If you have not seen this yet. Do yourself a favor and watch it.

How Long Would You Survive in a Horror Film?

Got this test from my pal Dana...

Your result for How Long Would you Survive in a Horror Film?

The Horror Aficionado

54% chance of survival!

Sometimes known as "the wise guy" or "the totally platonic best friend". This character is usually either the most likeable or most excruciatingly annoying character in the movie, because he's almost always the comic relief (or lack thereof). Sometimes he is the first to die because he figures out what's going on, tries to escape and is killed. However, the horror aficionado will more likely use his knowledge to devise the plan that eliminates the threat. That means he survives until the end where he ends up dying as a sacrifice so that the heroine can carry out the plan. Though he tends to lack a backbone, you do feel somewhat bad when he dies.

As long as people feel somewhat bad when I die.

FEAR ME!!!!

Why not? Everybody else does.

I don’t get it and I’m getting somewhat concerned about it. I seem to intimidate the shit out of people. The weird thing is I don’t try to and don’t understand what it is about me that people find so intimidating.

• I don’t shout at people.
• I don’t throw things.
• I get mad at circumstances not individuals (generally).

I think it’s kind of a funny intimidation because my coworkers (often) make jokes about it but it seems like they also really don’t want to anger me.

So what is it? This is an honest inquiry.

What sparked this entry was someone who came over from our manufacturing plant and I asked if he had a check they had received yesterday. He said that [the guy who received it] generally freaks out with checks and wants to get them over here as quickly as possible so I don’t get mad.

I’ve never ever yelled at this person. I’ve been nothing but pleasant to him so how did he pick up on the idea that I’m so fucking scary?

If anyone who knows me has any idea, please let me know.

Holy Crap! I'm a commie!

I always thought I was a libertarian. Not according to this test. My dad may never speak to me again!

You are a Social Liberal (83% permissive) and an... Economic Liberal (18% permissive) You are best described as a: Socialist Link: The Politics Test on OkCupid.com: Free Online Dating

I'm Jean-Luc Picard... again

This is the second time that a goofy personality quiz has told me that I am Picard. The first time was a "Which Sci-Fi character are you?" quiz, it included may different SciFi movies and tv shows. So in the entire science fiction genre, I'm just this one dude. In case I doubted it, I suppose this was confirmation. Well... at least I'm consistent.

Wait, how am I 50% like Worf and 50% like Deanna Troi? I'm either crazy or really complicated!


Your results:
You are Jean-Luc Picard

Jean-Luc Picard 80% Will Riker 60% Chekov 50% Worf 50% Deanna Troi 50% James T. Kirk (Captain) 45% Uhura 45% Geordi LaForge 45% Data 37% Mr. Scott 35% An Expendable Character (Redshirt) 35% Spock 30% Leonard McCoy (Bones) 30% Mr. Sulu 25% Beverly Crusher 25%

A lover of Shakespeare and other fine literature. You have a decisive mind and a firm hand in dealing with others.

Which Star Trek Character Are You?

Very Random Opinion

I was watching Erin Brockovich a few weeks ago and I had a strong reaction to Albert Finney in that movie, or more specifically to his face. I was struck by how kind his face is. He's seems so sweet, like a teddy bear. I mean, I found him rather creepy in Annie years ago but now quite the reverse. It's probably nothing a man would want to hear a woman say about him but well, there it is.

Strange.

I mean, strange. I have no idea why I had such a strong, random reaction like this.

Shoes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCF3ywukQYA

I actually saw "Kelley" perform this before a Margaret Cho concert a few months ago.

It is probably the stupidest thing ever made and yet I find it hilarious.

I'm not well.

American Idol Geek Out Time

Last night's finale was fantastic and surprising. First of all (drumroll) for the first time my pick won! Holy crap! David Cook has been my favorite since before the final 12, and I am so completely pleased he won. I was shocked thinking the tweens would win the day and coronate David Archuletta. Happily I was wrong. In fact I was so convinced that the wrong David would win, when Ryan Seacrest announced David Cook the winner I let out a surprised yelp.

RECAP OF FINALE EPISODE:

• In General: This finale was much better than last year's show. Unlike last year, the two-hours seemed to fly by. The performances were, for the most part, fantastic. And there wasn't the glut of religious songs that plagued last year's god fest show. While I got sick of it constantly being mentioned early in the season, I must agree that this year truly did have the most talented group I've seen in the 4 seasons I've been watching.
• Mike Myers' Love Guru: Mike Myers was on to plug his upcoming movie. I generally bristle at this kind of stuff but it was actually quite funny.
  
• Donna Summers: She needed help getting down the main staircase, but the woman can still sing. She was great!
  
• Bryan Adams: He was looking older and very thin but the guy still can't sing. Well, at least he's consistent.
  
• Visiting hometowns: They had remote cameras at gathering places in the finalists hometowns. Those segments could have been easily left out.
  
• Graham Nash & Brooke: I'm not terribly familiar with the music of Crosby, Stills & Nash, however the song Graham Nash sang with Brooke White was really sweet. It was folksy and right up Brooke's alley, who it was really nice to see again. I was bummed when she got kicked off.
  
• Guitar Hero ads: I almost skipped past them on my TiVo but there were two Risky Business-esque ads during the broadcast for the video game "Guitar Hero". There was a version with each finalist. Funny, the Cook one had the sexy aspect, while the Archuletta one had the cute aspect. I mean since Archuletta looks like he's 13 years old, it seemed more like a little kid playing a video game when his parents are out to dinner or something.
  
• You Are My Brother!: Instead of giving the lunatics from the early audition episodes a whole platform, this time they just gave one a chance to sing his song. Preston and I had a field day with this guy and his song, so I was happy to see him again. Very goofy, but the guy, though weird, seemed sweet and genuine.
  
• Jordin Sparks: Last year's (not my pick) idol did a song. She was good but her dress was tragic. It looked like a gold potato sack. Surely she has enough money now to get her dresses taylored!
  
• Gladys Night & "the Pips": Doctored old video of Gladys Night singing "Midnight Train to Georgia" with Ben Stiller, Jack Black, and Robert Downey Jr. as her Pips was cute.
  
• Carrie Underwood: Blech! Enough of Carrie Underwood (another, not my pick). I found her country song attocious. It was the only part of the show I fast forwarded through.
  
• George Michael: He was phenominal. As I had already mentioned to someone else he looked like Harry Dean Stanton with big sunglasses and a wig. According to Preston, he had a botched facelift or something. After I had gotten over the shock of the ravages that time and scalpel had on his once pretty face, I started to listen to the song he was singing. My goodness, it was so beautiful. He apologized about his cold after singing the song. Either I couldn't tell or it added to the raw quality. It was one of those tragic songs about growing up and being greedy and it's hard to love because there's so much to hate and all we can hope for in life is time. I got misty. First time I've ever been impressed by George Michael. In fact, I found a link to the performance. Judge for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZXE8Fohj8M

So the Pros of the night outweighted the Cons by a long shot. I liked the show very much. The intermittent group sings were fun and on the whole, it was a very enjoyable show. The absolute best was kept for last, the combination of George Michael and then minutes later, David Cook winning.

yay!

