:: Giddy Girlie ::

Making Christmas

2011-12-20T20:41:00.001-08:00

This year I made good on my threat, er, promise to decorate for Christmas. The tree, truth be told, looks pretty much like every year. The same ornaments just always look the same. But every year, I have to marvel at the Tinker Bell on top of the tree. This year, Ryan did an amazing job at arranging the lights behind her wings to give her a lovely glow.

To step it up, I decided to use some extra mini trees to gussy up the shelves on the TV console that hold my various toys and bric-a-brac.

First up was the Pee Wee's Playhouse crew. Pee Wee and Cowboy Curtis are having fun playing with their new train set and teddy bear (respectively).

Miss Yvonne smiles happily at the gigantic pink diamond (my gift from the Kidlet gave me last year) and the cupcake themed Vinylmation toy from Disneyland.

The miniature dollhouse is actually a miniature Barbie Dream House that was a Hallmark ornament from the 80's (maybe?). I found it at a comic book store in Florida, of all places, and had to have it. On the balcony is a Mardi Gras baby Jesus and a miniature Cinderella in her winter finest. Beneath is a Disney bus and Mickey Mouse's house (look, the tiny Disney things come in blind packs and to get the Haunted Mansion that I wanted, I had to get a lot of other random things). There's also a naked black baby girl that Styro sent me. The little ghosts are wooden cut outs from Chris Yates who makes custom cut wooden puzzles and for Comic Con a couple of years ago, he had some surplus wood pieces that he made into ghosts. I just love them. Also hiding under the tree is Nibbler from Futurama.

The Haunted Mansion shelf got a "Haunted Holiday" make-over that mixes the Nightmare Before Christmas with Haunted Mansion.

The Mansion got some snowmen and a miniature Christmas tree, along with some Dia De Los Muertos characters from Mexico.

Sock Zombie took over Rocket's sweater and Santa's mini chair and is waiting to hear your wishes! Next to him are the three wise bacons, courtesy of Mr. Toast, and clay angel cats.

Sharing the shelf is Godzilla wearing the reindeer antlers and decorating his own tree. Beneath is a woody replica, hauling its own tree and the sock puppet versions of me and Ryan and Ruckus (made by Kate).

Even the mermaid lamp got in on the action! She's wearing a plaid green scarf to keep herself warm out of water.

Of course, we'd be remiss if we didn't also decorate the local livestock! So here's Rocket, modeling his collection of holiday ready-to-wear!

Hare today goon tomorrow

2011-10-07T13:13:00.000-07:00

IRT the post title: did anyone else say this joke at the end of Little Bunny Foo Foo? Because the fairy would threaten him with being turned into a "goon" if he didn't stop bopping field mice on the head... so after his third warning she says {along with the music} "Little bunny Foo Foo/I've already told you/ STOP picking up field mice/ and bopping them on their heads" and with a wave of her wand POOF! He was a goon! And the moral of the story is hare today, goon tomorrow.

Am I the only one who did that? Probably.

ANYWAY, this post is about hairs not hares. It's about styling that mane on your head while you sleep without curlers or rollers or hot tools of any kind!

This is how I started out - freshly washed and air dried hair, about 90% dry, naturally curly with NO products or hairspray

Then I rolled it up, according to the video's instructions

I wore the roll-up overnight, but I had a pretty bad night's sleep. I tossed and turned and thrashed around a lot so I was surprised to see that the whole thing hadn't come undone.

After taking out the headband, I didn't brush or spray my hair. This is what it looked like. Incidentally, it's hard to photograph dark hair!

This last picture was taken about 5 hours later. You can see that the curl has relaxed a bit, but not a lot. If I had used some product, it probably would have held tighter but this was just an experiment.

Overall, I'd say that this was a success! Although I'd probably touch it up with a curling iron here and there if I was going someplace exciting (today was a work-at-home day), it still saves SO MUCH time when you're getting ready. Rolling it up took about 5 minutes and taking it down was about 10 seconds. A curling iron touch-up might add 5 minutes, but a 10 minute hairstyle to look this good? You're WAY ahead of the game!

Notes for next time:

roll while hair is wetter, so that the natural curl doesn't fight against the roll-up
use a tiny bit of liquid gel or mousse to help hold the curl (unless waves are desired)
touch-up with a curling iron where needed in the morning
don't take pictures of yourself at 8am. No one wants to see that.

Camera Hog

2011-10-07T10:00:00.000-07:00

Ruckus was sitting by the front door, as usual, whining and whining and whining... meaning that he was ready to go for a walk. As soon as I turned on the camera, he clammed up and refused to speak.

Instead, Rocket took over.

Note: I was holding the camera against the front door at the height of the peep hole.

Suspicious Package

2011-10-05T12:10:00.000-07:00

Some FedEx deliveries are hazardous to your cell phone*

*when used to film the contents

Birthday Bonanza Part 3

2011-09-29T17:09:00.000-07:00

So... on my actual birthday Ryan was deathly sick. He was running a fever and a crazy cough and a ridiculously runny nose. That was a bummer.

It was a bummer because the following day I had to attend an event, where I would be for the next few days. Part of my company's event sponsorship included hotel rooms at the event property, which just happened to be the St Regis hotel - not a bad place to spend a few days!

Saturday night, on my actual birthday Ryan was still falling apart, so I just went and checked into the hotel and dropped off all my event gear and then came home.

This was the view from my room.

The conference had sent this welcome platter for me. Isn't it nice? The candied oranges were delicious!

Ryan and I spent the afternoon Sunday at the hotel. He swears that he was cured by a $25 gin & tonic and a conversation with the bartender about how this was the best gin in the world. So while he sipped on that, we enjoyed some housemade garlic pretzels and truffle fries (OH SO GOOD) out on the restaurant balcony, overlooking the pool.

The pool looked so nice, but this place is too swanky for us to SWIM in, right? So we just sat poolside and stared at the ocean view - but mostly at this seagull who was using the fountain as a bidet.

The hotel offers a "shuttle" service to their private beach, so we went to check that out and watch the sunset. Yes, it's possible to walk but the walkway is a public path outside of the hotel. The shuttle is allowed to cut through the golf course, so it's about a 5 minute trip. It's terrifying, truth be told. The driver was pushing the limits of what this cart was capable of. I was certain that the brakes were going to fail or we were going to get thrown out of the sides.

Down at the beach, the hotel provides towels and beach chairs, umbrellas and BBQs. There are outdoor showers, clean restrooms, plus a private restaurant with indoor or outdoor seating and indoor/outdoor fireplaces. Not a bad place to spend the day!

We walked in the water, because you're SUPPOSED TO. And then we sat on the specially-tiered seating to watch the sunset. It was lovely. Then we washed our feet and took the shuttle back to the hotel.

I could barely keep my eyes off the giant soaking tub. It was so... GIANT! There was a shuttered window pass-through to the bedroom, which allows you to watch TV and converse with your spouse while you soak in the tub for hours. The bathroom area also had a speaker system that connected to the TV, so you could adjust the sound in the bathroom to better hear your 'stories' from the tub. Or the toilet.

My only beef with the tub is that it was SO deep that I (4'10") had problems getting in/out easily. Because everything surrounding is Italian marble, it's super slick. It was a trick to not kill myself. BUT TOTALLY WORTH IT.

There was a lovely moon and Ryan and I enjoyed the evening out on the balcony, listening to the ocean and eating room service pizza.

The next morning, my event was in full swing and Ryan went home. The event went pretty smoothly and I loved every minute of my St Regis experience. Ryan, however, hardly remembers any of it. Apparently, it's all a hazy fever dream for him.

Birthday Bonanza Part 2: Dapper Day

2011-09-27T18:13:00.000-07:00

As per usual, one of my birthday requests is always a trip to Disneyland. You know, because I never get to go to Disneyland. Well, this time it's true! I hadn't been in months because the summer crowds were beyond outrageous, especially with 2 new rides opening simultaneously.

We started off the day (around 1pm) at California Adventure to check out the new Little Mermaid ride. It opened around the same time that the new Star Tours revamp did and Star Tours has had solid lines (usually about 3 hours long) ever since. I figured the same for the Little Mermaid, so I held off... well, it turns out that because this ride has a MUCH higher capacity, the line is shorter and moves fast. Hooray for us! In less than 5 minutes, we were boarding our little clam shell (aren't they cute?).

And look how cute the Cast Member uniforms are! I'd totally wear that any day!

Since I am a dunce and still have not learned how to use my camera, all of my pictures turned out blurry. I only ended up posting a few just to give people (myself included) an overall flavor of the ride. The animatronics are top-notch. The Ariel shown below bobs and weaves and dances, while blinking her eyes and waving her arms.

The day was surprisingly hot. All week, the temperatures had been pretty mild (low 70s) but by the weekend, the heat was on again. So after a short while in the sun, we were ready for some refreshment. We decided to try out the brand-new Trader Sam's Enchanted Tiki Bar at the Disneyland Hotel. Although I am still a bit heartbroken for all of the things that are gone now from the hotel - including the waterfalls - seeing the new Polynesian restaurant and tiki bar softened the blow.

Inside, the bar is AMAZINGLY, elaborately themed. Some of my art heroes, Kevin Kidney and Jody Daily, did some of the design and decor. If you decide to venture inside 1) prepare to have your eyes be boggled - there's so much to look at! 2) stick around long enough for someone to order certain cocktails. Depending on the drink order, various enchanting things happen. I won't spoil it for you, but if the staff starts yelling SHIPWRECK, get over to the bar a.s.a.p.!

The bar had a nice little snack menu and a surprising number of non-alcoholic drinks as well. Which is great because none of us are big drinkers and if ANY of us had a cocktail, all three of us would still be asleep by the wishing well.

Kate tried the Jungle River Sunset.

Ryan tried the Skipper Sipper.

And I got the Schweitzer Falls (which was my favorite of the three). After resting our bones at Trader Sam's, we headed back to the car to get our 'dress up' clothes for the Dapper Day event.

It was such a hot day that I copped out entirely. I wore a linen sundress and my comfy shoes and called it a day. I was fine with my choice until I saw Kate's gorgeous polka dots and then I wanted to run home after I saw the group gathering in front of the carousel.

I clearly looked like I was part of the group, but maybe not. About 10 different people came up to ask ME (out of a crowd of about 120 people) what the deal was... why is everyone dressed up? If you're unfamiliar, here's the elevator pitch: Disneyland designers had envisioned the park as a destination where people would anxiously await their visit and when they got there arrive in style. In the early years of Disneyland, this is exactly what happened (remember the stories of the ladies who got stuck in the hot tar on Main Street because their heels sunk in?). Since then, people have gotten more casual, so (another of my art heroes!) Justin Jorgensen had the idea to organize a meet-up for people who wanted to visit the parks in a dapper way. There's no cost and no commitment, just wear your finery and meet up for photos!

Ryan got out his waistcoat and tie.

Kate, as always, looked like a doll! And Kevin decided to honor the currently-being-refurbished-to-make-way-for-something-new Carnation Plaza by wearing a dapper outfit, similar to the original CP uniform.

Kevin and Justin were the Big Celebrities of the night. Everyone wanted to photograph them!

See? Here's my cop-out outfit. More comfy than dapper.

After the event, everyone started posting pictures to Facebook and I got tagged in two. The group below is centered by Kate's buddy James who had an excellent green-on-green ensemble.

In the last picture, I was captured randomly and just happened to be in the center of the photo. I am scratching my head which was full of purple dye. I swear I wasn't posing! This is probably the most embarrassing picture of me that could have been posted. Naturally, I have to link to it for posterity!

After the Dapper group meet-up, everyone sort of dissipated around the parks. We were getting hungry and Ryan was starting to not feel well, so we opted to leave Disneyland all together and seek dinner elsewhere. We ended up at one of our favorite chain restaurants and ate a metric ton of biscuits. Well, I did anyway.

At dinner, Ryan was draining fast and so I got him home right after. Within the hour, he was running a scorching fever and was miserably sick. Poor guy!

Detective Comics #1

2011-09-08T16:28:00.000-07:00

So... yeah. Ryan's part of that whole "New 52" initiative over at DC Comics. Whatevs. It's just a major reboot of their top 52 titles and he's just working on one of the top titles, Detective Comics, from which the company gets its name. NO BIG DEAL.

After months and months and months of hard work - literal blood, sweat, and tears - the book was released on September 7, 2011. As part of the launch, our old pal Mike invited Ryan to sign his book at his shop, The Comic Bug, so we headed there in the evening to doodle some sketches and sign autographs (him) and crochet granny squares (me).

The first part of the night, I was sitting at the table beside him, quietly crocheting and keeping myself busy. Until I realized that everyone in line (20+ people) was staring at me. I guess since I was visible and moving, because something to look at. It made me feel weird, so I retreated to the couch by the window.

Shortly after that, who should arrive but Kate? We told her, specifically, NOT to. Signings are boring (that's why I brought my crochet project!) and the shop was far away and she has a crazy schedule, blah blah blah. But she's such a trooper that she came all the way out to Manhattan Beach after an audition for Glee where she had to read opposite Jane Lynch. NO BIG DEAL.

I had brought along cupcakes for the comic book masses. There was a lot of back-and-forth on whether I was going to the signing or not... and if I was, then I was going to make custom cupcake picks to match the book. Since I didn't know for sure until just before we left, I ended up using some Batman rings for cupcake toppers. Kate snapped a pic of ours because they are super awesome. Also: I did not BAKE anything. The cupcakes were from Ralph's which means they were super tasty.

Ryan signed books and did sketches for 4+ hours and there was a steady stream of people all night. We guessed that at least 100 people came and got sketches and autographs. The shop had ordered several hundred copies of the book and when we left that night, there were 12 left. Not too shabby!

As tired as we both were, we closed the place out. Literally. We ate the crusts of the pizza and stood around talking (directly in the path of the guy trying to sweep up so he could go home) for hours. It was awesome. And a great way to kick off the book!

As of this writing, the book is going into a second printing, which means that it sold more than 200,000 copies in the US -- and most were sold within the first 24 hours of release. I heard that it was selling on eBay that same night for $20+ (cover price is $2.99) and even now there are several copies listed for $15 or more. Pretty cool.

Another cool thing: this book sold as well as some of the other titles and didn't have variant covers! To the uninitiated, it works like this: some books come out with special variant covers - say 3 at a time, each drawn by a different artist or whatever - but the variations are printed in small quantities and randomly packed. In theory, every 50 copies of a book that is ordered should contain at least one variant cover. So if there are 3 variants out there, retailers will order 150 copies in the hopes of getting one of each variant (not guaranteed). Thus, a lot of books with variants -- such as many of the New 52 -- may have sold more copies than usual because retailers were trying to get the coveted (and valuable; variants technically retail for the same price but shop owners often increase price based on demand) variant covers. Detective Comics only had ONE cover and sold as many copies. That's pretty danged cool!

Birthday Bonanza Part 1: LACMA

2011-09-06T16:38:00.000-07:00

Technically, this was everybody's birthday bonanza. It's so hard to celebrate for/with all of your friends when everyone is so busy. So for those who we missed or who got half-assed birthday wishes, we had a make-up day. It just happened to coincide with the start of my birthday week. S'all good!

After going back and forth on whether we should mini golf or roller skate or just go to brunch, Kate suggested that we head over to the LACMA to see the Tim Burton exhibit. Perfect!

The exhibit has timed entry, and we had tickets for later in the afternoon, so we helped ourselves to some of the other galleries in the meantime. In the Broad Gallery were some works by Jeff Koons, including his giant metal balloon dog. Charlie is standing in front of this picture, to give it some scale. Charlie is a big dude - over 6 feet if he's an inch - so you can see how massive this piece is. It's pretty to look at and danged impressive when you hear about HOW it was made and the cost, including bankrupting the company that fabricated it.

There were several other Koons pieces, including these gigantic collage-style pieces on the wall. At first glance, I thought "eh, collage" and moved on. Ryan, however, stood and stared for a good long while. It was then that I realized OH! These weren't collaged or printed, these were PAINTED to look like collage. Ok, so they were pretty impressive too.

Several other sculptures were in the gallery, including Michael and Bubbles -- a tribute to Michael Jackson and his pet chimp, done in a gold porcelain style.

And immediately behind these were some of Warhol's famous works, like his soup cans (both big and small).

In another corner were Warhol's screenprinted boxes for Corn Flakes. Interesting, but... I dunno. I wouldn't pay millions for them (each one is individually owned and listed as a gallery object).

When we got into the Burton exhibit, we were told that there was a zero tolerance policy for photographs or use of cell phones. So I have nothing to show you from there. The exhibit was PACKED. Plenty of cool stuff to see, like pages and pages and pages (thousands!) of Burton's sketchbook pages. These were just ok. I mean, I like his style as much as the next gal, but once you've seen the first 200 it's reasonable to say you've seen 'em all.

The stuff that I liked the best were the pieces and props from Burton's movies. Most of these weren't made by Burton himself, of course, but were nonetheless extremely impressive. One of the items displayed was Johnny Depp's suit from Edward Scissorhands. Whoa - super tiny! Did you know that Depp is super tiny? I didn't! Miss Bliss and her husband knew that from working in the biz that he's an "apple boxer" - meaning that he stands on a lot of apple boxes to get the right height in movies - but it was a surprise to me. Depp's IMBD page says that he's 5'10" and online people speculate that he's closer to 5'7" but I'd say that based on the Scissorhands suit, he's probably a little shorter - maybe 5'4"? Maybe even smaller. In any case, he's TINY and thin, thin, thin!

The costumers that Burton works with are hands-down the best and looking at the various pieces were my favorite part of the exhibit.

The exit leads you right back outside, where we caught glimpses of rainbows in the sky (no rain, it was still pretty hot outside, maybe 85 or so at 6pm). I also walked back around to the front to snap a couple of pics of the lamps outside the LACMA. I love these, they're salvaged from the "old" LA and still fully functional. They're beautiful at night.

Rainbow and signs of the zodiac around the plaza.

I also spied actor James Hong waiting to enter the Burton exhibit. I wanted to say something... but what do you say to a guy like that? "Oh, I loved you as the evil Chinese guy? You were great as the smarmy Chinese guy?" Yeah... so.... I just snapped a stealth pic and moved on.

After running through the last of the exhibits and gawking at mummies, the group headed over to our favorite all-night eatery, the French Market Place, and ate everything in sight. The waiter recognized us (*gulp*) and when he saw that I had a gift bag, he asked who's birthday it was so I pointed to Kate. He secretly arranged for an eavesdrop around the dessert menu review and when Kate said the carrot cake sounded good, he sent out the whole team to sing to her and bring her carrot cake. It was great!

Snuggle Up Saturday

2011-08-27T09:32:00.000-07:00

Taking a break from catching up on the break that I took.... um, yeah. I thought I'd share some pictures of Rocket, who is hands-down the biggest snuggle hound I've ever seen.

This picture is from the day we brought him home. He would go exploring and then run back for me to hold him.

The picture on the left is one of his first days living with us, when I'd sleep in the Office with him at night. The one on the right is 2 months later and my throat is still his favorite place to sleep.

Then he wanted to be held ALL the time, so I pioneered the Kitty Sling!

No fancy apparatus is required, just a warm pair of arms.

He's also learned that if he snuggles in juuuuuust right that Ruckus will let him be the Little Spoon.

But with these guys, you can't just snuggle one! Ryan was holding Ruckus (who enjoys being held, too) and Rocket got jealous and jumped up on top of the pile.

Sometimes, snuggling is uncomfortable. But it's the price you pay!

It's super worth it!

The problem with snuggling is this: Rocket has no boundaries. In this picture, I am working in my home office. I am talking on a conference call and taking notes and he is taking a bath. He's licking his feet and displaying is butt in my face with no regard for the fact that I am trying to be SERIOUS.

His favorite is when he gets to snuggle with everyone at once. This is a lazy Sunday morning with the whole family (not pictured, Ruckus who sleeps near the foot of the bed).

He doesn't care at all that I'm trying to crochet (that's what the pile of yellow and blue is in the background), he just wants to be held ALL DAY LONG.

And when I can't hold him or need my arms, he's happy to burrow into my shirt. He's like a baby kangaroo.

Once he gets situated inside my shirt, he'll usually bite my chin lightly (his version of kissing) and then settle in and go to sleep. The bottom picture is from Thursday and he slept like this for more than an hour.

Convergence of Awesome

2011-08-07T17:36:00.000-07:00

Post title stolen from Kate Danley's photo

Thanks to BlogHer for bringing MORE cool people to our neck of the woods! Erin, who you know and love from Out of Character and Sock Zombie, came out to San Diego and attend the conference. I was debating whether I should check it out or not... but it all came down to laziness. Basically, I'm not trying to make money from this blog or build an empire. I don't have any real designs other than to keep a real-time journal for myself and my friends to reference and I pretty much SUCK at that. So, shelling out hundreds of dollars hardly seemed worth it to go to a conference and be all anti-social and hide in my hotel room. ALTHOUGH the upside is that all the ladies with blogs come out and have fun and I could meet some people and make new friends... well, in the end I didn't go but don't worry. I still made new friends.

See, Erin went, right? And she knows loads of people and she's not a shy violet like me, so she gets out there and networks and junk. And so she meets people. And I text her constantly from the car wash where I'm avoiding eye contact because I don't have a bra on and I have sweat rings forming and my baloney pits are growing. And I hide out in my living room. So she goes alone and meets people and then she brings these people that she's met to be shanghaied at lunch by me, served up on a platter (or a bucket, as it were) and then I get to pinch down on them with my lobster grip and never let go. In the end, I make new friends, they have a new follower - EVERYBODY WINS. (Which also translates to "no one trusts Erin to arrange a lunch date")

SO. When Erin said she was coming to San Diego, Kate and I begged and pleaded for her to play with us. She agreed after all of her other dates cancelled! Hooray! So Kate and I drove down to downtown San Diego to meet Erin at her hotel. Immediately, we drove her to a mall basement parking lot, as the Ambassadors To Local Culture that we are. At the mall, we met up with Phil, who Erin was meeting for the first time and we had only a vague description of who we were looking for (blue shirt, camera bag) and so we were staring down every man at the mall "are you Phil? No? Well, close enough - let's go!" until one of them agreed to come with us. He was nice enough, so we kept him.

We wandered around the Gaslamp District, not really knowing where to go. We needed some lunch and probably some booze, but where? Honestly, we just kind of ended up at Rockin' Baja Lobster but it worked out perfect. We got a great table next to the open window, where the breeze would dance in and dry my sweaty brow.

We then ordered lunch, which comes by the bucket-ful. We just kind of ordered one of everything: shrimp, lobster, crab legs, steak, battered fish, and chicken. Oh, and a cauldron of guacamole for the side. And extra butter. And some lemon. And more napkins, please.

It was decently tasty and I think I won the "clean plate" contest by leaving just a bucket of shells behind. TAKE THAT, lobster!

After I ate an embarrassing amount of food, another bloggy pal came to meet up with us and I got to meet the world-famous Leah Peah! She was so sweet and mellow and I probably scared her away by talking TOO MUCH about Disneyland and being a geek. But all the same, she sat at my table! So now I get to claim her on my List of Awesome People That I Have Met.

After Leah went home, we started our head back toward the car so we could get Erin to the airport in time for her flight home. Along the way, I diverted the group inside the Horton Grand Hotel which is a funky old historic hotel that is rumored to be haunted. Our friends stayed there once (and swear it's haunted) so I had been into the lobby which has historical artifacts and a horse! Why? I have no idea. So I made the group come inside to look at it. They happily complied.

We didn't see any ghosts, but when we crossed the street back toward the mall we saw this graffiti art piece by Os Gemeos telling us not to believe the hype. So maybe there AREN'T ghosts after all...

After bidding a fond farewell to Phil, Kate and I took Erin to the airport with plenty of time to check in and get comfy before her 8pm flight. Then we hit the highway. About 20 minutes north of San Diego, I got a text from Erin that her flight wasn't until 8:30 and she'd breezed through security so now she had lots of extra time to waste in the terminal. Kate and I both felt terrible that we'd left Erin. Not just that the airport is boring but that we could have sat around talking for another half an hour! Or gone to see the famous tiki bar! Or meet Shamu! Whoever was in charge (still undetermined) should be in trouble for that one.

Flashback Friday

2011-08-05T09:44:00.000-07:00

This recent post on the Books of Adam about test-driving his anxiety medications before using them on an airplane reminded me of my mom.

She traveled a lot for business when I was young, but she never got over her flying anxieties, so she had something with her (probably Ativan. Hell, it was the 80's, they might have just given her opium) for those times that she couldn't cope. If memory serves, she was coming back from the east coast on a non-stop flight (to California, that's generally about 6 hours) and they were hitting turbulent "weather" left and right so she took a pill. Next thing she knows, she's being woken up by a flight attendant. She was the last person on the plane, it was only the flight crew left and they were all standing there holding their purses, tapping their toes.

Embarrassed, she leaped up and grabbed her luggage and headed out of the plane. She didn't realize how drowsy she still was until she reached the exit - this was back in the olden days (or still today, at Long Beach airport!) when they used stair cars to load passengers. At the top of the stairs, she grabbed the handrail, took a deep breath, and.... slid down all the stairs on her butt, bumping each one on the way down. By the time she met my dad and me at baggage claim, she looked like she'd gone three rounds with Mike Tyson.

Anti Comic Con

2011-07-28T21:23:00.000-07:00

This year for the big Comic Con in San Diego, Ryan got an Artist Alley table (I was denied - boo hoo) so we'd planned on making a bigger to-do than usual. I was able to grab a hotel room when one became available in June (for those in the know, the tickets usually sell out in November, the hotels shortly after) which was a giant coup. Plans were made with Kate and Adam to come down and join in the festivities. Adam was going to drive all the way from Utah since we haven't seen him in so long and we were all excited about the 4 day slumber party of awesomeness.

Of course, it didn't work out that way. Ryan's big new project had some accelerated deadlines so his plan was changed at the last minute. He went down to San Diego on Thursday for the preview day of the show and had a great time. The plan was that Ryan would take the train to San Diego for the show Thursday, then come home that night to work, then we'd drive back on Friday where we'd meet up with Adam and Kate. Good times! Por supuesto, the train was wildly off-schedule and the return trip scheduled for 5pm was delayed to 11pm so he was getting pretty anxious. Instead, he ended up hanging out with Gonzo and crashing in his hotel room for the night. Ryan was able to go to the convention the next day, too, where there was all kinds of drama. The least of which was that poor Adam was struck down by the flu 3 hours into his 10 hour drive. He was too sick to continue and went home instead. We were sorry to have missed him, but at least he didn't have to witness the convention ridiculousness.

