A Different Thanksgiving

If you had told me a few years ago that I would spend a Thanksgiving outside of a football stadium, I would have said you were crazy.

I would have had to eat those words.

Last summer when the Ravens announced their schedule, I saw that they were playing the 49ers.  This was right after the news that Jim Harbaugh (Ravens Head Coach John Harbaugh's brother) had been hired as a Head Coach of the 49ers.  I was on Ticketmaster the morning tickets became available to the public and in my search for games, I decided for fun to try and see if I could get tickets to the Thanksgiving game, or Harbaugh vs Harbaugh as I was calling it.  Well no upper deck sideline tickets were available, so I decided to try for the corners.  There were tickets available so I snatched them up.

That was in July.  The working plan in mind was I would likely spend Thanksgiving with my cousins in the morning and then head up to the game that night with CW.  Of course life doesn't always go according to plan, but it can come up with something more interesting.

A month or so ago I went to a bull roast fundraiser for one of the Ravens Nest organizations and I made friends with a few folks at our table.  I ended up talking a lot with CS and of course, being fans, you make sure to keep in touch with them, especially when you belong to one of the best fanbases in the NFL.

So then it turns out that CW has a conflict, and some of my cousins will be out of town, plus I was asked by some other friends if I could dogsit for them so they can go visit family for Thanksgiving.  All of that adds up to I'll be in Baltimore anyway, but now I need someone to go with me to the game.  So I check with a few direct friends, they can't go, so I put the word out on Facebook that I have an extra ticket to the Harbaugh Bowl (as it's now being called).  CS sees it and is interested, so we're set up to go to the game.

Now we get to the plan, CS knows other folks at the game, so I will be tagging along with her as we tailgate before we head on in.  I hear there will be turkey and all of the fixings, so my Thanksgiving will be spent in the parking lots outside The Bank, then going in to watch what should be a hard-hitting game and football at it's finest.  The Harbaugh Bowl is the first time in history that two teams are playing where they are coached by siblings, and now it's a Thanksgiving game on top of that.

There will also be no doubt that I was at that game, thanks to the planned FanCam: http://www.baltimoreravens.com/News/Articles/2011/11/Press_Release_-_Ravens_FanCam_Coming_to_MT_Bank_Stadium.aspx

You know I will make sure to be in my seat by 8 PM.

So anyway, It should be a fun Thanksgiving, even if it's non-traditional.  I can't wait.  I hope everyone I know has a safe and happy Thanksgiving.

GO RAVENS!

Another Part of the Forest, Oct 14, 15, 16, 17

Giving a heads-up because this sounds interesting and I'll be seeing it on Friday night.

Another Part of the Forest, by classic American playwright Lillian Hellman. "A ruthless Civil War profiteer's fortune is endangered when his dysfunctional family turns on him."

Dates: October 14: 7:30 PM
15: 7:30 PM
16: 2:00 PM and 7:30PM
17: 2:00 PM

Location: Catholic University of America's Hartke Theatre. It is metro accessible off of the Red Line at Brookland/CUA station.  As I remember you walk across part of the campus and around the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and go walk up Harewood Road (Google maps shows it to be around 4120 Harewood Rd, NE)

Cost: $15. 

Buy your tickets in advance because this is not in the main theater, this is in a more intimate setting with the audience on the stage area itself, so space is limited.  Buy them here http://drama.cua.edu/hartke-season.cfm

Busy Busy Busy

Ahhhh my poor neglected blog, it is starving for some content.  That's what I get for not making the time to write.  I've been hearing a lot about that lately from a writing related podcast I have been listening to.  I will make the time for it soon enough.  Now that summer is winding down, that means less time being spent outside on activities.

Of course, another good distraction as of late has been the return of CW to DC.  If you haven't heard it already, it's official now in that we are together as a couple.  He's already started to meet my friends and they seem to like him, plus I've started to meet some of his friends as well, and they seem to like me, so it's a good sign of things to come.

Pennsic Fun

Since last Saturday I have been camped out up in Pennsylvania for Pennsic XXXIX. After a few years of hearing about it, I finally made my way up to experience one. At the very least it would mean a week of camping, and I do love to camp.

Shore Leave

To continue making 2010 the year of the con, I attended my third con this year, this being Shore Leave 32 up in Hunt Valley, MD.  I had a very good reason to go this year, especially for a first time.  Back in February when the Shore Leave folks were doing pre-registration at Far Point, I read the flyer and discovered that Edward James Olmos and Katee Sackhoff (Adm. Adama and Starbuck) of the new Battlestar Galactica were going to be there.  On top of that, one could have a photo taken with them.  Since BSG was one of my favorite series, I made sure to sign up that weekend.

The State of the Date

This entry has been a long time coming.

Last summer I took a complete break from the dating scene.  I decided that after basically being attached to someone every single summer for the last four years that it was time to do something different since for once I was single.  So I went and did my own thing, pursued my own interests, and it was a lot of fun for myself.  I also learned a number of things about myself along the way, with the primary one being that my interests don't always run in line with most other folks.  Later on, as I got into the fall and actually extended this self-moratorium, I became aware that one of the groups I had identified with for a few years was a group that I did not fit in with, and I would never really fit in with, and yet, I was okay with that.