Photolog....

Below are photos that go along with the past several months of not blogging. I mainly put them up to go along with a long catch up email I sent to my pal, Amanda, whom I've been neglecting.

But I hope you can enjoy them too.

You may notice that I tend to take picture of scenes and things (and my cat) instead of people. I suppose I do this because I hate being photographed myself. So the few pictures I do have of people tend to be from a goodish distance.

And in defense of my taking so many pictures of my cat, all I can say is if you had such a cute and funny cat, you'd take a crapload of picture of him too. So n'yah!

Anyway, here ya go...

Random Photos: Recent trip & sundry

Drove down the 101 to my Mom's recently, here are a few pics from my favorite rest stop in Goleta. Don't know why, I just love this rest stop!

During that brief trip, we went to my old friend Jim's wedding.

On our drive home we took some pictures of some of the lovely mustard plants growing up the coast...




Two gifts in one...

I was given a TiVo, Pai was given a box.

Tobin Spirit Guide

ZOOL!

Recent Excursion: A picnic of our own

Rick and I decided to have our own picnic a couple of weeks ago. We chose a quiet place with a nice view. The day turned out pretty hot, so sitting in the shade and reading was perfect.

Random Photo: Wow

Recent Excursion: Easter Picnic in Healdsburg

My boss, Olivia, has this property (kind of a hippie compound really) up in Healdsburg, which is in Sonoma county. She invited us all up for picnic on Easter. It was an absolutely perfect day.

View from front porch. Can you believe this?

Hanging on the front porch. Hey that's Preston at the bottom of the picture.

The front porch and it's sundry guests, drinks and laughter abound.

I'm just diggin' that view!

Egg dying commences.

The first easter egg I dyed in 15 years.

Rick found a telescope.

Fancy picnic in back. Guess we didn't need to bring beach towels to sit on.

Thanks, Olivia!

Recent Excursion: Visiting with Dana & David

Three of Dana's numberous cats.

Beach

Beach walkies with Dana & Rick

Random Photos: From, of, and on our balcony

Random Photos: February trip to Southern California

My family used to go to this restaurant all the time when I was a kid. This time I went with my husband and my mom and dad. The only change to the place was us.

My old elementary school (about a block away from El Queso Grande so I did a drive by), it used to only be Pre-6th Grade.

To the left is (or was) the music room and the main office. Beyond and to the left, the swimming pool. I don't remember the whole area around the office being caged in.

I wonder if the insides of those pumpkins still smell of eucalyptus?

The back playing field, where I played many a soccer game.

Not much has changed. The doors used to be green.

Random Paiwaket photos

The Great Space Coaster

Holy shit!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dddm5bQeKvg

Everything is on You Tube! I used to watch this show when I was in kindergarten. Or to be specific, I used to watch this intro because I really liked the song.

My mom always dropped me off at school early in the morning so she could get to work on time and so I'd play in the yard. But I'd often go into the tv room and watch the opening of The Great Space Coaster. I know I was in kindergarten because of the specific play yard (for kindergarteners) I would come in from at school to watch.

I've had a vague recollection of this song since my childhood. "On the great space coaster, get on board! On the great space coaster, we'll explore..."

I recently did a search for it because, surely, I hadn't made it up. Someone else out there must know about it. And there it was and now I can hear it again.

Blew my freakin mind hearing this and watching the graphics after so long.

Seen any good movies lately?

I have.

I generally don't go to movie theatres because I hate people. Well to be more clear, I hate people who cannot behave by either shutting up or not bringing their children. When I do go to a movie theatre I specifically go to movies that I think are inappropriate for children. But no, there's always a toddler or a baby. It never fails; the loud people and/or jerks with children always sit by me and annoy me. Bastards! And for the record I hate popcorn eaters! The constant noise of munching is distracting and really disgusting. But I digress.

So I thought I could avoid the above-mentioned annoyances by going to a REALLY inappropriate movie and at a theatre you have to take BART to because people who have to lug their children everywhere generally need a place to park their ridiculous SUV. And so Rick and I went to see Sweeney Todd in Berkeley on Saturday. My plan worked! I was able to watch a movie with only Rick's popcorn eating to annoy me. So after a few scornful glances to remind him to eat that crap with his mouth closed, I was off.

Not everyone seems to like this movie but I really did. It was visually stunning (as are most of Burton's films), I was impressed by the singing (having no great expectations), and the acting was great! Johnny Depp is perfect (as always), Helena Bonham-Carter fantastic, and I can never find wrong in Alan Rickman. Oh and hey the little boy who ends up working for Mrs. Lovett is terrific! I had never seen the show (I know, I'm a theatre person and I hadn't seen it!) so I had never known where the song, "Nothing's Gonna Harm You, Not While I'm Around" came from. I love that song and I couldn't get it out of my head afterward. It was pretty gruesome in spots but was generally so cartoonish, it didn't bother me. Anyhoo, I give it two thumbs up and perhaps even an index finger.


RENTALS
We also rented a buttload of movies too. Here's what we saw...

Blades of Glory: It was cute. That's all I can really say about it. Fun but something I don't think I'd bother to see again, unless it's for free and on a Sunday afternoon when I've got nothing else to do.


Stardust: What fun! I really enjoyed this one. Fun characters, fun plot, happy ending. This one surprised me. I just had a smile on my face by the end of it. Completely charming.



Superbad: The name says it all. Maybe I wasn't in the right mood for this one but I just found it stupid. It wasn't clever, it wasn't particularly funny, and I wanted to smack the shit out of the characters. Maybe I'm getting too old for this shit.

The Illusionist: It's like the less depressing version of The Prestige. I liked both films very much although this one was predictable. My sister seems to take the Highlander approach to these films of "there can be only one," but I liked them both. And like Rick said, "it's nice to see Paul Giamanti (sp?) play a non-manic role".

Pan's Labyrinth: Wow! Very, very good and cut your friggin heart out! Not for the faint of heart, there are a couple of scenes of violence that I found hard to take. I'm generally not prissy about that stuff but man! Still, amazing film and one that each person can interpret differently. Rick's take on the ending was different from mine. I tend to interpret things more tragically than he does. We were both really upset by the end though.


H O N O R A B L E....M E N T I O N

I also wanted to mention The Fountain. We saw this about a month ago and were both floored by it. This is another film that each person can interpret differently though each interpretation will make you ball your eyes out. If you don't have a romantic bone in your body, don't bother.

Now is that the 'Christian' way to act?

You know what drives me INSANE?!

Self-righteous, lying, religious assholes talking shit about my husband. I usually don't read comments or debates where he is discussed because I'll usually become so angered I can barely speak. What bugs me so much are the personal attacks by people who don't know him.

Rick doesn't do personal attacks. He attacks the conclusions someone draws, the flaws in their argument or their motives (when warranted). He doesn't attack them as a person and yet so many times he is personally attacked.

