Across America as both filmmakers composing a documentary about the endeavor but also as the support crew for the cyclists on the ride. Over three months later, the team has returned to Atlanta, Georgia to finish up where we started.

Officially, Rally Across America ended in Nashville, TN but we moved, after a few days in Nashville, to Atlanta, Georgia in order to attend a party that the Olsen's threw for Austin and Tom as a finishing event and to return the support car.

So we drove back to Atlanta on Sunday the 9th of September. That night we attended a huge party with about 100 people in attendance at the Olsen's house in Cobb County. Will Olsen had cancer when he was younger (he is 19 now) and Rally Foundation was started by a woman, Dean, who attended a weekly prayer circle that was focused on "praying Will out of cancer". When Dean asked Mrs. Olsen what else she could do, Mrs. Olsen told Dean that the best thing to do would be to raise money and awareness for childhood cancer research and the fact that it is under funded by 30 million dollars every year. Dean promptly started Rally Foundation in order to fulfill this need.

Anyway so we partied hearty with them and had a good time. We ate more BBQ than we thought we could fit! Nick spent some of his time off taking pictures of some of the locals:







Nick and my plans to go back to Savannah have been slightly postponed until we can finish the last bits of filming here. All we have left is to film a little bit about Alexa and how she goes about her daily life. We were blessed to be able to go with her to a visit to one of her doctors and hear about her future medical plans. Everyone was happy to have us there with the video camera and we got a lot of important footage for the film. Alexa has a lot ahead of her and we want to tell her story along side Austin and Tom's. We know that each story is important individually, but, TOGETHER they will really create a huge impact on people.


Alexa awaiting her doctor at a hospital in Atlanta

Nick and I left Tom and Austin yesterday in Roswell, Georgia at Roswell Bicycles (one of the RAA sponsors). We then walked all over Atlanta with the help of MARTA. On our way back to the Olsen's house (the place we have stayed for the last few days) we discovered that MARTA (the public transportation system here in Atlanta) didn't come anywhere near their house. It started to rain and, right as we realized that we were going to have to walk, a man offered to give us his umbrella. Arm and arm we ducked under the umbrella and walked for about 35 minutes in the rain. Eventually, we found out that we were walking in the WRONG direction and, as we were turning around, we got a call from the Olsen’s and they offered to come out and pick us up. We waited for them at a nearby church, the Dunberry Baptist Church. An awesome woman there let us inside out of the rain and even gave us carrot cake! After a while the Olsen’s came and took us out to eat. What a great ending to such an interesting day!


nick and me walking home in the rain!

MARTA rides

MARTA

Later that Night, Dominic, a friend from Savannah who is now going to SCAD Atlanta or... SCADATL (pronounced skedaddle), came all of the way to the Olsen's house and picked us up. Our plans were to stay with him until we got all of the filming that we need to film of Alexa done. We crashed on the floor of his dorm last night and had a great time with him and his room mate Norm.

Ahh... sleeping in dorms again... no joke, at 2:30am the fire alarm went off, piercing our ears, for about 10 minutes. Jeez-louise.... college college:) Regardless, we had a great time. Many Jelly Bellies, some smuggled cafeteria food, and a few hours of sleep later we were off to Alexas house to spend the next day and night filming. We'll probably return to Dominic's dorm to sleep over until we figure out how to get back to Savannah.

We could be closer than you know,
Chelsea

Nashville, TN, v2.0

So Nick and I have been hanging out at the Bongo Java Coffee House in Nashville every day for the last few days. We've been using their internet, drinking their cherry green tea, talking about distribution and how we are going to post produce the film, and pondering what happened to the Nun Bun.

A few nights ago we met up with our friends Sarah and MaryAlice to have a great chili dinner at their house and we hope to get out to play frisbee with them today! We're also anticipating the arrival of Austin's parents and of Dean, the founder of Rally Foundation. We will probably all go out to eat together tonight along with Clair who arrived yesterday. Afterwards, Nick and I plan on going to see a band that my friend Shannon suggested to us called Sophia. I'm so excited about that! I don't think that Nick has been to a concert in a long time.

