Just back from a week in Vegas.  Lots of fun was had, lots of hotel room changes and lots of relaxation.  It was a very nice trip.

We headed out Saturday, the morning of the 19th.  We normally drive out the Friday night after work, but a friend of ours was having her annual Pre-Thanksgiving party at her parents house in Tehachapi on that Saturday.  Since we were going to be passing right through there on the way to Vegas, we decided to just wait a day and head out first thing in the morning.
We were on the road by eight after dropping off our beloved Shilo at the vets to be boarded.  It was her first time being boarded without her brother Pappy so I told the girls to make sure she got extra lovings that week.  They understood completely as they knew and loved Pappy as well.  On a plus note, I didn’t cry when I dropped her off.
The drive was pretty uneventful, just the way I like it.

We arrived in Tehachapi right on time, which of course meant we were the first ones there.  We met Cheryl’s lovely family and I was very excited to see there were at least six dogs milling about.  I was in Dog Heaven!!!!!

We chatted with Cheryl’s family for quite a while as more guests began to trickle through.  Our friends Kate and Jason arrived so we new more people but we really enjoyed chatting and getting to know more people.  Hopefully the planets align next year and we can make the party again.  It was a lot of fun, but we had to cut out after three hours to get back on the road so we missed the ornament exchange, which I hear is the highlight of the party.  Oh well, Vegas beckoned.  Who am I to say no to the city of sin?

While stopping at the party broke up the drive quite nicely, it made for a very long day and it seemed like FOREVER to get from Barstow to Jean where we would be spending our first night.
Background: Years ago, we used to stay there quite often because it was cheap and we loved the old school machines and the free arcade downstairs. However, the last time we stayed there was over five years ago and they only had a smattering of machines and one place to eat open. It was touted as a buffet but they only had like two options on what you could get. We figured it was on its way to demolition town and haven’t been back.
We had read recently that they are under new management and making improvements so we figured “what the heck?” might as well see what it’s looking like now. It’s only one night if we hate it.

We rolled up to the only Casino left in Jean called “Gold Strike” around nine thirty I think and headed inside.  Even though none of the signage has changed outside, the inside signs claimed it was now called “Terrible’s Roadhouse” as it has been bought out by the Terrible’s Casinos.  I believe it is JETT gaming, not sure.  Anyhoo, there was actually a LINE at registration, which was rare when we stayed here before.  We had a nice chat with a fellow waiting in front of us about Monterey and his visits there in his youth.

Check in was pretty painless, and we got our new players cards at the same place.  So off to our room on the fifth floor, about a mile down the hallway.  Seriously, we had never stayed on the fifth floor before because there was never anyone else staying at the hotel when we were.  We were always first floor, right off the elevators.  It looked like they had all the rooms full.  Which is great for them I guess.  The room was nice.  I could tell the upgrades for sure. Gone was the grandma bedspread that crinkled whenever you sat on the bed.  There was a CD player from the 90’s on the nightstand that didn’t appear to work when we put a CD in it, but it served well as a clock.

The funny part was that we could NOT find the remote for the television.  We looked everywhere we could think of, but it was just gone.  I called down to the front desk and they said they would bring someone by with a new one.  I told her just get one to the front desk as we would be heading downstairs anyway and she said that was fine.
We ventured downstairs and were very disappointed to find that the arcade in the basement now charged for the games.  One of the best features of Jean when we had stayed there in the past was that they had all the games set to free so you could play to your hearts content after you ran out of money upstairs in the casino.  🙂

I figured that would be the first thing they would change, but I had remained hopeful anyway.
They had a lot of slot machines in the first half of the casino near the entrance, where they bar and the stage for live bands was, but the other half near what used to be the restaurants is now taken up by an “exhibit” called MOVIE CARS.  This is basically a handful of cars from the Fast the Furious movies as well as the car from Back to the Future and the Batmobile from the TV series, all roped off with signs next to them so you can take pictures of them.  It’s a cute way to kill about five minutes, but it takes up a lot of real estate.

We didn’t gamble much but I did play a Big Bang slot and another one I can’t remember, just to get my chops ready for Vegas.  Otherwise we were pretty darn tired so we got the remote from the front desk and headed back up to the room.
After putting around for awhile I headed downstairs to Denny’s for dinner while Rob headed out to get more water and such out of the car.I arrived and got there while they had a few ppl wanting to check out. I grabbed up a menu and waited no problem.
When it was my turn the hostess indicated she had to go do something for another patron.
I told her no worries, I was on the first day of my vacation, I had all the time in the world so she disappeared for about two minutes and came back.
I placed my order while joking around with her. A burger and milkshake for my husband and pot roast melt for me She was really nice and I could tell they were understaffed. I paid with a five dollar tip.
She asked if I wanted any extras. I said just ketchup, she raised her eyebrows and asked “ranch?”
I fell in love.
When I came to pick up my order, she kicked the door open from the kitchen with her foot and approached me with a bag of food and Two milkshakes.  She told me that she made me a second one on the house since I was on vacation, and she made it properly, starting with vanilla and then adding the Oreos.  She was a kick in the pants and I loved it.

