delusion: the blood rite

my slight obsession with nathan fillion led to a recent discovery of a haunted house in los angeles.  a slightly different kind of haunted house.  an interactive haunted house.  an interactive haunted house co-produced by neil patrick harris and a well-known hollywood stunt man. 

knowing she’d be up for it, i invited my friend jami to join me, and we bought our tickets weeks in advance for an almost sold out run of delusion: the blood rite.  in fact, october was completely sold out, so we purchased tickets for november 9^th.  and tonight was the night.

on our way to la, we planned to stop for dinner, but our destination changed as we drove by a restaurant with a cool sign.  yes, a sign.  it was upscale 50’s, and it was interesting enough that we decided to check the place out.  ironically, we thought it was a completely ‘random’ restaurant, but, as it turns out, it’s been featured in many articles and publications, many of which were on display in the bathroom hallway. and, lucky for us, the food was excellent.

after dinner, we headed north to la and got ourselves checked in at the run-down-mansion-cum haunted play.  we would be in the ‘maggot debridement’ group.  there was a food truck on site, as well as a bar, but mostly we passed the 20-30 minute wait listening to the comments of the other groups coming out of the house.

when the ‘maggots’ were called, we made our way down a staircase in the backyard where we waited for the rest of the group to gather.  there were 10 of us total, 2 couples, 4 members of a harry potter fan club (who pretty much only communicated in terms of hp. i.e. “he may be gryffindor now, but he’ll be hufflepuff by the end of the night!”)

our group was gathered on the staircase landing, next to a ‘cemetery’  and our guide gave us a few rules.  the standard ‘no photos’, and the less standard, ‘don’t touch the actors, but they CAN touch you’.

she then asked if anyone in the group had type o blood.  several raised their hands (is it weird i have no idea what my blood type is??) and she took particular interest in the two with o-, asking them to come forward and be in the front of the group as we slowly filed passed the graves, listening to an audio recording of who we were and why we were here.

we made our way around the graves as the audio ended, and were stopped by our guide at the elaborate gates of a more ‘formal’ graveyard.  there, she asked who was the bravest of the group and the 3 hp girls pointed to their one male member.  the guide remarked that his companions thought he was brave, but he didn’t seem so sure.  he responded that he would be brave, no, he WAS brave, and she then gave him a satchel to keep safe.  she then assessed our group, came to me, and handed me a bottle of liquor.  i remarked that it might come in handy, and she replied that it would.

she then gave us our first task.  we were to go into the graveyard, find the gravedigger, and somehow convince him to give us a vial once belonging to the now deceased ‘master of the house’ and mad scientist of sorts.

we headed inside and sure enough, found the gravedigger, in a grave, on top of a coffin.  he asked what our purpose was and satchel guy told him that we had come for the vial.  he then climbed out of the grave, giving us a few more pieces to the story, before saying he might need a little help to loosen his tongue and reveal the location of the vial.

i pulled out the bottle of liquor and asked if it would help, and he said that indeed it would. at which point, he told us that the vial had been buried with lowell (the master) and that we would have to get it for ourselves.  so, satchel guy jumped in the grave, opened the coffin, and removed the vial.

our guide ‘found us’ again to take us to the front of the mansion, where we gathered around the front steps.  there was a young girl on the balcony above, singing "ring around the rosie" while swinging her doll around.  when the doll dropped, jami headed up the steps to retrieve it.  she threatened jami by telling her that she would get the doll from her corpse later.

the guide then suggests that we knock on the door - which i do - but no one answers.  so, the girl begins asking some of the group members how many people they killed in the war (we had just returned from), and after getting less than satisfactory answers, moves on to chastising jami for not holding the baby like a baby.  she then tells her to rock the baby, to sing a lullaby to her, and for the rest of us to help her sing.

 it’s then that the front door opens, and we are quickly ushered inside by a woman we learn is anna, dr. lowell’s daughter.  she tries to jog our memories, telling us about her father, about the time we were here before the war, and why we have come back.

i have to pause here to mention the ‘set’.  it is truly incredible.  it feels real.  the attention to detail is outstanding and the actors are extremely well cast.  while we are listening to her dialogue in the foyer, a ‘creature’ slithers down the stairs, and i immediately have one of the great ‘creep out’ moments of the evening.  she finishes the introduction, giving some background on these creatures, then guides us into the adjacent study.

once inside the study she tells us that we need to find three objects...a journal which has the combination for the safe behind door #1, a dagger, and a key. she tells us that we must first get the key to open the door behind which is the safe.  she selects one of the harry potter girls, and me, to go through door #2, down a long hallway, into the kitchen where the butcher resides.  she cautions us not to be very quiet and not to wake him.

we creep down the hallway, not sure what to expect, and for me, this would turn out to be the scariest moment of the evening.  something about being separated from the safety of the larger group amps up the fright level exponentially!  we make our way into the kitchen, barely stifling our nervous laughter, and the 4’ tall hp chick, sort of, silently gets on her tiptoes to retrieve the key from above the butcher’s head.  She grabs them and we make a break for it, running back to the study.  (i understand that sometimes, upon arriving in the kitchen, the door shuts behind you and the butcher ‘terrorizes’ you.)

when we re-entered the study, the rest of the group was gathered around the desk, having just discovered the location of the safe’s combination. as anna begins to open the safe, a body falls out, and the butcher pounds on the door we’ve just come in from.  anna rebukes us for waking him before letting him in and allowing him to ‘have his fun’ with the body in the safe.

she rushes us past him into a room where we see a woman, standing on a chair, with a noose around her neck.  she explains that this is her sister, who has contracted a terrible and highly contagious disease that will infect us all, unless we kill her now.  she then reminds us that when we were here before the war, dr. lowell’s experiments resulted in some unique powers – including telekinesis – and that she suspected we still had the skill.

she tells us to put our hands out, and to push the chair out from under the woman with our minds.  and the chair goes flying backwards, hanging the woman in the process.

