Just a quick note to say Happy Halloween to all! Alas I get no trick-or-treaters where I live. I need to move this time of year just to get some 🙁 I have to wake up tomorrow eaaaarrrrlllllyyyyyy as the rescheduled lecture on Native Americans at the farm is tomorrow. I’ll be sure to post on how it goes.

First up, everyone going on the cruise in January spoke with our new referred agent at the top company. We had to fax in all our documents showing we had paid for our cruises and were given confirmations. We are promised we are being taken care of today, the cruise won’t be canceled. Oy! As it turns out, yes it looks like a bit of embezzling, but that word of course wasn’t used. Payments were simply taken for the cruises but not applied to the cruises. Nice way of saying our money was borrowed for awhile?

Last night I had odd odd dreams! I dreamt I was in New Orleans, but it wasn’t actually New Orleans. I can still see the streets and the restaurants, but I’m not sure where it was. It’s one of those “I know it’s somewhere I’ve been, but I’m not sure where” moments. Maybe it is a past life in a dream? Who knows! I do know when I went to dinner I ordered turkey. Yeah, just turkey. I don’t know why. However instead of bringing me a whole turkey, which is what I expected, they brought me Bambi! It was a deer, dead, sitting on a platter, fur and all! EW! I guess killing Bambi finally came back to haunt me!

-Dustin

So Keith and I both called the cruise line directly tonight to see if they have our money. Nope! They have our initial deposits made months ago, but not the final payments. We basically have till Saturday to get this resolved or the cruises are canceled. We have records that we paid the travel agents, but it seems the money never got to the cruise lines. This is just smelling of a huge embezzlement scam, which is probably why the travel agent’s franchise was suddenly revoked.

I’ll never ever ever use a travel agent AGAIN!

People are scum.

First up, the drama for the day. Last week I got a confirmation letter from the travel agent that the cruise for January was paid off in full. I also this weekend reserved a hotel down in Orlando for Disney, which we are doing prior to the cruise. Well today I get the lovely letter that the travel agent and his agency, which is a franchise of a corporate agency, have basically left the building and all his clients have been referred to the corporate office. I emailed Kieth, as this agent is the one he’s used for years and I thought he might know what happened. He hadn’t yet received this letter, so he called up the office. All we know is that the franchise, for undisclosed reasons, was terminated. They are now trying to sort through the records and make sure everyone is taken care of, but they had no updated records that Keith’s cruise had been reserved or paid off :-\. I fired off an email to see what the status of our reservation was, hoping I’m not going to have produce bank statements and the such to show it’s been paid off. It may actually come to that if they have no records for our cruise reservation as well. Needless to say we are all sitting around hoping this will be resolved and we are all fine.

In other news, Emily is trying for movie night this coming Saturday. We shall see 🙂 Speaking of movies, I finally got around to watching “The Reaping,” which starts Hillary Swank. It was okay. In the movie Swank’s character is a religious studies professor at LSU, and a former ordained minister. She spends her time proving that there are scientific explanations for so-called religious miracles. She has lost her faith, but we don’t really know why. We later find out why through a series of flashbacks. Meanwhile in the movie she’s called to investigate a small town which seems to be being visited by the 10 plagues of the bible, and they are blaming it on an evil little girl who lives out in the bayou and is “the work of the devil.” It’s less of a horror movie and much more a thriller/drama. By the end of the film you’ll figure out what is going on, but it is neat how it all pieces together with flashbacks of moments in the film. The story was good enough, but at the end you realize the main twist has already been done before and very recently actually. I won’t point to the movie, as that might spoil the end for those who want to see it. I will say no, it’s not “Sixth Sense.”

It has been rainy, sold and miserable since my last post up until about 3-4 hours ago, when the sun came out and it got insanely warm. It hasn’t been a pleasant past few days and I’m hoping not to see rain for awhile.

Emily, having to go to LA tomorrow for work, had to cancel movie night. Probably for the best as usual I had a bit of a headache yesterday and have far too much work to do. I’m taking a break from writing right now to type this.

I’ve popped in “The Birds” to play on TV so I have something going. Nothing else is on and I do enjoy this movie, tough I’ve seen it many many times. I plan to watch some other movies later tonight when I’m done writing. Alas, I don’t have high hopes (The Reaping and Return to House on Haunted Hill).

I wish I had more to blog about right now, but I don’t. I guess my life is currently in a rut with not much excitement at the moment.

