Everything comes full circle eventually

Halloween weekend!

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:01:15 GMT

It was an interesting Halloween weekend. Guess there's always a bit of drama around holidays, isn't there? I had my party Friday night, which was awesome. We had a great turnout and wound up blasting Iron Maiden at about 2 a.m. Sweet. Saturday found us at a party way uptown in Manhattan, then running to the Bronx to pick up more friends, then stuck in an elevator for about a half hour. I didn't even put on my second costume until about 12:30 a.m. But on the upside, it was MUCH better than last year when Halloween didn't even happen! Naturally I have pics.

Here's my costume for my party. I'm pretty pleased with how the mask came out, although I think I might trim the flare down. Plus, it sits really heavy on the nose, so I have to figure out how to fix that. I completely redid the tulle on the dress. Mermaid parade next year? Maybe...anyway I wore it for my party because a) I didn't want to freeze and b) it rained on Saturday and I didn't want soppy gluey newspaper all over my face. So it worked out great.

Here's the mask - my compliments to aintesduck for giving me ideas last year. Silly, I know, but hey. Nobody else was a fish!

Mah pun'kin

The bathroom seemed a good place for pics.

One of my co-workers borrowed my snake charmer costume from last year and rocked it.

Raven's Blood Brew

I'm easily amused.

How awesome are those eyelashes?

D wore the crazy syringe hat - LOL behind them

Our neighbors are a trip

I had no idea Iron Maiden did this to people.

Yay. Twas an awesome night.

Then on Saturday we went to the Halloween party and saw more lovely costumes.

At the Bronx we picked up these crazies - and here we are stuck in the elevator.

Sylvia's posse - happy to be free

Gotta love D's face (LOL)

I really need to see Grey Gardens

And for some reason, it won't let me post any more. Damn!

Whoops for some reason it won't take - I'll try tomorrow

And our elevator rescuer as Elvira

I love when I can wear wings

Well I only got to wear it for an hour or so, but hey! Better than nothing! We had a great time.
Now when does the World Series end?? Family Guy hasn't been on in 2 weeks and apparently that's the excuse people made for bailing on Elvira's party (along w/the rain). If anyone can tell me, I'll give you a cookie. We've got plenty left over...

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:23:54 GMT

So Schism's not going to play at the NYC Horror Festival after all. I had the feeling when we didn't hear back from them in mid-October, but after watching it in the theatre I realized it still needs work. Some scenes have too much dialogue, so I think they can be edited down. I'm disappointed, but it is what it is. So I did what anyone would do after hearing a rejection like that last night. I made my jack-o-lantern.

In the meantime, some pics from karaoke. Wish we could do it all the time, but dayum renting a room does not come cheap. Nor does tequila, but that's put to good use.

This was the moment shinystarlet discovered British ska.

Love it! So we danced to some Madness.

Get yo'self on down...

The rapt audience

Just another Maaaanic Monday

This would be funny if the book wasn't there

Dead Man's Party

Sharing a moment...

So I'm caught up in pictures and ready for the weekend. My party's tomorrow and plans for Saturday are up in the air. As long as we stay away from the Village, I'm happy. It gets too obscenely crowded. The last two years were total duds - and I want to have a fun Halloween this year dammit! Is that too much to ask?

Happy Halloween everyone!

Schism at Cinema Wasteland!

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 19:11:12 GMT

Well the cold snap has lifted for now. My apartment is weird because they don't seem to put heat on until it's, like 35 degrees. So between that and about 45, I'm freezing. Then it's usually on during the day and off at night - like that makes any sense. Really. I don't get it.

Anyway, we're still waiting to hear back from the NYC Horror Festival. The movie still needs some work and I think some of the dialogue can be cut down/tightened. Watching it with a (small, maybe 35 people) audience at Cinema Wasteland was a bit nervewracking and, as much as I love it, I know it can be better. It starts out pretty funny with Lloyd Kaufman's cameo, then there are some funny scenes in the middle - but people weren't laughing as much. D said it was because people were involved at that point. I hope so! It's a starting point. I'm really proud of it and it's such a labor of love. Showing it on my birthday made it even more special. So here we are, fresh from dinner and ready for fun!

My Dad came, so we posed by the poster. He was so excited for us!

Have to give a shout out to Chris here with his friend. He was on crew and drove 9 hours to Cleveland from Long Island. How much does that ROCK?

Our star, Lynn.

Here it is! 11:15, just in time for the drunk crowd...

Then we hung out in the bar until 2 a.m. Dad brought birthday gifts and we were in bed by 3. I woke up around 6 a.m. b/c I forgot earplugs and D's a chainsaw sometimes. I took a bath, got dressed and went to wander the hotel, which woke Karl up. So they joined me for breakfast. Then I took a long nap.

By about 1 we wandered around. CW is a lot like Chiller Theatre used to be, but not as crowded. I was pretty enamored by the Evil Dead collection. Tom Sullivan did the special effects for that - and he was nicer than nice. He opened his case and let me take all the pictures I wanted!

Shop Smart. Shop S-mart.

It looks slightly vulgar, but it's really a turkey bone.

Dad & Tom - & the Necronomicon

And Ash was there! LOL

And a giant, lovable frog

I do not know what this is...

