It's that time of year again!!!!

Haunt 2011 mazes have been announced! And the 3 new entries are...

Delirium
In the deep recesses of the mind, on the clouded brink of insanity, lies the hellish wasteland of delirium; a place so gruesome that your imagination fails to comprehend the horrors. Illusion and paranoia are your only anchors to reality. Welcome to your worst nightmare!

Invasion Beneath
LIVE FROM KNOTT’S BERRY FARM: Details are sketchy but eyewitnesses report that the Calico Mine Ride has been invaded by creatures of unknown origin through a large fissure in the earth’s core. The creatures posses advanced weaponry and are extremely hostile. The military has just infiltrated the mountain to try and rescue the survivors and combat the violent attacks. Stay tuned.

ENDGAMES: Warriors of the Apocalypse
The world as we know it has ended. The survivors in this barren desert have scavenged to rebuild society. The rich and the powerful have turned all others into slaves for sport. Enter the post apocalyptic arena where gladiators are forced to battle to their deaths for entertainment. Are you game?

RETURNING MAZES

Fallout Shelter (in 3D)
Locked in a cement grave for decades, hidden deep below the depths of the lake, an abandoned fallout shelter is crawling with human /genetic hybrids, toxic mutants, and a host of nuclear freaks all hungry for carnage. Grab your Geiger counters and put on your radiation suits, these residents are ravenous.

Sleepy Hollow
Ghosts and ghouls, witches and goblins, long legged beasts and things that go bump in the night are all at your heels as you travel through Sleepy Hollow. Specters and phantoms and legends of long ago haunt the living. Can you outrun the Headless Horseman? Can you keep your wits, or will you lose your head as well?

Virus Z
Welcome to Pleasanton – Population: Zero. The highly infectious virus Z has turned the entire town into cannibal zombies and you’re this week’s special. Hordes of bloodthirsty corpses roam the small town in search of fresh meat. Help has arrived, but they are not on a rescue mission – they are here to wall off the entire town from civilization.

Lockdown: The Asylum
The inmates really are running the asylum in this nightmare prison, and insanity reigns supreme. The inmates are out of their cells and their minds. And don’t scream for help, this hostile takeover has the authorities running for cover!

Terror of London
Step back in time and into the fog-filled streets of London where a host of infamous characters are on the prowl terrorizing city dwellers. Step lively or you may fall victim to Jack the Ripper’s blade or Dr. Jekyll’s twisted experiments as Big Ben rings out. God save the Queen…..and you!

Dia De Los Muertos
Venture into the forbidden jungle of El Chupacabra where sacrificial blood rains down from the sky. The screams of La Llorona, the Weeping Woman, echo around you and the creatures of the night crawl from their crypts, the “Day of the Dead” has arrived!

Uncle Bobo’s Big Top of the Bizarre (3D)
Step right up! Don’t be shy! Welcome to Uncle Bobo’s Big Top of the Bizarre. Inside you will find a villainous variety of vaudevillian visages to vex even the most valiant voyeurs! It’s the greatest slaughter on earth with clown carnage galore!

The Slaughterhouse
Folk’s from near and far come a-runnin for Farmer Willy’s world famous BBQ! You can smell the sizzling meat from miles away. Farmer Willy will think you are prime
beef as he sets out to auction you off to the highest bidder, tenderize you with his chainsaw, and grind you into a tasty meat treat. Bon Appétit!

The Doll Factory
A trip to the Doll Factory reveals a twisted museum of death and disfigurement as you are pursued by the Marionette Murderer, a psychotic killer who turns his beautiful victims into life-size porcelain dolls.

Corn Stalkers
It’s harvest time and the crop is you in Corn Stalkers. Plunge into rows and rows of rotting corn and try to evade the blood thirsty monstrosities seeking to impale you on their razor sharp scythes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

These of course replace Club Blood, Black Widow Cavern and Labyrinth.

Now my personal opinion is well, like usual. First for the departing mazes.

Club Blood for me was never really a vampy maze although this last year it did improve a HELL of a lot. I for one won't miss it, even though it does mean this year will be the first year in a long time there will not be a vampire maze at Haunt.