A wee bit of backstory: Ryan's buddy had started this big art project, which was going to be made into a book. The theme of which was based on an ex-girlfriend who was sorta starting to be a new girlfriend (at the time). A few months back, the two of them had a falling out and were no longer dating. No biggie. Only, she turned up at the convention and somehow had her own Artist Alley table (she's not an artist, but she has connections with the conference planners) where she was selling prints of the work that Ryan's buddy did. There were lots of artists already mumbling about why this girl was there, when so many working comic artists were denied tables, so a fan alerted Ryan's buddy to the situation. He went over to talk to her and ask her nicely to stop selling his artwork and she got pissy and called security and said that he threatened her. Security came and told him that he had to leave. They took away his badge and made him pack up his table. By the time the convention organizers came around, Buddy (goaded by Ryan, no doubt) called the organizers out on letting the girl have a table and they were kind of caught off-guard. Someone suggested that the organizers look at the girl's table - all exhibitors are required to sign a document agreeing not to sell bootlegged material. Well, the organizers were embarrassed because it was going to cause a fracas to kick the girl out, so they agreed to let Buddy stay. By then, everyone was over it and Ryan decided not to come back either, out of solidarity. There were lots of other issues leading up to the show with table assignments, etc. that were really crappy and we suspected that it all had to do with the Buddy/girlfriend issue.

ANYWAY, Ryan decided to throw in the towel and come home. He went to catch the 2pm train, which ended up being delayed again. This time until 7pm. He stuck it out and eventually made it home. The hotel reservations that I had were pre-paid and non-refundable, so Kate and I decided to take advantage of them anyway. BEST. DECISION. EVER.

Ryan got to spend the weekend home alone, working. Kate and I went out and enjoyed the weekend. We decided to skip the convention all together and do our own thing. The hotel in Old Town was right by the state park, which we had never been to before.

We started off the day by wandering around the shops and there was even a street fair. I bought some awesome stuff. Like this fingerpuppet! And also a hand-embroidered image of ducks with eyebrows! The man who owned the imported Asian emporium shop saw our interest in the embroideries and wouldn't stop talking about them because, apparently, he purchased them himself on a trip to Vietnam. The workers would spend months on these pieces (which he was selling for dirt cheap). The ducks are kind of awesome.

We hadn't realized that the state park is like a true Old Town. Historic buildings and all that jazz. It also was Stagecoach Days with lots of "innocent amusements" including sasparilla, games, and stagecoach rides.

We went through all the buildings. Some were "educational" stuff, like the first restaurant in California. The first stagecoach emporium, etc. There was also a tobacco shop with a historic wooden indian.

We also ate Mexican food, naturally.

And then looked at exhibits of the Native Women of San Diego. Like this one. Happy bunch!

While wandering, we came across this offer for a ghost tour. WHAT!? So we decided to take the 11pm tour for extra spookiness!!

After wandering around through history for a few hours, we went back to our hotel room to take a foot rest break. We watched cheesy TV and rested and it was, seriously, the best thing ever. After a couple of hours, we decided to make a break for Sea World. WHAT?! I can stop any time! The plan was to see some fishes and junk and then the fireworks before hooking up for the ghost tour. The park was so busy, though, that we ended up leaving before the fireworks and went back to the hotel where we had a prime view of the fireworks from our own balcony. It was awesome!

After another small break, we walked back to Old Town for the ghost tour...

The man who led the tour was... flat? Boring? Too serious? He claimed to be a true ghost hunter. That he would come down to the old parts of town in the middle of the night to look for ghosts and take pictures (one of the things he kept impressing on everyone was that often you won't see a ghost, but a camera can capture it. To 'find' one, you simply take LOTS - hundreds - of photos and then examine them for slight differences, the difference being a ghost of course). He had some dry tidbits about most of the historical buildings and claims of sightings, many of which are patently false because the building itself is only a facade or wasn't there for hundreds of years.

He led the group down the street to the El Campo Cemetary. There the group wandered a bit and he told us of various sightings over the years.

After we'd walked around a bit, he pointed out the gold washer markers in the dirt. Those are indicators of where human remains are. Most of them were not near markers or stones or in any way distinguishable as graves. The geological service had used sonograms to ping the ground to find remains, which extend far beyond the present-day cemetery and out into the street and even under the restaurants on the other side. Markers in the sidewalk and roadway tell you where they found one or more bodies.

The pinnacle of the evening was the Whaley House. It's steeped in ghostly history and is considered one of the most haunted places in America. The light in the upper window is the Children's Room, where the story goes that even if it is switched off it somehow turns back on again. It has happened so many times that the caretakers no longer bother to turn it off.

Outside the house is where our guide told us all about vortexes - places where the electromagnetic fields are disturbed in a fluctuating pattern and where some believe ghosts are moving through our world to their own. ooOOOoooo He brought out his EMF device and showed us how it worked. He then let some of the kids in the group take turns finding vortexes - where the readings were strong. There were quite a few in the area, which grew substantially stronger toward a tree. Near the tree, he invited everyone to put their hand in the area and "feel" the vortex. Most people could feel it. I mostly didn't. But I'm a jerk.

After this, he led us to the back of the property where the city's gallows once stood. Nothing going over there, but he claims to have heard footsteps. Then we ended the tour back at the starting point where he showed us his pictures of what he believes are ghosts. They were all dots or blobs of light that looked like bubbles. One was blown up to 100x magnification and people could see the face of a dog in it. Um, yeah. It was sorta cartoon dog-like, but seriously?

All in all, it was great fun and we loved every minute of it. We weren't spooked, but it was still great. Although we were slightly irked at the attention hog teenage girl who was disrupting the guide at every turn - seriously, obnoxious! and who's parents never said a thing. Boo!

The next morning, we slept in (!!) and decided to tour the Victorian Village which was just on the other side of our hotel. It's an area where the local historical society has salvaged the original Victorian mansions and is actively restoring them. They were all closed inside, except for the one that serves as the visitor's center. We ended up watching too much of a documentary about San Diego's history and the fight to save the historic structures. It was kind of great, but too long.

After that, we decided that we should play it smart and head home early. Beat the convention traffic northbound and get home at a decent hour to have some "home time" on Sunday evening.

It was a really fantastic weekend. Lots of rest, lots of activity, lots of sun, lots of fun. Man, we should ditch comic con every year!

ketchup

2011-07-28T18:04:00.001-07:00

Just an FYI to the 6 people who read this blog, I'm making an attempt to "catch up" on the lost months from April to July. Since I actually use this blog as my journal and I often refer back to it, I want to post up some stuff before I forget it. Anyone coming to the site won't see the difference, but if you view in RSS you'll probably get a bunch of outdated news. Warning!

Fourth of July

2011-07-05T16:32:00.000-07:00

Back by popular demand: Fourth of July at Sea World!

Again, Kate and I headed down to San Diego for Fourth of July. Why? Because Sea World is just... nice. I can't even explain it. Yes, it's hot. Yes, it's busy. Yes, it's full of sweaty tourists. But somehow it's just... nice.

We started off our day with a buffet. WIN! Sea World has all kinds of economical dining options, and there's a new one for the summer that is a picnic buffet that is extremely cheap. I think it was like $9 and it's all-you-can-eat with a menu of BBQ chicken, sausage, hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, several salads, corn, breads, beverages, and a dessert bar. It really was a score.

Somehow, I didn't end up taking many pictures, but I took some videos with my Flip camera, which I converted into stills.

This picture is from the Blue Horizon show, which is CHEESY beyond belief, but still kind of awesome. This has replaced the old "dolphin show" so this is the only place where you'll see dolphins doing acrobatics. Plus, there's a whole aerial aspect to it (hence the wires on the lady, she rides the dolphins around the pool and then is pulled high into the air to do acrobatics).

The new orca show was pretty cool, too.

We also got our first look into the new Turtle Reef, which replaced the manatee exhibit.

We also watched the Sea World ambassadors walking a capybara on a leash, out to meet and greet people. Yes, you can pet a capybara at Sea World!

We also got tattoos. No, scratch that. Better than tattoos! GLITTER TATTOOS!! (Obviously, I wore an obnoxious giant hat to keep the sun off my face - poor Kate had to be seen in public with me!)

Mine was a cat face with a crown called "Princess Kitty" which I changed to "King Rocket" because it has big, kitten ears like him. Unpaid advertisement: this glitter tattoo rocked. It stayed in place for 10 days before it started cracking and peeling. That included sweat and sunscreen and daily baths for 10 days. And for just $10! The face-paint that most people were getting sweats off immediately and costs nearly triple. Glitter tattoo= great value!

Kate got a dinosaur, because that's how she rolls! Also, the new dino exhibit was opening at work so it was a fitting tribute!

Last year, I had brought a cache of glow in the dark bracelets for Kate and myself which was really fun and I ended up passing a bunch out to the kids around us and it was really fun and made me feel good. So as I was loading up my stock of bracelets Ryan asked "oh god, are you going to be THAT lady? The bracelet lady? Creeping around, looking for little kids to give stuff to?!" and I said YES.

I started out by making myself lovely with glowy goodness, and then when we found our spot to watch the fireworks I distributed the remaining bracelets to the kiddies nearby. Let me tell you, NO ONE thought I was a creep. The parents were grateful for the distraction, the kids LOVED it - heck, who doesn't like something for free? So it was a winner. Except, again, Kate had to hang out with me and be super embarrassed. Are you detecting a pattern here??

America's Favorite Pastime!

2011-07-03T23:28:00.000-07:00

Ryan's BFF, John, got some great Angels vs Dodgers tickets for the July 3rd game courtesy of his boss. They were season ticket holder seats in the VIP section, including VIP parking. The original plan was for Ryan to go with John and his wife, Rosey, because I had too much to do. I dropped Ryan off at John's house around noon and went about running my errands. Just as I was about to drive into our neighborhood, I got a call from Ryan who was home already. Apparently, the game time had changed and these guys didn't know until they got to the stadium. Whoops!

So Ryan came home to work for a few hours, during which he talked me into going to the game too. So I did.

I haven't been to a baseball game in years - maybe, like, 10 years? I dunno. It had been a while. I was pretty excited to go, but as soon as I got there I realized that baseball games are boring. I saw a little girl braiding a lanyard and immediately got jealous. WHY DIDN'T I BRING AN EMBROIDERY PROJECT?? Instead, I bought myself some peanuts which kept my hands busy, but somehow I forgot that shelling peanuts is freaking MESSY. Luckily, the etiquette of the ballpark is that you can sit around with peanut debris all over yourself and toss your shells on the floor. PLAY BALL!

The high point of the game was the pop-fly that came right to us. I, instinctively, ducked and hid under the seat. Ryan caught the ball! But then some jackhole Dodgers fan in front of us took it out of his hand. Which was super lame. I mean, we didn't WANT the ball. We're not huge fans or anything and if the guy had even just said "aw shucks" Ryan would have handed it over. Instead, the guy was a dick. Typical. Dodgers people are... Dodgers people. 'Nuff said.

After the 7th inning stretch, I decided to take a potty break and as soon as I came out, the entire stadium started clearing out - the Angels won already. What? I clearly don't know much about sports... why don't they play til the end? That's weird.

Anyway, it was a fun outing - except the Dodgers fans (who were everywhere!) and the religious nuts. I seriously contemplated calling the police or something. The fanatics were everywhere with their signs and screaming in your face to REPENT! which is okay, I guess (even though it's totally off-putting) but the worst were the kids. The people would send their kids to stand among the lines and walk around, begging people - CRYING! - to accept Jesus and go to church. It was disturbing. Seven year old kids shouldn't be subjected to begging strangers who (half of which are already drunk) to accept religion and upsetting themselves.

So, yeah. It'll be the last baseball game for a while. But it was still a good way to spend an All-American weekend!

Disneyland with the Giggly Family

2011-06-20T20:32:00.000-07:00

It's been a couple of years since we've gotten to go to Disneyland with the Giggly Family. In fact, little Max had never been! They came to explore the parks for a couple of days and stayed at the hotel - what a great first time, right?

We took the Kidlet with us, because he looooves Disneyland and he was excited to see the Family too. He was determined to be BFFs with Max by the end of the day. They sat next to each other on the Jungle Cruise. It was really sweet. Kidlet kept pointing out his favorite parts "look! It's a tiger! I think it's real!"

I'll be honest, I was hoping that Max and the Kidlet would be surprised by the 'piranha attack' part of the ride. The fish suddenly come out of the water and it splashes everywhere, so I started filming. I was hoping to capture screams of terror... instead, I got "oooh, look! Fish!"

It was a really hot day and the park was really crowded, so the Gigglys took a break and went to their room to rest for a bit. They had been at a family reunion all weekend so it was probably nice to have a little space to themselves for a bit. While they were gone, we "big kids" took advantage of a short line for Thunder Mountain Railroad and jumped onboard. The Kidlet was so excited to be seated in the "way back" of the train, so I decided to film it on my new Flip camera. Of course, since I was filming, he whacked his head. LOOK AT WHAT GREAT GUARDIANS WE ARE!

The lines were pretty long all day long so there was a lot of "sorry, Kidlet, that line is 2 hours long. We can't go on it today." We did get to ride Indiana Jones, which is a top pick for the Kidlet, and while the others rode the Haunted Mansion (he has nightmares about Medusa for some reason and the picture of the snake-haired lady sometimes bothers him. He's always just looked at his shoes until we get past it, but I think he was overly tired and couldn't cope) he and I went hat shopping. He picked some mouse ears, which was super fun and cute. After that, I think he was feeling bold. He wanted to go on Space Mountain, even though the wait was over an hour. He HAD to try it for the first time. Needless to say, he enjoyed it immensely!

I was sorry that we couldn't come back the next day to play with the Gigglys again because my brother was graduating from high school. Lousy brothers!

Sassadahls in California

2011-06-11T11:08:00.000-07:00

Meeting people on the internet can be awesome. Years ago, I found like-minded weirdos on the internet by blogrolls and comments on blogs I liked... somehow, those people didn't reject me outright. I feel extremely fortunate.

One of those prized friendships is Styro aka: Caitlin. She and I just clicked and via blog posts and emails over the years, we developed a real-life relationship. I first met her in person and her beau a few years ago in New York. They're from Virginia, we're from California, so it's only fitting that we'd meet in NYC! They drove all the way out there just to meet us and visit friends in NY and it was super fun.

Since then, we've been able to meet up with them face-to-face two other times (again in NY and this time in California). Allen and Cait took a California road trip and had an amazing coastal vacation and the end-of-the-line was Pasadena and they were so kind as to make time to hang out with us!

Ryan and I drove up on Friday afternoon and met up with them at an Irish pub where I ordered bruschetta (of course, it's an Irish pub so where better to get Italian appetizers?) and we sat at an outdoor table and soaked up the lovely, lovely SoCal sunshine.

After work, Kate came and met up with us too and after some crazy local brew beers, everyone was a wee bit tipsy and we all needed some real food. So we headed over to Louise's Trattoria where we were treated like walk-ins on a Friday night were lepers. The hostess gave us a giant sigh and eye-roll and promptly led us to the basement and seated us near the restroom. JOKE'S ON THEM! Having our own little room and a semi-private space, we just enjoyed ourselves even more!

We ate, like, 500 pieces of foccacia and then our meals. It was gut-bustingly awesome. We lingered in the restaurant for something ridiculous like 2 hours. Lucky for us, our waiter was similarly banished to the basement, so he appreciated having something to do - and with the coolest people ever!

After a looooong while, we decided that we should take a picture, to prove it all really happened. So we all have, essentially, the same pictures. Mine are the blurry ones. Yay me!

Eventually, we had to let the vacationers go back to the hotel and get some rest before their long travel day home the next morning. As always, Kate and I were tempted to linger, but after a long week and a long, fun evening we decided the best thing for everyone involved was to just go home. It was sad, but it was the right choice.

It was great to see everyone. I was so sincerely excited to get to see Cait and Allen in person again. I wish that all we bloggy buddies could live closer and hang out more often. I seriously want to plan a big blog nerd meetup - any takers??

Phoenix Comicon

2011-06-06T19:32:00.000-07:00

So after taking the Kidlet home, we left for Phoenix for the long Memorial Day weekend. It was kind of a nice break from the stress of May although we felt incredibly guilty for some reason.

Ryan and I drove out to Phoenix, where we were staying with Erin which is a delight in and of itself! The drive was really smooth and we went straight to the convention center to set up. Ryan dropped me off at the curb with all of the stuff while he went to park the car. While I was sitting on the bench waiting for him to come back, a guy stopped by to chat with me. He recognized my peg people (in a clear box, sitting on the ground) and said he was excited to see me because he bought some last year and wanted to see what was new. So that was a great ego boost! There was a really good turn-out for the preview night, which is always fun (most shows have a mild turn-out for preview night but Phoenix is always really strong). The time went by pretty fast and I actually did a decent amount of business for preview night. Exciting!

Kate flew in that night and came to meet us at the convention center. We actually found her on the street, dragging her GIGANTIC SUITCASE. No shit, she could have brought 3 other people in that bag. Did she? No! You can go be mad at her for not bringing you. She was on the opposite corner, waiting for the signal to change and we were all antsy and wanting to run in front of cars to go hug her around the neck. We finally all connected and hauled all of our gear a million miles away to where Ryan parked the car. The drive home to Erin's house was all giggles and ridiculousness (Ryan was driving, not knowing where the heck he was going and we got mixed up downtown, where there is First Street and First Avenue, only blocks away from one another!). Back at Erin's house was no different. We settled into the guest house and then dragged Randy with us out for dinner.

There is a great Italian place, Riga Tony's, near Erin and Randy's house where last year we had this gigantic buffet of... um... well, we couldn't remember exactly. It was cheese? And delicious? And maybe it was melty? Was it alfredo? possibly... so we told the waiter BRING US ONE OF EVERYTHING IN THE KITCHEN. And he did. With extra bread, with a side of bread. We literally ate 400 servings of bread. It was AWESOME.

The rest of the convention weekend was kind of a blur... it was all just fun all the time! Well, except for Ryan. He was working on an extremely high priority project, which meant that he had to work at the kitchen table every night, all night, so he was in a grumpy mood. But... we didn't let HIM ruin our weekend!

Highlights of the convention:

Kate was a superstar! There were people coming to look for her, to buy her book - even returns the next day to buy other copies for friends. It was awesome.
Seeing people from last year. Several people came by again, which was super sweet. It's always nice to have people who appreciate your work.
Erin's success! Her whole booth, that she shared with Stacey and Brianna was crazy busy all the time. Brianna even had a special celebrity guest who is determined to popularize spats again! Sock Zombies sold like hotcakes! It was amazing.
Ryan's success! He had people looking for him and during the show it was announced that he's the inker for the reboot of Detective Comics with Tony Daniel. So his stock was climbing! (Ryan's recap)
QuikTrip! We don't have these near us so it was a special treat. It's basically a giant convenience store and gas station, except it's GIANT and they have tons of awesome stuff and the people are soooo nice. It's completely odd. Have you ever been genuinely greeted by someone at a gas station? NO YOU HAVE NOT! The guy there? He even went into the back and made breakfast sandwiches for us. Service! With a smile! Randy swears by QT and he's been known to give gift cards for Christmas. I have to agree. You know what they have there? A MILKSHAKE MACHINE! Kate bought one. There's a video of it somewhere... I have to find it!

It was so much fun! My favorite parts were hanging out with everyone back at Erin's house. She has a fantastic patio that is like an outdoor living room, that just makes you want to settle in and never leave! And we hardly did. It was great just to chit chat with everyone and hear all the stories and catch up face-to-face. Plus, we got to talk about the scariest movie in the world: Event Horizon! Yeesh! Why is it so scary? I dunno, but man we were all on the same page about never seeing that freaky ass movie again!!

The whole weekend was amazing. Kate flew home on Sunday night, but Ryan and I stuck around for another day. We spent some time with our friends Mark and Deborah and their new baby - Max Danger. I just wanted to squeeze him so much! But since we were coming off a convention weekend and were probably crawling with cooties (and the usual desert laryngitis) I didn't want to freak out the new parents too much. Next time, though, I am going TO EAT THAT BABY. You've been warned!!

Before we left on Tuesday, Ryan and I went to lunch with Erin to another Italian place... sooooo good. We decided that the best thing to nosh on before driving across the desert for five hours would be gnocchi with alfredo and pesto. No regrets!

it's a boy!

2011-05-31T19:12:00.000-07:00

On Mother's Day, we got a call early in the morning that Ryan's mom was sick and his step dad asked if we could take the Kidlet for the day while he straightened everything out. It wasn't a problem, so we hopped out of bed and went and got him and didn't know what to do for the day, so we went to Disneyland. Why not? Ryan's mom was feverish and sick on Saturday night and by 7am on Sunday (Mother's Day) she was completely irrational and confused. She didn't know who anyone was - including herself - and was extremely combative and anxious. As soon as we picked the Kidlet up, an ambulance was called and she was taken to the ER for an evaluation. At first, everyone thought it was an overdose. She has a multitude of health issues, including a lot of pain problems, and we were all concerned that during the night when she wasn't feeling well she accidentally overdosed herself somehow, which would account for the confusion.

Around noon, we got the call (at Disneyland) that it wasn't drugs but was a massive infection. She was isolated and being treated for an unknown cause but her body was already failing. Her vital systems were extremely weak and she had a small heart attack. By the time the diagnosis came in the late afternoon, she was nearly dead. The doctors determined that she'd contracted necrotizing fascitis (flesh eating bacteria) in a small wound near her shoulder/armpit area and they needed to perform immediate surgery. During the surgery, which went on for several hours, she had two more heart attacks and nearly didn't pull through. In the end, the surgery site was unassuming - something like 2" - but the doctors had removed all of the tissues surrounding the infection and hoped for the best. They told us to prepare ourselves for the possibility that she wouldn't survive. The statistics were not in her favor and the her body was still full of toxins.

That evening, we kept the Kidlet with us and took him to Mother's Day dinner with my family, which he really enjoyed. In the past year, he's really interested in "family" and curious about everyone's extended families. He's met my family a few times and decided that he's over the moon about them, so he was extremely agreeable to eating Indian food (which he'd never had before) and tried all of the dishes, even the spicy ones. My parents adore him, too, and my stepdad is overseeing a construction project in the shopping center where the restaurant was, so he took the Kidlet on an impromptu tour of the construction vehicles and let him drive one of the crazy machines. Needless to say, he was thrilled.

We took Kidlet home that night and Ryan's stepdad filled us in on everything that was happening. He had been advised that we should all be hyper-vigilant about fever, fatigue, and infections of any sort. The gestation period for the infection is pretty short and that if we passed the 24 hour mark, we were probably fine, and if we got through 48 hours without any symptoms there was little chance that we'd get sick. There's no way of determining the source of infection (it's a strep infection, so it can live anywhere and be carried by anyone) so we were all a little rattled. Because of the sudden hospitalization, Ryan and I would be called upon to help take the Kidlet to and from school because his stepdad couldn't get out of work. It was no problem, and of course we immediately agreed.

Tuesday morning around 5am, we got a call from Ryan's stepdad asking us to come and get the Kidlet right away. His ankle had started aching during the night and by 5am was swollen to double the size. The infectious disease team said that he needed to be quarantined right away. We once again picked up Kidlet in the wee hours and an ambulance was called. I cancelled my business trip to Minnesota, scheduled for the next day, and took the day off from work to spend with the Kidlet and monitor him closely. I was creeped out about taking anything from the house, so after we had some breakfast I took him to Target to buy him some clothes. It was well worth the money to not have to wonder about if his dirty socks had been exposed to something...

Again, I did what any good aunt would do: I took him to Disneyland. The doctors had given him the "all clear" because he would have started showing signs of infection and although he was allowed to go to school, I wanted to watch him every second. I'm sure that Disneyland was probably not the smartest option, but I figured why not? Both of his parents are in the hospital, suffering a debilitating illness that has an extremely high mortality rate. Why should we sit at home and worry and fret? It was better that we have some distraction. If his parents died that day, would he look back and say "gee, I wish I'd been sitting at home on the couch?" or would he be glad that someone kept his mind busy and full of fun? And it was a good enough distraction that he wasn't at all bothered and didn't protest me taking his temperature every 30 minutes. It might not have been the best decision, but I stand by it.

A few hours later, we got the confirmation that step dad, too, had a necrotizing fascitis infection, but strangely it was a different strain than what Ryan's mom had. He was immediately sent to surgery where they expected that they would need to amputate his leg to stop the spread of infection. During this time, Ryan's mom was in a medically induced coma - I think she was "under" for about 3 full days - so she didn't know what was happening. Ryan and I had to prepare for the worst and started digging up the legal paperwork for Kidlet's custody (it's complicated, but Ryan's sister gave full custody of Kidlet to Ryan's mom when he was an infant and there were no provisions for who would be next in the custody chain -- Ryan's sister and boyfriend have not been involved at all in Kidlet's life and have been M.I.A. for the past year or so, no one knows where to find them. It's been a long-standing understanding that we will eventually inherit the Kidlet. Ryan's mom and stepdad are grandparent age, which means in a few years they'll need more help than we can offer from the side lines. We've kind of thought that within the next year or two, he'll start transitioning to live with us part-time, so it was a bit of a shock to have it happen all at once. I just smiled and told Ryan "it's a boy!") and I started calling my company's "assistance" lines to find help [one of my co-workers had a complicated adoption and she had advised that our company provides free legal assistance and even monetary help with adoptions].

Fortunately, step dad's leg responded well to the surgeries. The infection had gotten into an old high school ankle injury (apparently it likes scar tissue) so they had to remove bits of tendons and muscles and bones and a good deal of skin, but they were able to spare his leg. There was lingering threat of a foot amputation or even a joint-freezing type of operation that would immobilize his foot, fortunately it never had to go that far. All this time, Ryan's mom was just coming out of her "coma" and was extremely disoriented. She couldn't understand what had happened to her and couldn't piece together that her husband was in the hospital, too. Step dad had an extremely positive attitude (the nurses all commented on it) because he was willing to fight for his life. He told the surgeons multiple times just to remove his foot, if they suspected that it would help. He pushed them to be aggressive because he'd rather be missing a limb than dead. Ryan's mom, however, was much more complicated. Because of the injuries - from the infection, the surgeries, the fevers, the heart attacks, the organ failures - she was not "herself." She was suffering from a mild dementia that made her extremely difficult. We decided not to take her cell phone to her (when she was finally allowed to have it) because as it was, she was calling people at all hours of the night to ask for things and get irate. The nurses helped her to call her husband in the other ward (they were each in individual isolation) but she didn't quite comprehend that he wasn't at home. She got extremely belligerent about needing a specific hair clip from home and made such a fuss that Ryan ended up going to her house in the middle of the night to bring it to her. When he was there, she started telling him all kinds of confused-sounding stories about why she was there and how people were just trying to torture her.

