Day 8 of 33

If I were as ambitious in my work as I am in my rest, the very Earth would quake beneath my feet in anticipation of my genius.

That seems like a very Shavian thing to say, in respect to the show I work on. In all seriousness, I do so much in my "time off" that I relish the idea of relaxing when I return to work. Today was my day off, so naturally I did as much as possible.



I thought perhaps I would hit the beach today, but it seemed a little chilly when I woke up (70s... chilly out here) so I decided on something historical instead. I rode my bike over to the San Diego Old Town. It really was not a bad bike ride, but since it was at the bottom of a canyon, it was decidedly more difficult to come back.

My first stop in Old Town was actually a small "Heritage Village" which featured houses of architecture more akin to New England than New Spain. They had been built in downtown San Diego by some wealthier transplants, and later moved to this little street in conservation efforts. All but one were closed off because they actually plan to convert them to Inns! That is pretty interesting. The one that remained open contained a gift shop and a nice women named Pam, who was easy to strike up conversation with. She enjoyed praising my career gains (I make it sound nice) and offered to adopt me after commiserating about my local San Diego family that is proving so difficult...

I then moved on to the Mormon Battalion museum, run by the Church of Latter Day Saints. It seemed like an innocent enough museum from the outside, but quickly turned into an interactive experience where historical characters were trying to get me to read the Book of Mormon. Moving on from there.

I found myself actually inside the Old Town Park, which was neat. They call it a Living History park, but it is far from what you would expect from something like Williamsburg and the like. It really just means the shopkeepers, as all the buildings are essentially tourist shops, are in costume. I capped my Old Town experience with a tour, which everyone bailed on except for me and two other people, leading me to think we got a better tour. I learned a good deal about the original settlement. Primarily, the original Spanish mission was headed for Monterrey, and not San Diego. As they headed north, many of the soldiers and workers were struck sick with scurvy and other things, so they left them in San Diego in around 1769. So began the first European settlement in California until the actual mission reached Monterrey.

I knew it was a big ol' tourist trap, but I decided to treat myself to some beers and fish tacos anyway. Fish tacos are apparently San Diego's specialty: grilled or deep-fried fish with crema mexicana (sour cream?), and salsa fresca on a soft corn taco. I enjoyed them.

Once I finally wound myself back to my room, I promptly headed out again for a night of entertainment. The Old Globe was trying a new type of performance centering on Balboa Park that they invited some company members to attend. They sent me an mp3 beforehand, which I can play on my iPhone during the performance. We lined up for the start of the performance, and once we started our music, we began a slow tour around the park. There were performers located along the path, creating an interesting story. The "story" seemed to center on a wedding and relationship and how both parties were connected with Balboa park. It was interesting and opened my eyes to some new possibilities of performance and modern media. If you can make it out below, there is a woman in a bride's dress under this rather large tree.


I went directly from this performance to another performance at The Old Globe. Hershey Felder, a "Canadian playwright/actor/pianist" who was doing a one man show called "The American Songbook". It is basically a sing-a-long of classic American musical theater songs punctuated with Felder's humor and stories. I enjoyed it, but I didn't 2-hours-and-15-minutes-without-a-break enjoy it, if you catch my drift.

All in all, a very successful day!