Black Widow Cavern I did enjoy, of course. But as I said a few years back, there's only so much you can do with spiders. I'll miss it a bit. A moment of silence for that, please.

And Labyrinth. Huh. ~sighs~ Oh, it was pretty and the talent divine. But mazes are supposed to be scary, and sadly this missed the mark. So no real sadness for this one either.

But on to my predictions for this year.

Does anyone but me notice an odd theme here? Apocalypse and such? Hmmm, says I.

Because correct me if I'm wrong and I might be, the 3 new ones seem to be slight variations of each other.

Delirium: This could be a grand throwback to the Asylum theme, which I course loved. But they still have Lockdown AND Fallout Shelter, both of which feed on claustrophobia and darkness. Not that I'm complaining, but it will interesting to see just how they make this work.

Invasion Beneath: (Mine Train) Ah now, this could be rather interesting. Although the mention of weaponry makes me wonder if it'll be a re-imagined version of The Underground. Which was a fantastic maze, but on the Mine Train? Hmmm, that may be a tad reaching. The reason Underground worked was you were trapped in this industrial holocaustic aftermath that you stumbled through. Being in a mine car will definitely need some real good scares.

Endgames: Oh boy. I just...wow. To me, this sounds like a cross between Mad Max and The Running Man. It'll be a fun maze. Yeah. Fun. Not scary. Guys dressed up in scraps of metal and carrying various items of destruction are great for me to laugh at, not scream. But who knows?

So there we are. I am excited for the other returning mazes. My only requests are that Cornstalkers gets back to its former glory of spookiness, that Lockdown has more creeps in it, The Doll Factory gets their dollies in tip top scare mode, and that Slaughterhouse brings back the gore it knew so well in the first year.

Everything else was damn incredible.

I cannot wait for October. How about you?

Until next time....

Tis the season...

Hi kids! :cough cough:

I have been away for a while and I apologize for that. I have come down with a case of the yuckies. Seems the constant torture I have put on my mind and body finally caught up with me.

I started feeling bad on Wed. Thursday I had off, so what do I do instead of spending it with Jack filming the new episode? Stay in bed all day. I go back to work a 10 hour shift on Fri and my boss freaks out, saying you need to go home. Well, that didn't happen as there was no one else available.

So I say I will stick it out but I will take Sat off to get better. Which I do feel quite a bit better, if not 100% yet. I cannot wait to see just what I have in store for me being gone that one day and all. I received 6 work related emails just yesterday and I'm sure there are more floating waiting for me.

As it is, there are talks of my GM stepping down as she feels she is not being treated properly. The other person in the office seems to believe that she is the one in charge. Now she has asked me to report to her, which I do, but then she gets upset when I go to my GM. Now if I understand correctly, the GM is the next in command, then this person. Isn't that breaking the chain if I go to the other person first?

I don't quite get it, but okay. Since most of the issues I take to my GM are hotel related and the other person there has NO hotel experience, who should I go to, hmmm? Now my GM says that she doesn't want the stupid drama and if the other person wants the glory, then fine. But she had better be prepared for the gory stuff as well.

That's the problem. You see, when dealing with guests, it's not always happy moments. Most of it is, but there are those times when it really sucks to be in guest service as I'm sure I have posted here at some occasions. You cannot lose your temper or even jump to conclusions.

Like it or not, 90% of the time, the guest is right. And even that 10% will try to prove they're right also. It's work, and that's what you do. I do it because I love it. Yeah, it may be a pain in my ass sometimes, but if went smoothly all the time, it'd be boring. And who wants that?

I will find out next week what is going to happen. There is also rumors of me getting bumped to manager. I have been wanting that for so long. I won't hold my breath, but I will continue to bust out with the super duper guest servicey attitude that is me. I know they notice. At least I should be getting a raise with all the extra work and hours I put in.

I'll keep you all posted. Love to all.

It's been one hell of a week again

Okay, grab the popcorn.

