hotter on the inside

Yesterday morning was overcast and gloomy and then it rained. (RAIN in Southern California! In September?! What?) I thought "oh, this bodes well for tomorrow. Yay!" because I love me a theme park in the rain. I envisioned cool breezes and maybe a sprinkle of mist. I saw myself in long sleeves and socks. I imagined the tourist throngs being scared away by the weather (weather!) and Knott's Berry Farm being wide open with no lines for any ride. I dreamed a Utopia.

Instead it was sunny as all get loose, and about 85 degrees at 10am! Holy moley. By 11am I was sweaty and smelly and had to sit in air conditioning for about half an hour just to regain some semblance of normality. I don't know how hot it ended up being (on the black top, in full sunshine) but tomorrow's forecast is for a high of 92 and says that it will be cooler than today, so... yeah. WARM!

Whether it was weather or just the low-season doldrums, the park was EMPTY. We got there right when the park opened, because it has abbreviated operating hours due to Halloween Haunt and we wanted to see it all! We met Kate at the gate and then rushed in and headed toward the park's newest coaster, Pony Express, and were prepared for a long wait in line... only, there was NO ONE in line. Not one person. We nearly rode the coaster alone, until 4 more people came to join. Thinking this was a fluke, we accepted our good fortune and moved on. To the Calico Mine Ride, which also had NO LINE. Eventually, about 20 other people came in behind us, but still - a 10 minute wait (and only because they were running one train at a time and that's the ride cycle). Log Ride? This is where almost everyone in the park was waiting, because it was so hot -- everyone needed that peripheral splash to get them through the noon. We waited maybe 7 minutes. So, um, yeah. Every ride line was the same way the entire day. Just walk right on, why don't you?

It was awesome. We poked around and studied all the details of the old Ghost Town and the remarkable things that no one else ever slows down to appreciate. We talked to the blacksmith and conversed with Sad Eye Joe. We strolled through the shops -- which, I have to give major props to Knott's for their shopping. Since Paul Pressler and his cronies homogenized Disneyland shopping, it is downright boring at the House of Mouse. Once upon a time, DL had shops that reflected the individual character of the 'land' they were in. Antiques in old New Orleans, fine art on Main Street, astronaut ice cream in Tomorrowland, etc. Now it's the same 10 t-shirts and princess crap in every shop. It's very sad. But Knott's has preserved the unique shopping experience. Get a horseshoe with your name on it from the real, live blacksmith and watch him put it into the fire, get red hot, and hammer that puppy into shape! Buy arts and decor from local craftsmen, authentic Native American memorabilia, etc. Want Snoopy stuffed animals? You've gotta go to Camp Snoopy (the kid's area), you won't find it in Ghost Town. I love that.

We had a delicious lunch at Mrs. Knott's famous chicken restaurant, where we were served by the quintessential diner waitress. Her name was Lola or Shirley or maybe it was Kiss My Grits, and she was awesome. About 99 years old. False eyelashes out to here. BRIGHT red lipstick, kind of Madame-esque. A total hoot. (But watch out, because she pimps the cabbage side dish pretty hard. Just be strong and ask for salad instead.) While everyone else ate, I talked and talked and then talked some more (but with my mouth full) about the book I was reading by Erich Von Daniken and asked how is it that someone so nuts can have such a valid point [besides being a rabble rouser for archaeoarcheology, his basic question is: why are we closed minded about new theories, i.e. aliens visiting earth in prehistoric times, because it doesn't fit neatly into the "official" version of our history? That has been true of every discovery and new creation in the world, and yet if we had ignored those, e.g. the world is flat, where would we be today?]. We had a really interesting (to me, anyway) conversation about unexplainable things and speculations about the pyramids and why maybe aliens have been to earth in the past 10 million years (why not?). And then after lunch we wandered through the "museum" inside the park that has various tools and artwork and all sorts of goodies from the past (which was really amazing) and solved the 'how the pyramids were built' mystery. I'm not telling just yet, but I think we honestly might have a new idea to toss into the fray. We also saw a saloon show, featuring Calico Kate and got our fortunes told by a rusty old fortune teller machine. The funniest thing about that was the fortunes were totally accurate, only about 10 years late. Which, incidentally, was the last time anyone spent time at Knott's. [cue the crazy coincidence music]

We had a bunch of fun and got sunburned and heat stroked and tired feet and sweaty backs and we're going to do it again. Thanks to good ol' Burger King, discount ticket coupons abound and we took full advantage of the 'come twice and it pays for itself' hype and bought annual passes. So now we're officially those people who hold annual passes for all the theme parks in town. Oy. But Oy in a good way. And speaking of Oy, Shanah Tova!

