It Was Open!

Spaceship Earth -- a.k.a. The Big Ball -- has been undergoing an
extensive refurbishment since before our trip in August. Just before
Christmas, they began to have soft openings -- trial runs, if you
will, before it officially reopens in February.

Well, it was running today! Even better, Patrick adores it...we got
off and right back on, and be asked to ride again later but didn't
want to walk all the way back.

I'll post a real review layer, when I can link to info about the
changes, but I liked it a lot, especially the interactive ending.

Also accomplished today: Expedition Everest, Kilimanjaro Safaris, MGM
Backlot Tour (got a pucutr of the Dinosaurs fridge and Tim's lawn
mower), a fun bus misadventure, and Figment.

I overheard a LOT of people talking about flights tomorrow, so
hopefully the crowds will go down as the temperature goes up.

The View from Our Room

Unexpected Souvenirs

We knew it would be cold. We knew it would be VERY cold. We each had
three layers on.

And yet, we each got gloves and a hat, and actively looked for both
indoor attractions and things with long lines, as long as they were
inside.

Brrrrr.

We Made It

After much deliberation, Patrick decided to start off at MG--excuse
me...at Disney's Hollywood Studios...where we promptly ended up at
Guest Services because they couldn't read Patrick's card but all is
well now.

(Down season this ain't...at least not yet.)

On Our Way

This is not our plane, but Patrick has been fascinated watching them
prepare it for a flight...it's helped calm his nerves some.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, Part Two

The Good:  My hair is back in the "style with your fingers" phase.  The top is finally almost the right length, though of course it doesn't lay quite the way it did at Fantastic Sam's.  I still had to endure the stylist asking me fifteen times if I really wanted my hair that short...I don't know how else to say, "If it were longer, it'd be pulled back into a severe ponytail.  No matter how short you cut it, it'll actually look like more hair than it used to be."  Sigh.

The Bad:  Haircuts are among my least favorite things in the universe.  Imagine being hypersensitive to touch, disliking touch from behind (especially if you don't know it's coming), being hypersensitive about your personal space, and disliking immensely hair touching your ears.

Also?  Flipping onto New Year's Rockin' Eve in the middle of "Before He Cheats," and having the chorus -- and the chorus only -- stuck in my head for the following...well...it's still there....

The Ugly:  Watching someone get their eyebrows plucked with string.  Yuck!  (I have the SpooWriter's-Surname Family Eyebrows, though not as bad as Patrick...I don't quite have the unibrow he does, but my eyebrows are definitely thick...but nothing would convince me to do that.)

Patrick and I are off to the airport in two hours for our Christmas trip...we won't have Internet access, but I may post from my iPhone.

Why You Should Sit in the Back

In college, a few friends and I went to see some of the Whose Line is it Anyway people in a live show.  We sat in the nosebleed seats.  I remember thinking, at the time, that it was probably for the best...we were a whole level above any of the poor unfortunate people who might be picked from the audience to participate.

My TiVo grabbed an episode of Whose Line on Christmas Eve.  Imagine my surprise when Drew sauntered into the audience and grabbed my aunt's hand, thus proving my theory that you should sit far, far away.

For the record, the game was "Sound Effects."

Apologies for the lousy quality of the screencaps; my TiVo records suggestions at the lowest possible quality.

Notice also the fiendish glee in my uncle's eyes.

You can just imagine what my aunt is thinking here.  (Also, again with the fiendish glee.)

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Good:  BofA finally credited my account with the missing $1200.  The affidavit is duly signed and faxed back, though there wasn't a box to check that exactly fit the circumstances, so I wrote a little note saying that though my wallet was out of my possession for half an hour, it is not physically possible to get from Santa Clarita to Fresno and back in half an hour.  (To say nothing of finding and paying for $1200 of building supplies.)  Hopefully that's the end of it, though who really knows.

The Bad:  The stomach flu that was rampaging through school before Christmas break?  I finally succumbed, while spending my Christmas money from Grandpa on some very nice pants at the Catherine's outlet in Vegas.  (And, let me tell you, a five hour drive with the stomach flu is fun.)

The Ugly:  The shirt that looked really pretty on the rack at Catherine's, but made me look like a walking Pepto Bismol bottle.  (There was a blue one too, but it looked like a beach coverup.)  Fortunately, I was trying clothes on as I'd never bought jeans from Catherine's, and it's better to be safe than sorry, given that I wear a different size at just about every place I buy pants.

The Extra:  Our cable was out for most of yesterday, except for Headline News on the TV in the living room, and the Weather Channel (and, sort of, Sci-Fi) on mine.  Thus, any Internet surfing I did was on my iPhone.  Thus my not replying to anyone's email.