Pride 2010

For the fourth year in a row, I walked with St. Georges in the DC pride parade, and it was my third year of heading up all the coordination that gets done to get us together.  For me though, I decided to add a small twist to the parade.

The Fantasticks

Any of you who have known me in New Mexico and the DC area know that I pretty much go around with some semblance of facial hair.  Usually it's a goatee, sometimes more towards a full beard, but I pretty much stick with it.  However, there are times where one has to shave when it is called for, and this is one of those times.

Far Point

A few weeks ago I went to my very first Sci-Fi convention, Far Point, up in Timonium. I didn't know what to expect for sure, but from what I told, it would be a fun weekend.

I took a half day at work that day, which was fine because this was the Friday after the two Snowlyshit blizzards. The roads were still not great so I wanted to drive up to Timonium during the daylight hours before things could turn icy. The drive itself wasn't terrible at least since I was sticking with 95 and then 695, those roads had actually been cleared off for the most part.

I got to the hotel, got the key from RB and met up with DB and MA briefly before I headed back down and started exploring the dealer area just to see who had set up. I also was checking out the program to figure out what I had wanted to see. The one thing I did know was that I was going to get an autograph of Mira Furlan for JN, since he couldn't make it and asked that I get that.

I would get to meet some new folks this weekend, and we ended up hitting it off nicely, especially as we hung out at the bar. I have to give some credit to the bar because they held up as best they could, considering that the storms screwed up getting any of their shipments before the con, however, collectively the con goers did kill quite a few of the bottles. Along the way, between GB, CiA, myself, we helped invent a new drink with Allie, the bartender there. It's called a Sex in the Snow, and in a glass with ice you add 1 shot each of vodka, creme de menthe, and peppermint schnapps. It was good, and we got pretty hammered on them. I had warned my friends that if I did any tweeting, it would be drunken tweeting, and yes, apparently I delivered in the form of tweets that looked like I just mashed random buttons on my phone. I ended up staying up and hanging out with folks until about 4 AM before I finally got back up to the hotel room and crashed out.

Saturday morning around 9 I woke up, pulled myself together and got dressed and headed downstairs. For a bit of fun, I did some cosplay, but not in the way you would think. I took the Rocky Balboa boxing robe, shirt, and shorts that I had used one Halloween and wore that for the day, including wrapping my hands in the gauze the boxers wear under the gloves. It definitely caught the eye of some folks and it was good for a laugh. I hit up some of the panels during the day, including a Q&A from Felicia Day. She was a real sweetheart and clearly she loved to interact with her fans. I also made a few bids on some items in the art auction there, including a few pieces I knew that ChA would love.

When the evening rolled around, I changed into the kilt and vest I would be wearing for the evening, and then hung out before the masquerade began. RB and DB had entered the contest dressed up as officers from Space Battleship Yamato, complete with lip-synching the theme from the show as they entered. There were a lot of well done costumes there, including a female mandalorian. It turned out that she had modified an original mandalorian costume, no easy feat because she had to cut it down from being for a 6' tall man to a 5'4" woman. She ended up winning an award for craftsmanship. One guy was dressed as a Cthulhu Cultist, another pair dressed as Orcs, one woman recrated Kaylee's social dress from Firefly. There was definitely a lot of good work put in.

After the masquerade was the charity auction, and this became one of the craziest con moments I had seen so far. One of the prizes was lunch with Felecia day. By the time the bidding sheet had been filled in and it went to the live auction, someone had bid 300 dollars. From there people started to bid like crazy. I thought it would end quickly because that would become too rich for some people's blood, but then a bidding war started between 3 folks and eventually dropped to two folks, and the price climbed into the four digit figures. Felecia looked a bit embarassed that the price was going that high for a lunch with her. In fact, her and the emcee mentioned a few times as a reminder that it was just lunch. By the time the dust had settled, the final figure came in at $5,000.  Just, wow, it turned out that was the single highest bid ever made in the history of the charity auction.  Ultimately at least the money went to something good.

Clearly I had blocked this part from my brain but it has now come back,  I was warned about one of the con goers, simply known as the troll or the cabal.  She is basically one of those folks who will hit on anything with a penis, even though she is truly nothing to look at, except to maybe turn around and run away.  I'm sorry if I sound mean, but really, if you wanted to destroy someone's belief that there is a God, just show them a picture of her.  Anyway, so the cabal was trying to get cozy with one of the guys down in the lobby, and she is wearing this super short black dress.  Well apparently somehow part of her skirt was flipped up and in the belt line, because someone in our group noticed and said look, we turned, and then there were about 15 of us screaming simultaneously because we realized that the cabal not only was in a short black dress and the skirt needed to be pulled down, but that bitch wasn't wearing underwear (this is why I drink, to forget!).  CiA would save the day by going over and basically pulling the cabals skirt back down into place.  I hope she got some kind of hazard pay for that one.

The rest of the night would be spent hanging out in the lobby at the dance area.  I also went and hit a late night panel as well.  Once again I would end up staying up until about 4 in the morning before coming in and crashing.