Sunday morning there was no real reason to get up early.  Check out was at 11:00 and we couldn’t check into our next hotel until the afternoon so I enjoyed sleeping in.  We were up and ready to go by ten thirty.  The shower was made for someone the size of my mom(she’s 4″10″) and there was very little water pressure, but we made it through.
We had a voucher for two free “value slams” at Denny’s so we ordered one to split and got coffee.

A half an hour later it became apparent they lost our order, but we were in no hurry so we just went with the flow.  In case you are wondering what a value slam is, it was 2 eggs, 2 pancakes and 2 pieces of bacon or sausage.  I got bacon.
The drive into Vegas was pretty uneventful, we parked in the parking garage of Caesar’s Palace at the earliest spot we could find.  As we would later find out from our Iphone tracker, that was about a half a mile away from the Lobby.
We had never stayed at Caesar’s before.
Background: Two years ago I signed up for the CET Total Rewards credit card and have used it faithfully as I would my debit card. Groceries, gas, dining, bills etc. Since it is money I am going to spend anyway, I just pay it off at the end of the month with my checking account so I don’t have any interest and there is no annual fee. Last year I earned enough points to pay for our stay at the Flamingo and some shopping in the gift store. This year it will be paying for our two nights at Caesar’s. I highly recommend getting the card for anyone on the fence about it. It has really come in handy. We normally would never be able to afford this hotel without it.

We kept the luggage in the car because we were still early, so we trekked the half mile to check in and were told of course that our room wasn’t ready, but the lady said they would put a rush on it and that as soon as it was available she would text me.
Since we knew that was going to happen, our plan was to walk over to Casino Royale to get some White Castle.  We don’t have those around our neck of the woods in Monterey, and I’ve never had them.  However, Rob had and he was very keen on getting some and introducing them to me.  There was a small line, but it went pretty quickly.

This is in no way shape or form gourmet cuisine, it was more like an assembly line process.  In no time we had our massive amount of sliders, half with cheese, half without and a thing of french fries and a thing of onion chips.  I had no idea what onion chips were, but had I known we would have skipped the fries and got two servings of those!
While we were in line we got a text from Caesar’s that our room was ready so we grabbed our grub and beat feet out of there to get back to check in.  I made a joke that they were going to kick us out of the preferred check in as soon as they saw the White Castle bags in our hands.  😉
Check in was painless, we got our keys and headed up to the Augustus Tower room.

The room was nothing short of amazing.  As I said, we don’t get to stay in places like this very often and this was a real treat!  The room was large and luxurious and the view was insane!  A full view of the Bellagio fountains!  We soaked that in for a bit while snacking on our WC spoils but eventually we had to make the hike down to the car to get our bags.
A mile later we were back up in our room, kicking off our shoes and relaxing for a bit

I truly enjoyed this room, it was easily my most favorite room that I’ve stayed in in Vegas.  I kept telling Rob that I was in my happy place, the whole two days we stayed there.

At some point, I got out of my PJ’s and put on real people clothes to go downstairs.  We wanted to explore a bit and see about dinner choices, but first we wanted to check out the diamond lounge.  I was really impressed with the lounge, but didn’t want to be taking pictures of everything like a total newb, which I was.  But there was a nice little snack buffet to choose from and the drinks were fast and made from the good stuff.  We sat at a table with our snacks, but there were plenty of couches to sit around on and watch TV with your drinks if you wanted.  It just felt extravagant and that is not something we get to experience every day.  It was pretty nice.

We headed out from there to explore a little.  We played a bit but nothing major and wound up getting dinner at the food court.  Chow mein for me and Carne Asada fries for Rob.

We didn’t do much else for the rest of the night, but watch the fountain shows from our hotel room.  🙂

Monday we got up and ready.  We headed down to Brioche and got a tasty and filling pastry  before heading over to the Bellagio.  I hadn’t been to the conservatory in many years so I was excited to check it out.  It was really pretty of course, all decked out for fall and while it was crowded, we were able to get quite a few pics.

After we were done, we headed over to the Fountains and waited about ten minutes.  Thankfully I checked my phone and realized they weren’t going to be running for another two hours.  We decided to take the long way back to the hotel to get pictures of the strip.

We had a dinner voucher we needed to use that night.  We didn’t really want to go sit down anywhere so we knew we wanted take out.  There were very few high end restaurants that opened before 5:00 PM so we based our choice on the fact that we didn’t want to have to wait if we could help it.  We decided on Bejing Noodle for that reason.  That and I love Asian food.

It was quite a lot of food, but if we didn’t use it we would have lost it.  I snacked a bit and watched more fountain shows.

In the end decided I should go back down to the lounge just because.

I drank way too much there.  They served the good stuff and it went down a little too smooth.  I gambled a bit but thankfully realized I needed to put myself to bed.

To Be Continued…

I started writing this the day after we put Pappy down, but couldn’t finish it until now.  His passing was actually on October 25th.