I'm excited to be able to spend time at Knott's again, and on my own terms (since we have the passes, we can go for just an hour if we want) and I'm looking forward to the Christmas holiday make-over and seeing all the arts and crafts that get brought in. Although, it's looking pretty cool/creepy right now for the Halloween Haunt prep. Devil babies hiding in trees, rotting corpses on all the lampposts, etc. AND, oh man, who remembered that Ghostrider was so dang bumpy? Oh, no one? Well it IS. My brain was jarring around so much that I ended up gripping the hand-hold and semi-standing and basically riding it like a horse to lower the impact. Which was hilarious to see via the video that was available for purchase, courtesy of the on-board camera. I was able to sneak a bit of it from the preview screen, which I will upload soon. HILARIOUS STUFF. Check out someone else's on YouTube.

I am thoroughly exhausted from the heat. I need to lie down and dream about aliens and boysenberry pie.

Fun fact: Did you know that Walter Knott named the fruit we now call 'boysenberries'?

call for crafty help

Busy, coupled with lazy, rarely leads to good results. Case in point: I have 5 blog posts that are currently in draft mode waiting for me to finish writing them. Instead, I will post this urgent message to all of you:

I was at the thrift store the other day and they had maybe 20 marching band hats. In good condition. And I was kinda tempted to buy one or seven... but I have no idea what to do with them. Any crafty ideas? I was never in band and hold no particular fondness to these hats... I just like the aesthetic. Plus they had so many!!! (I'm a sucker for just about anything in quantity)

ALSO at the thrift store, they were trying to cope with a huge surge of stuff (this is a small shop) so everything was 50% off, plus anything furniture was 'make us an offer' and all clothing, purses, jackets, etc. were 10 pieces for $20. Which is a good deal (we don't have the t-shirt for 15 cents type stores around here)! I got scooped by some other chick who I swear made eye contact with these Pyrex casserole dishes (except the loves of my life were both turquoise) at the exact moment I did, but she had the balls to make a run for it and grab 'em. The two of them rung up for like $3. It broke my heart a little.

Fortunately, I got what I came for! On Tuesday, we're going to Knott's Berry Farm, which is a theme park nearby that I haven't been to in... oh my gosh... way too long. So, we're going to go. And the whole park is kind of a Wild West theme, so I thought that I would do something dumb, like dress western-y! I thought a gingham skirt would be perfect, so I was heading to Joanns to buy some fabric, when I saw the thrift store and it called to me... I followed it's siren song and scored a red and white gingham dress that is actually kind of tacky (it has watermelon buttons AND embroidered watermelons on the bodice) BUT it is a 2XL or something and very long, and made of nice heavy cotton, which would have cost me about $20 at the fabric store. Instead, I walked outta there with material for several skirts for under $3 -- in fact, I think it was $2. And then I found a dress that was new with tags that was red and white bandanna print and was totally my style! It fits perfect AND again was only $2. I was also looking at jean jackets (I am the only person in America who doesn't have one, apparently) to complete the ensemble and I ended up finding one that was basically tailored exactly for me (short arms, big everything else) that is long (goes to my butt) and was super cute and comfy and AGAIN, only $2.

So I got scooped on casserole dishes, but I got a Knotts outfit plus fabric to make a dress (or two) for the country craft fair thingamajig that is coming up in a couple of weeks. Boy howdy!

BRAG BRAG GRAB BAG

This post has been sitting in Draft Hell for a few days... sorry. I tried to correct the tense, but in case I missed one. That's why it's not entirely accurate.

