The Big Easy

Reading a friend's blog just reminded me that I planned to update my own blog about my Christmas vacation a few days ago and never got around to it. I'm honestly not in the mood to write long stories right now so I'll condense my recap for you.

After spending a week in New Jersey, freezing and stalking Daniel Radcliffe, we headed off for the second part of our vacation in New Orleans, which is Mr. V's hometown. I have spent the last few years living in Texas and Florida, where I cried endlessly about how December is not supposed to be hot. I thought I would be happy when I experienced a cold winter again, but I have to say that after enduring freezing temperatures in New Jersey for a week, the 80 degree, blue skies, sunny, Louisiana weather was a wonderful change. I blame Washington for making me hate the cold, and causing me to forget what blue skies look like.

My mom has been living in Georgia for the past 4 years, so she and my stepdad took a road trip to New Orleans to join the family for Christmas dinner, and some fun on Bourbon Street.

Day 1:
We drove outside of the city to the real Cajun Country area to see the Christmas Eve bonfires. Mr. V had been talking about these bonfires for a while so I was really curious to see them. Me, being a nerd, loved the story behind the bonfires and I love the fact that I got to experience a completely different culture than my own. Mr. V doesn't completely "get" it when I say that Louisiana is a world of its own. I guess since he grew up there, its normal to him. To me, the Cajun lifestyle is different than any Northern or Southern lifestyle and that's fascinating to me. Not to mention that I smile and get excited every time I hear a real Cajun accent. Louisiana seems to be a combination of the typical American South and Cajun traditions, which you really can't find anywhere else.

The bonfires are lit along the Mississippi River levees on Christmas Eve to guide "Papa Noel's" sleigh down the river. Locals spend weeks prior to this building these ginormous structures that are all lit simultaneously at 7pm on Christmas Eve. It was a really cool thing to see. I was surprised at how many people came out to see the bonfires being lit. I was also surprised to see the number of bonfires. They stretched out for miles and miles along the river, and its really a sight you have to see in person to really appreciate. If you're ever in the New Orleans area on Christmas Eve, this is definitely something that you need to check out.

(One of the structures before being lit on fire)

(View of the structure right after being lit - before it exploded into flames)

(I know its small, but if you look closely you can see the huge crowd of people on the levee watching the fire.)

(A view of one of the bonfires)

(another view of one of the bonfires)

(I wish there was a better way to see this, but if you look closely, you can see the fires stretching down the levee as it curves a little. There's really no way a picture can show what this actually looked like, so just imagine seeing miles and miles of huge bonfires in the distance. It was pretty spectacular :-).)

(one of the structures after burning for a while)

Day 2: Christmas Day was spent at Mr. V's childhood home. It was a bit strange because his family left New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and moved to Austin, Texas. They still go back to their old house often, but after their house flooded, and a lot of their belongings were lost and/or moved to Texas, the house is pretty much empty. Yet, Mother-in-Law was insistent on hosting Christmas dinner. So we ate a precooked, store bought turkey, on card tables, with plastic utensils and paper plates. All in all, it was a little strange to me, but at least the food tasted good!

That night, Mr. V and I skipped out of there and headed off to a hotel for the next few days. Neither one of us can tolerate his parents for a week straight so we made our escape after eating dessert. We checked into the hotel, met up with my mom and John (my stepdad) and ate a late night dinner at a really good restaurant in the French Quarter. We then headed off to Bourbon Street where my mom and John proceeded to out drink us and stay up later than us. I guess something is officially wrong, when Mr. V and I are the ones that headed back to our hotel and passed out asleep at 10:00pm, while my mom and John continued to party on Bourbon Street until who knows when!

Day 3: We woke up and headed down the street to Cafe Du Monde, which is famous for its beignets. I have to admit that after tasting these tasty French donuts once, I was the one craving them, and I was the one who made us all meet there for breakfast.

Then we headed off to Mardi Gras World to go on a fun tour about how Mardi Gras is produced and carried out each year. We had a lot of fun there, but there are too many pictures to post them all here. I'll have them uploaded to my google picture album by the end of this week.

We then took a street car tour of St. Charles street where I drooled over all the beautiful Plantation style houses all decorated for Christmas. I used to tell Mr. V that I didn't want to settle in New Orleans when he retired, but after seeing those houses, I'm having second thoughts (as long as we could live in one of those houses).

Dinner was eaten, and we headed out on a New Orleans Ghost Tour, which was very interesting. I'm a nerd who also loves reading true ghost stories so I was fascinated. The best part of the tour was learning that Nicholas Cage owns the most haunted house in New Orleans. Apparently, he bought it, sight unseen, knew that it was supposed to be haunted and thought that was cool. He only spent one night in the house, and is now trying to sell it. Our tour guide told us that the night he moved in, he saw tour groups looking at his house. He asked the story of the house and when he learned that he bought a house with actual documented torture and murder cases, he packed his bags and never came back. I found that to be an amusing antidote to the tour itself.