In the hall of "the party floor" some kids were asking for barrettes to hold this wig in place. I exchanged mine for a picture and copped a feel of toilet paper, haha.

This guy insisted I hold his sceptor

While Evil Santa only wanted a hug...

So, that concluded Saturday's portion of the event. We watched SNL (Lady Gaga and Madonna making out? Really?) and hit the hay. We woke to some commotion around 7 a.m. and learned later some girl was doing splits and crushing beer cans somehow (with her crotch? I'm trying to visualize how...OK nevermind).

On Sunday, we hung out at Lynn's table while she signed autographs. She sold 7 copies of Schism too, so that was cool. Since we were near the Troma table, here's the Toxic Avenger - with Lloyd behind him taking a photo.

Lynn with a shot of herself from "Basement Jack," which is freaking awesome by the way.

A few pics from her table, lots of stuff she did in the 70s.

The other side. Because I freaking love/want that blue hat.

This is Cerina Vincent who was in "Cabin Fever" and "Not Another Teen Movie" and I guess she was a Power Ranger at some point. She was a sweetheart, very friendly. That's Caroline Munro hugging someone in the mirror (a happy accident)

And here's Lynn with the guy who played the Sherriff in "Night of the Living Dead."

And Dad with his pals, the bikers in the original "Dawn of the Dead."

And one last picture with Lloyd before we left. He's a nut.

Home again, home again, jiggety jig

That's it. Fun weekend!

da Bronx & Pagan Pride

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 19:38:37 GMT

Well things have quieted down a little in the work front. I'm definitely going to wait until next week to make any large decisions for two reasons. One, I'm seeing my therapist. I only go when there's something really big on my mind, or else I just sit there with nothing to say. Second, END of tax season!!! October 15 deadline is really worse than April 15 deadline, so hopefully people won't be so unpleasant afterward. A client just took my head off - whee! Lovely week, really.

In the meantime here are pics from 2 weekends ago. I'm always an event behind, so better late than never. First was a visit to Sylvia in the Bronx to see her and the baby. The Bronx is about an hour 1/2 from Queens, so we don't get out there very much. The next day we went to Battery Park for Pagan Pride.

Here's Gabriel at 10 Months old, ain't he a cutie? I gave him the little stuffed dog. It giggles and barks and says Wow! He's not usually allowed in the living room b/c of the fishtank, but I was watching him closely.

Playing with Mommy

He likes the orange in this painting

He's adorable here, even if I look like the Sham-Wow guy

And yes, they have a turtle.

The next day was Pagan Pride. A lovely day to be outside.

Haha, I'm Aleister Crowley

Performance art. With a theramin!

I don't think this was supposed to happen, haha (it was very windy)

There was a wild turkey just pecking around.

It's the tiniest Statue of Liberty ever! (hehe)

No really, I'm not from here so I'm allowed to be a tourist once in awhile

Sylvia seemed pretty happy to be out and about

and shinystarletwas there

So I gave her a giant smooch

LOL We were laughing at this on the display of my camera when this crazy lady ran over. "How dare you laugh at the church!" She shrieked. "Get out of here!" Oh...kay...well I guess we were invading her home. Maybe she was freaked about all the pagans roaming around, I don't know where that came from.

I love this tiny sprout, growing like it belongs right there. hehe, I'm so mature.

Pics from the convention will be uploaded hopefully this weekend, woot!

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 20:42:17 GMT

The weekend was great although it was weird to spend my birthday in Cleveland. There was only one restaurant in the hotel so we had a nice dinner there and a mixture of carrot cake/cheesecake for dessert. Dad drove from Pittsburgh to watch the movie and everyone seemed to really enjoy it. At one time we had about 35 people in the room, but several kept wandering in and out. So the light shone in from outside - along with the noise from the bar (it played at 11:15 at night). That's the thing about conventions, there are a dozen things going on at once, so people have pretty short attention spans - and were drunk at that point I'm sure. It was still really cool.

Then on Saturday, D sat with Lynn while she signed autographs - and they sold 7 copies of it. He marked the DVD 'Special Limited Edition Pre-Release DVD' so people were intrigued. So it was an intense weekend and I only slept 3 hours Friday night. I'll upload pics soon, there were some interesting costumes and I really enjoyed the Evil Dead special effects room. I met some really awesome people and Lloyd Kaufman was full of hugs and kisses (of course).

I'm stressing about my job again. I think that's part of why I've been so physically sick this year. My doctor didn't find anything wrong, so I need to see a specialist for my tummy aches. Actually I need two because now it looks like I have chronic tonsilitis and will eventually need to get my tonsils removed. So I'm just venting right now because I am so tired of not feeling well. I was at my doctor for 2 hours at lunchtime today b/c they had to squeeze me in - then naturally got bitched at when I got back.

Should I look for another job? Is it worth it to have physical problems? It's a never-ending cycle and I'm just so sick of it. I need major dental work too - it's like I'm falling apart. I'm majorly depressed. God I'm not even 40 yet.

Maybe just crashing from having a lot of fun this weekend, but I'm in a seriously bad place today. OK rant/over.

PS1 2009

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 20:26:43 GMT

Haha, I just reported another bot. Can I say a hearty thank you to LJ for including an option to do that? Makes my stay here more pleasant. I also cut a handful of people on my F-list, but only those who didn't include me on theirs. I am in control!