So I really feel that my job is out to kill me. I know that it would be a lot more responsibility and I have accepted that. But it just gets a new star added.

Found out that the part time Auditor was up to more stupid nonsense. Now I knew they had been looking for a reason to fire him, so he's gone. Well, I get a phone call that morning asking me if I could work Audit if needed this week.

Geez, what am I going to say, no? Since there are now only the full time Auditor and myself that have any knowledge. Yeah..

So this week I am working my usual 6 days with a twist. I am off today, which I will explain why in a moment. But on Thurs and Fri I am working the glorious Audit shift from 12am-6am. Oh joy.

Look, it's not that I mind it, okay I do a little. But what else can I do until I train someone? Which drives me nuts since I had been saying that another person should be trained a long time ago.

Hopefully, I can fix the schedule to make this all work and me not have to work Audit. But there's another glitch, kids. All of my selfish staff have "issues" for weekend work. I know I have complained about this before, but damn it. It's flippin' nightmarish, really.

Guess what? Either I work Audit and one of you bites the bullet to work my night shift on the weekend or you train to work Audit 2 nights. I will NOT work Saturday mid shift after getting off work at 6am to come back at 2pm that same day. You're all crackers if you think that's going to happen.

As it is, I am now expected to pick up the slack if someone calls in. "You're on salary now." I get it, but that does not mean that these jokers can constantly take advantage. If that's the case, clean house and start over. Hey, it's summer. I'm sure people will be lining up.

And if I am involved in the hiring process, I will tell you exactly who will cut it and who won't. Do I sound cynical enough yet? Good. I love my job, but it is annoying when others don't share that vision. Gah.

Okay, for the second half of my rant.

The reason I am off today is my daughter is graduating high school. Yes, I am proud and excited. But there are a few things that have really bothered me, especially in this last few days. There have been some issues with her attitude that I have not addressed simply for the fact I just want the graduation to happen first. Then it's a bucket of reality dumped onto her head.

There is quite a laundry list, but I will address the one that is burning in me at this present time. I got a phone call yesterday while I was at work. Which of course when it always happens. My daughter says that she will spending the day with her dad today. Okay, that's good. He hasn't seen her for a while and they should hang out and talk.

Then I get it dropped on me. "Dad is taking me to graduation." I'm sorry, what? I didn't let her have it, but I was mad, no I was pissed. Just like that? After Jack has been getting up at 6am for you to take you to school and various things. And then pick you up when your random friends parents couldn't take you home?

Part of that was because of his work schedule, but sheesh. It's not really that far, but our car cannot take it. Is it too much to ask for just once, maybe? No, every time. I understand it's not their responsibility, but it sure was funny that she would get home when she wanted to.

But that graduation comment really hurt. He abandoned his kids. Yeah, I said it. And what am I, a roof over your head? That's all? I don't check on you and see how everything is ? I don't pay attention to you or give you enough love? But he blows back into town for 4 days and oh, whatever, bye Mom.

I am really upset about this. More than I thought I was. So, after he goes back to his little shack up North, I am going to have a long discussion with my dear daughter. Because the me me me is over. She is going to understand EVERYTHING is going to be different. She is an adult now. Time to get off your duff and get a job.

I don't have the luxury, even though I am a Supervisor now and make a little more money to let her just go to college and not contribute to the house. So I'm sure it will be a war and I don't care. If she feels she cannot handle it, I'm sure her Dad will let her move back in. Until she pisses him off, which I would give a week before that happened.

Don't misunderstand, though. I don't want her to leave, not at all. And I would not say that to her. But it's a hard life and we all have to survive. Jack and I are a team. She needs to be a part of that.

Arrgh, this is way too long. I am going to stop now. I will post her pics later this week.

The earthquake is over and the ground has settled..hopefully

Okay, so it's been a while since I posted. I have an excellent reason for that.

Within these past few weeks, my GM was fired, my manager went AWOL, which ended in her termination, and I got promoted to Supervisor. Whew, that's a lot, right? So perhaps I should go back and explain a bit better, shall I?