Over the years, I've read him being accused of:
- lying
- stupidity
- ignorance
- arrogance
- being unaccomplished

I'd just like to say for the record that:

He does not lie. I wouldn't have stayed married to him if he lacked integrity. All he cares about is the truth. All he wants to do is find out the truth. That's it. Since I've known him and before that, he's been in search of the truth. He has no agenda except perhaps promoting the idea that everyone should be in search of the truth and debate the facts. He has no interest in converting the world. He just wants everyone to decide for themselves based on facts and evidence. You can question his methods, you can disagree with his conclusions but you are dead wrong if you call him a liar.

He is by no means unintelligent or ignorant. Holy crap, he's amazingly bright. Those who accuse him of a lack of intelligence, I can only guess are either angry or jealous. He was recently attacked because a third party described him as brilliant. Sorry folks but it's true, he's brilliant. He doesn't play up the fact that not only was he accepted at Columbia University, he received a 5-year fellowship. They don't hand those out to idiots. Let's be clear, it wasn't a student loan, it was a "you're so freaking smart we want to pay for your education" type deal.

His powers of deductive reasoning continue to amaze me and he's constantly reading. He reads the things that agree with his philosophy, he reads things that disagree with his philosophy, he reads a bunch of stuff completely off his usual topics. His thirst for knowledge is truly admirable.

He's not arrogant. Perhaps he can be perceived this way because he's so smart. Perhaps it can seem smug. I don't know. I don't care but he's not an ego-trip kind of guy. I hate that crap. He doesn't talk just to hear his own voice and he'll be the first to admit it when he's wrong. Yes, he has been wrong in the past. And yes, he's owned up to it. In fact my little joke is that I call him a pod person because he's so unemotional about most things. It's all about facts and logic and what makes the best sense. It's not about him, it's about what makes sense.

Accomplishments "Having accomplishments" of course is subjective. Is your definition of being an accomplished scholar: having articles published in magazines and peer-reviewed journals? How about writing your own book of philosophy? And yeah, he hasn't completed the Ph.D. yet but within a few months, it's a done deal. Generally people who have tried to discredit him as being only a grad student haven't read his numerous articles or his book or even understand the process of obtaining a Ph.D. He was finished with all the classes, he passed his oral examinations, he was merely at the stage of writing his dissertation. And that has been turned in now and has been signed off for defense.

I realize all of this sounds like the defensive and insane ramblings of a loved one and well... I suppose that is all it is. Rick will probably be really surprised I wrote this.

I haven't his elloquence, this thing is probably riddled with spelling and gramatical errors I just had to express that I'm tired of it.

I can't be as Zen about it as he is, this crap really bothers me because it's generally so completely untrue. Since those who want to try to win arguments by any means necessary will continue I guess I'll just have to stop reading.

A rethink...

Perhaps I just missed the point when I saw this movie...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfout_rgPSA

heh heh

To Serve Man

It's a fucking cookbook! Who doesn't know this?!?!?

Well apparently every person I work with doesn't understand this reference.

I hangs my head in shame.

Happy Birthday to my Mom!

She's the one on the right hand side of the page on her 11th birthday in Ottawa, Ontario. Of course this was a while ago. Let's see what else she's done...

She (on left) worshipped Elvis!

She was a majorette and marched in parades!

She dated. (nice legs!)
She had two adorable kids and took them to Canada.

She traveled the high seas.

She's traveled to other parts of the world. (whoops! I just realized that's not her in the picture, but I'm certain she's taking the picture)

She goofed off in those other parts of the world.

She was always good to her Mom...

...and loved by animals. I just can't say enough about the woman! My Mom: strong, smart, independent, funny, generous, Canadian. :)

Happy Birthday, Mom! Here is a virtual hug from me until a few weeks from now when I can give you an actual one.

I love Kathy Griffin

I've watched every episode of My Life on the D-List as well as her concerts. She's hilarious and down to earth and blatantly honest.

Anyway, she just recently received an emmy for the aforementioned television show and of course she was hilarious and really offensive. In her accceptance speech she said..

"A lot of people come up here and thank Jesus for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus," an exultant Griffin said, holding up her statuette. "Suck it, Jesus. This award is my god now."

How freaking funny can you get?! I mean yeah I don't believe in god but even if I did I'm pretty sure it would annoy me that people think it was some sort of cosmic cash machine. Be good my child and I'll grant you something as stupid and frivilous as an Emmy! Honestly!

Anyhoo, I just had to admire the moxie on her to stand up there in this stifling climate of political correctness and say something like that. And seriously, if there was a god, I'd hope it would be as advanced as a human being enough to recognize a JOKE!

Congratulations Kathy!

Who Gives a Shit? Part Three

Britney Spears.

Honestly. I just feel sorry for her at this point. She clearly grew up with no one keeping her grounded until she's become a substance-abusing, insane person.

The biggest problem for her is probably all the freaking attention and scrutiny that continually dogs her existence. How can you be normal with all that going on? So she wasn't that great at the VMA's, so what if she's got a bit of a tummy (after two children) give her a break and stop paying such close attention. She'd probably be able to sort herself out.

And I'm not even a fan! Why am I writing about her? I never gave a shit before today. Whenever people talked about her my eyes glazed over. Now I feel sympathy.

So I encourage the rest of the human race to say, "Who gives a shit?" And leave the poor kid alone. Let the feeding frenzy stop. Honestly, it was once boring, now it's just cruel.

Tea Two: Gorgement Day

We did it again! If you remember my post about Dana and I going out to tea and then deciding we could just do it ourselves. Well we did the very next weekend. I believe I did mention that we are not well.

Anyway, Labor Day seemed like the perfect excuse. We figured we could meet at my place on Sunday. Go for a nice long hike (which would somewhat counter the effects of a large tea extravaganza) and then do the tea thing. And so that's what we did. First was the hike.

Dave & Dana arrived around 10am. We started out from our apartment and within 10 minutes (see why I love where we live?) we arrived at this first view. Ah! You can't see it but off in the fog, across the water is San Francisco. Our walk continued through trails you can't really see in this photo but we did end up at the green hill at the left side of the picture (just before you get to the water).

This is another shot along the way to that little hill I pointed out but looking back towards where we came from. You can see the park (with the pond) from the other side here and off in the distance is Point Richmond.

Finally we arrived at my favorite spot. You can see it in the first photo, it looks like a pier jutting off into the water. It's actually part of the old railroad, where they would off load box cars and brick material from the old brickyard. Anyway, this is a great spot. You can sit, practically level with the water with the bay and San Francisco before you. Bliss!

Dana was not pleased with the photo I took of her so I erased it but below is one of Dave & Rick. (This is pre-shorn Rick. He just had that mop top cut down to a respectable length, the hippy!)