More pictures. These were taken at the art museum, PS1 and I like interactive art. They didn't seem to mind anyone taking pictures of this, which made me very happy.

Looks like a boring old swimming pool, right?

But look down into it. There's a room! And I look like I have 4 boobs!

This is strange. It feels like you should be weightless...

...but you're not

Here's the view from below.

Cool. Much cooler than the outside display which usually has some sort of interactive thing to play with. This year - nada. But I took pictures anyway, because that's what I do.

Shiny found a place to stretch out

I dunno. We missed the Warm Up, but it was nice to have the installation to ourselves for a change (Warm Ups get really crowded - it's a big dance party). So here's the whole display, strangely void of people.

Looks like a tarantula to me. But up close it reminded me of yak fur.

Well, that's art. It can be whatever you want it to be.

Sunset

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 20:00:42 GMT

Depressed. I don't want to get into it, so here are a few pics from my rooftop.

If I had wings, I would fly into the color.

Phun Phactory 2009

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 18:08:21 GMT

Finally made it down to get new pics of the graffiti. Aw, I should've tried to get that tophat too look like it was on my head. Drat.

Is it the Dark Mark? The tires add a little something.

Nightmares anyone?

Sometimes you just need a coffee to wake the freak up, you know?

Scary vampire, hehe

The Breakfast Club.

How sweet is this?

It's all about skulls

...and monsters

...and the Toxic Avenger

Taken from the 7 train, a dude at work

It's impossible to get a good pic of the whole place b/c the train goes too fast, but I'll keep trying until I get a good one. There's Stewie in the far left.

By the way, tomorrow is National Talk Like a Pirate Day. Aaargh, me mateys!

Stephanie Meyers sucks

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 16:03:24 GMT

So I watched the Vampire Diaries last night. It was really cute and made me wish I was twelve again. I think I needed an antedote because I've become a Twilight hater. Well maybe hater's a strong word, but I haven't been able to put my finger on why it annoyed me so much. Aside from bad grammar and overuse of the words dazzling and godlike. Okay, I get the idea. Here are my problems with Twilight. I'm talking about the book - the more I think of it the more I liked the movie. Robert Pattinson is eye candy, but I digress.

1. Is physical appearance really so important? Sure, I get that Bella has no ego, she's shy and clumsy and doesn't see herself as special. That's all well and good, but does a girl always need a guy to catch her when she falls? I liked Elaina much more with the whole reincarnation thing. And her parents are dead, so that automatically gives her some depth. She's just more interesting, whether she's pretty or not. What's inside should be what matters - and both Edward and Bella were boring as hell. OK he plays the piano, big whoop.

2. How can vampires sparkle? Seriously? I mean if there was a reason, like they came from another planet and sparkled in their own sun, then I'd buy it. This was simplynever explained - and sun is supposed to be deadly for vampires. I guess the author wanted to make vampires as attractive as possible, but I have a problem with the whole sparkling thing. It's too wacky. Stephen wears a ring to protect him. I am intrigued.

3. Plot holes. Bella comes to Edward's house and he asks Carlysle to tell his story. But Carlysle's an important surgeon and gets called in to the hospital. So Edward tells the story and it starts to rain. So they go out to play baseball (?) and *poof* Carlysle is there?? Must have been a quick surgery! The book was filled with things that didn't match, but that one was the most obvious. I mean, couldn't her editor have picked up on that? Or was she too dazzled by all the sparkling?

4. One sentence really irritated me. It's on page 234 of the paperback. In order to get out of the rain, Bella runs 'under the porch.' Okay, WTF? Under the awning, sure. Onto the porch, okay. But under the porch? Is she a freaking cat? How could she possibly be small enough to run - okay, nevermind.

5. Her blood just smells so good. This would make sense if she had some rare blood. Maybe O+ or O- are the best because they're universal or something? No, he compares her to a fine wine - because he's just that romantic. I'm really not sure I buy the vegetarian vampires who only eat animals. When did vampires have morals? Maybe Stephan has morals, I don't know yet. Really I want to see vampires who actually suck some blood. Is that so wrong?

Everyone says True Blood's the best of the bunch but I don't have cable. I'll definitley check it out sometime. I'm sure I'll see New Moon at some point, but I won't waste my time with the books. I'll admit I'm a bit of a book snob, but there's too much out there I really want to read.

By the way, I won Dismantled in that contest awhile ago. It was terrific! It was really hard to put down, a real thriller with some great twists and turns at the end. I loved it, even the lesbianism was interesting. Speaking of books, I just found my favorite childhood book. I couldn't remember the name of it for the life of me then I remembered it had an owl with love in its eyes. So I asked on Yahoo! Answers and someone answered with a link and I bought it right away. It's called The Ghost Next Door by Wylly Folks St. John. I must have read it 3 or 4 times when I was a kid. I actually sculpted an owl out of clay, put love in its eyes and buried it somewhere in the yard, I was that obsessed with that book. Wonder whatever happened to it.

I'm really trying not to think it's 9/11...

TS Erika?

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 16:55:53 GMT

Aw and here I thought I was going to be a real tropical storm. Well it's OK I don't want to cause major damage like that bitch Katrina. Looks like I'm going to graze St. Croix and head out to sea, kthnxbye...