Sunday was the day to begin winding down and packing up.  I went down and finished the last of the art auction because a few pieces I had bid on in the bid sheet had gotten enough interest they went to the live auction.  I feel slightly bad for the woman I got into a mini bidding war for the udon noodle bowl because she wanted it as well, but all is fair at that point.  I walked away with several beautiful pictures (that I still need to put into frames!) and a bowl, plus I got the items for ChA as well.  I also got a copy of the first season of The Guild signed by Felecia Day during the autograph session, which was pretty cool.  Mira Furlan commented on how much she liked the shirt I was wearing that day, which was an asian shirt that my parents had sent to me the last time they were in the Chinatown section of San Francisco (hope to go there this summer!).  To wrap it up, I attended a showing of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, which is still a riot to this day.  After that it was time to drive back to Greenbelt and recover from a rather busy yet awesome weekend.

Of course, now I am ready for more, DB, RB, and I have already signed up for Shore Leave in July, in big part because Edward James Olmos and Katee Sackhoff will be there.  That part is what is exciting for me, I can't wait!

Visiting Six Flags and Sea World

One advantage of being down in San Antonio is that because it doesn't snow and stays fairly decent weather-wise, amusement parks stay open way longer than they do on the east coast.  With that opportunity available, I took advantage of my visit to see my parents by going to both Sea World and Six Flags in San Antonio.

On Monday morning I drove to Sea World and the parking lot was pretty empty, probably because it's the week before Christmas and people are leaving for vacation or whatnot.  I got inside, got a map of showtimes, and first it was off to ride Shamu Express before heading to one of the theaters to watch the Polar Express in 4D.  Basicallly they take and cut the original movie down to an 18 minute interactive movie.  It was cute and all, the kids would like it, there certainly were a lot of them there.  I timed it to be able to walk right over to the sea lion stadium and watch the sea lion show.  It featured one of the stars, Clyde, trying to get into the Christmas spirit.  There's various stuff that happens throughout, including leaps out of the water by the sea lions, and an otter running around.  I enjoyed seeing their re-creation of The Night Before Christmas.

After the sea lion show, I had about 40 minutes to kill before the Shamu show, so I walked over to the Great White roller coaster and got in a few rides on that one.  It's a B and M coaster that's similar to Afterburn at Carowinds so there's lots of turns and loops.  Since there was basically no one in line, they said you could stay on it if no one was waiting in your row.  I got to ride in the front and the back before it was time for me to head over to Shamu stadium.

The Shamu show was good to watch and I got awesome pictures.  I purposely sat up high so I could get good pictures and not risk getting soaked. The one thing that blew my mind with that show was watching the trainers basically be able to stand on the noses of the whales and be pushed across the pool or even have them stand as the whales put them in the air.  It was a blast to watch and I got awesome pictures of it.

After the show I walked across the park and got in a few rides on the Steel Eel.  This coaster is like Steel Force at Dorney Park in that it doesn't have any loops or other elements, it's your basic out and back coaster, but it goes across the park, so it is a good long ride.  Don't bother with riding in the front, the back is a much better ride.  You get some sick airtime as you go up and down the hills.

From there I wandered the park and hit all the various exhibits that were open.  I saw the penguin house, then went over to the sharks and coral reef aquarium.  After getting out of those it was feeding time for the dolphins so I bought a tray and got to feed dolphins as well.  With that tray came a coupon for buy one get one free for feeding the sea lions, so I went over and fed the sea lions as well.  One of them was very vocal about getting fish from you, another one tried to be cute by slapping the water with his fin to get your attention.

Before leaving the park, I hit Journey to Atlantis, got wet on that one since it's the giant raft down the slide.  Luckily it was a sunny day at the park.

Tuesday morning I was going to take my brother to Six Flags, then I found out they don't open that park until 4 PM, whereas Sea World had opened at 10.  So we got to wait until the late afternoon.  I would also find out that they do things a bit different there, as some parts of the park were closed.  Only 5 of the 8 coasters were open and that didn't include their biggest one, Superman (jerks!).  However, we did make a good evening of it.  Our first ride was on boomerang, because since it is the same as the Carolina Cobra at Carowinds, it means there is only one car, so it's best to ride it soon after the park opens, before the line gets long, especially when everyone else is going to Goliath.  We worked our way back to Tony Hawk's big spin, which my bro absolutely loved.  Next I went on the Romp Stomp a Bomp (don't judge me, I wanted the credit :-P) before we went over to Goliath.  Goliath is a lot like Talon at Dorney Park, and the line for any row but the front was short, so we managed to get on very quickly.

Our last new coaster to ride was the Road Runner Express.  It is the first time I have seen a steel coaster disguised to look more like a wooden one.  I think we had the most fun on that coaster.  One thing that we had seen that was put in for the holidays was a sledding hill for folks to ride down.  My bro and I each took turns riding and got a picture of the other going down the hill.  Since I couldn't go sledding after the big storm in DC, might as well do some sort of sledding here, right?

From there we repeated some of our rides, doing Tony Hawk, Goliath, and the Roadrunner again.  I did try going through some of the shops to find some fun souvenir of Six Flags, but there were no good magnets, or even good Wile E. Coyote items.  I thnk it's because it's late in the season.

It's too bad that the other coasters were closed, so I gues I will just have to try and get back to San Antonio next summer to ride those missing coasters in my list.  Both parks were fun, especially when I haven't been to a place like Sea World for a few years.

Latest Pictures

I am finally playing catch-up on all of my pictures and uploaded a bunch tonight to Flickr.  You can either start here, or click on one of the pictures below to jump* through and see whatever you want to see.