Last night The other night I finally took some time to take pictures of some things that I have acquired over the past few months, including things that my nearest & dearest gave me for my birthday. My Flickr stream currently looks used to look like a bragging grab bag exploded. Sorry. No, wait. I'm not. I'm proud to be loved by 10's of thousands of people!

I need to re-assemble my goody bag that I got from Miss Bliss. It had so much fun inside that I couldn't wait. I started wearing my princess ring right away and I have had my nose inside the delicious orange flavored scented candle ever since I opened it. And the stickers -- you just have to experience those for yourselves! TOO FUNNY FOR WORDS! [Ed. Note: still haven't done this. I should be fired.]

Shannon & Randy & Molly & Max sent me a new purse (which is the PERFECT size) and barrettes that demonstrate how much they know me inside and out. Skullies?! AND Shan says that she was thinking ahead to how cool the fabric will look in a blacklight. I'm telling you -- she GETS me. That's part of why I love her so. And the barrettes? OMG. I almost fainted. They are vintage Peter Pan fabric, featuring just the Tinks, covering buttons and hand-placed onto clippy barrettes. I haven't worn them yet, because I need to create a hairstyle that puts them front and center so that no one can accidentally overlook their awesome.



Then, my darling Adam (the first name in first names!) busted out with this necklace charm. Only, back it up. It's not JUST a necklace charm. It's a cassette. Retro goodness. But WAIT! There's more! It's a mixed tape. Because, had I known Adam when cassettes were still en vogue I would have made him eleventy billion mixed tapes. Mostly New Kids and Madonna, but he'd know that I meant well! And seriously, look at the detail on this! SOOOO gorgeous. Even sweeter, Adam went shopping with my my two favorite redheads to find this. In between critically acclaimed shows, they went to the mall - the MALL - and browsed and shopped (boys! shopping! for me!!) and came away with this lovely treasure. I love love love it.



And then when I was silently sobbing in the corner about the sweet hearts of Katie and Patrick and Adam, Kate had to completely devastate me with this. When I came out of my coma several hours later, I almost fainted again. It it a hand-crafted purse that she made with her own hands that is chock-a-block with Haunted Mansion goodness. Hang on... I'm swooning again...

Ok, now that I have rested on my fainting couch, let me walk you through the fantastic-ness of this purse. It's hand made. It has a ginchy little bamboo handle! There are laces and velvets and taffeta ribbons. There are baubles and sparkles. And beads!! And then comes the HM stuff. {deep breath} The playing cards glow in the dark. And they're attached with gold photo corners. There is an eensy weensy metal charm of Ezra, one of the hitchhiking ghosts from the Haunted Mansion. There is also a bitty Haunted Mansion, made into a dangling charm!! The inside of the purse is hand-papered with custom papers that are so beautiful. It is simply the most beautiful Haunted Mansion accessory that anyone could ever have.

And after much poking and prodding, another has been made (the second best one ever) and is available in Kate's etsy shop.




Also, Ryan decorated my office with Devil Girl party favors, including this kick-ass banner. He made us all wear party hats to the R.R.R.E.D. show on Sunday that had the same angry redhead on them and they were festooned with pictures of her squatting. GRRRRR!

Plus, he painted me a picture of Monkey that I need to get a good picture of and also put some of Monkey's fur into a tiny photo frame on a necklace. I bought the necklace for this purpose but hadn't done it yet, so he made a tiny little O of orange fur. I love it.

My family gave me a whopper of a gift that is the best thing ever: a gift certificates for a house cleaner! WOOOOOO! My house is "company clean" which means that all my miscellaneous crap is stashed in the closet or behind the closed door of the office, the way you would tidy up 5 minutes before company comes. I haven't had the motivation to really clean anything in a long, long time... so now I get to have someone else do all the really dirty work (until then, ignore the dustbunnies behind the toilet). YAY.