In other news, men were putting up the big Christmas decorations over our street this morning. Really? In September? Whoa.

Ghostly fish!

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 16:35:14 GMT

Well I got a new fish. Actually I got one right after Luna died, but he only lived about 2 months. No details on that, but I learned not to get too cocky. Raising bettas is a skill and I have to keep educating myself so that they stay healthy. So I felt terrible, but made sure to get the healthiest looking fish I could last week.

So here he is. Luna was black so I wanted a white fish. This is Ghost!

OK, maybe he's a little pink/purple. But he's so cute and full of energy! That's the best shot of his tail. He has an irridescent shimmer that I love. He jets around too fast to get a lot of pictures, but that's means he's healthy. All he has to do is build a nest and I'll be happy.

Hai Thar

Eating a bloodworm

Octopus love

Watching him swim is so peaceful.

So, yeah. Life's pretty boring. I think I officially crashed after vacation. My health problems don't help. At least I have my birthday party in Cleveland to look forward to. Looks like my Dad's coming. I have mixed emotions.

WooHoo!

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 16:50:28 GMT

Yay, Schism is going to show at Cinema Wasteland in Cleveland! Right on my birthday, so that'll be a cool way to celebrate it. The guy really liked it, even though it was a 'work print' Derek sent. It's almost done though! The music really adds a lot. Hopefully the NYC horror festival will accept it too. If not we really need to have a screening here since most of the actors live here. I doubt they'll be flying to Cleveland for the world premiere(!)...after that we'll have to find a distributor. Hopefully we can make some $$ back that we put into this thing.

Anyway, congratulations to Derek for doing such a great job!

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 18:01:25 GMT

Two hours of sleep must be a world record. I'm not sure what's going on, my stomach hasn't been right since we got back from vacation. I'm seeing my doctor tomorrow, the pains won't go away. I wonder if I'm unconsciously worrying about the movie. Right now I'm expecting the worst, because that's what I do. I worry. They're going to hate it. Nobody's going to understand the subtle humor because people in this day and age need everything explained to them. Still, if it doesn't make the cut it's not the end of the world. There are lots of options. I think.

On top of that, I think it's partly b/c it's that time of the month where everything makes me cry. I heard Time After Time and seriously had to hold it together. There's no real reason, other than I'm not myself when I'm not rested. I think that's part of why my belly hurts so much right now. Anyway I'm really thinking of purging my friends here. It might just be a funky mood, but I don't like reading journals of people who never comment on mine. Obviously that doesn't apply to anyone I know in r/l, but when I'm sifting through my friends list, I usually just skim over those people, maybe occasionally comment. I'm only as friendly as someone is to me. I mean, I know people get busy and I'm only talking about a handful of people that have never once commented on my journal, nor have ever commented on anything I wrote on their entries. If I deleted them, I doubt they'd even notice.

The only person I ever deleted was someone who came onto my journal, basically putting down something I really cared about. I never wanted to do that b/c it always seemed immature, but I don't think I'd draw attention to anyone. I've seen my user name on too many journals when someone deleted me and it's always been like, no it's not personal, but they never gave me a chance either. I'm really confused about it b/c I love reading other people's journals. Well, I doubt anyone will read this and if someone does and deletes me, please just don't make a post with my user name in it. It's embarrassing.

One of my co-workers is having a baby, so all the girls threw a surprise shower. I was surprised as well because my boss let me go. She got one of the mail room guys to cover my phone, so everyone went out to lunch. It was delicious and fun, although my stomach feels even worse after eating. Well I had a nice time and she loved the silly little rattle I got for her. Guess that's it. I have to do laundry tonight and don't know where I'll get the energy.

Depeche Mode pics

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 16:28:38 GMT

Well, Derek got the first rough draft of "Schism" in the mail to Cinema Wasteland - it seems almost certain that they'll show it. Lynn's already a guest, so they are interested. There's always that chance they'll hate it, so I get nervous. BUT if all goes well, we'll be in Cleveland - for my birthday! - and they'll show it. Wish us luck!

Anyway I finally got some home compy time and uploaded pics from Depeche Mode. We were still pretty far away and this is about as close as I could zoom before it got blurry. Yay!

Still, the screens were made of awesome.

I have a thing for eyeballs. That round thing was looking all around, it was brilliant.

Martin Gore wore a silver suit that positively glowed with the light on him.

Waiting for the Night...to...fall...

Yeah I gotta play with this camera and figure it out. I'm not sure how to upload the 50 seconds of Enjoy the Silence, but if I do I'll post that too. Woot DM!

Music

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 15:04:56 GMT

Monday night I saw Depeche Mode at Madison Square Garden and it was awesome. We were an entire section closer than when the Cure last year and it really made a difference. Although, as much as I love David Gahan's voice, it didn't make the ground shake like Robert Smith's did. Anyway, they did a lot of stuff from the new album which I like, but I wish they did more old stuff. The highlights:

Precious
Walking in my Shoes
It's No Good
Never Let Me Down Again
Enjoy the Silence
Strange Love
Master & Servant

I'm sure I'm forgetting a lot - and they didn't do People are People, which was disappointing. I was hoping for Shake the Disease, but meh. I'm kind of glad they didn't play Blasphemous Rumours because it always makes me cry. They ended with an almost a capella version of Waiting for the Night to Fall, which was quite lovely. A little anti-climactic, but nice. Both David and Martin Gore have gorgeous voices. And they're sexy as hell...I swear Depeche Mode's made of sex. Between the vocals and the lush backgrounds, mmm. They're like biting into a sweet peach and the juice dribbles down your chin onto satin sheets. Then you pull out the handcuffs and a whip and a blindfold. Verah nice. I tried out my new camera too and even got some video. At some point I will share.