Then my mom and John headed off to Bourbon Street once again, while Mr. V and I went back to our hotel room, like two old people once again.

Day 4: Mr. V gave my mom and John a tour of some of the Katrina damage near his house. My mom was interested in seeing it to put a real, live picture in her mind, instead of just what she has seen on TV. On our way there we stopped at one of the old above ground cemetaries in the city and got truly creeped out (at least I did). Broken tombs, and voo-doo markings near the graves were things I had never seen in a graveyard before. Creepy as it was, of course I had to take pictures.

(general decay of the cemetary)

(one of the tombs that was broken open. [and yes, you could actually see bones in a few of the broken tombs])

(Voo-Doo markings scratched into the sidewalk in front of a tomb)

We said goodbye to my mom and John as they headed back to Georgia, then Mr. V and I took a steamboat tour of the Mississippi River, ate some dinner, went on a Vampire Tour, which was almost as fascinating as the Ghost Tour the night before, then we crashed early again, packed our bags, and headed back to Washington the next morning.

All in all, it was a fun trip that ended way too soon. I've been trying to stop thinking about the cold, dreary, cloudy, foggy weather that we have returned to :-(.

Happy New Year!

This was the first New Year's I've spend on the West Coast, and it was far from exciting. There's something about waiting for 3 hours to ring in the New Year, after all of my friends and family have already celebrated it. My mom called me at 8:30 PST yelling "Happy New Year!" into the phone. It was a little odd. It didn't feel like New Year's yet, because I was eating dinner and channel surfing at 8:30. Even worse was the fact that my annual New Year's Rockin Eve wasn't even aired in the Seattle area! That fact alone just sealed the deal for me. I don't like Washington. I know that New York City's New Year's is aired around the world, but here in Seattle? Nope.

We did however, get to watch a spectacular fireworks show over the Space Needle. Eight minutes of fireworks to the tune of several random Disney movies, and the Star Wars theme. Seriously. Then the local newscasters decided to show us some timeless traditions from around the world. The only one I managed to see was when he had a couple take two plates, throw them on the ground and break them. The best part was when the plates didn't even break as they hit the ground! He then proceeded to hand them a hammer to smash the plates. Then the guy proposed to the girl while kneeling over broken ceramic plates. Are you excited yet? Personally, I can't see why anyone would want to miss the fun and excitement of a Seattle New Year's! (*insert sarcasm*)

I don't know. Maybe it would have been more exciting if we had actually been in Seattle. I'm sure the fireworks display was nice to see in person. However, it really bugged me when the newscaster said something along the lines of "Seattle has the best fireworks show in the entire world" and then showed clips of fireworks in Sydney, Australia and London, England. I'm not really sure how Seattle's show was better than those, but hey, I'm not a local. Maybe I'm really missing something here.

As for New Year's resolutions - here's mine:
1. Try as hard as possible to see the beauty of this place through the rain.
2. Become more motivated to get this house in order (i.e. stop sulking around about how much I hate this place and how dark it is outside all day long).
3. Get in shape.
4. Spend less, save more
5. Make it through my 3rd sinus surgery without ever having another surgery. (I guess this one is really out of my control though)

OK so those aren't exciting resolutions by any means, but they are things I really need to focus n and do. The biggest one being #1. I have at least 2 1/2 more years here, so I think its time for me to find a way to enjoy this place. Wish me luck on that one.

What a day...

If it wasn't enough that I am spending the day remembering my little buddy, I stumbled across this blog today. I haven't read it enough to know what its really about yet, but it appears to be written from the point of view of some cats. The last few entries are about a little rescued stray who is 8 months old, and positive with both FIV and FeLv. It figures that I would read this on the anniversary of my little buddy's death :'-(. I thought I'd post a link in case anyone feels like reading it.
Whiskers and Purrs

My Christmas Angel

(disclaimer: This is going to be long, but I need to write this all down. If you're still reading at the end. Thank you.)

On December 30, 2007, my kitten Cledus died from complications due to feline leukemia. Today is such a sad day for me, because a year later, I am still finding it hard to deal with my grief. I know that many people will look at my situation and think that Cledus was "just a cat", but to me he was so much more. I've had pets my whole life, but cats are still a fairly new thing for me. I grew up with rabbits and had many rabbits die over the years, but none of those deaths affected me as much as the death of a small, 8 month old kitten. My rabbits always lived outdoors, so perhaps it was their proximity to me that caused me to not be as attached to them as I am to my cats that live by my side 24 hours a day.