Monday night we changed Pappy’s bandages and found that his tumor had ruptured.  It was dripping blood and his leg was completely swollen.  His paw was turning to the side, almost like it was numb.  It rattled us to the core.  We decided to bring him in to the vet the next morning when they opened with no appointment.
This morning we called at 7:30 and they said to bring him in at 8:45 as an emergency visit.  A few minutes later the doc called back and asked if we could wait until 9:00 because someone had just cancelled and therefore it wouldn’t be an emergency visit, saving us a hundred bucks.  Whatever, we said yes.
At that point the dogs were already loaded in the back of the car and Pappy didn’t want to come out.  He hadn’t been very mobile lately, so I went out to him and spent about a half an hour talking to him and making my peace.  Rob and I pretty much knew where the day was heading.  We were hoping for the best but prepared for the worst.  Pappy and I had a good long talk about how I knew he was tired and in pain and I was just being selfish and it wasn’t fair.
Finally the time came and we headed to the vet.  They got us in right away and the doc was in agreement with everything we were telling him.  The tumor was huge and it wasn’t going to go back down.  He said the leg was swollen due to the tumor cutting off the circulation and that wasn’t going to get better.  The bleeding from the tumor was not going to stop because the skin was torn and would not grow back.  When we told him the blood had started to stink that morning, it was as if the doc felt that was a key fact.  And when I told him Pappy seemed to have no real joy any longer other than the false hunger from the steroid, we all knew what we had to do.
We asked if the shot could take place in the back of the van, much like we did Romie’s all those years ago.  They said no problem and we all went outside.
I gave him a kiss and told him I loved him several times and then I turned my back.  Rob held him while they gave him the shot and he passed away.  I couldn’t watch.  I couldn’t with Romie and I couldn’t with Pappy.  I have been told that sometimes the dogs will have seizures or other types of things and I know that I couldn’t handle that.
Rob and I said our goodbyes and then took Pappy to Rob’s parents house to bury him next to his brother Romie.
It was a quiet ride to Salinas, punctuated with my sniffles and outright sobs.
When we got there Rob told me to take Shilo in to see his mom while he and his dad did the digging.
I did so, and while Shilo proved an interesting distraction, I was still a wreck.
Finally, Rob poked his head in and said: “Let’s boogie.”
We headed outside and he got Pappy from where he was wrapped in a blanket in the back of the van and we headed out to the gravesite.  Rob placed him down in the grave and we both shoveled some dirt onto him.  Rob finished as I commented on how Romie was probably rolling in his grave about how he thought he was finally rid of the little brat and now had to spend eternity next to him.  Heh.
We said our goodbyes and headed home.  I went from numb to wracking sobs to numb again.  It was a very rough day.
Wednesday I was still pretty much a wreck but I went in to work.  It was very hard to face all the hugs and people telling me they were sorry.  I know that they only meant the best, but it just made me cry harder every time.  I left early that day.
Thursday I managed to go most of the day without bursting into tears.
Now three weeks later I can say that I still miss him terribly and I tear up every time I think of him and what we had to do, but I feel a sort of peace.  There had been over two years of fear and impending death since his cancer diagnosis.  So much anxiety over surgeries and treatment options.  As horrible as it is to say, I feel that a weight was lifted.  The two years of dread had finally come to an end and he was no longer in pain.
It isn’t that easy of course.  I think about him daily and miss him with every fiber in my being, but I feel that we made the right decision.
According to the vet and the interwebs, Pappy should have never lived as long as he did with the type of cancer he had.  The web says something like 6 months, and our vet said she would have predicted him gone over a year ago.  That was very reassuring.  I don’t regret a single thing.  I am glad we chose no chemo or radiation as I have heard from many personal sources since, that it just makes the dogs miserable no matter what the “experts” say to the contrary.
Pappy was my love and my light and I am so glad he came into my life almost ten years ago.

So I’m not sure if you’ve been following the news about the California wildfires, in particular the Big Sur or Soberanes Fire.  If you are local to my area, how could you not?  Between the smoke and the fire trucks everywhere, it’s been a pretty visible presence in out location.

If you aren’t, let me fill you in.  The fire started on Friday July 22nd in Garrapata State Park near Big Sur.  It was in remote area that had lots of rough terrain and spread very rapidly.  Because of the landscape it was very difficult to fight on foot and that is what helped the fire escalate so quickly.

Today, as of the last announcement this morning it is sitting at 43,400 acres burned and only 18 % contained.  57 homes have been destroyed and more than 2000 are threatened.  There has been a state of emergency declared and we have had one fatality.

The good news is that we have over 5400 personal fighting this fire for us.  Firefighters have streamed in from across this great state to assist us with trying to contain this disaster.  They are doing everything they can for us, the problem is that they can’t fight a fire they can’t get to.

Rob and I discussed the reason we think that it is so little contained is because they are just securing the perimiter of the fire and letting the uninhabited forest within burn.  They have been so amazingly diligent at getting all the lines bulldozed and they have been lighting the backfires for the last couple of days.  *knocks wood* Things seem to be going well on that side of the operation.

They released the information today that this fire was set off by an illegal campfire that was left unattended within an area of Garrapata State Park that you aren’t even allowed to camp in.  I’m trying REALLY hard not to dwell on this fact, because it makes me VERY angry and I know there is nothing we can do about it now.  Even if we were to try and catch the people, how can you prove it?  And if you can prove it, what then?  You can throw them in jail, yes but does that bring back Robert Reagan, the 35 year bulldozer operator that was killed, leaving behind a wife and two beautiful children while fighting this fire?  Does it bring back the almost 60 homes, including all memories within that have been destroyed?  Obviously, no it doesn’t.  It just makes me crazy to think that this whole thing could have been prevented.  THINK, people!  You are in the middle of a HUGE drought, do you really think it’s a good idea to light a fire in the middle of a tinderbox of a forest??