Well so far Nashville has been fun. I"m going to miss the locals at Bongo Java when we have to leave. hahaha... its so funny, we have been here every single day and I have seen some of the same people every single day... Oh the coffee house life. According to Shannon, who lives here in Nashville (I went to Cornerstone with her and her brother and friends), Ben Folds frequents this coffee house. Wouldn't that be interesting? I mean, you never know what could happen. Meeting Mr. Ben Folds over a cup of cherry green tea? What would I say... Probably something that starts like this:

"Hi! My name is Chelsea Babbish and I'm making this film.. blablabla,... (skip to) are you interested in donating?"
hahahha


The view as Nick and I walk miles around and inside of downtown Nashville....

We could be closer than you know,
Chelsea

Nashville, TN, v.1.0

(x-posted in the Veritaz Productions Blog)

We've made it to Nashville!!

RALLY ACROSS AMERICA IS COMPLETED (the bicycle riding part anyway). Tom, Austin, Nick, and myself pulled into Nashville after a beautiful 80 mile bike ride in Tennessee country at around 12noon on Tuesday the 5th. It's strange, I feel like I'm going to miss being on the road and like I'm super excited to be grounded for a bit as well. No joke though, the road was definatly interesting. Meeting and staying with new people every day, seeing places in the US that we might never have stumbled upon, having the strangest and  most beautiful interactions and things happen. Lets not forget the tons of gas stations that we visited. Through all of the good and all of the bad, we still made a pretty good road team. 



When we got into Nashville, we had a chance to hang out with the Vinyard Vines folks at a trunk show they were having at Vanderbilt. We also got a chance to meet a few of Tom and Austin's friends that we have heard about. They were in the middle of their kick-off week so there was plenty of festivities and free food for the students and faculty (and the veritaz team.. heh heh) While Austin and Tom were schmoozing, Nick and I took their bikes for a spin. We rode all around the Vanderbilt campus and I've decided that I dig Nashville, or what I've seen of it so far.

WHAT I DON"T DIG, HOWEVER, IS WHEN PEOPLE TAKE ONE LOOK AT YOU AND BASICALLY REFUSE TO INVITE YOU INTO THEIR HOUSE.

Wait, what? What happened? 
Well, in every single place that we stop for the night we are basically all housed together by some awesome person or family that believes in the cause or is just happy to have us. It has been such a blessing, especailly since Nick and I have absolutly no money because we've invested all of our money into the project. We didn't have more than 2 weeks to raise money for the film and thats just it, all of the money that we have raised went into the film... that leaves us nothing for food or antyhing. So yea, staying with people is how we've gotten by this summer... they feed us and keep a roof over our heads and we have been so thankful... Nick and I have only had to sleep in the car once (nick twice actually) and both were by choice, not because we HAD to. Anyway, we get to Nashville and we check in with this woman who is the mother of one of Austin and Tom's close friends that they lived with in college. We greeted her on her front porch and she shook our hands just like everyone else does. Austin thanks her for allowing us to stay with her (just like all of the families before) and boom... her friendly mood changes. She says "wait, all four of you need a place to stay?" To which Austin replies "yes" and tells her about how we all are doing this project together. I so kid you not, she takes one look at Nick and me and is like "um... I was only expecting two, I don't know if there is room enough for four."

At first I seriously thought this lady was joking. What could she be talking about? Her house looked like it cost 3 million dollars.... just a minute before we were waiting for her in the Rally Car and watching her automatic sprinklers water the beautiful flower and rock garden that sepperates her beautiful yard from her beautiful driveway. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that we DESERVE to stay anywhere but come on lady, tell us SOMETHING other than you "don't have enough room".

I got really nervous and smiled at her and told her not to worry, I'd find someone that we could stay with. She assured us that Austin and Tom were welcome but, again, she wasn't expecting two more. I was so angry and embarrissed that I just lied and told her that I had a place we might be able to stay and walked back to the car to see if I couldn't call the ONE PERSON I know in Nashville that has a dorm that we might be able to crash on the floor in. She seemed to be happy and ok with these arrangements and so she invited Austin and Tom inside but didn't invite Nick or I. Nick and I had to wait in the front drive of her mansion for about 25 minutes until Tom and Austin had finished showering and were ready to go get some food. I just could not believe it... she woulnd't even invite us in??? We didn't do a darn thing to this lady, we had been on the road since 6:30am and we were just following Austin's directions and lead. We couldn't even begin to believe that this woman made sure that we didn't come near her house and we had to sit in the car and wait for the boys to be done.