First up, sorry for neglecting the blog. It’s been one of those weeks! Tomorrow at the farm was supposed to be an educational group coming in. The corn maze at the farm is a big Native American head, so they were coming to do that, take an educational hay ride and they wanted a lecture on the Native Americans of the area. They knew it could be done because the BF’s sister had given a similar lecture when her son was in this class last year, based on the artifacts found on the farm. However she ran by me what she said last year and planned to say this year and of course I was like “Um, well you can say that, but it’s basically a guess rather than anything based in fact.” So I gave her some correct things to say and said I’d try and write some stuff down for her. Of course this turned into me just offering to give the lecture to these kids, especially since she lost her voice this week. Well I figured I’d simply write that chapter of the dissertation and then I’d use that for the lecture to these kids, an all be it abbreviated and watered down version. I dug all the articles out to write it, started it up, but fortunately rain has delayed it till next week. Whoo! I actually want the chapter done by this weekend if possible, but I didn’t really want to be up to the wee hours of the dawn doing this.

It’s the time of the year when I realize all my hopes and dreams of getting into better shape for the upcoming vacation haven’t happened! I do this every year, and every year at this time is when I think “Hey I’ll just go back to being a vegetarian till the cruise to drop a few pounds.” Of course I can never follow through with it, even if I try hard. I’ve been thinking of trying it again, not only to shed a few pounds, but because of headaches. I have found myself having lots of headaches lately, some due to stress, but a lot due to diet. I thought I would try and eat more healthy and make sandwiches at home, but I made the mistake of using deli meats. I think all that processed yummy goodness didn’t like my body very much! Of course I could just cook up some meat and use for sandwiches, but the likelihood I’d do that is sliiiimmmmm. One of the reasons I became a vegetarian years ago is because the only meat I ever really ate just wasn’t good for me. I’ve fallen back into that trap again lately, so it might be time to see if I can go back to just no meat at all. I’ll think about it 🙂

This Friday Emily is coming over, we are attempting another movie night as well as to finally get our butts into the corn maze. Here is hoping there won’t be any rain Friday night. While it might set the atmosphere for scary movie night, it would suck for the maze.

So last night Emily and I saw Xanadu on Broadway. OMG It was amazing and just so much fun! For those who don’t know, or have blacked the experience out all together, Xanadu is based on the 1980 movie staring Olivia Newton John, Fred Astaire and featuring the music of ELO. The movie is about a Greek muse named Kira who comes to life from a mural. She meets Sonny Malone, who is a struggling artist. She becomes his muse. Sonny gets the idea to basically open up a roller disco and finds the place he wants to build it, an old theater/building called Xanadu. As it turns out, the builder (Fred Astaire) was inspired by Kira decades ago. So the two form a partnership and end up opening the roller disco Xanadu.

The show keeps the same basic story, but adds Kira’s sister muses to the story as other characters, as well her enemies. Two of the sisters set out to sabotage her out of jealousy and provide the villains for the show. Equally hilarious is the fact that two of the sister muses are actually played by men, who without the show seriously wouldn’t be half as funny as it is. Each actor also plays double parts in the show, which is why they have some male muses. You’ll just have to see it, I don’t want to spoil it.

Do you need to see the movie to enjoy the show? No. Honestly if you see the movie you probably won’t WANT to see the show, because the movie is just horrendous. However if you have seen the movie, it actually does make you appreciate the show a little more. For example the jokes about the movie in the show you’ll get, and it is interesting to see how they incorporate some of the songs and scenes from the movie into the show, such as the introductory number where they come alive from the mural. The one plus upon seeing the movie comes with the introduction of the Fred Astaire character. I felt in the show his introduction and his past with Kira (the boogie woogie tap dancing number) wasn’t clear. It was explained well after the scene to the audience, but if you hadn’t seen the movie it just comes out of no where and it’s kinda like huh?

The songs from the movie are there, as well as some extra ELO songs (such as Evil Woman). They are incorporated into the show amazingly well. Musically it’s great show and if you know the songs you’ll want to sing along. Kerri Butler, who plays Kira (Olivia’s character) is absolutely amazing. There are several instances where you literally laugh out loud as she’s singing because she’s purposefully overdoing Olivia’s wispy voice and huffs. The way they add the cheesy 80s “video effects” to some of the numbers is hilarious as well. Wind machine anyone?

One thing that struck me and many people was the size of the theater. The show is playing at the Helen Hayes theater, which is a very small theater for a show like this. This is a blessing and a curse. It’s a blessing because no matter what seat you get, your pretty much guaranteed a good one. It’s a curse because as this show probably becomes more popular, tickets may become more difficult to get because of the theater size.