My birthday good times just kept going and going... my work peoples brought me cupcakes and other people bought me lunch. I got cards and e-cards and voicemails and text messages. It was an all-around love fest, lemme tell ya. But I love YOU the most. xoxoxo

get well or walk the plank

Everyone clap your hands three times and say a wish for my mom who is having a bout of kidney stones today - yowch! Poor doll had to go to the hospital, where (luckily) they've pumped her full of morphine and scanned her Cat, so she's gonna be okay... but kidney stones are no fun! (Ryan is a kidney stone sufferer, so I am a stone sufferer by proxy and can attest to "more morphine, please!")

Every time I say "get well" I think of the scene from Seinfeld when Elaine's co-workers bring her a get well cake (carrot cake - it's healthy!) and sing to her. Get well, get well soon - we want you to get welllllll!! So mom - feel better. And don't surf the web while under the influence of strong drugs. You'll end up trying to sync Pink Floyd with the Wizard of Oz. (In case you're interested, it starts at the 4 minute mark)

[insert witty segue here]

Today is Talk Like a Pirate Day! Which means... um... I dunno what.



Surf the web using Google's pirate dashboard!
Listen to some pirate music (courtesy of The Taint!)

Birthday Week in Review

Thanks to all of my wonderful friends and family I have had a helluva birthday week. So good, in fact, Weight Watchers sent me a postcard that says "we miss you" (oh yes they did!). Points schmoints... it's birthday week!!

On Monday, I took half the day off from work to hang out with Kate and Angela Apple over at Disneyland, because it's Disneyland and I need no excuse which was way too much fun. The kids are all back at school, so the parks are empty except for the stay-at-home moms who bring their kids there instead of to a playground or the library. (see that awful lady behind Kate in the picture? She was awful. Diddling on her iPhone while her toddler ran through the line inconveniencing everyone else, but I digress...) Non-existant crowds make for short lines, so we were finally able to get on the Toy Story Midway Mania ride, which is really super cute. I highly recommend it, but refuse to wait in a line longer than 20 minutes and you should too. It's a combo of ride and video game, which blurs the line of entertainment and straight-up pandering but it's FUN, so there.



We had an awesome time and great food and lots of fun, so it was all-around a fantastico kind of day in my book. Also, I found out that Angela is married to a Newsie! Remember that movie? "Gotta beat the press, gotta beat the press!!" Which I thought was sweet and cute until she said that girls were so crazy about him after the movie came out that they would find out where he lived just to catch a glimpse. So I guess it's not ALL glamour, but still, super cute!

On Wednesday night (my actual birthday - have you ever known anyone else born on Sept. 10th? Didn't think so!) we went to dinner with my family and I burned my WW postcard in effigy before powering through too much food and regretting it soundly. Eff the points, my stomach couldn't take it and I almost exploded.

Friday night I took the 'night off' which means that I did absolutely nothing. Nada. Zip. I'm supposed to be working on stuff for the upcoming craft fair but instead I watched a movie and then read a book and went to sleep early (for me, not by anyone else's standards). So that was actually kind of cool.

Saturday, I accompanied Kate as her hoity-toity Ovation voter guest (I wasn't hoity or toity - just the guest) to see Souvenir which is a touching play based on the true story of Florence Foster-Jenkins who was essentially a socialite who fancied herself an opera singer, only was completely (and unknown to herself) tone deaf and she became famous for her concerts which were so horrible that they were the hottest ticket in town. She recorded a few records at the insistence of others that she made as a souvenir to herself (listen here). The play itself is very sweet (and I didn't do any reading beforehand so I had no idea what it was about) and it's a simple-set 2 man show - just Madame Florence and her piano player, Cosme. The man playing Cosme did a great job as did Madame F., although it felt like Mdm. F. was overplayed. But I'll leave the criticism to the critics - calling Madame Kate! I had a lot of fun and after the show, we disbanded so that Kate could go to film a commercial in an abandoned, haunted hospital at midnight. No joke.

On Sunday, Ryan and I met up with Miss Bliss and Kate in Chinatown for some fun. We did a little shopping (Ryan got himself some sweet ass Roy Bans sunglasses) and then had a little lunch. We ate at one of the best spots that Chinatown has to offer - hands down. Kate had just come from filming a commercial for R.R.R.E.D. and was in her official President of the Burbank Chapter of R.R.R.E.D. outfit which is how Allison Janey spotted us so easily. She thought she'd just sneak in and sit right next to us and eavesdrop on our conversation. After her play refuses to acknowledge redheads at all even though there was one in the movie. Puh-lease. So we changed the conversation to grosser and more bizzare topics, so that all she'll have left to report to Ms. Parton is that redheads and their allies have an uncrackable code. Or maybe she'll decide that she's going to do mushrooms and dye her hair. Who knows?!

