Even More Tales From the City

Can you believe there’s still more?! I’m not making any promises, but maybe this will be it. So let’s get to it!

The Sites
Times Square always seemed like a place that you stop and look at. Little did I know that it is the thoroughfare to EVERYTHING. We passed through Times Square a million times. To me, it is really the heart of Manhattan. So, you don’t go to Times Square, you go through it.

After a few pricey cab rides, Don finally convinced me that the subway couldn’t be that bad. So, our first subway adventure took us to lower Manhattan where we got on a ferry to sail out to Liberty Island and the Statue of Liberty. I dare say that we took more pictures of the Statue of Liberty than anything else! I don’t really know why, but we did. Some of them are very cute. Did you know that the Statue of Liberty wasn’t originally green? When it came over from France (in “puzzle” pieces) it was actually made of copper. The air and elements oxidized it which resulted in a green coating over the copper. Theoretically, the green could be scrubbed away and the copper restored, but no one’s going to do that. It only took about thirty years for the oxidation to occur. There’s your lesson of the day with Mrs. Wizard.

As you can tell, our trip to see Lady Liberty was very educational. When we returned to Manhattan Island we moved on to the World Trade Center site. They are currently in the process of creating the memorial. It didn’t feel as reverent as we had thought it would, but I’m sure that will be restored when the memorial is completed this spring. They did have all of the names of the deceased posted and a timeline of the events of September 11th.

Our biggest adventure story (kinda’) was our trek to Greenwich Village. We hopped on the subway around 5:00pm with only a vague idea of where the village actually was. We seemed to get pointed in every wrong direction! We were at the “one more block” point when we finally saw some stores that had Greenwich Village in the name and were ultimately saved by a Mexican restaurant. It wasn’t half bad. I had a Kiwi Margarita. Yum. We did walk past NYU on our way to the Village. That was different than expected, too. They had a really awesome costume shop out there, though. (It was run by drag queens, too!)

One of my favorite jaunts was our afternoon in Central Park. We ate lunch at Tavern on the Green, which had beautiful gardens and cutely ornate dining areas. We were in the famous glass window room. I hear that it’s even better at night with all the twinkle lights in the trees. We decided that we would rather catch another show than check out the twinkle lights. The food was good, but not anything to rave about. After lunch we walked a bit and found Strawberry Fields where the “Imagine” John Lennon memorial is located. The area is across the street from the Dakota where he lived and was killed. Yoko Ono actually still lives there. She donated oodles of money to preserve that area of Central Park, because she and John enjoyed walking there so much. I guess she’s not all bad… which leads me to a digression… During Forbidden Broadway they did a spoof of her and her awful singing. My favorite part was when they sang about her being known forever as the woman who ruined the Beatles and now she’ll be known as the woman who ruined Broadway, too. (She owns the rights to a lot of the music that has been included in very mediocre shows lately.) Back to Central Park… After a bit of walking and braving the bathroom, Don consented to a horse drawn carriage ride through the park. I was very happy. It was fun and romantic. I’ve always wanted to do that. It was a very nice day, and Central Park is a beautiful retreat from the craziness of the city.

Our hotel was near almost everything we wanted to see. It was a few blocks either direction from Central Park and Times Square. The Letterman studios were right around the corner. Carnegie Hall was across the street. All the theaters were within walking distance. Rockefeller Center and the NBC studios were very close. I really liked Rockefeller Center. The ice skating rink was cool (no pun intended). We didn’t skate, but Don did think about it for a second. They really like twinkle lights in New York, and so do I!

Sometimes luck was on our side and sometimes it wasn’t. Half of my pictures didn’t turn out, our luggage got soaked on the way home, I got sick but we had great seats to every show, we got into SNL, there weren’t awful crowds and Don got his picture taken with a celebrity. As we were walking back from Forbidden Broadway, we were stopped outside one of the theaters by a barricade. We didn’t understand at first. It was the Odd Couple Theater where Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick are starring. We were outside the stage door when Matthew Broderick was leaving. He was signing autographs and taking pictures, so Don seized the chance and had me take his picture with Matthew. He was so jazzed to get his picture taken with Ferris.