In June of 2007, I was still living in Corpus Christi. I was working as a full time nanny for a family in town. The family owned a large parcel of land and were in the process of relocating a community of barn cats to that land. The barn cats were already wild, hence the reason they were going to continue to be barn cats. In the midst of the barn cat relocation, the lady I worked for came home one day and asked me if I would be interested in a small kitten. The vet she was working with had someone come in with a very tiny, very sick, little kitten and he needed a home. If he didn't find a home, the little guy would have been euthanized. I said "yes", of course, and on my way home I stopped by the vet's office to see the kitten. I was directed to a woman's house (the woman who had found him) and when I walked in to her house I met the sweetest, most loving animal I had ever seen. He was a little gray ball of fur, only half the size of my hand. The woman handed him to me and he started purring instantly, and sucking on my finger (we later realized that he had never been weaned properly. He was much too young to be without his mother when I took him home). His eyes were caked with nasty goo, and he seemed to be having a tough time breathing. The woman told me that she found him in a bush, all alone. She had gone to neighbors to see if he belonged to anyone and he didn't. No one had ever seen him, or his missing mother. She had taken him to the vet and gotten him started on some antibiotics to clear up his respiratory infection that he was suffering from. She handed the medicine off to me, said goodbye to her little friend and we drove on home.

I remember the car ride home like it was yesterday. Cledus (who still had no name at the time) snuggled himself between my legs on the seat of the car, rolled onto his back, started purring and put his paw in my hand. I rubbed his paw and he fell asleep within seconds. Once home I sent Mr. V a text message asking him if we could have a 3rd cat. I already had my own cat, and Mr. V had "claimed" a stray that we found together at a brewery in San Antonio. He sent me back a text saying "no". I sent one back saying "Please don't kill me." He never responded to that one. He told me later that he was too annoyed to respond. However, I was convinced that once he saw this little guy, he would fall in love with him. I was right. When Mr. V got home that evening, he walked in prepared to yell at me and demand that I find the kitten another home. Instead, he took one look at the little gray ball stumbling around on the floor and fell in love like I had hoped. Cledus had spent the entire afternoon exploring the apartment and snuggling next to me on the couch. He was so young that he could barely walk straight. He was horribly sick, but he was so curious that he didn't seem to care that he was sick. He didn't seem to care that his legs would barely support him. He was just full of life and energy.

From that moment on, Cledus became a part of our family. He recovered from his respiratory infection and grew into a larger kitten, capable of walking and running without falling. He played constantly and then instantly passed out asleep when he tired himself out. He snuggled with us whenever he could. He sat on Mr. V's shoulders and on his head, while at the computer. He slept snuggled between us every single night, purring all night long. He annoyed us and amused us both. I can't even count the number of times he took a flying leap from the kitchen counter onto my back, digging his nails into my skin in the process. I can't tell you how many bloody cuts and scratches I had from him. He ran, jumped, played, leaped, and climbed 24/7. He seemed to like climbing up our bodies which was the cause of the majority of my cuts. The other cuts and scratches were a direct result of his flying leaps through the air when he landed on my back. He hung on to me using his nails.

I had never seen an animal that was so full of life and love. He trusted us instantly and never left our sides. I really don't know what it was about him, but he became our favorite pet. A year later, I still don't know what it was about him, but I have come to believe that he entered our lives for a reason.

Last Christmas, Mr. V and I went to my childhood home in New Jersey. We packed up the 3 cats, and my 3 rabbits and drove off. Everything was fine until a few days after Christmas. The cats were all playful and excited to be exploring a new house. Then we noticed that Cledus didn't seem to be himself. He was hiding and not purring. He always purred so that concerned me. I noticed a large bleeding scratch on his head and assumed that one of my dad's cats attacked him. I convinced myself that this was the reason for his odd behavior. The next day, we saw him eating kitty litter straight out of the little box. We thought this was odd, but not necessarily bad. I'm glad I decided to Google it though. I typed in "Why is my kitten eating litter?" and the answer popped right up. Anemia. Its apparently very common for cats to eat litter when they are anemic. I then Googled "feline anemia" and was shocked to learn that it is very different from human anemia. In cats, the anemia is usually the result of some more serious disease. A sure sign to test for anemia is to look at the cat's gums. If they are pink, it could be anything. If the gums are white, its 99.99% likely that the cat is anemic. We looked at Cledus' gums. They were whiter than I ever could have possibly imagined.

We rushed off to the 24 hour emergency vet convinced that whatever was wrong with him could be cured. He had been tested for FIV and Feline Leukemia when he was brought into the vet as a young kitten. He tested negative for both diseases so I was confident that wasn't the problem. Imagine my shock when the emergency vet told us that he tested positive for feline leukemia. I didn't believe her at first, and Mr. V and I asked tons of questions to make sure that his diagnosis was correct. Unfortunately, a kitten that tests negative for FeLv at 1 month, needs to be retested again at 6 months, which no one had ever told me. It never even crossed my mind that his original test results could be wrong.