remember when i said that one of the producers is a stuntman?  as a result, the ‘action’ is impressive.  better and more impressive than anything i’ve previously seen.  in fact, i’m still trying to figure out how the creepy crawly guy on the front stairs made me feel like i was in the grudge.

at any rate, after we’d all committed murder, anna leads us into the music room, where we find a one-armed soldier pecking out keys on the piano.  it turns out that he was anna’s sister’s lover and he is pretty ticked that we’ve just killed his girlfriend.  he tells anna that he will take someone from her in exchange.  and to decide who that is, we will play a game of musical chairs.

jami and i find seats, but one gentlemen isn’t so lucky.  the one arm soldier muscles him into the room next door, knife at his neck, with us following behind.

in this room we find a heavyset girl, dancing, with the dagger.  the one-armed soldier tells us that the only way he will release our ‘friend’ is if we retrieve the dagger, and in order for us to retrieve the dagger, someone needs to dance with her, and dance well.

anna selects another gentleman in our group and says that since he seems to think this is so funny, he can try his luck. he begins to dance with her and she is clearly not pleased.  she bemoans his skill and wonders if it is her form that is not pleasing.  she tells us that she can appear any way she wants and proves it by going behind a curtain and returning as a ‘beautiful’ woman.  anna indicates that we have to try again and she selects me as the dancing partner.

i’m apparently a better dancer, and she giggles and twirls, and hands me the dagger.

after securing the dagger, our group member is returned, and anna takes us upstairs. she stops us on the landing, tells us that ‘grandma’ is in the bathtub at the end of the hallway, and that she has a key around her neck that one of us must retrieve.  one of the guys pushes his girlfriend forward, and anna tells her that she has put grandma in a trance, but that she doesn’t know how long it will last.

the girl makes her way down the hallway, and as soon as she gets inside the bathroom, the door slams shut behind her, separating her from the rest of us.  the butcher then appears in front of the bathroom door to attack us and we all use our telekinesis to keep him at bay.  it’s a struggle at first, but eventually with one great push, he goes flying about 40 feet down the hallway and disappears,  anna pushes us all into the room at the top of the stairs and the door to the closes quickly - with anna still in the hallway - revealing a man behind it.

he tells us that he is anna’s brother and that all along, she has been tricking us.  that her real purpose is to summon a demon, and that she has used us to accomplish certain tasks for that ritual.  he tells us that in the end, she will drain us of our blood to raise the demon.

charles, the brother, then notices that we are missing someone, and reluctantly agrees to help us get her back. he is clearly afraid, but leads us through a couple of small rooms, and before opening the door to the last room, tells us that whatever we do, we have to smile big and keep smiling.

we enter the room to find a girl in pigtails, talking to our lost group member, who has been tucked into bed.

the girl tells us that she is reading her best friend to sleep, and charles encourages her to let our ‘friend’ go.  she refuses, repeating that this is her best friend, and she’s having fun, and wants to play a game.  she then brandishes a large knife.

charles laments what he believes is about to happen and asks if anyone can think of a way to distract her.  jami, still carrying the doll, suggests that the baby might help, and charles thinks that is a wonderful idea.  he reasons with pigtail girl and suggests that the doll will be more fun – that the doll can dance!  he whispers to jami: ‘show her!’ and jami makes a naked baby doll dance.

pigtail girl concedes that this is more fun, and she takes the doll, letting our friend return to the group.  we head out of the room quickly, and are greeted next door by grandma. she’s feeling a little weak, and is looking for the strongest guy with the most potent seed and some good blood to ‘revive her’.

she chooses one and tells him to lay down on the bed.  he complies, warily, and charles suggests she try the blood in the vial, which he has (unbeknownst to her) infected with a quick acting plague in an attempt to kill anna.  she takes a sip and makes her way to the bed, where, just before she kisses the man, suffers a violent reaction to the tainted blood.  while she rails against charles and begins dying, we are hurried down a hallway and down stairs with a number of creatures hanging and slithering above and in front of us.

we quickly walk under them and once back down stairs are told we have to go into the basement, and that charles cannot accompany us. we do as we are instructed and find anna and an acolyte down below.

anna finally reveals her deception and instructs her acolyte to put us in a cage.  instead, annoyed with a comment from one of the group members, he ushers us into a pitch black room.  we can literally see nothing, and all i know is that strangers have locked grips on both my arms, with jami a couple people down from me (i think) and the sound of rattling chains is getting closer.  when our eyes begin to adjust and we start to see the image of a woman coming closer, anna intervenes, pulling us out of the room and into the aforementioned cage.

the acolyte then chooses a sacrifice (the same girl who got the bedtime stories) and chains her to the wall.  anna takes her place on a pentagram outside the cage and begins the summoning.  but something goes wrong.

the ceiling is falling down around them and a demon appears (at this moment, i truly felt like i was in an episode of buffy the vampire slayer), but the demon is upset with anna, and begins to attack.

while distracted, charles rushes in to release us from the cage and get us out of the mansion, at which point, the story is over.

so. that is the experience in its play by play form.  i left mostly in awe, with only slightly mixed feelings about the whole thing.  ultimately, i’m soooo glad i did it. i had hoped for a higher 'scare factor' and it was a challenge to follow the story, which came to an abrupt and unsatisfying ending, but i thought the actors were fantastic, and i did really love the small group size, the inter-activity, the task completion, the successful separation and return of group members, and the effects.  i would do it again, but i think next time, i’d like to go with a bigger group of my own friends to share the experience with.  definitely a very unique experience!

it's the best bad idea we have

i just couldn't stay away from argo.  i try and be conscientious about movie ratings, but argo had my name written all over it.

first, it's ben affleck, who i've loved since good will hunting when everyone else was falling all over themselves to get in line behind matt damon.  don't get me wrong, matt damon is great, but ben affleck has always been a little more "me". there was a time around those jennifer lopez years where i hid my love in a closet, but thankfully, the jennifer garner years (who doesn't love them some alias?) have allowed me to open that door, and open it wide.

