1000 Origami Cranes - Part II

Jason was the man I turned to first for help with actually folding the cranes.  With an eye for detail and a fluffy white dog, I was pretty sure he had what it took to fold small pieces of paper, intricately...and I wasn't wrong.  We did a lot of damage, folding several hundred over the course of two separate mornings at him and his wife Rebecca's place in Temecula.  But it still wasn't enough.  A thousand cranes is a lot.....I mean A LOT of cranes.

I put out the Bat Signal (and a menu consisting of bud light and pizza) and set up shop at Tyler and Tom's place in San Elijo Hills.  The two of them were gracious enough to let me bring over a ridiculous amount of origami paper and conduct a paper-folding lesson.  I learned very quickly that folding paper is sort of like being able to roll your tongue; either you can, or you can't.  I thought it was a skill that could be taught...wrong.  Some people are better suited for mashing potatoes with their fists.  But dammit if all of my friends didn't give it their best to help me put together, what I hoped would be, a lifetime memory for me and Jeralyn.

Those with the skill include Cale, JJ, JT (no kidding), Tyler, and Tom.  Some were better at starting it off while others were better suited for finishing them off.  Now my friend Travis, well...he provided the comic relief.  At first inadvertently, but eventually I was almost crying at the abominations coming from his corner.  I'm still not sure if he's the worst origami man of all time, or a damn genius for escaping the sweatshop I was running.

At one point I even made an impromptu trip up to Los Angeles to hang with a couple buddies, Paul and Justin.  After a pub crawl, a horrible adventure with tobacco snuff, bar trivia, and a dozen drinks, I thought it'd be a great idea to bust out the cranes that were permanently stored in the back of my truck for safe hiding.  Needless to say this was a train wreck of a folding session.  The Force is strong in Paul.  Maybe Travis got the word to Justin about how to get out of folding, or maybe he too is a potato masher.  All three of us folded until our eyes gave out.  When the morning shed light upon the previous night's exploits, I counted seven cranes.

Despite any hiccups, and because of all the support, I had almost reached my goal.  On my second crane trip to Temecula, Jason and Rebecca would help me fold a couple hundred more cranes, and Justin would transport them to Los Angeles for the final phase of Operation: "JR Owes a Lot of Favors to a Lot of Friends".