After all that food and shopping, we needed a little (more) laughter to banish the Sunday blues. So we headed over to the GTC theater to see R.R.R.E.D. which was so much fun - as always. Kate and Bliss hadn't seen the 'new' musical number and Ryan and I have been tripping over our tongues all week trying not to talk about it - easier said than done!! They both almost keeled over from the funny, which is to say that the new musical number landed and hard! I took some video and lots of pictures of the show. The videos will be on YouTube shortly. 'Til then you can glance through the stills and be confused as ever. There are only 2 weekends remaining for the show - so tell everyone you know to ACT NOW!! $20 tickets available online or $15 through Goldstar.com! I promise you won't regret it.

After the show, Katie and Patrick (the stars of the show) were supposed to be heading straight home to bed, because Katie was catching a plane to NY where someone was paying to fly her out for the day to sing for them (that is how amazing she is) early the next morning and Patrick had to work early. But instead we talked them into a side trip to BJ's Brewery with us and Adam (also in the show but no early morning obligations) where we had pizza and harrassed our waiter (but sang for our supper) and gorged on Pizzookie, which is a giant (20 inch!) cookie baked in a pizza pan then topped with a mound of ice cream. It's enough to kill a horse or entertain 7 people for an hour. Either way - a good call!! We had way too much fun. It was like one of those high school giggle sessions where you drink way too much Mountain Dew and can't stop talking and gossiping and it's just too much fun. MY KIND OF NIGHT.

I sincerely hope that everyone will tell you their stories, because they're SO much better at telling them, but suffice it to say my face aches with laughter. Even days after. Patrick told us about the time he got lost driving in LA and what should have taken 30 minutes took 12 hours and he ended up on the border to Mexico until a knight in a shining white Cadillac helped him out. We joked about who should be dating whom (how old is too old?) and got the giggles over Adam's magazine photo spread featuring... his neck. After he sacrificed blood, sweat, tears, and blood to get that noose picture just right, all that they ended up using was his NECK. Very cute, and flattering -- a good looking neck for sure. [You may or may not remember Adam's injuries during Comic Con resulting from this photoshoot. Don't ever think that being a noose-laden stand-in for Seth Rogen is easy. But look at the gorgeous photos!!]

A lot of dear people gave me some very lovely gifts. I think they have to be a separate post because 1) I need GOOD pictures of each one so that you can fall in love with them and 2) this new version of Internet Explorer is making me fidget and it's taken 2 hours to compose this so far and I need to go to bed. BUT THANK YOU LOVELY PEOPLE OF THE WORLD for giving me such a wonderful reason to be grateful to be here: you.

the day after 9/10

Somewhere in the ether of my maladjusted archives is my 9/11 story, but it's not really that drastic. Long story short: it sucked. But not as sucky as other people's stories, so I should shut up.

One of those other people who have an actual story is Sars over at Tomato Nation. Part of her story is Don. Don is the kindly angel of a man who helped her escape Manhattan and retain her sanity. He was very nice and she didn't get his contact info, and after 7 years of searching, she still hasn't been able to find him. Read her description of Don and see if it rings any bells. Send this to everyone you know, see if it rings their bells.

From her site:

What Don Looks/Looked Like
Don is an African-American man. I would estimate his age at between 25 and 35 on that day — probably not younger than that; possibly older, but not much. That means he's 30-ish to 40 now. Don is
between 5'9" and 6' tall, and probably weighed 160-180 pounds. (I suck at estimating men's weights.) In any case, at that time Don had a fit build — not pudgy, not skinny, well put-together. Don had short hair and a goatee at that time. I do not recall any jewelry; he may have worn a watch, I don't remember. No glasses. Don had on a grey windowpane-plaid suit and was carrying a black soft-sided briefcase. Don didn't really resemble anyone famous, except Blair Underwood around the eyes a little bit.