St. Georges Oktoberfest


King's Dominion


Washington Capitals


Baltimore Ravens


White House Christmas Tree

I hope you enjoy viewing these pictures :-)

*Photos will start at the beginning of the set and may be different from what appears here.

Pure Excitement

Tonight I attended the Ravens vs Steelers game, and it was one of the most exciting games I have seen live so far in my life.


I had made it a goal to see the Ravens play the Steelers live, especially after how close the games were last year.  When tickets first went on sale, it was impossible to get them via Ticketmaster.  I then started watching the resellers sites, but after the first few weeks into the season, prices shot up to the point where it became unaffordable to me to go.  However, the thought of going never really left my mind.

Earlier this week I had heard that the Steelers QB, Ben Roethlisberger, had gotten a concussion in the game against Kansas City, and his backup had broken his wrist.  Besides that, Polamalu was still out because of his knee injury, and of course, they had lost that game against the Chiefs.  So the thought that occurred to me was that people might decide that based on the injuries and that loss, that no one is going to want to pay a huge amount for tickets, and so they'd rather dump the tickets at a lower price just so someone buys them.  Well I turned out to be right because I found one ticket in a section I wanted that was way under what other folks were charging for it.  I debated it, then snapped it up, so now I was going to the Ravens vs Steelers game!

I hung out with DB and RB at their place in Baltimore before I took off for the stadium that evening.  We had the pleasure of being the Sunday night game so it would mean being there late.  I decided since I was in Baltimore to use the usual place that I park at for Orioles games, and thankfully the garage was not full when I got there.  Then came the long walk towards the stadium, with a stop at the Ravenswalk along the way.  I did have to hit some of the booths before going to my usual hangout at Lot O for some cheap beer to get the night rolling before the game.

Got into the stadium, got my rally towel (given away to drown out all the yellow hankies), bought food and beer, and then trekked upstairs to my section.  I was in front of the press box up there sitting with a few other Ravens fans as well.  One of them had wondered who had bought the seat I was in, and they were hoping it was not a Steelers fan, so they got their wish.  The stadium filled up, I shot video of player introductions , though the stadium was so full of screaming fans I don't think it picked up the announcer this time.

The game got underway, and the excitement was ramped up when the Ravens jumped out to an early lead.  Then it became lots of back and forth between the Steelers and the Ravens, with both lines holding for the most part, except for a few big plays.  By halftime it was Ravens 14, Steelers 7.  In the third and fourth quarter is when things got crazy.  Steelers scored a touchdown, and then a field goal, so they were ahead 17-14.  Then we managed to kick a field goal so it was tied up 17-17.  At the last possible minute we got the ball back and tried to bring it within field goal range.  There was a rush for one last field goal attempt (51 yards so it was loooooooong) but it fell short, so now it was time for sudden death overtime.

It would be an understatement to say that I was freaking out.  Overtime has not always been a friend of the Ravens, and all it would take was one big play the the Steelers and we were done for.  Luckily it didn't quite happen that way.  Instead Paul Kruger would end up picking off a pass by Dixon during the Steelers second possession of the quarter and would run it back to near the 30 yard line.  We moved the ball down a bit, then took a knee on the second down, and brought out Cundiff to make a short field goal attempt.  He hit the field goal and the stadium went nuts, including myself.

So tonight I yelled, I screamed, I high-fived folks, I was in high energy throughout.  Luckily I didn't have to put up with too many obnoxious Steelers fans except the guy in front of me who kept on standing up and then talking smack to folks.  He got fairly drunk and almost got into a fight with the guy next to him because he eventually ended up crossing a line by shoving the guy because he didn't like getting talked back to with the smack talk.  Just remember, if you dish it out, you gotta be able to take it as well.

One of the most exciting games I have ever seen, and just a reminder of why I have a long-term goal of becoming a season ticket holder.

3 Down, 3 To Go

This past weekend was the first set of performances for the show I am in.  In summary, they went very well!

Friday night was opening night, and it was a small crowd that showed up, but they were a spirited crowd.  It did mean some modifications to our Noah's Ark scene because we didn't have the number of people we would use, but we still made it work very well.  After the show, we headed out to the Old Bowie Town Grille for dinner and drinks to celebrate opening.  There was a live band, they had Guinness on tap, and great buffalo tenders as well.  I'll have to head back there again sometime.

Saturday night was a bigger crowd, including familiar faces for some of the cast.  It was another great performance, though I had one snag with one of my props, but we made it work.  After that show our after-party was to have food and wine there at the hall since that makes more sense economically for us.  Myself, my director, and one of my cast-mates ended up staying late and chatting before one of us looked at our watch and realized the time.  To put it into perspective, we started partying a little after 10, we didn't leave until after 12:30.  I was supposed to go to a friend's house and I joked to him the reason why I was so much later than I expected is because the folks and I couldn't shut up.  I'm Italian, I'm used to that happening ;-)

Sunday was our biggest crowd so far, and they really enjoyed the show.  There were some folks I knew who came and I was glad to see them there.  After the show, we then moved everything from St. James over to St. Georges, where the performances will take place this weekend.

So everyone who has seen the show has enjoyed it.  There was a random person on Friday night who did not seem to enjoy one of our jokes and left.  Apparently he didn't like that we made a joke that was in support of gay rights.  Oh well, if you're going to be that uptight about it, you're leading a very sad life.

