Kristina Awesome

DISNEYLAND!!! Day 2

2009-08-28T12:43:00.000-07:00

In spite of our exhaustion from the previous day's travel, Lauren and I were up bright and early Thursday morning. Out rental car was to be picked up at 7am and the Avis is only about a 10 to 15 minute walk from the hotel. Did I say 10 to 15?? Sorry, I meant 30 minutes. Sure it's 15 if you don't walk right past it and have to turn around nearly a mile later... Driving, I can understand missing something like a giant red sign that says AVIS. But walking?? How we did it, I'll never know. Once we made it over that small hurdle, came my biggest mental obstacle: driving in LA. The rental car, a Hyundai Elantra (very nice), drives different than my Prius. A quick drive around some Burbank residential streets and I was good enough to get out on the main roads. We headed out the main roads, hopped on the 5, some how ended up on the 10, got off on Alameda, back on at Olympic, and finally back on the 5. In all, traffic was not very bad and the LA highway system was probably less terrifying than merging on/off I-85 & I-77 here in Charlotte. A short time later we safely maneuvered into our spot in the Disneyland parking deck. It was a great day, breezy air, sunny skies, and I was CALIFORNIA. Disneyland was lots of fun. I was going to breakdown and highlight difference between Disneyland and Walt Disney World, but in the interest of most my readers, I'll save that for later. Only my hardcore Disney folks will really care about that.

Disneyland

Having missed breakfast because of our rental car fiasco, I stopped on Main Street for a banana and bottle of water. It felt great, having my healthy breakfast, breeze blowing, walking around the Happiest Place On Earth... We started in Tomorrowland and worked our way counter-clockwise through the park. Space Mountain was fantastic, much darker and faster than the pre-rehab that I was used to in WDW. Lots of things were the same as WDW, lots of things were different, and some were new experiences all together. Pirates of the Caribbean was cool. It was longer, with two drops, but the story appeared to be slower to start, making up for the extra time. In all, Disneyland was fun, but I don't think it compares to Disney World. It just didn't have the same feel to it.

California Adventure

This was an all new experience for me, for the most part. With the exception of a few rides, like Tower of Terror and Soarin', most everything was new to me. We skipped Soarin', it's no different from the one in Orlando, and I just wasn't going to wait 75 minutes for that. We also skipped the Grizzly River Rafting, but that was only because someone didn't want to get wet (hint: it wasn't me). Making our way around to the back corner of the park, we were sad to see all the rehab walls up and an empty Paradise Bay. It was still cool to see, but unfortunate that my first trip there was sans "the big picture." The iconic Sun Wheel was fun, though much more frightening than an average ferris wheel. Each cage is on its own somewhat oval track, so as the wheel goes around, you are sliding around and rocking in your own track. Next we headed back up toward the front of the park for a ride on my all-time favorite attraction, which ever coast I'm on, Tower of Terror. It doesn't matter where you put it, I will love this ride. I don't need loop-dee-loops, strobe effects, or animatronics. All I really need is an old hotel with a broken elevator. We made out way through California Adventure fairly quickly, and headed back to DL for dinner.

The Blue Bayou

Disneyland's only fine dining establishment, Blue Bayou, is dressed to make you feel like you're dining outside on a pleasant evening in the bayou. There's moonlight, fireflies, crickets chirping, and boats full of Pirate of the Caribbean passengers drifting by. Lauren and I were lucky enough to sit right on the water's edge, beating out the odd teenage love triangle who wanted our table. First we were served warm bread with lots of butter, followed by a cup of excellent gumbo. The food is Cajun style, but not too spicy. We both ordered the crab cakes as our main course. They were very good with an interesting citrus butter sauce in place of the usually remoulade. Our main reason for dining here was the Flying Dutchman Cookie Boat desert, but sadly our eyes were bigger than our stomach. The table next to us did order it, and it turned out the restaurant was all out of sails. How can you having a Flying Dutchman Cookie Boat with no sail? That just makes it a giant rowboat.

We finished the evening with a leisurely ride, back to the front of the park, on the Disney railroad. I love seeing all the attractions lit up in the evening, it always makes me smile.