So after we got to this spot and rested a bit we headed back through the tunnel and back to the apartment. It turned out to be a really lovely day for a walk! The walk itself was great, despite the fact that it nearly came to blows when I refused to scale a loose dirt cliff-like trail. (No way Davie-boy!) We all made it back still friends. We all cleaned up and then they watched Eddie Izzard while I prepared tea. Dana offered to help but I had a game plan and I really don't play well with others. Ask Rick, I end up yelling at him in the kitchen! So as they watched Eddie, I prepared the scrummy meal you see below. Which included: 4 kinds of sandwiches with the crusts cut off, savories (crab cakes, spinach & feta things in dough, and perogies--yes, no authenticity to this meal at all), then different kind of wafer cookies, and of course some lovely scones and clotted cream which Dana brought. Oh yeah, and tea. Three kinds of tea. The picture turned out a bit blurry but most of them are on special family china my mom gave me. Since this meal would not be authentic, I figured aesthetics would save it.

So we kicked the boys out (yes they were not invited) so they went out to the picnic area and played games. Meanwhile Dana and I feasted like queens and watched "Shirley Valentine". I had quite a good time and was not totally burned out when I went back to work since Monday was a day of rest. I vote we always have 3 day weekends! Two days are just not enough. Anyway, who knew I'd turn out to be such a girl? Then again tea for us is to be taken with a grain of salt. While we enjoy it, aspects of the absurd are marked and usually relished upon. We played Enya music while we at at the table (before starting the movie) just because it's funny. We're not so girly I guess.

We've such a great view...

Of tea, kitties, the beach and Alan Rickman

I spent most of the weekend with pal o' mine, Dana.

I headed over around midday on Saturday. From there we went out to tea at The Secret Garden Tea House. Although not everything one would wish, it proved a vast deal better than our previous experience at the Captain's Cottage. For a detailed account of that fiasco, read Dana's posting.

The we had delicate little morsels, great heaping gallons of tea, and sweet things to finish up with. No krab salad on a pringle here so, like I said, a vast deal better. While it was all yummy, we decided that we could do as good a job and for less money and conspired to give it a go ourselves next time.

Following tea we headed back to Dana & Dave's place. We decided to get in a good beach walk. So after copious playing with kitties... what? Oh I didn't mention the kitties?

Well that foul temptress has four foster kittens right now. They're tempting enough on their own without Dana's constant needling that Paiwacket really could do with a friend. I mean look at them!

(ABOVE) Going from the bottom left to upper right are: Angel Eyes (or Amelie), Taz, and either Haggus or Wookie (I can't tell as Haggus and Wookie are almost indestinguishable from one another). But the evil male opressor in my life (Rick) is against us getting another cat for a while due to monetary reasons so I held firm. It wasn't easy though! They're all hilariously playful and incredibly affectionate. As my stay extended longer than anticipated, it became more difficult saying no. Sigh.

(LEFT) A nice scale picture for you. Haggus or Wookie sleeps as Beezle (one of Dana's 8, yes 8, cats takes a stretch. Yes, Dana is a crazy cat lady. But we love her anyway.

Anyway, so we took our walk on the beach: a nice long one. I always go barefoot because I'm a crazy person who likes the cold. The day was overcast but by the end of our walk the sky had completely transformed from steely gray to bright blue.

David was at a meeting and preparing that night for a tribute at an atheist meeting for a man who was retiring after (apparently) tireless work in the cause of promoting atheism. I had met Jim Heldberg several times (although I'm not sure I'm spelling his last name correctly) and he's a sweet fellow and so I eventually agreed to go to the meeting and then stay the night at David & Dana's.

The meeting was pretty good, as it turned out. There was an odd lack the inevitable loonies who cause eyes to roll at any given atheist meeting. Well, not complete lack but it was kept to a very respectable (and surprising) minimum. The meeting turned out to be quite nice actually, if not a bit long.

Following the meeting, back at the apartment, we watched a truly terrible movie where environmentalists were prostesting outside of a logging facility. Only inside the logging grounds scientists were performing genetic experiments to try to make trees grow faster. The result? Of course, Zombies. Yeah, I hardly needed to say it, did I? Not only did the sap from these genetofreak trees cause humans to zombify, the evil logging company locked everyone inside in order to contain the situation. Further still they'd fly overhead in heliocopters and shoot at the non infected. You know, for fun. This in turn caused the loggers to band together and within 48 hours form a "creepy" Lord of the Flies-type society where our heroes (a foreman, some of his men, one of the cowardly scientists, the son of the president of the company, and an activist) eventually found themselves trapped. Beyond. Bad. My only regret (apart from watching it) was that one of the characters survived. I don't remember what it was called just read the synopsis on the dvds you rent. If both genetically modified trees and zombies are mentioned, avoid it like so much genetically modified tree sap.

Sunday: I was affectionately woken up by Haggus who nuzzled under my chin purring for about 10 minutes. Dana and I went for another (and longer) beach walk. We took the dog this time. There were a lot of dead jellies and jelly parts on the beach so I had to watch my step. Although we did enjoy yelling "Jelleh!" sort of like Cartman everytime we came across one. We're not well.

We ended at a little place for coffee and pasties ate and then headed back. After we got back to their place, I took a shower (cause I was getting a bit wiffy at that point) and then we all headed off to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (that's where Alan Rickman came in). They hadn't seen it yet. I have to admit I liked it better upon my second viewing. I didn't dislike it before, I just enjoyed it more the second time around.

Following a brief shopping excursion following the movie I headed back home, completely wiped out! But I had a very nice weekend. Thanks, Dana & Dave!

First thing in the morning...

Or perhaps this should have been titled too much camera play.

Ok, I'll stop now.

I sleep now!

I gots me a digmigital camera

Tentative Kitty
Wild Eyed Kitty (I tried to use the get rid of Red-Eye thing and it just made him look nuts)
I-Grow-Weary-of-Your-Picture-Taking Kitty

My sister, brother-in-law and Mom got us a digital camera for our anniversary. I'm a really lame photographer but I'm going to try to improve.

These are the first fledgling photos I took while trying to figure out how the danged thing works. And of course they are of my cat. Ok, the photos are crap but isn't he so cute?!

Action Kitty











Will-You-Stop-Pointing-that-thing-at-me Kitty

How are we going to beat this?

While I think our apartment is too small, we're disinclined to move because this is our view.

This is another shot earlier in the morning. I just loved how the trees were set ablaze in the sunlight.
It was one of those cool, crisp mornings too. I really do love the morning. It's so darned beautiful.

Freedom is so close, I can smell it!

I speak of course of my freedom from my current show. As I have mentioned before I am the stage manager of Contra Costa Civic Theatre's current production of Meet Me in St. Louis. It's been a long run and I haven't had a day off in 6 weeks. Not that we have a performance every night but I do have a regular job. So sufficed to say, I'm tired. This Sunday is my first day off in too long.

This has not been the best theatre experience of my life however, the show has worked out pretty well in the end. The improvement since opening night has been outstanding and I'm actually proud of this production. It's really a fun show to watch. Sure there are some actors in it who I will gladly say goodbye to forever, but the majority of them are delightful.

And so when the curtain falls on Saturday night I will experience a slight pang of regret. That's the hard thing about theatre, you work so hard on something for so long (I've been involved in this since April!) and then it's all gone. All we end up creating are memories.

But that's show biz. So I'll clean my stuff out of the tech booth, collect my big fat check (ok my stipend), attend the cast party, turn in my keys, and delete my production blog. And then I'll rest.