Other Possibly Relevant Facts
Don and I met in the lobby of the Bank of New York building, located roughly at Wall Street and Broadway. We left the bank together at approximately 11 that morning. Don lived at that time in Jersey City, or thereabouts — he took the ferry to Jersey City to get home, from a slip somewhere around Hester Street on the west side. Don had come into the city that morning via the PATH train, and had gotten off at the World Trade Center stop. He had come into the city for work, but I don't remember whether his business that day was actually at the WTC complex; I don't believe it was. If he had gotten separated from any work colleagues, he didn't mention it. I don't know what he did for a living, and I don't know if his job was based in Jersey City or in lower Manhattan, but I got the impression that he was in the city for an errand or meeting, and that he didn't regularly commute in. As I said, I don't recall a wedding ring; Don did not mention a wife or any other family at that time as far as I can remember. Don's birthday is September 11. No idea what year, but based on my estimate of his age it's probably in the late sixties or seventies.

what works

People (supportive, loving people, mind you) keep asking me how Weight Watchers is going. And it's going okay. I'm still struggling with eating enough, as counterintuitive as it sounds. Last week I noticed part of what is 'working' is that I am actually feeling hungry more often, rather than eating a light breakfast and feeling fine for 12 hours. So my challenge now is to keep lots of snackable items at hand, so that I can hear the rumbly in my tumbly and grab a fistful of popcorn or crackers or grapes or whatever, so that my metabolism keeps going.

The funniest thing/hardest thing is that even though I splurged all weekend (it's my birthday week, so I get some grace), and I STILL didn't get to my 'reserve' points. I went to Disneyland twice and had crack pasta, a meatball sandwich, ice cream, and soda [not all at once] and only came in at 2 points over my daily allotment. On Saturday night, we took some friends to see R.R.R.E.D. and went out to Lala's for dinner and gorged ourselves silly and I had extra bread, cheese, chimmichurri up the wazoo, and candy at the show and came in 9 points over my daily limit. WHAT?! And because I 'under-ate' on days before, I never even got close to my 35 reserve points. Ridiculous!

I have also been pretty surprised at the points on fast food items, especially in comparison to restaurant prepared foods. Like last week, Ryan and I went to lunch at Mimi's Café and I was considering a Turkey Ciabatta sandwich. I figured turkey is healthy, right? But somehow the sandwich is 32 points, which made me laugh so hard I cried (which, I think burns calories... hmmm....). On the other hand, a taco from Taco Bell (standard, crispy shell taco) is 3 points. So, um, I can eat 10 tacos or a turkey sandwich? Wuh? And because 2 tacos are all I need, I can have a 6 point lunch that is way tastier (to me) than a frozen Weight Watchers entrée.

So I'm still working on it. Or, it's working on me, I guess. I keep looking at those Laptop Lunches/Bento Box photo pools on Flickr and it's making me want to join in. Maybe that's the shove that I need to finally start making my own lunches (gasp!) and putting some thought into what goes into my belly. So if anyone wants to sell me a $75 plastic lunch system box, now is the time!!

Also this weekend, we managed to squeeze in 3 movies:

1. Super High Me - entertaining, not great
2. Sky High - not a stoner movie, like it sounds, and actually very funny and cute
3. Interview With The Vampire - total disappointment. Great subject matter, but completely cheesy. Tom Cruise doing the vampire bite? OMG, it looks like a characture.

R.R.R.E.D.

This week the show officially opens and ho ho ho - what a site to see!! I'm telling you that there is no time better spent than listening to Katie Thompson belt it out from the stage. Hands-down. And fer realz, this could be the last time that you will get to see her in an intimate venue before Broadway snaps her up and makes her into one of those "I knew her when" people.

Besides, the show is a HELLUVA lot of fun. If you have means to get to LA (hey! We have an airport!) I highly recommend it. Discount tickets are available and I know people on the inside (hint hint!) that can save you even more -- but it's a steal at thrice the price.