So since people are responding well to the show, it gives me confidence that we will have a good set of performances this weekend.  I do hope to see folks there and that we get good crowds as well.  Tonight we did practice at St. Georges, and while the staging is much different, we seem to be adjusting well.  I still have to make sure I am all ready for some of my costume changes.  Apparently I look good in sequins, but don't expect that to become an every day thing.

Another Haunting

About a week before Halloween I'm online and I get a message from a bud I had met the previous month during the Labor Day weekend.   He was looking at going to King's Dominion's Halloween Haunt and wanted to have a buddy go along with him.  I figured it sounded like the opportunity for a good time, so I agreed to go.

Saturday morning, MX picks me up and we drive down to KD, getting there around 11 AM.    Now unlike my last trip during the Halloween Haunt, they were running two cars on each of their coasters, so lines were a lot shorter this time.  It also had been raining earlier in the day, so things were a bit damp.  There was a bit of worry about the weather because it was going to rain later that night.  However, we were going to make the best of it.

The first ride was on Dominator, which was a blast.  Then it was off to Volcano.  MX remarked how much you actually stay up around the top of the mountain before coming down.  There is some truth to that, so if you're afraid of heights, you might not like this coaster, but then again, you might not be much of a fan of roller coasters either.

Next it was Avalanche, then onward to Back Lot Stunt Coaster, and Flight of Fear.  This weekend they kept Flight of Fear open as a coaster until 4 PM before closing it to make it into one of the haunted attractions that evening.  We then hit up the drop tower, which again, that is the sort of ride that truly will scare me.  Anaconda was on the agenda, and for whatever reason, it seems like it was running slower than usual.  I wonder if that coaster may eventually go the way of the dodo, though that might be difficult because of its location.

Moving onward after stopping for lunch, the next ride was on Shockwave before hitting up Grizzly.  Walking back to go on Dominator again, we stopped and rode Scooby Doo's Haunted Mansion.  I will be curious to see what they're going to do with most of the kids area next year when it's all converted from Nickelodeon and Hannah Barbera to Peanuts.

From Dominator it was back over to ride Drop Tower again.  It was while waiting in line there that we'd end up making some new friends for the evening, S and T, who were a (straight) couple from Richmond.  They were at the park on Twilight tickets, and hadn't attended a haunt before.  Once I started telling them about it, T's eyes lit up, she was all about going to do the scary stuff.

So we hung out for a bit and then the haunt stuff started.  Hit up Club Blood and then the Toxic Dump before walking over to see if there was a short line at Volcano.  Unfortunately when we got there, it had started to rain again, so they had shut down the ride.   To get out of the rain, we hit the alien themed haunted house.  After getting out of there the rain had calmed a bit, so we went over and hit up Volcano.

After stopping for dinner, we took a ride on the Crypt and then walked over and hit up the Slaughterhouse haunt.  Now let me just say here that basically MX doesn't do the scary stuff so well, at least when it comes to the surprise scare, which is what most of the houses are.   When it came to the groups, it was in the order of T, S, MX, and myself in the houses, since the two braver folks had to bring up the front and rear of the line.  It did make for a different experience with some of the scary folks, considering I was usually the leader of the group the last time I was there.

Moving onward we headed for Dominator.  Now I figured because of the rain driving folks out, we would have a short line, including for the front, which was fine because I needed to pee by then.  However, fate decided to fuck with me this night.  As we're in line, it starts to rain again.  Being the diehards that we are, we stayed in line, while others left, so it got us rather close to the front.  However, it would be about 15 minutes before the rain would stop enough to get going again.  I hate that I had to do this, but when it came close enough to our turn, I walked across to head for a bathroom because I had to pee so bad by then that I don't think hitting several G-forces of turns would have been a good idea.  Oh well, it's not like I won't be riding in the front of Dominator ever again.

We then tried to hit Blackbeard's Revenge, but due to the rain, apparently it made that haunt muddy and possibly unsafe for folks.  So I led us over to Maze of Madness, but that was closed as well.  This was probably because by then it was 11:45 and the park was going to be closing in 15 mins.  MX and I ended up saying our goodbyes to T and S and headed to the nearby hotel where we had gotten a room for the night.  It was a good idea because we were both tired.

The next morning, it was get up, have breakfast, and then head back to DC.  Thanks to the time change, it meant getting back just before the football games started.  Overall it was a fun time this weekend, and I got to hit a few more of the haunt attractions as well.  MX said he had a fun time as well, despite some of the haunting stuff.  Now the season is over, but there's always next year for me (yay season pass!).

First Halloween Haunt

During the month of October, many theme parks are open with some kind of a Halloween theme going on to get patrons in there on the weekends.  King's Dominion is no exception.  I have never gone to a park on Halloween, but since I have a couple of buds who love Halloween and wanted to go, it was just a matter of picking a day and getting our asses down there.

So last Saturday morning the plan was to meet up with DB and CT in DC where we would go to brunch, RC would meet up with us later and we'd all ride down to King's Dominion (KD).  As with any leisure trip, things don't always go to plan.  When the three of us tried to find a place to park in DC, we ended up saying "screw it, we'll find something along the way."  I tried calling RC but then I was getting no answer (he was at the gym) so eventually we said we would just get on the road.  Right as we were getting on 295, RC calls me back, and he is on his way to meet us.  So I turn us around and we head to Greenbelt to do brunch at the Silver Diner while RC got himself together.  After we finished with breakfast and coordinating meeting up, we got on the road and down to KD.

