Just to be clear, this is NOT my review of The Hunger Games! I have several friends who have not seen it yet. This is just our experience last night.
In all honesty, it could have been much worse. We got to the theater a few hours in advance to reserve our seats, went to dinner and returned to the theater about an hour before the movie just to avoid long lines for popcorn and a sea of people who can't seem to remember you have assigned seats so there's no reason to be stepping all over each other.
Those of you who know me know I am not a jerk. I don't put people in their place just to achieve some false sense of dominance. However, once the doors opened and we were migrating to the usher this group of high school-aged kids come shoving through the crowd, arms hooked together like a train saying "There's 6 of us! 'Scuse, 'scuse, there's 6 of us." So I cut them off in the middle, quite miffed because one of those little turds caused me and the CHILD behind me to spill drink and popcorn, and say "YOU can wait!" and the guy behind me says "and maybe apologize to my child you stepped on to get here." There were more exchanges between the teens and the parent along the lines of "Our friend has our tickets, though." "Your friend will still have your ticket when you guys get up there. This is not a concert, you don't need to be charging the crowd like you're trying to get to the front of a stage." I stayed out of it, it was a pretty civil conversation.
Moving on to the couple sitting next to us. This guy was ridiculous! One of those LOUD commentators and has to go "oooooooooo!!!" every time something remotely dramatic happens or "HO-HO SHIT! DAAAAAAMN!" during the fighting scenes. Trust me, I totally understand people just have reactions sometimes. But this was every - single - time. A couple of times he did crack Chris and me up, though. ***SPOILER: If you haven't read the book skip to the next paragraph*** When Katniss finds Peeta but he's all blended in with the surroundings the guy next to us (I'm cracking up as I'm typing this) goes "WHOA! What tha fahhhck?" That's me trying to portray his accent hahaha but I died laughing because it almost had a Fozzy Bear sound to it.
The only thing that kept us from choking the people next to us was the couple behind us. I am, unfortunately, going to have to bring my dear mother into this. My mom will do this thing where she thinks she's whispering but, in fact, she's just talking really low at a normal volume about the person right in front of her. (Sorry, Mom haha) That is what this couple would do. CONSTANTLY TALKING like they were the only ones in that theater. Several times they got the warning look from Chris. You know what I'm talking about. The one where you just turn around and stare at them. They'd be phased for like a minute and then go on explaining to one another what is happening. At one point I looked over at Chris and I go "seriously, I'm going to lose it if they don't stop." So Chris, as nicely as he could manage at that point, turns around and says "could you guys please whisper. thanks." There was still a crap load of talking but we could tell they were at least trying to be quieter so we just tried really hard to ignore it.
My final annoyance, which really wasn't as bad as anticipated, the family in front of us bringing their toddler and a baby. Chris and I genuinely try to be as patient as we can with those situations because we understand really wanting to see a highly anticipated movie opening night (i.e. Harry Potter, Sex and the City haha just me on that last one) and sometimes you just can't find child care. But it was like this baby knew what was up. During any intense quiet scene or a dramatic no dialogue part this little babe would start crying haha but compared to Chatty Cathy and Fozzy Bear it was a mild distraction.
Those of you who know my friend, Chubbs, know what I mean when I say there were times I thought "omg if Chubbs were here he'd be killing someone by now" We have decided we will avoid opening nights around here from now on.
Friday, March 23, 2012
Friday, March 16, 2012
Deployment Project
We found out towards the end of 2011 Chris would be deployed in July. A lot of things keep changing just about every week so the length of it is unknown. Either way, he'll likely be gone during all of the holidays. I still consider us to be pretty lucky for a few reasons:
1. We've had and still have plenty of time to emotionally and financially prepare for this as well as get any paperwork or house issues taken care of prior to deployment.
2. We are spending our second anniversary in a row together (pending his deployment goes as planned) which I hear is a rare thing these days.
3. He shouldn't be in a combat zone (again, pending his deployment goes as planned)
I will need to stay busy during his deployment to keep myself out of trouble. By "trouble" I mean buying a puppy. I've had mad puppy fever for a while now and predict it will worsen when my husband is gone. I do have plans to be in school in the Fall as well as working some kind of part time job, even if that means working in the BX warehouse. But, I also like to do home projects. Now, any of you who had the hilarious pleasure of seeing my bedroom when I lived with Dub know painting rooms is not exactly my bread and butter. So that's out of the question. Plus without Chris' supervision, who knows what colors he'll come home to.
So, I've decided to make this chair!
The idea is for this chair to someday grace the guest bedroom. It's perfect for the travel theme we decided on. Also, it will match the night stand which will also be made of old suitcases. However, while we live in this house it will just have to be in Chris' office since an entire wall of the small guest room is a huge closet.