So, our next to last training meeting, we had..no wait, I need to go back farther than that. There was an accountant brought in by the owners about a month ago to begin looking over some discrepancies. Now she also started to ask questions of staff about other people's work habits.

I was honest when she questioned me without giving too much personal opinion. At least I thought so. She asked me about my GM, what her work schedule was and how often did I actually see her. Now if you work in a place such as mine, it's like a small town. Everyone pretty much knows already, but they want to see if you'll lie.

I said what I knew and left it at that. Fast forward to the next to last training meeting. I walk in and people were acting so weird. We all find out later that the GM is not longer employed and the Sales manager is now acting GM. Wow, talk about strange.

After that happens, my manager starts to get all paranoid and think that she's next. Seeing as her and the GM came from the same hotel before and were friends. I tell her that if she is doing her job, she has nothing to worry about. She still is stressing out and I of course cannot convince her otherwise.

Now the accountant with the owner's permission, begins to make the schedule. This does not sit well with my manager at all. I get some reduced hours, but I take it in stride since we are a hotel and things like that tend to happen. I also know it is a temporary situation. But it becomes an issue for others.

One of the staff members is my manager's friend and he decides that he doesn't want to be patient about his dwindling hours and quits. That wasn't really too big of a shock though. He was not happy here and his lack of guest service reflected that.

Then on May 24th at about 3:15pm, I receive a phone call from my manager. She sounds like she's crying and says she can't make the schedule. I asked her if she was okay. She also said that she had called the Sales manager and that she wasn't able to get ahold of her, but that she believed that yesterday was her last day at the hotel. Then the phone went dead. I called the Sales manager to let her know the situation.

She said she would call my manager and get back to me when she could. The accountant called as well to find out what was happening. I told her what I knew so far and she said that if I heard anything else to let her know. The Sales manager called me back and asked if I could stay until 8pm as it seemed that my manager was not coming in at all.

That my manager had said to her that she was done with the hotel and that she didn't want to explain anything, but that she was just done. I said I would stay and then she asked for Night Audit's number which I gave to her. I then looked in the back and noticed that my manager's picture collage was no longer there and it was hanging there yesterday as it has been for the almost 2 years I've been here.

So I was a bit confused since I saw my manager the day before and she seemed fine. Perhaps it is a temporary situation and she just wants to blow off steam. I am wondering though that it is Memorial Day weekend and she is scheduled to be off tomorrow, so why not call in today to not work your 6pm to 12am shift? Maybe that is mean, but it did cross my mind.

She only worked a 12pm to 6pm shift that day before, so my logic wasn't a unheard of thing. I was just hoping I'm not right. I figured we shall see on Tues. which way it goes. I really don't see her just quitting like that. Unless she got a better deal somewhere else. But still, I don't understand.

Nothing is heard at all until the 26th. I get told that there will be some interviews for manager next week and that I am in the top three candidates. I say wow, thank you and I look forward to that. I ask about my manager and am told that it's not for me to worry over. I say okay.

Then I get asked by the accountant to come speak to her after my shift. I do so and she says she has something to tell me. She says you cannot wear that uniform anymore. I say why? She says because you are no longer a front desk person. I get a little scared. She says you have to wear business clothes from now on. She says that I am being promoted to Supervisor.

Wow! We discuss everything and I sign a 3 month probation contract. Which after that time, it will be decided whether to promote me to manager or not. Now I am sweating bullets as even though I know I can do the job, since I was doing most of it anyway, I really have to step up the guest service and employee morale part of it.

I am also concerned that some staff may think I was after my manager's job that whole time. Which is nonsense, but hey, people are funny when it comes to changes. So I go out and get a few items which I think are more businessy. What do I know? I've been wearing a uniform for almost 6 years. It was very odd buying things that would give me more of a professional look.

A memo gets posted and various staff members congratulate me. But then I am asked yesterday to write a statement about what happened that day when my manager called in. I say I will and I come in a bit early to write it. Now of course, I don't sit in the front as then guests will assume I'm working.