All of this and she still wasn't "out of the woods."

For the next few weeks, the Kidlet lived full-time with us. He wasn't old enough to visit in the ICU so he only got to talk to his 'parents' by phone. Miraculously, he was totally ok with it. He was well behaved and calm and very understanding. After about a week of "sleeping over" he decided that he would like to just stay with us forever. We told him, of course, not to say that to anyone else -- especially in their fragile states -- and we knew that as much as he loves us, he was really just enjoying the change of pace. We had a different routine, one which quickly evolved into "wear out the kid's energy!" which he thought was super fun. Every night, we'd go for a long walk around the neighborhood and each day, we'd stop at a different park or playground. We quickly learned some parenting "tricks" to getting your kids ready for bed: make them run off all their energy! We had running contests and climb-the-slide-as-fast-as-you-can-contests (somehow Ryan and I lost every time!). The Kidlet also had recently developed a love for basketball, and he's really good at it! So we'd make him run to the courts and do laps after each missed shot. It was excellent exercise for us all, I think we all slept better!

At the end of the month, the parents were ready to be released from the hospital. There were several delays because of reactions to medications and the fact that they'd need to go home in tandem to take care of one another. Before they came home, we had to get their house in order. There are several cleaning services who specialize in drug-resistant infections and I'd considered hiring one until I saw the price tag. It was around $3,000 and I don't have that kind of cash lying around. Instead, Ryan and I suited up - literally, we wore face masks and gloves and disposable clothes - and cleaned the place as best as we could. We used something like 5 cans of any-surface Lysol to soak all of the cushions and things that couldn't be washed. We scoured counters, toilets, and tubs. We also laundered anything that wasn't in a drawer in extremely hot water and double hot-dried them. It was... excruciating. Cleaning is NOT my thing, for sure, but in a face mask it's hot as hell. We were drenched with sweat (how do surgeons do it?) and completely exhausted.

They finally came home on a Wednesday, which turned out to be one day before Ryan and I were scheduled to leave for Phoenix. We'd considered just taking Kidlet with us, but everyone volunteered to help for the long weekend. My mom said that she'd take him, the parents said that they thought they could manage with some daytime help (since he was in a leg cast and she was only working with one good arm). We felt terrible about leaving, but we were both so mentally exhausted that we let everyone else pitch in and we went to Phoenix for Comicon.

Ch-ch-ch-chilly in Chicago

2011-04-19T18:20:00.001-07:00

Back on the road again for work. I had a quick turn-around weekend at home, just enough time to launder my work clothes and shove them back into a suitcase. I also squeezed in a wedding and an anxiety attack, so all-in-all, it was a pretty productive 60 hours at home!

This time, I am in the Chicago suburbs. The weather report called for highs in the mid-50's, which is cold, but not crazy cold. So I just brought a sweatshirt and long sleeved shirts. Then, once I landed a "cold front" moved in and the temperatures dropped into the 40's and started sliding downward. My hotel was across from a mall, so I ran over there (literally ran, it was cold and WINDY) to find a real jacket. Of course, this is the wrong time of year to buy warm clothes. I could buy a bikini in every color of the rainbow, but nothing warm.

After losing out on a jacket, I was met by Beefranck and Mr. Franck for dinner. Which was awesome. I mean, c'mon - they drove something like 40 miles just to have dinner WITH ME. I was thrilled! And even though I was feeling rather shy, I talked NON STOP for like 2 hours while we ate Lou Malnati's pizza (classic Chi-Town deep dish). Mr. Franck even commented that I didn't "seem shy." It's my defense mechanism. I'll either hide under the table or just yammer on and on and on until I scare people away. I apologize.

After dinner, I was pretty tired and crazy full so I had to "call it a night" earlier than I should have. Plus, they'd driven across the world to come see me! I felt like I should hang out late, but at the same time everyone had to get up early the next day for work, so I felt like I should let them go home already so they could unwind and enjoy the rest of their weekend. It was probably best that I let them go, since I was crazy bloated from eating half of a deep dish pizza. Enough said.

That night, the rain moved in and it got colder. Apparently, it snowed overnight and by noon, this was what was left on the ground:

I had to switch hotels to where our event was being held, which turned out to be adjacent to another mall. After set-up on Monday night, I went to the mall and lo and behold - I found a jacket! Two, in fact! Forever 21 had some awesome clearance deals and I ended up with two new coats and only spent $40! But don't worry, I still wasted a ton of money. Firstly, Forever 21 has cheap-cheap-cheap accessories and I bought a handful of necklaces. Then, I went to the Target that was RIGHT NEXT TO THE HOTEL and loaded up on snacks and stuff... it wasn't until I had schlepped it all to my room that I realized "duh, I am only here for 2 nights and one of those days is our event day, which is catered the whole time" so I have a gigantic bag of rice cakes and a 6 pack of Coke and a box of granola bars that I need to finish before I leave. EATING CONTEST!

Jenn and Bobby's wedding

2011-04-17T18:06:00.000-07:00

My cousin Jennifer is actually my third cousin or something. Her mom and my mom are cousins, so that makes us... I dunno? Somehow related. Our moms were pretty close growing up and when we moved to Anaheim in the early 80's, they lived about 1/2 mile away. In fact, they were close enough that we had the same tract home. Theirs was the 'reverse' of ours, and each had added a den over the years but still mostly the same.

Because we lived so close, we hung out together a lot. We got along well and we would rollerskate nearly every Sunday at the Skateway that was near our house. We were the "gruesome twosome" for most of our childhood. We went to separate schools, though, so we still had plenty to talk about and separate circles of friends, which kept it interesting. The summer before I entered 8th grade (she was going into 7th), I spent every day with her. Her mom had broken her ankle and was off from work for a couple of months, so my mom paid her to keep an eye on me. It was a pretty sweet deal because that was also the summer they got a pool put in their backyard. Endless entertainment! Except that a new pool has new cement and when you're bobbing in the water for hours, your skin gets soft. Without knowing it, you manage to rub the entire bottom of your foot off in the pool and when you get out your feet are a raw, hot pink mess. We had to wear socks the rest of the summer, but it was still awesome.

From then on, we were pretty much joined at the hip. Even when my mom and I moved in with her boyfriend about 30 miles away a few months later. Jenn and I would alternate staying weekends at each other's houses. Each had its own benefits: my parents were more relaxed about what we could/couldn't do (or say); her house was near 'stuff' so we could walk to the movies or hang out with boys. Jenn's mom was on a health kick back then (as she is wont to do) and was cooking nothing but chicken for every meal. When staying at our house once, my mom asked which we wanted for dinner: chicken or steak and Jenn said "if I eat any more chicken, I'm going to shit feathers!" My mom died from laughing so hard and a couple of weeks later mentioned it to Jenn's mom who was mortified and grounded her for a week for swearing (until my mom pleaded her case, saying that she didn't mean to snitch, she thought it was hilarious).

When we got into high school, our lives got busy but we remained pretty close. We'd still alternate weekends together, even when we finally had our own cars and could go anywhere. She even came to school with me one day -- our school had some funky "bring a friend" policy, so she got to come to class with me, which was awesome because she finally got to meet all the people that I talked about all the time.

We stayed pretty much joined at the hip until a few years ago. There was no fuss, no fight, we just kind of drifted. She was part of the dating scene and having fun with that, I was a married old lady who liked to stay at home on Friday nights. We still kept in touch here and there but I haven't seen much of her the past couple of years. During which, she met Bobby and (as happens with every relationship) he became her world. They moved in together and bought a house and she turned into an old lady like me, staying home on Friday nights!

I was really excited when she told me that she'd gotten engaged. Somehow, after all these years, the only person that I could have pictured her marrying was Donnie Wahlberg from his NKOTB days (I was supposed to marry Jonathan Knight, but somehow it didn't work out).

I wanted to make her a little something special for her wedding gift. I wasn't able to make the bridal shower, because we were traveling, so I wanted to give her more than just a Bed Bath & Beyond gift card. Growing up, she had a yellow gingham blanket (called "blankie") that was her security blanket. To this day, blankie has always been on her bed somewhere nearby, just in case of monsters. So for her wedding, I made her a handkerchief of yellow gingham. I embroidered the floral pattern from her wedding invitations in a cornflower blue (also used in the invitations). I thought she'd get a laugh - which she did - but it was really touching to see them share the hankie while exchanging their vows.

The wedding itself was very sweet and at a charming little place in Santa Ana. The surrounding neighborhood looked pretty typical - strip malls, etc. - and you'd never have guessed there was this tiny oasis hiding just behind. It was a lovely day and I was so happy to have been a part of it.

Viva Lost Wages

2011-04-13T16:42:00.000-07:00

I'm in Vegas this week for a conference, which is... weird. It's weird to be surrounded by TENS OF THOUSANDS of people who are here exclusively to spend their retirement money and get funky with strangers at stripclubs and I'm all "excuse me, I need to talk about software for a week."

The conference is going well, so that's good. Everyone is so easy going and professional that it makes my job easy (huzzah!) plus everyone loves software, so they're all friendly and want to chat about software and so at least I have people to talk to and stuff to talk about. So that's positive.

I haven't been to Vegas in a decade (more?) so I forgot some essential stuff that I remembered as soon as I arrived:

the cab drivers are pushy. More than other places, which is odd. Like, you have to really push back hard to get change back -- my fare was $7 (for a 5 minute trip up the street) and I handed the guy a $20 bill and he was all "have a nice day!" Sorry, bub. Gimme some of that back. Even then he's all "I only have a $10, sorry!"
everything, everywhere stinks like a million years of stale cigarette smoke - including your non-smoking hotel room!
To cover the stale smoke smell, there's 600 gallons of coconut air freshener pumped into the air. So it smells something like old suntan lotion spilled into an ash tray. Learn to love it. It smells like that EVERYWHERE - even outdoors!
The recirculated desert air gets more and more dry and then they add in air fresheners and it stings your sinuses. I have had a bloody nose at least once a day. Gross. I had to buy nasal saline spray, which is helping somewhat.
the days of "family friendly" Vegas are nearly gone. In the 90's there was a big push for Vegas as a family destination and the city was toned down a smidgen. Those days are done; sex is back and here to stay. Turn on the TV and the first thing that comes on are the ads for pay per view porn. No joke, at 8am if you power on the TV, you get encouraged to order in adult movies and the voice-over leaves nothing to the imagination. Good morning America, indeed.
With sex everywhere (including the hotel which has its own sex shop), no one makes any assumptions about anyone. I'm walking down the street in my business casual attire, on my way to/from the conference and I'm offered a minimum of 100 cards to get me into night clubs, stripclubs, sex clubs, etc. I think it's pretty clear that I am a lady on my way somewhere, not out looking for suggestions on where I can see naked ladies and drink for free - but hey! That's Vegas.
it's a crazy expensive place to be if you don't gamble and drink. (Because if you're gambling, the drinks are free.) I think I need to start playing penny slots, just for the free soda. (Iced tea: $3, no refills)
Nightclubs go 'til 4am. Stripclubs are open 24/7. You can drink on the streets and smoke in the elevators. You can buy drugs from your cab driver and have call girls sent to your hotel room. However, normal stuff like restaurants and animal exhibits and spas close at 6pm. I was hoping to go get a massage one night after the convention: no go. I mean, a legitimate one, like at a day spa.
it's a Pepsi town. Do you know how hard it is to find a Coke here? Stupid hard! Also, if you ask someone where you can get a Coke, and you have a bloody nose, they're not going to hear you correctly and slip you a card for a 24 hour on-call stripper service and tell you to ask for "Allen"

As always, I have had some adventures in stupidity. Like when I decided to walk through the Mirage to see the tigers and then take a "shortcut" back to my hotel which turned into a "longcut" and so I walked (confirmed by google maps) more than 3 miles to travel less than 1/2 a mile from place to place.

Also: I've been watching crappy TV, including old Friends re-runs and I realized that I have the same shirt that Monica was wearing in 1998. Obviously, my wardrobe needs some updates.

Gay for Eagles!

2011-03-30T11:28:00.000-07:00

Drucilla Pettibone is curating an art show, "Gay for Eagles" that runs April 15 - May 14 at the Hotel Hadley Studios and I'll have two pieces in the show.

This exhibition was inspired by the work of Alexandra J. Walters. Curator Drucilla Pettibone (yours truly) has worked with both established and emerging fiber artists to put together this group exhibition which will showcase new work that explores issues of war and peace, gender and sexuality.

I took the eagle theme for my first piece of Sam the Eagle from the Muppet Show. Mostly satin stitch except the 'feathers' around his neck, which are a long-short stitch.

I also re-created the Hot Sea Men cross stitch (this is an old picture, but I used the same pattern), which relates to the military and sexuality, but mostly it's just a naughty joke in a tiny stitchery piece based on an Arrested Development quote.

Unfortunately, I can't make it to the show myself, but I hope that some of you can make it out! Go! Support art! Buy stuff! Be awesome!

FML: Business Trip Edition

2011-03-28T10:59:00.000-07:00

I heavily blame a lot of this on the super moon last weekend. What else could it be?

So, I had to go to Washington, DC for a 5 day business trip. It should have been fairly easy. Long hours and lots of hard work, but that's expected. Instead:

I arrived in DC and went to my "boutique" hotel. It was around 1:30am when I arrived and the front door is locked, for security, as it should be. So I pushed the buzzer and... nothing. Again, again, again... nothing. Turns out the lady at the front desk is asleep on the desk. I can see her, but she's just OUT. I'm knocking, banging on the door. Nothing. I call, nothing. The cab driver calls (he was concerned about leaving me alone on the street, so he hung around), I'm buzzing and yelling and knocking. 20 minutes later, she wakes up, sees me and lets me in and then pretends that nothing happened. I go to my room, fuming. I checked out first thing in the morning and had to tell the manager why. Sorry, lady. I didn't want to get you in trouble, but I'm not staying in a hotel where the night staff is asleep on the job.

So I switched to the Hilton, which every cab driver in town points out is the same hotel where President Reagan was shot. Oh, goody.

Everything about the event was a Murphy's Law situation. Nothing was ready, took me hours to set up, etc. Everyone was grumpy and just plain jerky and took it out on me. So basically, I was being yelled at from 7am-7pm daily (mind you, I'm from the west coast, so this screaming is starting at 4am for me).

The event finally ends and I get to go home. Hooray! We board the plane and about 2 minutes before they close the airplane door, two youngish guys (early 20s) decide that they want to get off. They apparently asked the lady seated next to them if they could take a train instead, she said yes and they got up and got out. Since they were middle eastern (speaking Farsi) the flight attendant alerted the pilot that they were suspicious, so it suddenly became a TSA situation. They unloaded all of the bags and cargo from the plane and sent them through a second security check - I heard there were bomb dogs, but I didn't personally see them. We all had to deplane and be re-checked to board. So we were delayed by about 2 hours. Naturally, I couldn't sleep on the plane. I was dead tired and scared shitless and tried to distract myself the whole flight - which is 6 hours going west.

We finally get to LAX and are landing and we're about 10 feet off the ground and the pilot suddenly pulls up and takes off again. After we're out over the ocean, the pilot tells us that the plane on the runway in front of us made a sudden stop and it wasn't safe to land, so he had to do a "go around" which means we had to take off or crash. GOODY!

The girl next to me has been stressed beyond belief the whole flight. She's not an experienced traveler and was on her way to Australia, but was going to miss her flight because of the delay. So, you know, the whole "suspected terrorist" and "near-miss plane crash" didn't sit well. I thought she was going to melt down.

I was SO glad to be on the ground in LA that I was rushing out into the terminal and tripped over some guy's foot. Turns out it was Bruce Vilanch. Oops.

So I go down to the curb, where my ground transportation was waiting. I'd used our company's preferred company and selected the least expensive option, which was a van. My quote was $125 so I was expecting a converted minivan, a Ford Aerostar or something. Whatever, I just wanted to be home already. So I get to the curb and Oh Emm Eff Gee, it's a party bus. No joke. THIS was the kind of "van" that they sent for me. Just me and my one tiny suitcase. Awkward.

So we're almost home and the guy tells me that "oh, by the way" I should call the company and see if they can adjust the price for me, because there's a 3 hour minimum for this car. WHAT?! Yep, this morning I got my receipt and it was $498. No fucking joke. It's $125 an hour plus fees and gas surcharges and tip... Five hundred dollars for ONE PERSON. So, of course, I'm going to have to pay for this. I can't submit a $500 receipt on my expense report.

Keep an eye out for my upcoming "oh shit, it cost me $500 to get home!" fundraiser.

Emerald City Comicon

2011-03-25T22:22:00.000-07:00

Oh man, March has been busy! I finally got a chance to upload my pictures from Seattle, so... better late than never, right?

This was our first time attending ECCC and it was a fantastic show! The people were great, the venue was lovely - everything was wonderful! Ryan was the belle of the ball and got to meet some of his idols and rub elbows with the glitterati of comic books -- the comiceratti? A good time was had by all!

Ryan ended up sharing my table, unexpectedly, so we were a little squished. Good thing he's flexible! Badump-ching!

I bought a kit at Michael's to make a wooden version of what I thought was the Space Needle. Upon reading the package I realized it was a tower in Kuala Lumpur. Oops. So I made some modifications, and now it's the Space Needle!

New: Stay Puft and Slimer

Our neighbor was Calamity Jon who I recognized from This American Life. He says "oh yeah, I was the guy with the worst answer ever." (When asked which super power he'd want, the ability to fly or be invisible, he chose flight so that he could help people. Ira Glass laughed at his altruism. But I can vouch for him: Calamity Jon is a NICE GUY and he'd totally save you.) Jon was making these little cube dudes at his table and I swiped Robin before anyone else had the chance. Robin sat sentry on the Space Needle all weekend, protecting us from evildoers!

Best costume, worst photo: Wonder Woman made me gay for a gay man. It was a whole thing. Also, she has the best sparkly blue eyeshadow. (It's Vera Vera Ahndahvahl, a local Seattle burlesque performer who won Best in Show for this costume)

A close second was the Calvin and Hobbes mom and son team. Such a smart idea! Little Batman on the left is the other son, who shyly stepped away when I asked to take a picture. Poor little Batman! We love you, too!

I also got to meet Mark, aka Filmresearch! He's local and a bit of a comic fan, so he came by the show and we got to chat a bit. I was sorry that it was so chaotic that we just kind of got to chat in the hallway and not really hangout. Next time, I promise!

The last day of the show, a guy came by and asked to buy my Space Needle. I was just going to ~~throw it away~~ recycle it, so I told him to come back at the end of the show. He took a few pictures and had a really nice camera, so I said I'd give it to him if he'd send me a picture of it, which he did. That's my giant sized Frankenstein in the foreground.

We had a few "free" hours on Monday to explore the city, so we hit up the Underground Tour. I HIGHLY recommend it. It's not just for tourists! It's a fascinating part of the city's history - one that I would never have guessed - and you actually get to go "underground" to the city beneath the street (which is a condemned area).

After that, we made a quick dash through Pike's Market and then had to head off to the airport. Time flies when you're having fun! Seattle was lovely and the show was great, so we'll definitely be back for the next one!

Dapper Day at Disneyland

2011-02-22T18:25:00.000-08:00

Recently I saw on Facebook that Justin Jorgensen had created an event called "Dapper Days" where everyone was encouraged to come to Disneyland dressed up in an homage to the park designer's wishes that everyone who attended would make Disneyland an event and destination and would, therefore, dress for the occasion. I immediately RSVP'd as did a few of my nearest and dearest pals.

Unfortunately, Kate was sick (this flu that never ends, it's the worst!), but Ellen was still able to join up -- in her vintage Pendelton dress, no less! She and her beau were in full regalia and dapper to the nines! The night before, it was POURING rain and windy like I haven't seen in a long time and I was convinced that it would be cloudy and full of puddles and so I skipped my circle skirt dress and picked something that would work with my rain proof boots. It's not very dapper, but I tried! Anyway, lo and behold, it was a gorgeous day and I looked like a ninny. Oh well, next time! Next time I will be dapper - I will dammit!

It was a truly lovely day, both sunny and a little chilly so I was able to wear my (faux) fur trimmed coat most of the day -- which is saying a LOT. If you know me, I am always warm. So a jacket, nonetheless a knee-lengthed jacket with fur is unheard of. But it was awesome.

I did fail on one front: I didn't take any pictures. Usually, I am a snap-happy weirdo, but for some reason I just didn't think about it. Too much fun, I guess. Ellen got the only picture of us together. But it's in front of the Toon Town post office and she's eating a churro, so that's like the motherlode of Disneyland photos, if you ask me. I do have one that is us on Space Mountain, which is funny now but wasn't funny then.

On the incline on Space Mountain, the train missed a link in the chain or something and did this big lurch forward. Ellen was instantly convinced that we were going to die. I decided that if I was going to die (and was sure that I wasn't), I was going to go out happy so I still screamed and laughed as we rode along (sorry, Ellen) and when we got near the picture area, I started pointing at her and saying "Look! I'm with Ellen! I'm so awesome!" Of course, it wasn't until after the ride that I saw the picture and realized she had been curled up into a ball, fretting for her life the whole time (remember: Space Mountain is a pitch black roller coaster, so I couldn't see her at all during the ride). So it's actually a very sad picture and would have been very poignant if the coaster had malfunctioned. "Oh look! How awful! This lady is terrified and her asshole friend is pointing her out, yelling 'Look what a wuss this girl is!' People can be so cruel sometimes."

Oh, Orlando!

2011-02-04T18:15:00.000-08:00

A business trip brought me to Orlando for the first time ever. How is it that I've never been here before? I had some time to myself on Sunday, so I decided to pop over to the Magic Kingdom. I expected it to be kind of weird, to be all alone at a family theme park, but it turns out that it wasn't at all! It was really easy to navigate around so I used my newfound nimble-ness (nimbility? nimibilitude?) to explore the entire park. And, as it turns out, I was a little too nimble. I was able to see and do just about everything in under 5 hours. Pretty crazy!

Of course, I brought my camera but forgot my battery charger at home, so I was only able to take a few pictures with a real camera and a handful of iPhone pictures.

When I first arrived, there was some sort of "celebration" thing happening at the castle with Mickey and friends dancing in front and then some small fireworks (that's what the dark clouds are all about -- it's the smoke blowing away).

My first stop was the Haunted Mansion. It's my ultimate favorite at Disneyland and I wanted to experience the Florida version, too. I don't think one is better than the other, but I definitely had some likes/dislikes about this version.

The wait queue is boring, which is surprising. The Disneyland version has the crowd winding through the graveyard, which gives some visual interest to the line. In Florida, the graveyard is saved until the end of the ride (at the exit point) and it was mostly covered in tarps while some improvements were being made. With the exception of the large family tombstone for "Bluebeard" I think most people just walk right past the graveyard and miss all the details, which is too bad. The loading area is awkward, too, which I think detracts from the "story" of the Mansion. Guests are herded into a parlor room (which was too dark, there was no lighting at all, so any decorative details were lost) and then immediately into the stretching rooms (which aren't elevators at this park). I liked the "surround sound" of the Ghost Host in the stretching room (his voice moves from speaker to speaker around the room) and the creaking noises from the stretching ceiling were a nice touch. But I think overall people miss the fun theming of this room. No one screamed! Maybe that's a Disneyland difference, since the Ghost Host reveals himself and there's a faux ghostly yell at the moment that the elevator stops, which prompts everyone inside to yell along. I rode the HM 3 times and no one ever screamed along.

But I REALLY liked the "stair room" inside the Mansion. That was an interesting twist! And the ghost pianist in the entryway was cool, too. I also liked the Madame Leota better -- how do they light her without the spot light on the glass? And why can't they do that at Disneyland? -- but the "little Leota" at the end was too rushed and in an odd place. At Disneyland, she's standing among the crypts (some of which are ajar) but at WDW, she's on a shelf near the ceiling.

My next stop was it's a small world which was another disappointment. The indoor version of the building facade was... cheesy. I don't know why, but it looked like a prop and didn't have the same WOW! factor that the one at Disneyland has. Also, because it's part of the queue, people touch the walls and decor pieces, so they were grimy and broken around the edges. That was too bad, because it's supposed to be this big impressive art piece. The ride itself was mostly the same (minus the Disney characters) and the lighting was better than the DL version.

Cinderella's castle was really impressive. I even liked the tarps that they had hung over the pieces undergoing refurbishment, printed to look like the castle so the total effect wasn't as detracting as a plain tarp would have been. A nice touch. (Visible in the image below, almost everything above the windows and below the topmost spires is a tarp)

Next, I grabbed a fast pass for Peter Pan and then walked through to Tomorrowland. I rode the People Mover (very much missed at Disneyland, although the WDW lacks any of the "plussing" that the DL version used to have, like the Tron matrix and peeks inside the rides), which was lame but fun. I also went on Stitch's Escape, which was... a waste of time. Sorry designers! This is really a brief "show" with 4D elements (water sprayed in your face, Stitch bouncing on your shoulders) but the story was awkward and didn't make much sense. The seating was also kind of scary - the chairs have shoulder harnesses that pin you in your seat for the sole purpose of simulating Stitch "bouncing" on your shoulders, but it makes the whole experience really claustrophobic. Not to mention that about 70% of the "show" is in total darkness (required for you to believe that Stitch is standing on your shoulders) which was a weird choice and the chair was really uncomfortable for me. Not something I would do again.

Space Mountain had a long line (35 minutes) so I grabbed a Fast Pass for that, too and headed off again. Pirates of the Caribbean was a 5 minute wait. I loved the wait queue! It is elaborately themed, similar to Indiana Jones at DL. I almost wished there was more of a wait so I could look at it. Instead, I just walked right through. The ride itself is pretty similar to the DL version, except there is only one "drop" and it comes as a surprise and, again, in total darkness. Seemed to be a theme at this park!

I only had to wait a few minutes for the Jungle Cruise, which was fun. We had an enthusiastic skipper, but the passengers weren't into it. No one laughed or played along, which was too bad. That's what the Jungle Cruise is all about! I felt like apologizing to the skipper.

I went back to use my Fast Pass at Peter Pan and that was great. At DL, there's no option to skip the line, which is ALWAYS long. The interior of the ride was mostly the same with a few changes that I thought were better, although some of the figures were uglier (why not use the same ones?). I was surprised that the line was as long as it was, since the WDW version is an omnimover system (like Haunted Mansion) where the ride vehicles are continuously moving and don't have to stop for passengers to enter/exit.