Tips on Food
I will be honest; the food was expensive and not very good. We were very disappointed. We searched and searched for the wonderful New York pizza that supposedly exists and didn’t find anything close until the last day. Oy Vey! The worst culinary experience was at Roxy Diner. DO NOT EAT AT ROXY DINNER IN TIMES SQUARE!!!!! The food and the service royally suck, and they charge an arm and a leg for the crappy experience. Don had nasty baked ziti. I ordered ravioli, but ended up with manicotti on top of a piece of Wonder Bread and covered with cheese. It was gross. I even asked the waiter about it and he tried to tell me that’s the way ravioli is. Can you believe that?! I didn’t just roll off the turnip truck. I told him that it was disturbing and gross. Of course, he didn’t care and we didn’t get it comped, either. I will say that the desserts in New York were very good. We had a milkshake almost everyday! We did so much walking and ate so little, that we felt justified in indulging.

One thing I somehow did not realize was that in New York you walk everywhere. It doesn’t matter what the weather is, you walk. That was a shock to me and my fragile, prissy ways. I was so bundled up you’d think I was expecting a blizzard! I think I got more used to it by the end, though. (Don would probably disagree.)

All in all, we had a really great time. We did and saw a lot without planning every minute. Of course, there were things that we would have liked to do, but I’m sure they’ll still be there if we ever go back. It was so nice to be away from everything, and aside from the cold, I feel refreshed and less stressed. I now know that I am definitely a west coast girl. The east coast is nice to visit, but I’d never make it out there. It’s so different. So, now I’m back to “real” life and trying to jump back into our busyness. It was nice to press “pause” for a little while, though. I could get used to this vacation thing!

More Tales From the City

Let’s see how far I get today at the great risk of boring you all to tears. Oh, well. It could be worse. As you can imagine, we couldn’t possibly go to New York and only see shows. We definitely had our share of tourist moments and exploration. We didn’t see everything, but did enough that we were pretty pleased with ourselves. We did a lot without scheduling every second and waking up at the crack of dawn everyday, so it still felt like a vacation. So, here’s a whirlwind tour of the more notable things we saw/did:

Saturday Night Live
This was one of the big luck moments of the trip. We had absolutely no idea how difficult it is to get tickets to SNL. I guess the normal procedure is that you have to write in for tickets during the first couple of weeks in August, you are put into a lottery and if you are chosen SNL tells you what date you can come and if you can’t make it that day you go back into the lottery. No wonder people looked at us weird when we said that we were going to try to go. Thankfully, we have a connection with one of the cast members, Jason Sudeikis. He is a Second City Las Vegas alum and is now a featured player on SNL. He has been in a lot of sketches lately, so we’re all hoping that he becomes part of the regular cast next season. He actually left for SNL just as Don was starting with Second City, so we didn’t really know him, but the other Second City guys do. So, long story short, we got hooked up with tickets the first night we were in town without having to worry about lotteries and bad dates.

It was fun and interesting to watch the taping. The soundstage isn’t as big as you would think. There are set pieces all over the room and the cameras and mics are wheeled around to each set. It is amazingly co-coordinated. They really do need those commercial breaks to get things changed and ready. I will never watch the show the same way again. The crew really has to be on top of things. Also, the playing space is smaller than it seems on TV. They use a lot of camera angle tricks to make the area seem larger, especially the main monologue area and the area the musical guests play from.

After the show, Jason invited us to check out an improv show the next night at the Upright Citizens Brigade. It turns out that a lot of the SNL people participate in the local improv community. That night Jason and Amy Poehler were on-stage with a bunch of other really talented improv comedians (I feel awful that I don’t remember their names!). The show was a lot like the S.E.T. which the Second City guys participate in here on Monday nights. It’s a whole night of improv for five bucks. That’s a lot cheaper than their 90 minute show at the Flamingo. Anyway, Don and I thought that it was pretty cool that we got to go to a somewhat underground show. The audience was full of artsy-type college aged kids. We saw a lot of pink and blue hair and a lot of the guys were sporting really scruffy, mountainman-esque beards. I guess we’ll be seeing that here within the year (trends always move slowly from coast to coast). Joy.