Speaking of music, Weird Al has 2 songs and 2 new videos, neither of which I like. At all. He did a Doors parody recently which was cool because I love Jim Morrison. The thing is, when he's off - he's really off. A handful of his songs I actually hate - and unfortunatly these fall into that category, which depresses the hell out of me. One song's called CNR and I asked someone in the weird_al community who CNR was and he snapped at me for not looking him up. Um, when I google CNR I get Canadian National Railroad, you jerk. Now that I looked at the lyrics I realized it's about Charles Nelson Reilly, the comedian. Just wish someone could've helped me with that instead of getting annoyed.

Guess I'm in a little funk. There's still some cool stuff to do this summer, but right now I'm totally disorganized. I can't find anything and I'm not sleeping well. So I'm moody as hell. I burst out in tears last night for no reason. Derek's so busy with the movie I don't have much to do right now. Blah.

Costa Rica Part 2

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 15:52:20 GMT

Well maybe it's okay my camera died, I needed a new one anyway. So here are the last of the pictures I have right now - but hopefully I'll have a few more of the animals later.

So day 2 was all about Arenal Volcano. We got up before sunrise, which is supposed to be the only time you can see lava. As we took off, there was already some light in the sky. They say after 7 a.m. the clouds roll in and you can't see the top of the volcano at all, which proved to be true. We tried to drive to the active side, but wound up getting a bit lost. We bounced along this really rocky road and first saw a black pheasant - it looked like a black peacock. It was so cool and flew off in a heartbeat. Then 4 black pigs crossed the road in front of us. They were gone before I could snap a picture, but I overheard later wild pigs are black. Imagine that, wild pigs!

By the time we realized that road wasn't going anywhere (or it was taking us too far away), the sun was already up and this was about as close as we were going to get. It's smoking, which is pretty damned cool anyway.

We admired it a few more times on the way back. Horses!

After breakfast, we hiked as close as we could which was awesome. There were two trails you could take. One led directly to the base of the volcano. The other was longer, but on the map there was this huge tree. So we took the second trail - and this tree was unbelievable.

Here's what we saw along the hike. Lots of mossy green stuff!

Crazy vines.

Weird banana looking plants

loved the wild birds of paradise (I think that's what they are)

It rained for awhile, but we were prepared.

Derek was excited at the words 'high volcanic risk.'

This little guy ran out and just sat there contemplating the rocks and us. But we were slow...and he let us get this close. Pretty cute!

Some weird mossy roots.

But that was nothing compared to this.

To get an idea how massive those roots are:

All I could say was WOW. That was amazing. But the best was yet to come. We got to the end of the trail and it either snaked back or you could take stairs to an observation point. Naturally, tired and hungry as we were, we went to observe...this.

I felt like I conquered the world...

This is what we climbed by the way.

That's Arenal Lake in the background.

That was so amazing. Then we made our way back and, after some car problems, had lunch at one of the sodas. They had tacos, which was great b/c the beans & rice were not agreeing with me. Anyway, when we got back to the hotel my camera totally died.

At night we went to Eco Termales which is a hot spring. The water runs from the volcano and it's naturally heated, so that was pretty exotic. Especially with enormous pina coladas. Why can't we do that every day, haha! So we swam and soaked got pretty sleepy. This place was great especially because dinner's included in the deal.

Then on Day 3 we took a river tour and saw monkeys, another sloth, some amazing birds, Jesus lizards, caimans, the coolest bats. I got some video of wild parakeets, but left it up to Derek to film the awesome stuff. Hope I can share at some point. That night we just shopped in La Fortuna and got a few souvenirs.

Day 4 was spent on the road. We drove to Tamarindo Beach and saw another volcano on the way. Well, it's there in the distance as we were driving, but still.

My first thoughts of Tamarindo Beach were, 'oh my God, everyone's totally buff.' It's a surfing town, so everyone was perfectly tan and in shape and I immediately felt fat. Oh well, at least we finally saw a sunset.

Day 5 we didn't do much at all. We watched people surf and swam a bit. I wanted to try surfing, but not on my bum foot, oh well. Here are some pics of the beach.

That's a pelican flying in the background.

The sunsets were incredibly beautiful. The sun looks enormous and once it touches the horizon, you can literally watch it disappear. It only takes about 5 minutes, then you're left with gorgeous color in the sky.

Then on day 6 we went snorkeling. I wished I'd gotten an underwater disposable instead of a regular one, but it was still so much fun. One of the divers let me hold a starfish, then I watched him gently put it back. He let me hold a lobster too, it grabbed onto me and then I watched it swim away. Another diver caught a pufferfish and when it swam away, it deflated. So cool! Toward the end, my eyes got sore from the goggles, it felt like saltwater had gotten inside. The water was really choppy too, so even with flotation devices, we were exhausted from swimming in it. The last thing one of the divers brought up was a small octopus. It coiled around his hand, this purplish-blue thing. So everyone went to the side of the boat to pet it. He kissed it on the head and let it go.