The horrible thing about FeLv is that it hits fast and sudden. A cat can go from being healthy one day, to dead the next. Not only were we hit with the shock of his FeLv but we were also hit with the shock that he wasn't just sick, he was dying right there in front of us. Once a cat becomes anemic due to FeLv there isn't much that can be done. We were offered a $2000 blood transfusion, and while many people would find us crazy, we would have paid it if it meant that he could live a longer and happier life. Unfortunately, a blood transfusion would have only given him a few more days of life. It took us hours to make the hard decision to put him to sleep. I can't even remember how much time passed in that room. I only remember crying my eyes out, saying over and over "he's just a baby" and Mr. V crying with me. He called my mother who showed up to give me some support. Eventually, we could see poor Cledus getting weaker and weaker as we struggled with the decision. I really believe that he was telling us that he was ready to die. Mr. V stayed with him until the very end, while my mom sat with me in the waiting room. I just couldn't bring myself to stay with him, which upsets me to this day, but at least one of us was there until the very end. Mr. V rubbed his paw until he took his last breath. Just like the day I brought him home, we quickly learned that rubbing a paw, would relax Cledus in an instant, so it seemed appropriate to rub his paw at the very end of his life.

I was a wreck. I never realized that it was possible to go through the stages of grief when an animal dies, but I went through them all. I didn't believe that it really happened. I felt guilty for not knowing that he was sick. I was upset that we didn't have any of his toys with us to bury with him. I even cried about the fact that he might not have people around him in cat heaven. He loved being around people so that thought was horrifying to me. I pretty much became inconsolable for several days. The only comfort I had was that he was buried in my childhood backyard with the rest of my childhood pets.

His death ruined my Christmas. This year, the holiday season has been hard for me because I associated it with his death. Its been especially hard today because I wish I could have seen him all grown up. I wish that I could have seen him as a cat. He was a Maine Coon mix and they get quite large. I am sitting here with another Maine Coon on my lap and its sad to me that I never got to see Cledus grow up.

Mr. V and I have decided that Cledus is our Christmas angel. His death was tragic and sudden, but it did bring some good into our lives. The day we left New Jersey last year, I broke down crying hysterically and prayed. Before that moment I can't even remember the last time I prayed. I was reaching for anything that could possibly make me feel better and take the hurt away from me. I prayed that I would see a sign that would show me that Cledus was all right. In the midst of my hysteria, I was still able to see logically and I knew that my crying and pleading was getting me nowhere. I knew he wasn't coming back. I just couldn't accept that fact. That evening though, my miracle happened. While we were packing up our car to head back to our apartment in Jacksonville, Florida, we smelled something strange in the house. It was a flowery smell, and I thought it was my stepmother's perfume or something like that. I didn't give it a second thought until my stepmother asked me if I smelled it too. We searched the house to find the source of the smell and neither one of us could believe what we found. My parents have had a cane type plant in their house since I was born. Its been cut and trimmed and planted into new pots, but the plant itself never changed. That evening we saw that the plant had bloomed flowers. The plant NEVER bloomed flowers before. We are both certain that the flowers hadn't been there the day before, and I called my dad, who was away on a business trip, and my mom to verify that there had never been flowers on that plant in all 30 years of its life. When we noticed that Cledus had been acting strange, he was hiding underneath that plant. I am not a person who tends to believe in miracles. I need to be shown cold, hard facts to accept something. But that day, I truly believe that those flowers were a sign to show me that Cledus was ok. There hasn't been a single flower on the plant since that day.




The good that has come out of this is the zoo that is at my house today. I was devastated by his death and went on a research kick where I read everything I could about FeLv. In felines, its not a cancer. Instead, its a virus that can be transmitted to other cats. After frantically testing my 2 cats that had been exposed to him (both have tested negative twice since then), I set out to save the cats of the world from leukemia. Cats that are spayed and neutered are less likely to catch the disease, so I got involved in a Trap, Neuter, Return program. Mr. V and I trapped a few feral cats around our apartment complex and took them to get spayed/neutered. We socialized them, found 2 of them homes, and kept the others. A giant chain reaction occurred through all of this. When we returned to Jacksonville after Christmas, I saw an ad for an 8 month old Maine Coon mix, which was exactly what Cledus was, and it was the age he was when he died. While I realized I could never replace him, I felt like I needed to have something in his place. I contacted the lady, and I now have my beautiful 1 year, 8 month old Moses. I truly believe I was meant to have Moses. This lady had about 50 people respond to her ad, but she picked me. She also does TNR and Moses was one of her rescues that she was seeking a home for. A few weeks after welcoming Moses into our lives, he ran away from us. I was devastated again. I cried my eyes out for days and thought that maybe I just wasn't meant to have a Maine Coon. He was missing for 3 months when someone found him and returned him to us.

The night that Moses ran away, we set out one of our TNR traps in the hopes that we could lure him into it if he came back home. Instead of catching Moses, we caught Velvet, who was a kitten herself and she was pregnant. Velvet gave birth to one kitten - Meepers. She tried to abandon him the moment he was born. I know now that if we never had Cledus, I would have never found the ad for Moses. If Cledus hadn't died, we never would have gotten into TNR. If we didn't have the trap, we never would have put it outside for Moses. If Velvet hadn't wandered into the trap, Meepers would have been born in a Florida swamp, abandoned instantly and he wouldn't have survived a day out there on his own. When I think of Cledus, I look at Meepers, who is our 9 month old kitten full of life and energy. I realize that Meepers wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for Cledus and for that, I am thankful.