When Austin and Tom came out they told us that she had a ton of couches and even some empty guest bedrooms just chilling with nobody in them. THANK GOD FOR MARY BETH (one of the girls that helped with Rally... she wrote all of our press releases) was in town and had two couches that Nick and I could sleep on. The problem was, though, that we didn't have a car to get to go get food the next day because Austin and Tom had it at the mansion and nick is VERY VERY ahlergic to cats and there is a cat that lives in the house with Mary Beth. It was just a mess and we felt so uncomfortable about it... not about Mary Beth's place but about the situation. We felt so unwelcome! ugh. The kid whose family it was that denied us didn't even seem to care. He was like "yea oh well".

lame.

THANK YOU MARY BETH for taking us under your wing and letting us sleep in your living room.

All I have to say is what the heck. It was like she saw two artists and was like heck no they aren't allowed near me. Please, don't breath the same breath as me.... vegabonds. That's how it felt. Oh well. I guess we can't expect to have everyone treat us with hospitality. It was just a rude awakening that there are actually people in the world who would turn away kids who just spent over three months of their lives working behind the scenes on a charity event, not caring if they have a place to stay or not...

We really should have just slept in the car infront of her house.
ugh. haha

Trying not to let it get us down... it's just giving us an opportunity to be graceful and get over it and move on. It's hard to love your neighbor somtimes....
Other than that, though, Nashville has been fun. More to come later.


Vegabonds

We could be closer than you know,
Chelsea

Memphis, TN (kinda)

(x-posted in the Veritaz Blog)

Well, we never ACTUALLY went into Memphis, TN... I kind-of wish we would have been able to because neither Nick nor I have ever been there!

Just outside Memphis, however, we stayed with a wonderful family of 5 that has JUST started a non-profit called Habitat for Hope. If you check out their website by clicking the above link you can find out what they are all about.

It was wonderful talking to them, hearing about their vision and how it is all falling together for them. How encouraging as a small company to hear about other people who are starting small and getting so much support. Hopefully some day we will have the same type of support that they have. They seemed excited about the film and their young daughter, Bella, gave us a wonderful interview about her experience with cancer. She offered some insight that will be a great help to the film.

While we were there, they let Nick and I take a tour of the property via 4 wheeler. Good thing I have some experience mud boggin in Georgia and I know how to drive one. hahaha. It was beautiful and a fun break from driving an explorer!
I have pictures of us 4wheelin around but I took them with my phone and my phone is acting up so when I can con it into working then I'll post them right where this sentance is. haha

When it was about time to leave Bella accompanied us out to the road on her super awesome pink princess bike that didn't even have any training wheels. She came as far as the apple trees and then waved us on.

We could be closer than you know,
Chelsea

The road to Memphis, TN

(x-posted in the Veritaz Blog)

Today, on the way to Memphis, the Veritaz Team had a long day riding with Austin and Tom. Nick took on the whole day, driving for about 15 hours. They had a 200 mile day planned and we got onto the road by 6:30am. The boys had put in about 80 miles by noon. How excited were all of us when we got to TENNESSEE? Pretty excited. It marked the last leg of the trip. Holy moly!















It sure is funny the things you see while taking it slow along the smaller routs through the country. We've passed all types of dogs, cows, horses, people... haha. Just yesterday we drove on rout 61. As it turns out, this weekend on highway 61 there was the first annual "61 miles of garage sale on highway 61". No joke! We passed through miles and miles and miles of more and more and more garage. The 61 mile garage sale! That has to be some sort of record.
Along the rout we got some funny footage of the boys stopping and saying hello to some local horses in Old Appletown. Austin let one of the horses, BJ, lick all of the salt off of his arms and rally jersy. eew. It made for some funny filming though. hahaha. That horse just kept licking it's lips and reaching for Austin. haha.