I then headed over to the Country Bear Jamboree. One of my old favorites! I miss it at Disneyland so I was really excited to see it again. Only... it was terrible. I don't remember this version of the show, so maybe it was created special for WDW and it was awkward. There was no "story" and the bears just sort of popped up, played 2 lines of a song, then disappeared. The animatronics needed a little TLC too. They were clicking loud enough for me to hear it in the back row. I think that's why almost half of the audience got up and left at some point during the show. There were no audience participation moments (no clapping along, stomping your feet) and I think for the largely foreign crowd, the "country bear" jokes went over their heads (if you're not familiar with regionalisms and dialect jokes, it wouldn't make any sense). I was really sad and wished that I could go back and see the old Jamboree -- especially the summer version, which was my favorite.

After that, I went over to ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Again, another elaborate wait queue, which was great. But the line was moving too quickly for me to photograph much -- I did snap this picture of a dynamite crate. Good stuff.

Splash Mountain was closed, so I went back to Tomorrowland to ride Space Mountain. Another GREAT queue with interactive games to play to keep the crowds entertained, very thoughtful. But I bypassed it all and walked right on to the ride. The vehicles are different than the DL version which was interesting but I wonder why since this ride allows for small kids to ride, but they have to sit alone (the rockets are all single rider seats in a row, rather than the DL version which has 2 seats next to each other). This freaked out the 2 young boys that I saw waiting to ride and they backed out at the last minute. Too bad! The ride itself was pretty fun and kept me on my toes (different track setup from DL, so it was hard to brace properly and I got surprised a lot: fun!).

I even decided to ride the train, just so that I could say that I did! I hit the restroom near the train station and was surprised to see the tampon vending machine. I've never seen one of these before. It totally makes sense, and if I were a Disney merchandise person, I'd suggest adding more sundries (which are available in every shop, but they're not on display, you have to ask for them) like sunscreen and chapstick. Make your restroom visit an impulse buy.

The whole trip felt like a cheat. I was able to do/see everything in the park in just a few hours. Which was glorious! The whole day, I kept sending text messages to my husband telling him to start saving because we definitely need to bring our nephew.

The conference itself was good, too, and it was held at the Swan and Dolphin hotel, so I got to stay there, which was interesting. The key takeaway is that it's too pricey for what you actually get from the hotel, so I wouldn't stay there again if I was paying for it myself. But it was a nice place to be. My room had a little balcony and I took a couple of pictures from there.

The boat takes you to the nearby Boardwalk (restaurant area) and nearby hotels as well as Epcot. I walked to the Boardwalk one night and then took the boat back, just so I could say that I did.

The crazy weather storms in the midwest left me "stuck" in Orlando one day longer than I'd planned because I couldn't get ANY direct flights back to California and all the connection points (Dallas, Chicago) were closing on and off, I got bumped back a day and had to change airlines to connect through Phoenix just to get out of there. The upside was that the final night of the conference always has a "fun event" which I was going to miss and instead, I got to stay. The fun event this year was a buy-out of Universal's Islands of Adventure - so I got to see the Wizarding World of Harry Potter!

THAT was awesome. The WWoHP is incredibly, elaborately themed. The ride queues are so extravagant that it was almost a shame that there were no lines! Because our entire group was so small, there were no lines longer than 10 minutes, so we mostly just walked past everything. But it did make it easy to ride every ride in the park! I was able to experience both dragons at the Dragon Challenge (someone working there tipped me off that red always wins because the track is slightly shorter) and both were equally fun coasters. The Flight of the Hippogriff was a mild and cheesy coaster ride, but again the theming was incredible. The Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey attraction was... indescribably amazing. The staff at the gates were telling people it was a motion simulator ride, which is true, but that's REALLY oversimplifying it. It's a blend of all the best attractions you've ever experienced, similar to a roller coaster, a flying ride, a 3D film, a dark ride, an IMAX experience, and a motion simulator. Honestly, I can't tell you what it's like -- but it is AMAZING and something that everyone should experience. Again, the queue through Hogwarts is phenomenal and well worth seeing (even if you chicken out on the ride itself). I stopped to watch part of the Triwizard Tournament pep rally, which was really cute, and the chorus of frogs - also cute. The performers involved with both were really sweet and hammed it up for the crowd, which was LOVING everything.

Part of the event package was that all the food and drinks at the restaurants were free, so I even tried a Butterbeer! You have the option of "cold" or "frozen" and I chose cold... it was too rich for me to finish (which I knew going into it, I ordered 1/3 of a glass) but it was good. Essentially, a cream soda with caramel instead of just cream, so the foam tastes like a frothy caramel. I really wished that I didn't have to travel so early the next morning, because my touchy stomach requires me to eat carefully. But I did try one of those gigantic turkey legs and also had a churro -- how can you NOT when they're free? I was really pining for a triple scoop of Ben and Jerry's ice cream, but I would have been mercifully sick. So instead, I went on more rides.

The Jurassic Park river boat ride was really fun and I only got moderately wet (it was 80 that night, so it actually was nice to get a little splash). The Hulk coaster was also really incredible. It's a pretty long coaster, too, and the "blast off" at the start was a fun surprise. Apparently, the top speed is 67 mph, which is pretty dang fast! I skipped the "Storm Force Accelatron" which is a high speed tea-cup style ride and the Spider-Man 4D (motion simulator) ride, but I got to go on all the good ones.

This trip, I was positively spoiled on theme parks. The WWoHP was so amazing that I want to go back immediately -- but I hear that the queues are routinely 3 and 4 hours long. WHAT?! I don't know that I could wait in line that long... especially after only having to wait 10 minutes. I'm ruined! And the rest of the park is cute, like the Seuss stuff, but it's not anything of great interest to me and not anything that I'd be rushing back to see again. But I am very grateful that I got to experience it and see what the fuss is all about: well worth the buzz!

I'm also glad that I eventually made it home. My trip was easy enough, although I'm still pretty jetlagged. I never really adjusted to the time change and 5 days of (being sick and) going to sleep at 4am and waking up again at 7am, then being on your feet for 10 hours... it takes a lot out of a girl. I'm so glad it's the weekend. Although, now I need to get my butt into gear to make some crafts for Emerald City Comicon! Yikes!

2011 plans

2011-01-05T18:34:00.001-08:00

I don't have a list of resolutions, but rather I have a few goals for myself this year. They're nothing ground breaking, but just a few things that I'd like to do or want to do and few things that I should do. One of the benefits of my new job role at work is that I'm going to be traveling more -- which can be good and bad -- but I'm going to make the most of it. I want to get out and see more of the places that I wind up in (first up: Orlando!) and also as a bonus, I want to get my Gold status back on American Airlines. I know that's a stupid goal, but the security line at my local airport is RIDICULOUS and with status, you get to bypass it and enter with the First Class travelers. That will save more than an hour with each trip, so that makes it a worthy goal for me.

Also, I'll be exhibiting at more comic conventions this year, the first of which is the Emerald City Comicon in Seattle. I was invited to join this show after the Phoenix Comicon last year (which I also plan to exhibit at again this year) and I'm really looking forward to it! I've never spent any time in Seattle, so this is a great excuse to see the city, sell some crafts, and add another city to the list of Places That I Have Been.

Some of my personal goals are simple (and seemingly stupid from the outside) but necessary. I REALLY need to get a new bed and see an orthopedist about my messed-up back. I'm hoping that both will help significantly to reduce my pain and maybe even help my headaches! I also want to ride my bike more and take advantage of our lovely neighborhood, which means riding my bike to Blockbuster instead of driving there (approx. 1 mile each way). I've also been really inspired by some of my cute friends (like Shannon) who have been putting together cute outfits every day. Lately, I have been so blah about everything that I am always in the same uniform of jeans and t-shirt. A decent outfit can change your whole mood, which is something that I need.

I also need to get a new car. I love my beat up old Honda Civic, honestly, I do. It's been the most reliable car I have ever owned and it's served me loyally for coming up on 10 years. But now it's time for a break and it's getting to the age where it's going to nickel and dime me to death. It's time for it to be the second car and be used gingerly, just for around-town trips and leave the heavy lifting to someone else. My mom's old Accord ran for something like 19 years before it started having major issues - and even then her mechanic bought it from her, because he could fix it up on his own time and make it run well enough for his needs. Hondas are sturdy little cars, but I want to let mine retire into a comfortable routine (no more weekly trips to LA, etc.).

Another small goal that I have is to make money from my crafts. Not huge money, but money enough to have a few bucks kicking around in a savings account for a rainy day. Right now, I price everything really low, so that it will sell -- mostly because before I had just been trying to make back my money on time and materials. But this year, I'd love to kick it up (just a small) notch and have a little profit on top of it. Even just $5 of profit would go a long way for when there's concert tickets that I want or some other relatively small thing that could be had for $50 or so.

Mostly, I just want to enjoy myself more this year. 2010 was difficult for a lot of reasons and I just want to get away from that. To have time (and energy!) to relax and de-stress and spend time with the people that I love doing things that are fun and not always sweating the details. I think I'm in a good place to make that happen and I just want to keep the momentum going. Onward, 2011! Let's do this thing and make it awesome!

have yourself a very little Christmas

2010-12-21T16:05:00.000-08:00

This year I haven't been able to get into the holiday spirit. Like, AT ALL. I blame pre-planning. In September, I spied cute wrapping paper that has a photo print of knitted sweaters on it - close up of cable knits and fair isle stitches that is really sweet. I planned this whole "warm and wonderful" holiday theme. I dug out our old lap blankets that ancient grandmas and great aunts had crocheted, to use as tree skirts and couch blankets. I started brushing up on my crochet techniques, thinking that I'd make some granny square ornaments and decorate the tree with yarn. It was going to be cute! I bought matching holiday cards and researched silly knitting puns...

But with all that's been going on in life, none of it happened. At all. Here we are, 4 days before Christmas and I don't have a single stocking hung. I need to buy gifts for a lot of people and I'm still trying to stitch my way through the last of my handmade presents. Heads-up for out of town family and friends: your presents will be ready when I see you and if that's not on Christmas Day, then that means yours isn't ready yet anyway. I apologize for the void in your mailbox.

Sunday I took a break from reality and went to Sea World for the day with Kate to see their holiday decorations and stuff myself with aquatic holiday cheer. That was going to be my Christmas -- my gift to myself, some time having fun. It was a great day, full of sprinkling rain and dolphin shows and it did my heart wonders. When I got home, there was a Christmas tree inside the front door. Ryan decided that my Grinchy little heart needed some evergreen, so he went out - searched high and low - and found the LAST Christmas tree in this zip code. He brought it in, set it up and... it promptly lost every. single. one. of its needles. No exaggeration. The top half is just sticks. The bottom has some needles left, but every time we look at it, it shakes off another pile. It will be completely bald by tomorrow.

But the house at least smells like Christmas. So I pulled out the two little faux mini trees that I had in the garage and put on their tiny ornaments and set them up on the fireplace mantel. At least there's a little Christmas light sparkle happening in here now.

The stockings probably won't make an appearance this year. Turns out that they were barfed on when someone (ahem) was rooting through the boxes in the garage and got matted and icky and can't be saved. There isn't really time to make new ones and I don't have the energy to battle Target shoppers to buy new ones.

So this year, Christmas will be very little in just about every sense. Not a lot of gifts, not a lot of decorations. Just the basics: our cozy little family, spending time with people we love, and drinking hot cocoa until we fall asleep. All-in-all, not a terrible way to spend the holidays.

current mantra: the week is almost over

2010-12-16T18:17:00.000-08:00

This week has been all-around poopy. Most of the details are stuff that if I even told you, you'd be like "um, yeah." but it's just been all these tiny droplets that lead to a tidal wave and I'm kind of drowning.

The worst part was that my poor Ruckus got sick. In 10 years, this cat has been a shining beacon of health (except for when we first adopted him and he'd just been crushed by a car - but other than that) so I knew something was up when he wouldn't sit down on Monday. He would start to sit and then stand right back up, or immediately flop on his side and I was afraid that his old pelvic fracture or broken femur injuries were flaring up. I did all the usual squeezing stuff on his legs and he was fine, so I realized it was his butt. One side of his bum was a little swollen, so we packed him off to the vet on Tuesday. The verdict was an infected gland (I'll leave it at that, the rest is pretty icky) which required emergency surgery on Wednesday.

Of course, surgery on a 10 year old cat is anxiety producing enough, but the super expensive bill and the fact that it's nearly Christmas and I have gifts to buy and my worklife is INCREDIBLY hectic right now and I've been really sick and not feeling well... drove me into panic attacks.

Fortunately, the surgery went well and he was able to come home Wednesday night. He had one of those clear plastic cones on and it made him BONKERS, and it didn't help that he was groggy from the anesthesia and the pain medications that he brought home - all of which made him like a super drunken idiot. He'd wander a bit, then flop down. Then get up and run and jump on top of the TV. I borrowed my mom's dog crate, which was a lifesaver because we could at least keep him contained most of the time.

He was too out of sorts to really even try messing with his surgery site, which was helpful because he has a drainage tube that we REALLY didn't want him to pull on. But also because of the tube, we have to keep him on towels so that he doesn't leak on the carpets. Again, fortunately, there was very little drainage (a good sign) so he was ok to wander around the bedroom a bit (he was locked in the bedroom, to his dismay, because he felt invincible and was ready for his evening walk).

Today he went back to the vet for a bit and they tried the soft collar which actually works - HALLELUJAH! Because of the length, sometimes cats can still get around the collar to their hind quarters, but since Ruckus is a fatty boombalatty, he can't. He tolerates this collar MUCH better. He doesn't like it, but so far he hasn't tried to pull it off. Plus, he was able to eat and drink and use the litter box all on his own, so: a small break for my sanity. I think it helps that he's always been agreeable to wearing costumes and stuff, so this probably feels decorative and not so much like a punishment.

He only has one more day with the tube in, so there's a light at the end of the tunnel. After that, he may not even need the collar, because there are no stitches. In any case, I'm hoping that he heals fast, but in the mean time we have to keep a close watch on him 24/7. It's a good thing that Ryan and I have opposite work shifts (he likes to work in the middle of the night; I'm a regular 9-5'er) so there's almost always someone awake in our house. Last night I slept with the kitten locked in the bedroom with me and Ryan took Ruckus in his crate out to his desk and they were work buddies. Tonight will probably be more of the same.

Once that tube comes out and this work week is done, I can breathe again. And hopefully have some better posts to share.

Thankful for: Internet Friends

2010-11-23T23:22:00.001-08:00

Y'know, when ever you say you have an "internet friend" people get that goofy face, where they're trying to suppress a laugh. They picture you sitting in your basement at 3am, typing comments into a listserv or whomping on baddies in World of Warcraft. They think they know what kind of "friends" you've created: guys like this

People seem to forget that the internet is a big place and that there's a spot out there for everyone, which can be really good or bad. Sure, there's spots for weirdoes and winos and pervy dudes, but there's also places for art and culture and comedy and fashion and style and fun and poetry and literature. And sometimes in these places, you find people. Your people. The people who you have everything in common with, beyond just an internet connection.

Probably about a decade ago, I was just getting into reading blogs (back when they were a topic of discussion on the Today show as the "hip new thing") and found a few crafty blogs that I loved and a few fantastically hilarious writers. Through those blogs, mainly in the comments, I discovered other blogs that I loved and it sort of snowballed until there was this sort of community of people that I adored. A couple of years later, some of us even started meeting up in person. I met Miss Bliss at LAX on our way (traveling together) to meet Jules, who was hosting a blogger meet-up at her house. That was my entrance to the world of "real life" internet friends and it was awesome. We had a great time because we had common interests and there was never a dull moment.

After that, I've tried to meet up with a lot of my closest internet friends. I've been so fortunate to meet a bunch of people in person: Kate, Adam, Caitlin and Allen, Danielle, Erin and Randy, Erika, Emily, Jamie, Kathryn, Bridget and Jim, Shane, Lia, Ben, Emily and Adam, Joe and Kelly, Shannon (although that one's a cheat, because she's part of my family), Stacey, Dan, and so many more that I can't even remember to type them all right now! Oh! I can't forget all the wonderful people that I've met through the Phat Quarter on Flickr! I haven't met you all face-to-face yet, but I'm so glad to know each and every one of you!

And after every meet-up, I have thought the same thing: those people are awesome. You know why? Because they're not just friends that I made while sharing a high school homeroom or a cubicle farm at work. They're not coincidence friends, they're people that I sought out in some way or another and we share truly common interests (if we didn't, we wouldn't share our words, our art, our time) which go deeper than just geolocation.

For that, I am extremely grateful. You've all inspired me to keep journaling (which has come in handy more times that I can count) here on this blog, to keep creating, to keep sharing, and to keep an open mind. You all are the best. For realsies.

Incidentally, I want to meet up with more of you lovely people! Everyone has been contributing to the Stitchers! google map that I created, which is awesome! In 2011, I'm going to try and look up people in the areas where I'll be traveling for business, in the hopes that we can have tea or something in person!

Thankful for: Monster

2010-11-22T09:27:00.000-08:00

When we first brought Rocket home, I realized that we no longer had the kitten toys from when Monkey and Ruckus were young, the things they'd outgrown like the cat track, but that were pretty much essential to keeping an energetic kitten happy.

While at the pet store, I also picked up a new toy "on a stick" - you know, those cat danglers/cat fishing type toys? I don't know what it's supposed to be - it's shaped like a bean, has long black fuzzy hair and two dangly legs. It's in the family with these $2.99 toys at PetSmart. Truthfully, I bought it because it was cheap. It was $2.99 and had a bell inside with catnip stuffing - good deal, let's go home.

Turns out, "Monster" as we call him, has become Rocket's best friend. He takes him everywhere. I made a quick video of him playing with him, when he'd growl and be bossy to him (the way that Ruckus was to Rocket). The growling is just so funny. You can't take a kitten voice seriously.

Monster is an all-day, every day toy. In fact, everyone thought there was going to be a catastrophe because we couldn't find him for a day earlier this week. Turns out that Rocket had taken him under the couch (where he likes to hide from Monster, then run out and grab him and drag him around the house). Poor Monster, started off with eyes and a nose and a big red smile. Now... he basically just has legs.

The ribbon is practical. Firstly, it allows us to play "cat fishing" where we dangle it around and he runs and jumps to catch it. But also, it helps us FIND the dang Monster. It used to have a neon green ribbon, which was great because it was easy to spot. That ribbon got torn to shreds, so now it's been replaced by an upcycled ribbon (which actually came on a cupcake package) which is adorable and functional.

Hearing Monster's jingle bell makes me laugh every time. I love that at 6am when Rocket is awake and no one else is, he'll bring his Monster and play with it by himself on the end of the bed. Or when I'm in the bath, I'll hear the bell outside and I know that he's there amusing himself. It's cute the way he plays - and growls - at Monster, but also super sweet that he's so content with entertaining himself. Don't get me wrong, he LOVES to chase Ruckus around, but he's also just as happy to throw Monster high up into the air and then pretend that he didn't see where he landed, so that he can walk by non-chalantly and then BOOM! Gotcha Monster!

Sorry about all the kitten gushing. It's been such a different experience, now that I'm not out of the house 10 hours every day for work. When Ruckus and Monkey were little, I'd come home for lunch a lot to play with them, but they'd mostly just be asleep - they had their own routine. This time, I work mostly at home so I have a sidekick all day long. He has become my shadow, which I really adore. He sleeps in my lap (or in the kitty sling) or plays with Monster on the floor of my office while I'm on a conference call. He's very much like a baby, except I won't get arrested for not having a sitter while I'm gone to the movies!

undercover dumpster divers

2010-11-17T11:33:00.000-08:00

Last week, everyone put out their trash for Thursday pick-up (even though it was a holiday - no trash service 'til Friday! Ha!) and when we were taking Ruckus out for a walk, we spied our neighbor's offering to the Garbage Gods and lo and behold, there were cat climbers!

We snuck back over there later to get a better look (usually if stuff is tagged for bulk pick-up, it's total crap) and these were in pristine condition! There were three, in varying sizes, the largest of which was gigantic. These types of cat climbers are very expensive and while I love my cats, I never quite have the bucks to spend $200+ on one of these climbers. Lucky for our guys, someone else was done with them!

Ryan and I snuck out later that night and decided to take the middle-sized climber. We ran out there quickly and grabbed it and ran back to the house. Why is it so embarrassing to take something from the trash? I mean, I'd much prefer that these things find a good home, rather than end up in a landfill... but still, I feel creepy about taking trash. So we snuck under the cover of darkness and scored an awesome find for the kitties!

It's even a corner-piece climber, which is awesome. At the moment, it's just in the hallway, in front of the linen closet, but after we re-arrange the living room, it'll have a permanent place. This thing is actually really nice and barely used. There is only one spot that has any wear, and even that is lightly scratched - the carpet pieces are still pristine and white. My cats can't wait to wear it in! I think the reason it was out with the trash is because the cat didn't use it (see! That's what happens when you spend hundreds of dollars on a cat climber!). But, when it's free, the cats somehow love it. Both of them have been up and down and fighting over who gets to sit up in the top spot (it's about 4 feet off the ground, which is awesome if you're a cat).

In fact, at our last apartment, we also found a cat condo out by the dumpsters (the first of the month was always interesting and a great place to find miscellaneous stuff that folks didn't want to move) that stood about 5 and a half feet off the ground and Ruckus and Monkey loved it. They'd constantly brawl over who got to be "inside" and who was on top. Ruckus would usually steal the inside spot, so Monkey was always the top bunk.

We still have that condo, too, but it's in the garage because those two beat it all to heck and it's so fugly now that I don't want it in the living room. But when the cats play in the garage, they still climb all over it.

See? It just goes to show you... dumpster finds are the best finds.

Movie Monday: Date Night

2010-11-15T22:37:00.000-08:00

So the reviews were mixed and no one had a single nice thing to say about Date Night and so, naturally, Ryan teased me endlessly about adding this to our Blockbuster queue. I actually meant to remove it but forgot and so we got it in the mail this weekend. And last night I sat down to watch it and I have to say... not as bad as everyone said.

It's basically an out-of-place movie. It's like Adventures in Babysitting or Blind Date - both released in 1987 - a cheesy 80's era "action/comedy" movie. The premise is, of course, totally ridiculous. But if you just go with it, it's actually kind of funny. If this was released in 1987, it would have been a huge blockbuster.

The story is a married couple who go out to dinner for a date night (natch) and wind up in the middle of a mafia-style bribery scam and to get themselves out of the situation, they decide to solve it themselves (rather than going to the police). So, obviously, it's incredibly far fetched. But the adventure is silly and in some parts, extremely funny. James Franco has an incredible cameo as does Mark Wahlberg. My favorite cameo, though, is J.B. Smoove - which I won't spoil for you - but if you liked him on Curb Your Enthusiasm, you'll know the kind of over-the-top comedy that he is capable of.

Anyway, long story short: it's actually pretty funny and it's pretty solid and a good, geeky movie just for funsies one night.

Haunting Music

2010-10-20T09:41:00.000-07:00

While thrifting recently, I found another copy of the "Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House" record, which is a collection of spooky sounds that was released by Disneyland Records. The fun thing (for me) is that these albums actually pre-date the Haunted Mansion attraction (that I love so much!). The ride was an idea in progress, and the Sound Effects Department over at Disney had started collecting sounds that could be used in the ride itself.

The first album was released in 1964 (5 years prior to the official opening of the Haunted Mansion attraction). It became so popular that Disney re-released it in 1973 and again in 1976. I don't have a copy of the 1964 version, [It's easy enough to find on eBay, but I try to limit some of my collector's tendencies by allowing things to 'find me' and stumbling across them in thrift stores is a great thrill!] but I do now have copies of the 1973 and 1979 printings!

The 1973 version has an orange cover and my particular version does not have the yellow sunburst on the left corner pointing out the 'spooky party hints'. This was a slight change from the original pressing which has a white cover. The album in it's entirety is posted as a free download here, in MP3 files.

The 1979 cover was entirely new. It features a scene from the graveyard with a skeleton who is working his way out of the coffin and a crow standing sentry from the tree limb. This, of course, is very similar to scenes from the Haunted Mansion attraction. You can download a free MP3 version of this album here, courtesy of Brooklyn Vegan.

For everything you'd ever want to know about the Haunted Mansion, check out Doombuggies.com, where I found their history of these various "Chilling, Thrilling" recordings. *It's worth noting that Doombuggies.com cites the release of the final album as 1979, however wikipedia says it was 1976.

CHOC Walk

2010-10-19T17:18:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday was the Childrens Hospital of Orange County (CHOC) annual fundraiser - the CHOC Walk in the Park, so named because it's a 5k walk through Disneyland and California Adventure. It's a wonderful cause that I have supported for many years (7, I think!) not just because it's a charity to benefit children, but the entire CHOC philosophy of care.

So I proudly helped raise money (donations still being accepted on my personal fundraising page through 10/29!) and joined the walk.

More than 14,000 walkers were in attendance, and many were there representing children who had been helped by CHOC.

At the official starting line, Donald and Mickey were there to cheer us on. The announcer (red shirt) would also call out the various teams and organizations as they passed.

All along the route, the Disney characters were out and waving and cheering everyone on. Because of this, it's a slow walk. It's a 5k, but it takes more than an hour (probably about 90 minutes) to complete. I tried to snap pictures as we walked by, so we didn't slow down the people behind us. But as you can see, the castle was a popular spot for team photos.

Over at California Adventure, there were more characters waiting to cheer us along, including the Incredibles family.

After the walk, we were pretty hungry, so we went and had breakfast at the Whitewater Cafe inside the Grand Californian Hotel. It was surprisingly good for mass-produced theme park food. I especially liked the Halloween cups, with the Disney characters dressed as various villians. I was surprised to see Goofy as Chernabog, who isn't represented much inside the theme parks.

After breakfast, we went back to the parks which were now open for general admission, and decided to check out the pumpkin carvers and their interesting creations.

I think this is my favorite so far this year. Kaa, from the Jungle Book.

The Haunted Mansion pumpkin got my gears turning... so now I'm going to have to get out my carving tools and see what I can come up with!

Movie Monday

2010-10-18T17:21:00.001-07:00

This weekend while petsitting for my parents, I was able to take advantage of their on-demand movie subscription and I watched Monica & David, which I had just read about.