I truly believe that Cledus came into our lives for a reason. We never would have started trapping cats. We never would have rescued as many cats as we have if we had never known Cledus. Many people think I'm crazy, but I feel like cat rescue is something that I was meant to do. One day I hope to have my own non-profit rescue so that I can do what I am doing now on a much larger scale. I want to rescue cats that have FeLv because many shelters euthanize them instantly. Cledus may have had a short life, but I know that he was happy and healthy until the end. Before him, I would have agreed with euthanizing any cat that tested positive for leukemia. Now I understand why there are a few rescues out there that only take FeLv and FIV (feline AIDS) kitties. They deserve a chance at life too. One of my grieving thoughts after his death, was that I wish I knew he was sick originally. I would have euthanized him then, instead of going through the pain of knowing him, and then killing him. I felt like I was killing him when we were in the ER vet because I felt bad for not knowing he was sick in the first place. Looking back, my thoughts at that moment weren't exactly clear or coherent. It took some time for me to calm down and understand that if I had put him to sleep when we first got him, that would have been killing him. Putting him to sleep when he was suffering was nothing but helping him. It took a lot of talks from my mother and Mr. V before I finally accepted that I didn't kill him, and I didn't allow him to suffer either. I saved him from being killed. If he hadn't been found in that bush, he probably would have died anyway - alone. If I hadn't taken him home with me, the vet was going to euthanize him anyway. 8 months is a short life, but he had a happy life until the end. I just hope that he knew he was loved.

A few months after his death, my mom made me a beautiful collage of Cledus' pictures with a lovely poem in the center of it. Many people say that when a beloved pet dies, they cross the Rainbow Bridge (there is a different version of the poem on that website, but it is a great site). I'll leave you with the Rainbow Bridge poem. Maybe one day I'll get to see my angel again and thank him for the joy he brought in to my life.

By the edge of a woods, at the foot of a hill,
Is a lush, green meadow where time stands still.
Where the friends of man and woman do run,
When their time on earth is over and done.
For here, between this world and the next,
Is a place where each beloved creature finds rest.
On this golden land, they wait and they play,
Till the Rainbow Bridge they cross over one day.
No more do they suffer, in pain or in sadness,
For here they are whole, their lives filled with gladness.
Their limbs are restored, their health renewed,
Their bodies have healed, with strength imbued.
They romp through the grass, without even a care,
Until one day they start, and sniff at the air.
All ears prick forward, eyes dart front and back,
Then all of a sudden, one breaks from the pack.
For just at that instant, their eyes have met;
Together again, both person and pet.
So they run to each other, these friends from long past,
The time of their parting is over at last.
The sadness they felt while they were apart,
Has turned into joy once more in each heart.
They embrace with a love that will last forever,
And then, side-by-side, they cross the Rainbow Bridge together.

(baby Cledus reading Harry Potter with me)

(baby Cledus with his favorite toy - he's only slightly bigger than Mr. V's hand in this picture)

(baby Cledus)

(At the vet on the last day - he was purring very faintly in this picture, the last time I ever heard him purr. I'm not crying yet because we haven't heard the diagnosis yet. He just clung to me this day. I hope that his faint purring meant that he knew I was taking care of him until the very end :'-(.)

(Christmas day 2007)

(my little buddy - RIP May 2007 - December 30, 2007)

A long day of travel...but we're back in the Northwest

Well, we safely made it back to Washington late last night, but not without a few road blocks. Its amazing to me how everything can go right until the very last minute. Maybe a bad ending to the trip was an omen telling me that I shouldn't go back to Washington (which I would love to believe).

We left New Jersey on December 22nd and headed down to New Orleans to spend the week with Mr. V's family. That in itself was an adventure, and details of that trip will be shared in a later posting. I'd love to write about my trip in the order that it happened, but yesterday is still fresh in my mind so I thought I'd start there and work my way backwards.