I digress.

On Sunday, Rob and I noticed some people  in our backyard using our neighbors currently vacant porch.  Upon closer inspection we discovered that it was a group of firefighters having their lunch.  They have been out here where we live on an “over protection” mission, tagging houses in case we need to evacuate.  Rob quickly gathered a cooler full of water, sodas and 5 hour energy shots and brought it down to them.  It was literally the least we could do to help the men that are trying to save our houses and neighborhood.

This morning I had some things put in perspective for me.  As I woke up my thoughts drifted from: “I just want to go back to sleep!”  and “I don’t WANT to go to work!” to “Oh Gawwwd, I have to do *name simple yet time consuming task* today, it’s going to take FOREVER!”  and then I thought about all the things I COULD do at the house (but wouldn’t) if I could just stay home.  You know, the usual.  “Grumble, grumble, grumble…Me, Me, Me”

After I got showered and dressed, I ventured to work and as I passed through the village I saw about seven or eight fire engines stopped at various markets and gas stations.  Firefighters were holding coffee and water and getting back in the trucks, getting ready to start their work day.  Their work day.  They were getting ready to risk their lives to save my house and a lot of them had bright smiles on their faces.

And I was bitching about having to wake up and go push paper for eight hours.  Really Kelly?  It was a pretty big eye opener for me.

This blog is all over the place, but I’m just trying to sort my head out.  The other thing that struck me about this whole thing is that sometimes, it takes a tragedy to make me feel good about humanity again.  What with all the political crap flooding my facebook page, it was nice to see all the simple handmade signs around the village.  I’ve posted some below.  I didn’t take those pictures, but I’ve seen a good number of them on my ventures in the valley this week.

Oh and the bulldozer driver that lost his life?  Someone started a gofundme account soon after the horrible accident to support his wife and two kids.  It was only asking for 16,000 as a goal, but in just five days it has swelled to almost 95,000 dollars!  I know it won’t bring him back, but the generosity brought me to tears.  Here is the website if you want to donate.  I hope that you do.

For my husband and I, Las Vegas used to be a wonderful playground.  First and foremost, it was where we met.  It was also where we got married a year later.  Mostly though, it was the only place we could really afford to take a vacation.
When we were young and stupid it was three day weekends, several times a year.  We lived in Phoenix at the time so it was just a five hour drive to our paradise.  We could pay $25.00 a night for a crackerbox of a hotel room at the 4 Queens in downtown Las Vegas, and get drunk and fed for very little money.  4 Queens used to have a late night room service deal where you could get four different full on dinners for five bucks each.  It was our favorite.As we got older and it wasn’t so much about the drink and the gamble, it was still the most affordable place to vacation for us.  The hotel rooms were cheap compared to other “vacation” options as were the food and entertainment options.  We weren’t really into seeing premium shows, so it worked for us.
Since we have moved to California, our Vegas trips have dwindled to once a year.  However, instead of several short visits, we usually stay a week and a half or so.
As prices have increased, we have stuck to downtown.  Primarily at the El Cortez.  We find the tower rooms quite roomy for the prices and we like a lot of the food options around there.
I should mention, that I have also run the Las Vegas 1/2 Marathon four times and our last few visits have corresponded with that.
In the past couple of years a disturbing trend has occurred.  The dreaded Resort Fee.  If you are unfamiliar with this, let me explain.  It started with the high end casinos.  They started charging a nightly fee alongside their room rates.  They called it a “resort fee” and it was said to cover access to certain things.  The most popular that I have seen are wifi, water bottles in the room, the ability to go to the fitness center.  Basically things that should already be amenities included in the price of the room, in my opinion.
We scoffed when we saw that and stuck with downtown, until slowly but surely it began to creep into our beloved ghetto haven.  Not only were room rates increasing as they tried to improve the downtown vibe, but now they were tacking on the resort fee as well.  Not nearly as expensive of a fee as their strip counterparts, but still there nonetheless.
The first times I did the marathon we stayed actually stayed in Jean because the prices were so high due to the marathon itself.  My husband dropped me off and then picked me up at the finish near Mandalay Bay.  The second time were were staying at the El Cortez and I figured I would take a cab home…along with EVERYONE else.  Rob ended up picking me up again at Mandalay Bay after I called him crying about how the taxi line was literally a mile long.
The next year they changed the finish line to exit near The Flamingo.  We booked early enough to get a discounted rate that was good enough to forgive the resort fee.  All we wanted at that point, was a place to stay where I could catch the monorail to the start of the race and not be too far from home at the finish line.  It worked perfectly.  The rest of the trip was spent at the El Cortez.
By the next year, I had discovered a little Facebook game called MyVegas.  It was a game that you played that actually paid you our with rewards at MGM hotels and casinos.  It was the most amazing thing I had ever seen!  Back in those days the winnings were plentiful and the rewards were amazing.  I wound up getting three comped nights at the MGM Grand minus the resort fees.  We had never stayed there because it was just not in our budget, but at 21 dollars a night, it was suddenly on the table.  The room they offered was a tiny little room but by sheer luck, we got upgraded to a regular room at check in because it was available sooner and it was closer.
That year we also booked one night at The Flamingo so that we had a place near the finish line.  The MGM was near the start and the Flamingo was near the finish.  It worked out very well for me that year, because I hadn’t trained much and I was in a LOT of pain.  🙂  In case there was a question, we stayed downtown at El Cortez the beginning of the trip.
Last year, I didn’t participate in the marathon, but my husband did the 10 K.  In the previous year, I had signed up for the Total Rewards Visa card.  It has an offer that if you spent a certain amount of money within a certain amount of time you got a huge chunk of rewards points.  So I started using it like my debit card, paying for everything.  At the end of the month I payed it off with my debit card, no harm, no foul, no interest fee.  By the time Vegas rolled around that year, I had enough to pay for three nights at The Flamingo as well as some food and shopping comps.  The rest of the time we stayed at El Cortez.  Are you sensing a theme?
That brings us to planning this years trip.  We don’t have our dates hammered out yet, but given the time off I could possibly have left after Korea this year, it will be towards late November, early December and frankly, I’m just discouraged.  Without doing the marathon this year, we had nothing tying us to any certain hotels so we thought we would look at the non strip variety like Orleans and Station Casinos.  Nope, every damn one of them has succumbed to the resort fee as well as “renting” fridges and internet.
So I decided to hit up my myvegas game where I still have many points that I just haven’t used in a couple years, only to find they have changed too.  They no longer offer consecutive comped nights.  In fact you can only be comped one night at any of the casinos they offer per trip, and the comps they do offer are few and far between.  They have come down hard with regulations on the game that make it not even worth it to play on a regular basis.  I have 200,000 worth of reward points that I will likely never use now because it is too complicated to bother any more.
I understand that Vegas hotels are business’ and must adjust themselves to the changing times, but I think this is a mistake.  But I guess people like Rob and I aren’t the majority, and as long as people are willing to pay the high prices, resort fees and whatever else, they will continue to thrive.  It makes me sad though.  Vegas was the one tradition we had left and I hate to leave it behind.
Having said that, anyone know what Reno’s policies for resort fees are??