I sit at the manager's desk in the back and set my things down. Of course I just finish and print it when lo and behold, the accountant walks in with my manager. Huh, awkward much? Anyhow of course, I show my manners and step back to show my respect while my manager takes care of taking whatever is left at the desk of her personal property. She takes great pains to not look at or address me unless she has to. And hmm, she seems to be in VERY good spirits unlike the last conversation I had with her.

Which makes me laugh a bit since what did she think would happen? She was the one who deserted the hotel and we all picked up the slack and moved on. Yes, I would have waited just a few days more (for my promotion and all that) until after she had signed the exit papers and was no longer coming to property, but that's me.

Now we are getting back on track and pulling together as a unit. I have re-assured everyone that asked that we are a team and my promotion is to help us all reach the common goal of a successful hotel. That's where my desire lies. Not for power or that stupid stuff. I am not going to be someone that forgets where they come from. I was born in the trenches and I'll die in the trenches, right next to my co-workers. That's what teamwork, real teamwork is all about.

I think one of the things I have in my favor is that everyone I work with sees that it's not a phase, and that I truly do give a damn, that I have from the beginning. That is what I believe will help push us all to greatness.

I will keep everyone posted more, I promise. But now you all know why I have been absent for a while.

It turns out I clean up rather well

So I spent some time with my sister yesterday and she took some really nice photos!

I am only going to post one of my favorites for now. I really would like to have this one framed to hang in my house.



Yesterday was full of good news as I finally got to speak to the PR lady from Knott's. It seems that everything is a go. The biggest issue will be cutting a lot of guests out, but that's what the reception will be for.

It's either only have immediate folks there and do this for free or have EVERYONE and charge a fee at the church door. My extended family and friends should understand. If not, well...too bad. I love you, but who's wedding is it anyway?

Yes, it may sound a bit selfish. But I look at it this way. Not only is this our special day, Jack and I will not be mingling afterwards. We will be filming our Haunt show, so it's also business.

So I have to really trim the guest list. Which I have already done considerably. Besides, everyone just wants to go to the reception anyhow. That's fun and has food and music! Our wedding will be on October 8th, at either 4 or 5pm. That's so the monsters can be there and we can get arranged at the maze.

Oh, speaking of that..turns out that 13 Axe is gone. :tear: But in its place will be a maze featuring old time London Streets. Yep, a Jack The Ripper maze! Well, that's right up our alley, isn't it? It will have a carriage out in front as well. I'm so excited. We were talking (Jack and I) and since it will be more along the lines of that era, no more vampirey stuffs. More on a Mary Kelly kind of look.

Still Victorian, but damn it, I get to wear PURPLE! Yay! Here is the dress I want. Imagine this is purple.



Yes, it's not exactly period, but who cares? It's Grade A awesomeness. And it does fit in with my Autumn theme. I will wear a purple dress, a black veil and have an orange bouquet. I will BE Halloween colors.

Ooh, I am so excited!

What a day we had yesterday!

Okay, so we first went to Keith's ceremony. That was really amazing. Keith's school is a Special Ed school and wow the staff really knows how to make things happen quick!

Here are some pics of my boy and family that went to support him:

Then we had our night of A Nightmare On Elm St.!! It was amazing. We had a lot of fun and it seems that we succeeded way more than the theater expected. So, Jack is waiting for the official word, but from the response last night, it is a very strong possibility we will be able to continue!

Here are a few pics for you:




By the way, the Fango show will up by this weekend. So keep your eyes peeled for that!

My 100th post is something special!

So, aside from this being my 100th post, I have some fantastic news to share. A while back, I had written to the wonderful PR lady at Knott's. We had such a great time filming the Darkest Hours special there and were anxious to repeat that again.

I wrote to her with that and a plan about our upcoming nuptials. Sort of a celebration of Haunt and our wedding all rolled into one.

She wrote back and said that it sounded great! We just have to change our date from Sat. to a weekday since they will have other media there to promote it. Uh, duh, of course we have no problem with that! She also asked if we want it at one of the mazes or at the Chapel. LOL

Hmm, what do you think? We want to be immersed in Haunt. That's the reason we want to do it. Then afterwards we will film the rest of our show sort of as Honeymoon At Haunt. I am trying to rework our guest list as I am sure I will not be able to invite the 100 people due to security reasons.