After 3 days at the in-laws house, Mr. V and I packed our things and headed to a cute historic hotel in the French Quarter. Day 1 at the hotel was wonderful. Day 2 and 3 were the beginning of a really crappy ending to a vacation. On Day 2 I woke up to take a shower at 9:15, only to find out that we had no hot water. Now I understand that its a hotel that is over 100 years old, but I have stayed in historic hotels before and in historic houses. Just because the building is over 100 years old, does not mean that the water heater is the same age. So we called the front desk and we were told "Oh you have no hot water? Its because everyone in the hotel is taking a shower at the same time right now." OK. Fine. It seemed like an excuse but I let it slide. So I took a deep breath and jumped into a freezing shower. It was 80 degrees outside so while the cold shower sucked, it wasn't the most traumatic thing that could have happened to me. When we returned to the hotel that night we wanted to get a good night's sleep so we would be well rested for our travel back to Washington the next day. Imagine our surprise when we couldn't sleep. A loud bar outside the hotel decided that it had to play window rattling music until 4 in the morning. Once again, I understand this is the French Quarter. I understand that the French Quarter can get pretty loud and wild. I also understand that Bourbon Street is typically where all the action takes place and we were several blocks away from Bourbon Street. Not to mention the fact that earlier that night we had walked down Bourbon Street and while it was loud and full of activity, it wasn't even close to the noise we heard coming out of the bar across the street from the hotel. Mr. V grew up in New Orleans so I trust his judgment in places to stay, and he had reassured me that the farther away from Bourbon Street you were, the quieter it would be. Some hotels in the Quarter even specify on their websites that they are in a loud area. Of course, our hotel did NOT specify that one small fact. I stuffed cotton in my ears and attempted to drown out the noise from outside but I was unsuccessful. Apparently, cotton will help tone down the noise you hear, but it won't filter out loud, thumping bass that rattles windows. Part of me feels like I was being too whiny about the noise, but the other part of me wonders how the people in the bar have any hearing left. The music was so loud that Mr. V and I could barely hear each other talk. Our windows really were rattling. We were across the street and the music was coming from inside the bar.

After a cold shower and no sleep until 4 in the morning, I was beginning to have issues with the hotel. We paid a lot of money to stay in the hotel, and that is what I was annoyed about. BUT I chalked it up to bad luck and decided to forget about it. Until the next morning. This time I tried to take a shower at 10:30am (remember that the shower the day before was at 9:15), and of course we still had no hot water. Now I was beyond annoyed. We called the front desk to ask why we had no hot water again and the excuse this time was "Oh there's a Saints game at the Superdome today. Everyone in the hotel must be taking showers right now to get ready for the game." Right. I find it hard to believe that every time I try to take a shower, everyone else in the hotel also decides to take one. I also find it hard to believe that the hotel was filled with people - all going to the Saints game.

A tired Brooklet makes for a cranky Brooklet. Two cold showers in a row makes for an even crankier Brooklet. So after freezing again in an attempt to get clean, we packed up our stuff and marched downstairs to check out. Mr. V put on his angry personality and demanded some type of refund for our problems. The issue that we both had wasn't the cold water, or the noise. We had an issue with the fact that we paid top dollar for this hotel, and we had the experience of a run down roadside inn. If we had paid $50 a night I probably would have shrugged it off and let it go. But for the price we paid, I feel like the guests should have a right to know if their room will be facing the noisy street, or if it will be overlooking the quiet courtyard. We also think that for the price we paid we should be able to take a hot shower. Essentially, hotels are for sleeping and showering before you go out for the day. We weren't able to do either. Of course, the lady at the front desk had no power to do anything regarding our bill, so this afternoon Mr. V will be calling the manager to complain.

After leaving the hotel we met the inlaws for lunch and they drove us to the airport. Step 1 went well. We got to the airport, found out that military doesn't have to pay to check their bags with Continental (we flew 3 different airlines on this trip so each one had different rules), we got through security in record time, and made it to Houston for our layover with no hassles. Once we were in Houston, I remembered why I hated Texas so much.

I blame this next incident on the people of Texas. (OK I know thats not reasonable, but I was mad and still am mad, so it seems appropriate to blame my anger on a place that I hate.) I went into the bathroom to put some powder on my face. I had to dig through my purse to find my compact, which caused me to take things out and place them on the counter while I dug around. Once I had fixed my makeup, I packed up my purse and went to wait for our next flight. About 30 minutes later I realized that when I packed up my purse I didn't put my phone back into it. In fact, I couldn't remember when I last saw my phone. I only remembered that it was one of the things that I took out of my purse when I was digging around. All I can figure is that somehow in the time it took for me to put powder on my face, someone must have come near me and taken my phone. We frantically used Mr. V's phone to call my phone in the hopes that whoever took it would be a kind and honest person, answer the phone and tell us where they were. Nope. The first time we dialed my phone, someone answered it. When Mr. V started talking there was silence on the other end, and then the person hung up. We proceeded to call back at least 10 times in a row, hoping that we'd annoy the person enough to make her answer the phone and give it back to us. Of course no one answered. The fact that someone answered on the first try, and then hung up was all the clarification I needed to know that my phone had been stolen and I would never see it again.

Our plane started boarding at that moment but we were lucky enough to have time to call Verizon and have my phone service suspended. If any fraudulent calls were made, the person only had about 30 minutes to do it in. I'm so thankful that we were able to turn the phone off before our second plane left on a 5 hour flight. Once arriving in Washington, we made several other phone calls. We learned that lots of people had turned cell phones in to the Houston lost and found yesterday, but none of them fit the description of my phone. I thankfully had insurance on the phone that covered theft, so we filed a police report to get that ball rolling. This morning was spent finishing up the insurance claim and I should have a new phone in about 24 hours. Of course I have a $50 deductible which annoys me, but I am trying to stay calm about that because it is much better than paying $300 for a new phone.