Los Angeles 2009 Day 1

2009-08-21T14:41:00.000-07:00

Takeoff

Lauren and I arrived at the airport at the appointed 90 minutes prior to take off (well, close enough anyway), we checked our luggage with the Skycap, and loaded up on sweet tea from Bojangles (sweet tea is awesome, why is it only in the south?). The flight boarded and left more or less on time, which was good since we had a connecting flight in Phoenix. Shortly after taking off, and several times thereafter, we both had to go to the bathroom. These things happen when you drink sweet tea. Our seats were in first class, so we had a tasty dinner and complimentary spirits. I went with the pork chop & fingerling potatoes, while Lauren choose the chicken w/ mashed potatoes. The whole thing was dee-lish! This being the longest flight I had been on to date, I was ready with several movies to watch on the laptop. Our westbound choice was Twilight. I had avoided Twilight up to this point, both the books and the movies. Not because I didn't think I'd like them, in fact, I was sure that I would. But because all the hype involved and the crazy fans that just annoy me, I stayed away. I am happy to report that I really liked it, but we'll go into that in another blog.

Connection

While I only saw Phoenix for a few moments, at dusk, from a few small windows, I think it was beautiful. But alas we were only there long enough to run down the terminal to board our little hopper over to Burbank.

The Landing

A short flight later we were landing in Burbank's Bob Hope Airport. Within moments we were boarding the SuperShuttle and headed to the cute & comfortable but affordable Safari Inn.

The Check-In

Check-in was quick and easy. We headed up to our room, unpacked, finished the last few minutes of Twilight before tucking into bed. In all, it was a good day of travel.

Why I Hate Love the Movies

2009-07-23T05:50:00.000-07:00

The earliest I recall being upset by romance in a movie was while sitting in the theater watching The Truth About Cats & Dogs at the tender age of thirteen. I've always felt more Janeane Garofalo than Uma Thurman*. Looking back, I long for those days, as I was probably more Uma then than I'll ever be now.

Since then, over these last thirteen years, I've seen plenty more tear jerking, gut flipping, heart breaking, laughter inducing, terribly depressing movies. In fact, I can't get enough of them. But they are so misleading. In real life, the boy rarely gets the girl and the girl rarely find Prince Charming.

Not to mention the dialog in real life is just lame. I'd prefer to have conversations like the characters in Pushing Daisies, rather than the mediocre mumblings I'm privy to on a daily basis.

I find the more I watch these films, the more discontented I become with my own life. The people I deal with become boring, the places I go are bland, and the things I do are banal. I do not feel like I am living so much as merely existing.

I don't want to meet a guy in a club, make out, and end up in a relationship. No, I want a "meet cute."

I don't want our first date to be a movie. I want it to be a hot air balloon ride.

I don't want our first kiss to be rushed or unthoughtful. I want it to be at the top of Splash Mountain, or during a fireworks show.

I don't want to get engaged at a fancy restaurant. I want to get to be proposed to in the evening on Venice Beach, with a fire eating street performer providing ambient lighting...**

Do you see what I'm getting at here? Spending my life watching films like Love Actually, Gigi, and The Notebook, has done nothing but cause unrealistic expectations for all the future milestones in my life.

What did Arthur tell Iris in The Holiday? Ah yes...

Arthur Abbott: Iris, in the movies we have leading ladies and we have the best friend. You, I can tell, are a leading lady, but for some reason you are behaving like the best friend.

Iris: You're so right. You're supposed to be the leading lady of your own life, for god's sake! Arthur, I've been going to a therapist for three years, and she's never explained things to me that well. That was brilliant. Brutal, but brilliant.

And so, I deal. I deal with my superficial expectations. I deal with the let downs. I deal with waiting. Because one day, I will have a meet cute. One day we'll kiss on an impromptu carriage ride. One day he'll propose to me after we've climbed to the top of Mayan ruins in the Yucatan. And one day, eventually, I'll be thankful that I didn't settle for making out with the guy at the bar. Because, like Iris, I need to be the leading lady in my life, and the leading lady never settles for the guy at the bar.***

*Uma merely fits the metaphor here. If I were to pick film actress which I aspire to be like, it would be more of a Katherine Heigl than an Uma.
**To all potential future fiances, this idea is now out of the running. You have to come up with your own creative proposal technique.
***Except in the case of Knocked Up, which hopefully will not be the art which my life imitates...