more importantly though, i grew up in a world where employees of the "state department" were my sunday school teachers, middle-eastern souvenirs turned out to be live grenades, the words "assassination attempt" were part of my childhood vocabulary, and there was a day where my father sat in ronald reagan's oval office and was 'encouraged' to hold the iran-contra scandal he had discovered.

iran was a place i was aware of, even at a young age.  in fact, despite the fact that we lived in a pretty "white" northern virginia suburb, my best neighborhood friend, bita, was first generation iranian-american.

i was fascinated by her.  i loved listening to her speak farsi and tell stories about her home.  in hindsight, i wonder if my dad found it ironic that during the time iran was so heavily featured on the world stage (and in his life) that it was also so relevant in my world, for completely different reasons.

at any rate, when i first heard about argo, i was excited and hesitant.  i was too young (3) to remember any of the details of its non-fictional origin story, so i was curious and interested.  it reminded me of my childhood after all (how many people equate iran and hostages with memories of their childhood, i ask you?). and it's also ben affleck.  on the flip side, i've been on a run of  crappy movie choices lately, and i didn't want to be disappointed by this one.  i waited for the reviews to come in, and was blown away by the high rankings.  and that made me even more hesitant.  with great expectations comes the very large possibility that they will not be met.

but i got over it, and it's one of the few times my great expectations have been exceeded in a movie theater. after all, how does a movie where you already know the ending (spoiler alert: the hostages get out) keep you engaged and wondering what's going to happen next?!

somehow, it did.  somehow knowing that there was a happy, real, ending, did not lessen one ounce of  the tension i felt.  i white-knuckled it through the particularly stressful moments and felt genuine concern for the characters, forgetting time and time again that they would in fact escape, and wondering which moment would be THE moment where it would all fall apart.  it's what makes the movie genius.  perfectly cast, acted, and directed, it gives you just enough, but not too much, and all at the right times and in the right ways.  it's been a long time since a movie hit the mark for me like this one hit the mark.

and my last, lingering, thought, is one of gratitude. i am grateful for the unsung heroes. the ones whose faces don't make the six o'clock news, and whose names simply become stars carved on marble walls.  and i am grateful for the sacrifices that i don't even know have been made in order to secure the freedoms that i and all other americans enjoy.

happy halloween!

halloween in california is the awesomest. seriously. the best.  maybe it's an overcompensation for lacking real seasons, but the variety of october holiday experiences are diverse and numerous -- and i've been taking advantage all month.

the celebrations continued on saturday evening with a church sponsored mid-singles dance/awkward social experiment up in los angeles.  the truth is, i really shouldn't have gone.  i was exhausted from my late night pool adventures and my early morning flight, but i get to be in town for these things so rarely that i felt like i had to go.  unfortunately as a result, i went with a bad attitude and a low tolerance for the 'awkward social experiment' portions of the evening.  i can't imagine that my company was remotely enjoyable, so i'm grateful that my companions were not only people i genuinely enjoy, but also ones who were very patient with me.

nicole, matt, jami, me, and rick

and on the upside, i was happy with my (red riding hood) costume, for the first time in years!

luckily, i had a chance to redeem myself on all hallow's eve.

a friend from church had organized a group outing with various stops throughout the evening.

jami and i headed to john's (the organizer extraordinaire) house to see if anyone else needed a lift, and filled the car before heading off to stop 1: the earrywood haunted house.

the local haunted house celebrated it's 10th anniversary this year, and this was my second visit (my first, a couple of years ago). i love that this free haunt is a truly home-crafted affair created for the sheer love of the holiday, and of scaring people, and that it is a really good haunted house!

during our wait, the group expanded from a dozen or so to 30 or 40 people,  we used the time to catch up with old friends and make new ones.

when our time came to enter the maze, rick, emily (a new introduction), and i headed in.  much to my chagrin, i brought up the rear of our trio, so of course i quickly became the obvious target.  so much so that one of the 'characters'  followed me through the entire maze, periodically popping up out of nowhere to remind me that he was there.  i got a few genuine scares and screams from the experience and managed to make it out alive!

i waited for jami and the rest of my car, who had somehow ended up at the back of the line, before we headed out to stop number 2: dr. tony's halloween extravaganza

this was a new, and totally amazing experience for me.  all i knew going into it was that we were going to some kind of halloween block party, but i learned later that the event originated from a local brain surgeon who loves the holiday and happens to own a few investment properties in the same neighborhood.  so, every year, he picks a theme, foots the bill for and enlists the aid of his tenants and other neighbors for a neighborhood-wide halloween celebration.

my initial reaction was surprise at just how many people were wandering the streets participating in the festivities.  i also found it very exciting that there was a halloween activity that somehow blended children and adults, costumes and 'street' clothes, trick-or-treating, and party, seamlessly. 

the crowd, though large, was remarkably tame, friendly, and diverse.  it felt so different from previous halloweens in virginia.  i've been a little east-coast homesick lately, but october has given me a chance to remember some of the things that make california special, and the block party was the icing.

this year's theme was the wizard of oz, and after joining up with a couple of other cars, we began following dorothy's journey from kansas to oz and back again.  criss-crossing the street from top to bottom, each house held a piece of the story.  we started on the farm (complete with actual tractor) with dorothy singing about a rainbow and slowly made our way through the rest of the tale.

we saw dorothys at most of the houses, each one at a different place in the story.  we met glinda, the tin man, scarecrow, cowardly lion, and of course, the wicked witch, time and time again. we lost our friends and found them, and lost them again.  we avoided a tornado, sang with munchkins, traveled to the emerald city (complete with giant animatronic 'wizard'), met more friends, waved off a hot air balloon and called it a most excellent night.

a date with sandy

my recent trip to hollywood, fl (near ft. lauderdale) was memorable for a number of reasons.

in no particular order:

1. a reunion with one of my best friends from high school - 18 years after the fact

me and amanda on naples beach at sunset

thanks to the wonders of email and facebook, we've casually stayed in touch through almost two decades of separation   we've made the attempt to get together during my travels before, but something always came up to prevent it--the most dramatic of which was a nasty fall (mine) on the way into a 7-eleven, resulting in a torn mcl (my second knee injury in six months).  finally, closer than i've ever been to her hometown, i was absolutely determined to see her.

between us, it took three hours of drive time to meet in naples, fl.  we had settled on the beachside restaurant at the ritz carlton, where we knew we could spend a few hours catching up and watching the sun go down over the atlantic.

we seemed to pick up right where we left off and i couldn't have been happier than to sit across a table from my long-time friend, sharing a meal, and the highlights and lowlights of the last 18 years.