Which is fine, since we are planning on using the upstairs meeting room in my hotel for a reception that weekend. My manager has already given me the go ahead on that one. I figure a semi-potluck is in order and it will be a grand Halloween party. I can probably get reasonably priced rooms for the family if they need them.

More on this as I get more info.

It just gets better

So while I am out having lunch with Kile on Thursday, I get a phone call from my ex. His VM says that he is done and that I need to get our daughter by this weekend. Seems that she was on restriction for having a bad progress report and when her boyfriend came to take her to church, she was told she couldn't go. Well, she went. Hence my phone call. He proceeds to say that Lisa (stepmom) is already packing Alex's stuff.

Now I got majorly pissed as what the hell am I supposed to do? Especially since this is the day after the robbery and I had just finished telling all about it, then this happens. I call Alex to find out what's going on. She says she can't go back to a place she's not wanted. I say okay, give me a few minutes and I'll call you back. I look at Kile and he says let's go. Of course I am crying again 'cause this is just too much.

We get out to where she's at and I call Daryl. Wow, we talked ahem, yelled at each other for almost an hour. We go back and forth about what's going on. I tell him I am not saying that what Alex did was right, it's not. But what I am angry about is the fact that he told her to leave. I ask him if that is what he truly wants. He says no, but that Alex made her decision. I say, but you are the adult, the parent. Also, you cannot threaten me with this and not expect me to react. I have my friend here with a truck and I am ready to take her stuff now.

He says that's not how he wants this to go. I say I don't either, but you have to make a choice. He says he is not choosing Lisa over his kids. I said I never said that you did. I meant about the living situation. I know what's been going on. I've seen it. I put him on speaker and Alex talks to him too. Turns out that they (Lisa and Daryl) have been trying to get Alex to talk to a shrink about her problems.

I blow up at this, asking him why aren't you talking to her? He says well, I don't want to hear about her friends. I told him it's part and parcel the same thing. If she feels comfortable enough to tell you about her friends, then it will come down to her issues. Don't you get it? Then Alex pops up with that she has been feeling depressed and suicidal. He glosses it over like it's nothing. Uh yeah, that may be teenage angst, but I am taking no chances.

I ask again what he wants to do now. He says that it's Alex's decision and that Lisa has already packed half her stuff. I say and you're okay with that? He says yes. I say okay then, obviously the choice has been made. He is not happy, but has to deal with it. I lost it and I finally say what has been on my mind. And I am not alone. I told him you realize what's happening. She has done everything possible to poison you against your kids. And it worked. Alex says to him again about what it's like in the house, how Lisa ignores her and hides in the bedroom.

He says oh so now Lisa is the whole problem? I say no, but you no longer listen to the kids. And you promised that would never happen. That they are first in your life. He says that is still true. I say not from where I'm standing. He says what do you want from me? I say a home for our daughter that welcomes her and is not a place she has to worry about losing. Where she feels safe.

He says well, maybe that place is with you. I say maybe it is. He calms down and says all right. Then we will figure something out to help take care of her. I say okay, and by the way I will never put the kids against you. It's on you to keep a good relationship with them. He says we will talk soon and I hand the phone to Alex. They talk for a few more minutes and I hear her say I love you Dad.

We get to the house and Jack is waiting. I had asked Kile to call him to meet us at the house. Now I am still in the mindset of maybe we can just take her for a few days and maybe smooth it over. We go in and there are boxes, boxes, boxes in the front room. And Lisa is nowhere to be found. We walk into Alex's room and 95% of her stuff is gone. Oh, so that's what is in the boxes. That pissed me off again. It was only 3 hours! Between the first VM and all the discussion on the phone.