If you're interested, here's a link to some photos takend during a performance. Mind you there were taken for the benefit of the Costumer's portfolio, still some good shots.

Harry Potter and Some Ridiculous Theiving Christians

I'm a fan. I've read the entire series and enjoyed it all immensely. They're fun books with engaging storylines, interesting characters and have a little morality thrown in to boot.

Back when the books were relatively new I remember a bunch of Christians getting super pissed about them. "They're teaching children to worship witchcraft" is something that one of them was likely to say. This is stupid on so many levels. I mean I hate to break it to you but there is no such thing as witchcraft. To believe in witchcraft you'd have to believe in, that's right, witches! I mean yes, I know there are people out there who claim to be witches or wiccans or whatever they're calling it. Basically they are either an earth worshiping deists or they just like to wear a lot of black. Either way, they can't perform magic because, that's right, magic does not exist. So let them play with their stupid little ouji boards or crystals or amulets because they're not really accomplishing anything, much less anything "evil". So if the little children try to perform any of the magic in a Harry Potter book the worst that will happen is that they will become really disappointed. On the upside, they may learn some Latin.

Apparently however in the years since that great calamity (although I believe J.K. Rowling still gets death threats) it seems several Christians bothered to read the books and realized that the books are actually quite moral. Some of these people have now started to claim them as Christian tales and that Harry is clearly a Christ figure in them.

I find that so freaking obnoxious. Harry Potter is not Jesus Christ. The books are not about religion. Why must they decide to retrofit something to their own philosophy? What's wrong with enjoying a great adventure series? Does everything have to be about JESUS? How boring is that?! Why can't something be about somebody/something else? You know, FOR FUN!

Wait a minute, Voldemort was killed and came back (resurrected), he had a group of loyal followers, he was betrayed by one of the ones closest to him. His biological parents were not of the same ilk. Wait a dying for your sins minute! Maybe Voldemort is the Christ figure! I wonder why they haven't been making that argument?

I mean you could glean meaning out of the directions of a packet of instant soup mix but isn't it kind of a waste of time?

Questionaire time again

* Worst way to die?
Any way which is painful and I see it coming.

* What is the worst injury you've ever had?
Cat scratch disease. It made a lymph gland in my arm swell and stay swollen(painfully so) for months. It was pretty damned gross when it erupted and issued forth brown (yes brown) liquid. Maybe this should have been the grossest rather than worst and I guess it's not technically an injury. Oh well, it's all typed out now.

* What is your favorite thing about thanksgiving?
Duh, the food!

* What makes an awesome party?
When the guest list is limited to my closest friends.

*What's something most would consider an insult but you enjoy having said about you?
That I'm weird.

* Favorite kind of dog?
A cat.

* Favorite carnival food (everyone has one)?
No we don't.

*Are you a morning or night person?
I must admit that I love the morning, if I've had enough sleep. It's so beautiful.

* Worst drunken/drugged up habit?
My only real drunken habit is to discuss how drunk I am.

*What bill do you hate paying the most?
Rent! Money down a hole, purchasing nothing but time. It kills me.

* Last time you puked from drinking?
Only time I puked from drinking is the first time I got drunk. Went way too far on the rum & cokes.

*When is the last time you got drunk and danced on a bar?
Never.

*Name of your first grade teacher?
Mrs. Adams

*What do you really want to be doing right now?
Reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

* What did you want to be when you were growing up?
An astronaut.

*How many colleges did you attend?
Two, Ventrura College (a junior college) and then San Jose State University.

* If you could move anywhere and take someone with you...
I'd like to live in St. Ives for a while. I'd take my hubby, as long as he doesn't cross me.

* First thought when the alarm went off this morning?
Snooze

* Last thought before going to sleep last night?
Not Dobby.

*Favorite style of underwear??
Semi-granny. I'm sorry but I don't like stuff riding up my crack!

* Favorite style of underwear for the opposite sex?
Boxers.

* What errand/chore do you despise?
Kitty litter & taking out the trash.

* If you didn't have to work, would you volunteer at an art gallery?
Does a community theatre count?

*Get up early or sleep in?
Get up early.

* Favorite NON sexual thing to do at night with a girl/guy?
Just hang with the hubby. We watch tv and make a lot of jokes.

* A secret that you wouldn't mind everyone knowing?
I don't think I have anything. I'm really not that interesting.

* How many joints pop when you get out of bed in the morning?
Right ankle, just before I get out of bed.

* Do you think marriage is an outdated ritual that was invented by people who died at 20?
No.

* Do you cheer for the bad guy?
Depends on the bad guy.

* What Hollywood star do you think resembles you best?
According to a face recognition program I resemble Juliette Binoche the most but I don't really see it. I don't really think I look like anybody.

* Norm or Cliff?
Feh! Cheers was totally overrated.

* The Cosby Show or the Simpsons?
Duh! Simpsons. How old is this freaking questionaire?

* Do you like the person who sits directly across from you at work?
Yes.

* If you could get away with it, who would you kill?
No one. I couldn't kill anyone. I could take away their liberty by condemning them to prison but never death. There are too many shades of grey in this world for that degree of certainty.

* Have you ever had to use a fire extinguisher for its intended purpose?
Nope.

* Strangest place you have ever brushed your teeth?
Is the shower strange?

* At this point in your life would you rather start a new career or relationship?
Career.

* Do you go to church?
Of course not.

* Pencil or pen?
Pen.

This is really cool

Random

I miss having a real phone. Although I'm not fond of talking on the phone in general, I hate cell phones. I only acquiesced to getting one when it became a necessity, as I did not want to make a lot of calls on someone else's phone when I was a house guest. Then we were locked into a 2-year contract and then we hung on to them because I'll have to admit, they're dashed useful things. But still I really don't like cell phones. For one thing, they're too small. Everyone seems to like the smaller ones but I don't. Not that I want the 1984 six-pounder, but one with a little more volume would be nice because I can never find it in my bag and then having to press this little thing against the side of my head while feeling like I have to yell because my mouth isn't anywhere near the thing. Another thing, the radiation. Information is dangerous in the hands of some, in mine it's merely annoying. I invariably get a psychosomatic headache if I talk on one for longer than ten minutes. I'm lame, I know. Lastly I find them aesthetically displeasing and then people take it one step further and bling them up making them more hideous. Oh well. I know they're here to stay. I'm just saying.

Not Following the Crowd...

My sister was my guru growing up and she instilled in me not only my love of particular types of music but also a sense to recognize things I'm not supposed to like because the masses like them. I became quite adept at singling out those things over the years. In general she was right about most of those things. Every once in a while though poo-pooing something made me enjoy it more. For example, music by Journey. I LOVE music by Journey. Those tremendously cheesey, and insincere power ballads make me giggle ever so. That's some quality cheese.

Of course I'm my own person now and although I've joined the fold on a few things, I still evaluate them on my own before I do so. I'm still shamed to admit that I really enjoy American Idol, something my sister has resisted. And I'm not at all shamed to say I've joined the Potter camp something my sister rails against. What can I say? She's wrong. HAHAHAHAHAH! Ok, to each her own. She doesn't have to be interested in them. All I have left to say about that is I think the lady doth protest too much.