It's a documentary about two adults with Down Syndrome who get married and following the events in their life for their first year of marriage. It's hard to say it's a "sweet" movie without feeling like I'm pandering. It was a completely fair documentary, which is to say that it was documented footage of two people. There was no intention of whipping up controversy or tugging at heart-strings and I completely appreciated that. The movie really let the story unfold on its own, which honestly isn't a big story - two people get married, they move into a new home, and want to get jobs - but the way these two people approach it all is very special.

Monica and David themselves are charming. They are very gentle, kind people who really try very hard and because of that, it's easy to imagine them as your own children -- sort of an Everyman, although if this documentary were about the neighbors' kids, it wouldn't have the same impact. To see two people get married and move into a new home isn't really that interesting, frankly. But seeing it through a fresh perspective makes it interesting. We're seeing the difficult transition for people who are so bound by their routines and constants that the slightest change can make them miserable, and yet they keep going.

One of the fine lines for any documentary, and especially a piece about people with any kind of challenge or disability, is the "am I exploiting these people?" factor of it, and with this film, I really felt good about what I was seeing. The filmmaker is Monica's cousin, so it was personable and didn't feel advantageous or explotative. Like I said earlier, it felt very 'fair' and was a straight-forward record of this moment in time. No invented drama or editing intended to make someone a villian and someone a hero. It was hidden camera aimed at two adults making a new life together.

And yes, it was sweet.

Halloween decorations

2010-10-13T17:14:00.000-07:00

You probably already know this, but I love Halloween. And I love chotchkies. And I love decorating. BUT! I am also extremely lazy. Last year, we were so busy that I never even got the Halloween decorations down from the garage rafters. This year, I grabbed 'em down, but was limited in my set-up.

I have little houses and buildings and junk that light up (you know, like that whole aisle at the craft store that you HAVE to stop and peek at every year?) but I am limited on where I can put them. I have lots of shelves and stuff, but I also have a kitten who has no respect for decorations. Fortunately, he doesn't know that he can climb on the fireplace mantel. Ha! So that's the focus of this year's decorating efforts.

I found these awesome, glittery purple cardboard chandeliers at Target for a buck!

Under the Haunted Mansion Stretching Room portraits is the rest of the stuff that I was able to cram on the mantle. Lots of the big stuff had to stay in boxes this year. (Speaking of which, the FedEx box barricade is because the kitten insists on climbing in the fireplace. What is with orange cats??)

My Sock Zombie is always on display, but now he has a jack o'lantern! And it lights up!

This little graveyard scene has a path in it that is supposed to lead up to a haunted house. I usually fill in my own Haunted Mansion toy here, but again, there's no space and kitten can't be trusted if I put it on a table.

Part of the buildings and stuff that I have, have a gingerbread man theme to them. Here's the Halloween cake.

And the headless horseman! No sword here, just a half-peeled banana!

And the pumpkin-pie carving kids.

I'm hoping that the kitty will calm down a bit before Christmas, so I can get all my fun Christmas decorations out. Fingers crossed!

pain in the... side

2010-09-29T21:01:00.000-07:00

Last Friday I started feeling kind of icky and stomach achey and I thought I'd eaten something bad. So I switched to mild food (no grease, etc.) and it was a little better. But by Monday I was really in bad shape. It was this constant squeezing pain under my stomach and across my ribs. I took the day off of work because I had a low fever and just was feeling lousy.

Tuesday morning I had a big meeting at work, so I had to be at the office early but after the meeting was done, I left to go home and moan and whine by myself. I ended up going to the walk-in clinic (I've been sick so infrequently that I don't have a regular doctor that I go to). They stuck me in a room that was a blend of storage (check out all those crutches!) and an emergency operating room. I had to sit on a gurney, surrounded by crazy surgical lights and various monitoring machines. Naturally, to pass the time, I brought an embroidery project.

After my exam, the doctor sent me across the hall to radiology to get an ultrasound. The technician was a very nice Asian lady with this tiny, soothing voice that would coo at me "take a deep breath.... hold it... goooooooood. Very goooooooood." and it took everything I had not to laugh. She was like a relaxation tape or hypnotist or something.

When she started scanning my gallbladder, I could see the problem myself. She didn't say anything (the technicians don't diagnose, they have to send the images to be read by a doctor) but I could clearly see two stones sitting in there. Lucky me! Gallstones!

After that, I went back to the doctor who basically said that I could "wait and see" -- essentially, try to manage the pain and avoid "trigger" foods (generally, foods with fat) and see if it calms down on its own. Unless it's extremely painful or I have a high fever, there's not an immediate danger. So basically, I can just grin and bear it or make an appointment with a surgeon. Because the gallbladder isn't a required organ, usually it is just removed if there are stones inside. But since this is my first "attack" and generally the pain is more or less bearable, I'm not in a rush to schedule surgery. I'll be seeing an internist, so hopefully we'll get it all settled and I'll be back to 100% soon!

Instead of surgery, I'm now being spurred to action on eating better. Plus, there's lots of reasons to think this is tied to some other endocrine system hiccups that are causing me problems (like triggering all the migraines that I've had recently). So, as soon as I'm feeling a wee bit better, I'm going to be getting my butt back in action (more bike riding! More walks around the lake!).

Flashback Friday: Raising Kittens

2010-09-24T11:27:00.000-07:00

I realize now how much has changed since the last time we had kittens in the house (10 years ago). In 2000, Ruckus was a feral kitten that hung around our apartment complex and we'd spied him a few times sneaking around the dumpsters. One day, he was hit by a car and the neighborhood kids brought him to us -- they thought he was our kitty (since we were the only people in the complex that had a cat). When we took him in, he was about 4 months old and hardly weighed 3 lbs. He was scrawny and had worms (and a broken pelvis and leg!) and we nursed him back to health.

But! We already had a kitty. Monkey was just barely 1 year old then, and he was still very kittenish himself. When Ruckus was well enough to be introduced to Monkey, they immediately became pals and decided that they'd form an alliance. Cats vs. People.

Back then, we lived in a teeny studio apartment (I think it was 400 sq ft, maybe less) so the Midnight Crazies were unavoidable -- they had to run over your soft organs while you slept or jump on your face! But hands-down, their favorite part was the Attack-Her-Ankles Game. I don't know what the appeal was... Our place had an itsy bitsy bathroom, so small that when you took a shower, you had to leave the door open because 1) it would steam up so fast that the toilet paper would disintegrate on the roll and 2) there wasn't enough space on the floor to put the clothes/shoes you just took off. [when you sat on the toilet, your knees touched the wall in front of you. It was awkward to say the least!] The open door meant, of course, that there were cats in there with you - always. They'd sit on the edge of the shower and wait. And wait. And wait. And then when you were ready to step out? They'd grin maliciously and attack your legs. I don't know how or why they'd coordinate it, but one would get the right leg, the other the left and they'd work in tandem to bite your achilles tendon as much as they could.

And in the middle of the night was when all the real fun started. Midnight Crazies, chasing each other, chasing their own tails, etc. And they always wanted people to be awake. They couldn't understand WHY WE WOULD WANT TO SLEEP AT 3AM! So they'd take turns waking us up. All night, every night. Every day, I'd come into work with fresh scratches and dark circles under my eyes. Everyone would advise me to "shut the bedroom door" so that they didn't wake us up. Nice thought, but we didn't have a door. The only door inside our apartment was to the bathroom and we couldn't really lock them in there (although it did happen a few times) because there wasn't space. The bathroom was maybe 4' x 7' and included a shower, a toilet, and a sink - under which there was a litter box. That left approx. three inches of available floor space. Not exactly "fair" for locking up cats overnight.

But this time, it's already so different. Ryan had so many apprehensions about having a kitten in the house - remembering the terrors that Monkey and Ruckus were. But this time, the kitty has his own room, where we can close him up if we need to. And the house is more spacious - he's got plenty of places to explore and things to play with that he doesn't need to chew on my legs! And when we sleep at night? A door! A glorious door!! (Although, in honesty, we don't close it much. Rocket isn't interested in our bedroom and Ruckus likes sleeping in the living room - but still! Having it is good enough!) And Rocket is learning quickly the things that took our Bratty Duo a while to adjust to (it's not that they couldn't learn, it's that they were working in tandem to be pests), so he already knows not to climb on Ryan's work desk and that the fish tank is off limits. He also appreciates the luxuries that we were slow to figure out for Monkey and Ruckus. Like the glory of the heating pad chair! Having a comfy chair that's next to Ryan's desk (where he spends most of his day/night) with fleece blankets AND a heating pad... well, it's just a little slice of kitten heaven.

Kitty Sling (tm)

2010-09-22T15:36:00.000-07:00

Is your sweet kitty a cuddle bug? Does he want to be held ALL the time? Do your tired arms need a break? Then you'll love Kitty Sling (tm)!

This simple sling will revolutionize the way you work. Cuddle your kitty while still getting work done!

For smaller cats and kittens, a scarf tied around the human's neck provides the perfect hammock. Kitty can still burp in your face, while you work.

(Shown below: actual model, in use. Typing on a laptop computer, while kitty rests)

Larger cats need love too - so we've invented the Super Sling (tm) for them. All you need is a standard sarong and you're ready to go! The application is just like the Kitty Sling (tm) - simply tie the ends together and loop around your neck. Then let kitty get inside the hammock and cuddle with you all he wants!

Flashback Friday: Pengin Assassin

2010-09-17T10:28:00.000-07:00

Forever ago, Ryan and I were just friends and I was dating/living with a guy who had this enormous boat of a car, something like a Chrysler New Yorker. (which was awesome back then, because you could easily seat 8 or 9 people in that thing - it was like a school bus) One day, Ryan and I were out and I was driving the car and we stopped to get lunch at this place that had a teeny tiny parking lot. So when we were trying to leave, I had to zig-zag that big ol' boat about 100 times to get it out of the space, during which time I ran over a pigeon.

In my mind, the pigeon was there, screaming for it's life while this gigantic battleship of a car came barreling at it. Ryan says that the bird was already dead and I just ran over it's carcass.

Well, I didn't just run over it. I backed over it (and "forthed" over it) 100 times. The first few times, I thought it was just trash in the parking lot but when I had angled the car enough to be able to see it, I was terrified. I was so distraught that I couldn't stop flapping my hands and sqwaking about how I'd just run over a penguin. Ryan was laughing so hard at me calling it a penguin that he couldn't catch his breath enough to correct me. So I kept going -- what other choice did I have? Especially since Ryan said that he wouldn't back the car out now -- and eventually got the car out of the spot and the bird? Well, let's just say it had seen better days.

After that, everyone teased me about running over a penguin. I had one of those keychains with the ceramic beads on it and someone (I think it was Ryan) even bought me a penguin bead for it.

Welcome to the family

2010-09-16T16:38:00.000-07:00

Ryan and I had been wanting to find a companion for Ruckus so that he wouldn't be so lonely. He thinks he's a person, so when ever we go anywhere and he's not invited he gets offended. We'd been conversing with local shelters and rescue organizations, looking for another cat who would be a good fit, possibly even one with a leg/hip injury like him so that they could at least have the mutual appreciation of the heating pads on the armchairs.

After meeting a few candidates (who were all sweet, I hated having to reject any of them, like I'm some millionaire on a dating show), we went to another rescue group and they had a bunch of feral rescue kittens, including some that were born that same morning. We were cooing over the teeny kittens and this gregarious orange tabby kept reaching out of the cage and talking to us - stepping on his sleeping sister to get our attention. He was so funny that we decided we needed to at least meet him. I have a weakness for ginger cats. That's a fact. But I swear that he wasn't adopted for his fur.

The rescue lady, Patty, was very sweet. She told us all about her feral rescue and TNR efforts and about her home kennels, where all of her kitties are raised until they are appropriate for adoption or foster care. She is super knowledgable about all of her cats, because she hand raises them. So she knows their individual personalities and loves each and every one of them. She even gave us her personal guarantee that we would not have any behavior problems for her cats, because she doesn't tolerate bad behavior. So everyone is neutered early and is used to having their nails clipped and flea medicine and using the litter box - no exceptions.

She even - accurately - predicted that this kitty (then known as "Spark Plug", now we call him "Rocket") would never cower or hide under the bed. He's such an outgoing personality that he would just get right in there and make himself at home. And he has! He's been 100% appropriately bowing down to Ruckus, as the elder, and after showing his respect, he runs off to play again.

I had ZERO intention of bringing home a kitten and certainly not that day. But fate pushes your hand and... well, things work out the way they're supposed to. Ryan and I filled out the adoption papers and were accepted and we went home to get our cat carrier and pick up our newest family member.

I wholly expected that the introduction process would take a few weeks - even a month. I had planned to keep Rocket in my office/extra bedroom and let Ruckus acclimate to having someone else in the house. But Rocket was so outgoing that he didn't want to hide. He came right out and wanted to snuggle with Ruckus, who hissed and batted at him.

Now we're in day 4 and they already eat dinner together and every now and then Ruckus decides that the kitten needs to be hissed at, but overall they generally stay just a foot or so away from one another. Rocket already has a handful of favorite toys, including this weird fuzzy guy (we call him Monster) that he looooooves to chase and carry around in his mouth, all the while growling at him. I guess the lowest guy on the totem pole has to have SOMEONE to boss around! I took a video of him growling, just because it was so funny to see him do it the first time.

Rocket is allowed to play in the house when we're around (he still needs a lot of monitoring) but he sleeps in his own room at night. I've been laying down with him before I go to bed and sneak out after he's asleep. He usually sleeps for a few hours and then Ryan lets him out again to play for a while, then he takes him to bed and Ryan sleeps with him for a couple of hours. Rocket wakes up around noon, then he comes out to play for a few hours, then sleeps again - rinse and repeat.

All in all, the family is adjusting nicely and we're pleased as can be with the newest member of the family.

Birthday

2010-09-10T01:28:00.000-07:00

Somehow my birthday is here again. I don't actually like making a big issue out of my birthday. I mean, I'll take advantage of my Birthday Week by picking what's for dinner and not compromising on which movie to watch, but as for gifts and parties? I don't really need 'em.

Instead, here's a look back at my first birthday. I was a tiny baby (healthy weight, but just overall petite) and there weren't the abundance of tiny clothes and preemie sizes that there are now, so many of my clothes were actually doll clothes. The dressing gown that I am wearing in the picture actually fit my Cabbage Patch Kids dolls a few years later.

The kitty stuffed animal was the launching point of my obsession with cats. We had housecats when I was young and I just always loved kitties. This stuffed animal belonged to my cousin, who was a few years older than me. I somehow stole it and everyone made him give it to me permanently. That kitty has gone everywhere with me - he's been VERY well-loved and sits on my desk today. His fur is a little matted and he's permanently dirty in some places, but it just further justifies my earlier kitty theft.

Flashback Friday: the Earthquake Nightmare

2010-08-13T17:42:00.000-07:00

When I was in elementary school, we experienced a really big earthquake. This was the "big one" in 1987 and for the first time, our school had to actually give thought to the annual earthquake drill. Not just as an assignment "ooh... earthquake. Duck under your desks! Ok that's enough, let's get back to the math quiz."

I was pretty bothered by the earthquake on a few different levels. Sure, the ground beneath you is shifting and buildings in cities you know actually cracked and crumbled, but mostly because it sort of hit home for the first time. The quake caused a crack in the cement slab under our house and ruptured a water pipe. The den was flooded and we ended up having to have all of the carpets replaced, which meant that as the installers went room by room, we'd have to sleep in the living room. Which wasn't as much fun as it could be. It was like a crappy camping trip, except I was supposed to "go to bed" at 8pm while mom and dad watched TV 3 feet away. My whole family was also terribly sick and this was also coinciding with the after-hours Disneyland party that we were going to go to (my aunt worked for the phone company who did an annual buyout of the park after hours). So I was bummed about missing that, scared of the earth trying to eat me, and debilitatingly sick.

Once I was well enough to go back to school, I found out that the school had planned another earthquake drill. Usually, we didn't even leave our classrooms - it was just the duck and cover bit - but this time it was going to be a simulation. We were going to act as if an earthquake had demolished the school and conduct business outside. It was cold and I still wasn't feeling great and I was not up for this adventure. Everyone else was all smiles about school being outside, but I couldn't get enthused about it. About an hour into the day, the teachers started figuring out how they were going to teach lessons outside - which meant that the classrooms had to be separated along the giant grass area in the back of the school. Of course, my class was the furthest in the corner which was ok, except I needed to use the bathroom. I'd barely gotten over a major stomach flu and I was still a little rumbly in my tummy. The teacher excused me to make the long trek across the field toward the bathrooms, when I was stopped.

The teacher's aide who was 'on duty' told me that no one was allowed to go near the buildings. They were crushed in the imaginary earthquake. I pleaded my case, that sometimes diarrhea just won't wait and she told me "well, you just have to hold it until you get home." Mind you, this is something like 9:30am and I'm already experiencing what Aunt Karen called the UPCs (urgent poop cramps). I explain again that I cannot wait that long and the woman makes me wait on the edge of the field while she tracks down the principal to ask for advice. This is well before cell phones and our school wasn't even prepared enough to have walkie talkies, so this was a literal "tracking down." She had to hunt high and low and after she was gone 5 minutes, I just went in and used the toilet. I couldn't wait a second more.

She eventually returned and scolded me for using the bathroom without permission. There could have been falling beams or crumbling walls! I could have been killed! Clearly, this woman had convinced herself that the apocalypse had happened already and I was some unruly child who insisted on sitting on the charred remains of the toilet seats. She even brought the principal over to consult. I explained my stomach condition and that I could not wait until I was home and he scratched his head. He called in a coven of teachers to discuss restroom facilities. Apparently, not a single person had considered that children need to pee during the school day. Eventually, they decided that I would be granted special restroom priviledges for that day only and I would be the only one allowed to use the toilets, so I would have to sneak in to use them. I learned then that this "outdoor drill" was planned to continue for 3 more days, and I immediately got knots in my stomach and ran back to the restroom.

Later, the teacher's aide informed me that they had a solution for the restroom problem. In the event of an actual emergency, a hole would be dug for students to use. This was probably the exact birth moment of my restroom anxiety issues. I had this vivid picture of a giant hole - maybe 20 feet across and 5 feet deep, where students would have to squat and hang their bums over the edges and poop. Right there in public. With the entire school watching. It was virtually every nightmare ever invented, being planned out by the authority figures in my life. I was stunned.

After a (literal) panic attack, I requested that my mother be called to pick me up. Fortunately, she complied and I got to spend the rest of the afternoon - and subsequent 3 days - in her office building, where there were restrooms galore. Tidy cubicles with actual locks on the doors (unlike school, where there were none) that were cleaned daily. There were rows of them, too. And separate ladies rooms for the first and second floor! It was the exact opposite of the Lord of the Flies episode my schoolmates were living. I was voluntarily fetching snacks for anyone who wanted them (from an actual vending machine! With candy inside!) and filling up coffee cups, wiping down white boards and delivering memos throughout the building. My new mail clerk gig was awesome but the best part was the access to bathrooms. Glorious bathrooms. And the earthquake procedure here (mom was a manager, so she actually had to deliver a session on procedure) was to go to a safe place - door frame, under a desk, etc. - and once the shaking was done, get back to work. There would be no toilet trenches here.

The Glass Bottom Love Boat

2010-07-08T15:45:00.000-07:00

July 7, 2001

I feel like I have told this story a bunch of times before, but I did a quick blog search and didn't find the complete story, so I'll tell it here and then never tell it again. Deal? Deal!

Ok, so July 7, 2001 Ryan and I got married on the M.V. Phoenix, which was a 3 story paddle wheel glass bottom boat that operated out of the Balboa Fun Zone in Newport Beach, CA. Originally, we were supposed to use the Tiki Boat which was owned by the same brothers and so we decided to be very sparse with decorations and invited our guests to dress in Hawaiian casual attire. At the last minute we had to upgrade to the Phoenix because we had more RSVPs and "I think so and so is coming too" than originally planned. Our guest list was 75, which swelled to over 120 and even more showed up to the actual wedding (I think final count was something like 136) and all of those people wouldn't fit on the small Tiki Boat. Luckily, the boats were docked together, so the day of the wedding, the Captain just loaded everyone on the Phoenix instead of the Tiki.

The Phoenix was originally a tourist attraction on Catalina Island. The giant glass bottom plates afforded incredible views of the kelp gardens of the island for more than 60 years. The walls of the boat were lined with photos of celebrities who had toured the island on the Phoenix, including three US Presidents.

From Tales of Balboa:

In 1930 the 22-year-old glass bottom boat M.V. Emperor was destroyed in a massive windstorm while at its bow moorings in outer Avalon Bay. The M.V. Phoenix was resurrected from the salvaged wreckage of the Emperor and built from almost identical plans in only six months. This beautiful and historic 105 foot 112 ton side-wheel glass bottom boat was built with four-inch thick Alaska cedar planking at the Wilmington Boat Works in Long Beach and launched in 1931. The Phoenix is the largest paddle-wheel glass bottom boat in the world.

It is widely rumored that the Phoenix was the boat featured in the Doris Day movie "The Glass Bottom Boat" however it was actually the Nautilus that was in the film (screen capture from the movie below shows the boat and it's name across the rear of the vessel: Nautilus, Avalon). It's kind of funny to me that this rumor persists, since the Nautilus is a standard glass bottom boat - it's a small craft with a single glass plate along the bottom with seating all around, which is totally unlike the Phoenix.

Picture of the Phoenix, courtesy of Tales of Balboa.

In 2006, our 5th wedding anniversary was approaching and we decided to celebrate with a brunch cruise on the Phoenix. However, the boat had been sold to a restaurateur who wanted to relocate the vessel to the San Francisco Bay Area to become a floating restaurant. The Phoenix left Newport Harbor on Saturday, June 10, 2006 around 2pm and began its trip north traveling at about 4 knots. As noted by several news reports, the new owner attempted to christen the ship by breaking a bottle of champagne over the bow, but the bottle did not break, which is a bad omen according to boating lore. The owner was unfazed and successfully broke the bottle on the second attempt and also commented that he would not change the ship's name, which is also believed to be bad luck. However, by the time they reached Malibu on Sunday, June 11, the bad luck found them. At 7am, the ship's crew noticed a 2" x 6" fracture in the glass bottom of the ship and it began taking on water. The crew tried to pump out the water until the pump failed about an hour later and they put in a distress call to the Coast Guard. The ship was carrying ten 55-gallon drums of reserve diesel fuel, plus 200 gallons of fuel in the ship's gas tank which were all still on board when the ship started sinking.

The ship's crew and owners stayed on board the sinking ship, saving whatever belongings and memorabilia they could, but ultimately the ship sank. According to news reports, the ship took only four hours to completely sink into the water. The ship remains intact approximately 800 feet under the surface about 2 miles west of Zuma Beach. Because of the depth of the water and the difficulty in trying to recover the ship, it is likely that it will never be recovered.

Photo of the Phoenix sinking, courtesy of AP:

It's a poignant story, if you ask me. This ship that was born from the remnants of other ships (hence, the name The Phoenix) ultimately found its grave in the sea. Perhaps it had been skirting the inevitable for 75 years, however most think that the 450 mile trek from Newport Harbor to the Bay Area was an unachievable goal. Traveling under the power of the elderly paddle wheel, was it folly to think it could have made the trip alone? Especially considering the fuel supplies onboard? Maybe the owner was overly ambitious or maybe the ship wasn't ready to leave Southern California - it had ferried the same 26 mile area for decades, delighting uncountable numbers of passengers with the beauty of the kelp forests off the local coasts. Maybe it just didn't want to see the murky waters of the Bay? I guess only Poseidon knows.

flashback friday - my first car

2010-06-25T12:15:00.000-07:00

My first car was a 1971 Karmann Ghia. My dad's longtime girlfriend, Sharon, (who was sometimes called my stepmom, just to shorten the conversation) had owned this car since the 70's and I think she might have been the original owner. It started off orange, like the picture shown below (not my actual car) but sometime in the 80's her son had a friend who's father owned an auto detailing shop and the boys were really interested in painting a car, Sharon let them take her car to practice on. They settled on a color that we all called "toothpaste blue" and went to town. It wasn't a professional paint job, by far, and the interior of the car was still orange (around the window casings, etc.) but it still looked pretty neat-o in blue.

I was taking an ROP class in the evenings after school, which was at another high school and so I needed transportation. Sharon offered me the Ghia (thereafter called "Mia's Ghia") and so I took it. After driving my mom's Honda with it's fickle stick-shift transmission, I loved driving the Ghia. I don't think I ever stalled it - the clutch was worn and loose, so as long as you eased off the clutch slowly, it never jerked or faltered. (Mom's Honda was super touchy! You'd have to ease off the clutch with surgical precision or else it would jump or stall. I hated it.)

My family lived in the canyon above the valley where I went to school, so it was a 20 mile each-way trek to school and back daily and the Ghia handled it like a champ! That is, until it didn't.

It was finals week and I was on my way to school for one last test and then a full day of work. I was wearing dorky 'comfy' clothes (not that I wasn't ALWAYS dressed like an idiot) because my ROP class was over and I was now a certified preschool teacher - and the school where I'd been doing my internship had hired me on for the summer. Lots of the teachers wore stretch pants and long shirts and I think I was still in my babydoll dress with stretch pants phase, so I was wearing something like that, but something worn and dumb; something that I didn't mind getting fingerpaint or banana pudding on.

I was driving through the canyon when all of the sudden, the car filled with smoke and started slowing down. I pulled off to the side of the road and got out and saw flames coming from the engine compartment. I reached into the car and grabbed my purse and my favorite Tinker Bell ornament that was hanging from the rearview mirror. After that, all I could do was stand and stare. The nearest house was about 5 miles away and the nearest call box at least half a mile behind me. A few cars drove by, but no one stopped - what could they do? This was the pre-cell phone era, so all anyone could do was stand there and watch me cry. A few minutes later, a big rig truck pulled over and the driver got out and started hosing down the engine case with his fire extinguisher. The flames were too big to go near the hood of the car and his little extinguisher didn't do much to stop them. It ran out and he stood there, staring at me, saying he was sorry. He'd called for a fire truck from his CB radio so help should arrive shortly.

The fire engine eventually did arrive and they put out the fire. In its defense, the firewall between the engine and the interior of the car held up remarkably well. The smoke was coming in through the heating duct, which was basically just a tube from the engine compartment to the interior - it piped in the heat from the engine, but there was no knob for adjusting - you'd just pull up a handle and it had 2 settings: open/closed. Another driver recognized my car and had called my house, just in time to catch my mom before she left for work so she came to pick me up.