The thing that bothers me the most is that I had a lot of pictures on the phone. I had a good camera on it, and now all of those pictures are lost. It sounds ridiculous, but I want to plead with the person who took it to just send me the pictures, keep the phone, and I won't bother her again. I guess I get really sentimental about things, so I hate the fact that I lost pictures that I'll never get back.

I guess I have also been spoiled. A few years ago I lost my camera in Disney World. I thought it was gone forever, but someone turned it in and I had it back the very next day! This past March one of my cats ran away. He was gone for 3 months and I was convinced that I would never see him again. Then a nice man called me. He had found him and he was returned to me. Those two incidents gave me renewed faith in people, but the incident last night just killed that faith. I guess I just don't understand people. I don't understand how someone could take something from me, while I was still there (at least I assume it happened when I was there, otherwise the phone would have gone back into my purse with the other items). I know there is no point in going over it again and again, but I feel pretty stupid for being more focused on my oily face, then on my personal items that were placed down right next to me.

I guess this post is just a long vent. I know I'll never see my phone again and we probably won't get any money back from our hotel stay. It just amazes me that we had a wonderful vacation, until the very last day. I really do think its a bad omen about Washington ;-).

Harry Potter Take 2

Today is going to be a busy day so I will make this quick, and then post more details when I get back to Washington in a week. Tomorrow we leave for Louisiana where the only internet access I'll have will be via my cell phone. It has a full keyboard but its still annoying to type on so I doubt I'll update this much, if at all.

Soooo...Yesterday we went back to New York, back to the TKTS booth, and purchased half price tickets to see Equus again. We knew the routine with the autograph session this time around, so the second the play ended, we bolted out the door to be one of the first people allowed into the baricade outside. This time around was a little annoying because it seemed like every high school girl in the world was there last night. I guess on Thursday night we saw a more adult crowd, but this time around, on a Saturday night, all the children were out. So we made it to the baricade, showed our tickets, had them signed off by the security guard and then planted ourselves right at the front of the baricade. I was impressed with my own ability to push back on the people who were trying to push to get to the front of the crowd. Even with ice on the ground, I managed to plant my feet steadily and ignore every screaming high school girl around me, while holding onto the baricade for dear life.

First out of the stage door was Richard Griffiths who played the psychologist in Equus. He may also be known to you as Uncle Vernon from the Harry Potter movies. We were able to get his autograph on Thursday night but I didn't realize who he was until we looked him up once getting home. His bio in the Equus playbill says that he was also in all of the Harry Potter movies, and now that I know he was Uncle Vernon, I feel stupid for not realizing that in the first place since he looks just like him! Anyway, we got his autograph again and took some pictures and then he was whisked away into his waiting car.

Next out of the stage door - Daniel Radcliffe!!! The security guards outside kept yelling warnings to the crowd at the baricade. They told us that the second people start pushing hard, the baricade will be removed, Daniel will be thrown into the waiting car, and no one would get autographs. Based on the insanity of the people at the show last night, I am surprised that we managed to get autographs because no one seemed to want to listen to the "no pushing" rule. Thanks to myself and a few others at the front of the baricade, we managed to steady it each time it lurched forward. No one was trampled, and I got my Daniel Radcliffe autograph, plus a short conversation consisting of:
me: "Thank you so much!" (after he signed my Playbill)
him: "Oh you're welcome!"

Yes, I may not be a screaming insane high school girl, but I do still manage to get starstruck and lose the ability to speak whenever I meet someone famous.

Mr. V did better with the conversation part. His conversation went something like:
Mr. V: "We really love the play."
D.R. "Oh thank you so much!"
Mr. V: "Yeah this is the second time we've seen it."
D.R. "Oh? Wow thats great! Thanks!"
Mr. "Yep we were here 2 nights ago and you did an amazing job."
D.R. "Well thank you so much! I'm so glad you enjoyed it!"

Then he went off to the screaming girls next to us who proceded to converse with him in what I find to be the most annoying way: "Oh. My. Gawd. I like, LOVE you! OH MY GOD, can I give you a high 5?" (Daniel gives her a high 5) and she shrieks "EEEEEE You're awesome!"

I give him major props for walking out of that stage door with a smile on his face every night. We were able to see him and take pictures the first time we were there, but since we were at the front of the crowd this time, I was very surprised and happy to see that he does talk to everyone out there and he seems genuinely happy that people want to see him. He didn't say a whole lot (mainly a bunch of "thank yous"), but he did respond to everything people said to him and I think thats pretty nice of him, considering the attitude of some famous actors out there.

I really want to post pictures, but once again, I'm at my dad's house and I'm trying to not be irritated about the fact that his computer is ancient and I can't plug my memory card into it, and I forgot the camera connection wire in Washington. I promise that when I get back to Washington in a week, I'll post pictures. I'll also post the 2 second video that we accidently took of him. Mr. V pressed the wrong button on the camera, and the result was a short video. After seeing that, I wished we had taken more video because you can really see him interacting with people in it. At least we have 2 seconds though :-).