Here are a couple of things that I cannot stand that others seem to love...

.

The Lord of the Rings movies - I only saw the first two because I wasn't going to let that string of movies steal three more hours of my life away. I just don't understand the interest in them. THEY'RE MISERABLE! I'm not fond of any of the characters and was never compelled to care whether or not they completed their task. Some may say this is because I didn't read the books. That is true. I did read The Hobbit but didn't enjoy it very much. What I did enjoy was The Belgariad. Same middle-earth kind of world but much more interesting characters and there's quite a lot of humor. The Belgariad is a collection of 5 or 6 books in two volumes. I highly recommend.

The Godfather "saga"

BORING! Now this is something my sister seemed to like. I saw the first movie, the one that started it all, the one that everyone craps their pants over and I was bored. Once again, I didn't care. Why on earth should I care about these nasty thugs? I'm extending this to The Sopranos without ever seeing it. I don't care about the mafia. They're nasty, horrible, selfish, amoral, ignoble subhumans. I don't care what motivates them, I don't care what they're feeling, and I'm not compelled by their power struggles. Such blatant immorality disturbs and offends (yes, offends) me deeply.

.

Small Talk

Dear god (if I believed in you), deliver me from small talk. We have a new person in our office and he's chatty. He's not been a total imposition but how I do dread the small talk. How was your weekend? Good morning, how are you today? And other barely scratching the surface, filler chats. I find these so wearing. I really do. If people are discussing something I'm interested in, I'll join in otherwise I really like to be left alone.

You don't want to get mixed up with a guy like me, Dotty. I'm a loner, a rebel.

Well sort of.

Skip, skip, skip to my lou

My sis complained that I haven't blogged due to the play. Well, I'm busy but I also haven't really anything much to say. Here's a quick catch up.

Meet Me in St. Louis- We're half way through the run now. We have three more weekends of performances left. I haven't had a full day off in three weeks and so I'm kinda tired a lot. The show is going well. Hell week (the week preceding opening) was indeed hell and very unfun. Most of the cast is wonderful but I'd love to kick the shit out of a couple of them. The show itself is very cute and fun. We've received good reviews (see link), the numerous scene changes are going much more smoothly, but I'll be glad when it's done. I'm really kinda done with theatre for a while. This show has not been a very good experience.

I don't think I've done so great a job on this show and oddly enough I keep getting told how great I am as a stage manager. I'm even being courted by Contra Costa Civic Theatre to do more stage managing for them next season. I have to say CCCT has not been the problem with this production but I think I'll probably decline. I can't do this anymore when I have a full time job. I really need rest. It hasn't all been horrible, I like seeing how far the show has come, I like running the performances, I'm just tired and severly unenthusiastic.

David, Dana & Rick were supposed to see it last Friday but due to a major error in judgement that was called off so they're going to attempt it again this Saturday. One of my bosses is going to bring her kids to the penultimate performance.

Road Trip- My company applied for a grant and I had to drive the paperwork to Sacramento before the deadline last Friday. I would have totally been psyched for an assignment like this except I had a performance that evening so I ended up being more tired. Grrr! But it wasn't so bad. Sacramento wasn't too hot and I like breaking from the same old, same old.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - Rick and I saw it last night. The movie was interrupted by a fire alarm (good old Bay Street) about 15 minutes in which provided me with a convenient bathroom break. It was pretty good, the movie not my bathroom break, although that too was a success. As per usual they changed things quite, and didn't round out a single character but I still enjoyed it. My copy of Deathly Hallows should arrive next week. (squeal!)

Ain't it a fwiggin shame...

Which SCI-FI character are you?

I am

Jean-Luc Picard

An accomplished diplomat who can virtually do no wrong, you sometimes know it is best to rely on the council of others while holding the reins.

There are some words which I have known since I was a schoolboy. "With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." These words were uttered by Judge Aaron Satie -- as a wisdom, and warning. The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged.

AWESOME! Some (Dana) would consider this an insult, I find it quite the reverse.

American Idol Finale

Yes, I'm a tool. I watch American Idol. I think this was a pretty good season. Unlike last season, I actually really liked several contestants. In fact from the final four on, I've liked everyone. I even liked a few who were eliminated before.

So the show kinda took on a sad note for me starting with the episode where Lakisha was eliminated. I thought, "aww! I really like Lakisha. ... oh wait, I like Jordin and Melinda and Blake too." Spoiled for choice really.

Anyway so that was a welcome surprise from last year when it came down to Cathernine McPhee and Clooney-tard... er I mean, oh whatever that dufuss' name was. Seriously his name escapes me, we just called him Clooney-tard. I'm sure he's a lovely person but that soul-patrol bullshit made my ass twitch.

I'm not surprised that Jordin won. She's delightful and a very good singer and more importantly regarding American Idol results, more palletable to the country music-enjoying audience. It seems that this country is overrun with country music loving people who are more inclined to vote in a contest like this. I've only ever voted during the Idol Gives Back event because it was for charity. I voted for Blake. Oh well.

Yes, Blake was my favorite but oh well.

Anyway what I really wanted to write about was the Finale itself: not a great episode. Ok first of all do they really need to make a two-hour meal out of it? I didn't really enjoy the performances much. I've never been able to stand Tony Bennett, Gwen Stefani (meh), Smokey Robinson was good as was Gladys Knight. I get why they had Melinda up with the people she used to back (frankly she was better then both of them) but the song was some scary religious thing. Carrie Underwood sang, "I'll stand by you" as she did during Idol Gives Back but the orchestration was too simple and didn't build as it should have. Sanjaya was as terrible and embarassing as ever. The worst performance of the night had to go to Bette Midler however.

WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO BETTE MIDLER? It sounded like she'd been smoking a carton of cubans every day for the past 3 years. She fiddled with her earpiece at one point but I'm sorry there is no excuse for what I heard. Both attrocious and shocking.

Anyway, and now it's done.

Viva Las Whatever

We left for Las Vegas on May 4th. I worked from early in the a.m. until about 3:30 that day until Rick showed up at my office. One of my bosses, Olivia, gave us a lift to the BART station. I work with such nice people! So from then it was BART to the AirBART to Oakland Airport. We were very early but it beat having to get the bus to BART.

Security check in was fine except that I didn’t think to pack my make up in my suitcase. They were very concerned that I might set fire to my foundation and nail polish and blow the plane up. But apparently it was ok when a woman in line with me had a clear plastic bag to put them in. See it’s ok to have these things as long as they are in a clear plastic bag. Apparently you can’t blow up a plane with your nail polish if it’s in a clear plastic bag in your carry on bag. Remember when taking a plane trip wasn’t such a fucking pain in the ass? Whatever…

The plane trip was about an hour and twenty minutes. We took off just as a very red sun was setting and the view was pretty fantastic. Rick had a chatty guy next to him on the plane. So they chatted while I mainly looked out of the window. I couldn’t see much for long but it was still interesting. The winds were tremendous that evening. We had to come in for a landing in an unusual direction. I wasn’t sure the guy was going to level out the plane before we touched down, the winds were that strong! Apparently another plane (private) had been blown onto Las Vegas Blvd. about an hour before we landed. That was only one of several strange events that occurred while we were there.