2. my first hurricane!

my co-workers did not believe me when i told them that florida had welcomed me with beautiful sunny weather.  instead, they were greeted by heavy winds and rain.

befores and afters

as it would turn out, sandy was much kinder to florida than to the northeast, but we were in awe of the wind and waves on the normally mild atlantic.

3. checking off TWO diners, drive-ins, and dives restaurants

first up, sonny's famous steak hoagies.  i had the #90 (plain with onions), with provolone and green peppers, and i've gotta admit, it was pretty good.

kevin, me, eli, and greg, after stuffing our faces full of steak

i've spent years looking for a steak and cheese sandwich that could compare to the best steak and cheese that ever existed.  i don't entirely know what made that particular sandwich the best sandwich that ever was, but i spent much of my youth praying that dad would make a stop at trio's in dupont circle on his way home from work.  that prayer was often (though not often enough) granted, until the day that trio's ceased to exist.

i never had a chance to discover all the secrets of the trio's steak and cheese, but i do know that the 'steak' was marinated ribeye.   and while ultimately, sonny's (also) marinated rib eye steak and cheese sandwich did not dethrone trio's, it was darn good.  in hindsight, with a lot more cheese, it might have been a true competitor.

greg and i checking out the menu

next up was grampa's bakery and restaurant, where it was clear that the 'bakery' and the service were the real treasures.

iris (maybe 'gramma'?), our waitress, was fantastic.  we spent a lot of time chatting about the experience of filming the show, what guy fieri ate, liked, didn't like, etc.  all while enjoying the complimentary danishes, which, even though i'm not a danish lover, were amazing.

we all ordered the breakfast sandwich and shared chocolate chip pancakes while i satisfied an intense craving for hot chocolate (something about storms!).  aside from the perfect danishes, the meal was par for the course diner food, yet the experience was a highlight in my ddd adventures.

4. the glass-bottom pool

the weather didn't exactly cooperate with our hoped for jacuzzi time, so when the rain stopped temporarily on friday night, we decided to go for a midnight swim.  the real fuel for our fire being the unique pool on top of pool layout at the hotel.

on the upper floor, an infinity pool which formed a sort of 'bridge' over the pool passing underneath it.  what made it even more unique was that a portion of the top pool had a glass bottom, which could be seen from the pool below.

greg and i were itching for a photo opp, which is the only reason that swimming at midnight, in the middle of a hurricane, seemed like a good idea.

i had the benefit of going second (so i learned from greg's failures) and eli was able to capture these awesome pics.

after our photo experiments, we decided to end the night with a dip in the hot tub.  little did we know, things were going to get even hotter when, due to the weather conditions, an electrical fire broke out in the stairwell from the pool up to the lobby.  since it was nearly 1:30am, i ended up walking through the entire lobby in my swimsuit (why i didn't grab a towel is beyond me) to alert the hotel staff.  just one more piece of evidence that my 'emergency' streak is back.

5. no flight delays

we weren't sure if sandy was going to let us leave florida.  eli and i had scheduled our exodus for saturday morning, and since we both had plans that night, we really wanted to get home.  almost unbelievably, there were no flight delays, and in fact, it was the smoothest travel day i've had in some time!

bucket list, #345

i wish i actually had a bucket list. an official one. where items on said list had numbers, and could be crossed off or check-marked, providing the immense satisfaction that us virgos can only get by crossing things off lists.  sadly, i don't.

i should add that to my 'to do' list.

suffice it to say that even though it's very unofficial and does not require ink or a keypad to log completion, i do have a running list of things i want to do, try, see, in my head. one of those things was to see one of the summertime movie screenings in the hollywood forever cemetery.

check.

having removed myself from a work trip to vancouver canada due to sheer travel exhaustion, i was home for an entire weekend.  when my friend jami asked if i'd be interested in seeing 'dawn of the dead' at the hollywood cemetery, i jumped at the chance.

we were joined by a newish (to me) friend, whitney, and came prepared with our chairs, snacks, and mst3k (mystery science theater 3,000) style commentary. having never seen the movie before, i was fascinated to learn how many story lines from my current obsession, the walking dead, seemed very similar to its zombie predecessor.

we enjoyed the movie, the people watching, and the cemetery itself. we wandered the portions of the ground that the security guards would allow, enjoying the sheer grandeur of site.

we also wandered into a line that turned out to be a themed 'photo booth'  with a professional photographer, and assistants carefully directing the smoke, providing a perfectly eerie setting for our group photo.

it was a perfect way to cross this one off the intangible but completely real, bucket list.

halloween horrors

it's probably fair to say that halloween gives christmas a run for it's money in the 'favorite holiday' category.  i love everything about it; the costumes, the spooks, the (usually) chill in the air signifying the changing seasons.  and there is something eternally child-like about halloween.

conversely, october is typically a difficult month for me personally, because a heavy work-travel schedule means i don't have a lot of time to enjoy those things.  so, when an invitation came my way to join a group at the universal studios halloween horror nights, and i was going to be in town, i simply couldn't pass up the opportunity.

california does halloween right.  i've 'discovered' and loved other haunts during my time here, but had not ventured up to la la land for what i had heard, was a 'premiere' experience.  so, i took a deep breath and sucked it up to pay the exorbitant 'front of the line' ticket price (hopefully) ensuring quick entrance to the various mazes.

when saturday finally rolled around, i wasn't sure i was going to be up for it, having flown in from boston the night before, but i couldn't justify bailing when i had paid so much for a ticket.  thankfully, the financial commitment saved me from missing a truly fun-filled night!