Monday morning we woke up and were out of the hotel by ten for our next adventure: Lotte World.

When we first started looking into things to do on this trip, I was amazed by the number of theme parks I found.  This particular park was close to where we were staying and looked to be pretty large so this was the one we planned on.  I didn’t really know what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised.

The first part of the park is all indoors.  Since it was a weekday and we got there fairly early, there were no lines for any of the rides when we showed up.  We looked around for a few minutes.  Rob convinced me to get on the Sinbad ride which was very much like Pirates of the Caribbean at Disney.  I wasn’t fond of the drops, but it didn’t kill me.

We spent the rest of the morning wandering around looking at things, with Rob going on some of the scarier rides by himself.  I did go on both the Air Balloon ride and the Monorail, which is pretty good for a gal that is afraid of heights as I am.

We shopped, we ate, we walked close to five miles according to our Iphone pedometer thingy.  It was a lot of fun.  We didn’t cover the entire park but by late afternoon our feet were just done.  We had done more walking in the last week than we had in the last couple of months, so our feet were telling us to give it a rest.  We did as much as we wanted to do though before calling it a day.  We did stop and go through the Folk History Museum and a little bit of the Lotte shopping area before heading back to the hotel.

I soaked my feet in the tub while Rob went out and got us food for dinner.  Sandwiches, both with a Korean twist as most “American” food has here.  We ate, watched wacky Korean TV and went to bed.

Tuesday morning we woke up and got packed up.  I checked out the breakfast in the lobby and got a bagel and a coffee to bring back to the room.  We were fully packed and checked out right at ten when hotel check out was.

Over the course of our “weekend” away I had two things that I wanted to acquire.  One was a smaller wallet for my traveling purse with a way to attach it to the keyring inside my purse.  This is so I could easily access my military ID and my subway pass since those were the two things I used multiple times daily.  The other was a backpack.  I had failed to bring one with me on the trip, opting for a very large purse instead and I regretted the decision almost as soon as we started traveling.

On the way back to the hotel on Monday, at the subway station, we found both.  We had seen variations on both of them at different shops throughout the trip, but I was never sold on them and they were pricey.  I’m so glad I waited, because I found exactly what I was looking for and they were only ten bucks each!  Score!  The backpack made my traveling home so much easier that that big purse.  I was never really sold on the purse in the first place so I left it in the hotel room with a note that said: “Free Purse!”.  If housekeeping could read English, they lucked into a pretty cool present.

Once we got home and unpacked, Rob was off to have a dinner with his work contacts, so I hung around the house for a bit.  Liz and I eventually got out to Itaewon  for a coffee, then we went to a pottery shop Liz had recommended to look for souvenirs and found a few cute things before heading home.

