Rance Rizzutto

Our second show for the 2010 Chicago Improv Festival

www.rnd-project.com

Playground Theater

Our first of two shows for the 2010 Chicago Improv Festival

www.rnd-project.com

Link to iO Chicago

About two weeks ago I bought a pair of these. Vibram fivefinger KSO shoes. There are five or six different models, but the KSO is the only one they make large enough to fit my feet.

The theory behind them is that we’re not born with shoes on. Our feet are designed to be walked on…barefoot. These shoes allow you to do that with a rubber sole for protection. All protection, no support. Because of this your feet get stronger and do all the supporting on their own.

The first week left my feet a little sore as they were getting used to walking “out of shoes.” I would purposely step on small rocks to see how protected my feet were and they were fine. I could feel it, but it would take an exceptionally pointy rock in an open flat surface to really hurt.

This last week we went to the top of Mt. Haleakala in Maui. I was hopping all over the rocks with no problems. Probably with better grip than I had before.

The main realization came on Monday night. We had our normal two shows and then a third show just for crew. At the end of it a few people were talking about how much their feet hurt and that was when I realized that mine DIDN’T!

I was wearing “normal” shoes for the show, but my feet are now stronger and supporting themselves.

The only downside with these shoes is that they seem quick to get stinky, but they are also machine washable so…problem solved.

Get ‘em!

The Road to Hana is just that…a road to a town called Hana. Famous because it is long and winding and there are many waterfalls along the way. So you stop and go along the way.

It took us about 5 hours to go 40 miles what with stopping for views and lunch.

Last week there was an 8.8 earthquake in Chile. Imagine hearing about this on the news…and then hearing there is a Tsunami warning for Hawaii…and then realizing you’re on a ship off the coast of Honolulu.

Tada!

Normally Saturday morning is filled with early morning announcements of who is cleared to leave the ship. The luggage tags you pick are connected to a departure time somewhere in between 7:00am-9:30am.

Instead, we awoke to one announcement letting everyone know why we were still at sea, and that same announcement given in Japanese.

Everything on the coast was evacuated, supposedly. The harbor was closed. Besides, the ship and everyone on it would be safest out at sea.

Everyone was following news reports: what had been hit, projected times, etc. We were supposed to get tsunami’d at 11:25am.

Now, this wouldn’t be the movie version of a 100ft tall wave blocking out the sun and sending us to Atlantis. It was reported that it would be 3-6ft high, which doesn’t sound that bad except that it have a lot of speed and force behind it. On land that could have meant easy destruction. At sea that would have meant the ship kind of bobs up and over it.

All in all the tsunami never really happened. The water level raised and lowered about a meter in Hilo and that was the worst of it.

The coast guard still needed to clear the harbor and around 4pm they allowed us to come in and start the process we normally start at 7:00am.

For the situation, I never felt like I was closer to a potential natural disaster while feeling like I was in the safest place.

Last week the ship was offering a deal on surfing lessons to the crew. We’re in Hawaii, right? That means we should probably surf!

Mike, Piero, Deanna and I signed up, along with two other crew members. Look at those surfers ride those waves! This should be fun! And easy! And graceful!

Well. We got our boards and a quick lesson about where to stand on the board, how to maneuver the board when sitting on it and such. The six of us headed out with our instructor. All paddling out together. I remember that first time paddling out. It seemed pretty easy.

Once we got out there it was just a matter of waiting. The instructor wanted us to go one at a time with his help before we went on our own. We were doing this all in Kauai in a place that always has waves, yet the equivalent of a bunny hill in ski terms…a good place to learn.

I finally got up for my time to shine. “Make sure when you fall, you fall flat. It’s shallow out there.” says the instructor. Moments later he shoves my board forward and says “GO! GO! GO!”

I kind of did it that first time. But it didn’t last for long. I fell…flat, as instructed, but still managed to scratch up my hands on the coral and rocks below. It was only two to three feet deep. I stood up and yanked on the bungee cord connecting my ankle to the board. I only had a few moments before the next wave came and if I wasn’t back on my board I would be rolled around in the coral.

Now, you would think the hard part would be getting up on the board. I say that is easy…compared to attempting to paddle back out. He told us to paddle AROUND where the break was happening. So, we would have to paddle to the left a bit and then head out. I remembered him telling us that so I paddled left for what felt like 100 feet. As I then started to straighten out and head to deeper waters I got hit by wave after wave. I would paddle about 10 feet and get knocked back 5. Very tiring. I didn’t understand why it was so difficult this time and so easy the first time. I looked back at the shore and realized that the current and wind was also blowing me back into the wave zone.

I think my second time up was possibly the best. Still only up for a few seconds, but at least I got up. I didn’t even make it all the way out for a good third run because I couldn’t get around the waves and was tired.

Overall Mike was definitely the best of the four of us. I was second best and worst was debatable.

By the end of it all the four of us were a collection of soreness and cut up hands and feet. We’re glad we surfed. We don’t need to do it again.