10 Things I Love

2009-07-10T11:33:00.000-07:00

Because I am so unhappy in my job, Patti (@Patti0713), of Are U Trippin Films, suggested I think of a list of 10 things that I love and find something in there that I can do for a living. I find that it is so much easier to find 10 things I dislike rather than 10 things I like. This reflects poorly on my state of mind, which I blame entirely on my unhappiness with the place at which I spend over 8 hours at day. Being extremely unhappy at work really tends to spill over into other parts of your life. And it isn't so much the job that I despise, as it is one of the owners. The owner who has given me his divorce to worry about, who adds more work to what I do and cuts my pay. The owner who doesn't understand that he mucks rather than clears and who doesn't understand that the world does not jump just because he says so. With that said, here is a list of 10 things I love, in no specific order:

My Dog
Reading
History
Movies
Researching stuff
Animals
Milkshakes
Travel
Creating things (maybe it's more just the feeling of having completed something)
Planning/Organizing (trips, projects, rooms, spreadsheets... nothing in particular)

27 Goals to Achieve before I turn 27

2009-06-18T07:17:00.000-07:00

~~Visit LA~~ 08/12/09
Lose 25lbs
Dye my hair darker
Learn Flash
Improve Photoshop skills
Redo website
Learn to walk in heels
Keep credit cards paid
Eat more veggies
Drink more water
Stop biting my nails
Run/Jog a 5k
Volunteer
Find a job doing what I like
Improve my German
Learn more Spanish
Attempt to learn some French
Do something completely spontaneous
Go on a hike in the mountains
Build a snall bookcase
See another Broadway show
Reread Lord of the Rings
Write a useful program
Sew a, wearable, article of clothing
Blog on a regular basis
Watch half of AFI's Top 100
Learn to cook something new

Memorial Day Thoughts

2009-05-25T09:39:00.000-07:00

Dear Donna: A Pinup So Swell She Kept G.I. Mail By Larry Rohter Published: May 25, 2009 Recently released letters from soldiers to Donna Reed, the actress and archetypal sweetheart of the 1940s, offer a candid glimpse of a vanished era.

I wish I could believe that times are not so different now, and that actors and actresses would still be willing to do the same for our troops in Iraq & Afghanistan, but I doubt that is the case. Don't get me wrong, there are many celebrities out there doing what they can. Zachary Quinto visited Kuwait on his Star Trek tour, Milo Ventimiglia helps to promote the IAVA, and the USO is still working it's butt off sending people like Dane Cook, Scarlett Johansson, NFL athletes and many others, over seas. Did you know the USO was doing that? Doubtful, because the USO isn't what is used to be (speaking as someone who doesn't actually have a clue what the USO really used to be like, but I have an idea), people don't know about the efforts they are trying to make.

Then again, maybe the USO itself is partly to blame. The always lovely and funny @Mia details her unsuccessful efforts to support the USO in her blog post My Letter To The USO.

Whether you support the war or not, I think it's important to support the troops. I mean, there are quite of few of them who also don't support the war, but are just doing their jobs. Any thoughts or ideas on the matter? Agree, disagree, think of anything helpful? Leave a comment!

Il prim

2009-05-19T12:53:00.000-07:00

I am going to blog.
Don’t give me that look, I mean it this time.
No, not like last time when I only wrote one entry.
Yes, I’m serious.
No, this time I’m motivated and I really am going to do it.
The question is: What am I passionate about AND people want to read about?? There are enough travel blogs, movie reviews, and gadget sites to satisfy the masses for now. I'm pretty sure my life is not exciting enough to keep your attention and I don't live somewhere with exciting action of which to keep you informed. So, I'll think about what I want to write, you think about what you want to read, and we'll reconvene at a later date. Agreed? Good. In the meantime, I leave you with this bit of sage advice -

"Whenever I am about to do something, I think: would an idiot do that? And if they would, I do not do that thing." Dwight Shrute