I'll mention here that the weather was predicted to have showers on and off throughout the day, and according to park policy, unless the rain was sustained long enough, they don't usually close rides, so we decided to risk the weather and go anyway.  I mention this now to set up the context for later on.

The first ride DB, CT, and myself hit is Dominator, though it turns out the line looked deceptively short.  It was here that I would realize that they were only running 1 car at a time on Dominator (and as it turned out, on all the other coasters as well), so that meant longer wait times.  It was a bit disappointing because one of my bragging points about KD and similar parks is the short waits.  However, considering it's October, and most of their staff is back in school, not much you can do about it.  If there is anything I would definitely change, it would be to have security catch the stupid fuckfaces who can't go through a coaster line without lighting up a cigarette.

Next up was avalanche, and by now it started to rain.  After that ride we dashed for one of the shops and bought umbrellas.  Moving forward, we got into line for Anaconda, and were on the train within two runs because there was practically no one there.  So we got in and everything started up.

And then it happened...

For the very first time in my life, I had a roller coaster actually stop during the ride.  In this case, we were just out of the station and going up the lift hill.  So the chain stopped, and we were just holding there.  The staff came up the stairs and said that something had tripped the fault protection so the fail-safe kicked in and stopped the ride.  Maintenance would reset the ride and see if it would start again, and if it did we would continue on our merry way, otherwise they would have to get us out of there.  Did I mention it was still raining?  I could at least look over and see the construction of the new Intimidator 305 that had been done.  Of course, DB has some dark humor going on about how this could end up being one of those CNN moments, and that at least we're not stuck upside down.  I vowed to him that if he jinxed us into getting stuck upside down on a coaster, that I would find a way to get out of my restraints, reach behind me, and strangle him.  About 5-7 minutes later, the ride started up again and we completed it without any other mishap.

Backlot Stunt Coaster was next, and it was good as usual.  After that it was beginning to get a bit late and almost time for dinner, so we found our way over to the Country Kitchen.  KD was running a deal for a buffet dinner so we took advantage of that for our dinner.  Fried chicken, brown sugar ham, mashed potatoes, corn, green beans, biscuits, and such were enjoyed by all.

After dinner, the haunt started.  Now the park was filled with fog and the ghosts and goblins were coming out to play.  Of course it is now sunset and everything is dark.  We saw plenty of scary looking people who were following customers around, and it caught people off guard, very entertaining to watch.  We made our way over to Grizzly and had a ride on that, before we started in on the official haunt activities.  Grizzly is fun to ride in the dark because there are some spots that are pitch black; it adds an element of fear.

After regrouping we started hitting some of the haunted mazes.  They're basically areas that each have a theme to them, and most of the scaring is done by startling people.  The rule however is that the costumed folks cannot touch you, and so you don't touch them back either.  Anyway, so first up was Toxic Plague, definitely nasty looking, and scary at parts.  Then there was club blood, if you like vampires, it's fun.  After that we decided to head over to the Volcano roller coaster as a break and to hopefully take advantage of a shorter line.  It wasn't shorter, but we sucked it up and waited.

After Volcano we hit the Alien Outpost.  This maze is what a part of the Flight Of Fear coaster has been converted to for the haunt.  After that was the Big Top Terror.  Outside of this ride is a person selling polarized glasses for $1.  Spend the $1 because it makes the maze so much more fun with all of the 3D effects.  We went to try and hit Elvira's Superstition, which is a show inside the action theater, but it was closed at the moment due to mechanical issues.  So we hit the Maze of Madness instead.

By this time it's starting to get pretty late, and so we hit the Starbucks for coffee.  I would especially need it since I was driving home.  We decided to try Elvira one more time for our final Haunt "ride" but if not there, then we would head over to Feary Tales.  Elvira was open so we got in there and got to go on a rather wild ride.

By the time all was said and done, it was about 11:45, the park would close in 15 minutes and I knew full well it could turn into a clusterfuck if we tried to leave when the park closed.  So we took off back to D.C.

So Halloween Haunt, definitely worth it, despite the disadvantage of longer lines for roller coasters.  I will be doing it again next year, and that's already guaranteed because I renewed my season pass back in September.  In fact, I will be going again on Halloween because a guy I met recently wants to go, we'll see if he enjoys it as well.

Bentzen Ball

So a few days ago I accidentally learned that D.C. was putting on a comedy festival.  How did this happen?  I follow California Tortilla on Twitter, and they're one of the sponsors of this festival.  They tweeted that they had tickets for the opening act of the show to give away to the first person who could identify the person that's on the soda machine at all of the California Tortillas.  I knew the answer was Bad Bob (puts soda in his water cup) and Good Bob (puts water in his water cup).  I E-mailed in the answer, and won the tickets.

So now I had tickets to see the opening show of the Bentzen Ball comedy festival in DC.  What this meant was that I would get to see the main act of Patton Oswalt and several other comedians on Thursday night.  I invited Brian to go along with me and he was down for it, so the plan was made.  Happy hour at Nellies, then off to see comedy.