We had dinner delivered that evening from a sandwich shop.  I got a club sandwich but the fries were actually what I ate for my meal.  Philly Cheesesteak fries.  Waffle fries covered in steak, cheese, onions and peppers.  It was sooooo gooooood!!

I headed to bed early to read before sleeping.  Rob got home and came to bed around ten stinking of garlic from the Korean BBQ he had been to.  I stopped reading around eleven and tried to sleep, but it was a no go.  I read some more and eventually got to sleep around one or so in the morning.  I just was not tired at all.  It wasn’t until the next morning that I realized what had happened.  I had coffee twice that day.  The last coffee around five in the evening.  Anyone that knows me fairly well knows that I am pretty sensitive to caffeine.  Coffee after one or two in the afternoon, I’m up for most of the night.  Oops!

Wednesday we had planned to go to a place called the Sheep Cafe and then Times Square, but little Joshua was having a bad day.  He was not in a good mood from the time he woke up, couple that with him headbutting the back of my skull and having a scream/cry session for about 15 minutes…he was just not having it.  (You better believe I felt horrible about the headbutt thing.  I had to go upstairs so no one saw me cry over it)   We had planned on having a “dead” day on Thursday so that we could possibly catch up on anything we hadn’t done on the trip, so we just moved that day to Wednesday instead.  That allowed Jim and Liz to stay home with the kids and try and get them back on track.

We did take a quick trip with Jim to the local McDonalds.  We had seen some Korea specific options advertised so we wanted to check it out.  We got a Bulgogi Burger and a Shrimp burger and of course some fries.  🙂  Jim got something called the “Hot All Over” burger, which I guess is an attempt that McDonalds is trying out to give a fresher more six dollar burger option.  It looked pretty good and Jim said it was much better than the usual Micky Dee’s fare.

Rob and I walked over to Itaewon and got some food souvenirs and a couple of hats for us before heading home.  Later we took a little nap (I mostly read), and then the boys went out to get pizza for dinner.  We got a Bulgogi pizza, and one that was half shrimp and half bacon and potato.  The crust on that one was mashed sweet potato with a cream cheese mix.  It was so freaking good I could barely stand it.

Soon after it was bed time, as the next day would be our last full day in Korea.

Our latest adventure started on Sunday morning around four thirty.  We woke up, showered and did all the last minute packing before getting in our car and driving over to my in laws house.  Once there, we piled into my father in laws van while it was still dark, and he drove us out to Marina where we were going to be picked up my the Monterey Airbus.

At around seven thirty the bus picked us up.  It was our first time using them and I have to say I will definitely be using them again.  They greeted us and the other passengers with water bottles and got us loaded onto the bus.  I will say however that the bus wasn’t exactly built for my fat ass.  That of course is not the van’s fault, but for the ride up to San Jose, Rob and I got very up close and personal while the seat belt dug very hard into my right hip.  After we unloaded some people at the San Jose Airport, I was able to move one more seat over and it was much more comfortable.

We arrived at SFO without incident and had a small wait as Korean Air didn’t open until ten thirty.  We did some crossword puzzles and played on our phones until it was time to check our bags.  Being the seasoned travelers that we are, we didn’t realize we hadn’t signed our new passports until we got up to the counter and the agent asked us to.  Whoops!

With our bags headed towards the plane we waited a few minutes to drain some water bottles we had brought with us, and then headed through security.  The line was long but it went fairly quickly and we were through no problem.

Then we hurried to the gate and waited.  I got Rob some coffee and a couple of rag mags for the plane and settled in for the flight announcements.

Now when  you are traveling to a foreign land you have never visited before and you don’t know that many people in California to begin with, you sure don’t expect to hear someone calling your name in the airport terminal while waiting for your flight.   However, that is exactly what happened.  As we were sitting there, a Korean woman approached us and said: “Rob?”

Rob looked up a bit perplexed and then recognized the woman as the wife of a friend of his.  The place where he goes to jam sessions about once a month.  Turns out, she was on the same flight and heading home for a couple of weeks.  We sat and chatted with her for quite a while.  It made the time more pleasant and go much faster so that was awesome.

Finally time came to board and we got settled in.  We were two rows from the restroom, in the middles section of the plane where there were four seats in a row.  It was roomy enough (again, my fat ass, my problem) and the seats reclined further than domestic seats that I have seen.  There was a TV console in the headrest of the seat in front of you that had a very large selection of movies and music, as well as a limited selection of TV shows and games.  I was excited when I saw the TV choices as they were Big Bang, Mike and Molly, How I Met Your Mother and Friends, but it turned out there were only two episodes of each.  🙁

The flight was smooth and the flight attendants were right there if you needed anything.  The food came in regular intervals.  Snack followed by a meal followed by another snack, another meal and then a final snack  before landing.  The one thing I wish they had done more was come around with more water or other beverages.  I was plenty parched by the time we landed.  I know I could have rung the bell and asked for some, but I didn’t want to bother them.

I would list the length of the flight as a complaint, but obviously that can’t be helped.  Still,  a 12 hour flight in cramped spaces is not going to be on my list of favorite things any time soon.  The big complaint I had was that the temperature in the plane was not regulated in any way shape or form.  It would be hot and then start to cool off and then go back to hot.  Overall however, it stayed on the hot side.  And there was no air vent above your like on domestic flights.  I could have handled it much better if I had an air vent that would blow down on me.  No such luck.