The snorkeling took place near that large rock in the distance. It was covered in cactii (cactuses?) by the way. So that ended our vacation. Day 7 was spent traveling. I think this is over Guatemala.

Bye bye Costa Rica! Pura Vida!! Pure Life!

So that ends our adventurous tale! For now anyway. Now it's back to working on the movie and hoping Derek's done by mid-August. He's really pounding away, I'm so proud of him.

Costa Rica Part 1

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 20:10:29 GMT

Pics are finally up! I’ll try to narrow it down to my favorites. My camera died in the middle of the second day (probably why the pics aren't the best quality), and a few were taken with a disposable. Almost all the animal shots were captured by Derek on video, so hopefully I can pull some stills later. But yes! We were there!

Let me just say, Costa Rica's about the best vacation we could have had. It had everything. Animals, relaxation, excitement and more fun than I can really describe.

So when we finally got to the hotel, this little guy was waiting in the corner by our door. I took it as a good sign we would see lots of animals – and we did! I swear J

We woke up around 6 a.m. the next day and the rain had finally stopped. Opening the back door was like when Dorothy first got a gander of Oz. The gardens were so beautiful and I ran around for a good half hour in my bare feet on wet grass.

Before long I realized the rooms weren’t marked on that side and I was lost. So I found my way to the front of the hotel and we headed off for breakfast.

Here's Derek at the start of the hanging bridge tour.

This was so awesome, even if the bridge moved with the slightest step. So it was a bit of a thrill too.

Our tour guide Pablo rocked and we had him all to ourselves! He knew all about trees and soil and found a nest with eggs built into the dirt. If it weren’t for him, we wouldn’t have seen two sloths and an anteater. He has the coolest job in the world.

He took this pic through his binoculars of a sloth sleeping in the trees. My goal was to see one - and we saw three total! More from D's video at some point I hope. My camera couldn't zoom in so far.

Here’s a glass wing butterfly I might not have noticed. Sorry little guy, I forgot to turn off the flash.

The bridges kept getting higher and longer until there’s a breathtaking view like this.

Or like this if you look down (sorry, just had to do it!)

A couple macaws were waiting at the end as if to say "take a picture!"

Then we had lunch - and loved how everything is open to the outdoors. Birds would just fly through, no big deal.

Then we drove to La Fortuna waterfall. This was a place I had to visit for personal reasons and it was really amazing.

Since we were there during rainy season, they strongly recommended not swimming here. You can see why, that water’s really rough.

But it pools off to the left, just right for a dip!

Derek liked the idea that he could be swept into the rocks at any minute. But it was pretty shallow and the current wasn't very strong.

There was a school of fish that lived there. Neat!

Not sure why this pic is so small, it was beautiful there.

The next day we hiked on our own and visited the volcano, so that’ll be next. In the meantime, some shots of La Fortuna where we stayed. That's the volcano under the clouds.

It's a pretty little town, even in the rain.

Back at the hotel. That's Arenal Volcano behind me (the inactive side is green, the active side is black - I figured that out on my own!). We watched the clouds lift from the wet bar in the pool.

Pretty palm, isn't it? That's also the hedge I tripped over. I didn't see the rocks.

Stay tuned for more soon!

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 15:58:39 GMT

Well, I finally went to the podiatrist to see why I'm still limping and looks like I have a tiny bone chip in the top of my foot. It's really small and he said there's not much to do but wait for it to heal itself. Which seems to be happening because it's itchy as a mo-fo. At least the bruising is almost gone, I guess I'm a slow healer.

Speaking of feet, I really want to know what is up with the gladiator shoes I see everywhere now? I kinda like the ones that look like funky bondage shoes or something. The ones that bother me cover the ankle while the toes are free and exposed to the world. I think feet are ugly to begin with, why accentuate the most unattractive part of the foot?

I don't understand fashion.

Back from Costa Rica

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 20:52:05 GMT

I'm baaack! I'll check my f-list in a bit and hope everyone's all right. Hope nobody deleted me, the last thing I wanted was to be online while on vacation. The first hotel only had 2 computers in the reception area (lovely as it was...and outside) and the second place just had one in the main office.

It was all amazing and unbelievable and extremely fun and exciting - and at times downright scary. Luckily Derek knows Spanish fluently. The people were so nice as it was - and they were even nicer when they could relax around him. Everyone was really sweet and totally helpful. Anyway, this is my venting post for 2 reasons. One, I haven't uploaded pictures yet, so I'm not ready to give a blow-by-blow of the awesome stuff. Two, I want to create a post I can show my parents and neice - without them thinking we were in any peril.

OK, maybe peril's a strong word. But I can understand why they recommend staying the first night in San Jose. The plane touched down, then at the car rental agency it started raining. I couldn't figure out the GPS system, and there are no road signs, so we had no idea if we were even going the right way. Luckily we hit a town and I knew we had to turn (wow I can read a map! Will wonders ever cease?). Then the hills started and it was all up, down, winding and winding and winding some more - with no guardrails! Whoopie! Sure the road was paved, but narrow enough that if a car was coming, you really had to slow down. If we dropped off the road...that's how many hundreds of feet into green wilderness? Beautiful. But whoa. It was nervewracking. At one point it was pouring so heavy, we almost crashed into an oncoming car. The bridges were all one lane, so Derek couldn't see it coming. Since there's no shoulder to the roads, the people just wander along the streets, no big thing. There's no sidewalk, so luckily we didn't hit anyone.