me, rick, kristina, dean

my house was the meeting point and we split up into two groups to head north.  in my car were a couple of people i have 'sort of known' for awhile, and a new face (to me).  we intended to join up with the other group for a meal before heading in to the park, but wait times in local restaurants were long, so when we discovered they were behind us, we opted for a quick bite (which turned out to be delicious) at a citywalk creperie before heading in.

i was particularly excited about the walking dead infiltration at this year's event, and i got my first taste on the 'terror tram'.  while the other group ate, we were off and running!

or so we thought.

dean, kristina, me, rick

because we had made it on the tram quite speedily, we didn't need to use our front of line passes.  it wasn't until we met up with the rest of the group at the next ride that we realized i was the only one of our foursome who had been given the special pass.

ultimately what that meant was that we had to head back to the opposite side of the park to pick them up.  even though i had mine, i opted to stay with my foursome as i was really enjoying the company.

our 30 minute detour left us a little frustrated, as we hadn't yet realized just how much time those passes would save us (seriously, if you are going to do horror nights, spend the money), but we headed back from whence we came and began the serious business of ridin' rides and gettin' scared.

i turned out to be the obvious mark.  fortunately, new friend rick was a gentleman and offered his arm as my 'stress ball', while dean and kristina mostly laughed at how ridiculously easy i was to scare.  what can i say? i like to be scared, so i allow myself to be scared.  that's what makes it fun!

we gave up trying to meet up with the other group for awhile as we played in the lower half of the park, taking a small break from the spooks to try out some rides.  our passes were amazing and we walked right on to the mummy, transformers 3d, and jurassic park rides.

we did a little screamin', got a little wet, and decided to head back to the haunts.  the surprise hit was the texas chainsaw massacre maze, which may or may not have inspired a little pants-peeing action.  after finishing up the lower park, we headed up to try to meet up with the other half of the group.

on our way, we stopped at mazes and rides we knew the others had already done, and eventually the entire group was back together.  i was excited to go through the walking dead maze with the two organizers--sisters--who share my obsession with the show.  and it absolutely did not disappoint.

with only a couple of mazes remaining, we took the opportunity to take some photos, grab some treats, and slow it down a bit.

but, after eventually finishing with all the haunted festivities, our groups said farewell, and we slowly made our way out of the park. the evening was happily concluded with an in-n-out stop and some iphone app video making in the back seat on the way home.

i'm not often able to take advantage of social opportunities on home turf, so it's hard for me to accurately explain just how excited i get when i can.  while i don't know that i would do horror nights again (i thought knott's scary farm was better, and for less $$), the fact that i got to spend my night with a fellow native easterner (rick) and also discovered that someone (kristina) i've sort of known for a while is someone i really like, made it worth every penny.

the price, is most definitely, right

what i love most about my job is that every time i think things are getting a little 'routine' something comes along to shake things up.  in this case, a visit to a taping of the price is right.

my team has had an unprecedented amount of success this year.  we are collectively responsible for the company's traditional media, social media, and event presence, and we've hit some major milestones in 2012.  my boss wanted to celebrate, but with some restrictions coming from our parent company --the insurance company that is on the side of you, always (can't decode that? i'm happy to disclose in a less public forum), we weren't allowed to go to disneyland.

we were however, greenlighted for a trip to tpir.  admittedly some were more excited than others (i like disneyland!), but all were down to make it a positive experience.

the 12 of us met at a diner near the studio and enjoyed a delicious breakfast before heading over at about 10:30am. and thus began the waiting.

at 11:30, we were allowed inside the gates, sat down on benches, and handed some forms to fill out.  we followed instructions, being careful to stay highly energized and excited, as we had been told that 'they are always watching'.  we turned in our forms, did some more waiting, got a group photo taken (below) did some more waiting, were ushered to a different area, did some more waiting.  all the while being 'pumped'.

in this second to last 'holding area', we were told that the producer was going to come out and interview us in groups, and finally it was our turn.  we were pretty certain that someone from our group would be chosen. there were a lot of us, wearing cool matching tees, and we had a high enthusiasm level.  the only question was who.

this photo was taken in a
bathroom stall, since we
were supposed to have
ditched our cameras!

and during the interview, it was pretty obvious to everyone in my group that it was going to be me.  he started by greeting me as darlin' (which further proves that i am one of those people who strangers must refer to as honey, sweetie, sugar, darlin', etc.) and he asked me about a dozen questions when everyone else in my group got one or two.

usually when cool things happen to me, it's a total surprise. but i saw this one coming...or so i thought.

At nearly 4pm, we were finally taken in to the studio and the taping began shortly thereafter.  and lo and behold, it was not my name, but my boss' name that was called out to 'come on down' to be the third contestant.  for reasons i discovered later, my boss had made an unexpected connection with the producer as we were being ushered out, at which point, he was pretty certain it would be him.

i was of two minds. on one hand, my boss loves the show.  he watches it regularly and he's good at the games (which we discovered during our many hours of waiting as they played old episodes). on the other, of all of us, he was least in need of a new car.  i tried to push the thought about how much i'd like one out of my mind and celebrate the genuine joy he was feeling at having the opportunity.

and boy did he make the most of it.  he ended up winning a car in his game, AND in his showcase. and in fact, he was only $34 shy of winning both showcases.  he truly was an exemplary contestant.

and we were exemplary audience members!  in fact, sitting in the second row behind the bid podiums, you could see me in almost every audience shot there was.  and of course, the whole team had to rush on stage at the end of the show to congratulate him.  i got my drew carey hug, and all in all, it was a good day!

i made my own 'highlight reel' of the episode by videoing my tv with my phone, but if you missed it and you're interested, you can check it out here.

productivity

in the last 48 hours i've:

renewed my driver's license
renewed my car registration
taken a new passport photo (blech)
submitted my passport renewal application
and got my hair cut and colored

i truly dislike these 'administrative' tasks, but, i must admit, it's nice to be home for a bit to handle my biz-ness!

the comic-con experience in photos (and some words)

for the commentary, watch in full screen mode.