Having said that, I am glad we chose Korean Air.  I can’t imagine flying any other airline that I have in the past for that amount of time without going crazy.  While I wasn’t able to get a single wink of sleep, I was able to pass the time watching all the TV shows of Mike and Molly and Big Bang.  I also got to watch Sisters and most of Joy (the plane landed before I could finish the last half an hour, I hope to catch the rest on the way back) and play some games.  Wifi would have made the experience better, but I’ll take what I can get.

Once the plane was at the gate and the seat belt sign came off I saw people literally sprinting down the aisles to be first in line to get off the plane.  Rob and I were laughing and joking at what could be that important.  There were 300 plus people on the plane that had to get off, you leave when you leave.  So we took our time and when we were finally ready to get out of our row, no one would let us out.  In the US as far as I have experienced, there is an unwritten rule that if you are approaching an aisle where a person is waiting to exit you let them go first and then just go after them.  That is apparently not so in Korea.  People just zoomed past us, we had to wait for a small break in the traffic and jam our way  in.

Once we got to the immigration line we realized why everyone was in such a hurry.  Holy waiting line Batman!  I don’t think it is always that long, but for some reason they only had like three clerks open out of at least ten.  It took us about an hour to get through that mess.

Once that was done, I hit the bathroom to change out of my traveling clothes (I thought I would have time on the plane but they started the decent without much warning so I was stuck going through immigration in an oversized tank top showing off my sports bra and a pair of yoga pants.  I’m pretty sure I represented America nicely) while Rob grabbed out luggage.

Rob’s brother Jim met us outside the gates and led us through the subway system until we got to his car, which we drove onto the US Army base where he lives.  We got our 24 hour passes to the post and headed to his house.

For those of you that don’t know, a big part of this trip had to do with the fact that Jim and his wife Liz just had twin boys.  Carson and Joshua.  And if you didn’t know that, you obviously don’t read my facebook page.  😉

Carson

Joshua

It was around eight thirty or nine Korean time by the time we got to the house.  Jim said the babies should be asleep but Carson was awake and smiling there to greet us, having just thrown up all over his mother.  He was very smiley and flirty and I fell in love with him instantly.  After a few minutes, he was whisked away to bed and Rob and I ate some snacks out of our backpack before heading to bed shortly after.  Sleep was such a blessing.

So today I auditioned for The Western Stage at Hartnell College.

Last weekend, Rob and I went to see The Producers there with another couple that we hang out with and we loved it.   It was an amazing show and in the program they put a little flier about what was upcoming as far as the shows for next year.  What caught my eye was “Carrie: The Musical”.  I thought that would be an amazing show to watch.  As I flipped further into the program I noticed that they were having auditions the following weekend.  It gave a number and email address to call for an appointment.  I sort of filed this in the back of my mind and went on to enjoy the show.

Days later I had gone over it and over it again in my mind.  Other than a very bad audition for RENT at MPC six or seven years ago, I have never auditioned at any other theater company other than Paper Wing.  Paper Wing is and always will be my theater home.  I am comfortable there.  I am familiar with most everyone there and I love them.   Stepping outside of my comfort zone is not my favorite thing to do.  I don’t like change.  On a good day, I already have a pretty high level of anxiety, so I don’t see a need to raise it any higher by changing anything up in my daily life or routine.

But that is how I felt about it when I got involved in Paper Wing and I can easily say that it was one of the best things I have ever done.  I have not only made life long friends there, but I have evolved so much as a person.  I went into Paper Wing a painfully shy woman that was petrified of standing out in a crowd to… Well, to this obnoxious, outgoing person you know today.

Having said all that, I dropped an email to The Western Stage and asked for an appointment.  I was given 2:00 PM today.  All week long I have stressed over it.  I have gone back and forth on my song selection so many times that in the end, I didn’t feel confident in ANY of my choices so I just went with the one I was the most familiar with even thought it wasn’t my strongest vocally.

This morning I wanted to bail so bad.  I had thrown my neck out the day before, and Mother Nature was nice enough to bless me with my monthly gift, and I had accidentally left the only printed copy I had of my resume at work, and I had just about every other excuse in the book ready to go to justify it.  And I honestly think that is the reason I had posted about the auditions on Facebook.  It was a way to hold myself accountable.  Now, everyone will know if I back out.  I could try and put whatever spin I wanted on it, but everyone would know that I did not face up to the challenge I put on myself.

So I put on my big girl panties and went for it.  I sent a copy of my resume to Fed Ex/Kinko’s in Salinas and picked up the printed copy on the way to the audition.  I got to Hartnell, filled out the paperwork and was so glad to see a friendly face I knew from Paper Wing so I had a buddy to see me through.

We were pulled in to dance first and there was another friendly face.  Devin has done some work with Paper Wing and is an AMAZING dancer, turns out he was leading the choreography part of the audition.  I was so glad, because he is super awesome and patient.

It is no secret that I am not a great dancer.  If given enough time and practice, I can fake it enough to make it look OKAY, but I will never be mistaken for any sort of dancer ever.  But I did the best that I could and smiled my way through it.