If you don't love me enough to come all the way to Californiee, do it for the celebs, onstage and in the crowd. It's your chance to share a Coke with renowned redheads from the stage and screen and low-rung celebrity ranking lists (hint!).

a weak end to the weekend

I packed way too much awesome into a single weekend (yet again) so I have a lot of stuff to cram into a single post.

Thursday - The Taint played at Alex's Bar in Long Beach and they sounded great. Unfortunately, the small crowd was a mish-mash of people (who I am guessing were there to see a friend's band that was playing later, judging by the looks of obligation on their faces) who just weren't into being out. So it was kind of bad vibes and the Dudes took it kind of hard. But it was an okay show.

Friday - I took the day off of work and started out with a massage to help unkink the kink that is living in the middle of my back. I have this idiotic muscle spasm that is in one of those impossible-to-stretch places and it causes me grief now and then. Fortunately, massage helps. And if I can make a recommendation to everyone: waking up to a massage is one of the Best. Things. Ever. After that, I met my mom at the beach for some sunburning. The dolphins were swimming really close to shore and it was so cool to see them clearly, playing in the (small) waves. There must have been a school of fish, because they stayed and played directly in front of us for a long time. I blame them for the sunburn on my shins because, obviously, I would have remembered to put sunblock on my ankles if I wasn't laughing at dolphins. Obviously.

Ryan got slammed with a bunch of extra work, which was kinda sucky, and then I got in from the beach later than expected so we didn't make it to see R.R.R.E.D. that night. Which was a bummer. But to make it up to ourselves, we did take a late night excursion to the Dollar Discount Movies and saw Hancock. I didn't really want to see it, but Ryan did, and for $1.50 I figured 'what the hell' and gave in. And actually I really liked it. Much better than the ads/trailers made it seem. Very funny and OMG does Jason Bateman steal the show (and how!). Plus, there were more than a few Arrested Development jokes/homages thrown in. So that was hilarious.

Saturday - The Taint played again, but at Canter's in LA in the Kibitz Room. It's a pretty small bar space, but there was a decent sized audience crammed in. Lots of regulars and locals and a few friends. Zach's comedy buddies from UCB came out and it was fun. I forgot my camera at home and all I had was ye olde cell phone cam, so the pictures aren't great. Although I do really like the one of Mimi. All of the booths are covered in blacklights so she and I were glowing like nuclear waste. It was pretty hilarious.



Sunday - we had a pretty relaxed day and I am pretty sure that we slept until 2pm. Then we got up and got out and went out to Burbank to see R.R.R.E.D.. We got there early (first time ever! Make note of this date!) and the cast was still warming up and doing all that preparation stuff, so Ryan and I headed over to Downtown Burbank to toodle around a bit and kill some time. We had no trouble, seeing as how there is a conveniently located comic book shop (ahem) and - AND! - a book store where everything is $1. EVERYTHING IS ONE DOLLAR. So we loaded up on books and comics and books and comics. And then dragged our treasures back to the theater.

The show was AWESOME. And I don't say that because I like these people, or because the trip was sponsored by the Kate Danley Fan Club™ but sincerely because the show is great. It sounds like an underhanded compliment, but like I told them after the show, I was glad to see that it wasn't a giant theater where the vocals had to be miked, because my brain would have melted. Katie Thompson's voice is so powerful... and lovely... it gives me goosebumps just to hear it. If she had been amplified, I am 100% certain that my hair would have been standing on end. Totally. Completely. Amazing. Everything was top notch, start to finish. Patrick does a fantastic job at reprising his role as GJ Crockett who longs only to be her assistant. The testimonials were fabulous, including sweet Laura Silverman who made her stage debut that night, singing about unrequited love. I know! Of course, Kate was phenomenal. Adam gave a heart-wrenching testimonial as Levi, who just wants to find a way to tell you that he likes you. It breaks my heart every time. This show is SO fun and silly and sweet and it also cures herpes so you should totally see it. And tell all your friends to see it.

Use this link (click the logo) to buy your tickets and use the promo code "SPREAD" to save $10!



For more nerdishness, check out Ryan O'Connor's vlog in the recording studio (red hair starts at the 2 minute mark)