Nick and I found this sweet carved cow skull at one of the garage sales. We wanted to get it and strap it to the front of the Rally Across America support car but it was 10 bucks and I only had a 5 in my wallet. How funny would that have been for Austin and Tom? To look back and see the Rally car with a giant old cow skull, horns and all, strapped to the grill! Too bad.

We got to our host home at a decent time. Time enough to throw something together for the weather channel (again) at the request of Rally Foundation. They wanted some footage a while ago of the boys riding and doing their thing and, although it's slightly difficult to supply it from the raod, we did our best to accomidate but it just never worked out. Hopefully this time everything will work out and they will be able to air a little something about Rally Across America. That'd be cool. All I have left to do is print the footage to tape and, well, I guess, hand it over. I'm very interested to see how if it actually works!

It's sometimes difficult to deal with news stations or television when the middle people involved don't know anything about film. Everyone always has the greatest intentions but really, how can you expect a lay person to relay the language correctly and be able to explain why something worked or didn't work, will work or won't work? Even if you can explain it to them, you can't fully expect them to be able to pass the knowledge on the way you perfectly want it. It's not fair to the middle man. I'm worried this might be one of those situations. Hopefully not.

We ended up staying at Habitat for Hope with these two AWESOME missionary and visionaries. More on them in a later post:)

woo!
Onward to Nashville! Rally Across America and the work we are doing here is coming quickly to it's completion!

St. Louis, MO City Museum and THE HILL!

(x-posted in the Veritaz Blog)
Yay for Elizabeth. We met Elizabeth when we visited the St. Louis children's hospital. She is interning there with media and was there to help us with the image releases that we need to have signed by those that we filmed. We got a chance to catch up with her later the next day because, when we were at the hospital visiting kids, she offered to take us around St. Louis. How cool is it that she had the day off as well? We took her up on it.

She drove out to where we were staying those two nights and picked us up. We had to drop the car off with Austin at the St. Louis Bread Company so he would have a way to meet us if he wanted to later. He was using the internet there and catching up on Rally stuff while Nick, Tom, Elizabeth, and I bee-lined it to CITY MUSEUM!!! No joke, I think Nick and I had talked about city museum at least once a week during this trip. I have been waiting all summer to get a chance to go and I'm sure Tom and Austin were getting sick of hearing all about it all the time. hahaha... at one point, Austin thought we were making it up. Too bad he was still at the bread shop. Tom, however, was able to experience the true magisty of the CM. haha.

So we get there and we pay for tickets... Tom and Nick take off right away and dissapeer. Wait a second here... if you don't know what CITY MUSEUM is, PLEASE click the above link. It would take too long to explain in full. In short, however, Citi Museum is a giant wearhouse that is full of stuff found in and around St. Louis. It was started by a man who decided that, when the city was clearing out buildings in order to build the St. Louis Arch, decided it would be a waste to let all of the debree just be thrown away. He found amazing things and saved them all in 3 giant wearhouses and then started building the citi museum out of all of the nifty stuff he salvaged. The best part about it? It's about 3 stories of pure jungle gym. There are tons of rooms that are all connected by walk ways and tunnles and ladders made of every type of thing imaginable. Yes, it's true: YOU CAN CLIMB ON EVERYTHING, in everything, under everything, and usually, above everything. It can be summed up in one word: AMAZING. PLEASE click the link and see for yourself.



  

  

  

  

  


Anyway so I had been waiting all summer to get out to this super cool place and you would never believe what happened. Elizabeth and I started over by one of the giant fish tanks that they have in the middle of the building and we started climbing in the caves near it. We ended up right next to the tank near where the glass ended and one of the spotted fish was right at the top. We both were looking over at the fish and I, not thinking anything of it, reached over the tank to touch the thing, I mean, it's just a fish right? It seemed friendly enough... just peeking at me from right below the surface. I figured, with so many kids climbing around here I'm sure the fish are tame. It let me touch it's nose and we were both so amazed that it didn't swim away that Elizabeth came closer and I reached over to pet it again. Next thing I know the nice sweet not-so-little fish jumped OUT OF THE TANK AND BIT MY ENTIRE FINGER. My ENTIRE first finger was in the things mouth in a split second. The instant it happened I pulled my hand way up into the air and the thing grabbed on at my middle knuckle and came right out of the tank. Elizabeth says I pulled the thing about 2 and a half feet into the air! We were both screaming and I was shaking my hand. The fish biting my finger hurt like HECK. It wouldn't let go! I kept shaking my arm and finally it let go and fell back into the tank splashing water all over my face. Did I mention that the fish was at LEAST 14 inches long? It weighed a lot too.