As usual, Nellies was fine and there was good food there.  Tonight we tried the quesadillas, and they were pretty good, so I'll have to remember them for when I am likely to be in there during the Ravens Monday night games this season.  One of these days I will get around to trying the arepas, but it just wasn't happening tonight.

We get to the Lincoln Theater, and for whatever reason, my name was not on the list for the free tickets.  However, I had made the (now wise) move to print out the E-mail exchange I had with the rep from California Tortilla (I later would tweet their account to let them know of the near-snafu).  The woman at the ticket booth let me in, though they said since I didn't have a physical ticket, if I left the theater, I couldn't get back into the show.  Fine by us as we had no intention of leaving until the show was over.

Just like with any comedy show, things got started late, but the show itself was worth it.  First it was a speech from DC Councilmember Jim Graham, which was then interrupted by Matthew Lesko (he still wears those fucking question mark suits) and they did some shtick.  Then we got to the scheduled comedians.  Tig Notaro started off the set, and cracked us up immediately with talking about how comedians always take the mic out of the stand and then pick it up and move it out of the way, and they always seem to move it a bit further as the show goes on until they're going to complete their set.  She then walked the stand down into the audience.  Lots of jokes involving L.A. and the dealings with her friends, she was funny.

Rory Scovel was up next and his set was more like he was having a conversation about his experiences as a stoner, but there were some funny bits in there.  I enjoyed it.

Ian Edwards just about had me on the floor at times, and then he'd say something that would have my jaw drop.  He is not for everyone because he will talk about some of the most screwed up things, which I won't even name here.  Maybe that's why he writes for "The Boondocks" TV series, I could easily see him having Huey talk about the same things that he was speaking abut on stage.

Mary Lynn Rajskub (AKA "Chloe" on 24) was next in line and had a decent set going, though I think this could have been the first time she's worked with a DC audience.  I don't think this could have been her best work, but I bet she'll do much better the rest of the weekend.  I did like her story about being asked to be on a panel discussing counter-terrorism in DC and the offer made her wonder if the folks who asked had forgotten that she's not really some computer genius who can call up the schematics on a nuclear bomb at will.

Kyle Kinane did well and got us all going, his humor tended to be more self-depreciating about his looks and attitudes.

Todd Barry just didn't do much for me with his comedy.  I don't know if I just wasn't in tune with his style, or if he was falling a bit flat.

Now we get to Patton Oswalt and man oh man, I don't think Brian and I stopped laughing much through his whole part of the show.  There is now some new vocabulary in my personal dictionary thanks to him.  Not only can people be affected by "swamp ass" but they can also have "gravy nuts."  One of his other stories was about working with a magician comedian years ago, and because the magician had gotten gypped on a part of his payment for the evening, he "hate-fucked the audience."  Patton also spent a good amount of time talking about some of the changes that having a kid has brought on, including the crazy situations he has ended up in thanks to the lack of sleep.  His bit about his genius friend with the prodigy two year old was pure gold though.

So with a starting show like that, I have some pretty high hopes for this festival.  If it's successful enough, they'll bring it back again next year, and I certainly hope they will.  Unfortunately I won't be able to catch the end show, which is Sarah Silverman, but maybe next time around.  I'd also like to see Lizz Winstead if there's a shot at that.

Of course, I should thank California Tortilla for the opportunity to be able to do this. It was definitely worth my time.

If you're in the DC area this weekend, I would encourage you to try to hit one of the acts.  If for some reason you can't get tickets, you can always drop by Ben's Chili Bowl.  It's open mic there for any of the comedians who are working the show to drop in and do some of their material.  The idea of being able to grab a half-smoke and hear some comedy actually sounds pretty appealing right now. 

OutQ NEM Meetup

So as a part of the National Equality March this past weekend, there was a planned meetup of those who listen to SiriusXM OutQ. Several show hosts and producers were planning to be down at the Helix Hotel in DC and would make an appearance at the hotel bar. Frank Decaro, Doria Biddle, Mr. Greg, and Michelangelo Signorile were the line-up, and while I had met Mr. Greg previously, the other folks were people that I had wanted to meet for various reasons.

If you're a regular listener to OutQ, then you know of the (in)famous CR from PA. We have met up several times, and this time was no exception. When he arrived in town he gave me a call and I met him and his friend Eric down at the local Silver Diner for a late lunch. Afterwards it was off to the Metro to get down to DC. If you're a local, you already know that Metro was all screwy this weekend due to track work. Luckily our destination was on the Red Line, and it became to our advantage to transfer at Ft. Totten in order to get down to Dupont Circle.

We arrived at Dupont Circle and the first order of business was to hit the local liquor store because we figured we'd butter up one of the hosts with booze (Yes we're that bad). CR knew that Doria loves Chopin Vodka so he picked that up, and I picked up Vampyre Vodka as something different for her to try. After the booze run, it was a walk to the hotel. I saw along the way just what 15th and P has turned into, though it really can't get much more gentrified. There were also protesters outside of a new house that the Scientologists were opening up. I would have taken pictures of them, but I think it would have freaked them out. They were wearing masks as it was to avoid issues the the Scientologists.