Jason was very gracious to us and really made our first few days in town fun. Hopefully, we can return the favor some day.

Shopping
That very same first night in town we ate at a little Italian place on our way to the NBC studios. We met up with a very nice Australian couple who gave us a lot of great tourist tips like: Don’t worry about your purse. It’s not as bad as people make it out to be. (Very true. I carried my backpack all week without a worry at all.) On of the best tips that they gave us was to check out Canal Street for super knock-off deals. We were game, so a few days later we caught a cab down to Canal (which is basically in Chinatown and Little Italy). It reminded me a little of the California beach communities (not in a good way). There were Asian men and women all over trying to entice us with Rolex, Gucci and Chanel. After walking out of the dozenth shop with the same crappy Prada copies marked Pagoda, I was ready to call it a day and wondered what the Australian people were talking about. Then it happened. We were standing in one shop and a man brushed passed us and asked the sales lady for Coach. She took him to a room in the back and he emerged with a black plastic bag. All of a sudden, the sales ladies start yelling that they were closed and that we needed to get out. Weird. We noticed that a lot of store owners were on walkie talkies. It all started to become clearer, so I went on a hunt of my own. We had our very own tour of the backroom and brought back our own black-market souvenir. As far as we can tell it is the real deal. Had I known, I would have tried to score more. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to go back. I know people have strong feelings about this kind of business. We were pretty naive, actually. It’s one of those things that I’ve heard about, but had never really seen in action. It was a very illuminating experience.

One thing I will say about New York is that they take shopping very seriously! It’s not just high end, either. We went to a four story Old Navy with a huge bargain basement. The Macy’s is an entire block with a few stories of its own. It was the most massive store I have ever been in. It made my few years as a sales associate not seem so bad, because it is a big deal out there. It probably would have been a lot cooler to work in that store. We were excited to find a GAP close to us and soon realized that there is a GAP around every other corner it seems. It’s as prolific as Wal-Greens is out here! We also went to a store that Jessica would have loved. It’s called Century 21 and is across from the WTC site. It is also four stories and is all discount clothing. They had $5.00 skirts and $200.00 or less designer suit coats for men. That’s just the tip of the iceberg. I don’t usually have patience for discount shopping, and this was no different. It must be the years spent sizing rounders. Ahhhhhh! Everyone asks if we went to Tiffany & Co, and the answer is, “no”. We didn’t even see it. We have one here, though (as Jessica is well aware.).

Souvenir wise, it was just the same old crap that is in every gift shop in every city. Does anyone really need a mini New York license plate with their name on it? We did buy a few shot glasses and I bought a Statue of Liberty bear to go with my geographical bear collection. We could have bought “I (heart) New York” t-shirts for everyone for $3.00 each, but, again, does anyone really need another t-shirt?

I think that’s it for our big shopping sprees (yeah, right!). Stay tuned for more. (Hopefully, I’m not boring the crap out of everyone, but I decided that this would be the easiest way to catalog our trip.)

Tales From the City

We have been home now for almost 24 hours and I’m already starting to lose details! I guess that happens when you cram a ton of stuff into a week long vacation. Anyway… New York was a blast! It was a well-deserved and much needed vacation. Don and I did and saw so much. It was amazing. The pictures and stories won’t really do it justice (do they ever, really?). I think the easiest way to share our trip is to break it into sections of interest (hopefully). So, let’s talk about the SHOWS!!!!