for the rest of the photos AND videos, click here.

the comic-con experience in words

every year 100,000+ people converge on san diego in a celebration of comic books, tv and movies based on comic-books, tv and movies that have turned into comic books, tv and movies that maybe could have been somehow related to comic-books, tv and movies that have nothing to do with comic books (glee, for instance?) and basically all things followed, interested in, or obsessed about by the citizens of nerdlandia.

since moving to california, attendance at said celebration has been high on my bucket list.  not only have i considered myself a nerd, for, well, as long as i've had a concept of what a nerd is, but i also genuinely wondered what it would feel like to be among so many like-minded people.  kind of like the olympics for nerds. 

it was a miracle that i even managed to secure tickets.  as i've previously mentioned, the tickets sold out almost immediately, and i consider it a testament to my nerdiness that i prevailed, since doing so required having multiple browser windows running with click through and copy/paste address bars simultaneously working hard to get me through to the 'purchase portal.'  in fact, that alone earned me my right to be there.  

my participation this year was intended to be a one time deal, but, what can i say? i drank the kool-aid, and the kool-aid was goooood.  

i won't play-by-play the experience,  but i will mention that i had done A LOT of research before making the southward journey.  when you by your tickets, you have no idea who will be there or when, and in fact, the schedule is only released a couple of weeks before the event.  it's a bit of a crap shoot, but i, being the planner i am, didn't want to leave anything to chance.  i can't even begin to count the number of forums and websites i've visited or the people i talked to, and fortunately, the research paid off.  

my #1 priority (after meeting nathan fillion and having him propose to me) was attending the firefly 10 year anniversary panel, and i was successful (on the panel, not the other thing)!  there has been a lot of wonderful coverage about that panel (i've also got some video on my smugmug) and it was a really unexpectedly moving experience.  my favorite encapsulation would be geek god joss' whedon's answer to an mtv reporters question: was there something extra special in the air for you this time around?

whedon: yeah there really was. i would describe it as 5,000 people all tearing up about the same thing at the same time. that's a little weird. one has fantasies of success but that isn't what it is, it's so intimate, that's a one-on-one, we had an entire hall full of people having a one-on-one experience, including us with each other. i looked over at nathan and i didn't know if i could look at nathan because i was getting too emotional

it was a genuine privilege to be in the same room as joss whedon and nathan fillion and to have that experience.  it required a 4am wake-up call, waiting in line for 4 hours, sitting through two earlier panels (though one of them included joel mchale - so that was fine), and it was worth all of it.

now to the rest of the highlights!

favorite moments of the weekend, in quotes:

random guy on bus leaving a message on his own voice mail:  “hello future self. this is a message to see if there is a cell connection. ps you're having a great time”.

me: words i never thought i'd say: i'll be on the lookout for tall skinny ghostbusters.

random guy in line to other random guy: you know how star wars is like a space samurai movie?  that's kind of like how firefly is a space western.

random girl in line (in reference to 'community'):  i love how we can refer to that as the first paintball episode.

joss whedon (answer to audience question: many of us in this room camped out last night to get into this panel.  i wondered if you've ever camped out for anything?): yeah. camping.

astrophysicist neil degrasse tyson: pluto had it coming.

me: i feel like i'm in line with my high school drama department.

sam huntington (on sam witwer's character in being human): maybe aidan can flash back to pirate days and he can be a vampirate.

my friend jamie (during a discussion in a hot tub with two random guys about stan lee's recent penchant for hiring young pretty girls): so what you're saying is, stan lee is hugh hefner now?

and that is just a tiny sampling of the many overheard quotes and conversations that made me so happy.  up next: the comic-con experience in photos! 

memorial day

today a former co-worker and current facebook friend posted the following on his wall:

I've been gracious about this. But it doesn't feel right. Memorial day honors our fallen brothers and sisters who paid the ultimate price for our country. I am a veteran. I have a day in November. While I am proud of my service, it does not belong in the same book, page, paragraph or sentence with those whom we remember on memorial day. Today please honor those who's check was cashed.

earlier in the day i had read and 'liked' many posts honoring and thanking those who serve our country -- both past and present -- and hadn't given it much thought.  his comment shook me from my complacent sense of general agreement to a more profound place of gratitude.  memorial day, after all,  is a day specifically dedicated to those who have sacrificed their lives in the service of our nation.

privileged to have grown up near the nation's capital, and to have spent a lifetime visiting us historic sites like gettysburg, little big horn, the uss arizona, etc., as well as having spent some time in the middle east during the first gulf war, i have a deep sense of humility and gratitude for those who were willing to risk, and indeed lost their lives, in the hopes of making and keeping this great nation great.

flawed though it may be, my travels have reinforced my belief in it's beauty, it's freedom, it's opportunity, and it's humanity. and today, i honor those who put on uniforms, never returning to the embraces of their loved ones, and i honor those, such as martin luther king, jr., who lost their lives in a different type of service to this nation.  thank you for your courage and your sacrifice.

orlando

melissa and i

i think i can count the number of nights i've spent in my own bed in the last three months on one hand.  needless to say, i wasn't that excited about having to end my fun conference weekend early to get on a plane for another work event in orlando (one of my least favorite cities)

but lo and behold - i had a blast!  it was my first show of the year traveling with my group sales co-workers, and i realized how much i had missed them!  the group consisted of one of my closest office friends, three sales guys and a sales girl, and i had forgotten just how much i enjoy being on the road with them.  always laid back, drama free, and up for a good time - and that is exactly what we had.

even the exhibit hall hours flew fast with the catching up, the visiting canine companions for independence dogs, and the general camaraderie of the team.

after the hall closed, the girls and i donned swimsuits and took advantage of the lazy river boasted by our hotel (hilton bonnet creek - one of my favorite new properties) while the guys grabbed some snacks poolside.  it was a moment of complete and utter relaxation -- something extremely difficult to find on a business trip.

after getting dry, we joined the guys by the firepit and enjoyed dinner in our outdoor chaises before calling it a night.