One of the firemen got into the car itself and rescued some of the artwork that I'd created for my preschool class. It was Around The World week and the day's study was focused on England, so I had brought in some props, including a jeweled gold crown. The fireman was covered in soot (as was I) and he came over and put the crown on my head. My mom started crying and wished she had a camera.

Eventually, we got it towed and found a guy who could fix it -- one of the DIY mechanics who tools on things in his own garage -- and that was when I took the first pictures of my car. I'd never even thought about it until then. It's not like the 50's when everyone posed in front of their cars. These are the pictures. ADMIRE MY AWESOME BUMPER STICKERS!

the fire burned off the layers of paint, so you can see the orange

the engine was basically gone. It was cinders and dust.

It turns out that the source of the fire was an extremely common one for Volkswagens of that era. If you're familiar with the engine, it's all powered by a single belt that is in plain view when you open the engine compartment (seen below) and what's immediately next to it? The gas line. SO when the belt breaks, it flailed around and it smacked the gas line, which lead to gas spraying all over the hot engine and viola! Engine fire!

Fortunately, VW gearheads who like tooling on cars can build these engines in their sleep and will do it for a pretty low price, so the car didn't have to die there. I got a new engine put in and was off and running once again! I drove it for a couple more years before I got a new car and then it was kind of put out to pasture. A friend's mom bought it from me and drove it for a couple of weeks before some guy chased after her to offer her thousands of dollars for it. While Ghias aren't rare, they're not easy to find and VW lovers love them, so this man made her an offer she couldn't refuse - and why should she? She felt guilty and offered me money, but I turned her down. I was just glad that someone who really wanted this car had it. It was a fantastic little car and I still kind of miss it.

Maybe in a few years when my midlife crisis is at its peak, I'll buy another one, just for toodling around on the weekends. But this time, I'll get a convertible. And a fire extinguisher.

passive agressive note fail

2010-06-22T15:29:00.001-07:00

Last week, the teenagers at the end of the block had this raging all-weekend party. Which, honestly, I didn't mind much. They weren't being overly noisy and I was always grateful for the neighbors who didn't tattle on us when we were in high school (the fact that I didn't drink or smoke didn't matter - it was the fact that we kids could go hang out and have fun without the cops coming that was the bigger deal). So I kept my mouth shut - even when several of those kids tried to enter MY backyard because they were looking for "the house on the end."

However, I started to sour after the first night, when the walkway and common grass area was buried in cigarette butts that were clearly chucked over the fence. Uh, kids? That's a dead giveaway. Mom and dad are going to notice your mess, regardless of how well you cleaned the house. The next night it got worse and there were beer cans and little paper cups from jello shots and cigarette boxes, soda cans, and miscellaneous junk everywhere. After day 3, it was a problem. I was going to say something to the kids themselves - hey! I'm a nice lady! But clean up your trash! - but I figured that I didn't need those kids to come egg my house or order 100 pizzas to be delivered or something (my neighborhood is very close quarters and I don't generally trust shitty teens - plus this particular house used to get toilet papered on a monthly basis - which I assume means that their kids were out TPing someone else and I don't need that hassle!).

So at the end of the weekend, I decided that I was going to write a passive aggressive note! I'd keep it simple, to the point, and leave it on their door! PERFECT! So I did! I wrote "We (your neighbors) are glad that you had such fun parties this weekend, but we'd appreciate it if you could please clean up after your guests. They left hundreds of cigarette butts on the sidewalk, lawn, and parking areas in addition to their beer cans and other trash. We'd all like it if you could keep the neighborhood in nice condition for our guests as well."

All I needed was an opportunity to take it over there! So I was keeping an eye on the place and you know what? The motherfuckers moved out. Monday morning, a giant moving van rolled in and they cleared the entire house in a couple of hours. I was debating whether to say anything - the trash was still there, afterall - but I figured that it didn't matter now. What do they care about neighbors they'll never see again?

The next day, the Recycler Lady who walks around our neighborhood on trash day and takes all the aluminum cans out of all the recycling bins came and picked up all the beer cans. And the day after, the landscapers sweeped up the cigarette butts and other trash.

Party on, shitty teenagers.

Speaking of which, the Sklar Brothers have this fantastic bit ("Sign Flippers" - listen free on Rhapsody) on their SkLAr Maps cd about the kids who hold the giant arrow signs, pointing you to new housing developments... it's great! But my favorite line is when they're talking about the marketing meeting leading up to this idea and someone says something like "Oh great! So we'll get some professional salesmen to offer directions and information so people can make an informed decision?" "Oh, no, we're going to hire some shitty apathetic teens to point them at their dicks" I love the phrase "shitty apathetic teens."

movie monday!

2010-06-21T16:59:00.001-07:00

We've been watching season 2 of True Blood and lordy! It's gettin' good! We still have 2 episodes left, so don't spoil it!

Alice in Wonderland
Wow. It's palpable how much Tim Burton was phoning this in. Everything looked pretty, true, but I really hate CGI for the sake of using CGI and there was so much that was unnecessary. I'd heard from everyone that there was no real story, and there wasn't - so I at least was prepared for that. But everything else about this movie was so bad that it made me sad. I remember when Tim Burton movies were guaranteed to be great and I guess I just wanted to re-live some of that glory... but no. I didn't like this movie at. all. Good thing it only cost $1.50 to see it at the second-run movie theater!

The Informant!
I'd heard this whole story on This American Life, so I knew the premise already but still! What a fun movie! It was fun and funny and quirky and never got too heavy or dark - it was a good time! Matt Damon was fantastic, plus I liked seeing some of my favorite comedians doing little cameos here and there -- including Joel McHale as one of the lead investigators!

500 Days of Summer
Everyone loved it and everyone loves Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon Levitt, so I kind of thought... well, it was required viewing just so that I could stop getting the googly eyed reaction from everyone that I hadn't seen it yet. And it turns out, it's pretty good. Another fun and quirky movie that doesn't try to get too deep and serious and it definitely is NOT a love story, as promised. It was cute and sweet and one of my favorite things was that it was in LA! Movies are rarely set in Los Angeles, let alone shot on location. I loved using my knowledge from the Charles Phoenix tour of Downtown LA and spotting famous locations (the Bradbury building! Farmers Market! Angel's Flight! The hidden UFO fountains!) and admiring LA as the lovely city that it is (architecturally, anyway). It even factors into the story that JGL's character wants to design a way to unify LA and restore it's glory. You had me at hello!

Julie & Julia
Another fun movie. Meryl Streep? OH MY GOSH! She is excellent as Julia Child and I kind of really love Julia Child's story! As for Amy Adam's portrayal of the blogger, I can't say since I don't know the blogger - but she was super sweet and cute in the movie. Only minor little picky things from me (the Queen of Criticism) that really didn't affect the movie in any way. It was a darling little movie that I'd recommend to anyone. Also: if you love sweet Amy Adams, try "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day" which is this bubbly fun Marilyn Monroe-esque film that is really adorable. By the end, you'll want to carry Amy Adams around in your pocket all day long.

Gigantic: the tale of two Johns
A documentary about They Might Be Giants which would appeal to everyone - regardless of whether you know TMBG's music or not. Interesting story, extremely well-told. Plus, there were so many bonus features and extras that we watched this disc for something like 5 hours!

Ladies or Gentlemen
An hour long documentary on cross dressing, primarily in film. No earth shattering revelations, but still interesting stuff. Such as: women who cross dress in movies do it for the power -- they want to take on a "man's world" or be taken more seriously, even in subtle clues like Diane Keaton in Annie Hall. However, a man who cross dresses in a movie is meant to imply that he's devious and untrustworthy - or at the very least, silly. Think of Norman Bates or Tootsie and at the extreme end is Divine. My favorite comment was from John Waters, talking of Divine and that he would have been ecstatic about the movie being made into a play and then into a new movie - and he would have wanted to star in them all! (And he rightly should have, John Travolta was a travesty and he had so many picky stipulations that actually changed the character and, in my mind, ruined Edna Turnblad)

Wendy and Lucy
We rented this a while back, I just can't remember if I posted about it yet. It was intensely sad and truly heartbreaking. It was this quiet little not-much-happens kind of a movie that was 100% character-driven and told through quiet moments with Michelle Williams. She was phenomenal. And I kind of hate it that everyone flocked to loving this movie, claiming that she was channeling her emotions for her deceased husband, because regardless she is a powerhouse of an actress and could have pulled that off either way. I'm only sorry that everyone saw her only as Heath Ledger's widow and not the brilliant actress that she is.

Kitties: a post about cats

2010-06-18T17:18:00.000-07:00

Ryan and I decided earlier this year that we were ready to adopt another cat, so that Ruckus has a friend in the house. Cats are very social creatures and Ruckus thinks he's a person, so his adjustment to living without Monkey has been to stick to us like glue. Which is really sweet and cute until it gets annoying. Now, I'm not saying that I want to shake him off, but I mostly just feel guilty every time we leave the house. A 10 minute trip to Blockbuster turns into heartbreak when Ruckus puts on his sad face and cannot fathom why we ever have to go anywhere without him!

Most pets are used to being alone sometimes - their people go to work, etc. but since Monkey died, my work-at-home schedule has increased and well, Ryan has been working at home for the past 6 years, so Ruckus is used to someone (a human!) being not only present, but awake nearly 24 hours a day at our house. So when we leave for, say, a movie or a weekend he gets extremely heartbroken. How could they leave me here all by myself?? Fortunately, my mom and brother make a good catsitting duo and when we're out of town, they stay at our house. That is an extreme luxury and I recognize that, so we need to wean Ruckus off of 24/7 people-attention. Which is why he needs a buddy. If there's another pet for him to associate with (who also does not get invited to the grocery store) then he can at least see that it's not just him and maybe he won't take it so personally. Maybe he won't cry in the window! A lady can hope!

So we've been looking at local cats for adoption. I'd personally love to have a kitten again, but it's a lot of work! Just like a baby, kittens are up all night and they cry and get into things and poop where they shouldn't. But still: baby cat! In your house! Most likely, we'll get an grown cat, maybe someone who's a few years old, although we're not opposed to an 'old' cat either. Ruckus is 9 and still frisky as ever, so I know that chronological age has little to do with how "old" a cat is (or person! look at me! I act like I'm 12! It's awesome!). My goal is to find someone that he can be friendly with and have a buddy for Midnight Crazies and a pal to share the heating pad with all winter.

I kind of have a soft spot for orange cats - I always have. Over my life, I've had a couple of orange cats and they've all been the nicest cats I've ever known. I feel "colorist" for liking a cat based on its fur and although that is certainly not a criteria for adoption, if there's a ginger cat who meets our requirements, that will probably be who I choose. I don't know why I feel so guily about it. I mean, people have dog breed preferences and would adopt, say, a Boston Terrier but not a Pug and no one would say that they're jerks. But since cats are basically a single breed (shelter cats, anyway. I'm not in the market for a high-end cat where I'd have to find a specific rescue for Sphinxes or something) you have to rely on age, gender, and color. Of course, temperment is the #1 deciding factor, but all things being equal, you just have to pick. And I hate doing that.

Monkey came to us when a friend's cat had kittens. He chose me. The momma cat and her newborn kittens were hiding under the bed and so I got down on the floor to look under the bed at them and Monkey came toddling over to me. I visited him a few more times over the next 8 weeks and he always came to see me, so I knew there was something special there - he was meant to live with me. Ruckus was a feral kitten who hid under our apartment at night and made Monkey crazy. One afternoon, the neighborhood kids brought him to me (thinking it was my kitten) after he'd been hit by a car and I took him to the emergency vet. After the vet advised that he'd likely be euthanized by the shelter because of his injuries, I adopted him. But still, he basically chose us to live with (he was living under our apartment, rather than any of the others). So I never had to pick -- my cats came to me through destiny. Now I feel a bit like Schindler, having some sort of list of which cat might make the grade and live in our home. Which is a wonderful and crappy feeling all at once. Am I allowed to hope that when we go to look at the kitties that someone finds me? That I can sit on the floor and let whichever cat is meant to be mine find me?

my good idea

2010-06-08T16:41:00.001-07:00

We spend a lot of time with our nephew who is 5 and often our hang-outs include a car trip portion which is super boring for a young kid (freeways are dull!). Recently, while sitting in the backseat of the car, he found a comic book (Futurama) and was flipping through it carefully looking at every picture. He's a new reader, so he wasn't able to follow the dialogue, but he enjoyed looking at the pictures. The next time he jumped in the car, he picked up the book was a bit bored that it was the same one.

SO! I had a good idea! What do kids like better than Highlights Magazine? Nothing, right? But a new subscription is a bit pricey so I went on eBay. LOTS of people are selling off their old issues and back issues for pennies, literally. I purchased a lot from a library that has 30 magazines and all told I paid $7, including shipping.

Now when we take him out, I toss a new issue in the back of the car and he's got some kid-friendly and age-appropriate reading material to keep him entertained.

Movie Monday!

2010-06-07T19:07:00.000-07:00

Watch this clip! Or this one! Or this one (my favorite!)! Or this one! Adam introduced me to the "intentionally misplaced" clips from the Lawrence Welk show that have been on SNL recently and OMG... Kristen Wiig! OMG!

Some movies I've seen recently:

Hot Tub Time Machine - if you saw the commercials, then you know what you're in for. It's a silly movie that knows that it's silly - which is the best part! The whole movie is a joke of the movie itself. None of it is too serious. We saw it at the Dollar Theater and it was well worth the price! We laughed the entire time. John Cusak was great, even though I had doubts. I loooooove Cusak, but I wouldn't have ever picked him to be in a cheesy bro-mance movie, but he pulls it off. There are certainly more than a few nods to his 1980's movie career (the hot tub takes the guys back to the 80's) although I would have liked to see more. But no matter! It's gross and raunchy and totally hilarious.

Heathers - when I was in junior high, my mom called me "Veronica" because, like Winona Ryder's character, I was the only differently-named girl in my clique. Mine were all Jennifers, and none of them were evil (or necessarily popular - we were the dorks drinking Cherry Pepsi and eating Funyuns at lunch I can't believe I was never Homecoming Queen!). I haven't watched this movie in 15 years (gulp) at least and I have to admit that from the start, my pre-adolescent Christian Slater crush flared up. *heart palpitations* The movie actually holds up. Although, any kid born after Law & Order first aired would be pointing to forensic evidence galore, the movie itself is still fun. And reminds me of the Faith No More song, "Star A.D." lyrics "When you die, you'll become something worse than dead. You'll become a legend." [new cross stitch??]

Pecker - I love John Waters's movies. He's so awesome and Pecker is essentially the story of himself. A Baltimore boy who makes it big with his outsider art that becomes famous and eschews fame in exchange for exposing the rest of the world to real life (in Baltimore, of course!). Edward Furlong pulls it off so well, which honestly you wouldn't expect. And Martha Plimpton, as always, is my favorite.

Kill Bill Volumes 1 &2 - it had been a while since I'd watched these and I suddenly wanted to see them again. Now I am starving for more! When the movies were first released, Tarantino had cast a few young children (4-5 years old) who will become essential characters in the next installments and I'd heard that he was holding off on making the next volume until those kids were grown (it was reported back then that those exact actors were contracted in advance to be in the next volumes) so that they could reprise their own roles. It's been more recently reported that volume 3 is due sometime around 2014. I'm excited already! The movie is not just beautiful and completely fun, but it's really layered. I'm not smart enough to decipher it all, but I really really love the themes of honor in the films (all the characters are trained as Samurai warriors and they fight with swords - except for one major incident in which someone uses a gun) and even the fun little quirks like the airplane seats that have a place for you to hold your sword.

Big Top Pee Wee - this movie crushed my soul a little bit. I'd seen it when I was young and didn't remember any details and watching it now, I know why. The fun moments are few and the story is... ludicrous. Even for the Pee Wee Herman universe. It felt like someone's fun idea got mangled by Hollywood and turned in a disaster. One example of the horror: Pee Wee is engaged to be married. And! He cheats on his fiancee and has sex. Boo hiss.

Brief Interviews with Hideous Men - A fantastic book by David Foster Wallace that is exactly as it says - interviews. I couldn't fathom how it could be made into a movie, but wow! John Kracinski (Jim from the office) wrote the screenplay, directed, and acted in it and... wow! Hats off! It was really fantastic and a beautiful movie.

A Serious Man - of course, Ryan loved it. I was just lukewarm. It took a LONG time for the story to get going and even then... it just went. It's a Coen Brothers movie, so it doesn't necessarily give you the satisfaction that you're looking for in an ending. This one left me itchy.

Whip It - I stayed away for a long time because of all the hype surrounding this movie. It was pretty cool, but was still pretty formulaic. Ellen Page was great, as always, and Kristen Wiig is awesome. I liked it, but I didn't love it.

Tyson - who knew that a Mike Tyson documentary could be so interesting? Not me. Ryan rented and watched it and then said "you have to see this" so I did. It's not ultra revealing if you know anything about Tyson, but it was still interesting to hear it in his own words. And after watching the Holyfield fight, knowing the story behind it - yeah, that jerk deserved to be bit (essentially, he was cheating and head-butting and Tyson's only recourse was biting).

Phoenix - outside of the Comicon

2010-06-03T14:19:00.001-07:00

Firstly, I am the luckiest person in the world. There's a billion little reasons why, but suffice it to say I am lucky. I'm surrounded by awesome people.

I spent this past weekend (a long weekend, to boot!) as a special guest in the Sock Zombie household. Erin and Randy are seriously amazing people, although I have a feeling they've realized their mistake and won't invite us back. BUT IT WAS WORTH IT! I had such a fun time!

Erin and Randy opened their home to not just me, but also Ryan and Adam -- and even some of the weirdoes that we rounded up from the area. That's a major undertaking, let me tell you. It's not enough that I am so obnoxious that I talked myself completely hoarse but there were 2 dudes who brought some more dude-ishness to the table.

I had flown to Phoenix directly from a business trip, bringing only dirty clothes and a throbbing headache and was super worried that Ryan and Adam - who'd been road tripping from California - would be lost or late or maybe even just changed their minds and were in Mexico or Vegas. WHO KNOWS WHAT BOYS DO WHEN LEFT UNATTENDED?? I was greatly relieved when they announced that they were 13 miles away, although as it turns out they had the wrong address. But they made it to the convention (with all of my stuff) and called to tell me they'd be pulling up to the curb to unload. What they failed to mention was that they'd rented a convertible that was... well, it was freaking awesome. The top? It converts like Iron Man's face. No joke! Check out this clip:

One night, after a long day at the comic convention, we all convened on Erin & Randy's back patio for some pizza and Bugles and Slurpees (disclosure: that was our disgusting menu choice, not theirs) and then a half-frozen Apple Tart for dessert. It was going to just be a catch-up of the day and time to wind-down (and also a chance to sew more sock zombies, because holy farts were those popular at the convention!!) and recharge our batteries for the next day. WHAT ENDED UP HAPPENING WAS that we stayed up so late that the desert was cold and we sat around the firepit discussing the finer points of highbrow literature and the classical underpinnings of prudence in the works of Rembrant (at least, I think that's what we were talking about. It might have been a discussion of Canadian strip clubs.) until 4:30am. The only reason that the party even ended there was because Erin suddenly yelled "HOLY SHIT! IS THAT THE SUN?!" and, indeed, it was (just the first light of day, not the actual SUN, but still...) and then she died of a panic attack about the fact that we had to be up and at 'em again in 4 hours. Ryan and I, as nightowls and early birds, were pretty non-plussed so we acted as a sunrise surrogate for someone who assumed she was living in the Truman Show.

Oh, that was also the night that Randy was showing the guys his sand rail car (click here to read Erin's post - and see pictures - on how to tip it over!) and I was fretting that we were just moments away from the three of them barreling down the street (at 3am) and going for a joy ride. Fortunately, a scorpion stung Randy's driving foot so the keys never met the ignition (Although, in his defense, the scorpion did not even slow him down. Legend has it that he mumbled 'fucker' and then continued with the tour of the crazy double engines.).

The whole weekend is kind of a blur of fun times. I even got a chance to catch up with my friend Mark, which was awesome. He's one of those people that you always want to see when you're in town but then it turns out that either one of you only has 7 minutes available in your schedule, so you have to just drive by and wave from your window. But he was able to make some time on Sunday and hang out on the back patio with us and The Jake and engage in some ~~wholly inappropriate~~ conversation. Part of that conversation was about Randy's love of fireworks, which lead to him scrounging through his mental inventory, hoping against hope that there were some fireworks in the garage. If not, we could always just make a gasoline bomb or something, but a firework would just hit the spot. Best quote of the weekend, from Randy, who had his eyes half-lidded in that amorous post-coital glow of splendor: (deep sigh) "I love gasoline and explosions."

Erin had put. her. foot. down. about Randy crawling into the attic in the hopes of there being a sparkler or mortar or something leftover from last year and so he excused himself momentarily ("I'm going to the bathroom. No, I swear. I really just have to... pee. I'll be right back. I'm not even going into the attic."). Ryan glanced over at Randy walking back, and said "Is he going to play the snare drum for us?!" and we started clapping to the Little Drummer Boy. Only, no. He wasn't going to drum anything. Except this:

This is Mark taking a picture with his iphone - so you can see the perspective of the size of this thing in comparison to a man's hands! It had to at least be 12" tall. God bless America.

WARNING: SHOOTS FLAMING BALLS (is this supposed to discourage us?!)

When Randy brought this thing out, I ran to grab my camera - remembering that hey! I like to take pictures and make memories! So I snapped these and then readied myself to take pictures of the fireworks spectacular, only...

WARNING: SHOOTS FLAMING BALLS

I took 2 pictures - both of them were of me fleeing the scene. It was GODDAMNED AWESOME.

The next morning, we had to get going in order to beat the holiday traffic. We were making really great time, so we decided to get some lunch in Blythe. Ok, so Blythe is... hardly even a town anymore. Nearby is a prison and a lettuce farm, so everyone in town works at one of those two places. 98% of all buildings are abandoned and, in general, it's just a down-on-it's-luck place. So, of course, they have a FANTASTIC little diner!

Everything about this place was straight out of a movie script, including our ultra adorable waitress (21-23 years of age) with these hypnotizingly lovely eyes. She knew every customer in the place by name and brought their coffee without waiting for an order. Once the three local elders (3 old guys) all situated themselves at their booth, Hollywood came in an scripted every word.

Waitress: (approaches table with three old men, bearing coffee pot. Bends across the table to refill mugs) I have a date tonight.
Old Man 1: With who?
Waitress: (giggly, joking) Nobody you know!
Old Man 2: Where are you going? Is he taking you someplace fancy?
Waitress: The fanciest place in town - I'm making dinner at my grandmother's house!
Old Man 3: You're not going to get yourself into trouble, are ya?
Waitress (twists her face into a half-hearted smirk): Well, I'm not going to marry him. (Mumbling to herself) I'm not gonna make that mistake again.
Old Man 3: That don't matter none! Lotsa ways for young girls to get in trouble, you know!
Waitress (turns her back, closes her eyes. Waits half a beat before turning around again, with her composure regained): What kind of girl do you think I am? It's my grandmother's house! Shame on you!
Old Man 1: Aw, he don't mean no harm. He's just worried about ya, is all.
Waitress: Well, I am fully capable of taking care of myself thank you very much. (winks at Old Man 3, to ease the tension and demonstrate that she's not upset)

Ryan was itching all day on Tuesday, wanting to call and find out how it went. Because her suitor HAS to be a vampire or a werewolf, right?!

The rest of the drive home was pretty crappy. The traffic backed up to Twenty Nine Palms (home of the wind farms!) where it was over 100 degrees but there was still snow on the mountains.

It took about 2 hours to get from there to Cabazon (~40 miles) - which is the next and only exit - where we had to pull over and stretch our legs. It's also home to the Cabazon Dinosaurs which we were not going to see, since Kate couldn't make it out with us. But we had no choice. It's the ONLY exit on the freeway. And since we were there, I snapped a few pictures. But I didn't go inside the dinosaurs -- not even the one that is a Creationist Museum (!!) inside.

Look familiar? It's where Pee Wee & Simone watched the sunrise in Pee Wee's Big Adventure

After crawling through hours more of traffic, we finally reached the Moreno Valley, where the temperatures plummeted to the 70's and we were able to put the top back down on the car. It was pretty damned awesome.

Phoenix Comicon!

2010-06-03T14:13:00.000-07:00

Last week was bonkers. I spent the first half of the week traveling for business and was in Minnesota and didn't have a chance to get home before the Phoenix Comicon, which meant the burden of not forgetting anything and also getting to the show on time was laid heavy on the shoulders of Ryan and Adam. Ahem.

I flew to Phoenix and arrived with only my dirty laundry and worried that the guys wouldn't show up or get hopelessly lost in the desert. Eventually, the boys DID arrive with all of my stuff (and by "arrive" I mean they roared up in a Volvo c70 convertible, sunburned all to heck) and we set up quick. I snapped a couple of pictures and then totally forgot that I'd dragged a camera all over the place and only took 2 more pictures the whole weekend. C'est la vie!

I decided to only display one example of the peg people on the table -- all the duplicates were under the table. To me, it looks kind of sparse, but there's still quite a lot going on here.

New Star Wars inspired peg people

And Ghostbusters!

Plus, the staff of Sterling Cooper

Santa and his cohorts

Plus the usual arsenal of heroes and villians.

The second story of the house was for animated/cartoony folks...

Including the Futurama set, which was my first attempt at painting these characters and they proved quite popular. Everyone loves Dr. Zoidberg! Hooray!

Thanks to the good citizens of the Phoenix area, a LOT of these peg people went home with someone else. Which is always my goal, obviously, but it made me feel REALLY good to see how some of these goofy little goodies made someone smile.

I have a new theory that there is a single detail on each one that "sells" people on it. I could watch people look them over and smile and think "that's funny" or whatever and then their eyes would go big and they'd squee over a detail -- the Jawa's yellow eyes or the Ghostbusters' ghost traps or the vampire's little teeth -- and that would be when they'd get a giant smile on their face. I love that look! That look is enough to make me want to paint forever and ever...

Special thanks to the little boy with the missing front tooth who had that magical Disneyland look on his face. YOU MADE MY YEAR.

Flashback Friday: Mitch Hedberg

2010-05-14T10:39:00.000-07:00

Tumblr just suggested a site that had a link to Mitch Hedberg quotes (go laugh here!) which made me think about Mitch. I didn't know him personally and never even got a chance to see him perform live. But for some reason, I felt a connection to him -- you know, the way people feel like they 'know' the celebrities on TV?

Maybe it's the wounded-bird lover in me. Maybe he was too similar to people in my own life. But when he died, I was intensely sad. And if I think about it too much, I get misty-eyed. It's been 5 years since he passed away and it still stings. Maybe that's weird, to mourn for a stranger who I only knew through TV and radio.