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday Season!! I'll post more in a little over a week!

Harry Potter, Horses, and Snow

Yesterday was a very exciting day. I grew up going to Broadway shows all the time. I used to see at least one show every 2 months or so. Since leaving New Jersey, my Broadway trips have been few and far between, so when I do come back home I always make a point of going to see a show in New York City.

A little over a year ago (or maybe more) I heard that Daniel Radcliffe, aka Harry Potter, was starring in the London revival of Equus. Equus is a strange play. I encourage you to click on the link to find out more about it, but in short, the play is about a disturbed 17 year old boy, who has sexual fantasies about horses (and acts some of them out), which leads him to blind 7 horses with a pick, which causes him to end up in a mental hospital. Disturbing? Yes. Good? Amazing! I took a Contemporary Theatre class during my first year of college and we had read Equus in the class. So I was pretty darn excited when I found out over the summer that Equus would be leaving London, and opening on Broadway here in New York. Daniel Radcliffe would be coming here with the production to continue his role as Alan Strang.

When Mr. V and I heard that Daniel Radcliffe would be on Broadway in New York, we decided to see the show if we had a chance to. So yesterday we headed off to NYC, stopped at the TKTS booth where we bought half price tickets to the show, then sat in the 10th row (amazing seats!) and watched the play.

Both of us are huge Harry Potter fans, and while I understand that Daniel was preforming in this role to show that he can be someone other than Harry Potter, it still excited me to see "Harry Potter" live on stage. He is an amazing actor and even though I love the way he acts in the Harry Potter movies, I was still surprised to see how well he portrayed this disturbed young man in the play. The show has gotten very good reviews in both London and New York, and I have to agree with those reviews.

This play is definitely NOT for people looking to see Harry Potter. There is nothing cute about the play. Its a deeply disturbing story, which ends with a 10 minute scene of a naked Daniel Radcliffe. And yes, I have to admit I was very excited to see that part of the play. I realize I'm 27 years old and he is 19 (or is he 20 now?), but I still think he's pretty hot, so disturbing or not, seeing "Harry Potter" naked on stage was something not many people can say they have seen :-).

After the show we went outside to see if we could get an autograph and a picture. Thankfully, I insisted on racing out of the theatre to be at the stage door before the large crowd appeared. I have never in my life seen so much security for an actor on Broadway. I've stood at many stage doors and gotten many autographs and nothing even comes close to the security for the young Harry Potter star. A security guard outside checked ticket stubs to make sure we had seen the play on that very day and time. Then he checked off the stubs, and ushered us into a small barricaded area. Unfortunately, the area was small, so not everyone was able to get into it, and a small force of security guards and police officers ordered everyone else off of the street. We managed to get into the barricaded area, so we were there when he came outside to sign autographs. We got a few decent pictures of him, but were unable to get an autograph. He was ushered through the crowd into a car that was conveniently blocking any access to the stage door within minutes. He did sign autographs for the people he could reach, before his security team whisked him away.If we had been standing at the front of the barricade we would have easily gotten an autograph but we were blocked by a few people and couldn't reach through. However, the pictures we got make up for that. (Don't even get me started on the people who came to watch the play, then had Harry Potter books and pictures for him to sign. I personally found that rude since he was trying to break out of the Harry Potter role. I know a lot of people saw him because of Harry Potter, but to me it seemed insulting to have him autograph something for a show that he wasn't currently in. I would think he would want praise and excitement about Equus right now, not Harry Potter.)

Since I am clearly a pathetic obsessed fan, Mr. V and I are going to go back to New York tomorrow to buy cheap tickets for the show again. Now that we know how the barricade/autograph session works, we are convinced that we can get outside in time to get to the front of the barricade, and I think the price is worth it.

I am currently at my dad's house in New Jersey and his computer doesn't have a spot where I can plug in my camera's memory card, and we didn't bring the connection wire with us to do it, so pictures are going to have to wait until we get back to Washington in a little over a week.

Meanwhile, I keep getting emails and phone calls from friends that are still in Washington about all the snow that is there! I can't believe I'm home in a state where it does snow, and all I am seeing is rain. Yet in Oak Harbor, where it rarely snows, the street leading to my house is closed off, 8 inches of snow is in the yard and my petsitter took a bus to my house, then got stranded at my house overnight when the Whidbey busses stopped running.

I have to admit that I am pretty disappointed that I'm missing all of that snow. Mr. V is even more upset and has been following the Oak Harbor news since we've left. He's pretty upset to know that even more snow is supposed to be coming in the next few days, but by the time we get back it should all be melted.

In my opinion, seeing Daniel Radcliffe naked is 10 times better than seeing snow, but I do hope that some people who are still in Oak Harbor are taking pictures so I can see what it looks like! Apparently, the small amount of snow that I was excited about a few days before we left is nothing compared to whats there now.

On a completely random side note, while watching Equus last night it occurred to me that Mr. V will be deployed when the new Harry Potter movie comes out. Anyone feel like seeing it with me? :-)