It’s 3:30 am. We are lugging our bags outside getting ready to pack the van. When out of nowhere drops a two liter Pepsi 2. Out it flies then explodes, soaking us all head to toe. Can we use carbonation to capture Kony? Because it sure worked on us. We didn’t
even try to dodge it. We stood there in disbelief. Soaked and sticky, we knew there was only one thing we could do: laugh.

Welcome to tour.

We are currently running off of Dunkin’ Donuts and a whole lot of host home loving. We have made a lot of progress on tour. Madi got attacked by a parrot, Boni can quote Kony 2012 from beginning to end, Gabby is losing her southern accent, Kristin is slowly
overcoming her fear of squirrels (this is only partially true) and Bryan Funky-Fresh has managed to abbreviate every word in the English Dictionary. (If Bryan was typing this he would say, “abbrev.”)

We know tour can be hard. We know that life can be hard. In the rough times you can’t focus on the negative. You have to keep bringing the refreshing joy. That’s Team Tri-State’s goal, to keep bringing the joy. From van dance parties to photo booths and
dance parties at screenings, we want the joy to be present. We also want to share this joy with you. Welcome to our life.

Our team has decided to create our own man vs. food challenges (the real hunger games if you will). Every challenge has to be executed in a moving van. This week we are going to see if Gabby can finish a bag of chips in less than 45 minutes. May the
odds be ever in her favor.

It’s been fun explaining to people that our teammate Boni is actually not the same as the brutal warlord, Kony. Boni (Bo-Knee) has also received an abundance of new names including: Bunny, Bonnie, Bonez, Boneman and our all time favorite, Ugandan Boniface. We decided that it would be appropriate to call Boni by these different names every waking moment. Our personal favorite: Bonez.

Everyone told us we would lose weight on tour. We just have one thing to say: Lies. Our host homes have been stellar and provide a feast every meal. Franz Fordinand (that’s our van) is always stocked full of yummy snacks including but not limited
to chips, cookies and granola bars. Blessed? We think so. I’d say the extra 10 pounds we’re each adding up is completely worth it. Thanks host homes. We truly do appreciate you all so much. (When we say we, we mean the girls. Bryan and Boni are shedding pounds. Not fair, right?)

To pass the time in the van we like to play a game called Cow. You see cows, you yell “My cow!” Tally your points. When there’s a church you can steal people’s cows. When there’s a graveyard you can kill people’s cows. We’re in New York City. There are no cows, but there are a lot of graveyards. Needless to say, all our cows are dead.

On this tour we’ve developed a team handshake, in the words of Boni, we’ve succeeded to “disturb” each other every waking hour and eaten our weight in cookies. Our team motto is “Nituuu!” Coined by Boni himself. It means excitement, happy or joy. You will
hear us using this word on the regular. We believe it. We want to live it. We want joy to be present every moment on tour, in our lives, in your lives.

This time right here, right now is so important. This is the year. The world is stepping up and the world is changing. Keep up the good work and remember how powerful your voices are. When times get tough we need to remember two things:

1. Remember the wise words of Sean Stephenson: “What’s funny about this?”
2. Tough times don’t last, but tough teams do.

Nituuu!