Our luggage came out of the carousel very quickly, such a nice change from Oakland airport, and we were off to the rental car center. We sprang extra for a convertible since our accommodations were free. Our convertible wasn’t ready however so we got this incredibly fancy (yet horrendously ugly) Chrysler 300. Ok so I was annoyed and this car was a bit obnoxious because it had so many fricking buttons and levers. Nothing was intuitive! This car however was a blessing in disguise. The house we were staying in was off the beaten path and the 300 had a navigation system. I can find places with maps but this was OFF THE BEATEN PATH! There were no street lights so reading tiny street signs was almost impossible until you were right upon them! We were expecting to come across a sign reading Rule of Law Ends Here. If our convertible had been ready we wouldn’t have found this place as easily. So yay!

We met the fellow who’s house we were staying in. His house was nice just not very lived in. He was leaving the next morning for a trip thank goodness. I mean he was nice and all that, but it would have been rather awkward with us coming and going as we pleased. So yay again! We were staying at his place because Rick was giving a talk to a group out there and he offered us accommodation.

Saturday
We woke up the next morning pretty early due to the extraordinary brightness coming in the window. Well, that and I felt like a dried sponge. How on earth do people live in the desert? So we got up and showered and went to this sleazy place for breakfast. I don’t remember the name of the place, the food was fine but it was so dark inside it felt like night (I hate that, especially at breakfast), the décor was harkening back to the Dino/Sammy days, and the waitress kept making a big deal that the toast that came with our breakfast was “Italian Bread!” You know what lady? Not that special.
We next went back to the rental car place for our convertible. We made the exchange pretty quickly. And I had what was to be our car for the remainder of our stay. Much easier to figure out (fewer buttons & levers) and best of all I had my convertible. [Insert heavenly choir sound here]

So we went back to the house and got ready for the wedding and headed over to the Sunset Gardens, the venue for the ceremony and reception. We were there a bit early so we hung out and watched some of the bride’s before the ceremony pictures being taken. Then Rick and I headed over into the chapel which was lovely if not freezing cold! The ceremony started a bit late but was really sweet. I was such a girl. Brian and Victoria were both so happy they had tears streaming down their faces during the ceremony. So of course, I was crying too.

Note to self: bring tissue the next time you go to a wedding

Then there were photos again after the ceremony and then the reception. The speeches were fun. The food was pretty good. There was a lot of dancing though Rick and I did very little of it. We’re just no good. The DJ was ok I guess, he was just a little into Michael Jackson for my taste. I mean what the fuck?! Anyhoo, after the ceremony we took Natalie (Rick’s youngest sister) back to our place while I changed and then we headed off to the Stratosphere to meet up with Rick’s parents.

The house we were staying in was about 5 miles south of the strip. The Stratosphere is at the north end. So our drive up was my first time seeing the strip. Meh. Maybe it will look better at night. The Stratosphere wasn’t that impressive either. It was just like a really big Holiday Inn with a casino. Where’s the swank? Ok. I did learn one of the great things about Las Vegas: all parking is free. Valet parking is free too, you just give the guy a tip when he returns your car. Sweet!

So we met up with Hal & Monica (Rick’s parents). Monica’s back was hurting so she wasn’t going to join us. Hal, Nat, Rick and I went down to the casino. Ok, first of all the smoking inside SUCKS! I’ve gotten so spoiled by not having to deal with smoking indoors. This was awful but I put up with it. We found Victoria and Brian in the casino. I joined Victoria and some of their friends at a blackjack table. Rick and Hal went off in search of a Texas Hold’em tournament.

I bought $20 worth of chips and played for a while. I didn’t do too badly. I was up $20 at one point. I was about to quit but Rick came and sat down, so I thought I’d play some more and lost it all. Well shit. Since losing $20 bothered me so much I decided that gambling just isn’t for me. Rick broke even then headed over to his Hold’em tournament. Everyone else was gambling still so I was at a loose end. I poked around the shops upstairs a bit and bought some sunglasses (I had forgotten to bring mine).

Then everyone was going to head over to Fremont Street. This is the place that is covered and has sort of light shows. Ok, cool. It was just about that time that Rick washed out of this Hold’em tournament and another $60 down the tube. He was out of his league. Oh well, I suppose one must accept that you will lose money when you go to Las Vegas. Ok so off we go to Fremont Street. We met up with Brian and Victoria (still in their wedding garb), Natalie and a bunch of their friends from the wedding. Rick and I wanted to see the lights show. The thing about Fremont street is that there are a lot of drunk people about. I’m ok with that but since I was driving I couldn’t have a drop which was a bit of a bummer. We caught about three seconds of the next light show that came on. Ok so it’s not a "light show", it’s just a big frickin television. What came on was a country music video which is so not a way to impress me! Ugh! Fuck this shit! So I went back inside where most people had gathered to eat some really mediocre deli counter food. I’m lookin for the swank and gettin the cheese. Sigh. The party then headed over to a bar. Rick and I were done at this point. We really didn’t know anyone very well in the party and we really are fuddy-duddies. Loud parties aren’t our thing. It just wasn’t our scene. So we excused ourselves and drove back to the house down the strip. It was bright and shiny at night. Still, meh.

Sunday
We were up kind of early again the next day because of the bright white nuclear explosion they call a sky in Vegas. This time I was determined to get some swank. So we went to Mandalay Bay for brunch. We ended up parking at the Four Seasons and walked over to Mandalay Bay. Ok, now we're in some swank. Brunch was pricey and pretty good but I like the hush that usually comes with swank. I think I was spoiled by the couple of times I had brunch at the Plaza Hotel in New York where you hear is the clink of the occasional plate, muted conversations and a string quartet. The older I get the more I realize that all I want is QUIET! This place wasn’t very quiet (as it was TEEMING with bodies) but the food was pretty good.

Following brunch we thought we’d check out their “Shark Reef”. We were clearing our palettes with a bit of gum and I told Rick to ask the hostess at one of the restaurants we were standing near where the Shark Reef was. So he went up to this young lady and said (still chewing his gum) “So where’s the shark?” She countered with a slightly annoyed, “You mean the Shark Reef?” Rick answered “Yeah”. So she pointed out the way to go.

We got all the way (it was pretty far, these places are HUGE) to the Shark Reef but after dropping so much on brunch didn’t want to pitch another $24 for the Shark Reef. However, we were highly amused by the obnoxious Norm MacDonald quality of his brief conversation with that hostess and continued to amuse ourselves by imagining different scenarios of annoying this one person. Like because we were headed back in that direction we thought it would be funny if he went back to her still chomping on his gum to say something like, “I wasn’t impressed by the shark, you shouldn’t have recommended that.” And other things that would force her to give frustrated answers ending with “Sir” through clenched teeth. I guess you had to be there but we were laughing pretty hard.