I do plan on seeking outside help with this to ensure it doesn't look like an accident AND to make sure it's safe to sit in! Last thing I need is a lawsuit from someone with a chair leg stuck in their rear.
With all of this keeping me busy I shouldn't have time to think about clumsy, cuddly puppies.
Right?
1. We've had and still have plenty of time to emotionally and financially prepare for this as well as get any paperwork or house issues taken care of prior to deployment.
2. We are spending our second anniversary in a row together (pending his deployment goes as planned) which I hear is a rare thing these days.
3. He shouldn't be in a combat zone (again, pending his deployment goes as planned)
I will need to stay busy during his deployment to keep myself out of trouble. By "trouble" I mean buying a puppy. I've had mad puppy fever for a while now and predict it will worsen when my husband is gone. I do have plans to be in school in the Fall as well as working some kind of part time job, even if that means working in the BX warehouse. But, I also like to do home projects. Now, any of you who had the hilarious pleasure of seeing my bedroom when I lived with Dub know painting rooms is not exactly my bread and butter. So that's out of the question. Plus without Chris' supervision, who knows what colors he'll come home to.
So, I've decided to make this chair!
The idea is for this chair to someday grace the guest bedroom. It's perfect for the travel theme we decided on. Also, it will match the night stand which will also be made of old suitcases. However, while we live in this house it will just have to be in Chris' office since an entire wall of the small guest room is a huge closet.
I do plan on seeking outside help with this to ensure it doesn't look like an accident AND to make sure it's safe to sit in! Last thing I need is a lawsuit from someone with a chair leg stuck in their rear.
With all of this keeping me busy I shouldn't have time to think about clumsy, cuddly puppies.
Right?
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
I Left My Heart In London
Chris had a TDY last month to Mildenhall, England and I got to accompany him! I've already talked about our airport disaster in the previous blog and our first 4 days there were not exciting because Chris still had to work and I had no car so all I could really do was workout, read or watch TV so I'll just skip straight to Saturday morning.
We took a free shuttle at 6:30am from base to the London Heathrow Airport. I expected this bus to be pretty gross because, well, it was a free bus. Nope. This thing was luxurious! We were off to a good start!
Once we arrived at the airport we took the tube into London and immediately began exploring. We were so blessed to have been able to make this trip on one of the rare days London isn't all foggy and gross. Of course, the first thing I did was step into a typical red English phone booth and immediately discovered it smelled like someone had been peeing in there every day for the last 2 weeks. YUCK! I stepped into the one next to it and discovered nothing but pornographic pictures and prostitution advertisements. *sigh* It would have to do for now.
After stopping for a quick breakfast of porridge, fruit and carrot juice (which is weird, don't drink it unless you have real love for carrots) we followed some signs and came across Buckingham Palace! We couldn't tour it because the Queen is there right now and we did not stay for the changing of the guard because it was 10:00AM and it didn't start until 11:30AM. I just didn't really want to stand against the gate for an hour and a half so maybe next time. We then proceeded to Victoria Station to jump on our tour bus which would take us all over London.
We stopped in at Sherlock Holmes Pub for some - you guessed it! - FISH AND CHIPS! We had heard from our travel agent that this place had THE BEST fish and chips and she insisted we go there. They did not disappoint! It was so delicious and it came with mushy peas which was a first for me. It was peas at the consistency of mashed potatoes. Pretty good stuff! The pub had a restaurant upstairs, which is where we ate. They had a section of the room blocked off behind glass like a museum would do and it was set up exactly like Sherlock Holmes' office in the stories.
Once we had a little lunch we hopped back on a tour bus and got off at Trafalgar Square. There were street performers everywhere including the guys who paint themselves as statues, a couple of guys were drawing every nations flag on the ground in chalk, a man who could convert his bike into a drum set, girls giving out hugs for pounds to feed starving children and a guy putting on a skit to involve the audience. Pigeons all over the place which was not good news for me since I'm really not a fan of birds.
From Trafalgar Square we made our way to the big stuff! This was my favorite part of the tour because on our way to The London Eye we passed by St. Paul's Cathedral, crossed over London Bridge and Tower Bridge! Funny story: Arizona purchased London Bridge and had it assembled only to realize it was not the bridge they thought it was. Arizona thought London Bridge and Tower Bridge were the same thing. England basically said "no, you idiots, and we would never sell you our Tower Bridge!"
Right across from The London Eye was Big Ben and The House of Parliament and Westminster Abbey. I had to stand there for a little while and just soak it all in. So much detail and history in these structures. My pictures really do not do them enough justice.
On to Piccadilly Circus!! This was my favorite area! It was pretty much the Times Square of London. All of those big TV's everywhere and scrolling light up signs. I discovered there was an M&M World in London and demanded we go. So we did. I frequently have to let my inner child out.