Broadway
Broadway was the real reason that we trekked across country and it did not disappoint. We saw The Phantom of the Opera, Wicked, Sweeney Todd, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and Forbidden Broadway. This turned out to be a really good variety. Each show was fantastic. The talent is absolutely amazing. There is definitely a reason why these people are on Broadway and the rest of us aren’t! There wasn’t a weak link in any show. Each and every cast member was immensely talented and well-trained. It made some of the stuff that goes on here look pretty pitiful. For example, Sweeney Todd didn’t have an orchestra. The actors played all of the instruments on stage from memory! That was just awe-inspiring. For those who don’t know, Sweeney Todd is a Sondheim musical and Sondheim isn’t known for being easy. Where in the world do you find good actors who are also accomplished singers and instrumentalists? That wouldn’t happen here. We have a hard enough time finding good actors who can carry a tune! Needless to say, we were extremely impressed with the cast and the production. The story is not one of my faves. It’s pretty dark. Here’s the gist: A man is sent to prison, he comes home to pick up his life and nothing is the same as when he left. So, he becomes obsessed with revenge. He’s a barber by trade, so he starts killing people when they come into his shop and his friend the pie lady grinds up the bodies to use in her meat pies. Fun musical, hu? It was definitely worth seeing due to the talented cast. Patti LuPone from Life Goes On (remember? With Corky and Kellie Martin?) was the Mrs. Lovett, the pie lady.

Our favorite show from the week was definitely Wicked. I was really looking forward to finally seeing it, especially since we missed it in LA last summer. It was AMAZING! It was so worth the wait. I love the score and it means so much more now that the story has been fleshed out a bit. It is such a huge musical. The story is grand, the roles are grand, the sets are grand, the costumes are grand, the music is grand. It is probably my new favorite stage musical (The Sound of Music still takes the cake on film). The female leads were fabulous and Glinda was even an understudy- that’s how good Broadway is! I’d even venture to say that the girl playing Elphaba (the Wicked Witch) was better than the CD. I know that’s sacrilege to some of you. Here’s another potentially controversial opinion: Now that I have seen both, I agree with the people who say that Avenue Q stole the Tony from Wicked. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed Avenue Q. It’s witty and has a cool concept, but Wicked is just “Wow”. Plus, it gave us two great female lead roles to covet. I cannot wait to see it again. It is coming to San Diego this summer. Don already checked on tickets. They go on sale May 5th. We will be ready this time! So, family and friends, if you are interested in trying to do a group thing, get on it NOW. We will definitely be going.

Of course, my mom was surprised to hear that we enjoyed Wicked more than Phantom. I do hate to say it, because I love Phantom and we had great seats (we had good seats to every show, but these were the best). It was pretty cool to see the show right when it was celebrating its new honor as longest running show in Broadway history. However, it is becoming a little dated. It will be interesting to see what new effects they’ll be able to use when it comes to the Venetian this summer. It will be nice to see a tech makeover. This was my second time seeing Phantom and Don’s first and both of us would go back in a second.

The newest show we saw was The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. We hadn’t originally planned to see it but ended up with a deal and some free time. Mark gave me the soundtrack for my birthday, so I knew that it was a cute show. I’m glad that we were able to see it, because it was very light-hearted and laugh-out-loud funny at times. This would be a great show for high schools to do if it weren’t for two songs/parts: My Unfortunate Erection and a song about one of the contestants and her two dads. They are both great parts but probably not public school appropriate. It is a really fun show with a soundtrack worth checking out. Especially take a look at The I Love You Song.