By the time we got to La Fortuna, it was dark and coming down in gales. We were starving. We didn't stop to eat for two reasons. First, we hadn't exchanged our American dollars yet (Derek insisted the airport would rip us off) and we were trying to reach La Fortuna before nightfall, about 6:30. Finally, he exchanged the money, I stopped in a tourist info center to ask which way to the hotel. I chatted up a man with his 2 young sons - from North Carolina. I recognized the accent right away, they had the hotel next to ours. Nifty.

So we headed the way they suggested and almost missed the turn, but amazingly enough we got there in one piece. We threw our stuff in the (gorgeous) room and headed to one of the hotel's 2 restaurants. And guzzled wine. I'm sure my nerves weren't as frayed as his, but I'm so impressed with his driving! Yay! Oh and there was a tiny frog (or toad?) waiting at our doorstep, probably trying to get out of the rain. I took it as a good sign that we would see a plethora of animals. And we did! Anyway, it rained all night. We woke up around 6 a.m. and it had stopped, but the grass was still wet. So we just ran around, amazed at the garden. It was so beautiful, all exotic flowers and butterflies and more hummingbirds than I ever saw in one place. There were cows in the distance, just what Derek wanted - not to be near any cities.

Details on all the amazing stuff soon. We got most of it on video, my camera died in the middle of the 2nd day. Hello humidity! Then on the 3rd day, I tripped over a hedge and really fucked up my foot. Luckily it was after the heavy hiking (and didn't happen while climbing the volcano rocks - that was so unbelievable!), so I iced it and it seemed okay. Then on the 4th day we set out for the beach. I wanted a picture of the lake and many people were gathered by this dam, watching the volcano. So we pulled over and were immediately immersed in mud. With all that rain, the Rover just slid off the side of the road and got worse and worse the more he tried to get it out.

This guy ran over, he was parked in front of us. So he pulled out for us to have more room. No dice. Stuck car was STUCK. Dude pulls a rope out of his car and attaches it to the front bumper. Meanwhile his truck was about 1/2 the size of the Land Rover, so naturally he starts sliding into the mud too. Then Derek was stopped by a fallen tree and could not go forward. So Dude pulls a freaking machete out of his truck and hacks away at the dead tree. Then he hands the machete to his little girl (it was about as tall as she was) and she's leaning on it, watching the whole scenario. She was watching me too as I was just pacing - I think knowing she was watching kept me from freaking out.

Then this pick-up drives up with 3 or 4 big burly dudes and they pulled the car out with the first dude's rope. Everyone seemed so happy to help and it was this huge cheer when we were freed. It was tempting to give them money, but Derek got the feeling they'd be insulted by that. So did I. Anyway, the amazing thing - the car was filthy - but not a dent in it. Yikes, that was close.

After we got to Tamarindo Beach, we slowed down and I got to worrying about the kitties. Like really worrying, because our kitty-sitter hadn't emailed me back yet. Then on day 6 we went snorkeling, which was amazing and I kicked myself for not getting an underwater digital. I think that and the hanging bridges were my favorite excursions. Ah hell, it was all so awesome!

On Friday we got to the airport and I took my shoe off - the foot I fell on was completely black and blue, right in the shape of the snorkel fin. It still really hurts, I'm sure the fin aggravated it. I'm going into the podiatrist on Wednesday, not like there aren't enough problems with that foot. I was wearing the orthotic when I fell, so I think that's part of why I couldn't catch my bearings. It looks better now, but they want to X-ray it to be sure no ligaments are torn or anything. I cracked my hand on the boat and it's taking ages to heal too. Maybe I'm a slow healer? Oh and the bug bites...Deep Woods Off only goes so far *scratch scratch*

So that's all the poopy stuff out of the way, still how amazing all those people ran over to help. That brings me up to all the good stuff - and there's a lot. I'll get into it when I got some pictures to show. It was everything I dreamed it would be. WOW!

It's good to be back - hope everyone's doing all right! Pura Vida! Pure life!

Real trips and guilt trips

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 19:21:52 GMT

Well in 3 more days we'll leave for Costa Rica for an entire week. It hit me over the weekend how excited I am although I have no idea what to expect. It'll be nice to be away from the city and hopefully see some creatures in their natural habitat. That's the goal here, in case anyone (like my father) is questioning the appeal. He didn't have much to say about it. He could care less. As usual, he's in his own narcissistic little world.

My Mom on the other hand is a wreck. She told me I'm going to get kidnapped and drugged and have my liver removed when I'm unconscious. Okay, how often does that happen in Costa Rica? Luckily we're renting a car and driving out of San Jose immediately. From what I understand that's the only place down there with any crime at all. All I know is, I'm going to stick close to Derek and trust he'll maim anyone with ill intent. And if for some reason I wind up dead, at least I was pursuing my dream of traveling the world.