After Devin taught us the combination we split into two groups and ran through it for the panel.  I was in the first group.  Once we were done, the two youngsters in front of me ran over to the right side of the stage and headed into the audience.  I followed suit, but when I got to the edge of the stage I noticed there were no stairs.  I had three choices.  I could look like an asshole and backtrack around behind the 2nd group, distracting from their dancing, to get the the left side of the stage that DID have steps.  I could look like an idiot and just stand there staring at the three foot drop and wait until they were done dancing.  Or I could just pretend I was a spring chicken and make the jump like the two girls before me did.  I chose number three.

Yeah, take a guess how that worked out for me.

I landed on my left leg in a very awkward position.  Sort of sideways from the knee, you know the part that DOESN’T bend?  There was no immediate pain, just a sense of: “OH MY GOD!  WHAT DID I JUST DO??? THAT IS GOING TO HURT SO FUCKING BAD!!” but I hobbled up the steps and got to where I had set my purse down in the audience seats.  I sat and rubbed my knee while the second group finished and then we were all called back up on the stage to run the combination all together, one more time.

That is when I started to feel the pain.  I could not run the combination the way it was supposed to be done.  I could barely move my left leg at all.  I faked it and hoped for the best.

After that we were called in to where the rest of the groups were waiting to read and sing.  I saw some more friendly faces in the groups that had gone before us so that was cool, but I was really freaking out about my leg.  My first thought was I had fractured something in my shin.  It felt that bad.  However, I discovered that I could walk it off some, so I  knew it must be just a muscle strain, albeit a very bad one.

The only good thing about that was that it was able to distract me from being nervous.  Considering whether or not you need to go to the ER after your audition really sort of makes being nervous for singing in front of people seem kinda silly.

We waited around and I walked every so often to keep my leg from stiffening up.  I was given a couple pages to read and a partner to read them with, so we practiced a little.  More waiting and then I sang.  I faltered when I started and faltered a bit at the end but I did stronger than I thought I was going to do so I guess I have no complaints.  I could have done a lot better had I been better prepared with a song.  That is on me.

Shortly after I sang, they called us in for the reading and that was it.

I am now at home icing my knee and leg.  I am not confident that I will get a call back, but I don’t really care.  I did it.  I put myself outside of my comfort zone and I did it.  The fact that I auditioned at all is a success in my book.  I was seriously so close to backing out this morning that I’m shocked I followed through.  That is something that I can feel good about.

My only regret is the knee thing, but I guess I’ve got a good story out of it right?

So right after Thanksgiving, I made the decision to take a break from Facebook.  There were far to many unsavory posts popping up on my newsfeed.  Every time there is a violent episode in the world that is broadcasted all over the news, my news feed reads like a who’s who of racist, conservative or liberal opinions.  The latter I am usually okay with, but lately there were so many “memes” and articles being posted on my feed that I would check with Snopes.com only to find it was false.  That meant, whether I agreed or not, people were just posting random things they read before checking to see if they were fact.  That is they way most of these horrible political wars between friends get started.

I decided to take a break from it all.  As a result:

• I have had more time to focus on my diet and exercise plans.  Of course it took me a week to even plan that, but baby steps people!
• I have gone to bed earlier and woken up feeling more refreshed.
• I have NOT caught up on my shows, simply because a lot of them deal with violence and I’m kind of over that at the moment, but as a result of THAT I go to bed even sooner.
• I am not feeling disgust for not so close family and friends after reading their uneducated posts about all things “Obama-hates-M’urica-and-I-Want-To-Show-You-How-I-Am-Right-With-This-Meme/Article-That-I-Didn’t-Fact-Check”.  That shit was starting to give me an ulcer.

In addition, I haven’t missed the vague-booking.  You know the kind.  Where your dramatic friend posts something like: “Oh my god!  I can’t believe that happened!”  Or: “I am sorry to everyone I disappointed.”  Or: “I hate everyone and everything.”  Or: “I will never love again.” Or: “My life ended today.”

Even just the soft vague-bookers, that say things like: “I’m so silly.”  “I can’t believe I did that!”  “OH MY!” “Oh no!” STOP BEGGING FOR PEOPLE TO ASK WHAT IS GOING ON!!  If you were indeed that interesting, they would have already asked.

Anyhoo, when I talked to my husband about being disgusted with Facebook, he let me in on a secret.  Did you know you can unfollow people and they are still on your friends list?  They will still be your friends on facebook, but their posts will no longer appear in your newsfeed!  And they will have no idea that you did this!  You can still check in on them and see how they are doing by clicking on them.   Many of you probably already know this, but this was huge news for me!  And yes, I know I could just delete them, but then it gets weird in social settings and I’m all about keeping the peace.

So tonight I did a little pruning.  Some deleting, some unfollowing.  Overall I think I am going to be much happier with Facebook.  And I do want to come back despite the positives I mentioned above.  Quite frankly, I miss seeing what my friends are up to and interacting with them.

It might take me a little while to put the app back on my phone however.  I kind of like not being distracted by all the notices, and just taking my FB in one lump some at the end of the day.

Also, if this entry offends you, please feel free to unfriend or unfollow me.  😀