I just have one gripe, one observation and one tourist tip. The Gripe: Where has theatre etiquette gone? It has always bothered me that people don’t dress up and make a big deal out of going to a show. I thought it was just a Vegas thing. Now I know that it’s not. Some people were dressed to the nines and others definitely were not. I guess some people think that live theatre is as casual as attending a movie. I always think of it as a respect thing. These people give their hearts and their lives on stage every night; the least we can do is leave the jeans at home. That isn’t really the worst of it, though. Did anyone ever pass on that it is not appropriate to scream and holler at live theatre and classical music events? I suppose that’s the common form of showing appreciation, but I was taught that you holler at sports events not at the arts. Didn’t we all get that talk from our Choir/ Theatre teachers? I think that someone should educate the audience on theatre do’s and don’ts. Like Do clap, Don’t scream. Do arrive on time; Don’t climb over people during the first Act. Please refrain from talking, rustling candy wrappers and singing the score. Yes, even on Broadway, someone had to sing along behind us and ruin the punch lines with early deliveries. I thought that Don was going to throttle the stupid girl. Also, it would be really nice if people were aware that there are people sitting behind them especially when they are tall and I am short. At Phantom, we were seated third row Center Orchestra and a family of mostly children sat in front of us. I thought that I had lucked out until the father brought over a five to six inch pad for his daughter to sit on. What the hell is that about?! They were in the second row for goodness sake! I did not fly across the country and pay full price to have a bratty kid become taller than most adults by sitting on a stupid pad in front of me! So, in my assertive fashion, I questioned the father about the necessity of creating height for his daughter and pointed out that I am a short adult who would also like to see the show. She didn’t use the pad.

The Observation: People have been saying that Vegas is going to be Broadway-West. There’s even an article in today’s RJ about it. I don’t know how anyone realistically thinks this can happen. Of course, it would be a dream come true. But, New York has a fabulous artistic community and happens to respect art in its intended form. We want to make shows fit Vegas (i.e.: 90 minute condensed versions. Even Avenue Q is getting chopped up, I’ve heard.). I don’t want Broadway-lite. Plus, how can it work when casino managers and owners are more concerned with profitability than the art (and it shows)? I don’t see a good future for such a tradition laden art form in such a tradition less town. I hate to say it, but until our fair city can respect the shows they’ll never thrive. I think that it was totally unrealistic for the Wynn to expect to sell out two shows a night with Avenue Q. That theater is huge! It was bigger than every theater we were in except Wicked’s. They don’t even do two shows a night in New York, so why would we do that here? Did they even research these shows before signing them?

Tourist Tip: If you ever plan a trip to Broadway, be sure to take advantage of the TKTS ticket booth in Times Square. We got half price tickets for most of our shows using this service. The catch is that you can only go the day of the show and not all the shows are available every day. It’s a crap shoot, but well worth the savings. We booked advance tickets for the shows that we had to see and used TKTS for the rest. Supposedly, we have the same thing here in Vegas. We’ll have to research that and give you all an update.

Wow! That was a lot. I think I'm going to have to do installments.

To be continued...

Hair Hell

That's what I call the week before you have your next hair appointment. It doesn't matter if it has been nine weeks or four weeks. Somehow your hair just knows that it's that time and freaks out on you. I swear that my roots suddenly become more noticeable and my style grows out just enough to be unmanageable about a week before any given appointment. It's amazing. Right now my bangs are driving me absolutely insane. I had this great thought that I would grow them out again. Bad idea. I can't wait to get them trimmed back to where they belong. They keep falling over my eye, and no amount of hairspray helps. For someone who is hair obsessed, this can be quite debilitating. There are days that I am late for work because of my hair. Isn't that awful? I just cannot leave the bathroom until my hair is passable. How do some people just get out of bed, run a comb through and go? I even obsess when I put on a hat! Should I tuck my hair behind my ear or let it be in front? Argh! Unfortunately, my hair woes have nothing to do with length. It is no easier short than it was long. I'll just have to face it: I have high maintenance hair. Figures.

Hey, I just pushed the next blog button and it directed me to www.cynicaldad.blogspot.com . Some of you may enjoy this blog, so check it out. By the way, what is this Best of Blogs award thing and why weren't any of us nominated? Geez.

Relativity

Do you ever wonder if age is really relative? I had one of those, "OMG, I'm old!" moments last night. I was talking with our friend Sharon's daughter, Taree, about a competition that her government class had competed in this semester. It happened that it was the same competition that I had participated in while a senior in high school. So, I was very excited to share how my class had won local, state and made it all the way to D.C. to compete in nationals in which we won best in the western region. It was the most awesome experience, and we were a kick ass class. We had nine valedictorians that year, including myself (I bet some of you never guessed that one!), and six of us were in this class. Needless to say, we were hard to beat. So, here I am reliving the "glory days" and the poor girl has the most patronizing look on her face. She was trying to be polite, but I knew that my experience was just too far removed from her own. How sad! To me, senior year doesn't seem to be so terribly long ago, but to her it must seem like an eternity! In that moment, I felt so old and out of touch. Honestly, I'm only a year away from my ten year reunion. ( Some of you are probably laughing at me right now, because your ten year came and went long ago!)