This was all on the way to the Luxor. Since they are connected you can walk from Mandalay Bay to the Luxor. So what the hey? I didn’t know that the Luxor was hollow inside. That was pretty neat! They also have elevators that travel diagonally up to the different levels called Inclinators. So, I’m sure like every other tourist, we thought “ooh, let’s ride the inclinators!” Unfortunately you can’t unless you are a guest and have a room card thingy. Poo.

So we started the four mile journey back to the Four Seasons and our car. We were supposed to be at the venue for Rick’s talk around 1:30. It was still a bit early so once we finally got back to the car we headed up the strip and decided to go into the Venetian. The Venetian is very pretty inside and a really good idea with the canals and gondolas. Unfortunately, as with everything else in Las Vegas, it was pack with humans. Damn those humans! They’re such annoying, loud creatures. I’m glad I’m not one. We walked around a bit with all the slack-jawed gawkers. We thought we’d go across the street to have a gander at Treasure Island but realized that we needed to get back to our car if we were going to be in time for Rick’s talk.

We made it to the venue for Rick’s talk. I’ve got to stop using the word “venue”. This was not a venue, it was a small, creepy room. Apparently they had just gotten the space and hadn’t been able to do much with it yet. So ok. Monica, Hal, Natalie & Brian all came to the talk. The talk went well. Rick always shines the most during the Q&A portion though. I already know the boy’s incredibly smart but he always amazes me because he’s so damned knowledgeable as well! I mean, being crazy smart is one thing but he also knows a lot of shit! That’s my guy! Q&A lasted quite a while and then we sold books (14). When I go to his events I handle selling the books for him so he can chat with people while he signs their books. Monica, Hal, Brian & Nat then took off. We went with the core group to Marie Calendars for dinner. They were a really nice group of people and pretty darned funny too. We had a good time.

Since we were up in the vicinity of the Rio I decided that I wouldn’t go to the house to change for “Penn & Teller”. So we headed over to the Rio. We were really early and really tired. We parked on the roof of the parking structure in the shade of the Rio. There was a cool breeze blowing. So we just reclined our seats and relaxed for about 25 minutes. Did I mention that I really love having a convertible?

Ok so we went into the Rio. They advertise this Masquerade Show in the Sky thing. It happens every hour or something like that. We thought we'd catch one of them. What a crappy obnoxious bunch of noise! So we hear the thing start and made our way over to the area. We couldn't see the stage where I'm guessing some dancing was going on but the big attraction was supposed to be these floats (which run on a track on the ceiling) that come out and go around the room. The floats were sort of neat looking but the music was irritating! It was just a bunch of reworked Prince songs and on the floats (best of all) were a bunch of bored looking dancers wearing tight, red leather outfits which were completely incongruous with the floats they were riding. And literally, they were bored and barely mustering up the strength to go through the motions. So once that bullshit was done Rick and I discussed how, with half a brain and a bit more creativity, they could have made the whole thing really beautiful and exotic while we made our way over to the theatre where "Penn & Teller" was playing.

Christ, this post is so fucking long!

Sorry, anyway... We met up with Toria & Brian. After a little hiccup with their tickets we went into the theatre with our drinks. They had this thing where you go up onstage and sign an envelope so Toria, Brian and I did. It was Toria's first time signing her married name. The show was great! Really fun and funny and interesting. And best of all Rick played a part in the final trick. It was the magic bullet trick and they wanted two people who had experience with weapons who had either been in the military or law enforcement. It seemed only two in the audience qualified. So Rick went up. He was with Penn, the other guy was with Teller. Rick looked like a gremlin standing next to Penn. Anyway he blogged about the trick, if you're interested. So extra yay. We parted ways with Toria & Brian and went to the Bellagio to catch a fountain show. The fountain show as impressive and the setting idyllic. It scared the fricking hell out of me when it started but was really great! Following the fountain show we walked over to Caesar's Palace and looked around. That place is gorgeous! It's a bit much in places but still really cool. If we have a bunch of money some day and decided to go to Vegas (however unlikely that sounds) I think we'll stay at Caesar's Palace.

We then drove down the strip back to the house and went to bed exhausted.

Monday
Hoover Dam day! We got up and went to breakfast at IHOP. Yeah, we're fancy. We intended to get there the same time as Victoria & Brian so Rick coordinated it and it worked out. I was totally loving the convertible already and the drive out to Hoover Dam confirmed it. Fast, breezy bliss!

Hoover Dam is amazing and beautiful and thoroughly interesting. We four spent several hours there first on the tour, then walking around and across it and finally in the a souvineer/snack shop where we sat and talked for a long time. It was a really, really great time and I'm so glad we were there with Toria & Brian, it was a lot of fun. For me it was the highlight of the trip.

We got back to the house around 4pm. We were tired but there was absolutely nothing to do at the house except watch local television and marvel at hacks on the local news stations. So we got up and went to South Point. It's a large, garish casino/hotel well past the southern end of the strip. We had noticed their sign mentioned bowling so we thought that would be fun. After freshening up we went to South Point. Unfortunately the bowling alley was taken up by league bowling until 9pm. But hey, they have a movie theatre too. Eh, no movie totally interested us. So we went to dinner at their buffet. Oh my god, the food was CRAP! Such a tremendous contrast to the quality of food at Mandalay Bay! Blech. Don't ever go there to eat! And if you do, don't say I didn't warn you.

After chocking down the meal we decided that South Point held no more interest for us and we went back to the house very tired, watched an episode of The Bachelor (boring!), packed up our stuff and went to bed.

Tuesday
Time to go home. I got up early, showered and packed my stuff in the car. We went to breakfast at Denny's (again, we're so fancy!). We had some time to kill so we drove up and down the strip once more. Can I just say that Circus Circus looks totally obnoxious? I think that is my idea of hell. Anyway then we drove back to the rental car place and with a tear in my eye I returned that lovely vehicle. I then parted with Rick and headed back to the airport. Rick waited at the rental car center for his family for his separate trip to Lancaster.

The flight was good, much nicer in the daytime. I kept trying to figure out where we were but only really figured it out once I saw the I-5. There is some gorgeous, wild country between here and Vegas! I especially liked flying over the snow-capped mountains.

Anyway I made it home safe. Paiwacket was happy to see me after a brief period of weirdness. The rest of the week I spent relaxiating.

End of VERY LONG story.

Oh wait, not yet. Just a few more things....

Weird happenings while we were there (is this just a typical weekend in Vegas?)

plane blowing off runway

drunk driver kills a family of 8

some famous dude is killed in a motorcycle accident

a guy commits suicide by jumping off the Stratosphere tower

a murder was committed via car bomb at the Luxor

Bad things about Vegas

• Smoking everywhere
• It's so dry, it's hard for me to live
• There's no real orange juice (even at the swanky places), just an orange-like beverage substitute. Is there some law against real orange juice in Vegas. We're fine with the gambling and hookers but we must keep the scourge of fresh orange juice out of our state!
  

Good things about Vegas

• free parking
• my hair goes flat in dry climate