Obviously, someone saw a major opportunity, didn't they? I found out later that a lot of it was stuff Lisa had placed into boxes after the restriction happened. Alex's PS2, her stereo, various items of value. Oh, and her cell was taken away as well. Alex was told she wouldn't get any of these things back until there was proof of bringing up her grades. Okay..I can understand putting it away, but boxing it up and sealing it? Yeah, no forethought there.

Alex had to go out to the backyard where Lisa was to get her phone. Now she didn't say goodbye to Alex or anything when we left. Oh, well. So now Alex is living with us. Yes, 3 months ahead of schedule. Arrgh. She is going finish her year out at her high school. It's going to be tough, but as always we'll make it work.

The only thing that is a mess right now is that I don't really foresee Daryl giving me any money to help me. When I asked, he said that at the moment, he was sending enough to help pay the rent and that Lisa was buying the food. So I would have to talk to her. Oh hell no. What makes you think I am going to discuss anything with that woman? This is your child, not hers. She doesn't care.

He said that once Lisa has moved up to where he's at, it should be easier to send something. But that he wouldn't know until everything was settled. But you know what? I will make it work. Thank goodness I have Jack or I would be insane at this point. And Kile too. I apologized so much that night. Thank you for what you did. I really appreciate it.

I am looking at this as a new adventure!!! Together, we can do it.

Watchmen review

Okay, okay so I am going to be a bit of a slacker on this only because I agree with most of this fantastic review a fellow LJ person wrote.

I take no responsibility for his language but I do warn you that if you haven't seen the film, this does include a LOT of spoilers.

http://bowieelfmanfan.livejournal.com/34012.html

All in all, I am glad I went to see it. But I don't foresee this being anything other than a spectacular nerd film that does awesome its first week and then sort of trickles off.

I have been wrong before, but we'll see.

I personally would have gone for the whole trilogy angle, just so you could include everything.

But in true Jack and I fashion, we give it 4 jack-o-lanterns since it is a overdue classic that needed to be celebrated in celluloid.

Anyone else see it? What are your views?

Tonight is going to be crazy!

Not only is the hotel sold out, but we are going to see the sneak preview of Watchmen at the Gardenwalk at 12:01am. Yeah, I know. But see, since we have an arrangement with the theater, we get to see it for free and in the 21 and over theater.

So that's awesome!

Oh, also we got a response about the Darkest Hours Undead experience. And the winner is: Nightmare On Elm St!



Turns out it hasn't been shown in a theater for almost 20 years. So that will be a huge buzz. Especially since it will be an actual print, not just a DVD. We are really going to push that for promotion.

We have a date scheduled of April 30th. We will be having an all ages and a 21 and over showing. Woohoo!

Now what will be happening is this: we are not getting a share of the box this time. But we will be able to have a merch booth and any proceeds from that go directly to us.

I will post more about the times soon. Keep your eyes peeled for that.

And I will post my review of Watchmen tomorrow.

UPDATE: The all ages show will be at 7pm and the 21 and over show will be at 9:30pm. Go to darkestjack.com to learn more soon.

Here they are, Sea World pictures!

I'm going to Sea World!

So tomorrow is going to be pretty awesome. Even though I have to be awake by 7am.

I am going to Sea World with a few of the hotel employees. It is a special invitation, so unfortunately I could not take anyone else. But it sounds like a lot of fun.

We leave on the tour bus at 8am, have a light breakfast on the bus, then have lunch with Shamu! Afterwards, we get to explore and have fun until 5:30 when the bus takes us back to the hotel.

I just have NO idea what I'm going to wear. At least it won't be raining. ;-)

I will be taking loads of pictures, look forward to that!

But today, I do have to go to work, so bye for now.

Keith is healing nicely

So I did write about us going over to redress Keith's finger. I thought you might like to see how well it looks after only a few days.



Thanks to Molly for showing the staff how to take care of it.

Hopefully, with this treatment, he won't need any surgery.

It's not as bad as I thought

Yesterday we went to go visit Keith. Aunt Molly went there as well and she was able to take off the old dressing to put on new. It wasn't as bad as before and wow just that few days really made a difference.

His finger is starting to heal already so hopefully by the end of the 2 weeks, he won't have to get the surgery at all.