Anyway... it got me to thinking about how hard I try to be relevant and relatable to young people. I don't try to be something that I'm not, but I do feel that if I am going to be effective in my job I need to be aware of what young people are watching, feeling and experiencing. I'm not as good at this as I could be, but I know that I am much more "in tune" than some people I know.

Also, I'm not ready to feel "old". I know that I'm really not in the grand scheme of life. However, sometimes it's really hard when I realize that I'm not in the "young" category anymore. No, I'm in the "young family" catagory now. That seems so stupid, too, since I am not the young mommy with three small children in tow. So, what is this time of life? I'm even more displaced now that everyone around me is having children. Where in the world does that leave us? Do we just have to keep finding young, upwardly mobile people to hang out with until they decide that it's time for kids and we no longer "fit" into the social picture? There's gotta' be a welcome place for us somewhere between college entrance exams and diaper genies.

That reminds me of the pseudo-compliment which I received from one of my Jr. Highers. She's giving her own mom a lot of trouble and so one day she looked at me after a tift with her mom and said, "See, you're a cool mom.". Again, OMG I'm old; this kid thinks that I could be her mom! How can I be a "cool" mom when I don't have any children? Is that the key? Only people without kids can be looked up to as cool parents? I'd just like to gain cool aunt status! Those prospects are pretty dim, though. Sure, I think that Dameon likes me pretty well, but Lacey and all the other kids that will come with time won't be around us enough to even know if we are cool or not. We'll just be those aloof relatives in Las Vegas that never send gifts. There are only three possible ways that I see would result in cool aunt status: closer proximity (west to east coast is a big diff), providing a glut of cousins in the same age range and/or spoiling the kids to death. Unfortunately, all of these are about as probable as a cold day in Hell. My only hope is that when the kids grow up they'll feel that it is important to have adult relationships with relatives. That would be nice, but in my experience is kinda' rare. Most of my extended relatives wrote me off after I got married. Even so, I still send them all Christmas cards. (I only send to the cousins that I am currently in contact with, though. The rest can just forget it!) So, did they only like me when I was small and precocious? Oh, well. Maybe my mission in life is to love kids through the times when they aren't cute and no one has a use for them anymore. No one seems to like Jr. High kids, but I feel really awful for them. That's when they need love and support more than any other time. Whenever people ask me why I don't have kids, I just tell them that I have 130 twelve year olds and that's quite enough!

Number 4!

Today is mine and Don's fourth anniversary. I guess we're not really newlyweds anymore. Oh, well. We did better than Jessica and Nick! There are still days when I'd love to go back and have our wedding all over again. Six more years and we can party again. I'm really looking forward to our evening. Whatever we do will be nice, because we'll be together.

What Now?

So, we said our goodbyes and wiped away a tear or two. It is so hard for me to let go even when I know that it's better this way. We did all that we could do, and we did our best. Now, it's time for someone else to shine. Even so, I totally resist change, and this is no exception. I don't regret the decision at all. I guess, I'm just a little down about it. I'm afraid of what I'll miss. I'm sure it will pass. I was pretty depressed yesterday, so I welcomed work for a change (not the bank, though. I so wish that I could get out of there!). What I need to do is look forward to all the things that we have missed over the years. We are already much happier, especially since the only things that we ever fought over were musical cues and liturgical philosophy. Now, we'll get to fight over sex and money like everyone else! It's only natural that it would be hard for me to see such a huge part of my life and identity go away. No, it's not all that defines me. I suppose I have other talents, too. lol. I'm not looking for pity or sympathy; I'm just working through my feelings so I can get to the happy place.