Finally, it's time for Hard Rock Cafe. This is the coolest part of the night because of how the events played out. We walked up to what we thought was the restaurant and discovered it was only a shop. No restaurant connected to it and my heart kind of started sinking into my stomach. I thought "SURELY there is an actual restaurant here! They don't just post up a merchandise shop....do they???" Turns out the place was across the street haha. We saw this ridiculous line out front just to put our names on a list to be seated. Found out it would be a 2 hour wait minimum!! It was over. We went back next door feeling a little defeated and ready to just get our shirt and leave. Chris got the idea to purchase the Hard Rock Membership card while we were checking out so we could start putting points on it since we visit one every major city we travel to/through. When purchasing our membership we found out we get Priority/Preferred Seating at every location. This means we get to jump to the front of the wait list....starting right then! Haha so we get it all purchased, run back next door and find out it's only an hour for priority customers. We walked over to the pub next door to have a drink while waiting and it was barely 30 minutes before our table was ready. Talk about a lucky night!
After dinner it was time to head back to our hotel. I did not take any pictures of this because we were both to exhausted to make anything interesting happen for the camera. We have every intention of returning to London after the Summer Olympics are long gone!
We took a free shuttle at 6:30am from base to the London Heathrow Airport. I expected this bus to be pretty gross because, well, it was a free bus. Nope. This thing was luxurious! We were off to a good start!
Once we arrived at the airport we took the tube into London and immediately began exploring. We were so blessed to have been able to make this trip on one of the rare days London isn't all foggy and gross. Of course, the first thing I did was step into a typical red English phone booth and immediately discovered it smelled like someone had been peeing in there every day for the last 2 weeks. YUCK! I stepped into the one next to it and discovered nothing but pornographic pictures and prostitution advertisements. *sigh* It would have to do for now.
After stopping for a quick breakfast of porridge, fruit and carrot juice (which is weird, don't drink it unless you have real love for carrots) we followed some signs and came across Buckingham Palace! We couldn't tour it because the Queen is there right now and we did not stay for the changing of the guard because it was 10:00AM and it didn't start until 11:30AM. I just didn't really want to stand against the gate for an hour and a half so maybe next time. We then proceeded to Victoria Station to jump on our tour bus which would take us all over London.
Once we had a little lunch we hopped back on a tour bus and got off at Trafalgar Square. There were street performers everywhere including the guys who paint themselves as statues, a couple of guys were drawing every nations flag on the ground in chalk, a man who could convert his bike into a drum set, girls giving out hugs for pounds to feed starving children and a guy putting on a skit to involve the audience. Pigeons all over the place which was not good news for me since I'm really not a fan of birds.
From Trafalgar Square we made our way to the big stuff! This was my favorite part of the tour because on our way to The London Eye we passed by St. Paul's Cathedral, crossed over London Bridge and Tower Bridge! Funny story: Arizona purchased London Bridge and had it assembled only to realize it was not the bridge they thought it was. Arizona thought London Bridge and Tower Bridge were the same thing. England basically said "no, you idiots, and we would never sell you our Tower Bridge!"
Right across from The London Eye was Big Ben and The House of Parliament and Westminster Abbey. I had to stand there for a little while and just soak it all in. So much detail and history in these structures. My pictures really do not do them enough justice.
On to Piccadilly Circus!! This was my favorite area! It was pretty much the Times Square of London. All of those big TV's everywhere and scrolling light up signs. I discovered there was an M&M World in London and demanded we go. So we did. I frequently have to let my inner child out.
Finally, it's time for Hard Rock Cafe. This is the coolest part of the night because of how the events played out. We walked up to what we thought was the restaurant and discovered it was only a shop. No restaurant connected to it and my heart kind of started sinking into my stomach. I thought "SURELY there is an actual restaurant here! They don't just post up a merchandise shop....do they???" Turns out the place was across the street haha. We saw this ridiculous line out front just to put our names on a list to be seated. Found out it would be a 2 hour wait minimum!! It was over. We went back next door feeling a little defeated and ready to just get our shirt and leave. Chris got the idea to purchase the Hard Rock Membership card while we were checking out so we could start putting points on it since we visit one every major city we travel to/through. When purchasing our membership we found out we get Priority/Preferred Seating at every location. This means we get to jump to the front of the wait list....starting right then! Haha so we get it all purchased, run back next door and find out it's only an hour for priority customers. We walked over to the pub next door to have a drink while waiting and it was barely 30 minutes before our table was ready. Talk about a lucky night!
After dinner it was time to head back to our hotel. I did not take any pictures of this because we were both to exhausted to make anything interesting happen for the camera. We have every intention of returning to London after the Summer Olympics are long gone!
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