the following day was more of the same, with a short reptile break (oh, the things you find on a trade show floor!) but i had talked the group into trying one of my favorite travel traditions, a movie at a 'dine-in' theater.  amc has several around the country (though none in california).  there are two types of theater, one, the fork & screen, the other, cinema suites.

melissa & i, eli &
kevin, eric & jeff

the fork & screen theaters offer super cushy chairs and each row has a bar in front of it, which comes in handy when you order your dinner or snacks from the full menu.  there is a button on the bar and you simply push it when you need something...a diet coke refill, more popcorn, a caesar salad...the cinema suites take it one step further and while there is no bar, you are in a full recliner, in pairs of two, with a table between you for your delectables.

the movie choice for the evening was 'avengers' (my second time) and was in one of the fork & screen theaters.  my co-workers were blown away by the experience (the movie was pretty awesome, too!).  they have come to trust my penchant for creating/finding unique experiences, but they were still impressed. and the best part for me is that these 'special' theaters cost about the same as a 'regular' theater in california. score!

looking forward to exploring atlanta with these guys next month!

(last) weekend update

every year my ward hosts what has become the largest mid-singles conference...anywhere.  when i first joined the ward a few years ago, i was asked to co-chair the event, and have not attended since.  my excuse is that i have been out of town for work or other prior commitments, but for the sake of full disclosure, it's been a relief to have an 'out'.

ben h & i -reunited

it may be an age thing or a tolerance thing, but my dislike of large social events has increased exponentially in the last several years. give me a dinner or activity with 3-10 people and i am happy to socialize.  any more than that and my comfort level plummets.  i think people behave differently in larger groups, and i just don't like it!  conversations are superficial, eyes wander, engagement suffers.  and here's where the lack of tolerance comes in. 

ben b & i - also reunited!

in my mind, it serves no purpose to invest in someone with whom the conversation will be superficial, the eyes will be wandering, and the engagement will be questionable. rather, if i am going to spend valuable time getting to know someone new, i want to believe there is a possibility that we will give each other a chance to be real...maybe not immediately disclosing our lifetimes of hopes and dreams, but at least getting past the 'where are you from?" question, and assessing whether there is any sort of foundation for building a friendship.

my new friend rod & my old friend jamie

so, when i started feeling like i should attend this year's conference, i also started fighting that feeling.  and i had an excuse. i had a work event.  i couldn't do it.  then i was asked to be on one of the planning committees, and i was happy to be of service--particularly since my travel often prohibits it.  and then, i realized, while working with some fabulous people that i hadn't known very well before, just how disconnected my travel schedule had made me.  and all of the sudden i stopped fighting the feeling that i should attend, and embraced it.

jamie, pete, and i

of course, it meant jumping through a lot of hoops to get my work event handled, and a very early flight out this morning to be in orlando by the time the event actually begins, but, i felt good about that.  ...then i started developing expectations.  i mean, if i was having to do some massive maneuvering to attend this thing, it better be worth it. right?

it took me a full two weeks beforehand to get my attitude adjusted. and, ultimately i decided that i wasn't going to let the possibility of meeting a guy or not meeting a guy determine the success or failure of the experience.  i would consider it a success if i had a good time.  

perfect day for some sunshine - with nicole

even that was slightly questionable however, and with some trepidation, i joined my friend jamie, and her friend kirsten for the opening friday night activities at a local bowling alley.

though i was highly doubtful that i would actually have any fun at this event, i was quickly proven wrong, when, from my anti-social-suck-on-a-soda perch, i saw an old virginia friend walk through the door.

in the hot air balloon at great park, irvine

one of many things i've learned over the last five years, is that as much as i appreciate california's perks and pleasures, i'm still really 'east coast'.  i don't know exactly what it means or how to explain it, but i know it makes me different from the west coast people.  i've struggled to find meaningful friendships here as a result (and forget dating a local!), and on the few occasions i have met someone with whom i instantly 'click', they have been from the east. so you can imagine how excited i was to see an east coast friend! and he wasn't the only one.  ben b. was also in town for the conference, and between the two of them, i felt like i had a little of my old home in my new home for a full 48 hours, and it was WONDERFUL!

after that, i had the weekend in the bag.  i enjoyed making new friends, getting back on my beach cruiser for the first time since my knee surgery, spending my first afternoon at the beach in almost as long, and just generally enjoying the positive energy of a weekend at home!

so glaad to be me - la

i'm watching jay leno right now, and jesse tyler ferguson, from modern family is on, talking about saturday night's event. WHICH I WAS AT.

the los angeles event, for me, was all about the jjjs (try and prounounce that in your head).  jesse is darn funny, but there were a few other jjjs i was weak-in-the-knees for: gilles marini (pronouced like 'jill'), josh hutcherson, joshua jackson, and jason mraz.  see what i mean about the 'jjjs'?

gilles, may be best known for his role as the naked neighbor in the first sex & the city movie (which, by the way, i did not even realize until someone told me) but i fell for him more recently. january, in fact -- when i netflixed the entire season of 'brothers & sisters', in which he had a fairly prominent role for a couple of the later seasons. and i came to adore the role, and the man in it, and could not believe it when he appeared on the guest list.

josh brought to life an amazing character in an amazing book, which, incidentally, i read long before there was even a rumor of a movie.  though he is not the peeta mellark i imagined when i read hunger games (nor most people i suspect),  i just don't think there is anyone on the hg bandwagon who WOULDN'T be excited to meet him.

joshua. oh joshua.  i love joshua.  but i love fringe joshua.  i never watched dawson's creek,  on principle, really.  i'm pretty sure the 13 year old girl that still lives inside of me would really really enjoy it, but i just have to make a stand about something and this is where i have drawn my line in the sand. but fringe. i love fringe, and i love him in fringe.  based on his character, i made assumptions that he was smart and sardonic - traits i appreciate in an actor, and well, really, just in people.  i was hoping to have the opportunity to test those assumptions.