Post Christmas Yuck

Traditionally I really hate this week of the year. I always get so sad to go back to "normal" life after all the Christmas fun and festivities. I just want to prolong the magic moments and Christmas love with family and friends. I know that it doesn't go away, but it seems that the world only understands and let's us slow down to be with our families and loved ones the last two weeks of December. After that, it's back to the grindstone with a vengeance like your paying for your quality time. The bank was bad that way this week. Everyone was twice as ornery as usual. "Happy New Year to you, too!" Geez.

In all honesty, this has been a week of disappointments. Many people who I love and care about are having a rough beginning of 2006. They have tough choices to make, have had their hearts broken and have been dealt awful news. It all makes my little fender-bender seem not so bad in comparison. (Although, it still sucks and I am very embarrassed.)

I feel this swirl of dark clouds coming over us. Maybe it's because I know that this is going to be a very emotional weekend. So much is going to change so quickly. Some things will never be the same. I pray that we all have great faith that God has a reason that we can't see and through a time of "death" and change there will be resurrection for us all. He will be our light and our strength.

So, I Tried

Some of you may recall that a few months ago I was pondering whether to try to contact some of my old high school friends. I did decide to go out on a limb and send Christmas cards to two of them. It was really a shot in the dark, but I figured that I didn't have anything to lose. Today I received a card from Norma Mayer. I was so excited that I had finally reconnected with my grade school best friend! I opened the card and it turns out that I found a different Norma Mayer who thinks we sound really nice but wonders if she is losing her mind because our names and faces aren't familiar at all. Poor lady! So, now she has a mystery on her hands as to who these people in Vegas are who claim to know her. She doesn't even know anyone in Vegas at all! I'll have to send her a card in explanation. Maybe I'll make a new friend! At least I have a new person to send Christmas cards to.

In With a Bang

Thinking back to all of our New Year's Eves, I don't think we've spent any of them doing the same thing except maybe when we were too little to do anything more than bang pots and pans! I've had family New Year's, game night New Year's, stupid kids under 21 New Year's, Gingerbread House New Year's, intimate gathering New Year's and now kick ass party New Year's. We went to the most awesome party! It really was the best place to be in town. My description can hardly do it justice. I'll just say that the house was huge, the music was pumpin', there were go-go dancers, there was a bar everywhere you turned (one was actually an ice bar which was a sight to behold), the food and booze were free, there was arena quality lighting for the backyard stage. It was amazing. It put our Fourth party to shame, but if we had a limitless budget it would probably be pretty similar. Don and I had a great time. Here's an idea of how good it was: I gashed my toe on something, it bled and crusted up before I even noticed! I looked down at my foot and said, "Oh, look: I'm bleeding." I still don't know how it happened. I guess alcohol is a great anesthetic! The guy who threw the party says that this is his last. I sure hope not, because it was the best party I have ever been to. I'd go again in a second!

So, New Year's Eve was fabulous. New Year's Day was all right. New Year's Day observed was kinda' low key. Then came Tuesday, January 3rd. I had been dreading going back to "normal" post-holiday life and even remember saying this morning that I really didn't want to do today. Was I ever right about that one! Everyone was pissy at the bank, which isn't out of the norm, but was particularly irritating today. I was so glad when it was finally time to leave! I was only a block from the bank when I rear-ended the car in front of me while trying to make a left-hand turn. Long story short: everyone is fine, it was totally my fault and thankfully there is minimal damage to the lady's car. Unfortunately, I ended up busting my radiator and had to be towed to the mechanic. It should be fixed by tomorrow. There isn't really any body damage to speak of, so that's good. We got a ribbing from the mechanic for even fixing the radiator since my car is so old and worth so little. We figure that it's worth the fix as long as it buys us some time to look for a new one. We knew that we needed to do it; now, it's a little more pressing. I have to say that Don was a good sport. I feel horrible, but he isn't driving it home every chance he gets. Not that he would. It's just not anyone's favorite thing to have to deal with.

There's my figurative and literal bang into the new year. So far, it's been pretty exciting.