Thankfully, he left a legacy of comedy, which is one of the better contributions to the world, if you ask me. One of my favorite jokes (0:16 via the video below) is about an escalator and when he passed away one of his fans made an image of Mitch ascending to the pearly gates via escalator (image above). I bought Ryan a t-shirt with this on it and whenever he wears it, strangers come up to him. They pat his shoulder, with a sad look, and say how they love Mitch too. It's really odd the power that this one, semi-obscure comedian had on so many people. I'm just grateful that he did.

area of expertise

2010-05-13T16:10:00.001-07:00

As a chronic pain sufferer, I have some expertise that I thought that I should share (because I am a narcissist) about heating pads. Which is this: the more handy accoutrements a heating pad has is directly proportionate to how poorly it heats up.

It's true. When I was wee, I broke both of my knees (yes, cry for me Argentina!) and so began a lifelong battle with aches when it rains. [I've been like the old lady prognosticator, predicting rain since I was a mere kidlet.] Add to that the various bumps and breaks and general aches of life, throw in a revolting reproductive system and viola! The perfect storm of an achy lady. So, you can trust me when I share with you my wisdom of the heating pad.

I have tried every brand/size/variety and along the way killed them all. Yes, I have actually used them until the on/off switch no longer functions. That's pretty sad, now that I think about it. And I have been on a quest to find a heating pad with just a 2 nice qualities: it has to get really hot and it should have an auto-off function. So far, bupkis.

Currently, I use a model that's made for lower back aches. It has an extra wide heating surface and "arms" on it that reach around your abdomen and velcro together so that it stays in place. I love it because I can attach it to my back or hips or even wind it around my knees and go to sleep! Because it also turns itself off! However, it doesn't get very hot. My last heating pad was awesome because it would scald you -- literally, if you laid on it, you'd get red welts! -- but that was also because it wouldn't turn itself off. So if you went to sleep with a backache, you woke up at some point in the night with a burning pain and tender flesh. While I appreciated the extra heat, it was often more hassle than it was worth. I did, however, use it until one day it just... died. The control couldn't take one more cycle. It probably burned through its own wires or something (although it was probably 10 years old).

Sadly, it seems that the want for heat and auto turn off are incompatible. Unless I want to invest in a self-timer switch for the outlet, like the one we use for the Christmas tree. But that seems too bothersome, especially when you're sweating through the pain of a back spasm -- the last thing you want to do is fiddle with a timer.

So heed my warning, weary travelers with aches and pains. Take your anti-inflammatories early and often!

clam bite

2010-05-11T09:42:00.000-07:00

When my brother was little, maybe 2 or so, he woke up one morning with his eye swollen completely shut. When my mom asked what happened to his eye, he said "a clam bit me." And that was that.

In actuality, he is very sensitive to mosquito bites and he'd been bitten on his face, which caused a swelling reaction.

***

Sunday afternoon, I pulled the weeds from my back patio (which were plentiful, lemme tell ya!) and about an hour later, my face started burning. The skin all over my face felt raw and burned, like a shallow scrape (remember skinning your knees as a kid? My whole face felt like that). I thought that I must have gotten a snoot-full of Dandelion fluff or something and even though I am not typically bothered with pollens or allergens, I do have some skin sensitivies (mostly to soaps). I figured the pollen or whatever must be in my pores. So I washed well and took a Benadryl and went about my merry way.

Monday morning, I woke up with the tell-tale clam bite on my eye, which was gigantically swollen and purple to boot! Plus, I had some other patches of super irritated skin on my cheek and eyelid. And something that strongly resembles a bite mark, although it doesn't look like a mosquito. I wonder if I got bit by a spider while gardening. So I slathered my face in healing cream, iced my eye, and took more Benadryl.

It seems to be working. The swelling on my cheek is down significantly and the eye is improving. But I still look like I have a black eye. Maybe people think I've joined Fight Club or am a derby doll or something...

Tuesday movies

2010-05-04T17:34:00.000-07:00

I know it's too late for a Movie Monday post (seeing as how it's Tuesday and all) but I just have to say that, for the record, the South Park Movie is still danged funny.

Don't believe me? Watch this - and don't say fuck anymore!

Comicon Prep

2010-04-27T14:43:00.000-07:00

As the Phoenix Comicon draws nearer, I've been working feverishly to make some new stuff for you! To buy! At my table! Number 119! I spent my whole weekend painting up more peg people -- they are literally overtaking my entire coffee table at this point -- and I'm also working on some new dot paintings AND I've been embroidering some stuff too! So, y'know... tell a friend! To come see me! And buy stuff! At my table! Number 119!

I took a small break on Sunday to take the Kidlet to the park for a picnic with Ryan and Kate. It was sunny but cool, so everyone ran around and had fun with zero regard for the sun. Thus, we all have sunburned faces. Mea culpa! Kate brought sunscreen and I said 'no thanks' because I have awesome foresight. And a crispy red nose.

We went to Heritage Park (pics from a previous picnic with Kate) which the Kidlet loved. He's a maniac for slides and this particular playground has something like 10 different slides. It was difficult to get him to sit down for lunch because LOOK AT THE DUCKS! AND TURTLES! It must have been catchy, because just about every kid at the park was feeding their sandwich to the ducks. To the point where the ducks were like 'Eh, what's that? Bologna? Wheat bread? No thanks." and swimming further down the line to find a sandwich that they preferred. Good times to be a duck!

Alas, that was the only work break in my weekend and the upcoming week isn't looking much better! The things I do for you! To buy! At my table!

Everything That Rises Must Converge

2010-04-22T17:15:00.000-07:00

Flannery O'Connor got it right with the title of her book, because DANG if the poop doesn't start hitting the fan the second you get a cool breeze!

I had such an awesometastic weekend that I honestly didn't expect it to last forever. That's the yin and yang of the universe -- all things in equal measure. So I figured that I'd get a crummy headache or lose a tooth or something. It's the penance for having a good time. I know that and I fully expect it -- and not in a pessimistic way! But in a realistic way. As Ryan once said and is endlessly teased by his friend John about "that's how it goes sometimes."

So I knew it was coming, but still you're never really as prepared as you think. I had a super extra long day, starting with a first-thing in the morning, 2-hour intensive training on a super detailed software that left my mind boggling. Then as I tried to slog through the rest of my daily workload (estimated weight: 16 tons) I got the call from the mechanic with the estimate to repair Ryan's car. It was making a tick-tick-tick noise and we were kind of hoping that it would be something like a leaf in a belt (it could happen!), but no. It needs a total engine rebuild which costs more than the car is worth. Yay!

AND! I also had to fork out a bunch of money to our HOA because my brother was horsing around at the pool and accidentally broke a piece of the kid's play area equipment. I'm being repaid for this by Dear Brother, but still. I hate writing big checks!

In summation: Universe, I get it. I think we're square. Can I just have an uneventful few days, please? Your pal, Gigi

my heart is full of happiness today

2010-04-20T13:08:00.000-07:00

Yet ANOTHER great thing to come from the Knott's Preserved event that I went to was that I got to see some of "my" celebrities -- Charles Phoenix, Kevin Kidney, Jody Daily, Chris Jepsen -- who were also in attendance of the event. It's sort of like those Intel commercials, where they remind you that their rockstars (inventor of the microprocessor,etc.) are not your rockstars. I totally get that. Everyone else goes nutso over Britney Spears being in the same restaurant. I go giddy-gaga over seeing Charles Phoenix in the Doo Dah Parade. My idols aren't on the cover of Us Weekly. They're inside the Disneyland Passholder newsletter.

While waiting for dinner at Knott's, I got a chance to chat a bit with Charles about some new stuff he's cooking up and his fantastic Up With Downey tour that I missed (I was out of town). Then I ran into Kevin who told me all about his new house, which isn't new at all, but is actually a historic home in Anaheim and has some fascinating history behind it, all of which is intregral to the history of Anaheim. He also told me a little bit about the new studio space that he and Jody share and how excited they are to have a studio that isn't the kitchen (amen, brother! Take a peek at my living room/dining room area - totally non-functional, because it's our studio space) and THEN he invited me to come see it! I was flabbergasted. He must be mistaken! Thinking I'm someone else! Someone important! Someone cool! Of course, I kept my mouth shut and readily agreed to come by. How could I not? Two of my favorite contemporary artists have just invited me to tour their studio space!

Kevin and Jody hosted a small group from the book release event, including the authors (one of whom, in an it's a small world kind of way, turned out to be someone I knew online but not in real life and so we had an "it's you!" "it's YOU!" kind of moment which was extra geeky and fun!) Chris Jepsen and his wife, and a few other friends - and then me and Ryan! We were trying to be on our best behavior, but we kept slipping up and gushing all over someone about ohmygoshIcan'tbelieveyoumadethisitissoawesomeIloveit and then immediately regretting it. I hope no one else minded! I know that I talked a lot. I blame the cocktails, but really it was just me. I'm chatty. I apologize.

Their historic home is fabulous in every aspect and it could not have gone to more worthy people! They didn't just want the house for what it is, but also for what it was. They have been incredibly careful to preserve the integrity without losing any of their personality in the house either. I am in awe. From the careful preservation of the corbels to the planned-for gardens that befit the legacy of the house, they are truly the right people to make this historical house a contemporary home. It even has a spectacular view of the Disneyland fireworks (and I'm told that if the clouds are low and the winds are blowing, even the music carries across town and they can listen to it as well). Jody even let me hover over his desk in the studio to watch them and ooh and aah. THAT is hospitality, folks!

Their studio is indescribably wonderful. It's everything that you'd ever hope for (or at least, it hit all the high points on my dream list!) -- including the display of their past works (which make my heart go all fluttery) and current works-in-progress. Ryan and I were stuck staring at the original works, like Kevin's paper works which are gorgeous in photos and indescribable in person. Ryan also got to geek out on Jody's painting techniques and ask questions to the master himself. Ryan nearly fell down when he found out how some of these masterpieces were made -- Ryan has built up a collection of paints that cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $3,000 (no, I'm not kidding) so when he found out that the gorgeous paintings were made with inexpensive acrylics, just using various techniques, he was immediately inspired to run home and start painting and trying out new things. I was inspired as well! My brain is bursting with ideas!

After the house and studio tour, we all gathered on the back porch (yes! a real, live back porch!!) to watch a movie that was projected onto the side of the studio building (!) that was a film of Disneyland in the early 60's (I think it was early 60's -- the historians there would know!) that was so neat to see and just plain funny! We sipped on signature Miehana Cocktails which made me a little tipsy so I was even giddier than usual and probably made more dumb jokes than I remember! After that, we went back inside where Chris Merritt set up a slide show of some of his works for Disneyland, including the restoration of the Sleeping Beauty castle walk-through. When you see the walk through you can appreciate the clever use of forced perspective and the fun colors and the gorgeous art designed by Eyvind Earle... but what you don't see is the careful detail that went into installing those things in the first place! One elaborate scene is actually built so that it breaks down and swings out and up -- like a Transformer! -- so that the set designers could stage it and have access in case it ever needs repairs or touch-ups. Which, for many reasons, isn't something I wouldn't have ever considered as an outside admirer. So the mechanics -- both simple and complex -- of the displays are even more astounding. So thank you, Chris, for giving us a behind-the-scenes peek! He also shared with us some pictures of the new Universal Studios in Singapore that he has been working on (look at that castle!) and some of the unique challenges there, like the heat! (I have never traveled to Asia and am ignorant to climate outside of my zipcode, so I had no idea that Singapore is hot and humid, nearly year-round) He showed us these special thin coverings that go across the sky to block some of the sun's heat and also protect the guests from the heavy rainfalls which swoop in suddenly (and disappear as quickly). It was all very interesting!

Which meant that we geeked out. And then geeked out some more. Next thing we all knew, it's after midnight and we're watching old videos of Mandy & Rube visiting Coney Island (1903) which are hilarious in their own right, and chock-full of fascinating history in the background. Check out those slides!

After realizing what time it was, Ryan and I had to make our departure. It was sad, to be certain, because who wanted the night to end? NOT US! But alas, we had an early work day the next day and didn't want to impose any further on our wonderful hosts who may have gotten more geekery than they'd bargained for in inviting us over!

So thank you to Kevin and Jody - and all of their guests - for making us feel so welcome! I feel like I won the golden ticket to walk the red carpet at the Oscars, only instead of movie stars that I don't care about, it's artists and all-around fun people that I adore! A Miehana Nirvana!

Knott's Preserved Book Release Party

2010-04-20T11:19:00.000-07:00

*All pictures borrowed from Kate because my camera battery is dead & I cannot upload my own pictures at the moment. Sad trombone!*

I have always had a special place in my heart for Knott's Berry Farm. I spent a lot of time there as a kid and teenager and I always disliked the "also ran" indifference that it got from a lot of tourists who were flocking to Disneyland and overlooking several other local treasures. Knott's has a wonderful history, which sadly is being placed at the wayside as they (under new management) expand to compete for their share of the tourist market by adding more and more roller coasters and "off the shelf" amusements.

Last year we got annual passes for Knott's (because they were bargain priced) and spent a lot of time strolling through Ghost Town and reminiscing about what used to be. Turns out that we were not alone! During this period of increased Knott's affection, I found several blogs and websites that featured the Knott's Berry Farm of my childhood memories (and the decades before it), including Knott's Preserved which is an astonishing record of amazing moments through Knott's history. And to my delight, the curators of Knott's Preserved have a book that has just been published! And to add the cherry on top of my sundae, they arranged a special event at the park on Sunday, April 18th that included not only a book signing, but walking tours, panel discussions, and a chicken dinner!!

The panels were absolutely wonderful! The first session of the day was with the book's authors, Chris Merritt and Eric Lynxwiler, and Chris took everyone through a slide presentation of hundreds of delightful photos from the park, beginning with the story of Walter Knott which is sadly hilarious (poor man had a dream of farming, so he took the only land he could afford - in the Mojave Desert!) and actually a wonderful tale that really highlights what it meant to have "American Spirit" in the turn of the century and pioneer days.

The authors being deputized by the sheriff
The evening panel featured several of the creative minds behind your favorite Knott's attractions -- the man who built Halloween Haunt with no budget and only a name to work with. The man who took a cue for consumer safety and turned the Motorcycle Chase into the Wacky Soap Box Racers (which was a fan favorite). The original Public Relations man who told about how Walter Knott was an agreeable man, but even moreso when the idea was his own, so the PR team would use reverse psychology to suggest things to him.

L-R: Chris Crump, Rolly Crump, Chris Merritt, Dean Davidson
The highlight for me (and this is in no way a slight to anyone else present) was Rolly and Chris Crump. They came to discuss their work on the Knott's Bear-y Tales dark ride and the unique challenges of working for Marian Knott who made several changes to the ride while the build was in progress (it was a gypsy theme that turned to a bear theme, back to gypsies, then to animals, etc). Rolly Crump is one of my idols and after hearing him speak, I have an even deeper respect for his work. I know (and love him) mainly for his work for Disney - including most of my favorite aspects of the Haunted Mansion. He designed the Mansion wallpaper, for example, and several of the intricate "Museum of the Weird" aspects that I simply cannot get enough of. He worked side by side with Marc Davis who is one of the people that I would want to meet if I had a time machine. I got too shy to stand up and ask any questions... I was afraid that I would just have fan-girl geek vomiting out of my face. And I'd probably faint. So I stayed seated, much to everyone's appreciation, I'm sure.

The rest of the day was fun too! Kate and I got some Knott's cowboy hats with our names embroidered on them! (this picture was taken by the Knott's social media man & posted via Twitter on Monday!)

And while we were at the hat stand, the man working there encouraged us to try on all the hats and have a fashion show! As a result, I am in desperate need of that spinner beanie!

Of course, I wore my funnel cake earrings! Unfortunately, we didn't have time for funnel cake but we DID eat delicious fried chicken and boysenberry pie!!

Behind me are the joking/singing cow and horse I took video of last year.

Me and Kate in front of the Knott's Bear-y Tales figures, now on display in one of the shops

A hearty THANK YOU is in order to everyone who had a part of arranging this incredible event and to everyone who contributed to the fabulous book! It was a great time for everyone!

wedding: survived

2010-04-12T11:06:00.000-07:00

It was a long, rocky, and laborious road to get this girl the wedding she wanted, but we pulled it off! After a long morning of the bride and bridesmaids setting up the reception (I won't even go into that), we finally arrived at the task of getting her hair curled (two and a half hours) and cinching her into her dress (still too big, despite just having it altered to reduce it by several dress sizes).

After the ceremony, we walked past a local park to take pictures and there was a birthday party for a 6 year old girl taking place and every one of those girls ran up to the sidewalk and just stared with their jaws hanging open. They waved furiously and shouted "You're beautiful!" as the bride passed by. She was a parade unto herself.

Adjacent to where the pictures were taken, there was a girls' soccer game happening and I kid you not that the girls were deliberately kicking the ball into the endzone so that they could gawk and wave to the bride. I can't even count how many girls would run by yelling "congratulations!" or "you look like a princess!" Every single one of them was entranced. And it didn't end there. All the kids at the reception could not stop staring at her... they would bump into things and get run over by other people because they were totally enraptured. Every single one of them just wanted to hug her and dance with her. It was really adorable.

This little one in the red dress cut in on the 'dollar dance' just to pet Shaina's dress. She was mesmerized.

After that, she found the best spot in the house to color: the unused part of the dance floor! She just plopped down and got to doodlin'. I wish I had video of her teeny feet bopping to the beat.

My parents are not formalwear kind of people, but my stepdad and brother decided that they'd go rent fancy, matching suits just to spice it up.

Ryan and Daniel, horsing around. Funny enough, the beers in the picture don't belong to either one of them -- they were just on the table. Everyone half expects teenage boys to run amok at a wedding with an open bar and sneak champagne here and there... not this one, though. Or Ryan either. Although maybe they should have switched to champagne... Ryan spilled an entire Coke down the front of himself.

See? We're not really the serious type. Between my stepdad and Ryan is my aunt Sharon (one of the twins).

Re-creating a moment from my wedding, where my stepdad posed for a picture playing air guitar. (He was spectacularly drunk at that point and effectively ended the cash bar by shouting 'next round's on me!' over and over and over and over... I don't know of a single person who bought their own drink.)

The garter toss... I just love her face in this one, even though it's a bad picture.

I didn't want to clutter my Flickr stream with a bunch of wedding pictures, so I posted them to a Picasa photo album -- if you're interested in seeing the rest of the 503 that I took.

She had the day she wanted, which was what was important. Now I just need to sleep for 5 years to catch up on my energy! Weddings take a lot out of a person!

2 days until the wedding OR why I am about to go totally insane

2010-04-08T21:50:00.000-07:00

Man, I haven't updated here in so long and I have stuff to say! I just don't have time. But I'm on the countdown to free time! Huzzah! Just as soon as the wedding is over, my life will adjust back to normal. And lo, it will be good.

The latest stress is about the "final piece" of my wedding day ensemble... I decided to go with a jacket/bolero kind of thing to wear over my dress like the one shown below (yes, I know it's a terrible photo comp and the lady has 4 arms - just look at the jacket).

I couldn't find anything even remotely similiar, so I commissioned someone on etsy to custom make it. I got 3 bids immediately and thought I was made in the shade.

Unfortunately, the person that I chose (who I chose because she's "new" and has only a few sales) was a smidge difficult to work with. I had to stay on top of her constantly and I watched as our agreed delivery date (two weeks ago) flew by... so I kept emailing, to no avail. I even reached out to the other 2 people who bid on the project and neither was available to pick it up. So I was stuck with her... in the end, I was able to FINALLY reach the lady and she said she'd have it sent by last week... that didn't happen and then she guaranteed delivery by yesterday. Nope. Instead, I got an email from someone else (her husband, I assume) late last night saying that she fell ill and was in the hospital and he refunded my money.

I'm not trying to sound unsympathetic - obviously, I don't want anyone to be sick or hospitalized - but this was supposed to be delivered weeks ago. And then I had a guarantee that it would arrive yesterday... which would mean it should have been shipped before yesterday, right? So there shouldn't be a need for a refund, right? It should be in the mail, right?

*sigh* I'm trying to remember my gratitude, but DUDE! C'mon! This lady single-handedly wasted more than a month of my time, and now I don't have a complete outfit for an event that is 2 days away. And in those 2 days, I only have a few hours to myself, so I can't even attempt to make something on my own. So now I'm peeved.

Out of the kindness of my (ever shrinking Grinch-like) heart, I won't post her name or links or leave negative feedback. But sometimes I really hate flighty etsy sellers.

SERENITY NOW!

Flashback Friday

2010-03-26T11:04:00.000-07:00

I was looking through my Flickr pictures for something today and I came across these ones and they made me smile so hard that now my cheeks ache and my teeth are dry.

Back in 2004, we spent a day at Disneyland with Giggly Mama & Family. Some of these are Giggly's photos that I scanned (on a poopy scanner, hence the low quality) and the rest are pictures that I took on my circa 2001 digital camera (hence the low quality) but still, these photos make me happy every time I see them.

I actually entered this photo into the 50th anniversary photo collage that Disneyland was putting together and it was accepted. However, at the last minute there was some sort of clerical error and most of the submitted pictures got deleted/weren't used. As a result, most of the 50th mosaics are cast member headshots from their HR files - yes, really! Too bad, because this one would have melted people's hearts!

Me and Ryan. I copied Giggly's braids that day so that I could be as cool as her.

SOMEBODY is perfectly pleased that she got the pink heart tea cup and is ready to spin!

This goes down in the annals as one of the worst pictures I have ever taken, but is one of my favorites. I love these sweet candid moments.
While mom and dad went to ride the rollercoasters, Ryan & I took Molly to meet Snow White. Which was a mistake because I am a big fat crybaby and watching this interaction kept making my eyes well up with tears. For what it's worth: the lines to meet the princesses are long, so you'll be there 20-30 minutes. BUT! When you get to the front, it's all worth it. The princesses take a few minutes with each child and talk to them one-on-one. Snow White here made a giant fuss over how lovely Molly's dress was - and just like hers! They could be twins! Or best friends! And then asked if Molly would be her friend. CUE THE WATERWORKS.

We took a late afternoon hotel break to rest our feeties and change into warmer clothes for the evening (this was December, so it was high 70's all day, low 40's at night). The Giggly family got a room at the Disneyland Hotel and Molly just adored the "princess beds" with the castle etched into the headboards, plus the Tinker Bell wallpaper border.
I personally love the bedding. It's all florals, but in light brown are images from the iconic attractions at Disneyland. I love it so much that I ended up buying a bag made from it, sewn by Darker Image.

After we got all warmed up, we took the monorail back to the park to watch the fireworks and the snow (!) afterward. That was another tear-jerk moment, to see little Molly's face light up when she saw the snow coming down from the sky. I think all my pictures of that were blurry and extra crummy and probably got deleted. But it's ok because I can still see it in my mind's eye and I still get a little misty thinking of it...

newsflash: I am super old

2010-03-22T17:04:00.000-07:00

You'd think that I haven't been updating my own silly online journal for a lack of things to say. Au contrare! I have been too busy and in retrospect, most of it seems to silly to even go back and fill in the blanks.

So anyway! I'll pick up with yesterday, where we finally learned how old we are! We spent the day with our 5 year old nephew and took him to the Atlantis Playpark which was on my Things To Do in 2010 list. I used to go to that park as a kid and loved it, so I was hoping to see it again and not be too terribly disappointed. I chatted with a guy about my own age who was standing at the bottom of the sea serpent slide, waiting for his kids to come down and he said "This park was so much bigger when I was a kid" and I just laughed. In my mind's eye, the place is a million acres and has 600 play areas and felt just like being under water! But to my grown-up eyes, it's not *that* big of a park, although it is very cleverly designed. The hedges and bushes are all maybe 4 feet tall, so to kids they're giant and provide obstruction from one play area to the next, but an adult can survey the whole lot from certain spots. Some of the play areas have climbable statues -- is that a thing? Figures made from concrete, like sharks and star fish, that kids are free to climb on/under, which in my opinion are only fun if you've got a group to 'pretend' with. Poor little dude only had me and Ryan, so we mostly ran from one slide to the next.

Watch out below! Uncle Ryan's coming down the serpent slide!

What? You didn't think Iron Man took play breaks?

Highlight of this slide: playing whale dentist and scrubbing his teeth with sand

All that running? And sliding? And hill climbing to the top of the slide? THAT IS HOW I KNOW I AM OLD. Kidlet was running all dang day with no visible signs of slowing down. We, however, were like "ooh! Who wants to sit on the bench for 5 minutes and rest? Yay!"

The park was super fun and it was a warm day, so we were all really sweaty and hot and Kidlet asked about going to our pool. WHY NOT? Our local pool is heated year-around and the kid pool (1 1/2 feet deep) is guaranteed to be 82 degrees or warmer, so we went home and threw on our swim gear and headed to the pool. Unfortunately, there was a shark in the pool! One who not only growled as he prowled, but also would leap out of the water and body slam into the water like Shamu! Both of these are an amalgam of things he saw when we took him to Cereal World (Sea World) a few weeks ago. The kiddie pool (which, at first he was concerned about, thinking it was a kitty pool and he'd have to swim with cats) also has this water toy that is a hand-cranked pump that fills up buckets with water until they tip over and dump water all over your head. He and Ryan did that for more than an hour.

Shark attack!

In the splash zone

My camera strap got in the way (d'oh!), but what I was trying to show is the water-bucket-that-dumps-one-your-head-thing that was SO DANG HARD and exhausting for the adults who had to do all the cranking

Then after THAT we headed back to our house to change back into dry clothes and then walked to the park at the end of our street that is a kid's bike park. It's laid out like a tiny highway, with lines on the road and tunnels and overpasses. He brought his scooter and scooted through most of it, until he decided that he preferred to walk with us. Although he did stop at the "gas station" section and refueled his Iron Man gear. So that was good. Then he used all that fuel to chase the bad guys on the 'helicopter' in the playground.

Highway overpass

Don't worry, ma'am. Iron Man is in his helicopter and en route!

But like all good superheroes (and aunts and uncles) world-wide, we had a job to do and we did it: to give the Kidlet a fun day AND bring him home bone-tired. Ryan dropped him off and reported back that Kidlet barely survived a bath before falling asleep. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

Flashback Friday: Happy

2010-03-05T08:57:00.000-08:00

This is dedicated to Ryan's grandmother who passed away on Monday, March 1, 2010.