Anyway, she burst into tears and I wasn't sure what to say. My little sister's been violently sick, so she's pretty upset and I think worrying about me pushed her over the edge. I've never heard her so depressed. Ever. I'm going to call tomorrow night and see if she's okay. I can't imagine a trek out of the country without making sure she's all right. She's so good at guilt trips, I think she might be a little jealous. I mean, this trip means a lot to me and I really don't want to have her unhappiness hanging over my head for a week. Whatever is causing it.

In other news, no I'm not watching Mr. Jackson's funeral or memorial or whatever is happening this very moment. I have nothing against him, but I'm not a fan and have no attachment, so why would I? If one more person asks me that I think I'll run screaming into the street.

Mermaid Parade, Part 2

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:13:45 GMT

Well I had jury duty on Friday and luckily wasn't picked. It was a divorce case, so I got to say "ooh, my parents were divorced." And they said buh-bye, which is fine by me. It was insanely boring and I got tired of the Michael Jackson music by about noon. Although I do like "Human Nature," I can't really take pop music.

So I'm overdue for the remainder of the Mermaid Parade pics. This was me & shinystarlet afterwards, cold & wet & pretty darned happy. How cute were we?

Money merms. Her sign reads 'Stimulus Package.'

I don't understand either. But I like the nails.

A crowd pleaser - Splashdance! Just a steel town girl on a Saturday night...

She's a maniac...

What a feeling!

I'm goin' on a Manhunt...

Hehe, I loves that movie.

Oh and here's that guy behind her with his dog and bird. He's there every year.

Something kinky's going on here...

Ooh lala!

My favorite picture of the day. Julie Atlas Muse.

Then onto the mermaid ball. It was split into two sessions and the 2nd didn't start until 9, so we went to the first and it was pretty dead. They changed Child's Restaurant into a skating rink.

I haven't skated in years. Surprisingly I did not fall.

I couldn't get this girl's face to save my life, but she was part of the burlesque show.

So was Tigger, the sad clown.

I didn't understand this girl's act, but it was funny.

My camera died for the contortionist. Oh well!

Twas an awesome day.

Dismantled giveaway!

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:10:20 GMT

Yay! Jennifer McMahon's got a new book out, "Dismantled." It's a fantastic trailer - and she's giving away free copies.

She wrote "Promise Not to Tell" and "Island of Lost Girls," both of which I loved. I'm excited to read this one. Book lovers on my f-list check it out!

Mermaid Parade, Part 1

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 20:43:24 GMT

Well, despite the weather, this year was probably the most fun Mermaid Parade I've been in. We got there early and they even had a changing area set up, which was a wonderful surprise. I took about 150 pictures, so I'm splitting this into two parts. Because it's just too much fabulousness for one post. This is just a fashion designer's dream - and makes me wish I had more skill with costume making. But I can't complain - we were fabulous too and got stopped a lot for pics. Seriously. How beautiful is this?

These are all from the staging area. Because while you wait to march, it's impossible not to get pics of it all. So join me...

This was the first thing I saw. And I knew it would be an amazing day.

Pretty ladies...

Pretty kids...with guns :)

A...transformer?

More fabulousness (not sure what the Jiffy box crown means, but I like it)

Oh yeah, we were there too :) The cardboard tikis got destroyed pronto, but the foam ones were surprisingly resilient!

Getting ready...(nice tats, ladies)

A few WTF moments...

Hammerhead sharks!

Even more awesome - M.C. Hammerhead sharks!

Can't touch that!

Some dancing...

Then the sky just opened up and it started pouring. This cheer went up and everyone started dancing.

It was marvelous.

The perfect day for a jellyfish.

We were by the Rocky Horror peeps. And Frank-N-Furter's always hot.

Wise up, Janet Weiss!

The cutest hat...

Day of the Dead, love the skele-tails!

And cool face paint.

Get in line, ladies!
.

Next up - the actual parade! And aftermath! And mermaids - on skates!

Bye, Luna

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 15:16:58 GMT

*sigh* When I got home from work yesterday, my fish Luna was belly up. I had him for about 2 years which I think is normal for a betta fish. On Monday I changed his water, so I keep wondering if I did something wrong, but who knows. I felt bad flushing him, but I wasn't obsessed enough to freeze him and drag him to Coney tomorrow and bury him at sea. He was a sweet little fish though, just a happy little bugger. Bye, Lunafish.

So on to the Mermaid Parade tomorrow. Looks like we'll be swimming through a thunderstorm. Because we're that hardcore. Umm...anyone know how to waterproof cardboard and foam? I thought not.

Twilight

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 20:46:43 GMT

So I watched Twilight last night. Not bad, although I'm not sure what the hype is. Other than Robert Pattinson's pretty good looking. Maybe since I'm pushing 40, I'm a lot more cynical than the teens and tweens who love it. I asked my 12 year old neice if she thought I'd like it. We always talk Harry Potter and she said it was just as good and sooooo romantic. I can't help thinking all these young girls are going to get these delusions of grandeur in their heads about what love is or should be. Will they be searching for their bad-boy-wants-to-be-good Edward Cullens? No doubt. I wanted to marry Bronson Pinchot who played Balki in Perfect Strangers. Now he's practically bald, and I'm glad that never happened, haha.

He watches her while she sleeps...and this is not creepy? OK, call me skeptical, but I don't know. I'm curious about the book, but not sure if I should when I'm already so behind in my reading.