The three of us got to the hotel and found our way to the lounge, and it was early enough that we were able to get a table together. Drinks were ordered, there was chatter, and plenty of clock watching as well. The lounge would then get very crowded with other listeners who were also showing up. Eventually I got up and noticed that arriving in the lobby were Frank and Doria.  I pointed that out to CR and we both headed to the lobby.  I said hi to Doria and she immediately recognized me as "Mangi in Maryland."  It probably helped that I was wearing my Haloti Ngata jersey as well.  I then met Frank as well, and I got to watch CR's reaction as he met Doria.  It was all classic.

A few minutes later Michelangelo Signorile arrived as well and of course was immediately mobbed just like Frank and Doria.  I eventually got back to my bag and returned with my copy of Queer in America for Signorile to sign.  Of course he was more than happy to sign it for me.

About 20 mins later, I saw a woman I would immediately recognize the minute I heard her say "darling."  It was the very well known Tori in DC, someone that I have heard call in to Frank, Michelangelo, and Derek and Romaine for many years.  A few years ago I missed seeing her at pride, so I didn't want to let this opportunity slip away.  I must say that she is very charming and fun to be around, we enjoyed chatting with one another.  Later I saw her husband, and clearly she has good taste in men ;-) 

Most of the night would be spent talking with other listeners, getting pictures, and of course, hearing what the hosts had to say.  I was there for about four hours with folks before finally leaving since we were getting hungry (none of us had dinner).

BTW, if what Doria tells me about men is true, I might have to consider a move to L.A.  Below are pictures from the meetup, click on Frank and Michelangelo to see them all.

Back Into It

So after doing a few shows with the St Georges players, I took a bit of a break from it because I wanted to pursue other interests, and also let some other people get involved with the shows. However, a recent show came up and I decided to audition for it, and now I'll be doing a show next month.

The show is called "The Bible: The Complete Word of God (Abridged)" but this is not some kind of "this is why the Bible and Christianity is so great and wonderful" type of a show. This is more like "If Mel Brooks had made a movie about the Bible, this is what it would be like." It was created and performed by the Reduced Shakespeare Company, which apparently does similar things with Shakespeare.

So for the next few weeks, Sunday and Monday evenings will be filled with rehearsals. However, I can say the show is going to be pretty freaking funny when it all comes together. Without giving away too much, there will be scenes that will make you laugh once you can pick your jaw up off the floor. There's a part or two that I am looking at and going "I'm going to have to pray extra hard on Sundays to make sure I don't get struck by a lightning bolt later."

The show will run for two weekends, November 13-15, and 20-22. Hopefully you can drop by and see one. What it also means is any sort of birthday planning will be put off until either the in-between week, or after Thanksgiving, we'll deal with that when it comes around.

Happy 250

250 years ago today, in 1759, a man named Arthur Guinness invented a beer.  This beer was thick, stout, and with a hint of bitterness, yet smooth and dark as well.  Today, many of us celebrate his contribution to the world, in a beer known as Guinness.  We salute you Arthur as you have brought a wonderful product to our world and made those of us who like a good bite to our beer very very satisfied.

Thank you Arthur Guinness, to creating one of my favorite beers in the world!

Renn Faire, 2009

It's the fall season here, and that means it's time for the MD Renaissance Faire.  I decided to make my trip down that way this past weekend, and boy did I have some fun.

This year I finally caved to some insistence from some folks I know who work there and I borrowed some garb to wear.  To really do something different, I went dressed in a kilt, peasant shirt, and boots.  Did I wear that kilt authentically?  Maybe....maybe not ;-)

So I got to the faire and met up with RP, BMc, and MR since we had all decided to meet and hang out together throughout the day.  I also knew that RB, DB, and TB were going to be there as well.  We got inside and I ran into RB and DB and we talked before they headed off to catch one of the shows.  We stayed and watched a play about St. George.  Then it was onward to hit a few shops, have some drinks, and catch some more shows.  TB called and was unable to make it due to a massive water main break in Dundalk that meant he was going to be working.  Tough break for him.

There was one shop I stopped in and the girl there insisted that I needed to try on some of the vests there.  I admit I did look good in them, but they were priced out of range for me.  There was also this really awesome leather and suede cloak there.  Again, if I had money to burn that was one thing, but not at this point.  Moving on we eventually got down to where the Lingamore Cellars was doing a wine tasting.  I have a list of a few things I want to buy.  I must recommend the Mountain White as it was very very tasty.

For lunch it had to be a turkey leg for me.  That is just faire tradition.  I also was daring to buy a skewer of fried macaroni and cheese and share it with the group.  It actually wasn't bad at all, I might have to consider buying it again the next time I am there. 

After lunch it was wandering around some more and catching some shows along the way.  I also ran into JS and his new BF as well.  Then later on I ran into one of my supervisors from work and his family.  MR remarked later that it seemed like I knew everyone at faire.  It's probably due to the eclectic group of folks that I know ;-)  Part of the day was also spent chatting with JG and LB at their respective shops.

Eventually in the later afternoon, after finding a hat and awesome vest at the faire.  RP, BM, and MR had to take off from the faire.  I went and met up with RB and DB and their group and we hung out at the Whitehart until the faire closed.

After our respective goodbyes, I headed over to Crofton and met up with JG and LB for dinner with other faire workers.  It's always fun to show up to a restaurant still dressed in garb, kind of gives the waitresses a start.

Once again, faire was fun, even if my camera croaked in the process, stupid battery.  I'll remember to carry the spare next time.  At least I got some great pictures.