Camp Pull-A-Shot: Preliminary Recap

I want to get some thoughts out there while this is all still fresh in my mind.  It’s half past midnight, I’m pretty exhausted, and I’ve got a busy day tomorrow, but this was an experience that I don’t want to soon forget.

At 27, I think I’ve done some pretty cool shit.  Most of the big ones involved traveling and meeting awesome people.  I get along with people pretty well and get stoked on the slightest conversations, so all it takes for overwhelming memories might just be a little bit of travel where I surround myself with righteous folks.  Examples include, but are not limited to, touring the country in a punk band, partying in a foreign country, or just going on a fishing trip with my dad.  But here’s the kicker with this recent BGA camp: I’m a pretty big geek about coffee and have never had anything remotely close to hanging out with so many incredible like-minded folks.  Seriously, over 110 baristas from all corners of the country (and Canada with Piccolo.com), plus several wonderful and inspiring speakers I only ever hoped to have met in my lifetime, all in one radical place was enough to shatter my world into a million pieces in all the best ways.

I had the “super-awesome” opportunity of riding back to LA after camp with Jaymie Lao and Keith Mrotek, and I can honestly say, I couldn’t have imagined a more perfect ending to the unbelievable 4 days.  As everyone who attended the camp, I would assume, knows, as well as several others who did not, Keith suffered a major injury to his spine in a motorcycle accident only 10 days prior to camp that only about 3% of similar cases ever walk away from.  He was rocking a halo bolted to his dome that secured his neck in one place.  And the dude killed it.  He pulled shots and poured drinks with best of us.  It’s likely that if there had been a latte art competition, he’d have won it.  The longer I think about it, I really don’t think that anything was more inspiring than him.

And then there was Jaymie.  Jaymie warmed my heart.  She’s the type who’s really easy to talk to, and maybe it’s me, but I think we fed off of each other.  We bounced ideas back and forth and seemed to keep endless conversations rolling.  She’s really caring, like a middle child in an adoring family.  I wanted to be friends with her forever as soon as we met.

So it was rad when Jaymie was down to drive me back to LA with her and stop in at some cafes.  And even radder when Keith decided to jump in on the action with us.  And Sandy Bledsoe too!

We followed the good folks from Cartel Coffee Lab down to The French Press to see Joel and Michael in action down in Santa Barbara.  The cafe was gorgeous and I had a really good shot of Verve’s Sermon.  It seemed like they have a ton of happy regulars which is something that always makes me glad to see.  It was a great feeling being there.  I would have loved to stay all day, but Sandy (as well as eventually myself and Keith) had a flight to catch, so well said goodbye to The French Press, and after some pizza, headed to the Santa Barbara airport to drop off Sandy.  We’d meet the Arizona folks in Silver Lake from there.

As we made way southbound, we got talking about some of the great memories we had.  For me, most of them revolved around the conversations I shared with others.  I had so many incredible talks, but some of them rose profound issues as far-ranging as subjectivity, community outreach, self-abuse, and equality for women, amongst many others.  I hope to elaborate on these issues at some point, but for the sake of brevity, I’ll stick to the rest of our little trip through LA.

We made it to Silver Lake before the evening and went straight to Intelligentsia.  I’d never been there and walking in was kind of a trip.  Every now and then I’ll hear someone refer to baristas as daytime bartenders, so it was kind of remarkable to me how much the bar there resembled a bar, but for coffee.  If that makes any sense.  Anyway, we all had some coffee and took off after taking it in.  We stopped into the little mixology store next door to the cafe to stare at things that we wish we had in our houses before parting ways with the Arizonians and heading out to Venice.

As we were driving through Los Angeles, we talked more about coffee mostly (as if anyone thought we’d ever stop).  Not so much about the stuff, or technique or anything, but about our experiences and such.  And as we drove, I kept getting nostalgic about the times I’ve spent in LA in the past, and about the camp we had all just come from.  Plus, the thought of having passed the level 2 exam would pass through my mind here and there and overwhelm me.  It felt great.  It felt like coming down off of some really awesome psychedelic drug trip.

We arrived at the Intelligentsia in Venice right around sunset and entered through the front.  Keith was really excited to see Charles and got super stoked when he saw Nicely’s bike outside.  I was stoked to see him stoked.  And then when we walked in, everyone seemed to be stoked.  Even if Keith didn’t look like he was wearing some science fiction costume and nothing had ever happened to him, I’m sure it wouldn’t have been much different.  After a minute or two, Charles and Nicely introduced themselves to Jaymie and me and we ordered some drinks.  Charles realized I was @MaximumGrindage (those are always such funny moments) and we shot the shit for a bit.  The drinks we had were stellar, and I was pretty much mind blown for like the nth time in the past few days.  It was really kind of sad when we had to go because my flight was coming up pretty soon.  So, we exited through the back and took off for LAX.

To say I was sad to leave those guys does not explain it.  But really, I don’t know if I can.

My life rules.  I believe that statement.  Great things are always happening.  On a daily basis.  But there are these times that make me forget that and force me to live in the moment and do the best that I can at whatever I am doing at that moment.  The whole week had kind of been like that.  And then that moment came where I did my best to say goodbye to my new friends.  And then it was back to my everyday life, which, don’t get me wrong, totally rules, but…

There are tons of people I’d like to talk about and things that happened and experiences I shared, but it’s 10 to 3 now and I never get any sleep.  So, I’m gonna do myself a favor and leave this here for now.  Please feel free to comment if you feel like it.