Jason Alan Griffin :: The Blog

The ride from Durango to Albuquerque was beautiful in parts. I drove through some pretty impressive red rock formations. At the Motel 6, the young guy checking me in had his arm in a sling so it was a struggle for him to do the simplest things. I found out that it was a snowboarding accident. This is the second time on this trip that I had this happened to me at Motel 6 (and only the second time ever in all the many years I’ve been staying in them, so it might be a new policy) but for guests paying with cash, they ask for a cleaning/damage deposit. The first time it happened, I thought it was because of it being a Studio 6, and maybe people take off with or damage the pots and pans or the kitchen. But this time it was a simple, no-frills Motel 6 room. Since I had arrived after 6pm, they had already charged my credit card for that night, but I was staying two nights, so I still owed them for the second night. If I wanted to pay cash, I had to leave an additional cash deposit. I said ...

The motel in Farmington, NM was super no-frills. No microwave anywhere on the premises so I couldn’t heat up my sausages. I went instead to get a burger from Blake’s Lotaburger. I put my own fermented pickles and red peppers on it. I woke up and drove a bit over an hour to teach a class in Durango, Colorado. It’s a cute, historic town with lots of outdoorsy type people. I had never been there and in fact had never even heard of it until a few months ago. When I heard there was a Nia community there, I contacted them and set up a class. 
 I had a bit of a challenge finding the place. The address was on 3rd Street and I kept entering Third Street into my navigation but it was saying such a street didn’t exist. Finally, when I used the number instead of spelling it, I found it. 

And then when I got there, it was the longest walk from the car to the studio that I’ve ever had in all my years of teaching on the road. I took the crate and the dog in two trips, because of it. I left River in ...

In Tempe I had a room in a Studio 6  as opposed to my usual Motel 6. The Studio includes a kitchen, which I like to have access to every week or so. I used the kitchen to boil some eggs and cook up a pork chop, but other than that, I didn’t really need it. Most of what I did was chopping and putting more vegetables in jars, which I could do in any motel room. It was nice to have the sink, but often I can make it work in the little bathroom sink. The pork chop, which was quite delicious, is something I couldn’t have done in the regular motel room with a microwave, so maybe that was worth the stay. Tempe was hot and dry. I stayed there for two nights. In the evening of the second night I was scheduled to teach a class at a new-to-me space in Phoenix. I had never made it into Phoenix in all my past trips. Not for lack of trying, but the situation never worked out before. Finally this year, it all came together and I mad my debut at Village Athletic Club in Phoenix thanks to the gr...

This first thing I had planned today was to meet with some of the local (Santa Monica) Nia teachers and do some choreography jamming. I got caught in traffic on the way there yesterday and would have been late had I not allowed an extra half hour to get there early. So today I allowed for the amount of time the drive yesterday actually took. But to my surprise the traffic was much thicker and slower and started sooner than it did yesterday, so I ended up arriving about five minutes late. When I got there the teachers were already jamming so I just stepped in. They showed me a few of the songs they had already created and I liked one of them so we just designated that one as the Santa Monica contribution to my next routine. I showed them the choreography to a couple of my Frankie Say Nia songs and everyone was happy. They bought me breakfast at Starbucks and I even had an espresso. (I know! Those of you keeping track might remember that I don't typically have any coffee outside ...