So that's a very good thing.

I'll keep everyone updated as much as possible.

Unfortunately, I have to go to work but I will be back soon.

PS. Thank you , my sister for getting all that stuff for him. I really do appreciate it.

Do you know what today is?

It's my birthday! Look, I got myself (a picture of) a cake!



Besides, I am going to the happiest place on Earth today. Disneyland! Yep, and because I have an annual pass, I get a special gift card to spend on merch.

Yay, I'm so excited! Jack and I are taking my daughter Alex too. My friends Nadine and Jesse have annual passes as well and they are joining us to celebrate.

I am going to take a TON of pictures. So look forward to that. If it rains, so much the better.

I feel so happy!!!

Check it out!

I know this will overinflate my ego (hahaha), but I saw the coolest blog today.

http://mistermacabre.blogspot.com/2009/02/50-things-about-me.html#comment-form

Oh, he mentioned me by name! How sweet is that!

I wish he didn't live so far away, I would love to see his haunted yard.

Maybe Jack and I will have to take a trip.

I will have to check the other blogs I follow to see if anyone else followed the trend.

I just wanted to say....

to my beautiful sister and her charming husband. May it be the first of many happy anniversaries to come!

Love you!

Oh, by the way....



Happy Groundhog Day!

Oh, you know I'm never going to forget that one. Look forward to a special package in the mail soon!

Love you tons!

October 3rd, 2009 (no turning back now)

Okay, since we may have to scale back quite a bit, I have thought of a few places to hopefully have our wedding/reception. These are possibles if I can make them work.

The first back-up that I thought of was kind of silly as it has been staring me in the face. Yes, we had the plan of getting married at Forest Lawn in Glendale. Why? It's a cemetery and a very pretty church. But wow, so expensive.

SOOOOOO....c'mon. It's in October, and we have a spectacular place that is already going to be decorated during that time of year. It's our second favorite amusement park.

Knott's Scary Farm!

I know, huh? I discovered it may not be too much either. Here's the link:
http://www.knotts.com/group/wedding/index.shtml

Now since I am a Haunt veteran, I do know that more than likely, we would have to have the reception in the Chicken Dinner restaurant. You know how I know? Well, during Haunt Auntie Pasta's is used for the pre-dinners, The Ballroom has a show in it, and Wilderness Dance Hall usually has a maze inside it.

But oh wow. How fun would that be? We could have our wedding and get pictures with some monsters! Yay!

AND.. on Monday (tomorrow) I am going to call the PR department that we dealt with for the Haunt show last year. She had said we were welcome back anytime. If I can present it as a Haunt/wedding promo, we may get to do it for a lesser price or free!

We were planning on doing another Haunt show anyhow. It's The Darkest Hours Wedding Special at Knott's Scary Farm! Ooh, I like the sound of that.

I will do my best to persuade the powers that be. Then all I would have to worry about is my dress and oh the food. Wish me luck on that.

My second idea was to really try to save money and see if my Mom's friend Judy would be willing to let us use her backyard. It is already decorated so cool. We could just throw a few more Halloweeny type props in there and it would be awesome. It would more than likely be a potluck, but everyone loves to cook and I'm sure we would have plenty for all.

The only issue with that is I would have to cut my guest list so much. But hey, I'm sure I will get a sign soon.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Repo! teaser slideshow

I have put together a "small" slideshow until we get the entire show posted online. The first pic is some of the amazing guests that came in costume. Second is Alexa Vega who played Shilo. Third is the incredible Bill Moseley who played Luigi. Fourth is the director Darren Bousman. And fifth is one of the creators that also plays the awesome Graverobber, Terrance Zdunich.

Everyone was so wonderful and I am happy that we could be part of something so exciting.

But just because Repo! may not be in theatres anymore doesn't mean that the fight for it should stop. Oh no, we are doing our best to let everyone know all about it. It is still a milestone that I hope others may strive for and bring us in the near future.

Go and check it out now on their website and show your support! Better still, buy the DVD. Every little bit helps.

http://www.repo-opera.com/