There is actually seating on stage believe it or not. The stage is set up like a Greek amphitheater and for an additional fee you can sit on the stage. This has it’s pluses and minuses. You are a whole lot closer to the actors, and the actors at times sit with you and even interact with you. However at the same time you’ll see a lot of their backs as they are performing.

The show is not serious like other broadway shows, essentially a spoof Broadway itself and of the 80s. It is filled with references and jokes throughout poking fun at the decade. This is probably what makes it just so enjoyable and fun to watch. However at the same time, some of the jokes and references might go over people’s heads. For example if you don’t know what “Clash of the Titans” is, then the best joke of the show will be lost on you.

If you are in New York anytime soon, be sure to see this show. You’ll love it. If you don’t, something is wrong with you!

-Dustin

Holy hell, that is about all I can say right now! Last night at 3amish, the BF got hit with a kidney stone. He hobbled downstairs, I went down a bit later when he didn’t return to check. He had taken a percocet and was on the couch writhing in pain. He decided he wanted to stay downstairs as the cold floor was there if he needed it. I went back to bed, there really isn’t much you can do for a kidney stone but drink and hope to pee it out quickly.

Around 6am the alarm went off, he wasn’t back. I went down to check on him, to see if it was still bad. It was. That’s when I had the pleasure of discovering the empty pill bottle on the dogs bed! I said please tell me this was empty? It wasn’t, but it was now! Nikko had grabbed it off the table next to the couch where the BF set it and decided it would make a chew toy. I’m sitting here looking at the dogs, not knowing when they did this and freaking out. My vet is literally right down the street, I was about to throw them in the car and rush them there. However I soon found the pills were piled on the other couch. Nikko had taken the bottle, broken the cap off and dumped them everywhere, taken the bottle with him to another bed to play with. Of course I’m still standing here thinking, God did they eat any of them though? They seemed fine and just one probably would be enough to send them to doggie heaven rather quickly. I then stayed on doggie coma watch for an hour, to make sure I didn’t have to rush them to the vet. Fortunately they are fine.

Of course my migraine is now returning. I shouldn’t be even be on the PC as is. I am also waiting for whatever horror is to happen next. Perhaps I’ll get hit with a kidney stone, though I did just have two small ones about a week ago myself.

So my allergies persisted after Keith left, so it definitely wasn’t his dog. I deduced it was just that time of the year, the trees are changing, the leaves are falling, achew! I went and got some Clariton D and did a somewhat good cleaning of the house. Can I just bitch about buying Clariton D for a moment. Thanks to meth heads, it’s now behind the counter and you have to show your ID to get it. Before they basically took my address down and simply made me sign a book. Now however they’ve gotten high-tech and are scanning my license. I don’t think I like that very much! I’m probably going to have to get my doctor to write me a prescription, as I don’t need the government deciding I’m buying to much and coming knocking on my door.

This weekend is Xanaduuuuuuuu! Taking a bus up to New York on Saturday to meet Emily, we’ll do dinner and then the show. Originally we were planning to stay the night, but since hotels are insane in the city and her hotel was way outside of the city (she’s there for work), we are just driving back after the show. Next Friday we are trying for another movie night and to finally do the corn maze at the farm.

I had intended to try and get my butt to the movies today to see “Halloween.” It basically disappears from theaters this Friday, so if I want to see it I have to do it now. Of course I was hit with a migraine today, so I nixed it. I feel I’m behind with work so I probably won’t go tomorrow unless I can make myself do the 10:20 show. Otherwise I’ll be waiting till Christmas which is when it comes out on DVD!

Keith came up Saturday and left today. It was a brief but fun visit. We did Cheesecake for lunch/dinner yesterday before heading to Eastern State Penitentiary for “Terror Behind The Walls.” Not too much had been changed from last year, but it was still scary and a good time. Today we took it easy and had lunch at Houlihan’s. We hung out, then he headed home.

I’m actually beat and don’t have too much more to say. Something aggravated my allergies this weekend, I think maybe it was trying to quickly clean and dust before Keith got here. Needless to say I’ve been sneezing and miserable all weekend because of it. Then again, it could have been Keith’s doggy he brought too 🙂 We’ll see how I am now that they are gone.

Oh I did decorate the inside of the house for Halloween too 🙂 The BF has been getting “The Nightmare Before Xmas” village, but he has never set it up. Why buy it then? I set it up this year. There are 11 pieces to it so far, who knows how many in total are going to come. It’s the same place that sends me the never ending village of Bethlehem when I thought I was ordering a simple nativity.