jason, is a singer/songwriter i have followed for years, and who, if i'm being honest, may well be my favorite singer (with jason aldean making a close race of it).  since he is from virginia and used to play lots of small local shows (many of which i had the privilege of attending) i had seen him before.  but not in awhile.  something about when you knew someone 'way back when' and i just haven't being able to bring myself to go see him now, in a giant arena, in nosebleed seats, when i used to be able to touch him from my regular spot on the (old) 9:30 club floor.  i was excited to see him perform again.

in los angeles, unlike new york,  the red carpet area takes place inside what they refer to as the 'private celebrity reception'.  basically, it's one half of a ballroom, separated by pipe and drape, in which, only the really super special people can go.  except that it always seems that there are A LOT of super special people.  but i digress.

our sponsorship of the event grants us these super special golden passes, so i took up my position behind the stanchions, to see who i could see coming through the press line before i began my hard core stalking. my co-workers slowly joined me, and i was relieved when mike and his wife celeste arrived.  mike and celeste had proven themselves worthy companions at the 2011 event.  i knew i could say 'come now' to mike, and he'd be behind me, no matter how fast i was elbowing people out of my way, with camera in hand to capture whatever moment i was sure i was about to have!

mike, celeste & i with max adler (glee)

we saw grant gustin and mas adler from glee come through the line, and stepped out of our position briefly to grab a pic with max.  then came chaz bono and tabatha coffey and madison hildebrand from million-dollar listing.  then came sarah gilbert and ali larter, and oh! my! goodness! gilles flippin' marini.

i'm only slightly embarrassed to admit that a i emitted a squeal.  an actual squeal.  my knees actually went weak, and i am actually retarded.  i know. and for the sake of gilles, i do not care (see reference to 13 year old girl in previous post).

we watched as gilles s-l-o-w-l-y made his way through the press line.  far far too slowly. dinner time was coming much to quickly, and every second was counted by my pounding heart and my nervous breaths.  i was desperately afraid that we would be forced to leave the room for dinner before he had finished the press line and exited into an area where i hoped i could tackle him.  while mike, celeste, and i waited, we ran into our old groupie friends, whom we had met last year.  one of them, who we will call 'd', is a brash, in-your-face, get what she wants, when she wants it, FORCE of a woman.  this was good news for me, because i wasn't actually sure i would be able to speak to gilles if an appropriate moment to do so arrived.  which, eventually, after what seemed like 100 years, finally did.

as he exited the line, d simply said 'gilles!  this is my friend tara and she has been D-Y-ing to meet you.'  he  turned to me, took my hand, kissed my cheek, and with his french accent said:

'ello tara.  it is a pleasure to meet you.  how ARE you tonight?

i think i said something to the effect of having a great night, really excited to meet him, did he know there's a 13 year old girl that lives inside of me?

okay, i have NO IDEA what i said.  but we stood there chatting for a good two minutes before we posed for a photo together. and when we were done.  he put one hand on my arm, holding my hand with his other one, while i told him that i was kind of shaking right now and could he feel me shaking? he laughed that beautiful french laugh (yes, even his laugh sounds french) and said:

i'm sooo glad you came tonight.  i am so glad I am here tonight, so that i could get to meet you.

the fact that i managed to stay upright is nothing short of a miracle.  i thanked him, he gave me a hug and another kiss on the cheek, and i bid him adieu, only then realizing that there was a crowd of about 20 people who had followed the whole exchange.  while some were clearly excited about my obviously unique exchange, others were clearly annoyed that he had spent so much time with me.  i did not care one bit.

i will admit that i was curious, in that 13 year old girl way, whether he would interact with others in the same fashion, so i hung back for a minute to watch. suffice it to say, he did not, he was warm and gracious, but had none of the effusiveness i had experienced.

i was a moron.  but a blissfully happy moron. so happy that i have even posted a couple of truly terrible photos of me here to better convey the experience. and, while that would remain the absolute most thrilling moment of the evening, there were other great ones.

after the gilles experience--that's what it's called now, by the way, 'the gilles experience', tge for short --we hustled to the ballroom as the rest of our group had already started on dinner. we sat down but could see that there were still a lot of seats to be filled.  we, again, had an amazing table, and while i was chatting with my event contact, celeste pointed out that joshua jackson was standing behind me.

anybody who has seen me hop out of a chair with lightning speed for a photo with a 'desirable' celebrity would think i was lying about ever having had a knee injury or the fact that i still can't walk up stairs in high heels.  if only i could find myself in a constant state of 'adrenaline rush' maybe this knee would finally heal right!

my event contact instantly sensed my desire to meet aught on quickly that i wanted to meet him.  in a split second, mid-conversation, she had turned around and introduced herself,  then me.  it was flawless, and i later thanked her for the assist.  unlike tge i was soooo cool with joshua.  we took a photo first and (warning: fringe spoilers ahead!!)  i casually mentioned that i had just seen the latest episode.  he asked me what i thought and i told him i thought it was great (which it was), that i was happy to see him out of the amber, and congratulated him on being a new father (on the show).  he joked that he too was happy to be out of the amber, and that it tended to have a negative effect on the skin, as he rubbed his scruffy chin.

i later learned that he had recently attended coachella, a ginormous music festival here in california, which explained the scruffiness. and what i learned during our interchange, is that he is smart, and he is sardonic, and my greatest hopes and assumptions about him had been confirmed.

but my evening was not over yet, oh no.  here comes josh hutcherson, walking by our table. and yes, the leaping was in full effect again!

i realize and appreciate that in some ways i live a charmed life.  here i was, 'doing my job', eating a delicious meal, with milla jovovich, joshua jackson, benecio del toro, and molly shannon eating the same meal at the table next to me.

the only disappointment of the evening was that jason mraz had a cold.  so, while he did come out and chat with the audience a bit, he did not perform. that WAS a disappointment, but the rest of the evening had so far exceeded my crazy warped non-expectation expectations, i didn't begrudge him his cold.  and there was ellen, and betty white, and more gilles, and a surprise appearance by CHER, and i really didn't have any right to do so anyway.

it was a delightfully perfect evening, and i am so grateful for it.

check out the full album of pics here.