WHAT THE HECK??!!!???

So we both calm down (kinda) and I look down at my finger. It's bleeding all over the place and swelling up like a balloon. There are puncture wounds all of the way across the top of my knuckle and across the bottem. One is so deep that the torn tissue of my finger was pertruding out of it. That's right, the fish bit me SO HARD and deep that the tissue of my finger, because of the pressure of the swelling, was coming out of the puncture hole. WHY IS IT that things like this always seem to happen to ME? Seriously.


Ok so about this time we had already made our way back to the front gate to ask if there is anything we might need to know about the fish that bit me, like, for example, was it POISENOUS? I had cleaned y finger up pretty well but it just kept bleeding and bleeding. What a freak show. Next thing I know, it seemed like all of the employees were there standing around Elizabeth and me at the fish tank. I couldn't stop laughing but at the same time I felt pretty stupid. I mean come ON... I'm 21 years old and just got owned by an effing fish. haha. THey kept saying "why did you put your hand in the tank?" to which I had to keep replying: I wanted to pet the fish!

I'm an idiot. Oh my gosh. haha.





So ok long story short it was a BULL FISH that bit me. The fish dude at the City Museum said that they are one of the most aggressive species of fish. Ok so since then I have been kinda wondering... WHY THE HECK WOULD YOU HAVE DANGEROUS AND AGRESSIVE FISH AT AN AQUARIUM WHERE THERE IS NO RAILING AND ONLY A FEW INCHES BETWEEN THE WATER AND THE END OF THE TANK WHEN LITTLE KIDS ARE ALLLLL AROUND ALLL THE TIME? WHY? Seriously. haha. Go figure. Anyway I guess everyone got a kick out of it. It got so swollen that I couldn't move my finger. I sat out for the next hour or so with Nick and iced my finger until we cought up with Elizabeth and Tom again. It felt better by then so we then all did some climbing and exploring and took some pictures. Nick and I showed them where we ducked under the floor down a tunnel that looked like it was just part of a dried up fountain.

After we left City Museum, Elizabeth took us to the St. Louis Loop and we met up with Austin. I had forgotten that Nick and I had been there a few years ago shopping with our friend Jamie during a road trip that we took together the summer between my freshman and sophomore year of college. After a few steps it all came back to me. We didn't stay for long because Elizabeth had this awesome idea. She called her parents and let them know that we'd be joining them for dinner. We could not have guessed what we were about to get ourselves into.

We packed up and all drove out to the Hill, where Elizabeth is from. Turns out her family is all very very Ittalian and they all live on the same street! She lives RIGHT next to her grandma (who is probably THE coolest 85 year old I have ever encountered in my lifetime) and right infront of her aunt and uncle, etc, etc. She got changed and we headed out to Vino's, a bar and restaurant. Her family owns a bakery on the Hill and they were there with grandma and others along with some people who work at the bakery. I guess they all go out to Vino's a lot. Everyone there knew them. We sat down with everybody and ordered some dinner. Her dad said he'd treat! No joke!


When we were there we ate pizza, subs, and St. Louis toasted ravioli! We spent a long time learning how to play Bocce Ball the Italian way! We even won our FIRST game!













After hanging out with her big family a ton we felt like genuine Italians! haha... too bad none of us are. They really made us feel at home. We kept hanging out with them into the night. Together we all left after two fun games of Bocce Ball to go to this diner across town. MORE FOOD! We ate and ate! They made Austin and Tom order these things called Slingers. A Slinger is eggs, hash browns, chilli, and more on a burger. It comes out looking like a plate of chilli hash browns with a burger patty hidden somewhere in the middle. Gross. haha. Everything was amazing that night. We had more fun than we could have expected!