When you are first intitated into this family, one of the first obstacles is to not laugh/smile when you address a grown woman as "Happy." Of course, everyone else in the family is used to it -- it was her moniker since childhood. But for me, it just made me smile a little. After a while, I got used to it to the point where now I refer to her as Happy to people who don't have any idea what I'm talking about. I guess I have officially been initiated into the family!

"Happy" is really named Viola, and a few friends and family would call her "Vi" but that was mainly a nickname -- "Happy" served as her proper name. She was called Happy because she was. A smiling, cheerful child, everyone named her for her personality. Which was par for the course in her family. Her family also included Tiny, Lover, and Uncle B (who was a young girl when she acquired this name -- the story goes that she was a tomboy growing up who wanted to be Billy The Kid -- hence the B -- and who preferred to be called 'uncle' because uncles were cool and adventurous, whereas aunts were homebodies who baked).

Ryan always had a very special relationship with his grandmother. He spent a lot of time with his grandparents when he was young. Back then, his grandfather (Papa) had just retired from the fire department and was excited about having some great adventures. Happy and Papa traveled quite a bit by RV, just as they did when they were younger. (Papa was a fantastic photographer and there are some pictures of them toodling in their silver bullet trailer in the 1960s that make me wish for a time machine so that I can be in the background of those pictures!) They also moved to a 'ranch' in central coast California. I'm not sure if the 'ranch' was any kind of working ranch or farm (doubtful) because all Ryan can really remember is the fun stuff -- he was allowed to swim in mud and catch bugs and frogs and they built tire swings and baked cookies. Ryan spent a lot of time there as a kid -- long weeks during the summer, a weekend or two a month, etc. so he learned a lot of things from his grandparents and has a treasure trove of happy memories.

A few years later, they settled in Pismo Beach in a house just a stone's throw from the beach. I always love walking to the beach when we visit -- it's easy too! Just follow the street to the end (~1/2 block) and then walk through the eucalyptus grove and you're there! The sand is so white and clean and there are sand dollars everywhere. It's hard not to collect them all and take them home!

I realized this morning that I don't actually have a lot of digital pictures of Happy... so I need to go through my photos and scan some of the prints that I have. Shannon has posted some really great ones over on her blog (Giggly Mama's husband is my husband's cousin, BTW). She was a lovely lady in every way. And she knew it too! We all loved to hear her stories about when she was young and how she had to fight the boys off with a stick! And how she just looked so dang adorable in every outfit that she tried on, that she ended up taking a job at Macy's for the discount and spending her entire paycheck, week after week. And this never really changed. One of the ongoing gags all through the end of her life was her aqua aerobics class... it was a class for seniors and all the ladies were her age (and her friends) but, of course, she identified more with the 20-something instructor. And everyone would razz her about how she would come to class in a new swimsuit every week -- but of course! You've already seen her in the other ones! :)

She was a spitfire of a personality and a lot of fun to be with. I appreciated her warmth and humor and even her sense of royalty. I'm sure that it could be perceived as a pain in the ass, but you kind of have to admire someone who says 'hey, I'm old, you're young, why don't YOU do the dishes? I'm gonna go sit down.' I loved the way she would brag over "my special recipe" for some secret sauce or another and then make you turn around while she opened the can. Or her famous recipes for beans and rice -- which in actuality were standard recipes, but she'd always say "yeah, but mine are BETTER." And she was right.

I'll miss the Cinco de Mayo parties that she used to throw, which were really just an excuse to get the family together and break out her famous beans and rice. She always would serve margaritas in glass boot mugs that she had collected over the years (although she stopped having the parties a couple of years ago), and every time I see one I still think 'oh, I should buy this for Happy.'

I'm glad to have known her. I feel grateful that my husband got to spend time with such a wonderful person -- she certainly influenced who he is today. I appreciate that her transition was quick and that she did not suffer. And even that she lived her life right up to the end! Just before she got sickly (a few months ago), she was off living the high life with her boyfriend (I love that a man in his 80's can still be called a "boyfriend") and traveling across the country and even vacationing in Mexico before returning to Palm Springs for the Follies... we didn't see her much in the past year, not just because our lives are busy, but because the lady was hard to pin down! She wasn't the shy and retiring grandma, staying at home and baking cookies. You practically had to put in a visitation request 6 months in advance, so that she could pencil you in! And I'm really grateful for that -- she lived a fun life, exactly the way she wanted to, doing exciting things and seeing the world. It's something I think we all could aspire to.

Ryan and Happy, dancing at his dad's wedding

At Karin & Gary's wedding with "boyfriend" Dick (left)

Ryan, Evan, Happy, Dick

pictures of pictures -- on the corkboard in her office. Happy & Papa in younger days

picture of a picture -- Happy in the 60's (I think)

Painting that Randy did, based on a picture of Happy

Thanksgiving 2009 with Ryan, his dad Gary, and his brother Evan

still here!

2010-03-01T17:56:00.000-08:00

I just realized it's been a while since I posted an update... I just got so busy. And then stressed. And then stressed busy. And then just busy. And then just stressed. So... you know. After work, I kind of just melted into a puddle of business and stress.

But! Things are turning around... slowly, but still! Any progress is good progress!

Firstly, I survived Bridal Shower Madness! Huzzah! My (step) sister had originally wanted three showers: one for her bio mom's side of the family, one for our family, and one for her friends... which seemed excessive (and a little weird, in my opinion), plus that would mean that I would (as matron of honor) have to foot the bill for 3 showers and only be invited to one. So, uh, no. Not to mention the fact that she literally does not have enough time left to throw 3 consecutive parties. SO, I insisted that she combine them. This was my first mistake. I have been to a decent number of bridal showers in my life and every one of them was something like 15 people gathered in someone's backyard. Simple affairs with finger sandwiches or meatballs in a crock pot of BBQ sauce or whatever. So that was what I had anticipated (my second mistake) until she sent me a list of nearly 80 people who were all "must haves" at the shower. Uh, ok. Fortunately, our homeowners association has community rooms for rent, so I rushed out to reserve a big one -- only to find out that whoops! They double-booked. So we got a smaller room. 'No problem,' I thought, 'How many people will show up anyway? 25? 30?' This was my third mistake. I had received about 30 or so responses from the invitations and I figured there would be a couple more stragglers and I heaved a sigh of relief. 30-35 people is still a BIG DANG PARTY but I could manage with a little measured breathing and yoga stretches. Turns out, my sister had called every person on her list and convinced them to come. The "no" responses suddenly turned to "yes" and people were RSVP'ing to her (without anyone telling me). So up until the day before, she was calling saying 'oh yeah, I've got more for you' and that brought our total to 50, plus the "maybes."

That blew out any chance for hand-making anything... so now everything had to be catered. Okay, fine, but even as low-budget as we kept it, feeding and entertaining 50 people ain't cheap! And aside from that, I was terrified that the space wouldn't be big enough. Ryan and I went there the day before to mentally try and measure it out so I could sketch out a floor plan and it was raining and hailing on us. I nearly broke down. I was sure that we'd be crammed elbow-to-asshole in there with no one able to go outside because of the rain... it was going to get claustrophobic fast.

THANK YOU FLYING SPAGHETTI MONSTER AND JEEBUS AND ALL THE MAGICAL UNICORNS who blew away the rain and delivered a sparkly warm Sunday. Ryan kept asking me all week what I was stressing about -- it's some people and a cake! What's to stress about? -- and so he came to help me set up and then he realized the extent of it! ha! And, of course, it was the exact moment that the last chair was set out that everyone arrived, en masse (30 mins early) -- and then he saw. He experienced. He ran for the hills!!

Everything turned out fine. I was super busy, so I didn't really get to talk to anyone, but everyone was smiling and chatting... I think they were all satiated with snacks and stuff (*phew*). The games were a challenge because the group was so big, so we had to play in teams, which not everyone liked. And because of the size of the group, we played and then I awarded winners. I had one lady get a little snooty with me about not checking everyone's answers and I told her, we're all friends, this is just for fun, it's no big deal and she got super peeved. So beware ladies! If you ever throw a bridal shower, check the answers or else people will get miffed!! Also, for reference, the "prizes" were mostly journals and coffee mugs that I bought for $1 at Michaels -- there were no gold bars or vacations in Hawaii. So the whole wanting-me-to-check-answers-in-the-hopes-she-might-win thing was just kinda funny. I should have just given her a dollar and gotten her out of my hair.

ANYWAY, it all came together okay and didn't look too trashy and no one had to gather in the rain and mud under their umbrellas or anything. All-in-all, it was a good day. And something that I can put behind me - *phew*!!

Flashback Friday

2010-02-19T10:49:00.000-08:00

Ruckus was a malnourished feral kitten when we first found him. Under our care, he has grown up to be a tub o'lard and quite domesticated. But when he was little, man, he was WILD. It took so long to tame him from his street-cat roots that I can remember having to feed him itsy bitsy portions of food (single bites, basically) at a time because otherwise he'd eat everything in sight and then, of course, get over-full and be sick. I also had to give him medicine that tasted bad (antibiotics) and medicine that tasted good (like liver, or so the vet said. She actually lectured me on NOT trying it myself because it was a strong painkiller, like morphine. As if! It smelled super gross and I am not a morphine addict, lady!) which he also hated because cats don't like taking medicine. For the first month or so after we found him (he had a fractured pelvis and broken femur) I had to hold him in the litterbox so he could go potty because his right leg was too weak to hold his weight. I also had to clean up all the consequential pee on his tail and litter stuck to his legs and bathe him regularly. I also got the fun duty of cutting his nails and cleaning his ears and all the other regular kitty maintenance which made me The Bad Guy.

Right off, he fell in love with Ryan. He'd purr up a storm and hobble on his broken legs just to be near him. Me? Not so much. I don't blame him - he associated me with all the bad stuff (medicine, someone holding you while you poop). So when ever I would spend time with him, he'd just scowl at me. He'd give me this fierce lizard face and I was honestly afraid that we would never bond and that I might never like this cat.

But he was so cute! He had this dark black nose and lips and eyeliner and paws! And the vet said that when he was older, his black nose and paws would fade to red (which they have), which has just made him cuter. And, eventually, we did fall into a better cadence. He started seeing me less as "nurse" and more as "mom" (which, actually, aren't much different) and we started building a relationship. But it was still a good few months before he'd really be sweet to me. He'd like me if Ryan wasn't around, tolerate me if Ryan was. Mostly it was just a mutual regard more than a lovey-dovey relationship.

Which is why I love this picture so much. It's somewhere in late 2000/early 2001 and we are at our first apartment still (whole other Oprah!) and I came home sick from work and fell asleep on the couch. When Ryan came home, he spied this scene and snapped a picture. It was silly and cute, but also kind of a nice moment. It's a visual representation of the fact that my cat started liking me. Enough for him to crawl up on my chest and fall asleep while hugging my neck.

Movie Monday

2010-02-15T16:16:00.000-08:00

More things that I have seen lately...

Up
I saw this in the theater also, but we rented it again recently to re-watch and I think I almost preferred it on the small screen, which I know is weird. Even knowing what's coming, the movie is still just as emotional/sentimental and I'll admit, I got a little misty-eyed. I mean, c'mon! How could you NOT?

Away We Go
The "indie rock" soundtrack and gentle, quirkiness of this movie made me instantly think of Garden State (in a good way, I like that movie) and at the end when I said "Garden State II?" Ryan laughed and yelled "EXACTLY!" It's a sweet little story about finding home and discovering family featuring actors that you wouldn't ordinarily think of for the leads: John Krazinski and Maya Rudolph, and yet they pull it off perfectly. The beauty of the casting is that it allows you to actually see people you know in these characters and totally relating to them (whereas if it was, say, Nicole Kidman or Keanu Reeves, you'd just be watching a movie about people). I really liked it. Not necessarily an 'owner' but I will probably watch it again with commentary before I return it.

Mars Attacks!
It had been forever since I'd seen this and sometimes you just NEED a little Martians-killing-humans fix, right? So much fun. I forgot so many things about it that it was full of pleasant surprises (Jack Black is the brother who joins the army! With a buzz cut!!) and the ending always makes me laugh... the ultimate defense comes via music. Brilliant! Also, I'd forgotten about how the Martians themselves are NOT CGI, but rather animated, which was a lovely touch and actually holds up quite well to today's CGI-everything movies. Bonus: Lisa Marie. She is soooo elegantly fantastic. I forgot about her in that dress! (that she was sewn in to) and that walk! Wonderful stuff!

Princess and the Frog
This movie blew me away. I was honestly expecting a ho-hum Disney movie with a few catchy songs and not a lot of story and... whoa. Firstly, the animation is GORGEOUS and drove me nearly to distraction trying to take it all in. And having the hand-drawn characters back really gave this film so much vitality! One of the main characters, Charlotte, was so perfectly bouncy and bubbly and bouyant that you practically expected her to float away like a bubble. That kind of energy just hasn't been captured in CGI (yet) and it was so fun to see. She reminded me so much of the characters in Ichabod Crane. LOVE! The story was actually pretty fun and I appreciated that the "dark" parts weren't too dark... or maybe I'm just getting older. The "villian" in this one made me think of Oogie Boogie -- a bad guy, yes, but not knee-tremblingly frightening (like, say Malificent or Ursula), the kind of scary that a child could enjoy (getting the satisfaction of "braving" the bad guy) and all of his scenes were unbelievably beautiful. I loved the art deco art "break ins" here and there to highlight a song or underscore a point. It was absolutely wonderful. Plus, the main character actually has a decent point (for once! In a princess movie to boot!) which may be pretty heavy-handed, but was a welcome departure from all the other princess flicks. She wasn't pining away, waiting to be rescued... she believed in hard work and sacrifice and being a decent person was the way to get ahead in the world. Which was a very nice change. This is definitely a movie that I plan to see again, and will probably buy it too - even if just to underscore the point to Disney that hand-made animation is still very relevant!

Seven Year Itch
An old Marilyn Monroe comedy that is still fantastic! Although it's clearly a "period piece" it still feels very relevant. It's essentially a one-man monologue that is utterly hilarious. Marilyn is cute, as expected, but the leading man, Tom Ewell, is really great. Sure, it's got the famous scene with Marilyn cooling her heels over the subway vent, so you'll get some cultural icon moments too, but overall it's a movie worth seeing -- even if Marilyn weren't in it.

Heaven Can Wait
I'm not sure why we added this to our queue - maybe thinking it was one of the George Burns as God movies? But it was decent. It's a funny story of a pro football player (on the LA Rams, 1978) played by Warren Beatty who dies but isn't quite ready to give up the ghost, so he inhabits someone else's body. It's semi-comedy, semi-drama (feels like the writers - Warren Beatty) couldn't decide which it should be... the comedy parts are pretty silly and semi-laughable. I wouldn't say that this is a FUNNY movie, but it has some decent moments. The parts that were waaaaay too long were the "let's show Warren Beatty being manly" moments, like jogging through Griffith Park. It was screaming for a montage (best montage ever: Team America) but instead was 10 solid minutes of Beatty jogging, lifting weights, etc. One of the things that really stood out was the 1970's casting. The 'leading lady' Julie Christie is a decent looking lady, but nothing at all like the beautiful starlets who took over in the 80's and 90's. It's sort of nice in a sweet nostalgia kind of way to see someone who is pretty but isn't Megan Fox as the lead female actress.

Hot Rod
Whoa. This was actually worse than I thought. Ryan liked it, so maybe it's a guy thing. I mean, I expected a jocked out version of an SNL skit - which it was - but it was just so... lacking. The best part was the premise: that the kid wants to make a giant Evel Knievel kind of jump to impress his step father, who is dying. If he makes the jump, he'll earn enough money to save his step father's life... so that he can kick his ass and kill him himself. Sorta funny. The rest was nearly painful to watch.

Happy Valentine's Day

2010-02-14T17:12:00.000-08:00

I'm not really a mushy Valentine's Day person -- and I know a lot of girls say that, but really, I'm not. I don't really get enthusiastic about a lot of greeting card holidays so my participation is minimal. Generally, Ryan and I will order take out and rent a movie -- so we can say that we "did something" but really? Don't care.

The past couple of years, we have actually done stuff on Valentine's Day, but mostly it was just a coincidence.

2008 - we went to the LA Comedy Walk in downtown LA, where Kate was performing some sketches. No sappy poems or candlelight dinners, but I did catch a couple glimpses of romance...

2009 - Ryan and I took a sock puppet making class at the LA Guild of Puppetry. This was totally fun and we were kind of the superstars of the class because we knew how to use a glue gun (seriously, it was kind of ridiculous how uncrafty everyone else was). So yeah, it was awesome to be the Cool Kids.

PLUS the sock puppets are something that we've actually put to good use! Can't say that about a stinky sonnet or haiku about your true love's eyebrows, now can you?!

But regardless of my unsentimental view of this "holiday" I hope you all enjoyed your day. Maybe have a candy or a giggle or a hug from somebody you love.

xoxo

Flashback Friday

2010-02-12T06:16:00.000-08:00

It's still a flashback if it didn't happen to me, right?

This is Ryan, maybe age 3?

When Ryan was little, he was obssessed with grilled cheese sandwiches (actually, not much has changed!). Only he heard the word "grilled" as "girl'd" meaning it was girly or belonged to a girl. So he refused to say it. Instead, he'd order a "boy'd" cheese sandwich, which would make everyone giggle (especially waitresses).

He also has another Family Favorite story about his obssession with The Hulk (even then he was a comic nerd!). He'd run around, doing this gorilla-ish pose with his arms bowed in (like this) and would flex and declare "I DA HULK" to everyone. They loved it, of course. Who wouldn't?

So after his long running fixation with The Hulk, grandma and grandpa (or Happy and Papa, in the local parlance) took him to the mall where The Hulk was making a surprise appearance. They didn't tell him why they were going and in his young little peabrain, he was mixed with dread of shopping (what boy isn't?) and hope that he might get a toy. Instead, they turn down an aisle and Papa asks "who's that over there?" and Ryan spies The Hulk, lumbering at the end of the aisle with his green skin glowing and his purple pants clinging on for dear life... and melts. He says that he can remember it well. He wasn't afraid or nervous, he was just overwhelmed with oh my god The Hulk is right there... shopping at this mall and his brain short circuited and his knees went week.

Eventually, he pulled himself together and got to meet The Hulk - live and in person! - and has been a bit of a Hulk freak ever since.*

Flash forward to Christmas 2009, when Kate made him one of the most touching personal gifts ever.

He's actually saving it to wear to a convention with purple pants. Where he hopes to get a wrist-shattering high five from Lou Ferrigno (again).

*Modern day: he's got a Hulk spin-off comic that is "Skaar: Son of Hulk" which, to me, looks so stupid that I can't get past the title. We regularly say "Skaaaaaar!" in a half-pirate, half-Hulk voice that is equally stupid but turns out to be the perfect thing to say when the room is quiet.

Pizza Flavored Ice Cream

2010-02-05T18:57:00.001-08:00

Last night, we went to see one of our favorite comedians, Mike Birbiglia, at the UCB Theatre which was awesome. He did a "light" version of his Sleepwalk With Me show, which was sooo fantastic. (listen to a portion of it on This American Life) I had wanted to go to New York to see his show, but it closed before I could get myself across the country to get there. Boo! So when I saw he was coming to UCB, I snapped up tickets quickly and I have never been more satisfied with anything I have done in my life. Ever.

The show is so moving. It's hilarious, for sure, but it's also just so touching. It's the true story of his sleepwalking disorder, which doesn't sound like great content for comedy, but... it is. And the way he tells it... wow. He is a masterful storyteller, to say the least. We left there just saying "wow" over and over. He had the entire theater eating out of the palm of his hand.

If you're familiar with his style, then you'll know that he's not a "shock" comic, going for big deliveries. Instead, his punchlines are these soft fluffy things that are literally the feather needed to knock you out of your chair. The entire audience had tears in their eyes; first from laughing(the guy behind me literally spit in my hair, laughing so hard) and then from being genuinely touched. Hard to describe, but when he comes to your town DO NOT MISS HIM.

*sigh*

Anyway, one of the jokes that he made was about pizza flavored ice cream (two great things rolled into one!) and for some reason, it just stuck in my brain. So tonight, I made this little mock-up of what pizza flavored ice cream would look like.

Just a bit of silly fun in an homage to someone I respect greatly.

Pee Wee Herman Show

2010-01-31T20:15:00.000-08:00

I got swamped this last week and never got a chance to tell you about seeing the Pee Wee Herman Show!!

We had originally bought tickets for the show that was to play in November, but then the show was moved to a different venue and rescheduled. It was a comedy of errors in the way that Ticketmaster botched the process for ticketholders. It was a painful process, but I was able to (eventually) get new tickets and in better seats than we had before, so it was totally worth it!

The show itself was a blend of the old stage show (from the Groundlings) and the TV series. It was written for "all ages" but there were plenty of nods to adult humor thrown in for good measure. There were also several members of the original cast (Miss Yvonne, Jambi) which made it extra fun. Since everyone in Pee Wee's world is ageless, it was great that they embraced the fact that time is moving forward and didn't re-cast to get younger actors.

One of the "make goods" for the original ticketholders was that we would get an opportunity to meet Pee Wee himself and interact with him via a Q&A session. A friend of Kate's (Erik) is one of the puppeteers in the show (yay for puppets!) and he said that they'd tried having a 1:1 meet-up, where every fan would get a chance to take a picture and get a single item autographed, but it was taking hours, so they refined the process and now "Pee Wee" addresses the group first from the stage, with his sincere thanks for making the show a success (and you could tell it was genuine. He kept getting choked up on gratitude.), and then he took questions from the crowd.

I was a little overly aggressive on the way to the meet and greet session, which resulted in us sitting in the front row which was great. The other people who sat in the front row? Wow...um... weirdoes.

I hesitated on asking a question, mostly because I didn't have anything really great to ask... but as it turns out, very few people did. People just love hearing their voices over the PA. One guy asked this rambling (ram-buh-ling) question that ended up essentially being that what he wanted was for Paul Reubens to denounce the Tonight Show and side with Conan O'Brien. The answer was truthful and intelligent and, essentially, he's friends with both Conan and Jay Leno and that he'd be glad to appear on either program (let's face it, do you want to burn bridges over getting promotion time on a program based on a network decision that was out of your control anyway?).

Look how close we are! That's Kate in the green sweater & Ryan closest to the camera
One other lady leaped on him to ask her question, which was.... odd. She started with saying that she and her husband collect Pee Wee toys and they have one of the large Pee Wee dolls and they consult it as a magic 8 ball and ask it questions. But they were having a problem with getting a straight answer, so they wanted to ask Pee Wee himself: is Kevin, the bird from the movie Up, really a girl? Paul Reubens actually paused at this point to say "remember: the better the question, the better the response." and gave her a chance to reconsider... but no, that was what she wanted to know. His answer? He wasn't involved with the movie and hasn't seen it. (My answer: you're an idiot! This is what you wanted to ask?!!)

Poor Pee Wee is speechless at the weird questions being asked.
One of the best/most interesting parts of the meet and greet was actually the way that Paul Reubens tells stories. I don't think he's capable of a yes/no response. And everything reminds him of something, so every response actually launched into a story, which was great.

He also discussed the reason for relocating the show (needing bigger space for the show, better infrastructure), including why put on the show now? The reason is that he's had another Pee Wee movie script done for years and he really wants to get it made. It'll be a Playhouse story, taking place in Puppet Land (which is where the Playhouse is) and it'll be an adventure into the wider world of Puppet Land. Sounds great - I want to see it! And staging the show was a way to bring attention to the Pee Wee franchise and show that it is still relevant -- and it is!

I took home an awesome souvenir: bandanas with Cowboy Curtis and Miss Yvonne! They are so delightful exactly how they are, but I am going to do some small embroidered embellishments and turn them into a throw pillow so that I can look at them every day!

The kid photobombing this picture is priceless!
It was a great evening, rounded out with eating too much at Palermo's, and then catching up over coffee -- until someone overheard our conversation and got super interested in talking comics with Ryan and made a new best friend. Can't take that guy anywhere!!

Flashback Friday

2010-01-29T13:35:00.000-08:00

I saw something today and it made me flashback to the old Pepsi Challenge. Do you remember that campaign? It was a "blind taste test" hosted by Pepsi where participants were given two small sips of soda - one was Pepsi and one was Coke - and they would select which one they preferred. After the answer was given, the contents of the cups were revealed, as was your 'preference.' Of course, there are a jillion things wrong with this type of sample testing, but as it turned out, the taste of Pepsi was overwhelmingly preferred, so Pepsi took their 'Challenge' all over the country.

I remember first encountering it at Wild Rivers waterpark. There were maybe 4 or 5 tables lined up, each with 2 or 3 staffers, waiting to give us kids of Wild Rivers the ultimate challenge! We were so excited to go and try it because the prize wasn't just a can of Pepsi (which was typical elsewhere) but it was a coupon for a soda (presumably Pepsi) that came in a souvenir sippy cup. I have never been much of a Pepsi fan, but let's face it - when you're 12 and you're staring down a coupon for a free soda, you're willing to compromise! So my friends and I went and they all chose Pepsi and got their cups. I, however, failed the challenge.

Usually, these tests tried to influence you toward choosing Pepsi, but in this case I think the free cup promotion was overwhelming the staff, and they were deliberately setting it up for the 'challengers' to fail. Of the two samples, one was warm and flat. The other was cold and tasted freshly opened. I assumed the Coke would be the warm/flat one, but I was wrong. Technically, you weren't supposed to try again, but I snuck back later in the day and did. I psyched myself up for it: the gross one would be Pepsi. So I tasted... and they were the same. Hand to god, those two cups were exactly the same. Both were totally flat, but not warm. I took small tastes back and forth and couldn't decipher a difference. I ended up choosing B and, again, selected Coke.

I wasn't the only one who chose "wrong" - it was happening a lot more now, I could see along the tables. There were only a few people here and there who were walking away with souvenir cups (and free drink refills).

I gave up and went back to enjoying my day of waterslides and chlorine-burned eyeballs. Plus, I'd seen the hassle my friends were having with those cups. You can't take them on the slides, and no one wanted to pay for a locker just to store a cup, so they would stash them in the bushes and pick them up between slides. Such a pain in the neck.

In the end, I walked away happy. Because I did (and do!) honestly prefer the taste of Coke. I'm not so much of a snob that if Pepsi is the only thing available, I won't drink it, but generally in a restaurant or something I will switch to iced tea instead of drinking Pepsi. Yes, there is a difference. So at the end of the day, I felt kind of proud. Like I was some noble brand loyalist, defending the good name of Queen Lady Coca Cola by failing the Pepsi Challenge.